My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 191 The Power of Collaboration

It started raining in the Forbidden City.

The rain at the end of June came suddenly, and the downpour hit the capital. The heavy rain washed away the last remaining contrast in the Forbidden City, and everything in front of us was gray and hazy.

Feng Bao, wearing a straw raincoat, led the young eunuch out of the imperial study.

The entire central axis of the Forbidden City was bare. When Feng Baogang entered the palace, he heard from an old eunuch that this was to prevent assassins from hiding in the trees to assassinate the emperor.

However, Feng Bao now considers this nonsense.

The only area without trees is the three main halls along the central axis, where the emperor held court assemblies and grand ceremonies. The trees were cut down to demonstrate the majesty of imperial power.

Besides the three main halls on the central axis, including the Hall of Mental Cultivation where the emperor lived and studied, the area is surrounded by large trees.

Feng Bao heard the rumbling sound of water; it was the sound of nine dragons spouting water.

This is a sight that is rarely seen by the outer court officials. Only during heavy rain will the drainage system of the three main halls be activated, and water on the steps will be sprayed into the drainage ditch through the faucets.

Feng Bao always felt uncomfortable in this place; the emperor sitting in the three main halls was more divine than human.

In fact, even the emperor didn't like this feeling. Emperor Longqing simply stopped holding the morning court session without hesitation.

With such heavy rain, all the government offices in the inner court except for the Grand Secretariat were closed, and in the outer court, except for some government offices that needed emergency disaster relief such as the Ministry of Works, most offices also went home to work.

Su Ze is really lucky!
Feng Bao recalled the scene a few days earlier when the Ministry of Revenue's memorial was delivered to the Imperial Study.

The usually mild-mannered Longqing Emperor, after ascending the throne, uncharacteristically lost his temper.

Feng Bao knew the reason for the emperor's anger: the emperor felt betrayed.

Yes, betrayal.

The emperor was not angry because the Ministry of Revenue demanded that the accounts of the imperial treasury be made public.

In fact, this matter had been discussed for a long time. During the Chenghua era, officials from the Ministry of Revenue submitted a memorial requesting that the Inner Transport Treasury share its accounts with the Ministry of Revenue in order to compile financial data for the entire Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, the bulk of the imperial treasury's income came from gold and silver, which was originally collected by the Ministry of Revenue. If it were to be made public, it would simply be the income from the horse administration of the Court of Imperial Stud, the expenses for mausoleum sacrifices from the treasury of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, plus the income from tributes paid by the eunuchs guarding the manufacturing bureaus, maritime trade bureaus, and mining bureaus in various regions.

This is not a difficult task.

What angered the Longqing Emperor was the names of Zhang Juzheng and Su Ze on the memorial.

Needless to say, Su Ze had been granted every favor by the Longqing Emperor since he entered officialdom. He was promoted to the fifth rank in less than a year, which was a meteoric rise in the history of the Ming Dynasty!

In addition, the emperor granted him the privilege of having his son granted a residence, showing him unparalleled favor.

However, Su Ze actually demanded that the emperor hand over the accounts of the imperial treasury to the Ministry of Revenue!
Of course, Su Ze only angered the emperor, but Zhang Juzheng's signature made the emperor wary.

Even if Su Ze's signature were added, the meddling of the minor officials in the Ministry of Revenue would be considered mere "minor officials of the outer court," and the emperor could simply ignore them.

If the emperor got annoyed, he could even send the Embroidered Uniform Guard to beat up these minor officials. Emperor Longqing himself never used this trick, but his father, Emperor Jiajing, was a master of it.

If all else fails, the emperor still has the power of personnel appointments and can simply demote these minor officials.

However, Zhang Juzheng was one of the three Grand Secretaries of the Inner Cabinet, so the emperor could not do that.

Although the Ming Dynasty did not have a prime minister, the cabinet ministers were almost equivalent to prime ministers.

The prime minister was above all other officials in terms of etiquette.

The cabinet ministers are not individuals; they represent a faction within the court and cannot be easily moved.

His father had to be very careful when replacing prime ministers, gradually clipping their wings before finding a challenger who wanted to take the position, so that he could gradually replace the original prime ministers and important officials.

For example, when replacing Yan Song, the Jiajing Emperor first supported the Yuwang Party, led by Xu Jie, and used the two forces of the future crown prince and the leaders of the Qingliu faction to compete with the Yan Party.

Then, Yan Song's cronies were gradually eliminated. A number of key members of Yan Song's faction, such as Yan Maoqing, were dismissed for corruption and incompetence.

In the end, the Jiajing Emperor did not execute Yan Song.

This was not merely a matter of personal feelings between Jiajing and Yan Song; sparing Yan Song's life was also for the sake of political stability.

Finally, the remaining influence of Yan's faction needed to be eliminated, and those still holding high positions within Yan's faction were removed. Hu Zongxian was eliminated during this period.

Zhang Juzheng was his mentor, and he gradually gained power starting from his struggle against Yan Song. He was also a regent minister of the late emperor.

Zhang Juzheng presided over several imperial examinations, and his protégés and former officials were found throughout the court and the country.

When it involves cabinet ministers, the nature of the matter changes.

Even the Longqing Emperor began to suspect that this was Zhang Juzheng's intention to launch an attack on the inner court.

So when this memorial from the Ministry of Revenue was sent to the Imperial Study, the Emperor got angry and then shelved it.

Neither accepting nor rejecting it, it remained in the Imperial Study.

Immediately afterwards, the emperor summoned the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and appointed Feng Bao, the head of the Eastern Depot, to oversee the movements of the outer court.

Feng Bao also felt that this was a difficult matter. As an ally of Zhang Juzheng, he had no idea what was wrong with Zhang Juzheng.

After several days of investigation by the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the outer court remained very calm. Zhang Juzheng kept to himself and rarely went out, while Su Ze also lived a simple life between the Ministry of Revenue, the newspaper office, and his residence.

When Feng Bao presented the results of his surveillance to the emperor, the Longqing Emperor visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

Feng Bao understood what the emperor was worried about.

Su Ze is truly exceptional.

Grand Secretary Li Chunfang valued him highly, Gao Gong was his mentor, Zhang Juzheng also greatly admired him, and Zhao Zhenji was his relative by marriage.

Su Ze is the one who can connect the four cabinet ministers.

Zhang Juzheng leading the memorials from the Ministry of Revenue was enough to give the emperor a headache; if Su Ze was colluding with the four Grand Secretaries behind this incident, the emperor would have no sleep.

This is what the emperor is most worried about.

However, this did not happen. It seems that the Ministry of Revenue's proposal was its own idea, and the outer court did not discuss it much.

Then came this heavy rain.

The heavy rain forced the government offices to close for the holiday. Because the downpour also hindered communication between officials, the Ministry of Revenue's memorial to the throne did not generate much of a stir, and the matter gradually cooled down.

Slow things down.

Feng Bao gradually understood this principle, and Emperor Longqing was no longer so suspicious of this memorial.

In fact, Zhang Juzheng had already explained this to the Longqing Emperor when he was still a prince.

Establishing a national accounting system and unifying the finances of the entire Ming Dynasty would allow the Ministry of Revenue to control the overall situation and formulate effective fiscal policies.

They only want the accounts of the Imperial Treasury; the Outer Court isn't trying to seize the Emperor's silver from the Imperial Treasury.

Emperor Longqing then read Su Ze's memorial several more times, and its main content was indeed for the good of the Ming Dynasty. The fiscal system established by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was meaningful in the early years of the dynasty.

The fiscal system of the Song Dynasty, which centralized the distribution of funds in the capital, sounds more advanced, but in reality, it was a complete mess.

The high cost of water transport put the capital of the Song Dynasty in an awkward position.

The Guanzhong region was unable to support the population of the capital, and the canal from Chang'an to the outside of the pass began to silt up during the Tang Dynasty.

Even Luoyang was no longer an option, because the canal connecting Luoyang and Bianjing had silted up.

Ultimately, the Song Dynasty established its capital in Bianjing, a place with no natural defenses, and one of the important reasons for this was Bianjing's location at the hub of the Grand Canal.

Even so, the losses incurred by the Song Dynasty in transporting grain via the Grand Canal were astronomical.

Moreover, the Song Dynasty had its own national circumstances; the Song Dynasty needed to maintain the imperial guards in the capital.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang's fiscal system was effective in the early days of the dynasty when organizational capacity and manpower were scarce, and it even saved a lot of transportation costs.

During the Longqing reign, the national economy prospered and goods were plentiful, but the garrison system gradually deteriorated, the economic gap between provinces widened, and the national treasury needed to be allocated across provinces in a unified manner.

It can only be said that later generations failed to grasp the spirit of their ancestor and promptly reform the system.

First, we need to establish a unified accounting system, then formulate more standardized taxes, and grasp the national financial situation in order to clarify the national financial foundation and know exactly how much silver the Ming Dynasty has.

Once the emperor calmed down, the memorial no longer sounded so harsh.

Today, Feng Bao, acting on the Emperor's orders, went to the Cabinet to inquire about the disaster relief efforts following the torrential rains in the capital region.

In reality, Feng Bao knew that this was the emperor's way of easing tensions with the cabinet.

Feng Bao entered the cabinet. With such a heavy rain, Li Chunfang naturally had to return to the cabinet to take charge.

All four cabinet ministers were present. Feng Bao read out the emperor's decree, and Li Chunfang reported on the flood situation in the capital region, stating that Shuntian Prefecture had prepared for the flood in advance and had carried out canal dredging projects last winter, so it would not cause too much disaster.

Just as Feng Bao was about to return to report, Zhang Juzheng stood up.

"Eunuch Feng, I have a memorial to present to His Majesty in person."

Feng Bao was terrified. He thought Zhang Juzheng was going to continue submitting memorials and try to persuade Zhang Juzheng to give up.

However, there were other ministers in the cabinet, and Li Chunfang, Gao Gong, and Zhao Zhenji did not show any other expression.

Zhang Juzheng knew that Feng Bao had misunderstood, and he said:

"This is not a matter submitted by the Ministry of Revenue; this memorial is an urgent memorial from Hai Rui, the governor of Southern Zhili."

Upon hearing that it wasn't a matter submitted by the Ministry of Revenue, Feng Bao breathed a sigh of relief.

But when he heard that it was Hai Rui's memorial, Feng Bao became uneasy again.

This guy is a real powerhouse when it comes to submitting memorials on public order. His memorials on public order are more powerful than all of Su Ze's memorials combined!
Zhang Juzheng then said, "The cabinet has read the memorial submitted by the Governor of the Sea, and all the cabinet ministers agree with it."

Feng Bao was relieved; the memorial must be harmless.

Feng Bao had no choice but to lead Zhang Juzheng along the way to the Imperial Study.

When Zhang Juzheng entered the imperial study, the Longqing Emperor had already been informed by the eunuchs in advance.

He looked at Zhang Juzheng, whose clothes were damp with raindrops, and then he recalled his own difficult years in the Prince's residence. At that time, Master Gao and Master Zhang often discussed the ills of the dynasty and how to get rid of them.

Thinking about this, all my previous suspicions about Zhang Juzheng completely vanished.

"Get some dry cloth for Master Zhang."

"Give me a seat!"

Zhang Juzheng did not sit down immediately, but instead took out the memorial from his pocket.

"Your Majesty, this is a memorial from Hai Rui, the governor of Yingtian, concerning the silk case."

"The silk case?"

Zhang Juzheng said:
"Your Majesty, this is an old case from the previous dynasty."

"In the fourteenth year of the late emperor's reign, Cheng Peng and Wang Xiang from Shexian County discovered that Shexian County alone paid 6146 taels of silver in silk and cloth to taxpayers, while the other five counties under Huizhou Prefecture did not have to pay this amount."

Seeing that the emperor did not understand, Zhang Juzheng explained:

“Huizhou Prefecture has a separate silk tax, which is paid directly to the Inner Transport Warehouse. However, Shexian County, one of the six counties under Huizhou Prefecture, has never been a major silk-producing county since ancient times, so this silk tax is unreasonable.”

"Therefore, there has been a persistent rumor in Shexian County that this silk tax was originally intended for Huizhou Prefecture, but for some unknown reason, it ended up falling solely on Shexian County's shoulders."

"Last year, when Hai Rui took office as the governor of Yingtian, Shuai Jiamo, a resident of Shexian County in Huizhou Prefecture, discovered that due to a historical error, Ding Sijuan had made Shexian County bear the responsibility alone. He verified his idea by reading the records in the Huizhou Prefecture Annals, and then submitted a petition to the governor's office in Yingtian to seek justice for Shexian County."

Zhang Juzheng then read a passage from Shuai Jiamo's original text:
"Due to the annual tax collection by the Ministry of Revenue, the prefecture seized 8,780 bolts of raw silk per capita, which was originally allocated to the six counties. This can be verified in the prefectural annals."

"The Nanjing transport warehouse collects 20,190 bolts of silk annually. According to the historical distribution rules, the Zhejiang Provincial Administration and the Huguang Provincial Administration (major silk-producing areas) together collect 8,501 bolts, the thirteen prefectures including Yingtian collect 2,905 bolts, and Huizhou Prefecture alone collects 8,780 bolts."

"However, Huizhou is a remote mountainous region where sericulture has disappeared. The six counties of the prefecture need to sell their produce to buy grain and then use the silver to purchase silk from Zhejiang and Huguang to pay the tax. It is estimated that one shi of rice is worth five qian of silver and one jin of silk is worth six fen of silver. The losses during the round trip are more than double. The tax of one prefecture actually exceeds the quota of Zhejiang and Huguang, which is a truly upside-down policy."

"The way of the world values ​​equality and fairness; therefore, things that are not in balance will cry out. Shexian County has long been burdened with excessive taxes, and the people are in dire straits. Fortunately, a benevolent and wise ruler is in power, so I have presented my grievances and earnestly beg for equality and fairness!"

After Zhang Juzheng finished reading, the Longqing Emperor frowned.

"Does Master Zhang mean that this silk tax in Shexian County has been paid since the beginning of the dynasty, and only today has someone discovered that the mistake was made?"

Zhang Juzheng said expressionlessly:

"The above memorials are all the one-sided accounts of Shuai Jiamo, a commoner of Shexian County. Even Hai Rui, the governor of Yingtian, felt that we should not listen to only one side of the story."

"I also believe that Hai Rui's opinion is correct. We should examine the relevant tax documents of Huizhou Prefecture before making a decision."

Zhang Juzheng added:

"However, the silk tax was directly sent to the inner transport warehouse."

Now the emperor understood Zhang Juzheng's meaning: it was still the account of the Imperial Treasury!
This time, Emperor Longqing was not angry. He carefully read the memorial and examined the various pieces of evidence sent by Hai Rui, then asked Zhang Juzheng:

"Master Zhang, how much of this messy accounting does the country still have?"

Zhang Juzheng shook his head and said:
"Countless."

"so much?"

Zhang Juzheng said, "There are countless miscellaneous taxes of this kind, and many local officials collect taxes based on last year's accounts."

"Let alone the silk tax, I once heard Grand Secretary Xu say that even tea taxes were levied in places that did not produce tea. The tea sent to the capital would just sit in the Imperial Transport Warehouse and get moldy."

"In Shandong, there are still places hundreds of miles from the sea where coastal defense pay is levied, and in Shaanxi, the military pay for Yulinwei is even levied on Guangxi."

(End of this chapter)