In early spring and February, the snow melts.

Zhu Yijun sat upright in the Xinuan Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace, and after seeing Zhang Juzheng, Lu Tiaoyang, Zhao Zhenji, Zhang Siwei, Wang Guoguang, Tan Lun, and Hai Rui coming in, he pointed to the seven official hats and chairs in front of him and said: "Summoning all the ministers to come, it is not for the imperial gate to listen to the government, and it should not be limited to the number of etiquette, not to mention that the first emperor and the queen mother have repeatedly said that they should respect the old ministers for the government, so they are all given to sit and discuss today's politics." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Zhang Juzheng knew that the emperor was worried that Tan Lun would not be able to stand for a long time, but it was not good for him to sit alone, so he simply gave everyone a seat in the name of respecting the old ministers.

And if anyone really becomes the emperor at this time because he gives face to the old ministers, he is afraid that he will suffer a big loss in the future.

After Zhang Juzheng waited for Xie En to sit down, Zhu Yijun said: "The summoning of you is to avoid another deficit this year. ”

"Your Ministers obey!"

So, next, Hai Rui got up first and said: "Your Majesty, the minister believes that the deficit lies in the lack of financial resources of the central court, and the lack of financial resources lies in the unclear local land tax. ”

"It has been two hundred years since the founding of the Emperor and Ming Dynasty, and the fields in the world have changed hands many times, but the yellow book and fish scale book used have not been re-cleared until now, so that the landless people and even the empty households are regarded as large households with extensive and fertile land to collect land taxes, and the large households with extensive and fertile land are still collected as landless people, which in turn leads to serious taxes or an increase in the number of people who have abandoned the land, so that the tax revenue of the imperial court has been greatly reduced."

Speaking of this, Hai Rui said: "Therefore, the minister believes that after the examination, when the policy of clearing the acres of land should be carried out immediately, when the minister served in the local government, it has been implemented, and it can indeed effectively avoid the increase of displaced people, and even avoid the increase of taxes, and even increase taxes. ”

"Clearing the acres of land is indeed a good strategy to solve the deficit and increase the national treasury. But the minister believes that this is not enough. ”

Zhao Zhenji, a scholar, got up at this time and replied, and then said: "The ministers have lived in the township for many years, and I have specially visited the villagers, and I learned that from this dynasty to now, within a county, the fields of the officials and gentry have long been more than half, and the fields of the common people have long been less than half, and the fields of the clans and nobles have expanded not much. ”

"Therefore, the regulations on the preferential exemption of the gentry drawn up by the Shimiao Dynasty should be abolished, so as to avoid the fact that in the future, when almost all the land is taken away by the gentry, and the imperial court will become more and more taxed, and even the expenses will further increase due to the shortage of people who need to serve."

After Zhao Zhenji finished speaking, he bowed his hand to Zhu Yijun and said: "Therefore, the minister believes that since Your Majesty wants to open a new policy and solve the deficit, you should abolish the regulations on the preferential treatment of the gentry and gentry, so that the officials and gentry in the world can pay for food in one piece, and change the policy of using land to support the clan!" ”

Zhu Yijun nodded when he saw Hai Rui propose to clear the fields, but after hearing Zhao Zhenji's speech, he was immediately stunned.

He didn't expect Zhao Zhenji to be more radical than Hai Rui, and directly suggested that the officials and gentry should pay for food.

Zhu Yijun even noticed that when Hai Rui said this, Lu Tiaoyang, Wang Guoguang, and Tan Lun were all relatively calm, only Zhang Siwei moved his buttocks, as if his chair was different from others, and there was a needle on it.

And after Zhao Zhenji said, not only Zhang Siwei suddenly changed color, but Lu Tiaoyang, Wang Guoguang, and Tan Lun also widened their eyes.

Only Zhang Juzheng has been sitting firmly in the chair.

Zhu Yijun looked at Zhang Juzheng: "What about Mr. Yuanfu Zhang, can the policy of clearing the acres of land or abolishing the preferential exemption regulations for the gentry be implemented?" ”

The other six ministers also looked at Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng stood up at this time, bowed his hand to Zhu Yijun and said: "Your Majesty, in the opinion of the ministers, not only can the policy of abolishing the preferential exemption regulations for the gentry not be implemented, but even the policy of clearing the fields and acres is not suitable for implementation this year. ”

"Why not?"

Zhao Zhenji got up and asked Zhang Juzheng, then arched his hand at Zhu Yijun, and then asked Zhang Juzheng: "Now that the new dynasty has been established, Your Majesty has the heart to govern, it is the time to work hard to eliminate the ills and avoid the crisis of the country." Do you have to wait for this temperament to be gone, and you can't change it if you want to, before you think about changing it? ”

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the policy of abolishing the preferential exemption regulations for the gentry and changing the policy of using land to support the clan is a stubborn problem that should be solved, but it is indeed not suitable to be solved now."

"Because the imperial court does not have enough troops and officials to ensure that this policy can be implemented, after all, the current dynasty is presided over by the gentry below the county level, including the collection of taxes and the organization of forced labor, so even if an edict cancels the preferential exemption, they will not be able to receive their money and food."

"What's more, there are also officials who actually do things here, who are the minions of the local gentry."

After Hai Rui said, he said: "So Zhao Ge Laozhi's proposal is too hasty, even if it is forcibly abolished, it will be dead in name in the future; However, it is indeed a feasible policy to clear the acres of land, which is what the imperial court should do, and it is not easy for the gentry to refute, nor is it easy to take the benefits of the imperial court, and the imperial court is not to take away its preferential treatment. ”

As he spoke, Hai Rui looked at Zhang Juzheng: "But the minister doesn't understand, why does Yuanfu also think it's inappropriate?" ”

Zhang Juzheng got up at this time and said: "Your Majesty, the minister's meaning is that it is not appropriate to implement the policy of clearing the acres of land this year, and it is even more inappropriate for the officials and gentry to pay grain before the imperial court is strong. ”

Hai Rui looked at Zhang Juzheng and said: "Nowadays, there is Your Majesty's determination to innovate, and there is Yuanfu to assist him wholeheartedly, it can be said that he has to rely on the king's order and implement the law in the world, why can't it?" ”

Zhao Zhenji also chimed in: "That's right! Although it is difficult to abolish the regulations on the preferential exemption of officials and gentry and change the policy of using land to support the clan, as long as Your Majesty is determined, it can still be carried out. At least the clearing of acres of land can be carried out this year, and then the abolition of preferential exemptions and restrictions on the land of the clan can be considered. ”

"Your Majesty!"

Zhang Juzheng waved his hand at Zhu Yijun at this time, and said: "At the beginning of Song Shenzong's accession to the throne in the past, he wanted to enrich the country and strengthen the army, and summoned the old minister Fu Wenzhong Gong (Fu Bi) to ask the way to change the law. ”

"Fu Wen Zhonggong (Fu Bi) said this sentence inherently obliterate the will of the Divine Sect, but it is also to prevent the Son of Heaven from doing radical things, which is not conducive to the society. Now that His Majesty has taken the throne at the beginning of his reign, as Zhao Ge Lao said, it is indeed a good opportunity to take advantage of the new dynasty and new atmosphere to get rid of the ills in one go, and to avoid the loss of heart, there will be no such opportunity. ”

"But!"

Zhang Juzheng looked at Zhao Zhenji when he said this: "In the humble opinion of the ministers, on the one hand, it is necessary to rely on the monarch to change the law and innovate, but on the other hand, it is necessary to wait for the ministers and people of the world to have this wish." ”

As he spoke, Zhang Juzheng looked at Zhao Zhenji: "The elder of the pavilion is also from Wang Xuemen, don't you know that before relying on the king's way, you still have to feel the people's way?" ”

"If we don't first take the opportunity of implementing the examination method, let the bureaucrats all over the world find that if they don't get the first place in the new examination, they will not be able to really complete the requirements of the examination, and then realize that if they don't know the acres of fields, they will affect their careers, and when they start to take the initiative to ask the imperial court to issue an edict to allow them to clear the fields, and then take the opportunity to issue an edict to implement the matter of clearing the fields and acres throughout the country, how can we be sure that the bureaucrats in various places will seriously clean up the acres?"

Zhang Juzheng looked at Zhu Yijun again as he spoke: "Your Majesty, in the opinion of the ministers, the restructuring is not just an edict issued by the Son of Heaven, and it can be implemented by a strict order, but it is necessary to form a momentum below, and Your Majesty will then take advantage of the situation to issue an edict, so that it can be completed." ”

"Otherwise, good governance may turn into bad governance."

"Because they have no intention or even oppose this policy, they will deliberately falsely report the number of acres of Qingzhang fields, and even say that the old fields are new fields."

"Therefore, the minister believes that for government, it is necessary to rely on the king's way, but also to feel the people's way first."

"When the bureaucrats in the world begin to conscientiously follow the requirements of the examination this year, and realize that they must be cleared, they can implement the Qingzhang Tianmu matter next year or the year after that, after all, this Qingzhang Tianmu matter is carried out by thousands of civil servants in the world, and thousands of military ministers are needed to protect it, if they are not interested in this, it will inevitably be bad."