In recent years, Gao Pragmatic, as the Minister of Household Affairs, has always been extremely busy.
The accounting statements for the autumn grains converted into silver and stored in the treasury have been submitted. Not only do they need to be reviewed by the Department of Accounts, but they also need to be used as a basis for performance evaluation together with the Department of Personnel;
The pre-deposit of next year's salary for imperial officials and the issuance of this month's salary will occur within the same month, and the rewards after merit examinations must also be prepared. In terms of rewards, civilian officials generally don't get much; it's mainly military generals who get them, and this requires coordination with the Ministry of War;
It is necessary to make statistics on the increase and decrease of fields in each county, prefecture, province and Beijing and Beijing regions this year: in some places, the fields are deserted due to geological disasters or other reasons, and in some places, the data has increased due to newly cultivated fields, and the increase or decrease may vary. For conflicts such as mutual offsets, the household department will be the main one and the official department will be the auxiliary.
Although the Treasury Department and the Department of Accounts related to the Yiying Banknote Law were quickly reduced to Qingshui Yamen after the establishment of the Ming Fed, they were not without any problems. They still had the legal responsibility to supervise the Ming Fed's accounts, gold and silver reserves, etc. You have to go out and do some accounting for your responsibilities;
Taicang bank warehouses, imperial horse warehouses, military warehouses, salt warehouses and other household warehouses also need to be routinely counted. Gao Pragmatic has always attached great importance to warehousing work and was very dissatisfied with the past warehousing performance. Since taking office, he has dismissed or dismissed (depending on the grade) more than 20 warehousing officials and officials, and transferred or demoted more than 30 people.
Another is the new task of the Ministry of Household Affairs that has emerged in recent years: mining statistics work. With the rise of Jinghua, there has been a trend of mining everywhere in Ming Dynasty, and unlike the previous government-run model, there are now more private mining plants.
Therefore, the Provincial Public Security Bureau of the Ministry of Revenue (such as the Shandong Public Security Bureau of the Hubu Department and the Shanxi Public Security Bureau of the Hubu Department) must work with the provincial procuratorate (inspecting the censor's Yamen) and the local prefecture and county Yamen to inspect private mines. This includes checking whether there is illegal expansion of mining areas, whether there is concealment of mineral production, whether there are false accounts, etc. - because these are all related to the amount of tax paid.
After Gao Jingshi changed the Ministry of Household Affairs to the same system of four servants as the Ministry of War, the work of the two new yamen has been on the right track and they are extremely busy.
The Customs Department's annual customs and border customs revenue report must also be prepared and submitted, including detailed comparisons of a certain customs or a certain border customs data between last year and this year (year-on-year), as well as estimates of possible revenue for next year. When it comes to the Customs Administration's summary, it also requires year-on-year changes across the country and estimates of next year's revenue.
As for the Audit Office, there is no need to go into detail. Not only the revenue and expenditure from various ministries and government agencies to various regions must be accounted for, but also the changes in fields, mines, and household registrations in various regions are included in the statistical scope. Even the Customs and Border Customs revenue of the Customs Department is also included in the statistics. The department will conduct accounting and finally report possible errors or discrepancies in the reports in various places so that the chief minister, the cabinet and the emperor can understand the details.
Let me explain: the Audit Office is only responsible for auditing, and the errors and erroneous data it finds can only be "reported" and not "distributed". This is to maintain secrecy and form an "unknown deterrent" to various ministries and localities.
This approach not only strengthened the imperial power, but also strengthened the power of the cabinet. It also strengthened the authority of the Ministry of Revenue itself. Because apart from these three parties, the various ministries and offices and localities don’t know whether the reports they submitted have been caught in any way.
This can be regarded as one of the characteristics of the Ming Dynasty, that is, whoever has the right to supervise is above all his supervisees.
When Gao pragmatically established the Audit Office, many people did not take it seriously. At least no one regarded the Audit Office as more important than the Customs Office. Who knew that the Customs Administration was an obvious move. Apart from expanding the power of the Ministry of Revenue, it did not pose any threat to everyone.
On the contrary, after the establishment of the Audit Office, it quickly turned into a "ghost-seeking" yamen. People from the Audit Office came to audit accounts without giving advance notice. Immediately "resisting the review", five parties including the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple, Metropolitan Procuratorate, Jinyiwei, and Dongchang were ordered by the emperor to form an investigation team at any time (the composition depends on the objects of the investigation, and it may not necessarily be all five), and immediately moved in to investigate. But let’s see how big the problem is with your account and how dare you resist the review.
All of the above resulted in the Hubu Yamen, which controlled the Audit Office, suddenly having partial supervisory power over other Yamen, and even local Yamen. The power of the entire Hubu Yamen increased visibly to the naked eye.
However, although his power has become greater, his responsibilities have also become heavier. As the official of the Household Department, Gao Pingshi is even more busy. He has already started to work overtime at night, and for several days in a row, he could not return home until midnight.
On this day, he returned to Shangshu's Mansion at a quarter of a hour. When he got downstairs from Rixin, he found that Liu Xin's office was still lit, so he went upstairs to see what she was busy with.
After knocking on the door, I heard Liu Xin saying from inside: "I know it's you who's back! Come in, the door is open."
Gao Pingshi pushed the door open and saw Liu Xin looking at some pieces of letter paper in her hand, so he asked, "Where did the letter come from?"
"Japan." Liu Xin replied without even raising her head: "Liu Sanwu...oh, a letter from Longze Shiyang."
"Oh, he's been there for two or three months, right?" Gao Pingshi was not surprised when she didn't say hello. He sat down on his own and asked, "Have you found a way to get close to the senior officials of Osaka City?"
"He hasn't started looking for it yet. The path will be found by him." Liu Xin finally raised her head and smiled sweetly: "I didn't know that the Japanese attach great importance to 'foreign students'. This guy is going against the will of a retired guerrilla general of the Ming Army." Big Hat returned to Japan, and as soon as he arrived at Osaka Castle, he was noticed by someone named..."
She seemed to have forgotten her name. She lowered her head and read the text on a previous page before continuing: "There is a Japanese named Nagasuke Masakaya who strongly recommends him to be the envoy of Osaka Town and concurrently serve as the general secretary of the Tang Dynasty."
Gao pragmatic frowned slightly and asked: "What does Osaka Town do as a deputy? Manage the business of Osaka City? What is Tang Tongshi? Is it related to me, Ming Dynasty?"
"Dai" should be an agent, but it seems that the Osaka Town Advocate cannot be simply understood as managing the business of Osaka Castle. Although Ryuzawa Miyo did not explain in detail, judging from the description of his job responsibilities in his letter, I think he may be the He became the mayor of Osaka—or at least the chief of the city’s police department, but now he’s acting.”
Gao Pingshi was surprised and said: "You rose to the sky in one step and became the mayor right after you returned home? Who is the Chang Shuzheng family, so famous? Hiss... I seem to be a little impressed by this name, but it's a pity that it's not particularly impressive."
"Does Niwa Nagahide know? Tatsuzawa Miyo said that Nagashumasa was originally Niwa Nagahide's... um, deputy."
"Oh -" Gao Jingshi suddenly said: "It seems that he must be an expert in internal affairs." After a pause, he asked again: "Niwa Nagahide should be dead now, what is Nagasuke Masa doing?"
Liu Xin shrugged slightly and said, "I don't know his specific position. Longze Shiyang didn't say anything in his letter. He only said that he is now 'Guan Bai Zhichen'."
"That's Toyotomi Hideyoshi's cronies." Gao Pingshi nodded, thought about it carefully, and suddenly opened his eyes and said: "Ah, this guy seems to be one of the 'Five Practitioners' in the future. This is a heavyweight. , Longze Shiyang is so lucky that he fell in love with him as soon as he arrived at Osaka City?"
"What you said is that you overestimate the role of luck and underestimate your own arrangements." Liu Xin shook her head helplessly and said, "I would say that you are a bit like your parents. Look, you didn't arrange this yourself. It was arranged, and with such a good result, you doubt whether there is something wrong...
Let me tell you, the credit for this mainly goes to Guogong and Uncle Mo, and of course Jinghua Shipyard also has a part. Here's the thing: Didn't Toyotomi Hideyoshi say he wanted to buy a boat before? But he wants too many ships, thirty ships in total. Although our shipyard is large, it is impossible to have such a large inventory of ships.
Therefore, Cheng Guogong's face played a big role. He persuaded some businessmen who ordered gunless transport ships. The ships ordered by these people were about to be delivered, but now they were given to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The first There are twelve ships in this batch, all of which are brand new and in stock.
Uncle Mo arranged another part of the matter, which was to let Toyotomi Hideyoshi know that these ships were plucked from the hands of merchants from the Ming Dynasty, but he only said that the credit of Cheng Guogong was the credit of Longze Shiyang.
Roughly speaking, Longze Shiyang relied on his status in our Liu Jiajun to persuade the businessmen who ordered ships one by one. Of course, he also spent a lot of money. Then, he personally escorted these ships back to Japan, specifically to Osaka Castle. The person who handed over to him at this time was Nagasuke Masakaya.
The Changshu family heard what he said and learned that he had retired from the Ming Dynasty - well, in Japanese terms it seems to be called farewell to the master's family or something, that's what it meant anyway. In short, when he arrived in Japan, his status was regarded as a "wild samurai", that is, a free warrior.
At that time, Chang Shuzheng's family only expressed welcome and said nothing else. However, on the next day, Chang Shuzheng's family suddenly came to the door and said that they had strongly recommended him to serve as an official in front of Guan Bai, and it was very likely that he would be reused. It just requires him to meet Guan Bai in person and accept Guan Bai's... well, it means an interview. "
Gao pragmatic nodded and asked: "Then what? He must go to see Toyotomi Hideyoshi. What did Toyotomi Hideyoshi ask?"
"I asked a lot of questions." Liu Xin reached out and flicked the letter sent by Longze Shiyang and said, "He first asked Longze Shiyang what he had done in the Ming army over the years and what achievements he had made. Especially when I asked him how many troops he had led, etc. In short, it was some military matters."
Gao Pingshi frowned slightly, but didn't say much, nodded and said, "What's next?"
"Then ask him why he retired from Ming Dynasty."
"How did he say?"
Liu Xin smiled and said: "What else can you say? He just said that there are no wars in Ming Dynasty now, and after all, he has accumulated some money over the years, and he wants to return to his roots, so he said goodbye to me - oh, goodbye Master, back to Japan.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was quite surprised at the time and asked him if the Ming Dynasty's master family would tolerate retainers resigning casually? This guy sold my house on the spot, saying that my master’s family had no war to fight, and he didn’t want to support Japanese people like them. Taking the initiative to say goodbye would save money for my master’s family... Bah!
But Toyotomi Hideyoshi believed it. Not only did he believe it, he also scolded him a few times. It was probably like the people of the Tang Dynasty who crossed the river and burned the bridge. Then he comforted him, saying that talents like him would be more useful in Japan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi appointed him as the mayor of Osaka on the spot, plus a general secretary of the Tang Dynasty. "
Gao pragmatic interjected: "By the way, it seems you haven't said what this Tang Tongshi does just now."
"Tang Tongshi, the management scope of this position is quite large. It is not only responsible for managing all the Ming people in Osaka City, but also responsible for all business dealings with Ming, as well as diplomatic contacts with Ming... Oh, By the way, he was sometimes used as a translator. In short, everything related to the Ming Dynasty is basically inseparable from the work of Tang Tongshi."
Gao Pragmatic laughed and said: "Toyotomi Hideyoshi is quite good at using people. If Tatsuzawa Sanyo is not the person we specially arranged, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's skills can be considered to be used to their full potential."
"Of course, after all, there are only twelve gunless transport ships sent over now. If according to what you said, he will take action against Kanto next year, then he should be very anxious now when will the remaining eighteen ships be available? In place. Since Miyo Ryuzawa has such a network to exploit, how can Toyotomi Hideyoshi let him go?"
Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "This is just one of the reasons. I think Toyotomi Hideyoshi's intention is more than that."
"Huh?" Liu Xin frowned and thought for a moment, then said thoughtfully: "I guess you mean that he also likes the fact that Long Ze Shiyang knows the inside story of our Ming army."
Gao Yingshi said calmly: "Yes. But I have explained this to Uncle Mo. I think Uncle Mo has told them what they can say and what they cannot say."
"That's good." Liu Xin breathed a sigh of relief, but immediately asked: "What about the strength of the Beiyang Fleet or the Beijing-China Fleet?"
Gao pragmatic raised his eyebrows slightly: "Longze Shiyang is not from the Beijing-China Liangyang Fleet. Of course he doesn't know everything about it." After a pause, he smiled again: "Oh, you can't say that we don't know about everything. We do. There is also some news that he needs to tell Toyotomi Hideyoshi on purpose."
"As soon as I saw your expression, I knew that there must be another trap waiting for Toyotomi Hideyoshi to jump into." Liu Xin rolled her eyes at him, but immediately reminded: "But I still want to say, Toyotomi Hideyoshi can jump from A monkey who doesn't even have the Chinese character Miao can reach his current status, and it's absolutely impossible for him to be an idiot, so your design is your design, so don't underestimate him."
"I didn't underestimate him. During this period of time, I even carefully recalled a lot of memories related to this period of Japanese history." Gao pragmatically said: "Toyotomi Hideyoshi now uses Tatsuzawa Miyo, but actually he doesn't necessarily believe him. . I estimate that in addition to hoping that Longze Shiyang will continue to play a role in the boat purchase, he will also arrange some other tests for him."
Liu Xin looked at him in surprise, looked at him carefully, and finally nodded: "It seems that you are where you are today, not all because of your foresight. Your analytical skills are indeed pretty good."
Gao Pingshi was moved in his heart and asked: "Why, Longze Shiyang wrote to you just because he was tested?"
"Hmm... almost." Liu Xin handed the letter to Gao Pangshi and said: "Toyotomi Hideyoshi hopes that he will play a role in trying to get the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance to move the General Chamber of Commerce in Japan to Osaka Castle."
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