prosperous age

Chapter 164 Chapter 163
There are so many people in the guild hall at this time, it is naturally impossible for Wei Guangde to show his face in front of the Yan family and his son all the time, that would attract people's hatred.

After a few words of conversation, Wei Guangde backed away consciously. Wei Guangde felt that the task of showing off his face to impress Mr. Shoufu had been completed, and the effect seemed to be better than expected. I really don't know whether we should thank Yan Shifan and Yan Longyang.

Wei Guangde didn't just show his face in front of Yan's father and son, he also found an opportunity to visit other officials in Beijing before the banquet started.

What Wei Guangde didn't know was that after the students had finished seeing the ceremony, Yan Shifan whispered in his father Yan Song's ear: "The one who heard from the palace is probably that boy, father, do you think we will try this time?" "

"Don't meddle."

Yan Song looked at the people in the hall kindly, without any intention of being slow, but said to Yan Shifan in a low voice: "Now that person may be selecting candidates, no matter what the final result is, we can't think about it before that. You are not allowed to meddle in this matter."

"But the palace said that when Chen Hong came back, he mentioned the names of several boys many times. I checked, and they are all relatives of this guy. Some of them may have caught the eye of that guy, and I am afraid that they are about to become famous. "

Regarding his son's words, Yan Song just glanced at him with slightly cloudy eyes, "It's not the time, it's too young, even if you want to be promoted, it's not now, that's it, don't talk anymore, after he passes the test, we can give him It’s convenient, if you can’t pass the test.”

Immediately, Yan Song just shook his head and stopped talking.

Wei Guangde paid a visit to the officials in Beijing one by one with the officials of Jiujiang Mansion, not to mention whether there will be a chief examiner for next year's exam among them, now that the emperor has not decided on a candidate, it may be really useful if there are many similarities.

If the emperor decides on a candidate, they will not dare to join in these moves.

"The students liked Mr. Jiu Shan's poems very much after reading them in Jiangxi. It is a great honor to meet Mr. Jiu here today."

At this moment, along with the others, Wei Guangde had already bowed in front of Yin Zhan, the young master of Zhan Shi's mansion, Zhan Shi Yintai.

Not to mention Wei Guangde, almost all the candidates in Beijing are familiar with the detailed information of Jiangxi officials in Beijing. This Yintai Yin Zhanshi is a very talented person and has written many poems. , but in this era, in front of Jiangxi people, he is still very famous.

This man was also from the Hanlin Academy. He was a Jinshi in Jiajing for 14 years.

Until now, Wei Guangde, Wei Guangde has not found a good teacher to help him or give him advice.

When traveling in Jiangxi, I didn't find a suitable one, perhaps because the conditions set by Wei Guangde were a bit high.

In Wei Guangde's view, to be one's own teacher, one must not only be knowledgeable and famous, but also have a certain influence in the court, otherwise the help to oneself is limited to the folks, and the help will be limited.

As for the influence in the court, it must be an official first, at least it is possible for an official to be an official, and the official is still a little bit worse. After all, there is an old saying in China that "tea cools when people walk".

Therefore, Wei Guangde didn't think he could find a suitable teacher to lead the way, so he had to wait until he had passed the provincial examination and was in the capital to choose slowly.

Originally, Yan Song was the best target, but it is a pity that this person finally got angry because of his son, and he will definitely not end well, and he will not be able to keep up.

Then other officials, especially officials from the Hanlin Academy like Yin Tai, are naturally the best targets to curry favor with. If you want to be knowledgeable and educated, you want status. They are prime ministers and have a bright future.

In fact, if it was placed in the previous dynasty, Zhan Shifu would be a good job, tutoring the prince to study, ministers in the hidden residence, and most of these people will rise when the prince succeeds to the throne.

But at present, it is a bit useless. Emperor Jiajing died two princes and sons in succession.

Yes, both Jiajing's eldest son and second son died, and they were buried with the crown prince ceremony, that is, they died young after they were designated as princes.

The motto "Two dragons don't meet each other" is now firmly believed by Emperor Jiajing. He is the real dragon, and the prince is the little dragon.

Although everyone is secretive about this, they are very clear about the truth.

Emperor Jiajing had put an end to his plan to be crowned prince, he didn't want to kill his son anymore.

Under such a background, Zhan Shifu naturally became a yamen with nothing to do. As for the education of other princes, it was naturally out of Zhan Shifu's turn to take care of it. Emperor Jiajing directly selected a scholar from the Imperial Academy to give lectures .

After everyone finished seeing the ceremony, Yin Tai just encouraged all the candidates to study hard and prepare for the test.

Wei Guangde had no excuse to stay by this person's side, so he could only follow the crowd to meet other officials.

Shao Zhanshi, a fourth-rank official, is not too small, and also plays a pivotal role in the court.

On the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, I had a banquet at the Jiangxi Guild Hall, and on the [-]th of the new year, all the candidates who were naturally preparing for the exam in Beijing gathered in the Jiujiang Guild Hall to have a New Year’s Eve dinner together.

"I don't know how many people are still on the way to Beijing at this time."

Now the weather is already extremely cold, and there was another heavy snowfall during the day, but it stopped when it was dark.

"It's because of the cold weather that we came to Beijing in November, just in time for the capital that arrived a year ago."

Lao Kan picked up a chopstick and put it in his mouth and said: "If you really go to Beijing by boat, you won't be able to walk to Shandong, so you'd better get off the boat and find a car."

"I don't know what's going on with the weather. The drought is severe in the south, and it's also in the north. It doesn't rain until September in the north this year. You may have seen it when you came here."

"That's right, a sports car can be used in the fields."

"It's cold too. The Yangtze River is fine. The big rivers are unlikely to be frozen. I heard that several rivers in Suzhou were frozen last year."

"Jiangxi's harvest is not good this year, it's all due to Huguang's side."

"If the weather keeps like this, I don't know what the price of rice will be in the next few years. I heard that several warehouses in the capital will be empty."

"Impossible, no matter what happens, the grain must be guaranteed, otherwise what will happen to the hundreds of thousands of frontier troops in the north."

Soon, because of the weather, everyone began to chatter.

Food is the most important thing for the people, and they eat and drink at the dinner table, and there are many charcoal pots lit in the house to keep them warm.

But what happens when you go out, dripping water turns into ice.

"In the middle of the month in Shanshan, the earth dragon turned around again. It seems that the past few years have been terrible."

"Where did you hear that?"

"Just yesterday, I heard from the Ministry of Household Affairs that the memorandum came up, but the imperial court has no money to help. The cabinet and the Sixth Ministry are still discussing this matter, to see where they can get the money."

"Is there an explanation?"

"It is said that half of the money for repairing the city wall of Juyongguan will be deducted and sent to Shanshan for emergency."

Beijing is the center of the Ming Empire. Naturally, all kinds of news are spread the fastest. In this era, when a disaster occurs in a place, only the government post can deliver the news here in half a month.

When Wei Guangde was in Nanchang City before, he heard the students from Ji'an say that the imperial court was short of money, and they were simply borrowing money from east to west to maintain the situation.

After sitting here for a while, I heard similar news to corroborate what I heard before. It seems that the family of the Ming Dynasty is really not easy to deal with.

Living in the local area for a long time, Wei Guangde once visited Jiangxi again, and he still knows a lot about the things below.

In fact, the taxes and servitude of the Ming Dynasty were really not light. There is a saying in later generations that the Ming Dynasty had less taxes, which is actually wrong.

In fact, as far as Wei Guangde learned, the regular tax in the Ming Dynasty was very low, and the regular tax was the tax money collected by the central government.

But the taxes that ordinary people have to pay are very high, which are miscellaneous taxes.

It is a bit like the difference between the national tax and the local tax in later generations, but in terms of tax distribution, the land tax accounts for a very high proportion, while the national tax is very, very small, a bit like before the tax reform in later generations.

Three years of Qing Dynasty prefect, one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver.

This is not for nothing. It is not about how to make money in the local area, such as fundraising projects, selling government test quotas, and so on. As for the miscellaneous taxes, basically they are collected and handed over to officials. As long as the people below Feed a little, then balance the account, and the rest is your own.

As for the natural disaster mentioned earlier, Wei Guangde had noticed it a long time ago. He had passed the township examination before, so what can be done.

In the event of a large-scale drought, future generations have no good way to solve it, but can only guarantee water for humans and animals.

As for the south-to-north water diversion, come on, don't even think about the current financial dilemma of the Ming Dynasty, and many technical problems cannot be solved.

"Last time I heard people say that the weather has been like this for the past few decades. There are droughts and floods in summer, and it is extremely cold in winter. It has never been recorded in previous historical materials."

"What do you mean?"

"Some people from other provinces said that it was caused by traitors in the court, but these situations had existed decades ago. The Hongzhi and Zhengde dynasties were like this. What does it have to do with Yan Ge?"

"That's an excuse for political struggle, just listen to it."

Wei Guangde heard these words in his ears, and felt that they really didn't waste their time in Beijing, and they were really well-informed after inquiring about these news.

For example, when the disciples said these things, he, Lao Kan, and Shen Liangdong could only sit obediently and listen to them.

Natural disaster, there is no way to solve it.

Finance, Wei Guangde thinks he can't solve it.

Doing this thing is a way to offend people. It seems that Zhang Juzheng did this thing in history, but it didn't work out in the end.

It was said that the emperor wanted to liquidate, but in fact, many officials below hated Zhang Juzheng deeply, so they got into trouble and made up many things to anger the emperor.

So the Ming Dynasty did not make it, it seems that the Qing Dynasty Yongzheng did it, Wei Guangde saw it when he was watching a TV series, there is such a plot.

He still remembers what was said on TV, "The gentry pays the grain to the mu" and "The gentry pays food and errands together", probably these two reforms brought a lot of money for the Qing Dynasty's finances.

He didn't quite understand what it meant before, but now Wei Guangde knows what it means when he hears these two words.

Spreading Ding into Mu is to spread the tax to the fields, and those who have no fields and no land will not pay taxes, and only the landlord's tax will be collected.

As a gentry, he felt a little immoral, because it harmed his interests. Now he is a juren, and he doesn't have to be an errand to pay for food.

As for the first point, Wei Guangde felt that he could bring it up at the right time. Although he might offend the landlord, if he could get something in return, he should offend him and persuade them with great principles.

The second point is that Wei Guangde will not speak out if he is beaten to death, and the loss is a bit big.

In addition, it seems that there is also a fire loss to return to the public. This offends the magistrate, and it can't be done.

Huo consumption, in fact, is the addition of some auxiliary expenses after the regular tax is collected, which is part of the miscellaneous tax. In the past, these things were directly collected by local officials, which was a kind of gray income.

Well, in fact, Wei Guangde's poor knowledge of feudal social reforms all came from the TV series "Yongzheng Dynasty".

Thanks to the rudimentary Internet at that time, Wei Guangde was still watching TV and videos at that time, and did not touch the Internet much, so he still remembered some things. If it was broadcast a few years later, Wei Guangde might not remember these things.

However, in what they said just now, Wei Guangde always felt as if he had forgotten something in his heart, and there seemed to be some words in his memory, that is, the weather is very cold now.

Wei Guangde drank a few glasses of wine before, but now he was a little drunk, so he just closed his eyes and thought about something.

When the others saw it, they thought Wei Guangde was drunk, and they all asked him if they wanted Zhang Ji to take him back to his room to rest.

Wei Guangde just waved his hands, indicating that he was fine.

After squinting for a while, Wei Guangde remembered that he had read that the last year of the dynasty was the Little Ice Age, and there was a word for it called "Little Ice Age at the end of Ming Dynasty".

Thinking of this, combined with the current climate, Wei Guangde knew in his heart that it might not be the small glacier climate that only existed in the late Ming Dynasty, but it had already started at this time, or it might have started decades ago.

Later generations said that the main reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty was the financial collapse, because there was no money for disaster relief, and a large number of thieves were caused.

Well, if it weren't for this horrible weather, there would naturally be no disaster relief, and there would be no riots and financial collapse.

What is the best response to a drought?
Call the wind and shake the rain.

Wei Guangde's first reaction was this.

I have a little understanding of Emperor Jiajing's career in cultivating Taoism. Not only is he longing for longevity, longing for eternal rights, maybe there are other things mixed in it.

What did the novel say?

Wei Guangde searched his memory and read a lot of online novels before. Unfortunately, he prefers to read urban novels. He seldom reads history, and most of them only read the first part, because many historical novels are not good enough.

It's cool enough, but it's not a historical novel, most of them are mixed with modern jokes, and the jokes make people laugh.

Wei Guangde thought about it for a long time, and found that it seemed to be going out to grab food. From the south and Southeast Asia, it seemed that the impact was relatively small, the food production was high, and then the land was occupied, and it seemed to emigrate there.

Logically, it works.

Occupy the territory, emigrate, and stabilize the rule.

Wei Guangde began to think about what he would do if he was the chief assistant.

But soon, he found that it seemed impossible.

What did you learn by yourself?
I asked someone to take the soldiers out, for fear that I would not be sprayed to death by these scholars in the court.

There is also communication in ancient times. The current Ming Empire has actually reached the maximum range of rule, and this range is actually the standard for maintaining communication between the two places with existing technology.

If the distance is too far, it is impossible to hook at all. It is easy to fight out and grab the territory, and then they will become independent.

Besides, now that the Ming army goes out, it is hard to say whether it can defeat the European pirates.

Wei Guangde put himself in the position of Yan Song, and found that he seemed to have the things of future generations, but he still couldn't use his fists.

You said to encourage business?

Well, encouragement.

You say business tax?
Afraid of not being hanged directly.

From Zhang Hongfu, Wei Guangde still don't know how the current business is going.

In later generations, farmers did not pay taxes, and the state paid money every year to let people cultivate the land.

That's because business taxes are enough for national use.

But you come to the Ming Dynasty to collect taxes and try to see if you die.

The easiest way is to change the dynasty, overturn the original pots and pans, and build a new one.

However, in this world, there is no future for rebellion.

In fact, for now, Wei Guangde sees no reason to support the rebellion. From gentry to peasants, no one thinks about it.

Before he knew it, Wei Guangde was really drunk.
(End of this chapter)