Wanli Xinming

In the early Ming Dynasty, Tianjin was a small area with few residential buildings.In the second year of Jianwen's reign, King Zhu Di of Yan led his troops to the south to fight for the throne. After his success, he named it Tianjin - the place where the emperor crossed the river.

Later, Emperor Yongle moved his troops to the south and built three guards, namely Tianjin Guard, Tianjin Left Guard, and Tianjin Right Guard, to defend the capital.

After the Tonghui River was connected, Tianjin became one of the canal hubs.The Changlu Transportation Department set up an inspection office in Dazhigu, so salt merchants bought land on the east bank of the Haihe River in Tianjin to build salt piles to prepare for inspection and shipment.After Caoliang entered Beijing, Tianjin became a transportation center for Caoliang, with an endless stream of businessmen and people, and gradually developed.

When the guards were in ruins, tens of thousands of military households turned their main occupations to farmers, and Tianjin Guards gradually transformed into a commercial city.After the Wanli Reform, Tianjin became increasingly prosperous as the imperial court allowed it to set up customs and shipyards with its convenient conditions.

Yang Yikui, the governor of Tianjin, led the civil and military officials to welcome the grand arrival, and guided Zhu Yijun and others to enter the palace renovated from Tianjin Yi Zheng Hotel.Since he only had a few months, Yang Yikui wanted to carry out a large-scale construction project but was unable to do so, so he could only renovate the Yi Zheng Hotel, which was just superficial - but it saved the Yi Zheng Department a lot of renovation money.

After the emperor rested, a secretary from the attendant's office came out and smiled at Yang Yikui: "Yang Futai, your majesty will have breakfast at eight o'clock tomorrow and listen to the report at 08:30. Please hand over the written materials to be reported tomorrow to the attendant's office before ten o'clock tonight. Approval. Of course, the earlier you hand it in, the longer we can sleep."

Yang Yikui said hurriedly: "Yes. The lead officer has already explained it before, and it has been prepared here." After saying that, he handed over a thick brown paper bag and said with a smile: "I have already made the abbreviation - but I'm afraid it won't work. It pleases your ears.”

When the secretary heard this, he smiled and said: "The rule is that we must read every word and make up an abbreviation - but thank you Futai for your kindness." After saying that, he bowed and nodded, holding the The paper bag turned away.

Yang Yikui took a long breath, turned around, went out, got on the sedan, and returned to his home.At this time, the governor's office was brightly lit, and countless officials were coming and going, filling in the blanks at the end of the "big pick-up wall chart" hanging in the main hall with check marks one by one.

"Where is Wang Yongguo of the dredging team? The Holy Spirit arrived in Cangzhou the day after tomorrow - why has the river dredging situation not been reported yet?"

"Didn't you report it the day before yesterday?" Someone shouted from the corner of the lobby.

"Hey! It was opened three days ago, and there will be no traffic tomorrow? Go and call Team Leader Wang to come and check it overnight!"

"Is Commander He Junshou here?"

"Here! Here!"

"He Tongzhi, the review of the troops and horses has been completed, right? Please sign here - so that we can check the box on the map. Okay, thank you, you can go back and rest."

"Someone from the reception team of the Political Affairs Hall, please come here. Prime Minister Liang Mingquan will have Zhengding fried liver for breakfast tomorrow!"

After the Reform, the area of ​​official halls in various places became larger - the emperor had several palaces in the Forbidden City. It was normal for various places to change their dark and narrow office spaces.

Because the pick-up was a big deal, Governor Yang agreed to use a whale oil lamp today. This thing is about the same brightness as a strong fire oil lamp. The difference is that the whale oil is mixed with spices, which allows people to stay up late and work for a long time without feeling uncomfortable.

Yang Yikui, who returned to the residence from the palace, looked at the Yamen like a bustling city and sighed in his heart.Compared with when I was young, the custom of the governor, three or five staff members, and several envoys meeting to do things was gone forever.

Yang Yikui became a Jinshi in the middle of his career. He is now over fifty and has been in the officialdom for more than 20 years. After 20 years of being a new official in the officialdom and then becoming a second-rank official in the border area, Yang Houshan naturally has his unique skill in being an official, which is to understand the emperor.Today's emperor is pursuing the path of "Kiuzhou unified passage", not to mention the expansion to the southeast and northwest, while still staring hard at the sea.

Tianjin has a military port and customs, which is a first-class springboard for high-ranking officials of the third rank who are interested in political affairs.After Yang Yikui heard the statement that "prime ministers must start from prefectures and counties", he immediately used Zhang Siwei's relationship to be sent out as a minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Wasn't he just looking for a place to achieve political achievements?

Now that the emperor's first stop on his southern tour was in Tianjin, Yang Yikui couldn't tolerate any situation that was out of his control - so he just smiled at the brightly lit lobby and went back to the back house to rest.

After a brief sleep for two hours, Yang Yikui was waiting outside the palace at 07:30 in the morning.When the chamberlain came out and called him in, he hurriedly adjusted his five-beam crown, pushed up his myopia glasses, glanced at the general position of the cheat sheet on the wat board, and entered the palace to pay homage without mentioning it.

The main hall of the palace, where important officials were arranged, was remodeled from the lobby of the Yi Zheng Hotel. It has a similar layout to the Wuying Palace. The emperor sits on the throne, and the civil and military ministers are separated on the left and right. The ministers of the political affairs hall and the inner court ministers and other important ministers all have seats.

After Yang Yikui was granted peace, he bowed down and gave a brief report on Tianjin's agriculture, commerce, industry, military, education and other matters. Then Yuyin asked: "I remember that Yang Qing was sent away from the imperial court for more than three years, right?"

Yang Yikui hurriedly replied: "Yes."

Zhu Yijun smiled and said: "I am very pleased that Yang Qing asked you to be released and has the courage to take on the task." Yang Yikui's voice trembled: "Thank you, Lord, for your encouragement."

Zhu Yijun smiled more and asked again: "Just now you said that Tianjin has nearly [-] hectares of farmland, and paddy fields account for a quarter - who is planting them?"

Yang Yikui's heart sank: The emperor has his own eyes and ears, and he naturally knows the situation of the three guards in Tianjin. Moreover, he has made any contribution or fault in this matter, and there is no need to hide it for others.

So he swallowed his saliva and bowed down: "When I return to the emperor, a small number of them are refugees recruited by me, but most of them are soldiers of the garrison."

Before the emperor could ask further questions, Yang Yikui hurriedly recounted his achievements: "When I first arrived in Tianjin, there were 800 soldiers in the guard, all of whom were familiar with farming but ignorant of military matters. I have been leading the army in Tianjin for three years. A total of 120 new soldiers were trained, and all of them passed the Privy Council's assessment - [-] of them were sergeants, [-] were corporals, and they were transferred to Japan last year."

Zhu Yijun's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he looked at Hu Shouren, the minister of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, and said, "Jintang, how is the condition of Tianjin's new army?"

Hu Shouren stood up and bowed and said: "Your Majesty, the Nanyuan Frontier Selection Camp is composed of soldiers selected from various places. It ranks first in Guangxi, second in Liaodong, third in Shanxi, fourth in Shaanxi, and fifth in Tianjin."

Zhu Yijun was overjoyed and smiled at Yang Yikui and said: "Governor Yang Qing is powerful and has a lot of heart." Yang Yikui received this compliment and all his bones became lighter by two ounces.

Zhu Yijun then asked: "What are the tax sources of Tianjin? Yang Qing, tell me."

Yang Yikui hurriedly looked at the Wat Ban and replied: "Tianjin does not have many counties, and the grain tax is relatively small, accounting for only more than half. Because of its geographical convergence, commercial taxes are more, accounting for [-]%. Since I took office, I have set up more The smokeless carbon factory supplies the capital, and labor taxes already account for nearly [-]%."

Zhu Yijun frowned slightly.Liang Menglong, who was standing at the head of the civil servants, smiled and said: "Mr. Houshan, just read out the percentage on the wat board. The emperor is used to listening to detailed calculations - you don't have to say [-]% or [-]%."