The feudal king rebelled? No, Wang Xijue doesn't really intend to instigate this matter. Not to mention that today's feudal princes have been raised as pigs by the imperial court for hundreds of years, and none of them knows how to fight, but at least there is no one who has the ability to cause a situation on the scale of a rebellion. come out.
The Ming Dynasty's court deployed heavy troops in the areas belonging to the vassal kings, and the so-called armies of the vassal kings themselves only had a few hundred people to protect them. Many of these guards are nominally hereditary, but most of them are not hereditary for a long time. They are hired randomly like subcontracting. They are either honest farmers or idle scoundrels. Letting them go to the battlefield is probably not better than letting old people. It is still difficult for a sow to climb a tree.
Are these losers worthy of rebellion? No matter how unbearable the local guardsmen were, it would be easy to defeat them. Instead of spending your time and energy on something that has no chance of success, it would be better to make some really big news.
The target chosen by Wang Xijue was the canal worker.
In the early years, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was Nanjing, which was located in the economic center of China. "Tributes from all directions were easily accessible." At this time, the imperial court implemented sea transportation to transport grain and grass to the north, mainly for use as military rations.
When Chengzu moved the capital to Beijing, he was accompanied by hundreds of thousands of troops, central court staff and palace attendants. The food expenditure in the north increased sharply. After several discussions, the imperial court finally abandoned sea transportation and implemented river transportation due to problems such as too small transportation volume, pirates, and waves on the sea.
Although this policy brought stability and convenience to the northern supply in a short period of time, judging from the original historical trajectory, it also became a bad policy that was difficult to reform in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, affecting the long-term development of the Ming Dynasty. It was a system that did more harm than good.
The debate on river and sea transportation reached its climax at that time. How was the decision to stop sea transportation made? In fact, as early as the sixth year of Hongwu, due to the accident of the Liaoxiang ship in shipping, the then-existing Zhongshu Ministry reported a request to step up farmland in the north to reduce shipping.
By the 27th year of Hongwu, the 21st Guards of Liaodong were basically self-sufficient in food and salary, so shipping was stopped in the 30th year of Hongwu. In the first year of Yongle, Beijing's grain reserves were insufficient, so the imperial court had no choice but to reopen shipping. Pingjiang Bo Chen Xuan was appointed as the chief military officer to supervise shipping, and the ship set sail from Nanjing.
The bad start came in July of the first year of Yongle, when Yu Xin, the Minister of Household Affairs, proposed the canal grain transportation method, that is, using canal boats to enter the Huaihe River from Huai'an, pass through the Yellow River to Weihe River, go north to the Haihe River, and then reach Beijing by land. However, since this route required multiple transfers, even Zhu Di, who was very successful, was worried that it would be too laborious and costly, so he rejected it.
In August of that year, Chen Xuan transported 500,000 shi of food and wages by sea to Beijing safely, which gave the court the determination to insist on sea transportation. However, due to the objective environment that shipping risks are too high, some people have always suggested rebuilding the Grand Canal.
In the end, the imperial court employed 260,000 people and spent 6 months dredging the Huitong River 385 miles from Jining to Linqing. At the same time, 38 sluices were built according to the terrain to "timely store and discharge water."
So in the tenth year of Yongle, Song Lili, Minister of Industry, once again pointed out the shortcomings of sea transportation and proposed adjusting the proportion of rivers and seas. Chen Xuan, the Bo of Pingjiang, succeeded in regulating the Huaihe River, which enabled 3,000 canal boats to be dispatched at the same time, carrying 4 million shi of grain, and flowed smoothly.
In the 13th year of Yongle, after repeated requests from officials in charge of finance and transportation, the Ming Dynasty stopped sea transportation and switched to water transportation. The Grand Canal truly became the economic artery between the north and the south. In the nearly two hundred years since then, although sea transport has occasionally restarted, water transport has always remained the mainstream.
This situation lasted until Gao Gong was in power. Due to the continuous flooding of the Yellow River at that time, it was not feasible to block the canal movement without moving, which seriously threatened the food security of the capital and Jiujiang. Therefore, the "river and sea parallel" strategy was forced to be re-implemented. The characteristic of this strategy is not to abolish water transportation, but to strengthen sea transportation.
Essentially speaking, Gaogong was "mainly based on water transportation and supplemented by sea transportation." As for the actual proportion of grain transportation, water transportation accounted for about three-fifths and sea transportation accounted for about two-fifths.
During Guo Pu's period, Xiao Gui and Cao Sui followed, and this situation remained basically unchanged; during Zhang Siwei's period, there was basically no adjustment, but the types of maritime supplies were further strengthened, and many physical tributes from the south were also included in maritime transportation. For example, royal tribute tea and silk from a certain place in the south of the Yangtze River. As a result, although the total shipping volume of maritime transportation has not increased significantly, the transportation value has obviously increased significantly.
During the period of Shen Shixing, he faced serious entanglements because there was a regional dispute within the Xin School about this matter.
The areas north of the Yangtze River in South Zhili, including Yangzhou, Huai'an and other places, firmly demand that Shen Shixing increase the proportion of water transportation; the areas south of the Yangtze River, including Nanjing, Hangzhou and even the hometown of Songhu, strongly demand that Shen Shixing increase the scale of sea transportation, especially requiring Shen Shixing to ensure High-value products are transported by sea rather than by water.
Why does this controversy occur? In fact, it’s not difficult to explain, it’s just benefits. However, here we still need to first explain how the Ming Dynasty's water transportation system operated, so that this controversy can be clearly explained.
The water transport system was initially regarded as a military project, and the personnel transporting food and wages were all military personnel. Chen Xuan, the former governor of maritime transport, served as the chief water transport officer. He has held this position for thirty years.
In 1439, the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Yingzong, the imperial court took Jining as the boundary, and set up a minister in the north and south to manage water transportation. The following year, a civilian governor of water transportation was set up to coordinate matters, and his military management functions were greatly reduced. The Governor of Water Transport does not have a fixed office location, but visits the Water Transport Department offices in Linqing, Jining, Xuzhou, Yangzhou and other places from time to time.
After Xuande, the water transport power of military attaches was replaced by civilian officials, and a dual-track civil and military system was implemented. However, in fact, as the governor of water transport with super power, his status was much higher than that of the general water transport soldier. During the Wanli period, due to the rise of maritime transport, which accounted for two-fifths of the total, the general army of water transport was abolished, and all matters were handled by civilian officials.
The status of the governor of water transport is extremely high. In the original history of the Ming Dynasty, there were 99 officials who served as governors of water transport, and more than 30 of them later joined the cabinet to serve as prime ministers.
Due to the poor design of the Ming Dynasty's fiscal system, the vast majority of national tax revenue comes from land tax, and at the same time the agricultural tax rate is low, so the national fiscal revenue will basically not exceed 30 million when the physical grain tax is calculated equivalently. Of these 30 million, 12 million were withheld by local governments. The 8 million turned over by the north were directly supplied to the Nine-Border Army, and the remaining 10 million were collected in the south and sent 8.2 million to Beijing via water transport.
The water transportation method has undergone many reforms. From the 13th year of Yongle to the 5th year of Xuande, the "Way Transport Method" was implemented. After the cessation of sea transportation, grain was only transported through canals. However, the transportation capacity of canals was limited, so the imperial court required all localities to transport the turned over grain rates to Huai'an for storage, and then transported them to Beijing in batches. You see, why Huai'an requires an increase in the proportion of water transportation? The main part of the answer lies here.
The "Transportation Law" was implemented from the fifth year of Xuande to the seventh year of Chenghua. At this time, the imperial court seemed to realize that the burden of long-distance transportation on the people was too great, so it promoted the direct transportation of grain by the army, but the people had to bear the losses themselves. In practice, the result Nor does it lighten the burden.
Since the seventh year of Chenghua, the imperial court has implemented the "Change Law" until now. This law came from the proposal of Teng Zhao, the governor of water transportation in the seventh year of Chenghua, that is, farmers would be exempted from transporting grain, and the army would transport it directly to the counties, but additional fees would need to be levied.
How to put it, this method may have good intentions, but like countless laws at home and abroad in ancient and modern times, the crooked-mouthed monk can always recite the sutra so that no one can understand it, completely deviating from the original intention.
For example, in 1556, the 35th year of Jiajing's reign, there was a record in Yangzhou Prefecture. In this year, a common person had to bear 1.73 shi of tax and grain, and an additional fee of 1 shi, but the common people needed to use 1.2 taels of silver to offset the additional fee of 1 shi. However, In fact, one stone of local grain was worth only 0.7 taels of silver at that time, and the difference became a source of profit for officials at all levels.
Why Yangzhou also asked Shen Shixing to increase the proportion of water transportation? The answer is self-evident.
However, Shen Shixing's troubles are not the focus of this chapter at this moment. The focus is Wang Xijue's target at this moment: Cao Gong, also called Cao Army.
In the Ming Dynasty, seven years after Chenghua, 120,000 Cao troops were responsible for collecting grain every year. These Cao troops came from 124 guard posts along the canal. The Cao troops obeyed the Governor's Office of Water Transport in terms of work, but the personnel relations remained with the Guards. original place.
As soon as you hear about this system, you know that there must be big problems, and this is also true. Water transportation officials at all levels deduct military pay and enslave soldiers. For example, if a tanker's food and salary are reduced due to weather reasons or water leakage due to grounding during transportation, the tank army needs to bear 40% of the responsibility.
In order to support his family, Cao Jun earned income through various methods and formed an interest group to protect his own life. Among the "various ways" here, even smuggling trade salt is one of them, and it is even the main smuggled item.
You see, things circle back to Huaiyang. Huaiyang is a gathering place for the salt industry. Caojun or "Caogong Group" has long formed a community of interests with Huaiyang's large and small salt merchants. Caojun needs supplies from salt merchants, and salt merchants also need Cajun's "duty-free distribution" ".
Obviously, under this system, the so-called Cao army quickly lost its combat effectiveness and became an ordinary labor organization, the so-called Cao workers. It is not an unfair accusation to say that they have no combat effectiveness. For example, in 1510, the fifth year of Zhengde, a group of rebels in Shandong looted 1,552 ships docked in Jining Port, but the soldiers on so many canal ships did nothing and allowed the rebels to do nothing. If you take it away, how can it be anything like a "soldier"?
This incident certainly shocked the entire court. The Shandong Road Supervisor and Censor questioned the Caoyun Yamen: "...but the army numbered tens of thousands, and the generals and generals were in charge. The generals and commanders were divided. I have never heard of any officer who died or was injured with bravery!" This fully exposed that the so-called Cao Army was completely in name only as an army, and they completely changed from the Cao Army to the Cao Workers.
Inland transportation has great disadvantages. First, the canals are narrow and shallow, and they often face the problem of insufficient water sources. Especially in the early spring and late autumn, the rivers dry up and require artificial water diversion. Second, as mentioned just now, the Yellow River often bursts, so The sediment carried flows into the canal, and dredging the river channel is very costly.
Therefore, as early as 1487, the 23rd year of Chenghua, Qiu Jun, the Minister of Rites, proposed to reopen maritime transportation. At that time, he explained the advantages of sea transportation in detail: "Although sea transportation is prone to drifting and drowning, each sea boat can carry more than 1,000 stones of grain, which is three times equivalent to that of a river boat. It saves the labor of the people, the cost of barging, and the order. Keep it."
Qiu Jun is the author of the Supplement to the Explanations of the University. Gao pragmatically was reading this book when he accompanied Gao Gongqi back to Beijing. He believed that Qiu Jun was one of the rare economists in the Ming Dynasty. It's a pity that no matter how reasonable he said, the court still didn't accept it at that time. It just praised him and said to the effect that you have worked hard, but things are not easy to handle. Let's talk about it later.
In the early years of Jiajing, cabinet minister Gui E proposed to resume maritime transportation. "Ships travel the ocean, not afraid of depth but fear of shallowness, not afraid of wind but worried about reefs." As soon as this discussion came out, it was quickly opposed by many officials, especially the Governor of Water Transport, who directly stated that the laws of the ancestors were immutable.
By the way, Gui E is the real "father of the one-whip method" and he was the first to propose this method. If nothing else, it would be right to praise Guei'e as a "sighted reformist".
After that, shipping will be reopened. In the sixth year of Longqing's reign, Wang Zongmu, the then governor of water transport, and Liang Menglong, the censor of the capital, jointly initiated the initiative. Of course, this was a move after receiving hints. Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng of the cabinet immediately expressed their support. After discussion, the Ministry of Household Affairs agreed to trial sea transportation, so on the third day of the first year of Wanli, In August, the first batch of 120,000 shi of grain and wages successfully arrived at Tianjin Port.
If things only come to this step, or if Zhang Siwei only adds high-value tribute to the sea, it won't be a big problem. It doesn't matter even if Shen Shixing hesitates in the early stages of his administration. Although three-fifths of the canal transport was "divided" by sea transport, it could still be managed. In addition, with less grain transported, there was more time and opportunity for smuggling. The living standards of the canal workers were actually still good. A slight improvement can naturally be maintained.
However, as Gao Pragmatic was promoted to the position of Minister of Household Affairs, this beautiful situation soon faced danger, and even soon began to fall into a major crisis of "annihilation".
After Gao Pragmatic gathered financial power, he established two new departments and thirteen departments, and the suppression of private smuggling began to become more severe. This "private" actually mainly targeted the salt merchant group.
The reason why the Salt Merchant Group is powerful is not just because they are rich, but because the Salt Merchant Group is essentially a "power-money group" and an interest group in collusion between officials and businessmen.
On the upstream side of the salt merchants were the interest alliances of nobles and civil servants, mainly in Nanzhili, while on the downstream side were distribution organizations such as the Caogong Group, and even local powerful people from various regions along the canal were involved.
Normally no one would dare to touch such a large and powerful interest group, but being highly pragmatic is obviously not within the normal scope. He is also a veteran in officialdom. He doesn't care about the collusion between officials and businessmen at all. He directly attacks smuggling, taking precise actions but never being easily implicated.
In this way, they not only ensure that their actions are absolutely legal, but also make the salt merchant group, both upstream and downstream, and themselves feel deep pain. After more than a year and nearly two years of patience, the community of interests of the salt merchant group has long been unable to bear it any longer. Their resentment towards Gao Pragmatic is rising into the sky, and they just want to get rid of it quickly.
Getting rid of Gao Pragmatic, this task must be too difficult at least for now, but using this anger and resentment to make some big news, Wang Xijue thinks it can still be done.
Wang Xijue himself is a high-ranking official from Nanzhili. His wealth, which is the richest man in Suzhou, is not something that can only be cultivated at home. Even from the perspective of one's own interests, this matter must be done, not to mention that now we can kill two birds with one stone and benefit both public and private interests.
Gao Pragmatic is only cracking down on smuggling, and officials and nobles cannot directly say no. Although the influence of local powerful people is not weak overall, it is very difficult for them to unite and speak out, and it is not easy to cause trouble. If they make any trouble, they will be defeated one by one immediately.
Only the canal workers, as the "army" of the imperial court, once hundreds of thousands of people riot, plus their families and families, it will be a huge riot on a scale of millions. If you are not careful, it may turn into a riot, and the imperial court will never It is impossible to sit idly by.
What else can you say? Shake Gao Jingshi's status as a capable minister in the eyes of the emperor, and the instability in the rear forces Gao Jingshi to return from the front line and make Fa Yuan fail. This ensures that Gao Jingshi cannot unify the practical school and then politically stabilizes the Xin school. Now all It depends on the waterworks.
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