Of course, although Zhang Juzheng's post station reform was biased towards rigidity and strength, and lost in softness and skill, it was at least better than Emperor Chongzhen, who was dedicated to making great efforts.

In 1629 in history, the 19-year-old Emperor Chongzhen also carried out a post government reform, but Chongzhen, who was eager for quick success, was not even as patient as Zhang Juzheng, and only hoped to solve the problem with a package of drastic reforms. So there are two major differences between his methods and Zhang Juzheng:

Although Zhang Juzheng's post government reform was also tough, at least it focused on reducing the burden on the people, and as for the millions of taels of silver that were saved later, it was only a side benefit. And Chongzhen, as the Son of Heaven, just stared at the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver obtained from the post reform. Therefore, he acquiesced in the officials' apportionment of the people, and only demanded that the officials hand over a large part of the funds for military spending.

In addition, as I just said, Chongzhen was too hasty and impatient in the implementation of reforms. Without any pre-work, he ordered a one-size-fits-all reduction of 60% of the size of the country's post stations! You must know that the reforms of the Jiajing period and Zhang Juzheng were carried out slowly and gradually, and both took several years. However, Chongzhen's reform requires all localities to complete it immediately within a few months!

If you don't fail in this, who fails?

According to Gao Gong and Guo Pu's views on Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Juzheng is still too anxious to do things, so is it not bad to replace Chongzhen, who is several times more anxious than Zhang Juzheng?

Governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh, it's like frying eggs, your fire is too big, too urgent, and the eggs will definitely be mushy!

Imagine that a great man like Taizu of the Red Dynasty back then, and had incomparable prestige and an administrative team with high enough efficiency, and finally lost his hand in the word "urgent".

Gao pragmatically thought about it, the reason why Daming Post Station has become a cancer that exploits the local people, the key is that it has the power to exploit, and if you want to eliminate this kind of exploitation, the most fundamental way is to let it lose this power.

However, although it is easy to take back this power, it is difficult to maintain the role of the post station after it is recovered.

Now the post station has the power to "exploit" the people, many remote places of the post station are unsustainable, disrepair is a small problem, the provisions should have the car, horse, post man, etc. are all not up to standard, once there is something, the efficiency can not be ensured at all. So just imagine, if it still loses the power to exploit, this post station is set up or not, I'm afraid there is no difference at all - nothing can be done.

But Gao Pragmatic has worked as a grassroots cadre after all, and he has keenly figured out the key issue: Daming's post station is actually equivalent to those "self-financing" institutions in later generations, and it is also state-owned, but the state actually doesn't care about your food, but instead gives you certain privileges.

Whoever it is, you have to use this privilege to the extreme, otherwise where will you eat?

There is no Confucius in the world, conscience is a good thing, but after all, it cannot be eaten as food, and people who starve to death are always a minority.

Very good, now I finally figured out where the root of the problem was - it was still the Taizu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.

That's right, this seemingly convenient but brain-dead method was made up by this Hongwu Emperor who really sympathized with the peasants in his heart.

It's just intellectual.

Therefore, in the reform of the post station of the Ming Dynasty, although the imperial court must take back the power of the post station to exploit the local people, it must also afford the normal expenses of the post station.

Then there are two big troubles:

The first big trouble is that the imperial court is now so poor that it almost drops its leggings, and so far Gao Gong is still paying off the debts for the Jiajing Dynasty, how can he afford the expenses of the post station?

The second big trouble is, why does the imperial court have to pay for the travel expenses of officials at all levels? Oh, you said that everyone is the emperor's courtiers, and of course the emperor has to pay for a business trip? That's right, but even if you have to be responsible, it stands to reason that the imperial court only needs to be responsible for the travel of officials at the central level. How much money do you pay to the central government in taxes? Zhu Yuanzhang left all the boss's taxes in the local government back then, and he didn't ask your local government to hand over the central government at all!

This situation should be compared to Gao Shipra, for example, he is an official of a certain township in a certain city or county in a certain southern province, and he is now going to a certain place in the north to inspect and study, can he directly seek reimbursement from the Ministry of Finance for this travel expense?

What a face, friend!

The problem is clear, the root cause has been found, and what is needed now is to find a way to solve it.

At first glance, this is a dead circle: the imperial court needs a post station - the imperial court has no money to afford the post station - the imperial court gives the post station privileges - the post station exploits the local people - the officials exploit the post stations along the way - the imperial court still needs the post station - the imperial court continues to condone the post station to exploit the people.

In the final analysis, the root of this lies in one: the imperial court really needs a post station.

Not to mention anything else, just the official correspondence across the country, if there is no post station, all of them will have to be blinded. That means that the ruling power of the imperial court has been completely cut off, and this is still necessary?

Moreover, this undertakes the function of transmitting official documents across the country, and even a person like Gao Pragmatic does not dare to come up with the idea of setting up a private enterprise to operate it - if the military situation is missed and the government is urgent, which private person can afford such a responsibility? Not to mention the "legal person" of this private enterprise, if he really misses a major event, I am afraid that even the eighteenth generation of ancestral graves have to be dug by the imperial court, this is not a society under the rule of law, whipping corpses, digging ancestral graves or something, can really do it.

Well, since there is no substitute for the post station, then we can only find a way to meet the funds required by the post station.

Gao Pragmatic doesn't know much about modern finance, but he feels that the most fundamental thing in finance is income and expenditure, and if the imperial court wants to support the post station, it is nothing more than increasing income and reducing expenditure.

To increase income, you can find a way to "exploit" the local people from the post station before, first of all, figure out what kind of level the post station is for the local exploitation, after the imperial court takes back the right to exploit the post station, the imperial court directly collects another tax from the local area, and the account is taken separately, and the post station cannot be responsible for itself, and it is best not to let the local government be responsible.

Of course, since it is necessary to reduce the burden on the local people, this tax must be lighter than the exploitation of the previous post station, otherwise it will be a day job.

However, this also involves a problem of administrative efficiency, and if there is a separate department responsible for this matter, it will become an overlapping organization, if not overlapping, at least a bloated organization, and it will also increase expenditure.

The most important thing in reducing expenditure is to put an end to the consumption and extortion of officials at all levels who pass through the post station, which is also the main focus of Zhang Juzheng's reform in the year. However, the problem with Zhang Juzheng is that he caught the money and did not let the officials take it, so officials at all levels are very dissatisfied with it.

Gao Pragmatic is not a black and white little angry youth, and he will not say nonsense like "You shouldn't have taken this money in the first place" - people have taken it for two hundred years, and now you say that you shouldn't take it, he won't take it with sincerity? Even if Confucius came in person, they would not be convinced.

Therefore, this money has to be made up, but the central treasury of the imperial court cannot make up for it, otherwise it will still be a day job, and the local finance can only make up for it - for example, if an official in a local area takes office, it can be changed to the local government where he is appointed after he arrives, and the local government will reimburse him for his travel expenses.

Of course, there must be a strict standard for this travel expense, you can't say how much you spent on the road, my local finance will report how much to you, you have to set rules, according to your grade, the length of the trip to strictly calculate.