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Chapter 198 Performance Appraisal

Rulers of various dynasties hoped to get some inspiration from Zhang Juzheng's reforms and see if they could be applied to their own dynasties.

After all, according to the anchor, Zhang Juzheng was one of the three major reformers in ancient China, along with Shang Yang and Wang Anshi.

Being able to receive such a prestigious title shows how significant the significance of Zhang Juzheng's reforms is.

From this point alone, we can see that some of Zhang Juzheng's reform measures are certainly extraordinary and can benefit them a lot.

Especially for those emperors with great ambitions, Zhang Juzheng's reforms were of great reference significance to them.

Li Shimin: Anchor, can you tell us in detail the specific content of Zhang Juzheng’s reforms?

"His Majesty Taizong said so, so of course there is no problem with the anchor."

"There are three areas of reform by Zhang Juzheng, namely politics, military, and economy. The anchor will first introduce to you the political measures."

"Zhang Juzheng's political measures include five points: first, to strengthen imperial power, second, to control the powerful, third, to cut down reform posts, fourth, to purge officials, and fifth, to appoint talents."

"In terms of strengthening imperial power, Zhang Juzheng, in view of the chaos in etiquette caused by the neglect of emperors in Jiajing and Longqing dynasties, arranged for the emperor to meet with officials in the second year of Wanli with a grand ceremony, imitating the etiquette of the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty in the Huijimen Wu Dynasty .”

"Zhang Juzheng ordered the Ministry of Rites to draw up procedures in advance and conduct drills in advance, in an effort to restore the majesty and majesty of the ceremony, so as to solve the problems of ministers' chaotic etiquette procedures and random words and deeds."

"During his reign, he always regarded the etiquette of monarchs and ministers as an important means to establish the authority of the monarch."

"At the same time, Zhang Juzheng proposed the policy of No. 1 Order, the core of which is that the supreme monarch makes the final decision on the court's various plans and discussions."

"The emperor alone has the sole discretion to handle national affairs, and fundamentally eliminate all kinds of gossip, thereby strengthening unified law enforcement and enhancing the authority of imperial edicts."

Zhao Zhen: This Zhang Juzheng was a loyal minister, loyal to the emperor, and specially formulated policies to strengthen the imperial power and greatly increase the emperor's authority. I really envy him!

Seeing what Zhang Juzheng did, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion when he thought of his courtiers.

They are both ministers, so why is there such a big gap?

Unlike his ministers, who always quoted Taizu's ancestral precepts and shouted that the emperor wanted to share the world with the scholar-bureaucrats.

As an emperor, he must always be controlled by his ministers.

He could not beat, scold or kill his ministers, which often made him feel depressed.

Looking at Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty, he was already a prime minister with monopoly power. He did not want to evade the imperial power, but worked hard to strengthen it.

Such a loyal minister was what he dreamed of, and he wished he could get Zhang Juzheng to be his prime minister.

"In terms of controlling the powerful, there are countless examples of the powerful in the Ming Dynasty being corrupt and bending the law. There are many backlogged cases that no one dared to touch for years. Measures were taken to control the powerful during Zhang Juzheng's rule."

"After the founding hero Mu Ying, the Duke of Yunnan and Guizhou, Mu Chaobi, committed many evil acts in Yunnan. Emperor Jiajing treated him leniently and dismissed him from office, and his son Mu Changzuo inherited the title."

"But Mu Chaobi threatened to kill local officials and colluded with local people to harm the countryside. Zhang Juzheng arrested Mu Chaobi and intended to execute him."

"Considering the great achievements of the three generations of Mu's ancestors and the stability of the Yunnan chieftain, he was imprisoned for life."

"Empress Dowager Li's father, Wu Qingbo Li Wei, asked the court to provide him with taels of silver to build his own mausoleum. Zhang Juzheng thought that he could only follow the old example of Shizong giving 20,000 taels to his grandfather Jiang Lun."

"In the early years of Wanli, Feng Bangning, the nephew of the eunuch Feng Bao, made trouble and broke the law in a wine shop. Zhang Juzheng dismissed Feng Bangning from his position regardless of his relationship with Feng Bao and beat him with forty boards."

"At the same time, he will be punished for one year and Feng Bao will be told to be strict with his family education."

"Another example is that Zhang Juzheng decided to suppress the censor's arrogance because he often bullied the governor."

"As long as they do something slightly inappropriate, they will immediately scold them and order their superiors to investigate."

"Another example is that the world had been in peace for a long time. Thieves had appeared in groups and even robbed government warehouses. The local government often concealed such things and did not report them."

"Zhang Juzheng ordered that if anyone hides and fails to report, even Xunliang officials will be removed from their posts."

"The local officials no longer dared to hide their true feelings. When they caught the robbers, they immediately beheaded and executed them, and hunted down their families. As a result, the robbers declined."

"Zhang Juzheng used this kind of strict law and discipline to show the world. By attacking powerful families, the cabinet in the early years of Wanli took full control of the affairs of the palace and the government, and made all the internal ministers and eunuchs obey the orders of the external court."

Mu Ying: I am ashamed of His Majesty Taizu's kindness to my Mu family. I never thought that I would produce an unworthy descendant.

Mu Chaobi: How can the anchor use me as a negative example? How will I meet people in the future?

Queen Mother Li: On this point, the Ai family supports Zhang Juzheng. Now the court does not have much money, so it is already very good to be able to give 20,000 taels to the father of the Ai family.

Feng Bao: If you do something wrong, you will be punished. You can’t just be lenient just because you are my nephew.

Zhang Juzheng: Not long after I implemented the reform, I just needed some powerful people to establish my authority. These powerful people who violated laws and disciplines just came to my door.

If he wants to forcefully implement reforms, he must let other ministers see his determination and not dare to violate it.

At this time, it is necessary to kill the chicken to scare the monkey and pave the way for him to implement reforms.

By cracking down on these powerful people who violate laws and disciplines, on the one hand, it will bring justice to the people, and on the other hand, it will deter other officials.

The effect was just as he expected, surprisingly good.

Through a series of actions against the powerful, the authority of the cabinet has been greatly increased, and the process of promoting reforms has become smoother.

"In terms of post offices, the post offices were established by the imperial court and were important tools to provide services for officials and people."

"But officials enjoy it for free, maliciously extort and profit from it, and arbitrarily assign personnel and other bad behaviors that have seriously affected people's lives."

"In the third year of Wanli, the imperial court issued a general order to abolish Yidi."

"Zhang Juzheng started by restricting the privileges of officials to ride on the inns, and stipulated that for non-military events, no official seals were allowed to be issued."

"Official documents from each yamen are not allowed to send people to use post. The delivery of official documents is handled exclusively by the urgent post shop, thus minimizing the need for postage."

"Severely reduce the supply of inns, while canceling or merging some inns."

"Strict rectification will be carried out to eliminate any fraud. The names of post officials will be truthfully reported during the tolerance survey and will be handed over in a timely manner after the survey is completed."

"The local official fills in the supply items and quantities, the starting point and destination of the eki transmission, and stamps his seal."

"It will be checked by the user. The endorsement will be verified to be correct. The responsible department will check it. Anyone who violates the rules will be named and reported."

"Zhang Juzheng restricted officials' behavior by reducing their privileges to travel to inns for free, laying the foundation for subsequent purges of officialdom."

Li Zicheng: What's wrong with the Ming Dynasty? They resorted to attacking the post station at every turn.

He finally discovered that Zhang Juzheng had abolished the post stations before, and now Chongzhen ordered the inns to be dismantled. As long as there was a reform, the post stations would definitely bear the brunt.

If Emperor Chongzhen had not removed the post station and forced him to have no way to survive, he would not have rebelled.

Zhang Juzheng: This time the station innovation can make use of walkie-talkies to make information transmission more efficient.

The inn was originally intended to serve officials and the common people, and was most suitable for delivering messages or as a resting place.

But as soon as officials from all over the country used the inns, they were completely indifferent, extravagant and wasteful, and showed no concern at all, causing great losses to the court.

Through this reform of the post station, firstly, it is to avoid unnecessary expenses, and secondly, it is to regulate the behavior of officials in various places, so as to clear the obstacles for reform.

Moreover, the communication network laid by walkie-talkies will definitely greatly promote the exchange of information across the country.

In this way, he can also know the implementation status of reform measures across the country at the first time.

If something is out of place, he can adjust it in time.

"In terms of rectifying officialdom, rectifying officialdom is not only an important part of the reform itself, but also a prerequisite for whether the entire reform can be launched and successful."

"Improving administrative efficiency and implementing orders day and night is also an important part of rectifying the administration of officials."

"Zhang Juzheng believed that there were serious ills in the government and the public at that time, such as forming cliques for selfish interests, dereliction of duty, corruption and perversion of the law, and malpractice for personal gains. The main reason was that the administration of officials was unclear."

"In June of the first year of Wanli, in order to establish an effective performance appraisal system, Zhang Juzheng published the "Inspection Chapters and Examinations to Revise Practical Policies", which stipulated in detail the process of processing official documents and implemented the examination method, which is what we later generations of civil servants Performance appraisal continues to be used.”

"The test method is to have each ministry draft a sending and receiving booklet in triplicate, keep it in the ministry as a master copy, send notes on the six subjects, and submit it to the cabinet for review."

“The performance of officials will be tested on a monthly basis and summarized every year.”

“The Ministry of Officials assesses the diligence and laziness of officials by asking questions and testing their opinions, verifying matters with words, and verifying effectiveness with deeds, in order to improve the efficiency of the court and the ability of officials to govern.”

"Customized in the early Ming Dynasty, the Six Ministries and Six Sections were directly responsible to the emperor, bypassing the cabinet."

"Zhang Juzheng's examination and examination strengthened the power of the cabinet. The cabinet controlled the six ministries through the six departments and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, while the provincial governors took orders from the six ministries."

"Ultimately, all institutions from the central to local levels will be controlled by the cabinet, thereby strengthening centralization and making the cabinet the center of the reform."

"At the same time, Zhang Juzheng gave full play to the role of the supervisory agency during the inspection and stipulated that the examinations for Beijing officials and local officials should be completed in three years and six years respectively."

"Those who are competent will be promoted, those who are average will be reinstated, and those who are incompetent will be removed."

"Prefects and county magistrates move every six years. If unsuitable officials are encountered, or officials are not suitable for the local area, they must be replaced according to the situation."

"Official officials from various places, such as the chief envoy and the inspector-general, move every three years, and the Central Ministry of Science and Technology moves every six years."

"Inspection of local officials starts from the cabinet - six departments - six ministries, and the inspections are carried out at all levels, thus forming a strict assessment and performance system with level-by-level inspections from the cabinet to local officials."

"In order to exclude eunuchs from intervening in politics, he also specifically warned Feng Bao not to interfere in the affairs of the Six Ministries, and to ensure the smooth flow of new laws from an organizational perspective."

"This approach of having the three agencies supervise each other, regularly review the performance of bureaucracies at all levels, and implement rewards and punishments has effectively improved the efficiency of work."

"In addition, Zhang Juzheng also established a set of official assessment methods with financial management as the core to solve the increasingly serious financial crisis of the Ming Dynasty, and required the Ministry of Civil Affairs to carefully investigate the status of officials' recovery of owed taxes."

"If officials commit fraud, they will be severely punished."

"At the same time, restrictions were relaxed to a certain extent and officials were pardoned for their accumulated debts as a favor, and debts were gradually cleared within one tax payment, and the daily expenses of government offices were greatly reduced and saved."

"Zhang Juzheng rectified the administration of officials, promulgated the examination law, and strived to make government orders clear, and achieved obvious results."

"Zhang Juzheng's examination law stopped the illegal activities of powerful landlords, punished corrupt officials who accepted bribes, improved administrative efficiency, increased the country's financial resources, and filled the country's shortfall."

Liu Che: The test method is to assess the performance of officials every month. This method is good. I can borrow it to improve the efficiency of my ministers.

The moment he heard Zhang Juzheng's entrance examination method, he knew that this was the system that their big men needed.

Once the examination method is implemented, it will definitely greatly improve the efficiency of officials.

When the officials around Liu Che heard the emperor's words, they all looked sad and couldn't help but sigh softly.

Originally they could take it easy, but I'm afraid they won't have such a good life in the future.

Wang Anshi: Zhang Juzheng is indeed a great talent. This is a good way to pass the law test. I can learn a few things from him.

He is now vigorously promoting the new method, but he always feels that something is missing. Now he understands it when he hears the test method.

After the anchor's guidance, he is confident that he can succeed this time.

Now if the examination method is applied to officials of the Song Dynasty, the reform will be more likely to succeed.

One of the important reasons why the original historical reforms failed was that officials in various places did not implement the new laws in place.

Now that we have the examination method, we can greatly improve the efficiency of officials.

Zhu Yuanzhang: Kao Chengfa has a good side, but it also has a bad side. The power of the cabinet is strengthened, and the power of the emperor is correspondingly weakened.

He is most sensitive to power and immediately sees the problems existing in Kao Cheng Law.

Regardless of the fact that the examination law has greatly improved the efficiency of officials, it is precisely because of this that the power of the cabinet has been expanded.

The cabinet system he created did not have such great power, and the Six Ministries and Liu Ke were not subject to cabinet control.

However, the examination method promoted by Zhang Juzheng made the six departments and six subjects obey the orders of the cabinet.

The power of the cabinet has been greatly increased, which will weaken the imperial power to a certain extent.

"In terms of appointing talents, Zhang Juzheng proposed the principle of meritocracy, regardless of identity, qualifications, or personal opinions, but only the spirit of hard work and political ability."

"In order to implement the New Deal, Zhang Juzheng advocated the reuse of talents who support reforms to make up for the lack of talents in the original bureaucratic team."

"For example, Zhang Juzheng appointed Zhang Xueyan, a subordinate of his former political enemy Gao Gong, to clear the land, recommended Ma Ziqiang, the Minister of Rites who had impeached him, to join the cabinet, re-appointed Pang Shangpeng who had been demoted to the people as governor of Fujian and participated in economic reforms, and appointed Pan Jixun, a water conservancy expert who had been dismissed flood control, and give Pan Jixun funding and personnel rights to ensure the smooth completion of the project."

"In addition, in the defense of the north, Zhang Juzheng recruited a large number of generals who were brave and good at fighting and strict in military management."

"For example, Li Chengliang came from the army, Qi Jiguang went from north to south, Wang Chonggu was good at making strange moves, Ling Yunyi was brave and resourceful, and others."

"They played an important role in stabilizing the northern border and quelling the war in the south."

"Zhang Juzheng's ideas and principles in employment promoted various reform processes during the Wanli period, which enabled the temporary recovery and development of the social economy and the temporary restoration of the national strength of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhang Xueyan: Although Zhang Juzheng is the political enemy of his mentor, I have to say that Zhang Juzheng is broad-minded and I admire him.

Ma Ziqiang: I feel a little guilty. I impeached Zhang Juzheng before, but I didn’t expect that Zhang Juzheng would recommend me to the cabinet regardless of his past grievances.

Pang Shangpeng: I will never forget Zhang Juzheng’s kindness. Only by properly implementing Zhang Juzheng’s reforms can we repay Zhang Juzheng’s kindness.

Pan Jixun: Zhang Juzheng’s meritocracy prevented my talents from being buried. From this point of view, Zhang Juzheng is my great benefactor.

When Zhang Juzheng heard the people he had promoted mentioned one by one by the anchor, his face was filled with a happy smile.

Being mentioned by the anchor means that these people have great talents and have lived up to his trust.

There is great resistance to implementing reforms and there are very few talents available.

In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the reform, he will appoint talents eclectically as long as they have the ability to govern.

"In addition to carrying out reforms at the political level, Zhang Juzheng also carried out reforms at the military level."

"Zhang Juzheng was aware of the Ming Dynasty's serious military shortcomings and border troubles, and believed that the old system of civilians commanding military attaches led to a disconnect between command and actual combat."

“Since Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, military and political officials were all literati who came from the imperial examination.”

"Furthermore, the border military affairs are supervised and restricted by the governors dispatched by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the censors who patrol the customs, and the eunuchs who supervise the army." "Although this approach has a certain effect in controlling the army and preventing separatism, it also reduces and weakens the army. combat effectiveness."

"In particular, the supervisory officials were too restrictive, rendering the generals leading the troops useless."

"In order to improve the combat effectiveness of the army, military generals must be given arbitrary power."

"Therefore, Zhang Juzheng began to reform the Ming Dynasty's traditional military system of using civil society to control military force, giving border generals more initiative and greatly improving their combat and defense capabilities."

When the anchor said this, the military generals in the middle and late Ming Dynasty nodded repeatedly, agreeing very much with what the anchor said.

Although they are senior military generals, they seem to have high positions and powerful troops.

But in fact, they have to be controlled by others, and their power is greatly restricted.

Not only were the civil servants sent by the imperial court to point fingers at them, but even the eunuchs sent by the current emperor were arrogant towards them.

It may be said that they are military generals, but their status is not high and they have to be humble to civil servants and eunuchs.

Under the current situation, the combat effectiveness of the army has been greatly weakened.

There was no way, if a war broke out, they would not only have to take orders from civil officials, but also from eunuchs, without any initiative at all.

The military generals of the Song Dynasty felt very sympathetic to the generals of the Ming Dynasty. They also valued culture over military affairs.

At first, Taizu was worried that military generals would follow suit and join the army to rebel through yellow robes, so Taizu vigorously restricted the status of warriors.

So much so that now, their generals are subject to civilian officials.

"First of all, Zhang Juzheng, with the support of his chief assistant Xu Jie, gave Tan Lun independent command power, and also called on the famous anti-Japanese general Qi Jiguang to oversee the military training affairs of the three towns."

"In the name of a special purpose, Qi Jiguang was appointed as the prime minister of Jizhou Town for military training affairs and guarding, to control the general soldiers of the three towns and to have direct jurisdiction over the military affairs of Jizhou."

"Secondly, Zhang Juzheng rewarded officers with military merits heavily in order to stimulate the enthusiasm of generals and soldiers. For example, Ma Fang, the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu with outstanding military exploits, was promoted to the title of Yinzi Qianhu, and Zhao Ke, the commander-in-chief of Yansui, Shaanxi Province who had outstanding military exploits, was promoted to the commander-in-chief of Datong. Unusually, Li Chengliang was promoted to the chief general guarding Liaodong."

"In addition, Zhang Juzheng implemented a strategic shift in military strategy that focused on defense. He adopted Qi Jiguang and Tan Lun's suggestions to build enemy towers to hold on."

"More than a thousand enemy towers were built along the two thousand-mile defense line from the west of Shanhaiguan to the edge of the town. The Great Wall was also renovated, heightened and thickened, and trees were planted along the line to create dangers."

"The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty was not only built with bricks and stones in key fortification areas and filled with earth and stones, making it very strong, but its shape and structure also became more complete and reasonable."

"At the same time, Zhang Juzheng supported Qi Jiguang in carrying out army training activities and divided the Jizhen defense zone into 12 routes."

"According to Jizhou's geographical environment and combat characteristics, seven vehicle camps were built, and they were equipped with cavalry and infantry for mixed training to accumulate combat experience."

Tan Lun: Zhang Shoufu has given me the independent command authority. If I trust this general so much, I will definitely not let down Zhang Shoufu’s trust.

Qi Jiguang: I am able to achieve what I am today thanks to the cultivation of Zhang Shoufu, otherwise I would not be able to reach the heights I am today. Not much else to say, I can only repay Zhang Shoufu's trust by killing more enemies.

Li Chengliang: Zhang Shoufu’s extraordinary promotion made me what I am today. In order to repay Zhang Shoufu’s great kindness, I will definitely clean up the Jurchen tribe and prevent the Manchu Jianqi from having the slightest chance to rise.

Zhang Juzheng: Let professional people do professional things. Only in this way can we ensure peace on the border and provide a good external environment for the reforms being implemented in the country.

The Ming Dynasty has been suffering from long-term problems. In order to ensure the smooth implementation of reforms, it is particularly important to have a stable external environment.

Because of this, he vigorously promoted a large number of talented military generals.

It was precisely with these outstanding military generals that he could stabilize the border situation.

"In the fifth year of Longqing's reign, Zhang Juzheng persuaded Emperor Zhu Zaiye to issue an edict to confer the title of King of Shunyi on the Tatar leader, thus promoting a peace negotiation between the Ming Dynasty and the Tatars in granting tribute to the city."

"The two parties also agreed on the number of horses to be exchanged and the items to be exchanged, and trade would be carried out at fixed times and at fixed points, such as opening horse markets in Xuanfu, Datong and Shanxi towns."

"After the Longqing Peace Conference, border trade expanded into a situation where official markets, private markets, civilian markets, large markets, moon markets, small markets, etc. coexisted."

"The private market, which deals in various production and daily necessities, has far exceeded the scale of the government-run horse market and gradually replaced the official market."

"The varieties sold in the civilian market have also shifted from luxury goods for the rich to daily necessities for ordinary people. Merchants inside and outside the border can enter the market to buy and sell at any time. This move stabilized the border of the Ming Dynasty and stabilized the lives of the people on the border."

"Zhang Juzheng's military reforms during the Longqing period promoted the stability of the Ming Dynasty's borders by rectifying border defenses, strengthening war defenses, and enfeoffing tribute to the city."

"At the same time, it promotes the socio-economic development of the Mongolian and Han ethnic groups, so as to rescue the political and financial crisis of the Ming Dynasty."

"While ensuring border stability, military reform also protects the overall environment for reform."

"On the basis of changing the situation of lax border defense and deepening border troubles, military reform measures became a breakthrough in social reform, laying the foundation and accumulating experience for the subsequent political and economic reforms in the Wanli period."

"In the early years of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng was the chief assistant and strengthened the military garrison work."

"On the one hand, he urged border officials to make border defense military implementation practical and effective."

"On the other hand, we should know people well and appoint them well, and boldly appoint competent generals to handle border defense affairs with full authority."

"During Zhang Juzheng's reign and the following twenty or thirty years, there were no major wars in the north."

Li Shimin: This Zhang Juzheng is indeed a great talent. He was able to prevent war on the border for twenty or thirty years, which shows that Zhang Juzheng's military reforms were extremely successful. Such outstanding talents are not my subjects, but a loss to thousands of my subjects in the Tang Dynasty.

Zhang Juzheng's series of military reforms made him extremely amazed. At the same time, he also felt that it was a pity that such talents could not be used by him.

He deeply understands the importance of talents. Everyone in the world knows that he likes talents the most, especially outstanding talents like Zhang Juzheng.

If Zhang Juzheng could come to their Tang Dynasty, he couldn't even imagine how high the Tang Dynasty would develop. It would definitely far surpass the prosperous Tang Dynasty in the original history.

At this moment, he really hoped that the anchor could teleport Zhang Juzheng to his Tang Dynasty.

He remembered clearly that the ending of Zhang Juzheng's death was very tragic, as if his body was dug up by Emperor Wanli.

Since Emperor Wanli didn't value talents, he was happy to accept outstanding talents like Zhang Juzheng.

It's just a pity that he also knows that the anchor can't do this.

"The previous political reform and military reform are only secondary. The most important thing in Zhang Juzheng's reform is economic reform."

"The reason why Zhang Juzheng carried out reforms was mainly to solve financial problems, so economic reform is the top priority."

"Zhang Juzheng's economic reform measures have three points, namely, inventory of land, construction of water conservancy projects, and one whip method."

"The first step is to inventory the land. During the Jiajing period, military expenditures on the frontiers were huge, and the landlord class was extravagant and wasteful. This resulted in the Ming Dynasty's fiscal inability to make ends meet and the treasury being empty for many years."

"In terms of financial rectification, Zhang Juzheng vigorously implements the principle of living within one's means and saving expenditures, which has a certain effect on alleviating the financial crisis."

"But reducing expenditure is only a remedial measure. To fundamentally solve the country's financial crisis, we must also open up more money."

"In the fifth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng shifted the focus of reform to the economic field when the political reform had achieved initial results."

"In the sixth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng ordered Zhang Xueyan, the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, to personally preside over the re-measurement of the country's land acres, and to clear out all production lands such as farmland, civilian farmland, occupational farmland, farmland, farming land, and pasture land in all prefectures and counties."

"And taxation will be divided into upper, middle and lower grades according to the actual acres of land, and officials who deceive and conceal will be severely punished."

“Since farmers donated money to avoid taxes, the taxes must be borne by the recipients of the donations. Any land that is found to have been misappropriated by the abbot must be paid back taxes.”

"In the sixth year of Wanli, he ordered a re-measurement of land across the country and an inventory of tax-evaded properties."

"By the eighth year of Wanli, statistics showed that the land for grain requisition nationwide reached 7 million hectares, an increase of nearly 3 million hectares compared with the Hongzhi period, which resulted in a significant increase in the imperial court's taxes."

"In the ninth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng also stipulated that as long as the family is a meritorious official, all land except the public land will be reported to the official, and they will receive food like the common people."

When ancient people from all dynasties heard this, they were all secretly shocked and amazed.

As the policy of clearing land continued to be implemented, an additional three million hectares of land was discovered.

Such a huge number made the minds of the rulers of various dynasties active.

In their dynasty, the landlord class concealed land, and they knew this.

The reason why they ignored this matter was because they had their own considerations.

First of all, there isn't much land to hide, so there won't be much tax increase.

Secondly, the inventory of hidden land will inevitably arouse opposition from the landlord class.

So I didn't take the matter seriously and let it go, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.

But now they heard that Zhang Juzheng had cleared his land and discovered three million hectares of hidden land. This made them uneasy and all of them were thoughtful.

Now it seems that they have underestimated the land hidden by the landlord class, which is probably several million hectares.

If the number is so huge, then they can't sit idly by.

At this moment, many emperors from various dynasties are already thinking about the policy of clearing land and thinking about implementing it in their own dynasties.

Common people in all dynasties cursed these black-hearted landlords for hiding so much land.

They knew very well that if the landlord class concealed their land, the court would eventually increase the tax burden on the people.

They hope that the current emperor can also order a land inventory across the country, which can also reduce the tax burden on their people.

"While Zhang Ju was adjusting economic policies, he also regarded water conservancy construction as an important task in developing agricultural production."

"The Ming Dynasty's wealth supply area was mainly in the south of the Yangtze River. Grains from the south were transported to the north, and water transportation was the most convenient."

"In the early years of Wanli, due to the bursting of the Yellow River, the transportation routes were blocked, which brought great difficulties to water transportation."

"Although maritime transport was once restored, it ended in failure, making the canal necessary again."

"During the Longqing period, water transportation was blocked and sea transportation was unsafe. Gao Gong, the first assistant, advocated digging rivers to replace water transportation."

"Zhang Juzheng appointed Hu Yuwu from the Engineering Department to go to Shandong for on-the-spot investigation, but he gave up after finding that the water source was insufficient."

"Due to the long-term flooding of the Yellow River, the water potential is divided, and sediment is deposited in the old Yellow River course, especially at the mouth of the sea, making the water flow sluggish."

"Therefore, the issue of the Yellow River entering the sea has become the issue of greatest concern."

"Zhang Juzheng turned to the method of building embankments to contain water and using water to flush out sand to dredge the river. He appointed Pan Jixun, an expert in river management, to manage the Yellow River."

"Zhang Juzheng supports Pan Jixun in abandoning the traditional diversion plan and adopting a water control policy that takes into account both water transportation and people's livelihood."

"Use the method of attacking sand with water to dredge the Yellow River."

"In three years, more than 300 miles of embankments were built, and more than 130 embankments were breached."

"It took a year and a half to build the dam from the Yellow River to the Huaihe River, which effectively suppressed the flooding of the Yellow River. It used the rushing river water to flush sand into the sea with all its strength, making water transportation smooth, and at the same time, it also turned the land that had been abandoned for many years into fertile farmland."

"Pan Jixun's river management methods will have a profound impact on the following hundreds of years."

During the Wanli period, the people around the Yellow River were grateful to Zhang Juzheng.

The common people don't know much about it. They only know that it was Zhang Shoufu who built water conservancy and regulated the Yellow River, which made the previous flooding of the Yellow River a thing of the past.

You know, when the Yellow River flooded before, they suffered greatly.

Not only was the farmland submerged, but even life safety was not guaranteed.

But fortunately, Zhang Shou helped build a dam to dredge the Yellow River, so that the Yellow River would no longer flood, and they no longer had to worry.

In addition, due to the control of the Yellow River, large areas of previously abandoned land have been turned into fertile farmland.

The imperial court distributed these fertile fields to the surrounding people, benefiting many people.

Therefore, Zhang Shoufu is a great benefactor to their people, making their lives better than before.

They heard that there were many people who opposed Zhang Shoufu's reforms, but regardless of others' opposition to Zhang Shoufu's reforms, as the beneficiaries of Zhang Shoufu's policies, they naturally strongly supported Zhang Shoufu.

"In the fourth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng first tried and demonstrated a whip method in the Huguang area. A year later, it was praised by most people and then pushed to the north."

"In the ninth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng began to reform the corvee system and implemented a whip law throughout the country."

“Combine various items in taxes and duties, such as miscellaneous taxes, equal corvee, force difference, silver difference, etc., into one, classify labor service into land tax, and collect them uniformly according to the calculation of land acres.”

"Everything except grain can be converted into silver tael, monetary tax can be used instead of physical tax, and the requisitioned servants can be allowed to use silver to hire people to serve on their behalf."

"At the same time, the collection procedures will be simplified, eliminating the intermediate level of collection by local officials."

"Although the whip law is also borne by the people, the use of silver instead of labor allows the people to choose to freely use their bodies."

"At the same time, it weakens the relationship of personal dependence, promotes the expansion of the scope of currency circulation, and enables traders and craftsmen to gain personal freedom, which is conducive to promoting the development of the commodity economy and the germination of capitalist production relations."

Li Shimin: The formulation of the One Whip Law simplified the tax system, reduced the cost of taxation, improved the operational efficiency of the Ming Dynasty, and played a certain role in restraining corruption from an institutional perspective. Perhaps I can also create a similar policy in the Tang Dynasty. .

The taxes paid by the people of the Tang Dynasty were mainly in kind, such as grain, cloth, etc.

The one-whip method implemented by Zhang Juzheng also promoted production. The common people used silver in lieu of labor, which reduced the burden of corvee labor on the majority of farmers.

The advantages of the one-whip method were very obvious. He was very moved and wanted to promulgate the Tang version of the one-whip method.

However, he can't make up his mind yet and needs to carefully consider the pros and cons of a whipping method.

Although a whipping method can reduce the burden on the people, he is worried that if it is not done well, it will also increase the burden on the people.

According to the whip law, the imperial court stipulated that tax collection should be in the form of silver, and the people must exchange the grain in their hands for silver.

This can only be accomplished through transactions with merchants. At this stage, ordinary people may be exploited by merchants and forced to sell the food in their hands at a low price.

Therefore, he also needs to think carefully about the power of it and formulate a more reasonable whipping method to prevent policies that benefit the people from turning into policies that harm the people.

(End of this chapter)