Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 125 Xu Guangqi

Hearing Li Jing ask Yang Suoxiu if he was a member of the Donglin Party, Yuan Keli shook his head: "As far as I know, Yang Suoxiu is not a member of the Donglin Party, he is an eunuch."

"Why does he want to impeach his own people as an eunuch?" Li Jing asked.

"Yeah, why does he want to impeach his own people?" Yuan Keli repeated in a murmur, and suddenly Yuan Keli's eyes lit up: "I see, he is trying to protect himself, he wants to get rid of his relationship with the Eunuch Party This guy wants to come to the letter because he understands that the new emperor will definitely not be able to tolerate Wei Yan. If the new emperor takes Wei Wei down, his relationship with the eunuch party can be cleared based on his letter today."

Li Jingqi said: "Then why didn't he impeach Wei Zhongxian directly?"

Yuan Keli shook his head and said with a smile: "Because the new emperor may not be able to take Wei Zhongxian down, if he can't take it down, he will be in trouble. If he takes it down and starts from the beginning, he may not be able to escape."

"His grandma, this kid is really smart!" Li Jing murmured.

Immediately after Li Jing woke up, he was in Yuan Keli's room, and when Yuan Keli scolded his grandma, Li Jing felt a little embarrassed.

Scratching his head, Li Jing smiled and said, "I'm rude, I'm rude, don't blame me, sir."

Yuan Keli waved his hands and smiled, obviously not paying attention.

After a while, Yuan Keli sighed: "There are so many things in the court, there are no people doing things, in the future"

When Yuan Keli said this, he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door outside, Yuan Keli said "come in", and saw the pillar walking in with tea.

After pouring tea for Yuan Keli and Li Jing, Zhu Zi withdrew.

Looking at Zhu Zi's back, Yuan Keli nodded slightly and said: "This kid is not bad, give him a good training, and he will become a great weapon in the future."

Li Jingjing nodded with a smile and said, "Mr. has to give you some advice. By the way, just now you said what's going to happen in the future?"

Yuan Keli shook his head and said: "Forget it, it's too early to talk about it now, let's talk about it later."

Picking up the teacup and taking a sip of tea, Yuan Keli suddenly said, "How do you know what happened in the court?"

Li Jing smiled and did not hide it, and briefly talked about the fact that he sent Ma Wu to Beijing.

Yuan Keli nodded and said with a smile: "You can plan ahead, tell me, how do you plan?"

Li Jing withdrew his expression, and said seriously: "Sir, if you want to change the fate of the Ming Dynasty, you must have strength. What I am doing now is to accumulate strength."

"Are you planning to overthrow the Ming Dynasty?" Yuan Keli asked, staring into Li Jing's eyes.

Shaking his head, Li Jing sighed: "To overthrow a dynasty, you have to build another dynasty. In fact, if you want to change the whole country, you must establish a new system. As long as there is a perfect system, it doesn't matter whether the Ming Dynasty is overthrown or not."

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "Actually, I think it is more beneficial not to overthrow the Ming Dynasty. After all, the Zhu family dynasty is still very appealing. In addition, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty has the most backbone compared with the emperors of all dynasties. , in the end of the Ming Dynasty, no marriage, no tribute, no surrender, no compromise. From this point of view, the people of the old Zhu family are very remarkable. Compared with them, the Han, Tang, Song and other dynasties are far behind .”

"However, if the Ming Dynasty is not overthrown, how can a new system be established?" Yuan Keli wondered.

Li Jing sighed and said: "During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao was not the emperor, but the emperor was just a decoration. The key is who has the right to speak."

Yuan Keli's face changed, and he said: "Are you blackmailing the emperor to command the princes? Let him be a display?"

Regarding Yuan Keli's reaction, Li Jing really saw it in his eyes. For such an old man who is loyal to the Ming Dynasty, it is only natural for Li Jing to have such a reaction when he hears that Li Jing compares himself with Cao Cao.

However, Li Jing had already made up his mind about these things, nodded and said: "It's not as simple as making excuses! You know, throughout the dynasties, the imperial power has always been greater than the law, or what the emperor says is the law, thus forming an autocratic system , the emperor is obviously wrong, and the people below will say he is right, this is tantamount to a disaster for a country. What I want to do is to change this system, the emperor is just a symbol of the country, and has no actual rights, everything must be governed by the law, no matter who they are, they will lose their privileges!"

"In this way, you are making enemies of the gentry and bureaucrats all over the world..." Yuan Keli said.

Li Jing smiled: "Sir, it is really difficult to do this. The current gentry class belongs to those with vested interests. They will definitely oppose such an approach. Therefore, in the process of overthrowing them, we must foster new vested interests." Interested parties, only by relying on new forces can we defeat the old interest groups."

Yuan Keli thought for a while and said, "Have you ever thought that the new vested interests will one day become the old vested interests? You must know that many good systems were also formulated during the Taizu period of this dynasty, but In the end, corrupt officials are rampant."

Li Jing said solemnly: "That's true, but there is one thing that Taizu did wrong. He hated the corruption of bureaucrats, but he didn't study why those people were corrupt. He didn't understand the reason. useless."

"Let's listen to it." Yuan Keli said.

Li Jing knew that Yuan Keli was testing him, and if Yuan Keli's answer was not satisfactory, Yuan Keli would not act with him.

Li Jing thought about his choice of words, and then said: "First of all, we need to know why these bureaucrats are corrupt. You must know that a considerable part of these officials are not corrupt officials, so why do they still want to be corrupt? Because Zhu Yuanzhang gave them Their salaries are too low, they can’t support their families, and they have no choice but to embezzle.”

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "If the salary is sufficient, then many of these corrupt officials would not be corrupt. Of course, there are always some people who can't fill their desires, and these people are to blame for being killed."

After Yuan Keli heard this, he suddenly thought about it.

Li Jing smiled and continued: "Sir, I know you started as a low-level official. Let me ask you, what do you think is the annual salary of a county magistrate? How much money does he need to support his family for a year?"

Yuan Keli said: "The county magistrate of the seventh rank has a monthly salary of seven stones and five dou, which is equivalent to silver, but only ten taels."

"Is it enough?" Li Jing asked.

"How is this possible? Many people in the county government do not have salaries, such as masters, bearers, etc. These people are all supported by the county magistrate's salary. If there are two concubines, the money will definitely not be enough .” Yuan Keli said.

Hearing Yuan Keli talk about taking concubines, Li Jing couldn't help but smiled and said: "Let's not think about the issue of taking concubines for now. In order to marry a concubine and embezzle, that's asking for death! Let's talk about the master and the bearers. If these people are separated The salary is all given by the state, and if the salary of the county magistrate increases according to the current price, then you say that if you embezzle a certain amount, you will be sentenced to death, and I think most people will not embezzle, right?"

Yuan Keli thought for a while, shook his head, and said, "The national treasury must not be able to afford such a large burden."

"I have already considered this, sir, look!" Li Jing took out a package from his arms, opened it and handed the contents to Yuan Keli.

Yuan Keli took a few glances, and suddenly his eyes lit up.

"You did this?" Yuan Keli asked while watching.

"Yes! This tax system has already been implemented around Hongshanling. Judging from the effect inside the mountain, it's pretty good." Li Jingting nodded.

"Is your tax set a bit higher?" Yuan Keli asked doubtfully.

Li Jing smiled and said: "On the surface, it is indeed not low, but in fact, it is much lower than the harvest of the imperial court, and I have also introduced the latest drought-resistant crops from the south. Guess how much the yield per mu is?"

"Four hundred catties?" Yuan Keli thought for a while.

Li Jing shook his head, pointed his fingers and said, "Two thousand catties, this is the yield per mu of sweet potatoes. Potatoes are slightly lower, and corn is even lower, but the lowest corn can reach more than seven hundred catties. This is our first year of planting. , many people are still not good at planting.”

"There is such a high output?" Yuan Keli exclaimed.

Li Jing nodded.

Yuan Keli sighed and said, "Brother Zixian wrote a letter to promote these crops a few years ago, but I don't want the imperial court to ignore it."

"Sir, who is Brother Zixian you are talking about?" Li Jing asked.

"Oh, hehe, Zixian is Master Xu Guangqi." Yuan Keli laughed.

"Xu Guangqi?" Li Jing asked in surprise.

As a modern person, not many people know about Yuan Keli, but it is difficult not to know about Xu Guangqi.

Xu Guangqi was the most powerful man in the late Ming Dynasty.

Xu Guangqi is proficient in many subjects: Western learning, mathematics, astronomy, machinery, water conservancy, and agriculture.Few people in China do not know his representative work "Nongzheng Quanshu". He is also proficient in artillery casting, and he is No. 1 in the history of Chinese military technology for proposing the theory of artillery application in war.

He is also good at military training, and has compiled various regulations and codes for actual combat.

When he heard that Yuan Keli knew Xu Guangqi, Li Jing's excitement can be imagined.

"You know Xu Guangqi?" Yuan Keli asked curiously.

Li Jing shook his head: "I don't know, but what Mr. Xu did has a great impact on future generations, can you..."

In the middle of speaking, Li Jing shook his head. This talented person is not so easy to win over. Right now, Yuan Keli should be settled first.

"Sir, let's not mention Mr. Xu's matter for now. You said that according to this output, I will divide the tax into three levels. Do you think I will charge high or low?" Li Jing changed the subject and said.

Yuan Keli shook his head with a smile and said: "The output is indeed not low, and the tax based on this output is not high, but have you ever thought about one thing, do the common people pay food or money?"

"It doesn't matter, does it?" Li Jing smiled.

Yuan Keli smiled and said: "This question is very important! If you pay the food, then you need to sell the food, and then you can pay the workers and soldiers below, or send them the food directly. Let me ask you, the food output It’s so high, if everyone doesn’t have to worry about food, who will you sell your food to? You have to know that when the problem of food is solved, the problem of clothing should be solved, and there are other items. You can’t let them exchange food, right? ?”

Li Jingwen was at a loss for a moment.

(End of this chapter)