"Zhao Lanxi?"
Gao pragmatic learned about Shen Yuanfu's appointment today at the Yamen of the Ministry of War. At that time, he was discussing with Qi Jiguang, who came to discuss the issue of salary payment for the Imperial Guards. He was suddenly invited over by Liang Menglong. Liang Menglong told him that Shen Shixing was here today. It is a matter of recommendation by Shangshu.
Looking at Liang Menglong with a cautious look on his face, Gao pragmatic suddenly laughed.
Liang Menglong said in surprise: "To be honest, why are you laughing?"
Gao pragmatically said with a relaxed smile: "I laughed at Shen Changzhou (Note: Shen Shixing's native place is Changzhou County, Suzhou Prefecture, Nanzhi). He was so ill that he rushed to the doctor. Seeing that we were about to cut off Wang Taicang's return to the court in advance, he unexpectedly Instead of thinking about how to ensure that Wang Taicang can return to the court smoothly, he instead 'considers victory before defeat' and plans to get Zhao Lanxi back to Shenjing first."
But Liang Menglong hasn't noticed anything wrong with Shen Shixing's approach. He even thinks... isn't this very sound?
"Consider victory before defeat. What's wrong with Shen Yaoquan's approach?"
Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "There is nothing wrong in thinking about victory before defeat, but the effect of doing the same thing at different times is very different. For example, Shen Yuanfu's timing was very inappropriate."
He paused for a moment and said: "Everyone with a discerning eye knows that Pan Xinchang's incident happened on behalf of others. It stands to reason that Shen Yuanfu should vigorously rescue him. This can not only show that he cares about his colleagues and is a reliable chief assistant, but also You can also spend thousands of gold to buy horse bones, which will help him gain a good reputation for his school of thought and even for him personally.
But Shen Yuanfu, on the other hand, not only did not come out to seek help, but continued to implement the previous plan, eager to find helpers for himself. It was just a slight change of order, moving Wang Taicang's return to the court later, and moving Zhao Lanxi's northward transfer forward.
Doing this will not only make Pan Xinchang regret it, but will also inevitably make others look down upon him. What benefit will this bring to him, Shen Yuanfu? What's more, he picked Zhao Lanxi, and Zhao Lanxi... haha. "
Liang Menglong understood the previous meaning, but what was wrong with Zhao Zhigao?
"What's wrong with Zhao Lanxi?" he asked.
Gao pragmatic raised his eyebrows slightly: "If one day Shen Changzhou vacates the throne and is replaced by Zhao Lanxi, the Xinxue school will definitely overwhelm me and the Shixue school."
"Oh? How can you see it?" Liang Menglong was a little surprised how he came to this conclusion.
Of course Gao Pragmatic could not tell him that "history has proven" that Zhao Zhigao was "soft and cowardly". He could only say: "Mingquan Gong was in the Hanlin Academy for a short period of time. It seems that he only studied in the Imperial Academy for a period of time?"
Liang Menglong nodded and replied: "That's right. After I left the academy, I went to work in the military department. My time in the Hanlin Academy was very short."
Gao Pingshi smiled and said: "Besides, I studied at Mingquan Mansion quite early, so I didn't know that when Zhao Lanxi was in the Hanlin Academy, someone had nicknamed him 'Grandma Zhao'."
Liang Menglong was stunned for a moment, then frowned and said: "How could someone in the Imperial Academy ridicule a colleague like this?"
Hey, there is something wrong with your thinking, Da Sima!
Gao Jingshi did not answer the question, just smiled and shook his head, saying: "Wan Sheng has not been in the Hanlin Academy for a long time, so I don't know why he is in this situation... However, doesn't Mr. Mingquan feel that this is also true?" Does it mean that Zhao Lanxi lacks courage and skill?"
Liang Menglong suddenly realized that this was the focus of Gao Pragmatic's attention.
"I see." He nodded thoughtfully, and said slowly: "As the saying goes, names may be wrong, but nicknames are hard to miss. It seems that Zhao Lanxi's 'mature and prudent' rumored by the outside world is just that. It’s just a euphemistic way of saying it. If that’s the case, it’s not a big deal to let him return to Beijing.”
"Exactly." Gao pragmatic nodded and said: "Don't say that he returned to Beijing just to be a minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Even if he is allowed to join the cabinet in a few years, Wansheng is not too worried. Therefore, Shen Yuanfu's move, in Wansheng's view There is no point in coming, but it may create some opportunities for us to prevent Wang Taicang from returning to the court."
Liang Menglong did not accept the challenge for the time being, but instead asked with a smile: "You may not be afraid of having the right minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs let out, but what if he takes over as the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in the future?"
Gao Pragmatic didn't mean that it didn't matter if he was the Minister of Civil Affairs - that really did matter, very much.
He pondered for a moment, shook his head and said: "Of course the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel cannot be let out easily, but it depends on the situation, what the other party will give in exchange, and who will be the Heavenly Official - if Zhao Lanxi is allowed to do it , we can still talk about it, but if they want Wang Taicang to do it, then there is no need to talk about it."
Wang Xijue was ten times tougher than Zhao Zhigao, and if he was made Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, life would be difficult for the Shi School. Especially if he still catches up with the year of Beijing Cha, a large number of people will be killed by Wang Xijue.
Liang Menglong nodded and said: "So, we can acquiesce in the transfer of Zhao Lanxi to the north. But speaking of it, I still think that exchanging the right minister of the Ministry of Personnel for the left minister of the Ministry of Justice... It doesn't seem to be very cost-effective, especially The current Heavenly Official cannot be considered one of our people."
"Mingquan Gong is worried that the staff is out of control?" Gao pragmatically asked.
Liang Menglong did not deny it and nodded slightly: "I know that Yang Tianguan has been in Guanxuan, Da, Jin, and Shaanxi for many years, and he has always been on good terms with Fengpan Gong, but to be honest, things are different now..."
Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "Meng Shanggong's three words and various officials returned to his hometown to support his mother for more than ten years. If Yuan Fu (referring to Zhang Siwei) hadn't invited him again and again, I'm afraid he wouldn't have done it again. He has become an official in the imperial court. Such a person... Wan Sheng thought that at least he would not be bribed."
Yang Wei was also a famous filial son. When his career was going smoothly, he resigned three times and returned to his hometown to take care of his mother. In the end, his mother passed away peacefully at the age of over 100 years old, which made him highly praised by the world. Last time, Zhang Siwei was invited back to the court to serve as Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs because three years had passed since his mother's death.
After careful consideration from all aspects - including his official experience - Gao Pangshi came to the conclusion that Yang Wei may not be a serious pragmatic school, but in a practical sense, he cannot avoid being labeled as a "Jin Party" .
Since it is definitely classified as the Jin Party by outsiders, it is not much different from being directly classified as the Practical School. After all, the current Jin Party is completely different from the historical Jin Party. It can be regarded as joining the Practical School with Gao Dang as the core. A series of.
Therefore, Yang Wei seems to be neutral and neither a group nor a party, but in fact he is definitely a pseudo-neutrality based on the standpoint of the real school.
Liang Menglong was a disciple of Zhang Juzheng and was not particularly familiar with these "old news" about the Jin Party, but since Gao Pragmatic was so sure, he had no choice but to believe it.
So he changed the topic and asked: "We can agree to Shen Changzhou's exchange, but what's next for Pan Xinchang? Should we take advantage of Shen Changzhou's disregard for him and pull him over again?" So that even if Wang Taicang returns to the court, he will not have a chance to join the cabinet?"
Well, it can be done, but Gao Pragmatic doesn't plan to do it this way.
Gao pragmatic shook his head: "This time the situation is different from the past. Pan Xinchang's impeachment cannot be turned back."
"Why?" Liang Menglong asked. According to Liang Menglong's understanding of Gao Jingshi, he felt that Gao Jingshi acted with a businessman's attitude in many things. What is the attitude of a businessman? The attitude is that as long as the interests are in place, there is nothing that cannot be discussed.
It may not be difficult to defeat Pan Xinchang, but after defeating him, it seems that the Practical School may not be able to gain any practical benefits. According to Liang Menglong's understanding of Gao Jingshi, if he could stabilize Pan Xinchang or even win him over in this situation, the benefits would be greater, and Gao Jingshi would not refuse.
But Gao Pragmatic said: "Wansheng said before that one of the main reasons for dealing with Pan Xinchang this time is to let the people of the Xinxue school know that even if we don't have the first assistant to hold the battle, we can still not be bullied or bullied. It’s humiliating. This means that this time we can’t compromise casually, we must show our prestige.”
He paused and narrowed his eyes slightly: "Besides, I guess the reason why Shen Yuanfu didn't save Pan Xinchang this time was probably because he wanted to weigh my weight. Haha, this master of mine is also a loser. Those who are preparing for the battle...If this is the case, let him know about it and be ready for another battle next time."
Of course, Liang Menglong would not be stupid enough to take these words completely seriously. He did not believe that Gao Pragmatic really wanted to reveal all his cards to Shen Shixing, and then fight him openly.
How is this a pragmatic style?
Liang Menglong was fully confident that Gao Pingshi's so-called "let him understand" was definitely calculated. Everything that Shen Shixing could understand was what he wanted Shen Shixing to understand.
These things may be true, they may be false, they may be both true and false, but that doesn't matter.
As for the reason, of course Liang Menglong couldn't guess that specific, but generally speaking, the word "digging a hole" could not be escaped.
He nodded and said: "In that case, who should go to the court to impeach him next? Is it time to replace him with an important minister with enough weight?"
Gao Pingshi laughed, nodded and said, "What Mr. Mingquan said is very true... The person who impeached him this time has enough weight."
Liang Menglong raised his eyebrows slightly: "Who is it?"
Gao pragmatically said: "Mr. Que'an."
"Ah!" Liang Menglong said in surprise: "Wei Que'an is far away in Nanjing. You contacted him so quickly, and you were even able to impeach Pan Xinchang on the forum?"
Gao Pinggong said sincerely: Of course, you don't think that I really waited until the discussion was over on the Double Ninth Festival day before starting to implement the plan, right? Was I sleeping all that time?
He smiled and did not explain the details. He just said: "Ding You, Duke Que'an had a bad time to return to the court because of Ding You. There was no vacancy in the court, so he had to go to Nanjing to be the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing. This time But it was a coincidence. Some time ago, he investigated the tax situation in Yingtian, Zhejiang and other places, and found that the economic development of some places was very good, but the taxes were shockingly low, so he checked some local things by the way, and the result was Many frauds were discovered..."
Liang Menglong obviously didn't believe everything Gao Pingshi said. For example, Wei Xuezeng investigated the tax situation in Yingtian and Zhejiang after becoming the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing. This may be true, but it is very wrong that he "happened" to find certain fraud cases - how can there be so many coincidences in this world?
Liang Menglong felt that it was very possible that this "coincidence" was entirely arranged by Gao Pragmatic or instructed by Wei Xuezeng.
As for the reason... Zhejiang maritime merchants didn't just oppose Jinghua today. Including the big businessmen in Yingtian, they have been resisting Jinghua's "invasion" overtly and covertly for at least ten years.
Three feet of ice does not freeze in a day. What happened to Liu Shou last time has already shown this.
And since the big businessmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang regard Jinghua as a hostile bandit, how could Jinghua not react at all? Maybe they have already been collecting evidence of their crimes.
In fact, Liang Menglong's conjecture was basically true, but he overestimated Gao's pragmatic energy.
Ever since he was named on the gold list, Gao Pragmatic has been busy in the past few years and has no spare time to launch any countermeasures against the Southeast Merchant Gang.
Jinghua really started investigating the big businessmen in Yingtian, Zhejiang and other places only after Wu Dui and his son Wu Xun had a conversation with Gao Pragmatic. The person responsible for this matter was Wu Xun, the same manager of Jinghua Ningbo Port.
Early the next morning, the Secretary of General Affairs sorted out the memorials sent from various places and yamen as usual and submitted them to the cabinet. Shen Shixing and Shen Yuanfu came to duty early. While drinking West Lake Longjing, which must be genuine, in his duty room, he began to review various memorials.
After reading for a while, I wrote a few notes. When I opened the next memorial, my face suddenly froze, and then my face suddenly darkened.
The title of this memorial reads "I impeach the great scholar Pan Sheng and ask for an increase in grain taxes in Ningbo and other places or to increase the commercial tax rate."
How are the impeachment of Pan Sheng and tax increases in Ningbo and other places connected?
Shen Shixing guessed that this sparse text was extremely unusual before he even read the text. He immediately took a look at the person who wrote it, and it was written "Wei Xuezeng, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing"!
Shen Shixing gasped - Wei Xuezeng was far away in Nanjing, why did he go to court to impeach Pan Sheng so quickly? This can't be a coincidence!
Looking at the content of the text again, Shen Shixing's face became more and more ugly, and soon his face became as dark as water.
Wei Xue once said in his memorial that when he investigated the situation of land taxes and commercial taxes in Yingtian, Zhejiang and other places, he found that in places such as Ningbo, the people were obviously very wealthy, but the land taxes were extremely low, and the proportion of commercial taxes (excluding ports) It is pitifully low.
Taking Ningbo as an example, the imperial court's largest income now actually comes from several local private ports. However, the tariffs paid by private ports may also have big problems: Jinghua Ningbo Port, the largest single private port, pays as much as 27,000 taels of tariffs a year, and the other private ports in Ningbo combined, in terms of scale, are Jinghua Ningbo. It is more than twice that of Hong Kong, but the taxes that can be paid are only more than 19,000 taels.
The Ming Dynasty's tariffs are now implemented according to the method that Gao pragmatically suggested to Gao Gong, that is, regardless of the goods, it is only based on the size of the ship. Therefore, since the scale of Jinghua Ningbo Port is smaller than that of other private ports combined, it stands to reason that the tax payment should be less. Why is it that Jinghua now pays 27,000 taels of tax per year, while the other private ports combined are still eighty less than Jinghua? Thousand taels?
As for why this matter is linked to Pan Sheng again? This is simple: Wei Xue once found out that Pan Sheng's nephew Pan Yi suddenly became the boss of a private port.
Seeing this, Shen Shixing immediately became restless.
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