prosperous age

When Wei Guangde considered amending the "Regulations on Duties and Vassals", he was actually based on reality, maximizing the resolution of the clan's dependence on finances, and at the same time breaking the shackles Zhu Yuanzhang had placed on the clan's children.

First, give each branch of the clan a quota of lumi and set the distribution ratio of titles.

No matter how the clan population changes in the future, the Lumi quota will not change and will only increase or decrease according to changes in the clan population.

In fact, the lumi of the Ming Dynasty clan was paid by the chief envoys of each province. When a province could not afford it financially, it would default on it, and only then would it rise to the level of the imperial court.

This is also the reason why clan Lumi often delays for a long time once he delays.

According to Wei Guangde's idea, the amount of Lumi that each prince in each province can be enfeoffed is directly fixed. It doesn't matter how many children you have, there are only so many.

They are all members of the same clan. If there are more people, they will get less points, and if there are fewer people, they will get more points. It can also be used in disguise to make some low-level clans consider giving up their clan status and do other things.

This led him to consider relaxing the clan restrictions and allowing clan members to make a living voluntarily, whether it was running four industries, participating in scientific examinations, or holding official positions. They could choose between official positions and titles. Once they made a choice, they were not allowed to regret it.

Of course, they cannot apply to restore their clan status in the future, and they are not allowed to publicize their clan status.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang set the rule that the Ming Dynasty clan could not engage in four industry activities. He did not really treat his descendants like pigs.

In his mind, the descendants of the Zhu family could serve as officials in the imperial court, and even their descendants were crowned kings in various places, had considerable military power, and could defend the central government.

However, these ideas changed drastically after his death. The successor he chose began to cut down the vassal as soon as he ascended the throne, and his actions were violent, which eventually led to the Jingnan Rebellion, and the kings stood aside and watched.

As a rebellious emperor, Zhu Di was naturally very wary of his brothers and nephews, so his path to becoming an official was also blocked.

Times have changed, and Wei Guangde does not have as many worries as Zhu Di and his successors.

The current social environment no longer supports rebellion.

Even if there is, it is because the poor people who hate the Zhu clan extremely and want the clan to lead them to rebel are overthinking.

Even Prince Ning's rebellion decades ago was a group of criminal thieves recruited by the palace's huge wealth.

In these days, except for the royal family who still have such financial resources, middle and low-level families have no hope of living a luxurious life.

However, Wei Guangde also knew that these alone were not enough, because each generation of emperors might entrust new princes, and the expansion of the clan line was always inevitable, unless the number of titles was reduced from the king to the king. The prince has to take control,

However, Wei Guangde just thought about including princes and county princes in downgrading the title, and the impact would be too great after raising it.

The civil service group will definitely support it, but it will encounter backlash from the clan.

Moreover, the proposal to demote the princes, counties, and princes also conflicts with his first point, the clan quota.

Therefore, this idea just stayed in his mind and he didn't want to bring it up. The impact would be too great.

After sitting in the study for a long time, Wei Guangde did not think of any other direction for reform, so he put away the recording paper.

Wei Guangde settled down at Bengshan Fort again, but his wife often traveled between Bengshan Fort and her home in Jiujiang.

On this day, a scarlet-robed official came out of the Ministry of War Yamen angrily, got into the sedan outside the door, and said angrily: "Go to the cabinet."

So the sedan was lifted up by the bearers, who hurried towards the imperial city as if they had taken off their hot wheels.

Not long after, the sedan stopped outside the imperial city. The official got out of the sedan and walked directly towards Chengtian Gate.

After a few words with the palace chamberlain here, a young chamberlain took him to the cabinet.

When they arrived at the cabinet, the little chamberlain turned around and left, while the man entered the cabinet and walked straight to Li Chunfang's chief assistant's room.

"My lord, please stay, this is you."

Finally, when Lu met the doubtful eyes of other people in the middle school, the man was stopped by the clerk waiting outside the first assistant's duty room.

"I'm looking for Li Zishi. You go and inform the chief assistant and tell him that Tan Zili is looking for him."

The official said to the scribe in a bad tone.

"Okay, Mr. Tan, Governor Tan."

When he heard that the visitor had announced his address, the clerk suddenly remembered who this gentleman was. If it wasn't Tan Lun, the governor of Jiliao, who could he be?

Not long after, the scribe came out and respectfully invited Tan Lun in.

"Zili, you came so quickly."

Tan Lun walked into the first assistant's duty room and was already greeted by Li Chunfang.

"Master Chief Assistant, can I not come? The imperial court has stopped all the money and food that should have been allocated to Ji Town. Now all the projects from Jizhou to Changping have been stopped. I just want to ask clearly, what exactly is the court going to do?

Forget about the Datong Peace Agreement, there would be no need for defense in the north. If that were the case, then fine, the border troops would be eliminated and the court would be able to save a fortune. "

Tan Lun arched his hands at Li Chunfang angrily, walked past him, found an empty chair and sat on it.

Li Chunfang waved to the clerk at the door, then turned back and sat down next to Tan Lun.

After someone brought tea, he said, "I know about this, but there's nothing I can do about it. Gao Xinzheng handed the note to the Ministry of Finance."

“But most of these projects have been completed, only a small part has been completed, and most of them are still a little short of completion.

The appropriation has been decided by the court long ago. With this suspension, the entire defense project will be wasted, and all the money and food invested in the previous two years will be wasted. "

Tan Lun spoke immediately.

The defense project Tan Lun mentioned was actually the construction of enemy towers throughout the entire Jizhen defense area in the third year of Longqing. He built enemy towers at dangerous locations and stationed soldiers to defend them. They could be used as fortifications to defend the north. As a beacon to communicate the war.

At first, the court promised to allocate a sum of money, and Jizhen would raise the rest by itself. However, the money was temporarily withheld by the Ministry of Household Affairs on the grounds of lack of money, and it was finally decided to allocate it year by year over three years.

The money for the previous two years had been allocated on time, but the account department had been slow to disburse the last amount of money.

The delay in the final project payment suddenly made the defense line that was already taking shape completely unusable.

Of course, it can be used reluctantly, but it is basically difficult to achieve the purpose of its original construction.

No, several memorials were sent to the capital, but the problem was still unresolved. Tan Lun had no choice but to petition and come to the capital in person to talk about the matter and recover the money.

"I went to the Ministry of War to report and asked. He told me that they sent the document to the Ministry of Household Affairs as usual, but the Ministry of Household Affairs said it was a note from the cabinet and withheld the money. I won't come to you. Who should I go to in the cabinet?”

Speaking of this, Tan Lun couldn't help suppressing the anger in his heart.

"I have already said that Zhengfu and I both agree to allocate funds for this matter, but Gaoxin Zheng has different opinions."

At this point, Li Chunfang looked helpless and continued to say to Tan Lun: "Actually, those tens of thousands of taels of silver are really nothing, so just give them.

But as for the current situation of the cabinet, I, as the chief minister, have no say in it. Everything is decided by that side.

Perhaps, the memorial I submitted to the palace will be approved soon, and I will have to pack up my belongings and return to my hometown to retire.

If you really want to find it, you'd better go to Gao Xinzheng and talk about it. I can't help you. "

"How can Gao Xinzheng be like this? Don't you even follow the rules of the court?"

In fact, several ministers in the cabinet know the matters within the cabinet and keep them secretive to the outside world. After all, it is not a glorious matter.

Perhaps Gao Gong would reveal a little bit when communicating with his disciples. After all, he was the winner. Properly conveying some information could also make his followers feel more confident and bold to follow him. But no matter what, some people in other yamen outside the cabinet may detect some bad signals from clues, but they will never think that the junior minister of the cabinet does not even have the most basic respect for superiors and subordinates, and dares to offend the superiors. This is against the law. Taught by saints.

Although there is no hierarchy among cabinet ministers, there are still clear distinctions among cabinet ministers, chief ministers, second ministers and ordinary ministers.

Li Chunfang said this in front of Tan Lun, which actually meant that he had decided to leave and did not want to stay and bear Gao Gong's bullying.

"Zhang Shuda and Yin Zhengfu didn't come out to talk, either?"

Tan Lun said in surprise.

He knew that Gao Gong was favored, but he never expected that he could ignore the chief minister and force the government to run according to his own wishes.

"Now, the only person who can speak in front of him is Uncle. Zhengfu's words are ignored by him."

Speaking of this, Li Chunfang glanced at Tan Lun, "You don't know, in fact, when I first assisted Chen Yiqin in his official duties, he was also forced to make room for him.

At that time, in the cabinet, only the three of them, Chen, Wei, and Yin, could forcefully arm-wrestle with him.

Now that Yifu has become an official and Shanshan has borrowed money from Dingyou, after I leave, Zhengfu should be next.

If you really want this money, you can try to go to Uncle Shu and ask him to help make peace. If you go directly to Gao Xinzheng, I'm afraid it will be counterproductive. "

Li Chunfang finally said to Tan Lun with serious words.

"Why?"

Hearing something in Li Chunfang's words, Tan Lun immediately asked.

"What else can he do? He doesn't like you Jiangxi people."

Li Chunfang could only speak more clearly, "As for their friendship back then, if even Yifu could be forced to leave for promotion, what do you think he will do to other people?"

Just when Tan Lun was about to say more, hurried footsteps were heard outside the door. A cabinet official ran into the check-in room quickly and said to Li Chunfang: "Master Chief Assistant, something bad has happened."

"What's the matter?"

Seeing people so panicked, not only Li Chunfang, but also Tan Lun was shocked. He knew that he had nothing to do today. Something big must have happened. Otherwise, the Secretary of the Cabinet would not be so frightened and almost rushed to report to the room. .

"There were many executions on both sides of the bank south of Xuzhou, and a large number of water boats were swept away by the floods. The main stream of the river changed its direction. The main river channel was dry and silted up, and water transportation was suspended again."

The secretary immediately presented the report with both hands and quickly reported the news.

"what?"

Li Chunfang suddenly felt like a thunderbolt struck her. The court had spent a lot of money to control the water, but it only took a year for the water to be blocked again.

You must know that the last flood suspended navigation, which directly led to the Ke Daoyan impeaching the Ministry of Industry for poor performance, accusing Zhu Heng, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, of being overwhelmed. For this reason, the Ministry of Industry asked Pan Jixun, who had different opinions from Zhu Heng, to control the water.

But who would have thought that it only took Pan Jixun, who had high hopes from the cabinet, to prove in just one year that his tactics still didn't work.

Not to mention who is better than the other, Zhu Heng's flood control at least ensured the smooth flow of water transportation for more than three years, but what about Pan Jixun?

One year, just less than a year.

Li Chunfang reached out and took the memorial from Zhongshu's hand. He quickly looked at it and found that it was exactly as he said.

"On November 1st, the waterway was blocked for 80 miles. It will be impossible to restore the route within a year. This year's grain quota cannot be met."

Li Chunfang murmured in his mouth.

You know, the reserves of the Tongzhou granary are now lower than the quota. I originally wanted to transport more this year, especially the canals that were blocked in the canal last year. I would seize the opportunity to make an extra trip to replenish the Tongzhou granary.

Now that the Yellow River is flooding again, their ideas are naturally in vain.

"Zili, don't talk about your affairs anymore. It is impossible for the court to allocate money to Ji Zhen under any circumstances."

Looking at Tan Lun who also looked horrified, Li Chunfang said with a wry smile.

With a wave of her hand, Li Chunfang called over the clerk who was standing awkwardly at the door and ordered: "Go and invite some elders to discuss matters."

There was something going on in the cabinet, so Tan Lun naturally couldn't stay for a long time, so he had to stand up and say goodbye to Li Chunfang.

Even though he is a governor, in the capital and in the cabinet, only cabinet ministers are qualified to come here to discuss matters.

Even if it were to be expanded at this time, the cabinet would have to summon six ministries and nine ministers to participate, and it would not be his business as the governor.

Now it seems that all I can do is wait for the emperor to summon me and try to mention the money.

However, judging from the current situation, it seems that even if the tens of thousands of taels of silver are available, they will be used for other purposes.

Tan Lun left the cabinet and walked out of the palace along the way he came.

The governor of another province returned to Beijing in the name of meeting the emperor, so he had to go back and wait for Emperor Longqing's summons.

I went to the Ministry of War today to report.

As soon as he reached the Huiji Gate, Tan Lun saw fellow villagers Zhu Heng, the Minister of Works, and Zhang Shouzhi, the Minister of Hubu, coming this way.

He knew Zhang Shouzhi. After all, he had served as the Minister of the Ministry of War in the capital. At that time, Zhang Shouzhi was only the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu. Unexpectedly, he had been promoted to Minister of Finance in the blink of an eye.

"came back."

Zhu Heng knew the reason for his coming to Beijing. After all, the two places were not far apart and they occasionally communicated through letters.

"I'm back. I was talking to Mr. Li Ge about this earlier, but then I heard the news that water transportation was interrupted, so I came out."

After Tan Lun and Zhang Shouzhi saluted each other, they said to Zhu Heng.

"I'll hold a banquet tonight to cleanse you, and now I have to go to the cabinet."

Zhu Heng just said something to him, and walked quickly to the cabinet with Zhang Shouzhi.

Water transport is related to the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Works. Naturally, officials from these two yamen urgently reported to Beijing. Several reports arrived in Beijing at almost the same time. After learning the news, the two of them ran to the cabinet and waited for the cabinet to make a decision. Met at the palace gate.

They all knew what was going on without saying anything, so they came in together.

"Zili's affairs may have worked before, but now, I'm afraid it won't work."

On the way, Zhang Shouzhi whispered to Zhu Heng.

"Hey, what do you mean by this? I heard that the enemy towers are almost completed.

Spending so much money and finally being unable to use it is a waste of people's money. "

Zhu Heng sighed.

"If I had known this, I should have allocated it all last year."

Zhang Shouzhi's hometown is in Zunhua, and his ancestors are Mongolians. However, he has already regarded himself as a Ming Dynasty man, so he naturally hopes that Jizhen's defense will be better, that's why he said this.

(End of this chapter)