Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1599: Great Ming United Station (Part [-])
More than ten years ago, Gao Wushi began to reform the Water Horse Station. Until last year, when he took office as Minister of the Household Department to collect financial power and completed the supervision of the Water Horse Station system by the Household Department, the "dual leadership system" of the Water Horse Station was basically realized. The framework is complete.

In essence, this system can be regarded as that the Ministry of War has the nominal ownership of the water horse station, while the household department has the actual operation right of the water horse station.

In this way, the Ministry of Household Affairs has assumed part of the functions of the "State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission" to a certain extent-of course, it has not copied them, because the differences in the national system are objective facts, and some things cannot be copied even if they want to, and high pragmatism has to be done as much as possible. Possible "mimicking".

This time, his proposal for the reform of the express delivery shop is to guide the delivery of the express delivery shop to the State Post Bureau.In a highly pragmatic vision, the main operating idea of ​​the courier shop in the future will be to use the delivery income of private letters and light parcels to support the state function that originally transmitted information for the imperial court.

In other words, the state function is still its basic function, but in order to ensure that this basic function is not disordered and does not cause serious financial pressure on the state itself, the imperial court allowed the express delivery service to use the basic facilities and organizations invested by the state in the early years to carry out Non-governmental business, the income from non-governmental business is used to relieve the pressure brought by its huge financial expenditure.

What is the infrastructure and organization of state input?The most obvious basic facilities are of course the construction of countless "shops" across the country, and the so-called organizations are the many shops that the imperial court has been maintaining.But in fact, the road itself is also a basic facility. Although the mountain roads in some places are relatively bad, no matter how bad they are, they were repaired in the past, and it cannot be considered an investment just because the grade is almost the same.

The investment and organizational structure of these facilities are the basis for the imperial court to carry out three-level account sharing with shops and shops.According to Gao Pragmatism's current thinking, the imperial court can account for [-]% of the "postage revenue", [-]% for the courier shops, and half of the postal service shop soldiers themselves, and implement the more work system.

In addition, Gao Wushi also stated in the "Great Post Book" that the [-]% taken by the imperial court should have a basic principle, that is, earmarked funds for special purposes, and should not be misappropriated at will.In addition to ensuring the new construction and maintenance of facilities such as emergency delivery shops, the money should also be used for road maintenance, road repair, ferry construction, bridge construction and other related matters.

According to what Gao Wuzhi said in his essay, the money will definitely have a surplus in addition to the maintenance of existing facilities, and those surpluses will be used over time for roads, bridges and other facilities that are convenient for the people. , It will surely make the people of the world "see the road and the bridge, and all think of the king's kindness".

The water horse station solves the problem of people's travel, and the express delivery shop solves the problem of delivering letters and parcels. At this time... it seems that something is missing?
That's right, the delivery of the goods is still short.

The last troika of the Daming station system is the delivery station. The delivery station was originally a system for transporting materials in the Ming Dynasty. It was mainly responsible for military supplies and money, grain and taxes collected by the court. Therefore, the delivery station is the same as the water transportation of later generations. It belongs to the transportation system that has a large volume but does not pursue speed.

According to the regulations in the early Ming Dynasty, the delivery office "set up the boats, all decorated with red. For example, there are 13 watermen per boat for those with six hundred materials; 12 for those with five hundred materials; 11 people for those with less than four hundred materials; ten people for three hundred materials .All elect people with less than five stones of food to fill it.

For example, a large cart carrying rice and ten stones, three husbands, three cows, and ten cloth bags; a small cart carrying rice and three stones, one husband and one cow.For each husband, one cow will be produced, and those who vote for fifteen shi will fill it up.If there are insufficient ones, all households will share food and become one husband. "

In the early years, all the officials responsible for the delivery and transportation included an ambassador, a deputy envoy, and a centurion.The transportation task was undertaken by soldiers in Luyi, and the waterway was undertaken by boat households in various places.

This kind of delivery transportation basically adopts the method of fixed point, fixed line and relay.As a full-time delivery business, the delivery office has well organized land transportation, sea and river transportation, which can be regarded as a kind of historical progress.

But it is a pity that, like many other systems formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang, the system of delivery stations failed to persist. During the reign of Hongzhi, there were as many as 324 delivery stations nationwide.However, during the Wanli period, Gao Wushi found through statistics that the number of delivery offices across the country has already dropped sharply. The latest statistics show that there are only more than 100 places left, which is almost on the verge of extinction.

What is a little embarrassing is that Gao Wushi discovered that the fastest period for the imperial court to abolish the delivery office was during the Longqing period of the first emperor Mu Zong.Only two years after Gao Gongqi returned to Beijing, 113 delivery offices were abolished across the country.

However, Gao Wushi did not keep secrets because his third uncle Gao Wenzheng was involved, but analyzed the origin and impact of this situation in detail.

According to Gao’s practical analysis, Gao Gong’s main reason for dismantling these courier offices was actually very simple: there were too many old accounts left during the Jiajing period, and the court was seriously short of money. More than 1000 million taels.

Considering that the official revenue of the imperial court at that time was only about [-] million taels (the land tax and grain tax retained by the local government and directly transferred to Jiubian were not counted), after deducting the normal expenses, it was barely maintained every year.If it goes on like this without changing it, it means that this old debt may be owed forever.

The so-called finances, in the final analysis, are two points: revenue and expenditure.There are financial problems, and there are only two solutions: increase revenue and reduce expenditure.

Gao Gong's approach is a two-pronged approach to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.

In terms of open source, while measuring the fields, at the same time, implementing a whip method to levy silver from the country; at the same time, opening the sea to open the sea (guan, referring to the border customs after the tribute was paid by me) to collect tariffs; Business tax and so on.

In terms of throttling, not only was the costly delivery facility abolished many parts with low utilization rates, but even the mausoleum of Emperor Longqing used the place that Jiajingxiu gave to Naifu directly, resulting in the strange thing that the grandson used the grandpa's mausoleum ( Of course, the old man’s mausoleum was not actually moved after Jiajing’s repair), Gao Gong did a lot of things like this under pressure.

Gao Wu said in "Renewal Station Book" that it would be very unfair to criticize Gao Wenzhenggong's handling from the current standpoint.Because, in the eight years when Gao Wen was in power, the imperial court not only made up for the huge deficit of more than 1000 million taels, but also basically completed the new defense system of the nine sides (referring to the hollow enemy Taiwan system proposed by Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang), Among them, about 2000 million taels of silver were spent back and forth. If you don't rely on increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, can you expect it to fall from the sky?
But the predecessors had what the predecessors should do, and today's people also have the responsibilities that today's people must bear.Back then, the delivery location could not be withdrawn, but now, it is necessary to think about how to continue.

At first glance, if the problem of the courier office is to be solved, it can also follow the previous thinking of the courier shop, that is, to open up civilian services and use them to earn funds to maintain the country's public duties.For example, since the courier shop can deliver letters for the private sector, of course the courier office can also deliver the goods for the private sector. It seems to be the same thing, how difficult can it be?

However, the situation of the courier office is really different. The reason is that the origin of the personnel of the courier office and its local jurisdiction are completely different from those of the water horse station and the express courier shop.

As I said just now, all the positions of delivery and transportation are called "Centurion".Centurion, the word sounds like it belongs to the military system.

That's right, the main personnel of the courier station are indeed from the military, to be precise, they are mainly from the local guards, but its management power is not unified.

What is meant by "inconsistent management rights"?As part of the post-transmission system, the court level where the delivery is located is also managed by the Vehicle Driving Department of the Ministry of War, but in its actual operation, it is under the jurisdiction of the prefecture, state, county, and guard where it is located.

For example, during the Chenghua period, there were 21 delivery offices in Shanxi, of which 12 were under the jurisdiction of the county where they were located, 6 were under the jurisdiction of Sanzhou where they were located, 2 were under the jurisdiction of Zhili Prefecture where they were located, and 1 was under the jurisdiction of the prefecture.

In the Shitu Weisuo area, the delivery station is under the jurisdiction of the Weisuo where it is located. The 1488 delivery stations in the Liaodong area recorded in the "Liaodong Zhi" first published in the first year of Hongzhi (33) are all controlled by the Weisuo " Take the tube".

It's already complicated, but there's more to it.For example, this ownership has been adjusted from time to time. For example, in the fourth year of Yongle (1406), the Jieshou Express Transport Office that originally belonged to Gaoyou Prefecture and the Shaobo Express Transport Office that belonged to Jiangdu County were suddenly placed under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou Prefecture.

The same is true for the couriers under the jurisdiction of the guards. For example, in the fifth year of Yongle (1407), the Weisa courier of Pudingwei was changed to be under the jurisdiction of Annanwei.

Accompanied by jurisdiction, the ambassador of the delivery office must also follow the office and be included in the sequence of government and health officials in the place where it is located.Except for a small number of criminal prisoners, the delivery men and guards were mainly sent from civilian or military households, and were included in the postal corvee service in prefectures and counties.

The general principle of delivery and transportation is to send grain from the field. The delivery men of the land delivery station are filled by grain households with less than [-] shi, and they jointly build carts. Each person provides a head of cattle. Several households pooled their food;

The difference between the deliverymen of the water transport station is less than five stones, which is the same as the number of people driving the boat. Every [-], [-], [-], and [-] deliverymen jointly purchase [-], [-], and [-] grains. , [-] material ships, if the ship is damaged, it will be "repaired by the commissioner according to material calculation" by the Secretary.

Cars and boats obviously cost a lot of money to build, and the imperial court also intended to ease the burden on the people. Therefore, "the criminals bought boats and delivered them to redeem themselves" and "prepared carts and oxen for nearby people and criminals". Situations arise from time to time.

Even so, the construction or supply of carts, boats, and cattle still became a heavy burden for the people who served.In order to ensure the operation of the delivery office, the imperial court and the local yamen gradually shifted to sharing the local corvee equally in the actual implementation, so that the people of one side "don't divide each other, and they all pay for it."

The funds required for delivery are also often apportioned among the taxes of several surrounding counties and counties. The items include delivery man, water man, defense man, vehicle, and boat.

Due to the different sizes of couriers, the required funds also vary.Taking Daxing Express as an example, its establishment is "fifty vehicles and thirty guards", and its scale is at a medium level in the country.In the early years of Wanli, the Daxing Shipping Office required 2280 taels of silver each year, which were provided by the five prefectures of Zhending, Guangping, Shunde, Daming, and Hejian.

A mid-level courier office costs more than 2000 taels per year, and there are more than 100 less than 150 courier offices in the country. If the 30 courier offices are calculated at this average price, it will cost at least [-] taels a year. , and this is pure expenditure, without half a penny income.

30 taels, this is the result of Gao Gong's abolishment of a large number of people that year.Think about it, when Gao Gong first came to power 20 years ago, the imperial government’s annual revenue was less than 400 million taels, and the delivery office alone cost almost [-]%.
But some people will find a problem, saying that since the money is paid by the local government, what's the matter with the center?What does it matter about Gao Gong at that time and Gao Pragmatism now?This idea is somewhat naive.

The imperial court's land tax is divided according to the center and the locality, and the proportion of the division is different in each place (for example, Suzhou has always been taught by the imperial court, and the proportion of the central division is particularly high).

Moreover, as I said before, Zhu Yuanzhang’s awareness of small farmers caused the Ming court to lack the ability to control the financial center from the very beginning, and the local account distribution seriously lacked the means of transfer payment in later generations. It was reserved for the local area first, and the rest was sent to the center.Since the center has always had no money, it is impossible to subsidize the development of poor areas with the taxation of rich areas, resulting in the rich being rich and the poor being poor.

Under this backward and outdated financial system, coupled with the great autonomy of the local government offices of the Ming regime, many places will list a lot of items that they need to spend and report to the central government, and then they will "reserve" a large number of them on their own. ", and finally the money sent to the center was made to look like a beggar.

Gao Yushi has always believed that before the means of communication have not yet reached the era of electronic instant messaging, it is best not to make the court's management system too complicated, especially not to have one policy for one place - that thing can only be played by later generations, and the Ming Dynasty can't play it at all. Do not turn.In later generations, it is called adapting measures to local conditions and advanced management, while in Daming it is called high-spirited and nonsensical management.

Gao Situ clearly stated in "Renovation Post Station Shu" that the management rights must be unified first, and the delivery station should be changed to the general appearance of Heshui Mayi Station and Express Delivery Shop, and then the troika should be merged and managed.Only in this way can we reduce unnecessary organizations and levels, and avoid ordering people out of multiple schools. If something goes wrong, even a responsible person can't be found, so it's just a waste of time.

But it's easy to say, but hard to do.First of all, the first obstacle is not small: except for some of the personnel in the delivery station who are criminals, most of them come from various guards.You, Gao Situ, want to unify your jurisdiction. Can this jurisdiction still belong to your household department?

Oh, the financial power belongs to you, but you still want to take the military power?Do you want the dragon chair in the Emperor Palace?
Fortunately, this truth is obviously understandable by being highly pragmatic, so what he proposed is that the Ministry of War should deepen the management of the post station system to ensure that the car driving department can manage the entire post station system in an integrated manner.In other words, the power of the driver's office will be increased, and officials are expected to increase as well.

Everyone thinks this deal is feasible: adding a few more officials to the car driving department will reduce a large number of subordinate organizations. It is cost-effective from a financial point of view, and it is even more cost-effective from the perspective of future employment opportunities for literati.

But Gao Wushi said again that the power of the Ministry of War's Vehicle Driving Division has expanded, and it is against the original intention of the ancestral system to control the huge post system after the reform alone-the original intention is to check and supervise each other!Therefore, Gao Situ suggested that for the time being, the Ministry of Households should still send personnel to supervise it like a water horse station. After the reform is basically completed in the future, the imperial court will introduce a new organizational structure according to the situation.

In fact, Gao Yushi has already started to play a big game here. Simply put, this big game is "increasing departments"-the six-part system can no longer keep up with the times, and the reformed Ming Dynasty needs more departments.

The post station is the postal department to be set up in the future according to the high-practice plan.But this matter has to be done slowly, and the foundation must be laid firmly first, so that we can make further suggestions in the future.

Now, what Gao Wushi put forward is called "Daming United Post Station", which is a three-plate joint post station system that integrates personnel movement, letter delivery and cargo transportation.

Wang Xijue couldn't help but sigh with emotion for his high-level practical means and courage, and even his broad-minded conduct.In order to actually solve the court's problems, he was able to give up the interests that he had already obtained and was almost in a monopoly position without hesitation, and he did not eat alone in the process of "innovation". He really considered it for the sake of long-term stability.

Elder Wang Ge sighed quietly, and murmured in a heavy tone: "It's a pity that you are not in the same way, but it is a pity that you are not in the same way..."

Shen Shixing glanced at him, hesitated to speak, and finally just sighed after a long time.
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Thank you book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your support, thank you!
Thanks for the support of book friends "Cao Mianzi", "Chessy Pig", "Dr.
ps: The nucleic acid test was negative, and I will return to Changsha tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)