Confucius said: "A gentleman has nothing to fight for, so he will definitely shoot! He bows and gives in, rises up, and drinks from the bottom. This is how a gentleman fights."
The Master also said: "Shooting is done with ritual and music. Why shoot and why listen? Those who cultivate their moral integrity and send their hair without losing the right aim are the only ones who are virtuous?"
Xiao Cheng looked at Gu Zhengchen with disdain, you came home drunk last night and you still haven't sobered up this morning? It's just about practicing archery. Just do what I say. What's the point of asking the emperor for a long time? Can Confucius teach you archery?
Gu Zhengchen despises Xiao Cheng. Do you understand that archery is a gentleman's etiquette?
"The Book of Songs" says: Send what you have to pray for your honor. It means I'll buy you a drink if I shoot.
A long time ago, when a boy was born, he needed to hang a bow at home. The so-called "hanging arc" also told the child that anyone with a handle had to play with bows and arrows, but later on, I don't know who lost this custom.
"Hold the bow, hold it here!"
"Stand up your chest!"
“Use your thumb to clasp the string, and your index finger to press against your thumb!”
"Very good, look at the target, draw the bow, aim, and shoot!"
Xiao Cheng looked at Gu Zhengchen, who had loosened his bowstring and the arrow was still hanging on the bow. He opened and closed his mouth several times and said patiently: "It's normal for this kind of mistake to happen the first time. Next time..."
"It was normal the second time."
"Look, I just flew out this time, even though I only took five steps before getting stuck in the ground..."
"Don't aim at me, look at the target!"
Zhang Pei and Yao Zhen stood not far away and watched. It must be said that Gu Zhengchen's talent in martial arts was reduced to rubbish by God...
For the first time, Xiao Cheng felt that teaching someone to practice archery was so tiring. After an hour, Gu Zhengchen was still licking his tongue.
Gu Zhengchen was not shy, impatient, or impatient. He put away his bow and arrows, and did not forget to ask: "Is today a good introduction?"
"Entry? Where is the door..."
Xiao Cheng's face was filled with sadness.
Gu Zhengchen laughed and handed the bow and arrow to Xiao Cheng, then returned to the study.
Zhang Xiwan handed the account books at home to Gu Zhengchen and asked with some confusion: "Why do you suddenly want to check the accounts at home?"
Gu Zhengchen moved a chair and asked Zhang Xiwan to sit down. He opened the account book and looked at it: "Husband, you don't want to check the family's accounts, but you want to check this account book."
Zhang Xiwan looked confused and didn't know why.
Gu Zhengchen pointed at the account book: "Xiwan, don't you think there is something wrong with this account book? Look here, on February 1st, there are five expenditures here, namely thirty-two taels, four taels, and two hundred coins. , five hundred and eight articles, six hundred and twelve articles."
Zhang Xiwan still didn't understand and asked: "Husband, these accounts have their place. Thirty-two taels are distributed to servants, four taels and three cents are purchased grains, and are stored in the warehouse. Two hundred taels are..."
Gu Zhengchen looked at Zhang Xiwan, who was a little anxious in his memories, and said with a smile: "There is something wrong with this account book. It is not enough to record where the money and food went, how much money went out, and how much stuff came in. It does not record clearly."
Zhang Xiwan blames herself: "What I said is that in the future, every expenditure I make must be clearly stated where it will be spent."
Gu Zhengchen stretched out his finger and lightly tapped Zhang Xiwan's eyebrows: "My husband is asking you for the account books, not because there is something wrong with your governance, but because there is something wrong with the way the account books are kept. Among other people, the shopkeeper is a businessman. , including government offices such as the imperial government, prefectures, counties and the Ministry of Household Affairs, all use this four-column inventory, which is divided into old management (last period balance), new revenue (current period income), expulsion (current period expenditure), real (current period balance) ) as the four pillars to calculate the accounts, but this accounting method is prone to problems."
Zhang Xiwan finally understood and breathed a sigh of relief: "The four-pillar inventory was passed down from our ancestors. It was widely used in the world during the Tang and Song Dynasties, and there has never been any problem."
Gu Zhengchen smiled and said: "Maybe there was a problem, but no one improved it."
Zhang Xiwan put her hands on the table, held her chin and looked at Gu Zhengchen: "Husband, do you want to improve the account books?"
Gu Zhengchen nodded bitterly: "If we don't improve, it will be too late."
Zhang Xiwan doesn't understand what it means that if you don't improve, it will be too late. But Gu Zhengchen knew that a case of empty printing would occur in the ninth year of Hongwu, and the direct cause of the case was empty printing of account books.
Let’s not talk about whether empty-printed account books are an old tradition of the Yuan Dynasty, let’s talk about the reasons for the appearance of empty-printed account books.
According to the regulations of the imperial court, each province, prefecture, and county must submit money, food, fiscal revenue and expenditure, and tax accounts to the Ministry of Household Affairs every year. The figures of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Chief Secretaries, Prefectures and Counties must be exactly the same before the project can be closed. If there is a discrepancy in one item, the entire account book will be rejected, re-entered, and re-stamped with the local government's seal.
In fact, the account books themselves are not prone to problems. The problem is not caused by the account books, but because the two taxes levied in the Ming Dynasty were mostly in kind, that is, food, and at most some places folded cotton, silk, silver, etc.
When grain is transported from Quanzhou Prefecture to Jinling, there may be losses on the way, and shortcomings are unavoidable. If the account is not reconciled to the account department, you will have to go back and fill in the report again. These problems are widespread, and it is really troublesome to not bring blank account books.
There are internal reasons for the emergence of blank account books, but in the final analysis, there is a problem with the accounting method of the account books, and there are also problems with the account books themselves. In fact, these problems can be solved by changing to collecting treasure banknotes.
No grain is collected, and all the treasure banknotes are folded. There will be no loss of the treasure banknotes after being transported for thousands of miles. There is no need to pull them out for weighing. There are no problems such as getting damp, losing water, or being eaten. The reconciliation of accounts will basically not happen. How much does not match.
However, treasure banknotes have not yet been officially adopted, and the conditions for directly collecting silver coins using a whip method are not sufficient, and private silver and copper are not enough to support this huge plan.
Therefore, in order to avoid the blank printing case, the best way is not to tell Lao Zhu that blank printing of account books exists, but to tell Lao Zhu that there are better account books that can more clearly record fiscal revenue and expenditure.
As a result, the imperial court replaced new account books, new accounting methods, and changed the mechanism in which provinces, prefectures, prefectures, and counties deliver account books to the Ministry of Accounts respectively. Instead, the county is responsible to the state government, and the state government is responsible to the province, and the province is responsible Once the money and grain accounts are audited and verified clearly, the province is responsible for submitting them to the Ministry of Household Affairs for verification.
In this way, even if there is a problem, it will be a troublesome point for the provincial government office, and it will not tire out all the prefectural and county clerks, handymen and palm print officers. Even if Lao Zhu wants to create an empty seal case, he will just kill the heads of provincial officials.
I am a prefect, not a provincial official...
According to the historical timeline, the autumn taxes of various places in the eighth year of Hongwu will be sent to Jinling for verification at the beginning of the ninth year of Hongwu. Then Lao Zhu learns about the blank printing of the account books, and then the local chief printer who participated in the blank printing of the account books was killed...
Time is running out. If we don't take action, we will probably go on the road with Fang Xiaoru's father, Fang Jining.
Gu Zhengchen decided to change the four-pillar inventory into a four-legged account book, that is, an account page is separated by the middle line, and can be collected at the top or paid at the bottom.
From an accounting point of view, the four-pillar inventory is a single-entry accounting method. It records the running account, how much was spent today, how much was purchased today, and how much is left. The four-legged account book is a double-entry accounting method, which not only records the whereabouts of the accounts, but also records the whereabouts of the accounts.
Give a simple example:
The Gu family bought a fish for thirty cash.
Using single-entry accounting, that means spending thirty cents, running accounts.
To use double-entry accounting, you need to write the expenditure of 30 yuan in the upper part of the account book page, and write "extra fish worth 30 yuan" in the bottom column of the purchase.
With double-entry accounting, you not only know where the money went, but also what the money got in exchange for it. Moreover, if the amount entered in the single-entry accounting is wrong and it is written as fifty cents, it will be difficult to explain clearly when you go back to check the accounts. However, in the double-entry accounting, you can easily find the problem by checking the first and second accounts, or by writing two separate books and comparing them. .
The four-legged account evolved from the gantry account, which was an accounting method that appeared in the late Ming Dynasty. It is easy for businessmen, officials, etc. to use.
Gu Zhengchen made a four-legged account book and wrote a letter with sharp words, pointing out the shortcomings in the court's tax accounting process and requesting the court to reshape the account review process.
Zhongshu Yamen.
Hu Weiyong finally breathed a sigh of relief when he looked at the documents sent by An Ran from Henan Political Participation.
In the first month of the first month, the Yellow River in Kaifeng burst its banks by more than a hundred feet. When the news came, the whole court was shocked.
The emperor ordered Henan Province to urgently recruit 30,000 people to plug the gap. Now An Ran has sent a document. On the one hand, he reports the good news that the sealing was successful, and on the other hand, he reports the sorrow. More than 100 people died in trying to block the embankment, plus those who drowned before the embankment broke. More than five thousand people...
Hu Weiyong doesn't mind how many people die, as long as they don't continue to die, it's a good thing.
Chen Ning, the censor, and Tu Jie, the Zhongcheng, came in and saluted Hu Weiyong.
Hu Weiyong raised his head, looked at the two of them, and asked, "What's the matter?"
Chen Ning stepped forward and lowered his voice: "I just received news that Liao Yongzhong, the Marquis of Deqing, said that there are frequent sea troubles in Quanzhou Prefecture and that Marquis Jinghai is unwell. He requested an order to lead 10,400 soldiers and civilians to conquer the sea in order to calm the sea."
Hu Weiyong raised his eyebrows: "Ten thousand and four hundred soldiers and civilians, why does this number sound familiar?"
Tu Jie stepped forward and said, "Xiang Hu, these are the people whom the Marquis of Ji'an found from the Taihang Mountains."
Hu Weiyong suddenly thought for a moment, then said: "Didn't Marquis Deqing advocate sending these people to Fengyang to reclaim wasteland before? Why did he suddenly change his mind? In order to avoid people's suspicion, he even used the title of sergeant. There must be something we don't know. Things."
Chen Ning glared at Tu Jie who wanted to speak, and said to Hu Weiyong: "It's the same Gu Zhengchen. It is said that Marquis Deqing had a very happy chat with him in the carriage, and Marquis Deqing even gave away his long bow."
Hu Weiyong raised his hand and touched his forehead: "Whenever you have anything to do with a man from Gu County, things are always surprising. I heard that he went to the Ministry of Revenue, and now the Ministers of the Ministry of Revenue, Ma Gui and Yu Pu, have also changed their tune. "
Chen Ning's face was cold. Seeing that there was no one else around, he gritted his teeth and said, "Xiang Hu, we can't let him be like this anymore. Given time, it will definitely be a big problem."
Hu Weiyong stared at Chen Ning and shook his head: "Do you know who he is? He is a man from Quanzhou County in the Ming Dynasty, the magistrate of Jurong County, the commander of the Jurong Guards, the palm seal of the Far Fire Bureau, the director of the Ministry of Works, and the treasurer. He has been promoted to the position of chief minister and vice-president, prefect of Quanzhou, and commander of the Quanzhou Guards! Now, his wings have become stiff and it is difficult to deal with him."
"Tomorrow I need to deal with the warehousing of this book, and I have to write a lot of materials. I am asking for a day off. Thank you for your understanding and support. Thank you."
