Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1654 Cut Yuan ([-]) Poison Plan
The vassal rebelled?No, Wang Xijue did not intend to really encourage this matter.Not to mention that today's vassal kings have been raised by the court as pigs for hundreds of years. There is no one who knows how to fight, but at least they are capable of causing a rebellion on this scale. It is true that there is no one come out.

The Ming court deployed heavy troops in the areas where the vassal kings belonged, and the so-called troops of the vassal kings themselves had only a few hundred guards.Many of these guards are hereditary in name, but more of them have not been hereditary for a long time, but are hired at will like subcontracting layers upon layers. They are either honest farmers or idle rogues. It is still difficult for a sow to climb a tree.

Just because this group of trash is worthy of rebellion?No matter how unbearable the soldiers of the local guards were, it would be easy to deal with them.Instead of spending your mind and energy on such a thing that has no possibility of success, it is better to make some really big news.

The target chosen by Wang Xijue is a water worker.

In the early years, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was in Nanjing, which was located in the economic center of China. "The four directions pay tribute, and the road is close and easy." At this time, the imperial court implemented sea transportation to transport grain and grass to the north, mainly for use as military rations.

When Chengzu moved his capital to Beijing, he was accompanied by hundreds of thousands of troops, central court staff and palace servants.The cost of food in the north increased sharply. After several discussions, the imperial court finally abandoned sea transportation and implemented river transportation due to problems such as small transportation volume, pirates, and waves hitting the rocks at sea.

Although this policy brought stability and convenience to the northern supply in a short period of time, judging from the original historical trajectory, it also became a bad policy that was difficult to reform in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, affecting the long-term development of Ming Dynasty, and it was a system that did more harm than good.

The debate on river and sea transportation reached its climax at that time, but how was the decision to stop the sea transportation made?In fact, as early as the sixth year of Hongwu, because of the shipwreck of Liaoxiang ship, the Zhongshu Province, which still existed at that time, reported a request to step up farming in the north to reduce shipping.

In the 27th year of Hongwu, the 21st guards of Liaodong were basically self-sufficient in food and salaries, so shipping was stopped in the 30th year of Hongwu.In the first year of Yongle, Beijing's grain reserves were insufficient, and the imperial court had no choice but to start shipping again. With Ping Jiangbo Chen Xuan as the commander-in-chief to supervise the shipping, the big ship set sail from Nanjing.

The bad start was in July of the first year of Yongle, when Yu Xin, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, proposed the method of transporting grain by canal, that is, using tank boats to enter the Huaihe River from Huai'an, pass through the Yellow River to Weibei, and then go up to the Haihe River, and then land to Beijing.However, since this route requires multiple transshipments, even Zhu Di, who is as happy as he is, worried that it would be too laborious and costly, so he rejected it.

In August of that year, Chen Xuan transported 50 shi of food and payment by sea to Beijing safely, which gave the court the determination to insist on sea transportation.However, the existence of the objective environment that the risk of shipping is too high has made it suggested that the Grand Canal be rebuilt.

In the end, the imperial court employed 26 people and spent 6 months dredging the 385-mile Huitong River from Jining to Linqing. At the same time, according to the terrain, 38 sluices were built to "store and discharge with time".

So in the tenth year of Yongle, Song Lili, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, once again pointed out the disadvantages of shipping, and proposed to adjust the proportion of rivers and seas.Another Pingjiang Bo Chenxuan successfully managed the Huaihe River, enabling 3000 tank ships to be dispatched at the same time, carrying 400 million shi of grain, unimpeded.

In the 13th year of Yongle, after repeated requests from officials in charge of finance and transportation, the Ming court stopped sea transportation and switched to water transportation, and the Grand Canal truly became the North-South economic artery.In the next 200 years, although sea transportation occasionally restarted, water transportation has always been the mainstream.

This situation lasted until the period when Gao Gong was in power. Because the Yellow River kept flooding at that time, it was unfeasible to block the canals without moving, which seriously threatened the food safety of the capital and the nine borders. Therefore, the strategy of "parallel rivers and seas" had to be re-implemented.The characteristic of this strategy is not to abolish water transportation, but to strengthen sea transportation.

Essentially speaking, Gao Gong was "mainly water transport, supplemented by sea transport" at that time. As for the actual proportion of grain transport, water transport accounted for about three-fifths, and sea transport accounted for about two-fifths.

During Guo Pu’s period, Xiao Gui and Cao Sui’s situation remained basically unchanged; during Zhang Siwei’s period, there was basically no adjustment, but the types of shipping materials were further strengthened, and many physical tributes from the south were also included in shipping.For example, royal tribute tea and silk from a certain place in the south of the Yangtze River.As a result, although the total shipping volume of ocean shipping has not increased significantly, the transportation value has significantly improved.

In the period of Shen Shixing, he faced serious entanglements, because there was a regional dispute within the School of Mind about this matter.

The areas north of the Yangtze River in Nanzhili include Yangzhou, Huai'an and other places, and they insist on increasing the proportion of water transportation by Shen Shihang; the areas south of the Yangtze River, including Nanjing, Hangzhou and even their hometown in Songhu, strongly demand an increase in the scale of sea transportation, and especially require Shen Shihang to ensure High-value products are shipped by sea instead of water.

Why is this controversy happening?In fact, it's not difficult to explain, it's just benefits.But here we still have to talk about how the water transport system of the Ming Dynasty works, so that this controversy can be clarified.

The water transport system was initially regarded as a military project, and the people who transported food and salaries were all soldiers. Chen Xuan, the former governor of the maritime transport, was the chief officer of the water transport. He has held this position for 30 years.

In the fourth year of Emperor Yingzong's orthodoxy (1439), the imperial court took Jining as the boundary, and set up a minister in the north and south to manage water transport; the next year, a civil servant was appointed as the governor of water transport to coordinate matters, and his military management function was greatly reduced.The Governor of Water Transportation does not set up a fixed office location, and inspects the offices of the Water Transportation Department in Linqing, Jining, Xuzhou, Yangzhou and other places from time to time.

After Xuande, military officers were replaced by civil officials, and a dual-track system was implemented, but in fact, as the governor of water transport with super power, his status was much higher than that of the general army.In the Wanli period, due to the rise of sea transport, which accounted for two-fifths of the proportion, the general army of water transport was abolished, and all matters were handled by civil officials.

The Governor of Water Transport has a very high status. In the original history of the Ming Dynasty, there were 99 officials who served as the Governor of Water Transport, and more than 30 of them later joined the cabinet to pay homage.

Due to the poor design of the financial system of the Ming Dynasty, most of the national tax revenue comes from land tax, and at the same time the agricultural tax rate is relatively low, so the national fiscal revenue will basically not exceed 3000 million (if the physical grain tax is calculated equivalently).Of the 3000 million, 1200 million were intercepted by the local government, and 800 million turned in by the north were directly supplied to the Nine Frontier Army, and the remaining 1000 million were confiscated in the south and sent 820 million to Beijing via water transport.

The way of water transportation has undergone many reforms. From Yongle 13th to Xuande [-]th year, the "Supporting Transport Law" was implemented.After the sea transportation was stopped, the grain was only transported through the canal, but the transport volume of the canal was limited, so the imperial court asked all the localities to transport the turned over grain and salaries to Huai’an for storage, and then transported to Beijing in batches—you see, why did Huai’an request to increase water transport Scale, the main part of the answer is here.

From the [-]th year of Xuande to the [-]th year of Chenghua, the "Transportation Law" was implemented. At this time, the imperial court seemed to realize that the burden of long-distance transportation for the people was too heavy, so they implemented the direct transportation of grain by the army, but the people had to bear the loss by themselves. The result was actually It didn't reduce the burden either.

From the seventh year of Chenghua until now, the imperial court has implemented the "Reform and Exchange Law".This law comes from the proposal of Teng Zhao, Governor of Water Transportation in the seventh year of Chenghua, that is, to exempt farmers from transporting grain and transport it directly to counties by the army, but additional fees are required.

How should I put it, the idea of ​​this method may be good, but like countless bills in ancient and modern China and abroad, the crooked monk can always read the scriptures so that no one can understand them, which completely deviates from the original intention.

For example, in the 35th year of Jiajing (1556), there was a record in the Yangzhou government. This year, a household needs to pay 1.73 shi for tax and food, and an additional fee of 1 shi, but the people need to use 1.2 taels of silver to offset the additional fee of 1 shi. In fact, at that time, one stone of local grain was only worth 1 taels of silver, and the difference between them became the oil and water of officials at all levels.

Why Yangzhou also asked Shen Shihang to increase the proportion of water transport, the answer is self-evident here.

However, the troubles of Shen Shixing are not the focus of this chapter at this moment. The focus is on Wang Xijue's target at the moment: water workers—also called Cao Jun.

In Daming seven years after Chenghua, 12 Cao troops were responsible for collecting grain every year. These troops came from 124 guards along the canal. in place.

As soon as you hear this system, you know that there must be a big problem, and the fact is the same. Water transport officials at all levels deduct military pay and enslave soldiers are common.For example, if the food and salary of the tank ship are reduced due to weather reasons or stranded water leakage during transportation, the Cao army needs to bear 40.00% of the responsibility.

In order to support his family, Cao Jun earned income in various ways and formed an interest group to protect his own life.The "various ways" here even include the smuggling trade-salt is one of them, and even the main smuggled product.

You see, things went back to Huaiyang again.Huaiyang is a gathering place for the salt industry. Cao Jun or "Cao Gong Group" has long reached a community of interests with salt merchants in Huaiyang, large and small. Cao Jun needs salt merchants to supply, and salt merchants also need Cao Jun's "tax-free distribution ".

Obviously, under this system, the so-called cao army quickly lost its combat effectiveness and became an ordinary labor organization, the so-called caogong.Saying that they have no fighting power is not wronged indiscriminately. For example, in the fifth year of Zhengde (1510), a group of rebels in Shandong ransacked 1552 ships docked in Jining Port, and the soldiers on so many tank boats did nothing. The rebels took it away, how could it look like a "soldier"?

Of course, this incident shocked the entire imperial court. The supervisory censor of Shandong Province questioned the water transport yamen: "...but the army is tens of thousands, and the commander-in-chief and the generals are in charge. The commander-in-chief and the commander are divided up. I have never heard of any official who died and wounded bravely!" This fully exposes that the so-called Cao army, as an army, has completely existed in name only, and they have completely changed from Cao army to Cao workers.

Inland transportation already has a lot of disadvantages. First, the canal is narrow and shallow, and often faces the problem of insufficient water. Especially in the early spring and late autumn, the river dries up and artificial water diversion is required. Second, as I just said, the Yellow River often bursts. The sediment carried flows into the canal, and dredging the canal is costly.

Therefore, as early as the 23rd year of Chenghua (1487), Qiu Jun, the Minister of Rites, proposed to reopen shipping.At that time, he explained the advantages of sea transportation in detail: "Although sea transportation is a danger of drowning, each sea boat can carry more than 1000 stones of grain, which is three times that of a river boat, which saves the labor of labor, the cost of shallow transportation, and the order of transportation. guard."

Qiu Jun is the author of "University Yan Yi Bu". Gao Yushi was reading this book when he accompanied Gao Gongqi back to Beijing. He believed that Qiu Jun was one of the rare economists in the Ming Dynasty.It's a pity that no matter how reasonable what he said, the court still didn't adopt it at that time, but only praised him, to the effect that you have worked hard, but things are not easy to handle, let's talk about it later.

In the early years of Jiajing, the cabinet minister Gui E proposed to resume shipping, "Boats sailing in the ocean, not afraid of the depth but afraid of the shallow, not afraid of the wind but worried about the reef".As soon as this discussion came out, it was quickly opposed by many officials, especially the Yamen, the Governor of Water Transport, directly called the law of the ancestors unchangeable.

Incidentally, Gui E is the real "father of the one-whip method", and he was the first to propose this method.Among other things, Kua Gui-e is an "informed reformer" and I can't be wrong.

After that, shipping will reopen.In the sixth year of Longqing, Wang Zongmu, the then governor of water transport, and Liang Menglong, the capital censor, jointly initiated it (of course this was an action after receiving hints). The cabinet Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng immediately expressed their support. In March of 12, the first batch of [-] shi grains and salaries arrived at Tianjin Port smoothly.

If things only come to this point, or only to Zhang Siwei adding high-value tribute to shipping, it is not a big problem, and it doesn't even matter if Shen Shixing hesitated in the early stage of taking office.Although the water transport was "divided" by sea transport and took away three-fifths of the share, it can still manage to maintain it. In addition, with less water grain transport, there will be more time and opportunities to smuggle. With a slight improvement, it can naturally be maintained.

However, with Gao Pragmatism promoted to Shangshu of the Ministry of Household Affairs, this beautiful situation soon faced danger, and even began to fall into a major crisis of "catastrophe" soon after.

After Gao Pragmatic gathered financial power, two new departments and thirteen divisions were established, and the crackdown on private smuggling began to become stricter—this "private" is actually mainly targeting salt merchant groups.

The reason why the salt merchant group is powerful is not only because they are rich, but because the salt merchant group is essentially a "power and money group" and an interest group colluding with government and businessmen.

In the upper reaches of the salt merchants was the alliance of nobles and civil servants based in Nanzhili, and in the lower reaches were distribution organizations such as the Caogong Group, and even local tycoons from various areas along the canal participated in it.

Normally speaking, no one would dare to move such a large and powerful interest group, but high pragmatism is obviously not in the normal category.He himself is also a veteran in the officialdom, he doesn't care about the collusion between the government and businessmen at all, he comes up to directly attack smuggling, he makes precise moves but never gets involved easily.

In this way, not only to ensure that their actions are absolutely legal, but also to make the salt merchants group feel the deep pain both upstream and downstream, as well as themselves.After more than a year and nearly two years of patience, the interest community of the salt merchant group has long been unable to bear it, and its resentment against Gao Pragmatic has rushed to Xiaohan, and it only wants to get rid of it quickly.

Excluding Gao Pragmatism, the difficulty of this task must be too high, at least for now, but Wang Xijue thinks it is still possible to use this kind of anger and resentment to make some big news.

Wang Xijue himself is a high-ranking official from Nanzhili, and he is the wealthiest man in Suzhou, which cannot be obtained by farming at home.Even from the perspective of his own interests, this matter must be done, not to mention that now he can kill two birds with one stone, which is both public and private.

High pragmatism is only about cracking down on smuggling, and it is not good for officials and nobles to come forward and say no.Although the overall influence of the local tyrants is not weak, it is very difficult to unite to speak out, and it is not easy to make troubles. If there is any trouble, it will be broken one by one immediately.

Only the water workers, as the "army" of the imperial court, once 10,000+ people make a riot, plus their families and families, it will be a huge riot on a scale of millions. If they are not careful, it may turn into a riot. The imperial court will never May sit idly by.

What else?Shake Gao Yushi's status as a capable minister in the eyes of the emperor, and force Gao Yushi to return from the front line due to instability in the future, so as to make sure that Gao Yushi can't unify the Real School and then stabilize the Xin School politically. Look at the waterworker.
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(End of this chapter)