At Beijing Railway Station, Wang Shouren walked out of the VIP aisle.
Looking at the capital in front of me, I feel that it is very strange. I have not been to the capital for only two years, and I feel that the capital has changed a lot.
On both sides of the road are rickshaw masters waiting for passengers, an endless stream of bicycles, luxurious four-wheel carriages, and occasionally Mercedes-Benz cars whizzing by.
Pedestrians were rushing around, making everyone look very busy. The square outside was still very lively, with a sea of people and all kinds of shouts coming from one another.
"Lord Wang!"
At this time, a business call came out, and Wang Shouren quickly looked over and saw that the other party was dressed as a third-grade official, and there were several fourth- and fifth-grade officials, who seemed to be coming to greet him.
"Master Liang!"
When Wang Shouren saw the leader, he quickly returned the favor.
The person who came here was called Liang Chu, and he was an official at the level of Minister of Household Affairs. He was in charge of commercial taxation and was responsible for overseeing all the tax offices in the world.
In this regard, the Ministry of Husbandry is different from the other Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Works, Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Punishment, and Ministry of War.
Because Liu Jin established a tax yamen, levied commercial taxes, and separated commercial taxes for collection, and established a tax yamen, there were actually three more ministers under the Minister of Household Affairs. In the past, there were only left ministers and right ministers.
Now, together with those in charge of the tax yamen, there are three ministers.
The Minister of Household Affairs, who is in charge of the tax yamen all over the world and is responsible for collecting commercial taxes, is now generally called the Grand Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, because he is in charge of the tax yamen and collects commercial taxes. He has very great power and involves a huge amount of money.
Moreover, this position was previously established by Liu Jin, the current chief assistant of the cabinet. Liu Jin also did this when he was in the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Now commercial tax is the main source of tax revenue for the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty collects more than one billion taels of silver tax in a year, which is basically commercial tax. There is only agricultural tax. Now the proportion is very small. Some of the millet collected is as much as the amount of cloth.
They are no longer valuable now.
In addition, if there is a promotion in the Ministry of Hubu, promotion usually starts from the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu. For example, Liu Jin was directly promoted from the Minister of the Ministry of Hubu to the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and then entered the cabinet from the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
There is also Han Wen, who was originally in charge of the commercial and tax yamen. Later he was promoted to the minister of household affairs, and now he is also the minister of the official affairs department, taking over the position of Zhong Zhong.
However, when it came to Liang Chu, it was logical that Liang Chu should be promoted to the position of Minister of Household Affairs to take over Han Wen's position. However, the emperor and the cabinet directly transferred Wang Shouren, who was the chief envoy in Southern Zhili, back to the capital, and directly
It was arranged above the position of the Minister of Household Affairs.
This also made Liang Chu very depressed. He was obviously older and more senior, and he was also the Minister of Household Affairs. It was logical that he should go up by himself, but he didn't want to be taken over by Wang Shouren.
Of course, from a level perspective, this is no problem at all.
Liang Chu, the chief minister of the Ministry of Revenue, is a third-rank official, and Wang Shouren, the chief envoy of the Southern Zhili Province, is an official of the second rank. If he is now the minister of the household department, he will be promoted to a second-rank official. If he becomes the minister of the household department himself,
, that is to upgrade by two levels, unless you are promoted from the second level first, go up in level first, and then become the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
Anyway, things have settled down now, and there is no use thinking about it anymore.
In fact, everyone knows that the reason why Wang Shouren was able to rise to prominence was not only because of his own talent, but more importantly because of his good relationship with Liu Jin, the chief minister of the cabinet. In addition, the emperor also valued and appreciated Wang Shouren, so he was able to
Like Liu Jin, he was promoted like a rocket.
In just fourteen years, he went from a junior Hanlin in the Hanlin Academy to the current Minister of Household Affairs, and it is very likely that the next person to join the cabinet will be Wang Shouren.
Wang Shouren was promoted faster than his father. Even though his father, Wang Hua, was a top scholar and had been an official for a long time, he was still a third-rank official. Wang Shouren was now a second-rank minister of household affairs.
This can be considered a topic that everyone talks about now. Wang Shouren is considered to be better than his predecessors. He holds a higher official position than his father and is promoted faster.
"My lord, you have had a hard journey!"
Liang Chu looked at Wang Shouren in front of him. He was as young as Liu Jin. He was only in his forties and not yet fifty. Liu Jin was already the chief minister of the cabinet before he was forty.
Wang Shouren was already the Minister of Household Affairs before he was fifty years old, and he could be regarded as a representative of the younger generation in the Ming Dynasty. In comparison, the Gonggun princes above the court were basically white-haired.
He is an old man.
Li Dongyang is almost seventy years old. He is not too old, but he is in poor health and gets sick all the time. Ji Zhong is already over seventy years old, Han Wen is already over seventy years old, and Yang Yiqing is a little younger, but he is still sixty-nine.
Liu Jian, who has just retired, is over 80 years old.
It can be said that almost all of the people in the court are sixty-seven-year-old old men, and many of them are even over eighty years old and are still in the court.
Liu Jin and Wang Shouren were a breath of fresh air in the white-haired court.
"Master Liang doesn't dare to take it!"
"Just call me Wang Shouren."
Wang Shouren quickly returned the favor again. Before, he was an official under Liang Chu. When he was responsible for collecting commercial taxes in Nanzhili, he belonged to Liang Chuguan. But in the blink of an eye, he became his immediate superior.
"Don't dare, don't dare~"
"How can there be chaos in respect of superiors and inferiors? The prince is now the Minister of Household Affairs and an important minister in the court, so he is naturally worthy of it."
Liang Chu quickly said with a smile.
Although he was very depressed that the other party had taken away his position as Minister of Household Affairs, he could not show any emotion at all.
The Wang Shouren in front of him, like Liu Jin, was a popular figure around Emperor Hongzhi. Now everyone can see that Emperor Hongzhi is constantly adjusting the team of the court.
Increase the flow of young and vigorous fresh blood, and gradually send some old and frail ministers back to their hometowns for retirement.
Like Li Dongyang and Zhang Mao, their health is already failing. Li Dongyang is expected to retire soon. His health is really failing. He has been sick every day for three days, and many times he cannot even attend morning court.
Normally speaking, Li Dongyang should actually be appointed as the chief minister of the cabinet. This is not only an increase in power, but more importantly, it is also an honor. A civil servant who can achieve the position of chief minister of the cabinet is also considered a great person.
Now that I am a minister, I can return to my hometown with honor.
However, Li Dongyang's health was so poor that after careful consideration, Emperor Hongzhi still felt that there was no need to waste time and energy anymore and directly made Liu Jin the chief minister of the cabinet.
Li Dongyang will simply let him return to his hometown to take care of himself after a while. It is estimated that Li Dongyang may not have too long.
Just as Liu Jian said, the Ming Dynasty is now prosperous, and Emperor Hongzhi wants to create a prosperous era unprecedented in history, and needs capable and young ministers to assist him.
These old people are in poor health and their heads are sometimes dizzy, and they are not rational and clear-headed. Like Liu Daxia, who is seventy-seven years old and his brain is no longer good. He even said that the Ming Dynasty wanted to mediate the war between Spain and France.
What a childish thing to say, and to say that the world must be peaceful so that people in the world will not suffer.
Although the starting point was good, he did not understand that in such a high position, he had to think about issues from the perspective of the interests of the Ming Empire, rather than doing things based on his own preferences and Confucian ethics.
Emperor Hongzhi clearly realized this. Elder politics is not good. Although it is stable, it is completely impossible to handle national affairs when he is too old and in poor health.
If Liu Jin hadn't been supporting them now, the cabinet might have been paralyzed. Both Li Dongyang and Liu Jian were no longer able to maintain high-intensity cabinet work and were no longer efficient.
Today, Ming Dynasty is in a new era of rapid development.
A large number of new things are constantly emerging, and it is not only matters within the Ming Dynasty that need to be dealt with, but also matters on a global scale and between countries in other regions.
The issues considered are no longer the previous issues of governing the country with benevolence, justice and morality, nor are they whether the people have food to eat or whether they can wear warm clothes.
What is now facing the Ming Empire is the contradiction between the Ming Dynasty's increasingly rapid productivity and the gradually backward production relations. There is also the increasing affluence of the Ming people, their pursuit of a better life, and the restrictions and constraints imposed on the people by the feudal social system.
contradiction between.
It is the increasingly powerful bourgeoisie, and the contradiction between the new education class and the traditional feudal landlords and Confucian literati.
These new problems and contradictions are completely different from everything in history.
How to govern such a country?
This is a question that Emperor Hongzhi often thought about.
The territory of the Ming Dynasty was unprecedentedly vast, the people of the Ming Dynasty were unprecedentedly wealthy, and the exchanges and contacts between the Ming Dynasty and the outside world were unprecedentedly intensive and frequent.
There are also thousands of tribes within the Ming Dynasty, as well as large and small vassal states and colonies outside the Ming Dynasty.
There are too many things that require careful consideration, and they are also things and phenomena that have never appeared before.
Faced with this complicated new situation and new contradictions, the older generation of civil servants always seem at a loss and cannot find a good solution.
Just like in the past, everyone clearly knew that the national treasury was empty, so they should raise commercial taxes, re-measure the land across the country, and restrict landowners and gentry from annexing land. However, every time they failed, the commercial taxes could not be raised, and the court kept trying.
poverty.
Everyone knows that the border defenses are empty and difficult, the armaments are depleted, and the military household system is rotten, but they just can't think of a good way to solve this problem. As a result, the Tatars withhold customs every year, and the Japanese pirates are raging along the southeast coast.
Everyone clearly knows that the Southwest Chieftains are capricious and can never be completely wiped out or destroyed. They often rebel against the Ming Dynasty and seek benefits, but everyone has never been able to think of a good way to solve this problem.
After the army suppressed the rebellion of the chieftains, they continued to make these chieftains local emperors. As time went by, they became erratic. No one thought of returning to their native land and appointing exiled officials to solve this problem.
Traditionally, these civil servants either knew there was a problem and knew what to do, but they refused to do it because of interest issues, and they also strongly opposed the court to do it.
Or these civil servants always only have a little bit of Confucianism in their heads, such as benevolence, justice, morality, and governing the country with filial piety. They are empty and empty, and they cannot keep up with the development of the times.
They simply don’t understand what is most important in interactions between countries, and they can always think of a thousand ways to deal with the common people, but they can’t think of any good way to deal with foreign enemies.
They are immersed in the ideal of kings and scholar-bureaucrats co-ruling the world advocated by Confucianism, but they often do not understand the true meaning of family, country and world.
Therefore, Liu Jin's performance was so dazzling in the eyes of Emperor Hongzhi. A series of things Liu Jin did gradually brought the Ming Empire from a situation of internal and external troubles to its current heyday of sweeping the world, being invincible, rich and prosperous.
Therefore, Liu Jin's promotion was very fast.
Basically, after working in a position for one or two years, he was promoted to one level, and sometimes he was even promoted directly several levels. In just fourteen years, Liu Jin was already the chief minister of the cabinet.
It actually reflects the saying, "Be a farmer in the morning, and ascend to the emperor's hall in the evening."
As the Mercedes-Benz drove through the streets of Beijing, Wang Shouren had a lot of thoughts.
As a person who pursues the study of things to gain knowledge, as a great thinker, philosopher, and a master of mind science, Wang Shouren is a great man who is extremely good at thinking.
After reaching the position of Minister of Household Affairs, he was considered a highly respected official, and he truly began to participate in the top power core of the Ming Empire.
The problems we have to face and think about are no longer problems for Southern Zhili, but problems for the entire Ming Empire. At the same time, we also need to think about problems for the entire world.
This made Wang Shouren feel even more stressed.
The higher the position, the greater the responsibility, and every move has far-reaching implications.
Think carefully about everything that has happened in the Ming Dynasty in the past few years. The changes are really huge. I have personally experienced it and participated in many major events. I really have a lot of feelings about the great changes in the Ming Dynasty.
Think again about the Ming Dynasty in the past. At that time, the Ming Dynasty suffered from internal and external troubles, an empty internal treasury, the continuous expansion of the power of the landlords and gentry, serious land annexation, repeated rebellions by the chieftains in the southwest, the wolfish ambitions of the Jurchens in Liaodong, and the external Tatars withheld customs year after year.
They went south to plunder, and the Japanese pirates were raging along the southeast coast.
In just over ten years, the Ming Dynasty no longer knew the original Ming Dynasty. Internally, the country was prosperous and the people were strong. Externally, the Ming Empire was the dominant empire in the world. It dominated the world, with overseas vassal states and colonies blooming everywhere.
All of this is developing too fast, and the changes are so big and fast that people have no time to react.
I am in the position of Minister of Household Affairs, and may even go further. I have a lot to do in the future. How can the Ming Empire continue to become stronger and how can the people become richer?
These questions need to be thought about carefully and deeply.
It definitely does not mean that once you sit in this position, you can enjoy the taste of power and the feeling of being superior. In Wang Shouren's view, this is more of a responsibility, a heavy responsibility.
With such a great situation in Ming Dynasty, the responsibilities on our shoulders are even heavier.
"Liu Jin is so awesome. It's hard to imagine that everything he has done over the years has had such a significant impact on the Ming Dynasty. He is truly a great man!"
pS: Today is also a big chapter, I’m too lazy to split it into 2 chapters~
