Although the Great Court Meeting wasted a lot of time and brought many local officials to the capital, it was actually a waste of time and money. But Zhu Houzhao still had to do this.
Because he must make every effort to let the country's main officials understand what the court has to do every year, and announce it to the public in an upright manner. The layout, understanding, and letting the people below figure it out like Kaihai are only suitable for special matters.
In other words, he did not agree with Emperor Jiajing's 'riddle-guessing' style of governing the country. Although it was convenient for controlling the court, it was not good for the country. Zhu Houzhao chose the right path.
After the seven-day conference ended, officials from all walks of life went to work and left Beijing.
And decrees were constantly coming out of the palace - officials were being transferred.
Before the Great Meeting, Liu Jian, the chief envoy of Shandong Province, was promoted to governor. Except for him, no one else made adjustments. Now that it's over, the officials will begin to take action according to the emperor's instructions.
The emperor summoned dozens of officials in succession, which was actually a kind of examination for the officials. Some people performed well in this examination, and some performed poorly, and the reactions in their official careers were of course different.
Only through direct changes in personnel can various tasks in the first year of Zhengde be advanced and the dynasty in the second year of Zhengde go more smoothly.
What's the meaning?
——Well done, promoted.
If all the officials just come to Beijing for a formality and then go back to their homes after finishing their work, there will be no movement at all. After a few years, the Imperial Court Meeting will become a kind of publicly funded tourism, and the annual tasks discussed by the emperor and the cabinet will become empty words.
Therefore, on March 8, as soon as the imperial meeting ended, an imperial edict was issued, which was announced by the Supervisor of Ceremonies, the Cabinet, and the Ministry of Officials.
Fei Hong, the chief envoy of Sichuan, was promoted to governor of Sichuan and was awarded the title of censor of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, prime minister of grain reserves, admiral of military affairs and governor of Sichuan. Everyone was shocked when the news came out.
Since Fei Zichong is only thirty-nine years old this year, it is rare for him to serve as a senior official governor of a province at such an age.
Even Yang Tinghe didn't have such speed back then.
After that, the decree came out faster and faster, even reaching the point where one decree decided the fate of several people.
Peng Ze, the inspector-general of Zhejiang, was transferred to the governor of Henan, and Huang Changyin, the administrative envoy to Huguang, was transferred to the governor of Huguang. Mao Jidai Zhejiang Chief Envoy and Wang Qiong, both academicians of Hanlin Academy, no longer hold concurrent posts.
The chief envoys of Guangdong, Ji Ying and Yongqian, were dull and demoted to the prefect of Raozhou, Jiangxi.
In addition, the governor of Jiangxi and the three envoys were uniformly dispatched by the Ministry of Personnel. The position of governor fell to Jiao Fang, the minister of the Ministry of Works.
Jiao Fang has always wanted to be a minister of honor, and he was the most active in flattering the emperor. Last year's earthquake in Jiangxi's officialdom left many places vacant. This opportunity came, but he didn't know how well he could do it.
The emperor continued to make large-scale adjustments to officials in various places, which indeed caused a lot of discussion.
The first thing is that whether they are officials on the list or not, they all understand what the "path to success" is, which is to achieve tangible results.
Fei Hong, a new official, took advantage of the fact that officials from all over the country were still in the capital. On March 8, he went to see Qi Chengtun, the governor of Shaanxi, and the minister of Taipu Temple.
The person who did it was a horse.
"... When Your Majesty was discussing horse politics that day, I have been brewing these ideas."
The three of them sat at the table, with mist rising from the fresh hot tea.
Fei Hong is the youngest among them. Qi Chengtun and Wang Zhen are both in their early 40s. Qi Chengtun is okay, but Wang Zhen is the director of Yuan Racecourse. The conditions there are more difficult, so his face is Wrinkles appear all over the place, and people are lean and lean due to years of hard work.
The three officials were sitting in the pavilion, wearing red tops, lower skirts and knee-coverings, white gauze singles inside, white socks and black shoes, leather belts and ribbons around their waists, and beam crowns on their heads. If ordinary people saw this, they would be three extraordinary masters.
"Your Majesty transfers money to the Trilateral Governor's Mansion, and the Trilateral Governor's Mansion then pays silver to purchase horses. However, there should be insufficient war horses at the Shaanxi Official Horse Farm. The number of war horses is quite tight, isn't it?"
Wang Zhen was an expert on horses. He immediately understood what the Sichuan governor in front of him meant, "The Tibetan horses are short. If the official sells these horses to Mr. Yang Ge, Mr. Yang Ge will probably chop off the head of the official." , even His Majesty will not spare this official."
Fei Hong waved his hand, "Why would I let Wang Taipu do such a thing? The war horses raised on the northern racecourse are naturally different from those in the southwest. Although the Tibetan horses cannot become war horses, they can carry goods, which can replace some tall war horses. . In addition, in order to raise as many war horses as possible, His Majesty’s intention is to slowly turn Taipu Temple into a ‘horse dealer’...”
Qi Chengtun also heard the elegant meaning of Xiange, "In the sixth year of Chenghua, the Xianmiao decreed that tribute from Wusi Zang and Duogansi tribes must come to Beijing from Sichuan, and Sichuan has become a concentrated place for tea and horse trade. But after thinking about it, Just like Shaanxi, private tea is rampant and banned."
The tea-horse trade was a method of barter between the Central Plains dynasties and ethnic minorities. The exchange of tea for horses was originally a matter of each party getting what they needed.
But tea, like salt, is a commodity controlled by the state.
First, the profits are huge. Second, tea is a daily necessity for ethnic minorities, so controlling tea can actually control their lifeblood. This is a national security strategic consideration.
Moreover, after the state takes control, it can gain a bargaining advantage, that is, foreigners can only buy at a certain price with me, and this price is naturally more expensive for them.
In this way, private tea will definitely be produced,
Because places such as Ya'an and Qamdo are suitable for growing tea, through the tea-horse trade, you can exchange dozens of kilograms of tea for a horse - the price of a horse can be sold for more than 20 taels no matter what.
The living expenses of an ordinary household is only about ten taels a year. Therefore, ordinary people will do this kind of transaction even at the risk of breaking the law.
Looking back, the idea of controlling ethnic minority tribes by controlling tea has actually failed - the people are selling large amounts of private tea.
Fei Hong has been in Sichuan for several years, and he is very aware of the proliferation of private tea.
The same was true for Yang Yiqing in Shaanxi at the beginning. Yang Ge's approach was to severely crack down, so the momentum of private tea in Shaanxi was curbed.
But Fei Hong is considering another way.
"It is indeed difficult to prohibit private tea, so I am thinking about whether the imperial court can become a tea merchant. After exchanging tea for horses, we can all sell it to Taipu Temple."
Fei Hong thought well.
But Qi Chengtun didn't understand, "In the past, the tea-horse trade was dominated by the imperial court. How is it different from becoming a tea merchant? The key is to severely punish smuggling."
"It's different. In the past, the imperial court dominated the tea-horse trade, which ended after exchanging tea for horses. However, the horses eventually had to be turned into silver, so that the imperial court could explain to the people. I don't know how you understand your majesty's thinking. In fact, there are many things that your majesty is It is necessary to 'drive people with profit'. Tea leaves are exchanged for Tibetan horses, Tibetan horses are exchanged for silver, and the silver is used to buy tea. The key is to straighten out this chain,"
Wang Zhen was confused, "If you want to sell the horse, why do you need Taipu Temple? Mr. Zichong can sell the horse himself."
"The imperial court is using troops in the northwest and there are not enough horses. How can I, as the governor of Sichuan, sell horses to the people at this time?"
"But private tea will still spread. If people change their horses, they can always trade among the people themselves."
Fei Hong answered fluently, and he must have thought about it in advance, "Small businessmen are smuggling. Firstly, the quantity is small, so there is nothing to worry about. Secondly, when the court conducts large-scale transactions, the price they can negotiate must be better than him. And if it is a big businessman smuggling, the court will It can be punished and does no harm to the people, that’s all.”
There is a subtle difference here, that is, Fei Hong wants to learn from the increasing number of 'imperial merchants' in recent times to establish tea merchants and join this competition. Use business rather than decrees to solve problems.
In the past, the actions of the government were based on administrative thinking. Fei Hong could vaguely grasp something after watching the emperor's thinking for so long. Just like Mei Ji in Hangzhou, the imperial court was conducting maritime trade, and at the same time it also allowed the people to do this.
Why?
Since sea trade makes money, why isn’t it all controlled by the imperial court?
One of the important ones is that the government must give the people a way to survive.
The people of Sichuan also need a way to survive.
This way of survival must come from tea. Tea can be exchanged for horses, and horses can be exchanged for silver. If the government establishes a tea merchant, it can then establish a channel for exchanging horses for silver with Taipu Temple.
Tea, doesn’t it just turn into money?
However, this transition from administration to market was very subtle, and was not particularly different from the previous model in which the imperial court dominated the tea-horse trade.
To say there was, it was the imperial court's tea-horse trade in the past, with the ultimate goal of exchanging horses. To put it bluntly, it was because of the lack of horses that such trade was allowed. But this time Fei Hong's idea was to exchange for money as his ultimate goal.
Horse is a kind of weapon in cold weapons, so it used to be invested for the victory of war. But behind the money is a business.
In the process of doing business, it also makes up for the shortage of horses.
It's really not easy to understand.
Wang Zhen, the minister of Taipu Temple, has some doubts about this. He was asked to pay for it today. What if he spent one hundred thousand taels of silver and bought 5,000 horses, but the quality was not up to standard? How would he explain it?
The court is now closely tracking the money that was appropriated. He could have been a minister in the hands of Mingjun. If he did well, he would be a famous minister. Why risk it for the sake of Fei Zichong's face?
So after thinking for a while, he said: "Brother Zichong, the tea-horse trade is very involved. I wonder if this matter has been reported to the emperor?"
"It's not too late yet." Fei Hong told the truth.
He actually wanted to make some achievements, coordinate with relevant parties, and then report the results to the emperor, so that he could easily gain the emperor's support.
In the northwest, Yang Yiqing has grown very fast in the past three to five years, and he has the aura of being the first minister of Zhengde. In the southeast, there is the imperial master Wang Guo, who takes the lead in opening up the sea as a heavenly official.
One south and one north, two big things.
But there was no movement in the southwest.
Before this year's imperial meeting, when the emperor summoned him, he had some doubts about the fact that Sichuan, a land of abundance, only had 800,000 to 1 million shi of tax revenue each year. Even he himself felt that Sichuan, a treasure land, should perform better.
In addition, everyone from top to bottom now wants to get rid of bad governance, so he also wants to make a difference.
"If I hadn't reported to the emperor... I would have been hard-pressed to simply agree to it. The silver taels allocated by the imperial court were for Taipu Temple to breed more war horses, but I bought some Tibetan horses instead. I'm afraid it's inappropriate."
Fei Hong also wanted to fight for it, "The horses used for transportation can be Tibetan horses."
"But the imperial court's money will be lost like this."
"Where does the imperial court's money come from?" Fei Hong asked himself, and he answered affirmatively, "from the sea. And it will continue to come in the future, and it will also continue to enter the horse expedition. Unless the Ming Dynasty has no shortage of horses."
Qi Cheng then frowned, "If I were not short of horses, wouldn't what Brother Zichong said today be like a dream in a yellow beam?"
Fei Hong thought to himself, it seems that these people are not interested in the emperor, "If there is no shortage of horses, our tea will not be replaced by their horses!"
They want tea, but of course we want what we need. We really feel that the other party has nothing to offer, so they sent 50,000 troops to fight for me! Why are you so stupid!
