"Your Majesty, I have an idea!"
Upon hearing what Zhang Mingwei said, Emperor Chongzhen said without hesitation: "Sir, if you have any ideas, just say so!"
"That's it!" Zhang Mingwei said bluntly after hearing this, "Farming should be the foundation of everything. Only when farming is stable can the country be stable! But as of now, farming is mainly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry, but , related to the fields, but it belongs to the Ministry of Household Affairs. I feel that given the current changes in the situation, the responsibilities of this Yamen should be adjusted. "
There are six departments: the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Punishment. They have existed since ancient times. They can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty and were established in the Tang Dynasty. By the Ming Dynasty, the six ministers were directly responsible to the emperor.
Specifically speaking, the Ministry of Civil Affairs is responsible for the appointment, removal, assessment, promotion, and transfer of civil officials across the country, verifying titles, titles, and benevolences, handling the formalities of the Dingyou system for officials, allocating official positions to new imperial examination candidates and Jinshi, and returning pensions to senior citizens. Township officials go through retirement procedures, etc.;
The Ministry of Household Affairs is responsible for national household registration management, land surveying, refugee management, taxation, money and grain and other financial matters;
The Ministry of Rites is in charge of etiquette, sacrifices, etc., and is responsible for managing school affairs and imperial examinations across the country. In addition, it is also responsible for dealing with vassals and foreign countries;
The Ministry of War is responsible for the appointment and dismissal of military attachés nationwide, as well as recruitment, weapons, logistics, and the issuance of military orders;
The Ministry of Criminal Justice is responsible for the operation of the national judicial institutions and the promulgation of laws, and often directly hears major and important cases;
The Ministry of Industry is responsible for various projects, craftsmen, farming, water conservancy, transportation and other matters.
Farming, as Zhang Mingwei said, involves the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry. If it were in the past, this would actually be nothing. It was not refined management at all.
Because the household department is related to money, and fields are the direct source of tax revenue, it is normal for it to belong to the household department.
The Ministry of Industry is actually related to engineering, and water conservancy projects related to agriculture are also engineering projects, so there is no problem if they belong to the Ministry of Industry.
However, things are different today.
Under the flapping of Zhang Mingwei's butterfly wings, national taxation began to tilt towards commercial taxation. Although Tianfu is equally important, it is not as outstanding as before.
Another one is the most painful food crisis experienced in the late Ming Dynasty, and the emphasis on food is unparalleled. Zhang Mingwei even began to focus on specific crops to solve the Ming Dynasty's food crisis.
At this time, after hearing Zhang Mingwei's words, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but think seriously.
Seeing his serious expression, Zhang Mingwei continued to say to Emperor Chongzhen: "From the previous promotion of sweet potatoes and potatoes by the imperial court, we can see that if the imperial court pays more attention to and participates in farming, the rewards will be very large. As of now, It is true that there is no shortage of food for the time being. However, this is only temporary. After all, in today's peaceful and prosperous times, the population will increase dramatically, and the food problem will always be a very important issue..."
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen felt a chill at the bottom of his spine and a burst of cold air came up for some reason.
That's right, during the peaceful and prosperous times, the court also encouraged childbirth and took various measures.
The cowpox vaccination mentioned by my husband before has been tried and implemented, and the results have been very satisfactory. This means that the smallpox problem in the Ming Dynasty will basically be solved in the future, which will greatly improve the mortality of children in the Ming Dynasty.
Also, the hospital model is praised by everyone, especially for childbirth, and there are far fewer deaths from dystocia. In the future, after Ming Dynasty pushes away, it will be clear that many fewer people will die.
As for the reason why there is no shortage of food now, although the husband did not say it, he knew very well that too many people died in the past few years was also a reason.
After experiencing all kinds of rebellions due to hunger, and thinking about the past when he almost hanged himself, Emperor Chongzhen really didn't want such a thing to happen again.
For this reason, this food issue must be taken very seriously!
Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately interrupted Zhang Mingwei's words and said categorically in a very firm tone: "Sir, what you said makes sense, the food issue is definitely a top priority! As long as it can be beneficial to this, sir Even so!”
Hearing this, Zhang Mingwei was very pleased. He could feel Emperor Chongzhen's fear of food problems, so he went on to say: "To promote good crops throughout the country, it must be inseparable from the efforts of the imperial court. This time Zheng Zhibao came from America These crops brought back, which crops are suitable for promotion, and which crops should be done, cannot be solved by an imperial edict, and the court will need to spend more energy!"
Speaking of this, Zhang Mingwei said in a very serious manner: "As for ordinary people, they do not have the time, energy, or conditions to find out whether crops are suitable for nationwide promotion, whether there is a possibility of improving crops, and what to do. Improvements, etc. And these require the imperial court to take the lead. Agricultural cultivation is definitely a very profound knowledge."
After finishing speaking, he turned to look at the others, then turned back to look at Emperor Chongzhen, and said very sincerely: "I suggest setting up a special agricultural yamen, one to do research and improvement of crops, and the other to be responsible for the management of crops. Promotion and popularization, the third is to coordinate and arrange water conservancy projects in various places to facilitate the planting of crops, and the fourth is to be responsible for coordinating national food planning and predicting, so that large-scale tragedies such as food shortages and famines cannot occur again. In short, there is such a Only a specialized agricultural yamen can guarantee our Ming Dynasty's food security."
Emperor Chongzhen's expression was very serious, and he nodded immediately and said: "Sir's proposal is very much in line with my wishes. If we want to change the functions of the six ministries, we must change them..."
Before he finished speaking, Zhang Mingwei interrupted him and looked at him and said in a very sure tone: "Your Majesty, there is one thing that can be very certain. As far as rice is concerned, if someone specializes in research, how can each Through cross-breeding similar to rice, and then cultivating the best ones, I can increase the yield per mu of Daming by three or four times without any pressure at all..."
Emperor Chongzhen opened his mouth and looked very surprised. The yield per mu has increased three or four times. Doesn't this mean that the food has tripled or quadrupled, and the court's tax revenue has also doubled?
Unexpectedly, before he could react, he heard Zhang Mingwei continue: "...Also, in chemical industry, even in the newly learned branch of chemistry, a kind of chemical fertilizer can also be invented, which is fertilizer, which can greatly improve the land quality." Fertility, thereby also increasing the yield per mu several times.”
Having said this, he looked at Emperor Chongzhen and said with that special expression: "Your Majesty, what I said will definitely come true, you know!"
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately understood that what the gentleman said should be something that future generations can achieve, and it is naturally true.
So, he nodded quickly and said: "I understand, yes, I understand!"
Having said this, he said categorically: "The responsibilities of this yamen must be changed, and they must be changed immediately!"
If he was not firm enough before, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't be firmer at this time, and anyone can hear it.
Now that the words have come to this, Zhang Mingwei simply lets go. I heard him say to Emperor Chongzhen again: "Your Majesty, I think many things are different now from before. Why don't we go through it together and see if it is necessary to change it?"
In his view, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, neither population nor economy was comparable to previous dynasties. For the central government, if it continues to carry out crude management as before, it is actually somewhat inconsistent with the basic national conditions and will hinder the liberation of productivity.
For example, sea tax now has a base tax rate of 20%. There are different tax rates for import and export according to different commodities, and economic means are used to affect people's livelihood, which has not been done before.
If sea taxes are like this, then other domestic taxes should also be adjusted. These are all worthy of study. These things are bound to cause problems if they just follow the methods of their ancestors.
Another example is the salt policy. The previous thinking was to limit production in order to maintain the price of salt, so that the salt tax could be higher and more money could be collected.
But now, under the influence of Zhang Mingwei, it is to increase salt production and achieve more salt taxes through quantity, which can also reduce the burden of salt on the people, because the price of salt is cheaper, and at the same time, economic means are used to eliminate private ownership. The profit margin of salt makes the smuggling of salt almost non-existent. This was unimaginable before.
The same is true in military affairs. The change of national policy has enabled the rise of the navy and the reorganization of the Five Military Governor's Office.
These are all different from before. If the functions are not re-planned and adjusted clearly, there will inevitably be confusion and the effect of the innovation will be seriously affected.
Emperor Chongzhen attached great importance to Zhang Mingwei's suggestion and immediately convened a high-level meeting of the Ming Dynasty including the Supervisor of Rites, the Cabinet, and the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers to discuss the matter.
In the end, the first thing discussed was to establish a new ministry, that is, the Ministry of Agriculture. The responsibilities were just as Zhang Mingwei proposed, and the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry were divided into some, and the responsibilities were detailed.
It has to be said that everyone attaches great importance to farming, and the fastest consensus is reached on this. The establishment of new ministries means that there are seven ministries in the Ming Dynasty, involving the ministers of the Ministry of Agriculture and lower-level officials. This is a very big thing.
As far as the current administrative efficiency and bureaucracy of the Ming Dynasty are concerned, this matter alone is busy enough. Therefore, Zhang Mingwei's other proposals were put on hold for the time being, waiting for the Ministry of Agriculture's affairs to be completed before continuing.
For example, the upgrade of the Ministry of Science and Technology will be postponed for now.
While the court was busy with this, other things that were already being done were naturally continued. For example, the fight against Japan and aid to Ryukyu.
As soon as the typhoon season passed, the joint launch of the Ming Dynasty's navy and army began.
