Gao Butang was still very considerate of the emperor's personal urging. Early the next morning, "In order to comply with the will of the Holy Spirit, relieve the people's poverty and reduce consumption, please reform the post station and discuss postal transmission of various matters" submitted by the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, Gao Pingshi, and co-signed by the Secretary of the Ministry of War, Zhou Yong, was sent to the cabinet. Referred to as "Innovation Station Shu".
The chief minister of the cabinet that day happened to be the chief assistant Shen Shixing. As soon as he saw that this "Revolutionary Station Essay" actually contained more than 20,000 words, he immediately knew that the real drama was coming. Shen Yuanfu quickly read the essay himself. After reading it, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and thought for a while, and immediately sent someone to summon Wang Xijue for discussion.
That's right, the previous "abolition of the grain chief system" controversy was proposed by Wang Xijue, Shen Shixing made the decision, and then the two cooperated to promote it secretly. There is no doubt that the purpose is to be highly pragmatic.
The other people in Shen Yuanfu's duty room had already been invited out, and he was the only one in the whole room. He sat calmly and calmly, with the air of a prime minister.
Wang Xijue came in and glanced around, with a smile on his face, and said: "Looking at Yuan Fu's posture, I think Gao Rixin is finally willing to accept the challenge?"
"Yes." Shen Shixing nodded, stretched out his hand to make a gesture of invitation, and said: "Brother Yuan Yu, please sit down."
Wang Xijue thanked him, sat down on his own, and asked, "Of the three strategies I expected, which one did Gao Rixin choose?"
"As I expected, Gao Rixin chose the best strategy." Shen Shixing smiled slightly: "Brother Yuan Yu, I remember that when you just returned to Beijing to join the cabinet, I told you that although Gao Rixin is young, He has been acting like an old fox more than ten years ago. If you only regard him as a little fox, you are really mistaken."
After hearing Shen Shixing's words, Wang Xijue was not too surprised. He nodded and said, "What Yuan Fu said is true. This time he was able to give up both the worst and the middle strategy. This shows that this boy is not only smart, but also extremely determined."
To be honest, I asked Quanzi about this strategy and asked Quanzi to think about how to deal with the situation I designed from Gao Rixin's point of view. At that time, Quanzi thought for a while and the answer was the best solution. I gave a few more pointers, and Quanzi thought about it again and again, and finally came up with the right strategy. "
Wang Xijue sighed: "It's not Xijue's own boast, Quanzi is pretty good at reading. Unfortunately, when compared with Gao Rixin in these matters, the difference between the two cannot be measured by reason."
Wang Xijue's son Wang Heng once won the first place in the Shuntian Township Examination. Because some people were jealous and slandered the examination as fraudulent. Wang Xijue became angry and publicly stated that his son would no longer take the examination before he retired. Therefore, historically, Wang Heng took the imperial examination again in the 29th year of Wanli. He came in second place in the first examination, becoming the second place like Nai's father, and at the same time he rectified his reputation as Jieyuan.
At this moment, Wang Xijue said that he was "quite good at studying". That was not boastful, it was even a bit too modest. However, Wang Xijue's assessment that his political level is not good, judging from the fact that he only thinks of the worst of the "three predetermined strategies", and even only thinks of the middle strategy after being given guidance, seems... is not an understatement, it is basically a fact.
However, Shen Shixing still advised him to be more open-minded and said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty has not yet started his official career and does not know the dangers of officialdom. It is already good to think of a good strategy. Quanzi has been in the official position for many years, and I also used this strategy to test him. He thought about it all night , I just thought of the middle strategy."
Wang Xijue shook his head and said: "The strategy I expected was to use Jinghua's strong financial resources to forcibly take over the distribution of grain taxes and gold, flowers and silver from various places. The considerations and trade-offs involved in this strategy depend on whether Jinghua can Accept this matter, and the impact it will cause after accepting this matter.
Quanzi reported a few numbers at that time, which probably meant that Jinghua only needed to invest in three ports, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Ningbo, or at most four ports including Guangzhou Port, to take over the matter. In his opinion, being able to take on such an important task is really a way to share the worries of the court and the emperor, and will definitely make the emperor think highly of him, and he will rely on him even more from now on. There is no great good.
Then I reminded him, if Jinghua alone controls the transfer of wealth in the world, and every move of the court depends on its power, then who really has the power in the world? "
"Quuzi was stunned by my question, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses." Mr. Wang Ge sighed and said, "Then he said, if that's the case, then he can't accept this job. It's better to launch a speech and use the ancestors to control it. Easy and pushy.
In addition, he also said that since the implementation of the One Whip Law in Jiangnan and other places, the transportation of grain taxes has become the transportation of gold and silver, which has saved grain chiefs in various places a lot of trouble and expense. Therefore, we can continue to promote the whip method all over the world. When the two capitals and thirteen provinces only need the grain chiefs to transport gold and silver, the cost will naturally come down, and the grain chief system can barely be maintained... Haha, really naive. "
Shen Shixing said helplessly: "It is difficult for the younger generation to take on the important responsibilities. What can we do except teach them carefully?"
After saying this, Shen Yuanfu shook his head as if mocking himself, and said: "But having said that, although this strategy may cause headaches and pain, if it is considered to avoid turmoil in the court, it is actually not a good idea. It can also be regarded as a Tai Chi push. Although this strategy does not cure the root cause, it can at least cure the symptoms. It cannot be wrong to make plans until the situation changes in the future. It is still a prudent strategy. "
"Prudent strategy?" Wang Xijue sneered from his nostrils and said solemnly: "If Gao Rixin was as capable as a dog, he would have chosen the worst strategy or the middle strategy. I have at least three choices. This method ruined his prestige. Not only did he look like an incompetent minister in the eyes of the emperor, but Xu Weizhen and Shen Zhonghua also seized the opportunity and severely punished him within the Real School.
Maybe by that time, Gao Rixin will have lost his false reputation as the 'world's most courageous scholar' and will no longer be the 'most desired assistant of the third generation'! If we can do this, I will at least be able to have a few years of breathing space within the School of Mind. I will select the underachievers and focus on training them. If I compete with the Practical School in the future, I won’t have to worry about having no one to succeed me. "
Shen Shixing showed a wry smile and sighed: "But he is Gao Rixin after all. Brother Yuan Yu, he became the prince's companion at the age of eight. In fact, he has been an official for almost twenty years now, how can he Do you regard him as one of those new scholars who are less than thirty years old?"
Wang Xijue raised his brows and asked: "So how does this 'veteran' plan to deal with this time? But as I expected, he will use the post station to replace Jinghua's current use in solving problems?"
"He... that's right." Shen Shixing nodded.
Wang Xijue finally laughed this time and said: "Okay, okay, okay. Although he escaped the biggest trap by doing this, using the inn to replace Jinghua's fleet and cavalry would mean that Jinghua would still lose an income. Secondly, the matter at the inn involves a wide range of things, and it is not easy to coordinate well. We have many ways to continue to cause trouble for him.
As long as there are too many troubles, even if he has a heart as delicate as Gan's, there is still the possibility of making mistakes while busy. When the time comes... Humph! "
Shen Shixing didn't seem as optimistic as Wang Xijue. He frowned, raised the memorial in his hand and said: "The inn matter is naturally very involved, but judging from his memorial today... he doesn't seem to be I’m not afraid that it will involve a wide range of things, I’m even a little worried that it won’t involve a wide range of things.”
As Shen Yuanfu spoke, he handed the memorial in his hand to Wang Xijue.
"Oh?" Wang Xijue's expression seemed a little surprised. He frowned slightly and took the memorial and said, "Let me take a look." Shen Shixing nodded and said, "Brother Yuan Yu, please help yourself."
Wang Xijue read this memorial very carefully. Not only did he miss every word, but he would ponder for a moment from time to time, and even go back and read the above text again.
Shen Shixing's patience was extremely good, and he was completely worthy of the four words "general character". He didn't say a word from the beginning to the end, not to mention urging, not even any unnecessary movements or sounds.
After Wang Xijue finally finished reading the memorial, Shen Shixing still did not take the initiative to ask, but just watched Wang Xijue put the memorial aside thoughtfully. Shen Shixing looked at him with a normal expression, waiting for him to speak first.
Who would have thought that this time Wang Xijue was uncharacteristically uncharacteristic and did not talk about his own countermeasures at the beginning. Instead, he praised him: "Regardless of his position, Gao Rixin can be said to be an unparalleled king in terms of his courage and talent." As he spoke, he tapped the memorial he placed on the table with his finger and praised it again: "As clear as ice, as clean as jade, legal but not powerful, harmonious but not obscene."
Shen Shixing was silent for a moment and said softly: "We are not the same people."
Wang Xijue's face froze, and he sighed deeply, saying: "Yes, we are not in the same camp."
The pragmatic words he just praised as "as clear as ice, as clean as jade, legal but not awe-inspiring, harmonious but not obscene" came from Cao Zhi. Cao Zhi's words praising Xun Yu come from his "Guanglu Doctor Xunhou Elegy".
Cao Zhi's original sentence at that time was: "As clear as ice, as clean as jade, lawful but not overbearing, harmonious but not obscene, hundreds of people and common people, their tassels are soaked in tassels, clever girls throw twigs, farmers stop plowing, and take turns giving food." Tossing but not turning, the horse moans and leans on the balance." - Obviously this was written by Cao Zhi to commemorate and praise Xun Yu after his death, and it is essentially a coffin-closing conclusion.
Wang Xijue, who was a top student at the top of the Three Tripods, certainly knew this, but he chose to use this sentence to "finalize the coffin" of Xun Yu on the young Gao pragmatism.
Considering that the context in which he said this does not seem like irony, it can only mean that he was really shocked by Gao Pragmatic's actions after reading "Innovation Station", so he had such excessive praise.
In later generations, even Zhuge Liang was questioned by some. On the contrary, almost everyone praised Xun Yu from Cao Cao's camp for his talent as Wang Zuo, which shows his high talent and upright conduct. Since the Ming Dynasty, except for the first prime minister of the Red Dynasty, it is probably difficult to find such a flawless piece of jade.
However, to talk about the reason why Wang Xijue suddenly had such a high opinion of Gao Pragmatic, we must first talk about the root cause of the "widely involved" incident he mentioned before.
The establishment of the Ming Dynasty Station, the usual system, the problems that occurred, etc. have been mentioned in the previous chapters of this book [Note: See Volume 2 of this book, Guan Jinghua, Chapter 045, Yude Shangshu], and will not be repeated here. A few points not yet mentioned.
As early as the Yuan Dynasty, the post station was called "Zhan Chi", and there were many methods such as horses, carts, oxen, donkeys, boats, dogs, sedan chairs, etc. Horses were the most important, and there were also many oxen, carts, and boats.
When there are too many types, it becomes very troublesome to manage. So Zhu Yuanzhang simplified and classified the cumbersome post stations in the Yuan Dynasty, and combined the horse stations and boat stations into water horse stations. Large animals such as oxen, mules, donkeys, and camels and their transporters were separated separately and set up as delivery stations. Together with the express delivery shop inherited from the Yuan Dynasty, these three constitute the three major parts of the Daming Station.
So, which yamen managed the post stations in the Ming Dynasty? This is about a very cruel reality. There was no transshipment department for "senior officials" in the Ming Dynasty, and the transshipment departments of the Song and Jin Dynasties did not exist in the Ming Dynasty.
The result is that the transportation of supplies in the Ming Dynasty was based on prefectures and counties. This is an aspect of the financial system of the Ming Dynasty. I will not explain too much here. I will only say one thing: the existence of this reality led to the fact that the three major systems of the Ming Dynasty post stations were directly subordinate to the central government, and specifically, they belonged to the Chariot and Driving Department of the Ministry of War.
The Ming Dynasty abolished the Zhongshu Province and returned the power to the six ministries. The Ministry of War was theoretically under the direct leadership of the emperor. The chariot and driving department of the Ministry of War was responsible for the affairs of the bookkeeping, ceremonial guard, imperial guard, post and stable animal husbandry. That is to say, manage the emperor's ceremonial guards, vehicles, and at the same time manage the inn system.
As for local post stations, the person in charge is called Yi Cheng, and the yamen are linked to the prefecture and county yamen, so the post officials are often counted among the officials of the prefecture and county. The office funds of the post station are allocated from the state and county finances. The so-called "support directly from the government." If there are prefectures and counties, then the entry and exit are based on them." That's right.
However, the official tax of the Ming Dynasty did not include this item, so the expenses of the post station were levied separately. In later generations, there was a special word for this called "apportionment". For example, this year the station spent a total of one thousand taels of silver, and the county had a population of 5,000 households, so each household was allocated two taels of silver.
The above is the overall situation of the station, but just talking about the overall situation cannot go into the complexity of the problem. We have to talk about these three systems individually and specifically.
As mentioned earlier, Shui Ma Post is divided into Shui Post and Ma Post. The principle of setting up Shui Ma Post is that the distance between the two places is exactly one day's journey. This was mentioned by Gao Pangshi when he first became the censor of Guangxi.
In other words, if you start from this station early this morning and walk for a day, you will definitely be able to reach the next station by the afternoon. The distance between these two places is sixty to eighty miles for Ma Yi and one hundred to one hundred and twenty miles for Shui Yi. In this era, the cavalry troops generally traveled at a speed of seventy miles per day (not considering special circumstances, such as elite cavalry breaking away from their baggage and running for attack, etc.).
Without changing the main means of transportation, this speed remained the same until the later Anti-Japanese War, and the inn station also followed this principle.
The express delivery shop originated in the Song Dynasty and was called "Jiji Delivery" in the Song Dynasty. The Jin and Yuan Dynasties followed this system, and it was carried forward in the Yuan Dynasty and officially became a system. The Ming Dynasty also inherited the express delivery system of the Yuan Dynasty and carried it forward again.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the distance between express delivery shops was not fixed. "One shop is set up every ten, fifteen, or twenty miles." However, in the Ming Dynasty, when the People's Republic of China was founded in the first month of the first year of Hongwu, regulations were issued: "Express delivery shops are set up every ten, fifteen, or twenty miles." , one shop will be set up every ten miles."
In actual operation, due to terrain factors, of course it is not really so uniform, but most still follow this rule. In later generations, many places had place names, such as Balipu, Shilipu, Shibalipu, Sansanlipu, etc. Most of them are the historical relics of this kind of express delivery shop.
The delivery station was the first of its kind in the Ming Dynasty. It was actually a separate station for cattle, mules, donkeys and camels that existed in Chizhong in the Yuan Dynasty. As mentioned earlier, there is no provincial-level delivery department in Ming Dynasty. All shipments are delivered separately by prefectures and counties.
This was the case in the early Ming Dynasty. The troops stationed in various garrison stations were used for transportation. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that this would easily affect the combat effectiveness of the local garrison, so he established a separate system called delivery stations, one for each city.
The inns usually referred to usually refer to horse inns alone, or at most water inns, but in fact this is not the case. The first thing to explain is that the inn system belongs to the country and the imperial court. Its original intention is to serve the imperial court, but it is not to provide convenience to society. Therefore, the inn itself at this time is not allowed for personal use.
The main function of the Shui Ma Post in the Ming Dynasty was to receive court officials, officials, and soldiers (not fighting soldiers, but communication soldiers). These public officials needed to get a post talisman, which was a token distributed by the court on demand.
For example, let’s say you are a pedestrian in the Xingren Division. This is an official position in the Ming Dynasty. It has a low rank and is generally responsible for delivering decrees. As mentioned before, eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty were not specifically responsible for delivering decrees. Now you are a pedestrian in the Xingren Division. You set out from Beijing and went to the provincial capital of Yunnan Province to declare an edict to the Duke of Guizhou who was guarding the place. Tell him that the emperor was thinking of Duke Mu for your long service and hard work in the frontier, so he was promoted to a higher rank.
Then before you set off, you need to go to the Vehicle and Driving Department of the Ministry of War to get a post talisman. It will write on it who you are, where you are going, what you are doing, and which yamen you belong to. Only after you have written these clearly can you take them and leave, and only the inns along the way will serve you.
Specifically, the format is generally like this, which reads: "Emperor's decree: Officials passing by the post must hold this talisman before they are allowed to handle horses. If there is no such talisman, they will be given to the post without permission. The officials of each post will not be able to enforce the law and deal with those who preferential treatment." , each will be punished with a serious crime, it is appropriate to order this. On a certain day of a certain year and a certain month." There is also a horse painted in the middle of this post talisman.
Then, it will take you about two months to walk the more than 5,000 miles from Beijing to Kunming. During this period, the transfer of horses, boats, including food and accommodation expenses are completely contracted by the various stations, and you don't have to worry about it.
What if you don't have this talisman? I'm sorry, you can't use the inn.
Of course, as mentioned before, many systems in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty were destroyed in name only due to over-the-top and over-the-top violations, and Yifu was no exception. It’s not that this thing is gone, but it often becomes a kind of gift and becomes a must-have when traveling at home and visiting relatives and friends.
For example, Xu Xiake had to travel all over the world to write his travel notes, and he used this a lot during the process. However, he did not have an official position, so theoretically he should not be able to use this thing at all.
As a result, the funding for local post stations increased year by year, and the financial pressure increased year by year. Finally, Chongzhen said that he might as well cancel some of the post stations.
In fact, Chongzhen only abolished 30% of the post stations, but did not abandon the entire post station system. But everyone knows what happened later. A postman from Yinchuan Mayi in Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province lost his job, and within a few days he started a good business in rebellion - his name was Li Zicheng.
However, this problem was greatly improved in the years between the end of Longqing and the beginning of Wanli. On the second day of the sixth lunar month in the fifth year of Longqing's reign, Gao Yingshi, who was then the Prince's companion, a fake bachelor's degree student at the Hanlin Academy, and Zuo Yude of Zuo Chunfang of the Zhanshi Mansion, wrote a memorial called "In order to comply with the original intention of the ancestors, please clean up the post station to save the post." "Sparse Road".
After a series of struggles and operations, the main measures proposed in this essay were basically implemented during the terms of Gao Gong and Guo Pu.
The most critical of these measures are two points: First, the power of post stations to collect taxes and corvee from local governments is abolished, and local governments collect a post tax based on the size of the post station, the quality of the facilities, and the number of personnel. The public will decide; secondly, to supervise the actual situation of the station, firstly, the court appoints commissioners to conduct unscheduled inspections at least once a year, and secondly, the local government effectively supervises them.
These two highly pragmatic measures at that time most directly led to a change at the central level. From then on, the Ministry of Revenue was also involved in the management system of the post. The post was no longer solely managed by the Ministry of War, but the main responsibility of the Department of Revenue was It is all kinds of supervision including auditing.
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PS: I will go for a nucleic acid test tomorrow and return to Changsha after confirming the negative result. Otherwise, the little one will not be able to go to school if he is dissatisfied with the home quarantine time... I hope the queue time will not be too long.
