Auspicious snow heralds a good harvest.
During the Spring Festival of the second year of Wanli, there was a heavy snowfall.
A white-hatted lantern wrapped with a red heart swayed in the gradually stopping flying catkins and entered the residence of Shi Hairui, the then left deputy censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
The owner holding this lantern is Wang Yongji.
He also carried a big fish, and as soon as he arrived, he hurried outside Haimu's house. Through the curtain, he bowed and said with a smile: "Madam, my nephew Runlian is here to pay my respects. I wish you a prosperous old age."
"Thanks for thinking about it."
Inside the curtain, the sea mother replied.
When Hai Rui, who was sweeping the snow, heard this, he quickly dropped his broom, straightened up and came over: "Why are you here on this festive day?"
"Why can't I come?"
Wang Yongji said and gave the fish to Hai Rui: "Now that the official salary is fully paid, you Hai Rui must be able to treat us to a meal of wine to help celebrate the festival."
"Thank you."
"Of course it's easy. I'll tell Zhuo Jing to cook more dishes."
Hai Rui took the fish from Wang Yongji's hand and said with a smile: "It's a waste of money again. It's good to have salted fish today. It's probably a lot of money to buy this fresh fish. I know you Wang Runlian will get half a year's extra official salary if she gets a first-class exam, but there is no need to spend so much money."
"For good luck."
"Besides, this is to honor the Madam, how can we be careless. The Madam cannot eat anything too salty, I know that too."
Wang Yongji smiled.
Hai Rui also took the fish to the kitchen and handed it to his wife.
Immediately, Hai Ruicai walked up to Wang Yongji and said with a smile: "In our relationship, I will not be polite. Please go to the guest room and serve tea. I have to take advantage of the fact that there is nothing in the Yamen today and the heavy snowfall." We just stopped so that we could finish sweeping the snow in this yard and prevent my mother from slipping when she went out."
"In that case, I'll sweep with you. I'll stretch my muscles by the way."
Wang Yongji said and picked up a broom from the foot of the wall.
Hai Rui didn't stop him. He and Wang Yongji just stood aside and asked, "Why don't you come to my place to marry someone from the Tibetan tribe?"
"you guessed right!"
Wang Yongji smiled and then said: "My clan's in-laws knew that I was promoted, and they came to Beijing to celebrate me. They came to many homes. Although I had to welcome them, you know, if my clan's in-laws are just here for money and food, Fortunately, I'm afraid there are still people asking for help from local officials and gentry, especially since the entrance examination has just been implemented this year, there are naturally a lot of people asking for information."
"If you really want to ask for a favor, I can't refuse, but if I agree, it will be a nuisance to the local area, so I can only come to your place. The clan members and in-laws know that I am here to run around as the deputy constitutional official, so naturally they will They all think that I am running for my own career, so they will understand why I don’t accompany you.”
Hai Rui smiled and said, "You are indeed worldly!"
Wang Yongji smiled and was noncommittal.
At this time, Tan Lun also suddenly appeared at the door.
Hai Rui was quite shocked when he saw this and glanced at Wang Yongji.
Wang Yongji said: "I forgot to tell you that this soldier made an appointment with me to come together to pay New Year's greetings to the Dowager Madam today, but I arrived earlier than him."
After hearing this, Hai Rui came over, cupped his hands and said, "I didn't know that my soldiers were coming, but I didn't expect them from afar."
"You should just call me Zili."
As he spoke, Tan Lun handed a piece of fresh fish in his hand to Hai Rui: "It took a lot of effort to buy it. I don't know how those traders came up with the idea. You can still buy big live fish today. How can I buy it?" Auspicious."
"Thank you!"
Hai Rui smiled and took it.
Wang Yongji said at this time: "Zili can't stand the wind and cold, so let's go inside first. I'll help Brother Gangfeng clean the yard before I come in to keep him company."
Tan Lun, who was a frequent visitor to Hai Rui's house, nodded and walked directly in.
Hai Rui sent another fish to the kitchen and when he came back, he asked Wang Yongji: "You came here to avoid the clansmen. Tan Zili didn't come anyway. I think all the cabinet ministers and nine ministers must be drinking at Yuanfu's residence now." Is it a holiday?”
"Don't you see?"
Wang Yongji asked: "He is having trouble with Yuan Fu!"
"Are you having trouble?"
Wang Yongji nodded, stood up and took off his outer robe, while continuing to sweep the snow, he said: "After Feng Bao's fall, millions of taels of silver were copied into the inner palace. Your Majesty was kind enough to use this money to pay off the inner court's debts first." He and Qi Jiguang jointly planned to rebuild the nine-sided defense system, especially the Jiliao-Kinggi system, which would naturally come to nothing."
Hai Rui nodded.
Wang Yongji added: "His Tan Zili's long-cherished wish is to make the Jiujiang, especially Jiliao, strong in both offense and defense, so that the Tatars will not be like now, going south if they want! In his view, although the border trade has Yes, but the more you want to continue border trade, you need to have strong military equipment. To establish such an offensive and defensive system, you must not only be willing to do so, but also have sufficient financial resources."
"You know, my Ming Dynasty actually has three major shortcomings. Although I dare not change them, they are indeed known to sensible people."
Then, Wang Yongji said another sentence.
Hai Rui also swept the snow while replying at this time: "I know this: First, the power of the prime minister is unclear; according to the ancestral law, there is no distinction between cabinet ministers and the six ministries, and the six ministries do not need to take orders from the cabinet. But now, The reality is that the cabinet needs to coordinate the six ministries to achieve many benefits and eliminate disadvantages. Otherwise, the six ministries work independently, and many major policies to promote benefits and eliminate disadvantages cannot be carried out."
"The second is the lack of unified finance and taxation; the Ministry of Revenue only has the power to allocate money and food from all over the world, but it does not have the power to collect taxes and allocate funds. As a result, a county often has to deliver various taxes to various health stations or the Chief Secretary according to the arrangements of the Ministry of Revenue. What? Grain, silk, and even peppercorns, there are often more than a dozen categories of tasks to solve the problem of grain and silver, and often each category is only a few dozen taels of silver. This is a waste of manpower and inconvenient to review. It also leads to serious waste in rich counties with high taxes. Poor counties have low taxes and are stretched thin; in addition, the Ministry of Household Affairs does not have the power to collect taxes and allocate funds, which also results in the fact that the court does not have much money and grain actually deposited in Taicang and other treasuries, resulting in insufficient savings. Once the top and bottom are squandered, or natural or man-made disasters that are difficult to solve locally occur, There will be a phenomenon of Yin eating Mao grain."
"Third, those who know the military cannot command the military, which leads to the decline of the military. Military ministers who know the military cannot discuss military aircraft; but civil servants who do not know the military can discuss military aircraft. Even newly appointed censors and officials can discuss military aircraft. They often discuss military aircraft. The governor was constrained; in addition, the civil servants were also responsible for selecting generals. As a result, because they did not know the military affairs, the selected generals only looked at their loyalty and bravery, but did not know about their ability to plan and manage the army; after all, not everyone can know generals as well as Hu Ruzhen, Tang Jingchuan, and Tan Zili."
Hai Rui had served as a local official for many times and was also worried about state affairs. Naturally, he knew what the main problems of the Ming Dynasty were, so he spoke out at this time.
After all, Wang Yongji was his close friend, so he naturally did not shy away from talking about issues such as unclear power of the prime minister and inconsistent finance and taxation that required major changes to the ancestral system.
"Brother Gangfeng is right, it's these three major shortcomings."
"Everyone knows it, but few people dare to say it and few people dare to change it."
"And it just so happens that now, Yuan Fu has the courage, and your brother Gangfeng has also accomplished it, so that the New Deal's examination method, in the form of the cabinet passing the six subjects, can be regarded as giving the cabinet the power to be prime minister, and it can pass the six subjects By controlling the six ministries, the first problem will not be a problem. Even when the monarch is young or can only maintain his status, he can rely on the virtuous ministers to do a few major things that bring benefits and eliminate disadvantages, so that political affairs will not be neglected and harm the descendants of the country."
Wang Yongji said.
"It is precisely because I know this that I agree that the cabinet has the power to sanction the six subjects! Everyone in the world only thinks that I, Hai Rui, are wise and broad-minded. Only you, Brother Runlian, and Yuan Fu know that I, Hai Rui, am also a person who works for the country."
Hai Rui said.
"Don't I, Tan Zili, know about you, Haigang Peak?!"
Ahem!
