The territory of the Ming Dynasty has not changed much in Wei Bao's life.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, more than 40 guards were set up in the border area of Outer Mongolia as the frontier front, including Dongshengwei, Huanhewei, Kaipingwei, Daningwei, etc., all of which were important frontier areas of the Ming Dynasty, and their direction was roughly Yinshan, Daqingshan, and Xilamulun River.

After Yongle, due to the cold weather and poor farming, the border gradually moved south. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, with the revival of Mongolia, the border moved inward again, and the Great Wall was built to defend against Mongolia.

Zhu Yuanzhang placed the Liaodong Capital Division to run Liaodong, and later Zhu Di appeased the Jurchen tribe and set up the Nuer Gandu Division in 1411, with a total of more than 130 health offices.

In 1435, Emperor Xuanzong of the Ming Dynasty withdrew the garrison of Liuguan in Nuergan, and the number of guards increased to 384 during the Wanli period.

In the late Ming Dynasty, after the rise of the Later Jin, it gradually occupied Liaodong.

During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the northeastern neighbor of Goryeo aggressively expanded its territory, and by recruiting, killing, and driving out the Jurchen tribes, the territory continued to advance northward.

In 1393, Zhu Yuanzhang moved to Tielingwei and acquiesced in the replacement of Goryeo's Lee Joseon to occupy the area east of the Yalu River and south of the Tumen River.

Fortunately, in the hands of Lord Wei, the Heaven and Earth Society controls the two provinces of North Korea, and the two most important ones, both of which are political and economic centers, and the influence of the Heaven and Earth Society has spread throughout North Korea.

Korea had always been a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, but never had such close ties with the Han Chinese as it did now, and at least half of the scholarly class had gone to the Heaven and Earth Society.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there were Hami, Shazhou, Anding, Aduanwei, Quxian, Chijin Mongolia, Handongzuo and other guards in the northwest, and the northwest border of the Ming Dynasty covered Xinjiang in later generations.

In 1472, Hamiwei was captured by Turpan and later restored in 1482.

During the Hongzhi period, three losses and three recoveries, after 1528, the west of Jiayuguan was occupied by Turpan.

In 1370, the Tubo Xuanfu made He Suo Nanpu and others lead the Tubo tribes to surrender, and then set up Wusizang and Duoganwei in the Qinghai-Tibet region to command the envoys.

After the unification of Tibetan areas was completed, Ming Taizu asked the Tibetans to lose horses for endowment, undertake forced labor, or steam black tea and import rented rice, emphasizing that "it is indispensable for the people to be virtuous and the soil to be endowed."

In 1407, Ming Chengzu sent Liu Zhao, He Ming and others to set up post stations in Tibetan areas, and in 1414, he sent Zhongguan Yang Sanbao to Tibetan areas to summon the local officials to restore the post stations, and after years of hard work, the post road to and from the West was finally safe and unimpeded.

In 1382, the Ming army pacified the whole territory of Yunnan, in addition to the official prefecture and set up three Xuan and six consolation, Yongle years to add the Diwu Thorn, the Great Ancient Thorn, the Bottom of the three Xuan Comfort Division, the ruling range includes present-day Burma, most of Laos and northwest Thailand to the Bay of Bengal, the middle and late Ming Dynasty these areas are mostly abandoned or annexed by neighboring countries.

In 1406, the Ming army attacked Annam, reaching as far south as the area of Ninanju.

The following year, the Ming Dynasty set up the Jiaozhi Political Envoy Division, and Annan officially became an administrative region of the Ming Dynasty, with 15 prefectures, 41 prefectures, and 208 counties, with a total of 3.12 million people.

In 1427, the Ming Dynasty dismissed the political envoys and abandoned Annan.

Annam gained independence from China again and established the Later Li Dynasty.

In 1540, Mo Dengyong asked for surrender, and the Ming Dynasty reduced the state of Annan to the commander of the capital of Annan.

In 1553, Portugal leased Macau and obtained the right to moor ships, and in 1557, it obtained the right of abode, and the Portuguese had to pay rent to the Ming government, and the Ming Dynasty still had the sovereignty of Macao.

In 1624, Dutch colonists entered southern Taiwan and built the city of Tsurelangi.

In 1626, Spanish colonists also entered northern Taiwan.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty is not in danger, it may not be, but it is already on the fast lane of decline, there are problems on all sides, and there are many problems inside.

These have nothing to do with Lord Wei, and Lord Wei does not have any influence.

Whether it is the right to speak in the court, the administrative power, or the military strength in the local area, Wei Bao can only change a small area, and has little impact on the overall situation.

However, Wei Bao had an advantage in the court, not relying on his father-in-law, the British Duke Zhang Weixian, but relying on the Imperial History Yamen Duchayuan and Dali Temple Yamen controlled by him.

More than ninety percent of the officials of these two yamen were made by Wei Bao.

At this time, there was an unwritten rule that whoever made the official and whoever brought it into the officialdom was the suzerain of this person.

Therefore, although Wei Bao is only fifteen years old, and it will take two months to reach the age of sixteen, there are already two or three thousand protégés under Wei Bao.

These newcomers are still old-style bureaucrats.

The magistrates and military officers of Hejian Mansion, Cangzhou Mansion, Shandong Province and Denglai Province directly controlled by Wei Bao were all from the Heaven and Earth Society.

The reason why the Metropolitan Procuratorate and Dali Temple are uneasy about too many people from the Heaven and Earth Society is mainly because in the capital, the censorship is too strict, and too many people who are not the children of the Yamen come in, which is too eye-catching.

The magistrates were more lenient.

In Wei Bao's view, among the Beijing officials and local officials, it is still the local officials who are more important.

It is impossible to say who has more advantages between the magistrate and the Beijing official, some people want to be a Beijing official, and some people want to be a magistrate.

In 1622, in order to let Zhang Heming pass through Liaodong and promote him to the crown prince, the Ming court rewarded him with the sword of Shangfang, and the emperor personally saw him off.

Zhang Heming was forced to set off, and walked on the road for more than half a month.

Later, he wrote to the imperial court, saying that he was old and frail, and asked to resign and go home.

Zhang Heming originally served as the secretary of the Ministry of War, and he was a second-class officer. Later, the imperial court named him the crown prince Taibao, from the first grade, which was obviously promoted.

He still has Shang Fang's sword in his hand, which can be said to be very favorable, but why is he unwilling to go to the local government to be an official.

When Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty went down to the south of the Yangtze River, he summoned Luo Yuanhao, a Taoist from Zhejiang.

Qianlong had a good impression of him, so he wanted to transfer him to the capital as an official.

Although Luo Yuanhao verbally agreed, his face was embarrassed, and he later left him in the place.

Luo Yuanhao belonged to the magistrate at that time, why was he unwilling to be a Beijing official.

The ancient literati were excellent at learning.

However, in terms of being an official, there are two choices, one is to be an official of the central system, and the other is to be an official in Beijing.

One is to leave the central government and go to various places to be officials, which is to be local officials.

In the imperial examination system of the Ming and Qing dynasties, champions, bangyan, and tanhua remained directly in the central government and were awarded official positions.

The rest of the Jinshi will continue to take the exam, and those who pass will enter the Hanlin Academy to continue their studies, which is for the Jishi.

After the three-year period expires, there will be an examination, and those who pass will stay in the capital and be awarded an official position.

Those who are not qualified will be assigned to the local magistrate.

Obviously, in the eyes of the imperial court, a Beijing official has a future compared to a local official.

So, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, what were the advantages and disadvantages of Beijing officials compared with local officials?

The development potential is not the same.

If the new science and technology jinshi is appointed as the magistrate, most of them will be like mourning, and many scholars will feel that their career is hopeless.

Because, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, if the scholars were magistrates, most of them were magistrates, governors and other officials, and they were rarely able to do the prefects and daotai, not to mention the posts of scholars and governors.

As a Beijing official, although the starting point is not high, as long as you stick to it, promotion is not a problem.

In particular, the Gurgis is the target of many parties, because their future is limitless.

Later, there was a tradition that "non-Jinshi will not enter the Hanlin, and if you do not enter the Hanlin, you will not enter the cabinet".

As the saying goes, "there are people in the DPRK who are easy to do", and some people represent resources, that is, backers, and with backers, promotion will be easy.

In traditional politics, party strife is very serious, and if you join one side casually, you can even have a backer.

Even if you don't want to get involved in party strife, you will still have a few friends in the capital for decades.

Maybe which one will be developed in the future, and you can piggyback on yourself by the way.

There are also Beijing officials, if they have the opportunity to be a bachelor and a teacher for the prince, their future prospects are even more limitless.

The famous politicians Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng of the Ming Dynasty both served as princes' teachers, and later became the first assistant of the cabinet.

And the magistrates, in addition to the superior leaders, have a hard time finding their own resources and backers.

Therefore, it is very difficult for the magistrate to be promoted.

When the famous minister Yu Qian was serving as a magistrate, because he refused to bribe the powerful minister Wang Zhen when he went to Beijing to report on his work, he was finally thrown into prison.

Because there is no one in the court, no one wants to help him.

In the end, it was the local people who were angry and jointly signed a letter, and Wang Zhen was forced to release Yu Qian under pressure.

However, as a magistrate, few people can achieve such prestige as Yu Qian.

Local officials are complicated in their administrative affairs, such as the magistrate, who is not only responsible for adjudicating cases, but also responsible for various tasks such as taxation and forced labor.

Not only is there a lot of work, but there is also a lot of pressure, there are various assessments, and it is very easy to make mistakes.

During the period of Zhu Yuanzhang, local officials had to report their financial revenues and expenditures to the household department every year, and the household department could only settle the settlement after approval.

However, because the finances of a state or county are involved, mistakes often occur.

If the accounts cannot be reconciled, it is necessary for the magistrate to return to his place of office, remake the register, and then affix the seal of the organ and then come to the household department for verification.

However, in ancient times, the transportation was not convenient, and it may take several months to go back and forth.

Therefore, many magistrates will carry a blank seal book with the large seal of the organ for later use when they set out.

This was a custom in the Yuan Dynasty and was not banned in the early Ming Dynasty.

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang found out about this and thought that he was bullying the king, so he ordered all the main seal officials to be executed, and the deputy gave a hundred canes to fill the army, which was the famous "empty seal case", which implicated tens of thousands of people.

The father of Fang Xiaoru, a famous scholar of the Ming Dynasty, also died here.

In the last years of the dynasty, the peasants revolted in various places, and the local officials were even more likely to die.

The reason why Zhang Heming was reluctant to serve as a manager in Liaodong was because Houjin was in trouble at that time.

The officialdom of the Ming Dynasty said: "The state and county officials are like glass screens, and they will be broken at the touch." "It can be seen that the pressure on the magistrates is great.

Relatively speaking, the work tasks of the Beijing officials are lighter.

Especially many officials in the Ming Dynasty, later they scolded for the sake of scolding, and they had nothing to do.

Many times, the Jingguan was busy with one thing, that is, fighting for power and currying favor with the emperor, rather than focusing on their work.

There are still many scholars who are willing to be magistrates, and the so-called thousands of miles of officials are only for money.

The Qing Dynasty officials inherited the Ming Dynasty, and the Yu Lu was mainly composed of Nian Yu, Lu Rice, and Yang Lian Yin.

For example, Zhengyi product, 180 taels a year, 180 taels of rice, although the price is very low, but there are other ways to get money.

In order to prevent local officials from looting the people, the Qing Dynasty created a system of raising incorruptible silver.

Zhengyipin officials have as much as 16,000 taels of incorruptible silver.

And the annual salary is simply insignificant compared to raising incorruptible silver.

The incorruptible silver of other official ranks is also much more than the annual salary.

Some magistrates, who are not greedy enough, continue to loot the people after they have the incorruptible silver, the so-called "three years of Qing Governor's Mansion, 100,000 snowflakes of silver." ”

It is because of this that Luo Yuanhao is willing to be a magistrate all the time.

However, the Jingguan did not raise incorruptible silver.

Of course, Jingguan will also have some gray income, such as Bingjing, Tanjing, etc., which is the filial piety of local officials to Jingguan.

But only high-ranking officials will have it, and petty officials in the capital still need to continue to endure suffering.

Beijing officials accounted for half of the entire imperial court officials, so there were big officials in the capital.

As a Beijing official, you have to be cautious, and if you are not careful, you may offend people.

The magistrates are different, the so-called heavenly high emperor is far away, and the magistrates have a lot of power.

Ordinary Beijing officials can only sit in a small sedan chair carried by two people, otherwise it will be trespass and will be impeached by the official.

And the magistrates go out on patrol, but they are much more majestic, the gong opens the road, the government cleans the street, and there is a long guard of honor, and the scenery is infinite.

In fact, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, whether it was a local official or a Beijing official, there was no superiority or disadvantage for officials who really wanted to benefit the people.

For officials who want to seek their own personal interests, they will seriously analyze because of the difference in policies.

However, once such an official takes office, it will also be a disaster for the country and the people.

Because of relying on various ways to exploit legal loopholes or direct illegality, the actual "income" of Ming Dynasty officials was not low, and it was twice as much as the statutory officials, and this long-standing officialdom disease soaked into the marrow of Ming Dynasty politics for a hundred years, and eventually became a major reason for the collapse of the Ming Dynasty's ruling machine.

From the point of view of the law, Taizu to the Ming Dynasty officials stipulated that the Lu is indeed pitiful, the specific value is easy to find, I will not list here to prevent length, the Qing Dynasty "History of the Ming Dynasty" directly set the tone: "Since ancient times, the officials have been thin, and there is no such thing." ”

In fact, compared with the price at that time, the official income finally determined in the late Hongwu period was not low, and Wang Qiong in the middle of the Ming Dynasty said: "At the beginning of the country, the hundred officials were given enough to support the incorruptible."

But the problem is that the treatment of Yulu formulated during the Hongwu period was set as a "permanent system" by the Ming Dynasty, and after the Ming Dynasty became its own and Hong, the level of economic development and price level have been different from what they used to be.

What's even more pitiful is that the officials of the Ming Dynasty have been divided into two parts: true color and folded color since Yongle.

At the beginning of the country, Yulu was paid according to the grain in kind, but the problem was that the battle of Jingyan wiped out the treasury, and Chengzu was very worried about the grain storage after he ascended the throne, so the court ordered: "The world's warehouse grain should be frugal for national use." Everywhere are officials, the old full rice, the middle half of the rice banknotes"

Since then, the Ming Dynasty officials' fortunes have been divided into true colors and folded colors. The true color is that it is still distributed according to the grain of rice and grain, and later it is also used as cloth and other things.

Folding color is to fold a part of the Yulu into silver and treasure money, and in the early Ming Dynasty, silver was used to pay very little.

Generally speaking, the true color can still be distributed as usual and truthfully, but the problem lies in the folding color.

The number of folds is strictly stipulated at the end of the fourth year of Jianwen in accordance with the "Grain and Rice Banknotes", although there have been changes in later generations, but the magnitude is not large.

The rate of rising grain prices in the Ming Dynasty was not low, after Zhengjia, the price of rice continued to rise, and the same money reached even in the Chenghua Dynasty, at best, it could only buy a small part of the rated rice.

What's even worse is that the issuance of the Daming treasure banknotes was extremely unsuccessful, and soon it was a pile of waste paper, and the treasure banknotes issued to officials could not buy anything.

When it came to Jingtai, there was no choice but to fold the colored money that should have been folded into treasure banknotes and then converted into silver for distribution.

At the beginning of the Jiajing Dynasty, everything except for moon rice was distributed in silver. Tossed back and forth a few times in the middle, and the amount of money that the officials could actually get in their hands did not meet the pitiful value that was stipulated.

Even at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, when the rule of officials was clarified, the people of the Ming Dynasty were already complaining about the low level of income. Since then, the people of the Ming Dynasty have complained endlessly about the pity of the dynasty, such as the old Yu Shenxing Pavilion of the Wanli Dynasty who looked up to the sky and sighed that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were not as good as the small court of the Northern Han Dynasty: "To the Northern Han Dynasty, Liu Chong founded the country with Taiyuan, and the prime minister stopped the law of the month and stopped the thirty, which was too small compared to the end of the Tang Dynasty." It is the prosperity of today's unification, and the prime minister's monthly salary is still not half like this, so the modern salary can be described as the thinnest. ”

The salary is too low, but the officials have to support their families, socialize up and down, and maintain pomp.

Especially in the late Ming Dynasty, the whole society was intoxicated with the glitz and glitz of consumerism.

Ming officials gave full play to their collective wisdom and developed an endless stream of means of accumulating wealth.

There were five main ways for Ming officials to obtain extralegal income: begging and rewarding, occupying land and collecting rent, evading taxes, embezzlement and bribery, and using power to do business.

In fact, rewards are only a drop in the bucket, and it is not common to use power to do business, and corruption and bribery are serious violations of the law after all, and there is a risk of imprisonment or even loss of head at any time.

The most important thing is that there are two major ways to occupy land with tax avoidance as the support point, and regular money. With these two means, the real income of the Ming bureaucracy was extremely considerable.

The bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty had the privilege of tax exemption, so after the Zhongjin Shi was appointed as an official, a large number of people would come to donate land, and the bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty were also veterans of land annexation, so the land rent income obtained was enough for most bureaucrats to have food and clothing.

If corruption is outright black income, "regular money" is a veritable gray income.

The common practice is also to loot the people's fat and ointment, which is also illegal income, but it is the income that the Ming Dynasty knows from top to bottom, and everyone takes money. Although the common practice is not legal, it has been practiced for a long time and has formed an unspoken rule in the operation of the state apparatus.

Whoever rejects the norm, such as Hai Jui, will be seen as a sign of non-compliance with the rules of the game.

In the Qing Dynasty, the wind of bad rules that had been inherited in the same vein intensified and could not be cleaned up.

The Ming Dynasty's common practice was permeated with its evil from the prefecture to the cabinet, but its deep roots grew at the lowest level of the imperial ruling apparatus - the Xu officials.

Wei Bao was able to achieve inconspicuous and inconspicuous control of the basic administration of various places by sending lowest-level officials such as Xu officials from the Heaven and Earth Society to various places.

In practice, this is a very good solution, and almost no one notices it.