The first meeting of the elders of the Seven Great Pavilions found out dozens of drawbacks, and in summary, there are three main points, the first is the rule of officials, and this high-arched "Removing Eight Evils" summarizes it very comprehensively, including "bad law", "bad goods", "meanness", "jealousy", "party comparison", "prevarication", "reluctance", and "floating rumors". Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

These eight points are closely linked, and they vividly analyze the bad situation of "government bribery and officials bribery" since Jiajing, greedily forming a party, excluding dissidents, and the party fighting against differences, and when encountering problems, they shirk their responsibilities, dare not use things, talk too much, and do little......

Gao Gong's rule of officials was unanimously recognized and regarded as the direction of the first major reform and reform.

The second major aspect is the military system, which was mentioned by Tang Ruji, and the scope of implication is more extensive, including foreign strategy, whether to actively open up or be passive and conservative, whether military households should be abolished, the transfer of troops from the south to the north, the management and training, the selection of military generals, the supervision of personnel, weapons and salaries, and so on.

Compared with the first two points, the third major aspect that makes everyone feel more pain is the financial dilemma.

Tang Yi remembered that it seemed that since he joined the company, for more than ten years, Daming had never been rich, even if he opened a market. Zhao Zhenji cried, don't talk about you, the old man has been in the office for more than 30 years, and the whole Wang Xiaoer is celebrating the New Year, and every year is not as good as a year.

Every time it comes to the budget, the cabinet scholars and the scholars of the various ministries will blush and have thick necks, and the chic bearing of the past is all gone, like a pack of wolves, staring at that little income.

However, in the past 20 years, the war has continued, and the imperial court has built a large number of buildings, resulting in a huge deficit, and now the household department still owes more than 10 million taels of silver to the big households, and the interest alone is almost 1 million taels per year.

It is almost equivalent to one-tenth of the annual income, if it is not curbed, the debt will continue to swell, and it will be necessary to take out 20% or even 30% of the annual income every year to repay the interest, and the finances of the Ming Dynasty will really collapse.

Since the end of Jiajing, the call for law change has become louder and louder, and the most direct reason is three words: poor and crazy!

The emperor is poor, the household is poor, and the common people are also poor, of course the money will not disappear out of thin air, and naturally it will fall into the hands of the gentry and clan officials, and many people are red-eyed, wanting to snatch food from the tiger's mouth and get the money.

This time, Zhang Juzheng took the initiative to put forward his plan, which is called Qingzhang Tianmu, a whip method.

The fields hidden in the hands of the officials and gentry were re-measured, and then the land taxes and levies, as well as all the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, were converted into silver taels, and the prefectures and counties were taken as units, and the acres of land were levied equally.

As a result of the expansion of the tax base and the conversion into silver taels, Zhang Juzheng conservatively estimated that it would be possible to double the revenue of the treasury, achieve a rich treasury, and enrich the country and strengthen the army.

Finance and taxation involve the vital interests of almost everyone, and Zhang Juzheng threw out his plan, which immediately caused a strong reaction from all parties.

Someone immediately wrote a letter, strongly opposed, and burned the fire to Zhang Juzheng's body, impeaching him for reforming the law of his ancestors, which is a disaster for the country, and asked Longqing to immediately remove Zhang Juzheng, so as not to bring disaster to the country and the people.

Similarly, there are also a large number of officials who strongly support Zhang Juzheng, believing that the implementation of a whip law will benefit the country and the people, and whoever opposes it is a private letter, and he is the real villain.

The two factions went toe-to-toe and had a lot of trouble.

The lawsuit came to Longqing, and His Majesty the Emperor didn't know how to deal with it, so he had to ask the two most trusted masters, Tang Yi and Gao Gong, to come and discuss.

Feng Bao hurriedly came to invite Tang Yi, Tang Yi was on duty at this time, and Tang Ruji slipped over.

"Brother Xing, I just got the news that someone wants to impeach Zhang Juzheng."

Tang Yi put the brush down and said with a smile: "Cabinet Bachelor, Six Ministries and Nine Secretaries, who can not be impeached, it's not a big deal." ”

"This time is different." Tang Ruji said mysteriously: "Someone has checked, Jiangling Zhangjia, in the past 20 years, the field has expanded more than ten times, at least 150,000 mu, in addition, they also monopolize Huguang's salt profits, plus 10% of the cotton supply, among the merchants of Huguang, it is considered to be the top." ”

Tang Ruji sighed: "Isn't Zhang Juzheng going to push a whip method, but to see if he dares to attack his own family, if his whip is only aimed at others, and he will turn around when he comes to himself, I think he will probably fail." ”

"Oh!"

Tang Yi raised his eyebrows, he didn't expect the strength of the Zhang family to be so strong!

In history, the reason why Zhang Juzheng's reform failed was not only to touch interest groups, but also because he himself was not self-disciplined. Imagine how a person who is extravagant and indulgent in pleasure can demand that others follow his rules. Zhang Juzheng had a loss in personal morality and gave the opponent the best truth, but he didn't expect that someone would find a breakthrough so soon and want to do something to him.

"Brother Xiaoyu, you go and give Zhang Juzheng a breath and let him deal with the family property."

"Why?"

Tang Ruji stood up and shouted strangely: "I said that Brother Xing, Zhang Juzheng is looking for death by himself, why bother with him!" ”

"No matter who he is reforming the finances of the imperial court?" Tang Yi glared at him, "Brother Xiaoyu, I support the change, and I can't be dumb at the first shot." ”

Tang Ruji saw Tang Yi's face sink, and he was immediately afraid, from more than ten years ago, he was unlucky in Tang Yi's hands, and later took over as the prefect of Tianjin, and then became a lecturer in Yuwangfu, Tang Yi covered him all the way, and stood with this second-assistant adult who was more than ten years younger than himself, Tang Ruji had no confidence at all.

Don't look at him wearing the hat of a conservative, but he is an out-and-out Tang Party, and he is still one of the core cadres, but he just didn't show it.

Tang Ruji followed Tang Yi's order to mention Zhang Juzheng.

As for Tang Yi, he followed Feng Bao to the Qianqing Palace, and Gao Hu arrived one step ahead of him, and was talking with Long Qing and praising a whip method.

"Your Majesty, converting the field endowment and conscription into silver can first increase the household income, and the existing field endowment is less than three million taels, and it will not be a problem to increase it to more than ten million taels. Secondly, it is much easier to transport silver than to transport grain, which makes it easier to collect taxes and save people's labor. After the simplification of various taxes, the officials below have no chance to use their hands and exploit the people. From the old minister's point of view, a whip law has all the benefits but no harm, and it should be implemented immediately. ”

Long Qing's eyes lit up when he was said, and he dared to have so many benefits.

He was about to agree, but when he saw Tang Yi arrive, he hurriedly invited Tang Yi in, and after the salute, Long Qing asked, "Master Tang, what do you think of a whip?" ”

Tang Yi glanced at Longqing's anxious appearance, and almost nodded directly, he smiled slightly, "Your Majesty, since the beginning of the tenth year of Jiajing, a model similar to the whip method has appeared in various places, including the Zhengyi method implemented in Jiangnan, the rat tail book in Jiangxi, the Shiduan Jin method that appeared in the southeast, the Junping silver that appeared in Zhejiang and Guangdong, and the Gangyin method that appeared in Fujian...... All of this, some of the results are good, some of the controversy is not small, it is difficult to generalize, the minister believes that the tax law is very important, must be cautious, must be foolproof, can be implemented. ”

Hearing Tang Yi's words, Gao Gong took a breath, how could he be in tune with the antique Qingliu in the court, could it be that Tang Yi couldn't change either?

Gao Gong coughed twice, "Tang Xiang, state affairs, finance is the top priority, it is advisable to be fast rather than slow, you have to come up with thunderbolt means!" Looking ahead and looking back, how can we create a prosperous era of Longqing? ”

Long Qing felt that Gao Gong was a little too much, and coughed twice, "Master Gao, I think Master Tang is also honest and seeking the country." ”

Tang Yi didn't care, and said with a smile: "Be open and honest, that's what the minister advocates in the cabinet, what Lord Gao said is very true, it is true that the tax law cannot be delayed, but it is a medicine that is poisonous, and you need to be more cautious and cautious in politics." Therefore, the minister proposed that after ten days, a sand table deduction should be held to see how effective a whip was. ”

"What is sand table deduction?" Long Qing asked curiously.

"Your Majesty, in the southeast, in order to fight against the Japanese invaders, the terrain of mountains and rivers, rivers and valleys will be modeled according to the scale, and the two sides will conduct drills on the sand table to find a way to defeat the enemy. The minister thinks that a whip law involves all aspects, it is better to carry out a military push, although it is on paper, but it can also get a glimpse of many problems, and then weigh the pros and cons, and consider the profit and loss. What does Your Majesty think? ”

"This method is good!" Long Qing smiled and clapped his hands, "Master Tang, what do you think I play?" ”

"Of course it's playing the emperor." Tang Yi said with a smile: "Your Majesty, please use these few days to think clearly about what you want, a rich country, a strong army, a rich treasury, and the people live and work in peace and contentment...... If these aspects cannot be achieved at the same time, or even conflict, how do you choose? ”

It doesn't seem to be simple, of course Longqing hopes that everything is good, but he has studied Tang Xue anyway, and it seems that a whip method will not be so simple......

"Two masters, since this is the case, ten days later, the Golden Palace will deduce, and I will see for myself how a whip method is."

……

Coming out of the Qianqing Palace, Gao Gong's face was quite ugly, and he still underestimated Tang Yi's influence on Longqing, if it was in the past, he would have supported it with all his might, and Longqing would obediently obey, but this time Longqing actually adopted Tang Yi's suggestion. Although Tang Yi did not directly say that he was against or supported, it made Gao Gong's old face feel hot.

He deliberately walked quickly, leaving Tang Yi far behind.

Looking at Gao Gong's back, Tang Yi shook his head, he admired Gao Gong's talent, but Gao Beard directly asked Longqing for support, and threw the second assistant aside, beyond Tang Yi's bottom limit, originally he planned to push the troops in the cabinet and come up with a suitable plan, Gao Gong, you broke the rules, I can only put it on top of the Golden Palace, and tell the world, who is the leader of Longqing's new policy!

Ten days came in a blink of an eye, and a whip law affected the nerves of all parties, so the whole court and everyone who could come came, including Zhu Xizhong, the Duke of Chengguo, all felt that they were above the Golden Palace.

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng stood aside, and behind them also included Liu Ziqiang, the head of the household department, Li Youzi, the general political envoy, and others, as for their opposite, there were no big people, only three strange guys who were alone, the first one was good to say, everyone had some impressions, it was Jiajing's forty-one champion Lang Shen Shixing, next to him was a man in his early forties, only seven grades, almost never seen it, and the last one was only known by the people of the household department, it was Han Dewang, who had just been promoted to the household department half a year ago.

All three of them looked a little cramped and uneasy, and people sweated for them. (To be continued.) )