Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 379 Guo Pu's Intention
It has to be said that Guo Pu has a deep understanding of Zhang Juzheng, but that may be the case. His sense of Zhang Juzheng doesn't seem to be very good - Gao Wushi noticed that he called Zhang Juzheng a few times just "Zhang Baigui" .

Bai Gui is Zhang Juzheng's nickname, or his original name - Juzheng was changed later.Guo Pu directly called Zhang Juzheng by his pet name, apparently disapproving of Zhang Juzheng's conduct.

Zhang Juzheng has always shown himself as a great reformer in later generations, and some people even say that he is the only great statesman in Ming Dynasty.Gao Yushi's attitude towards this has always been to roll his eyes - Zhang Juzheng is indeed a politician and a reformer, but later generations have exaggerated him to the point of completely ignoring the truth, which cannot convince Gao Yushi at all.

Even for the great reform of Longwan, Zhang Juzheng, as a politician who continued the reform policies of Longqing and Gao Gong, not only did not really further deepen the reform, but also made mistakes of "excessive force" in some administrations. The biggest touting point of "extending the Ming Dynasty for decades" is a bit hard to live up to the name.

As mentioned in the previous article, from the perspective and level of national politics, forcibly spreading a whip across the country is a typical example of excessive force—the area of ​​Suzhou and Hangzhou in South Zhili, which is rich and close to the level of early capitalism, is different from the barren and What is the comparison with Shaanxi, which has been hit by disasters for years, and can actually implement a whip method across the board?
Is this a continuation of life, or drinking poison to quench thirst?Hard to say.

As for the examination method, the same is true-when there are still many problems piled up in the lower administrative units that have not been resolved, it is very difficult to improve administrative efficiency. At this time, Zhang Juzheng forcibly ordered the improvement of administrative efficiency in the name of the center , can only lead to uneasiness in the entire administrative system and cause division within the civil service group. In order to cater to Zhang Juzheng, some people can only intensify the oppression of the common people in order to satisfy the "examination"; "Successful in the exam", he was liquidated and suppressed by Zhang Juzheng, and then became Zhu Yijun's main force in counterattacking against Zhang Juzheng.

Is this a continuation of life, or drinking poison to quench thirst?Hard to say.

However, history has proved that Zhang Juzheng's style after he took power: arbitrariness, self-willedness, and those who employ people who obey me will prosper, and those who oppose me will perish.

In this way, some flattering and treacherous villains are often reused, while those who hold different opinions are excluded.All court ministers who offended Zhang Juzheng were all demoted, dismissed, or even sentenced to prison, causing death.

This method of employing people based on one's own likes and dislikes and personal right and wrong has not only caused difficulties for the reform, but also planted a crisis for the failure of the reform.

In fact, not all those who are good at currying favor with Zhang Juzheng sincerely support the reform. For example, Zhang Siwei, who was promoted and reused by Zhang Juzheng, followed Wanli as the chief assistant of the cabinet and liquidated the reform. Gao Gong's faction, if Gao Gong hadn't fallen, he would have joined the cabinet to assist the government.

But Zhang Siwei is also a person who has been polished by the officialdom for a long time, so when Gao Gong fell from power, he endured it, hibernated under Jiuyou, and behaved "like a follower" in front of Zhang Juzheng. It is recognized that Zhang Siwei has been subdued, so he is reused.

In addition, although Zhang Juzheng, who held a lot of power, was not a big greedy person in the officialdom of the late Ming Dynasty—at least much stronger than his teacher Xu Jie—he was not completely innocent.He used his status and influence to seek fame and fame for his family. The eldest son was the champion, and the second son was ranked second in the examination. Shenzong arbitrarily moved him to the first and second places, and Zhang Juzheng accepted it frankly.

The upper beam was not upright and the lower beam was crooked. After Wanli, there were serious frauds in the examination hall. Many sons of prominent officials became Jinshi, which led to dissatisfaction among the people, a lot of discussion, and even a bad atmosphere. Zhang Ju was very responsible.

In addition, his family members were rampant in their hometown in Hubei, accepting bribes.In fact, Zhang Juzheng is very aware of this situation, and even wrote a letter requesting local officials to strictly control it, but he himself failed to take any effective measures, and even made it clear that as a son, he could not control his father who acted recklessly, so it was inevitable that others would criticize him .

From Gao Yushi's point of view, leading a large-scale reform movement is a journey full of thorns and difficulties.Zhang Juzheng himself is arbitrary, rejects dissidents, employs improper personnel, makes too many enemies, and cannot be strict with himself and his family, so the end can only be that people leave the tea and die, and the government dies. .

The reason why Gao Yushi did everything possible to keep Gao Gong was because Gao Gong was his third uncle. As long as he did not fall, he would be able to leave himself with abundant political resources to a large extent, which would be beneficial for him to continue to advance in the future. It is not the only purpose of Longwan's great reform, so that teachers and students will not turn against each other like Zhang Juzheng and Wanli, and the government will die.

Although Gao Gong is a bit arbitrary, at least he listens to advice. Although he usually looks impatient, he is very careful in his administration-this is from the fact that he has to step by step and promote the promotion of a whip method. You can see it.

In addition, the previous time Gao Yushi suggested to him that the promotion conditions of local officials should be linked with the local economic development (in fact, Gao Yushi only mentioned the amount of tax collection, see the previous article for details), and Gao Gong said that it might cause the poor people to suffer. Excessive exploitation may have an impact on national stability. Even after Gao Pragmatically proposed that tax collection and regional stability be the same criteria for evaluation, Gao Gong still cautiously expressed the need to delay.

This is the overall view and prudence that a great politician should have.

National affairs are not child's play. It is not something that can be regarded as a standard and followed by people who just think about it at home and pat their heads.Any policy must be carefully considered. What is feasible in Jiangnan may not be feasible in Jiangbei; what is feasible in Yunnan may not be feasible in Liaodong.

Therefore, when presiding over major affairs, one must have a firm determination to advance, but also have careful steps to advance. In the process of implementation, one must be careful and patient in discovering, examining, and solving problems, rather than ignoring, ignoring, or covering up problems Otherwise, the problems will only increase and become more and more irreparable.

Guo Pu may not use the "dichotomy" dialectical thinking of high pragmatism that has been proven effective by later generations to examine Zhang Juzheng, but he does not understand the dangers of people of Zhang Juzheng's temperament holding power, so he has such an attitude.

Gao Wushi suddenly realized from Guo Pu's two "Zhang Baigui" voices: the reason why he cooperated so much and followed him back to Beijing without any delay was that he had actually agreed to get back together in his heart, and the purpose was to restrict Zhang Juzheng!

Gao Yushi breathed a sigh of relief. Although Guo Pu agreed to return to Beijing for the sake of the overall situation of the country, that is not important. For Gao Yushi, the focus of everything right now is only one thing: to protect Gaogong and stay upright!
　Although I am still ill, I plan to stick to it tonight, and I should be able to write a chapter, lest someone say that I only analyze and have no plot.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)