Of course, although Zhang Juzheng's post reform was more rigid and strong than soft and skillful, it was at least better than Emperor Chongzhen who worked hard to govern.
In history, in 1629, the 19-year-old Emperor Chongzhen also carried out a reform of the post office. However, Chongzhen, who was eager for quick success and instant benefits, was even less patient than Zhang Juzheng. He only hoped to solve the problem immediately with a package of drastic reforms. Therefore, there are two major differences between his methods and Zhang Juzheng:
Although Zhang Juzheng's post office reform was also tough, at least the focus was on reducing the burden on the people. As for the millions of taels of silver he later saved, it was just a side benefit. As the emperor, Chongzhen only focused on the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver gained from the reform of the post office. Therefore, he acquiesced to the officials' apportionment to the people, but only asked the officials to hand over a large part of the funds for military expenditures. This was a short-sighted approach.
In addition, as mentioned just now, Chongzhen was too hasty and impatient in the implementation of reforms. Without any preliminary work, he ordered to cut 60% of the size of the country's post stations across the board! You must know that the Jiajing period and Zhang Juzheng's reforms were carried out slowly and gradually, and both took several years. However, Chongzhen's reforms required all localities to complete them immediately within a few months!
If you don’t fail, who will fail?
According to Gao Gong and Guo Pu's view of Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Juzheng was too hasty in doing things. If it were Chongzhen who was several times more anxious than Zhang Juzheng, would it not be a bad thing?
Governing a big country is like cooking a small dish, just like frying an egg. If you use too much fire and too much haste, the eggs will definitely burn!
Just imagine that a great man like Taizu of the Red Dynasty, with unparalleled prestige and an efficient administrative team, finally missed the word "urgent". You, the Ming Dynasty, can't compare with others in any way, how can you not? Something happened?
Gao pragmatic thought about it and found that the key reason why Daming Station became a cancer that exploited local people was that it had the power to exploit. The most fundamental way to eliminate this kind of exploitation was to let it lose this power.
But although it is easy to take back this power, it is difficult to maintain the role of the post after taking it back.
Nowadays, post stations have the power to "exploit" the people. Many inns in remote places are unsustainable. Being in disrepair is a minor problem. The carriages, horses, postmen, etc. that are required to be owned are all not up to standard. Once something happens, the efficiency will be completely lost. make sure. So just imagine, if it loses the power of exploitation, there will be no difference at all whether the station is set up or not - nothing can be done.
But after all, Gao Pragmatic had worked as a grassroots cadre, and he figured out the key issue very keenly: Daming Station was actually equivalent to those public institutions in later generations that "responsible for their own profits and losses". They were state-owned, but the state actually Regardless of your eating problems, you will be given certain privileges.
Anyone else would have to make the most of this privilege, otherwise where would they go to eat?
There was no Confucius in the world. Conscience is certainly a good thing, but after all, it cannot be used as food. Those who starve to death without food will always be in the minority.
Very good, now I finally figured out where the source of the problem lies - it is the Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.
Yes, this seemingly convenient but actually stupid method was devised by Emperor Hongwu, who truly sympathized with the peasants from the bottom of his heart.
It's simply mind-boggling.
Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty's post station reform, the court must take back the post station's power to exploit local people, but at the same time it must also bear the normal expenses of the post station.
Then there are two big troubles:
The first big trouble is that the imperial court is now so poor that it is almost pawned off. So far, Gao Gong is still paying off debts for the Jiajing Dynasty. How can he have the money to pay for the expenses of the inn?
The second big trouble is, why should the imperial court bear the travel expenses of officials at all levels? Oh, you said that since everyone is the emperor’s ministers, of course the emperor must pay for business trips? That's right, but even if it is responsible, it stands to reason that the imperial court only needs to be responsible for the travel of officials at the central level. Why should your local officials be responsible for the central finance when they travel? How much tax does your local government pay to the central government? Back then, Zhu Yuanzhang kept all the tax money in the local government, and did not ask your local government to pay it to the central government at all!
This situation needs to be compared by Gao Pragmatic, as if he is an official of a certain city, a certain county, a certain township in a certain southern province, and he is going to a certain place in the north for inspection and study. Can his travel expenses be reimbursed directly to the Ministry of Finance?
What a face, my friend!
The problem is clear and the root cause has been found. What is needed now is to find a solution.
At first glance, this is an endless cycle: the imperial court needs the inn station - the imperial court has no money to afford the inn station - the imperial court gives the inn station special privileges - the inn station exploits the local people - officials exploit the inn station along the way - the imperial court still needs the inn station - the imperial court continues to condone the inn station Exploiting people.
In the final analysis, the root cause of this lies in one thing: the imperial court really needs a post station.
Not to mention anything else, just the exchange of official documents across the country, if there is no post station, all will have to be blinded. That also means that the imperial court's dominance has been completely cut off. Is this okay?
Moreover, it has the function of transmitting official documents across the country. Even a time traveler like Gao Pragmatic would not dare to come up with the idea of setting up a private company to handle it - if it is a matter of military situation or urgent government, which private person can bear such a responsibility? Not to mention the "legal person" of this private company, if he really misses something important, the court may even have to dig up the ancestral graves of the eighteenth generation. This is not a society ruled by law. It's really hard to whip corpses and dig up ancestral graves. come out.
Well, since the station is irreplaceable, we can only find a way to meet the funds needed for the station.
Gao Pragmatic didn't know much about modern finance, but he felt that the most fundamental aspects of finance were income and expenditure. If the court could support the station, it could only increase income and reduce expenditure.
To increase income, we can think of ways to start from the fact that the post stations "exploited" the local people in the past. First, we should find out to what extent the post stations in the Ming Dynasty exploited the local people. To collect another tax and settle the account separately, the station cannot be responsible for it, and it is best not to let the local government be responsible.
Of course, since the burden on the local area is to be reduced, this tax must be lighter than the previous exploitation at the inn, otherwise it will be a wasted effort.
But this also involves an issue of administrative efficiency. If a separate department is set up to take charge of this matter, it will become an overlapping of agencies. If not an overlap, at least it will be a bloated agency, which will also increase expenditures.
As for reducing expenditures, the most critical thing is to put an end to consumption and extortion by officials at all levels who pass through the post stations. This was also the main focus of Zhang Juzheng's reforms that year. However, Zhang Juzheng's problem was that he held on to the money and refused to let officials take it, so officials at all levels were very dissatisfied.
A pragmatic person is not a black and white angry young man. He will not say nonsense like "you shouldn't have taken this money in the first place" - he has been taking it for two hundred years, and now that you say he shouldn't take it, he is so convinced that he won't take it. ? Even if Confucius came in person, they would not be convinced.
Therefore, this money must be replenished, but the central finance of the imperial court cannot replenish it, otherwise it will still be a waste of work. It can only be replenished by the local finance. For example, when officials from various places take office, it can be changed to the responsibility of the official after he takes office. The local government reimbursed his travel expenses for taking office.
Of course, this travel expense must have a strict standard. You cannot say how much you spent on the road, and the local finance department will reimburse you. Rules must be set and the calculation must be strictly based on your grade and the length of the trip.
