My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 175 The Hundred Plays Festival Opens!
Wang Shizhen's solution was to write poetry.

The following day, Wang Shizhen made a special trip to Datong City and stayed there for a day, where he wrote three poems praising the Third Sister in public.

Written by Wang Shizhen, a master of literature, the poems immediately spread throughout Datong City upon publication, especially the last one:
"The blood-sweating steed gallops freely, and it can even imitate the mannerisms of a woman from the south; it carries a black handkerchief through the wind, and loves to adorn itself with silver flowers as it flutters in the snow."

The city of Datong was well-managed by Qi Jiguang, but the area outside the city was a complex place, with smuggling merchants from Shanxi carrying Wang Shizhen's poems towards Bansheng City.

Wang Shizhen deliberately lingered in Datong City for another day to inquire about the situation in Shanxi, where Qi Jiguang and Wang Yongji were located. Shen Yiguan also accompanied him on interviews in Datong City, gaining a deeper understanding of the affairs of the nine border regions of the Ming Dynasty.

The more Shen Yiguan learned, the more he realized how difficult the current situation in Datong truly was.

If it weren't for the Prince of Dai eliminating the feudal lords, the tense land problem in Datong would not have been alleviated, and there would have been no surplus grain to take the initiative to attack.

If it weren't for Qi Jiguang leading the formidable southern troops to garrison the area, the original Datong garrison soldiers would have had little chance of achieving anything.

If it weren't for Wang Yongji taking charge of this matter, and instead a corrupt or incompetent official had taken charge, none of the complex land issues in Datong could have been resolved.

Shen Yiguan was shocked to discover that the success of the search in Datong was actually the result of Su Ze's repeated memorials to the emperor.

If any link in this chain had gone wrong, we wouldn't have the wonderful situation Datong is in today.

Others may not understand this deeply, but Su Ze witnessed every time he wrote to Shen Yiguan, and when he saw the current state of Datong, his feelings were the deepest.

Shen Yiguan's admiration for Su Ze deepened even further. This must be the art of strategizing from afar.
Next comes the mission. If this mission succeeds, it will force Anda's tribe to send troops, and by the time the Dongshengwei Bastion is completed in the autumn, the situation in the north will be completely reversed.

Being able to personally participate in such a major event, Shen Yiguan was also excited.
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At the end of May, Su Ze, who had been busy for several days, finally had time to come to the newspaper office.

These days, whenever he has free time, he stays at home with Zhao Lingxian, or goes to the East Palace to help Xiao Pangjun prepare for the Hundred Plays Festival.

In addition, he went to the Society for Research in Architecture and explained the mathematical formulas he had recalled from his memory palace to Huang Ji.

The Ministry of Works also frequently invited Su Ze to the workshops outside the city. The latest steelmaking furnace has been completed, and the ironworks are casting cannons according to the modules proposed by Su Ze.

It must be said that Zhou Xiang of the Imperial Observatory was highly accomplished in statistics, and the modulus of the cannons had been basically determined.

The optimal gun barrel structure is one where the thickness of the muzzle is the same as the caliber, and the thickness of the gun chamber is twice the caliber.

This spindle-shaped cannon is similar to the red-coated cannon that Su Ze saw in the museum in his previous life. Such cannons use less material and are less likely to explode.

The caliber ratio of 22 is the best for iron cannons. Based on this ratio, the Ministry of Works completed the casting of a new batch of cannons. These cannons were all muzzle-loading cannons proposed by Su Ze, that is, cannons in which gunpowder and shells are mounted at the muzzle.

This type of artillery has better airtightness and its shells are more powerful.

This is the benefit of science: once a systematic method is proposed, research only requires the investment of human and material resources, which is exactly what the Ming Dynasty is not lacking.

In addition, Zhou Xiang also designed a set of gun rulers for the new cannons. As long as soldiers learned how to use the gun rulers, even those who did not know arithmetic could use the cannons.

Of course, artillerymen still need to know math.

Modern artillery is the branch of the military that most needs technology. Napoleon was an artilleryman. France's ability to take on the whole of Europe was also related to the fact that France possessed the most advanced mathematics in the world at that time.

With the weapons in hand, the next step was personnel. Su Ze recalled his conversation with Wang Shizhen, where he suggested that the military examination was one solution. He proposed adding a math and arithmetic tests to the military examination to select qualified artillerymen.

After finishing all that, Su Ze returned to the newspaper office to sit down.

Without Shen Yiguan's daily news, Su Ze felt the atmosphere in the newspaper office was somewhat dull, so he took the initiative to ask Luo Wanhua:
"Brother Yifu, what's the news from the capital today?"

Luo Wanhua said:
"The Lingji Palace Conference is imminent, and the capital has been in an uproar these days."

When virtuous scholars from all over the country gathered in the capital, these scholars, with their different academic backgrounds and regional origins, naturally began to argue.

This was all part of Su Ze's plan. He asked, "What's all the noise about?"

Luo Wanhua handed two tabloids to Su Ze and said:
"Everything is debated, but the most heated arguments are about the North-South divide and public-private issues."

Su Ze picked up the newspaper. He hadn't expected that public opinion in the Ming Dynasty had developed to this point. These virtuous and learned scholars had actually learned to use newspapers as a platform to criticize each other.

However, upon closer reflection, this is also a traditional skill of scholars. Scholars in the Ming Dynasty loved writing books, and many of these books were written to criticize their political enemies.

Now that we have newspapers, a medium with wider reach and faster delivery, there's no reason not to take over.

Su Ze looked at the "Gentleman's Daily" and asked:
"Brother Yifu, wasn't the 'Gentleman's Gazette' destroyed?"

Luo Wanhua said:
"This 'Gentleman's Gazette' was run by Shen Sixiao. He was exposed by his own disciple Shen Jing. Shen and Wang, who were classmates in the same year, led the police to destroy his printing workshop. However, Shen Sixiao managed to escape. The court has stripped him of his official title and issued a warrant for his arrest."

"But after Shen Sixiao's 'Junzi Bao' was gone for only a few days, another newspaper with the same name appeared in the capital and quickly became popular in the capital."

Su Ze even wanted to use the "post-event album" to determine whether the new "Gentleman's Gazette" was actually run by Shen Sixiao, and whether he should resolve this problem once and for all.

But after thinking about it, I decided against it. Shen Sixiao had already been stripped of his official rank and was politically equivalent to a dead man. The "post-mortem album" shouldn't be used in such a context.

The Gentleman's Gazette was quite well-known in the capital, so it was normal for someone to start another newspaper under its name.

Su Ze took a look and found that the headline on the front page of the newspaper was not a reprint of the imperial court's official gazette, but an article comparing the taxes in the north and south.

After Su Ze finished reading, Luo Wanhua said, "Brother Zilin, isn't this article quite similar to yours?"

Su Ze smiled wryly. These people not only copied his newspaper, but also his analytical methods.

The first half of the article consists of listing data and calculating the taxes levied on each province.

Finally, the article also lists a calculation table to determine the five prefectures that ultimately levied taxes during the Ming Dynasty, namely the five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou in Southern Zhili.

Until the very end, the article put forward a sharp point: the uneven distribution of taxes between the North and the South, and criticized the tax policies of the Ming Dynasty.

Goodness, is it really that sharp?

Su Ze said:

“These figures are not something ordinary people can collect. The person who wrote this article must be someone from the Ministry of Revenue.”

Luo Wanhua nodded, but he said:

"Shen and Wang, who were both from the same year, also came here. They led the patrol team and searched for a long time, but they couldn't find the printing house of this new 'Gentleman's Gazette,' let alone the author of the article."

Luo Wanhua said worriedly, "The North-South issue has been brought up again, and I heard that the cabinet is also having a headache."

The conflict between the North and the South was the main contradiction in the Ming Dynasty. This problem existed as early as the beginning of the dynasty, and the famous North-South Examination Incident was a manifestation of this conflict in the early Ming Dynasty.

In February of the 30th year of the Hongwu reign (1386), the imperial examination was held, with Hanlin Academician Liu Sanwu presiding over the palace examination of the Dingchou year. Because all 51 candidates were from the south, it was also known as the Southern List.

Northern scholars who failed the imperial examination jointly petitioned the examiner, Liu Sanwu, accusing him of favoritism towards southerners.

However, after review, the submitted examination papers were poorly written and contained taboo language. Someone reported that Liu Sanwu had secretly instructed Zhang Xin and others to deliberately submit inferior papers. Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and punished the relevant officials.

In June, Zhu Yuanzhang personally conducted the imperial examination and selected 61 people, including Ren Bo'an. The 61 people selected in the June palace examination were all from the north, hence the name "Northern List".

Following this incident, in the first year of the Hongxi reign, Emperor Renzong of Ming adopted the suggestion of ministers such as Yang Shiqi to separate the examination papers for the northern and southern regions, formally stipulating the principle of allocating quotas according to region and establishing a ratio of "six out of ten from the south and four out of ten from the north".

The system of holding separate examinations for the North and South has always been a source of dissatisfaction among Southern literati.

However, attacking the imperial examination system is also attacking the ancestral laws, and the idea of ​​separating the examination papers for the north and south also reflects the idea of ​​balancing local political forces. These opinions can only be opposed in private.

This article has a different focus. Instead of discussing the imperial examination system's rankings between the North and South, it discusses local taxes. This shifts the focus from the interests of scholars to the burden on ordinary people, allowing the North-South divide to be openly discussed.

This article perfectly captures Su Ze's essence.

If Luo Wanhua hadn't known Su Ze's character and that he wasn't the type to hold such local prejudices, he might have even suspected that Su Ze had written the article.

Su Ze picked up another newspaper, and Luo Wanhua said:
“The New Yuefu Daily published three articles in a row, all of which discussed the salt laws of the Ming Dynasty.”

"Salt administration?"

"Yes, the first two articles discussed the drawbacks of the salt law, and the last article not only discussed the salt law, but also the losses of government-run mines and ironworks."

Good heavens, the *New Yuefu Daily* has brought up the old issue of "public versus private" again.

This is actually a question that was already being discussed in the Han Dynasty's "Discourses on Salt and Iron".

The issue of the Ming Dynasty's salt laws is indeed a long-standing and frequently discussed problem.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the "Open Market Law" was implemented, which increased the salt tax in order to supply military provisions to the nine border regions. The Open Market Law encouraged merchants to transport grain to the border in exchange for salt permits to generate income. In essence, the state used the salt tax to subsidize the border areas. At that time, the salt tax was equivalent to a special national defense tax.

Since the bankruptcy of the Sino-French joint venture, this position has become untenable.

Subsequently, the excessive issuance of salt permits by the imperial court led to the blockage of these permits.

Simply put, salt certificates were essentially a form of currency, and in the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court was unable to resist the urge to issue them indiscriminately.

The number of salt certificates issued far exceeded the actual salt production capacity, and those holding the certificates could not exchange them for salt.

Then the imperial court sent officials to supervise the salt production. These officials used simple and crude methods, which was to order the salt workers to increase production.

Salt production in the Ming Dynasty was also hereditary, and the salt workers were essentially slaves. Under such oppressive conditions, many salt workers fled, resulting in even lower salt production.

By the time of the Jiajing reign, the salt administration had become even more corrupt.

Yan Maoqing, a member of the Yan faction, went to Jiangnan to supervise salt production. He simply refused to recognize salt certificates and openly sold the salt from the government offices. He also ordered all salt offices to hand over "surplus salt," which was worth a total of one million taels of silver.

The result was that the salt administration became even more chaotic, and illegal salt production became rampant in the region.

An article in the Xinlefu Daily directly pointed out the drawbacks of the salt law and advocated for the direct lifting of the salt ban and the legal sale of private salt.

Good heavens! Su Ze thought these issues would be discussed slowly at the Lingji Palace Conference, but the appearance of the newspaper accelerated the process, and they were already being discussed publicly before the Lingji Palace Conference.

These two problems even gave Su Ze a headache.

The issues of North and South, and public and private, were not resolved even by later generations, let alone the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, both of these are old problems. Regional issues have always been the lifeblood of various dynasties, and mishandling one could lead to disaster.

The Liangzhou issue in the Eastern Han Dynasty: the systematic discrimination by the Guanzhong aristocratic families against the aristocratic families of other prefectures and counties.

The conflict between the remnants of the Six Garrisons of the Northern Dynasties and the landlords of Hedong.

The conflict between the immigrants from the Southern Dynasties and the natives of Jiangdong.

The conflict between the Guanzhong aristocracy and the Hedong aristocratic families during the Tang Dynasty.

By the Ming Dynasty, this manifested as the North-South conflict.

The debate over the issue of public versus private interests began as early as the Salt and Iron Conference in the Han Dynasty, with both sides having their own theories and examples to support their arguments.

However, Su Ze did not object to discussing these issues.

Su Ze even proposed holding this Lingji Palace Conference precisely to bring these issues up for discussion.

The state is a tool for maintaining rule, and there is no absolute fairness in politics.

Within a regulated framework, various forces present their viewpoints, ultimately prompting the ruling party to consider these issues and reach a new tacit balance.

Raising the North-South issue now, making rulers like Zhang Juzheng realize the differences between the North and South, will prevent Zhang Juzheng from ignoring these differences and radically pushing forward the Single Whip Law in the future.

Then this Lingji Palace gathering will have been worthwhile.

With these issues fully discussed at the conference, Su Ze's already prepared reform measures can be unveiled after the Lingji Palace conference.

If a consensus can be reached at the Lingji Palace Conference, the resistance to these reforms will be much smaller, and the required prestige points will be much less.
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The last day of May is also a day off at the end of the month.

The capital city was bustling with activity today. News of the Crown Prince personally funding a variety show to celebrate the Lingji Palace assembly had already spread throughout the city.

Su Ze had previously suggested to Xiao Pangjun that they set up stages in various parts of the capital for opera troupes to perform, which warmed up the Hundred Opera Festival for several days. During these days, the capital was filled with the sound of opera, and opera troupes from all over the country competed to perform in the capital, all for the title of "Opera King".

This year's Hundred Plays Festival and Lingji Palace Grand Gathering will be even more lively in the capital than the Lantern Festival. Who wouldn't love to watch free shows?

Unfortunately, the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot had already blocked the road from the Imperial Palace to Lingji Palace. When the Emperor arrived at Lingji Palace, the high-ranking officials of the cabinet also arrived with the Emperor's imperial carriage, and the people of the capital could only watch the spectacle from afar.

Just as the people were feeling regretful that they couldn't watch the opening of the Hundred Plays Fair up close, a melodious tune rang out.

The music was like the roar of the Yellow River, surging out from Lingji Palace. The stirring music made one feel as if they were on a small boat on the Yellow River!
(End of this chapter)