Jiliao Xuandasi Town was the first two batches of frontier troops to replace some of the "Jinghua" firearms, even earlier than the Beijing army. Due to the tribute paid by I, there has been no war worth mentioning in Xuanda direction for a long time. Therefore, the current achievements of "Jinghua" firearms all come from Jiliao Town.
In fact, the weapons they replaced are not too advanced. The muskets are still front-loaded smooth-bore matchlocks, which are similar to Saigon guns and are named "Jinghua Longqing Type 2" - the reason why they are "Longqing" Type 2 is This gun was finalized in the sixth year of Longqing, and was submitted to the Ministry of War and the Beijing Camp for verification. Later, it was provided in small batches to Qi Jiguang's headquarters and received favorable reviews. Later, after being privately owned by the military industry, orders were obtained. There is actually a Longqing Yi type, but it is an experimental model and is an internal trial production and has not been mass-produced.
However, the Longqing II musket still has advantages over the Saigon musket: firstly, the Longqing II has a longer gun body; secondly, the quality is more stable.
Needless to say about quality, if the quality of the firearms produced by Jinghua cannot even compare with the products of the Ordnance Bureau and the Military War Bureau, then Gao Pragmatic might as well quit the industry.
Lengthening the barrel is worth mentioning. The length of the gun body affects many things, such as the muzzle velocity of the projectile, the power within the effective range, shooting distance, shooting accuracy, etc., but generally speaking, the most important influence is that the longer the gun body, the more accurate the shooting, but at the same time the range will decrease.
However, the Longqing II type achieved the same range as the official and battalion competition guns on the premise of improving accuracy. The reason is actually not complicated: Gao Pragmatic provides ammunition as a package. The ammunition he provides not only has paper-cased fixed-loading ammunition, but also has better gunpowder - although it is still black powder, it has been slightly improved and made into Instead of granular gunpowder, the ingredient ratio is more precise. [Wufeng’s note: The explanation of granularization is a bit complicated, and it may be too confusing to count, so I’ll omit it. ]
All in all, the technical level of the Longqing II musket can only be regarded as slightly higher than that of the Ming Dynasty's best infantry muskets (including bird guns), but its reliability has been greatly improved. After being equipped and strongly recommended by Jizhen, Liaodong also quickly began to carry out Dress up.
Of course, changing clothes requires money, so part of the money Gao Gong earned from customs duties was invested in armaments. But this is a virtuous cycle, so it must be counted as political achievements.
Another major achievement is that administrative efficiency has been greatly improved. This political achievement mainly comes from the examination method after adding the highly pragmatic "quantified political performance" idea.
Zhang Juzheng's examination method has been criticized a lot by later generations. The problem is not that the effect is not good, but that he does not care about the means. For example, when examining the political performance of a county magistrate, if one of the items is how much tax was collected, then Zhang Juzheng would only ask whether the specific amount of tax was reached, but not what methods the magistrate used.
The same issue was discussed by Gao Gong and Gao Jingshi as early as the fourth year of Longqing [Wufeng Note: See Chapter 009 of Volume 1]. At that time, Gao Jingshi's initial point of view was very similar to Zhang Juzheng's, but Gao Gong immediately objected, believing that local gentry and even local officials would definitely pass on the tax payment pressure to ordinary people, which would easily lead to more exploitation of the ordinary people, causing unrest and even civil unrest. Then Gao Pragmatic put forward another request, that is, to include local stability in the performance evaluation of county officials.
The examination method promoted by Gao Gong in recent years adheres to this idea, but adds more details. In short, whether a county magistrate is doing well or not, there are many specific data for reference, such as the speed of replying to official documents, the tax collection rate, the tax collection increase rate, the fame acquisition rate (a scholar or above), the case processing speed, Case completion rate, banditry occurrence rate and danger, civil disorder occurrence rate and danger...etc.
The release of these standards has improved the administrative efficiency of almost all the Ming Dynasty. Of course, due to regional differences, differences in development levels and other reasons, basically the more economically developed regions have better results, while the more economically backward regions have worse results. Not long ago, Gao Gong was discussing with Gao Pragmatic how to improve backward areas, but he didn't expect that now they would be separated forever.
In addition, Gao Gong not only has a good vision in hiring people, but also has a prime ministerial bearing.
To give two examples of civil affairs and military affairs: As for civil servants, the former governor of Shandong, Liang Menglong, was a disciple of Zhang Juzheng. After Zhang Juzheng's fall, Liang Menglong himself felt that not to mention that the governor of Shandong would not be able to sit firmly, and he was afraid that he would be impeached by Gao's disciples. , so even the resignation letter was written. As a result, he waited for a transfer order and returned to Beijing as the right minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and cooperated with the Minister of Household Affairs Wang Guoguang to clear the entire country's land.
After clearing the land of his father-in-law, Liang Menglong changed the Ministry of War and went to Liaodong to reward the soldiers. After returning in the fifth year of Wanli, he was promoted from the left minister of the Ministry of War to the censor of the right capital and the governor of Ji Liao. Li Chengliang's "Victory of Splitting the Mountain" was fought with his full support. from.
In terms of generals, after Zhang Juzheng's fall, Qi Jiguang was very anxious for a time and sent his nephew Qi Jin back to Beijing to contact Gao pragmatism. Gao pragmatic just told Qi Jin, "Yuanfu knows the Qiancheng of your uncle's country very well. Ji Town is such a big deal, how can it be taken lightly."
As a result, Qi Jiguang was not affected at all. Instead, he was heavily rewarded by the court for defeating Duoyan Donghu twice in the first year of Wanli and the second year of Wanli. Qi Jiguang was first promoted to the prince's Taibao, and then to Shaobao, and finally became the most familiar to Gao pragmatism. "Qi Shaobao".
As for other achievements, it is difficult to describe them all at the moment, but they can be mentioned in the future.
In short, during these six years, Gao Gong injected enough vitality into the continued advancement of Ming Dynasty's "Jialong Ten Thousand Reforms", and his achievements are immeasurable. From this aspect, "Wen Zheng" is what he should be Some rewards.
But if it were just that, given the special significance and extreme scarcity of "Wen Zheng", Zhu Yijun still might not give it, and maybe he could get away with it by giving it to "Wen Zhong".
But there is another aspect of Gao Gong that makes Zhu Yijun heartily satisfied, that is, Gao Gong has very rich educational experience. He did not have strict requirements on everything like Zhang Juzheng taught Wanli in history, and did not allow the emperor to make any mistakes. He often comforted Wanli when he made mistakes, and helped the emperor speak for him when he was occasionally criticized by some officials who "disregarded their reputation and betrayed their integrity."
Just like how he treated Long Qing back then.
Gao Gong's educational ideas are very different from Zhang Juzheng's. If we must make a comparison, it can be said that Gao Gong insists on being strict with himself and treating others with leniency; while Zhang Juzheng is lenient with self-discipline and is strict with others.
When Zhang Juzheng was deposed, the reason why the emperor issued an order to inspect his bachelor's palace in the capital was because he wanted to give it to Gao Gong, but Gao Gong later refused. He even explained to the emperor in person: "My nephew is pragmatic, rich, and has a clean background. If I want to change my house, when can I not change it? Therefore, those who do not change do not forget the original intention of being honest and self-disciplined."
He served as the chief minister of the Wanli Dynasty for six years, and his land did not increase by one acre, nor did he have any more slaves. He did not even accept some of the elegant things given to him by Gao Jingshi, but only some tea leaves, soap and the like. Things of ordinary use. [Wufeng's note: Historically, Gao Gong and his integrity were praised by Hai Ruidu. ]
Zhang Juzheng's performance in history was much worse. Later generations of scholars concluded that he was "proclaiming anti-corruption, but at the same time he was accepting bribes; while he was shouting about frugality, he was extravagant; while he was shouting about integrity, he was obsessed with beautiful women's skirts and hairpins."
The two styles determined the different perceptions of the little emperor Wanli towards them.
Gao Gong continued the way he taught Long Qing: as a teacher, he teaches what should be taught; but also like a father, he protects what should be protected.
Therefore, "Wen Zheng" comes from this.
