As expected by Zhang Juzheng, after Jia Sanjin presented the memorial, the emperor was not angry at all. Instead, he wrote a memorial to criticize and order the courtiers to discuss the canal affairs, "Anyone who can benefit the state can speak freely."
After Jia Sanjin's memorial was circulated, the already noisy court was more like a ladle of water being poured into a hot oil pan. In a short period of time, everyone who felt they were qualified to speak in the court signed up.
Because Jia Sanjin said, "I believe that there are barbaric paths in the world, and we can take Jiuzhe Mountain; people have ginseng, ginger and cinnamon to keep their health, so why try to order Wufu to just be safe?" This sentence is powerful and spicy enough, so this is a memorial to follow the trend. All cited this point of view to say that sea transportation is not feasible. For a time, Jia San was in the limelight.
However, there were also many knowledgeable people in the court who realized the huge advantages of sea transportation. Therefore, when the emperor dismissed the Hubu memorial and allowed it to be repeated, the voices supporting the maritime transport gradually increased. Although there are more people than those who cannot support Hecao, it still has considerable momentum.
In September of the third year of Wanli, Hanlin compiled a memorial written by Luo Wanhua, which completely refuted Jia San and left the opponents of shipping in the imperial court speechless for a while.
Luo Wanhua's memorial does not have the gorgeous rhetoric of the former Zhuangyuan volume. The core content is three tables. The content of the first table is the statistics of the Yuan Dynasty's use of sea transportation for grain transportation from the 20th year of the Yuan Dynasty to the 2nd year of Tianli.
The table is divided into five columns. The first column is the year, the second column is the starting volume, the third column is the arrival volume, the fourth column is the loss amount, and the last column is the loss proportion.
The highest loss rate was in the fourth year of Hai Cao. Due to the typhoon, the loss rate reached one quarter. In the remaining years, it was mostly below 5%.
From the second year of Yanyou to the first year of Tianli, due to the progress of the shipbuilding industry in the Yuan Dynasty, sea-going ships became stronger and the number of crew members was greatly reduced - the loss dropped to an astonishing less than one percent for more than ten consecutive years.
The lowest year was the second year of Zhizhi, when 3,251,140 shi were shipped, reaching 3,246,483 shi, with a loss of 0.1%. Four!
In his memorial, Luo Wanhua calculated the average loss ratio of shipping in the 46 years of the Yuan Dynasty: 1.6%.
After drawing this table, Luo Wanhua made a second table, which shows the loss of grain transported by sea to Liaodong and Beijing in the early days of Taizu and Chengzu. Basically, the average average was about 4 to 5%, because during the Taizu period It's really not the same as the sea-going ships in the early days of Chengzu.
Luo Wanhua emphasized that the loss data of Wang Zongmu's trial sea cauldron in the sixth year of Longqing was also slightly higher than 1% - at this time Wang Zongmu used professional sea vessels.
The third table is the water transportation loss table using canals to transport grain. The format is the same as the previous table, and it also counts the shipment volume and arrival volume. This loss ratio - it's simply unsightly. From the 14th year of Yongle to Wanli, the consumption in the river canal transportation process was about twice the arrival amount, that is, four million stones were transported by water every year, but the canal and the people on both sides of the bank who made a living on it consumed eight million stones. !
Since the advent of the memorial genre, Luo Wanhua was probably the first to draw tables in the memorial. These three tables and a few words easily pointed out a fact that everyone knew but turned a blind eye to, and fully exposed the inefficiency of the Ming court's use of river canals.
Luo Wanhua finally argued in the memorial: "Anyone who sees these three tables need not talk about the use of seas and rivers."
"After becoming an ancestor, there were endless discussions about restoring maritime transportation. During the reign of Emperor Xianzong, Qiu Ruijin wrote in "The Supplement to the Explanations of the Great Learning" that he spoke of the benefits of maritime transportation for eternity. During the reign of Emperor Sejong, there were many obstacles in the way of transportation, and the discussion about restoring maritime transportation became more intense. But why could it not be revived? ? When in power, we stick to the old ways and don’t dare to break them and then set our ears!"
"The first emperor opened the customs at the source of the problem, and the sea has been peaceful for several years. The pirates have disappeared and the Japanese pirates are less frequent. This is the time to resume the sea-canal system! My intention is contrary to the popular opinion, and the sea-cao system should be the main one. Keep it. The river canal will be used for 120,000 shi per year in case of emergencies, and the rest will be sea canal!"
This memorial, which uses data to speak for itself, is so powerful that it defeated the officials who opposed Haicao led by Jia Sanjin.
Immediately, just as Zhang Juzheng expected, Jia Sanjin read a book "Comments on the Use of Tables to Describe Matters in Governance" at lightning speed, and happily admitted that he was blind, and he was just talking about hearsay and empty words to mess up the government. .
Jia Sanjin scolded himself in the memorial. Not only did he ask for punishment, but he also suggested to the emperor that in the future, all ministries should submit memorials that can be explained clearly in tables, and use tables to praise Luo Wanhua, saying that he is Implement the emperor's policy of "seeking truth from facts" and set an example.
This coquettish move almost broke the waists of the courtiers, and the one with a bad temper almost rolled up his sleeves and beat him. And when Jia San met someone recently, he would say: "You can correct your mistakes if you know them, and there is no great virtue." "A gentleman will be happy after hearing this. If you hit me, you will be a villain... Oh my god, you really hit me!"
Because the model memorial created by Jia Sanjin did not involve the issue of Cao troops and transport troops on both sides of the canal, there were very few objections focused on these two matters.
At this time, the opponents had no time to change their focus. Because the emperor had already criticized Jia Sanjin’s memorial, graciously forgave him for his previous disrespectful remarks, and highly appreciated the idea that "tables describing matters are beneficial to governance", he asked everyone to write memorials in the future just like Luo Wanhua. Use tables more often and speak meaningfully.
This is certainly true, but it is too late to conduct an investigation into the living conditions of the Cao army, farming and transport troops now. While everyone was in a daze, Wang Guoguang, the cabinet minister, came in with another book.
This book is called "A Proclamation for Each Province Concerning the Canal to Establish Customs and Collect Commercial Taxes to Replenish the People's Wealth." The central meaning is this. I, Wang Guoguang, agree with Wang Zongmu and Luo Wanhua's proposal to reopen the canal, but the canal cannot be abolished. , what a pity.
What to do? In each of the canal-related provinces, you will repair the canals within your jurisdiction, and then the court will allow you to set up customs and collect taxes according to the tax rate set by the court. Is this a cross-river tax? The court will not take a penny, and will give it to you at your own disposal to compensate for the exhaustion of the court over the years. of the people of each province, and at the same time, this fee is also used to ensure the daily maintenance of the canal.
After this book was published, Zhu Yijun didn't waste a day, and it was immediately published in the newspaper. Now the whole world was in commotion. The chief envoys and transshipment envoys of the provinces involved in Cao Cao immediately came to the book, and they all said that Comrade Wang Guoguang was so good, he was mature and responsible for the country, and he was the most lovable person in the cabinet!
All the local officials involved in the canal can imagine that if the sea canal is changed, the days when the canal can be opened to obtain central subsidies will be gone forever. Despite this, as the anti-corruption efforts of this dynasty become more and more intense, the risk of earning this black money is getting higher and higher. If there are low-risk ways to make money, who will still use the old tricks?
These local officials were just thinking about this when they saw the memorial of Wang Guoguang published in the newspaper. Well, it was our former common comrade-in-arms Comrade Wang Guangguang who was the most considerate!
The provinces not involved in water transportation are also very jealous. Many people came to ask if I could build some water conservancy facilities within the territory and then collect tolls. The court's answer was of course no, only the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal could charge fees.
Of course, the imperial court has included the construction of infrastructure such as water conservancy facilities and road facilities as the focus of performance evaluation, ranking it above culture and education, and ranking second in weight, only behind the protection of people's livelihood. Needless to say, if local officials repair the roads and rivers within their territory, they will be included in their performance appraisals.
With Luo Wanhua and Jia San nearly rebelling, Wang Guangguang came forward and the three came down, and the momentum of opposition to shipping became somewhat unpopular.
There were a few strong-willed officials in the capital who brought up the Cao Army and Yun Ding to talk about the matter. They asked the imperial court what to do with the 40,000 Cao Army and the 300,000 Yun Ding on both sides of the canal who directly relied on water transportation for their livelihood. What should we do with the large number of small traders and ordinary people who open restaurants and run tertiary industries in granaries and docks? That adds up to millions!
Before the pro-shipping faction could reply, Pan Jixun also came to book at this time.
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