Chapter 918 1007 Meeting
Capital, Bauhinia City, Cabinet, Chief Assistant Housekeeper.
"The Li Ke asked Shi Yingyue Shangshu to open the vassal ban. He said that the vassal's expenses were increasing day by day, and Lumi could not satisfy it.
Those above the county and king level still receive generous rewards, but many generals and lieutenants cannot survive on their own.
Even those who have been knighted are like this. It is not difficult to know the hardship of those who have not been knighted.
Please relax restrictions on those who are not conferred names and titles, and are allowed to engage in the fields of scholars, agriculture, industry, and commerce.
Among them, those with literary talents were allowed to participate in the imperial examination and become officials, but they were not allowed to serve as officials in the capital or hold military power.
Otherwise, the public will have nothing to provide for, and the private will have nothing to support, which will harm the national system.
Let's discuss how to draft this memorial. "
Zhang Juzheng handed a memorial to Wei Guangde. Wei Guangde reached out to take it, opened it and browsed it quickly.
"I'm afraid the palace won't agree to this."
Wei Guangde was reading Shi Yingyue's memorials when he heard Lu Tiaoyang's voice.
Wei Guangde continued to read the memorial, but he still nodded involuntarily.
Lifting the vassal ban and allowing the clan to engage in the business of the four peoples was actually mentioned by Wei Guangde in the vassal reform regulations, but unfortunately, it was rejected by the palace.
The palace only agreed to verify the Lumi expenditures of each clan government over the years to determine the permanent amount, and the time was the Lumi amount in the years from the fourth year of Longqing to the second year of Wanli. After the amount was obtained, a Lumi amount was determined.
After all, it would be biased to only refer to the number of Lumi in one or two years.
The Lumi here is not determined based on the sum of the number of clan members and the Lumi they deserve, but the amount that the local area can afford, or the actual amount distributed in recent years.
The permanent quota will definitely be slightly higher than the actual amount issued in recent years, but it must also be within the local affordability.
As for when the new vassal king opened his palace and established the permanent quota, the palace did not say.
After all, Emperor Wanli is young now, and King Zhu Yili of Lu is also young, so it is still too early to leave the vassal state.
"The worries in the palace are actually too much."
After Wei Guangde quickly read Shi Yingyue's memorial, he immediately said, "In fact, even if the palace allows the clan to engage in the four professions and even allows them to take the imperial examination, I dare say that not many clan members will choose to do these.
Those who are interested in doing business have already participated in the business through their disciples. Those who are unwilling to do it are left to die. Unless the court cuts off their money, they will not be too lazy to do this.
As for letting them take the imperial examination, hehe, maybe it would be a blessing if one subject could produce a clan scholar. "
After hearing Wei Guangde's words, Lu Tiaoyang nodded in agreement.
"What Mr. Wei Ge said is exactly what I thought. The clan has actually..."
At this point, Lu Tiaoyang did not continue, but he could not help but shake his head.
"The palace didn't agree last time, probably because of the ancestral system. Now if a minister proposes it again, it might be an opportunity."
Zhang Juzheng said.
"Trying to attract others?"
Wei Guangde asked hesitantly.
Zhang Juzheng nodded and said with a smile: "The memorial drafted by Shandai last time was only seen by you, me and the palace, and has not been circulated to the outside world.
Now that a minister is submitting a memorial, it will inevitably arouse discussion between the court and the central government. It may be an opportunity for everyone to talk more. Maybe there will be more such memorials.
The courtiers all agreed, and the palace naturally hesitated. After all, how could the so-called ancestral system alone calm the turbulent court discussions. "
In fact, the emperor's sacrifice of the ancestral flag really left the ministers speechless, but this had to be detrimental to the emperor's interests.
This memorandum of releasing the four people's business to the clan had little impact on the emperor.
Although today's ministers may not necessarily be of the same mind as the emperor, they will never think that this can weaken the imperial power.
In fact, the clan has been ruined by the royal family's pig-raising policy for so many years. It is almost impossible for a hero like Chengzu to emerge.
"Then to add fuel to the fire, we can set up a 'ministerial meeting' in the draft?"
Wei Guangde asked tentatively.
"I think it's okay."
Lu Tiaoyang spoke his mind.
After hearing Wei Guangde's words, Zhang Juzheng nodded slightly and said, "That's it. I suggest that the lower levels discuss this matter and allow more officials to participate in discussing this matter. I hope more people will come forward to support this case."
Having said this, Zhang Juzheng looked at Wei Guangde and said with a smile: "Today is the new Jinshi Jinshi's visit to the temple of the ancestors to perform the ceremony of releasing vegetables. Tomorrow, Your Majesty should issue an order for the middle Jinshi to be introduced to the Ministry of Civil Affairs for conferment. I wonder if there are any arrangements for the loan?"
"There are no arrangements. Everything just follows the court regulations."
Wei Guangde smiled immediately.
Although the candidates in this subject can be regarded as his disciples, so what?
They are no longer Gongsheng students, but Jinshi scholars, disciples of the emperor.
Although the emperor was also his and Zhang Juzheng's disciple.
Imperial Master, just tell me.
In fact, during this period, Zhang Juzheng was very concerned about giving lessons to Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun. Not only did he personally arrange Hanlin lectures, but he also compiled special textbooks based on the age of the young emperor.
Zhang Juzheng took a group of Hanlin officials to teach the little emperor seriously, but he made the Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun numb.
After all, the little emperor was still very playful. Especially in the early years when Emperor Longqing was still alive, he was more partial to Zhu Yijun and was reluctant to let him study and attend lectures. He was worried that he would be too young to bear it, so he delayed it until he was ten years old. It was only when he was old that he arranged to leave the cabinet.
There is no way, the royal family has relatively high requirements for the prince's education.
For Zhu Yijun, it was really uncomfortable to listen to other teachers' lectures, which meant that Wei Guangde's class was easier.
Tell me what Zhang Juzheng planned to say, and then chat with the little emperor and talk about interesting things about the government.
In addition to the writing assigned to Zhu Yijun in the palace, Wei Guangde rarely assigned other homework, and occasionally took the little emperor out of the palace to walk on the street, so-called to understand the people's sentiments.
Wei Guangde also talked to Zhang Juzheng in advance about this.
In his words, the emperor is high above, but he cannot do without grains and cereals. It is also good to let the little emperor see the fireworks of the people appropriately.
At least let the little emperor know that the skills he has learned are not used to deal with those cold words in the memorials, but to protect the people.
Where are the people?
Of course, they can't be seen in the palace, so they have to go out and see the pedestrians shuttling on the street and the hardworking farmers in the fields outside the city.
"By the way, what do you think about the last time the Ministry of Revenue allocated silver to repair the border wall of Datong?"
Last time, Wei Guangde saw that the Ministry of Revenue would allocate 50,000 taels of silver to Datong to repair the border wall this year, and a total of more than 260,000 taels of silver would be allocated in five years, so he suppressed the memorial first.
When he talked about it with Zhang Juzheng and others that day, everyone's opinions were different.
In Zhang Juzheng's view, even if the Datong Peace Agreement had been signed with Altan Khan, it did not mean that the border forces could be abolished.
The silver for repairing the border wall should be used.
As for Wei Guangde's proposal to allocate this money to Datong, but there is no need to repair the border wall, the local government can allocate silver to repair the fort.
The silver is used as military expenses to allow Datong to train a 10,000-scale army, and to train an integrated chariot, horse and infantry army from the various guards in Datong. It is much better than building the Great Wall.
At the end of the conversation, they just said that everyone should go back and think about it. The silver is in the Ministry of Revenue, so the matter will be put on hold for the time being. It won't have much impact for the time being.
When Wei Guangde brought it up today, he naturally wanted to ask them if they had made up their minds.
Wei Guangde was unwilling to continue to spend money on the useless Great Wall. After all, it seemed to have a tight defense, but in fact it cost too much and the real effect was close to zero.
Of course, Wei Guangde had said this to them earlier, but he had a different opinion, and it was difficult for Wei Guangde to force them to accept his point of view.
Zhang Juzheng didn't say anything, but looked at Lu Diaoyang.
Seeing this, Lv Diaoyang coughed twice and then said, "I thought about it for several days after the proposal made by the Deputy Assistant Minister, but I still don't agree with what the Deputy Assistant Minister said.
There are reasons for building the border wall, otherwise it would not have cost so much to complete.
Although the border wall has been breached by the Tartars many times, it does not necessarily mean that it has no merits.
As far as I know, the Tartars broke through the border mostly because the border wall was in disrepair, not because our border wall was not well guarded."
Wei Guangde certainly knew that what Lv Diaoyang said was not wrong.
After all, the Mongols were not fools. Facing an intact border wall, it was not easy to jump over it, so they would naturally look for a damaged wall.
Facing such a wall, the Mongols mostly used the method of digging soil to directly fill a slope outside the wall so that the cavalry could jump over it.
It would be better if the wall was damaged, so less soil could be used.
Sometimes, if the team is too large, they will use animal power to destroy the border wall and directly smash a larger gap for their large troops to pass through.
Even if the Ming army on the border wall is more numerous, it is just a drop in the bucket when facing the large Mongolian army.
In this case, it is true that they really chose to climb over the unrepaired border wall, but it does not mean that they can only climb over such places.
In fact, Ma Fang did not think much of repairing the border wall. In his opinion, the biggest function of the border wall is to pass on information, and that's all.
After all, he lived in the Mongolian tribe and was very familiar with their way of fighting.
"That's right. My conclusion is the same as yours. The border wall should not only be repaired, but also reinforced."
At this point, Zhang Juzheng glanced at Wei Guangde and continued: "Last time, Shandai said that there are many ways for the Tatars to break through the border. Among them, piling up earth is a way to climb over the border wall. Although it takes half a day and requires a lot of manpower, it is indeed a good way.
Moreover, because the border wall is too long, the government troops cannot quickly mobilize a large number of troops to block it. Under the suppression of their bows and arrows, the slope is really hard to be affected.
I thought about it for several days and came to the conclusion that we can only increase the height of the border wall in the open area to make it difficult for the Tartars to quickly fill the slope and buy time for the government troops to gather a large group of troops.
Shandai, don't forget that after the beacon fire is lit, the nearby people will also see it, and they will know how to avoid it.
If there is no border wall to block them and create time for them to escape, the Tatars will roar past and they will not even have a chance to react."
After hearing Zhang Juzheng's words, Wei Guangde didn't know how to answer for a while.
Indeed, the people in the border forts knew about the danger by the beacon fire on the fort.
In the past, there was a border wall. In any case, it could delay the war for half a day, so that the people outside the fort had enough time to escape back to the border fort to avoid the war.
If the border wall was damaged and collapsed, the enemy cavalry would rush through without the wall blocking the way.
Even if the beacon fire warned, I am afraid that not many people outside the fort would be able to escape back.
Only people who are far enough away from the border have time to evacuate.
"But the nine borders take turns to repair the border wall, which is too expensive. I always think that it is better to revitalize the border town army than to build a border wall that is of little use.
It doesn't need to be too many, just 10,000 elite soldiers in each town.
Not to mention that because of the Datong Peace Agreement, the threat to the north has actually been lost. Even if the Tatar ambitions revive again, the imperial court can quickly assemble an army to confront the enemy.
If we continue to repair the border wall, the consequences will be just a repeat of the Gengxu Revolution. We will be defensive everywhere, unable to defend everywhere, and the border wall will be useless.
The reason why Anda Khan broke through the border at Gubeikou and other dangerous places was actually to catch him by surprise, because he was worried about being blocked by our officers and soldiers. It was definitely not because the border wall here was dilapidated. It was just a local excuse. "
Wei Guangde still insisted on his opinion. With the border wall, the Ming army lost its enterprising spirit and could only defend the city with peace of mind. This was the fundamental reason for the decline of the Ming army's combat effectiveness.
At least, that's what Wei Guangde thinks.
If the enemy is always watching, officers and soldiers will not dare to slack off.
Lu Tiaoyang saw that Wei Guangde's attitude was still firm, so he said: 'How about we think about this matter again and wait for some time to discuss it.
It's not an urgent matter, so it doesn't hurt to take some time.
On the other hand, matters in Liaodong are probably the top priority of the imperial court, so it would be good for the Ministry of Household Affairs to keep some money as a backup. ’
For the war in Liaodong, a note had been sent to the household ministers in advance, asking them to set aside a sum of money to prepare as rewards and pensions after the war. This was also the court's practice.
After the soldiers finished fighting, the court had to reward them based on their merits and send them money.
In the past, it often happened that because the court had no money, the officers and soldiers could not receive the reward and caused trouble. It was a complete farce.
"Has the Ministry of War sent a message to Ji Zhen?"
Hearing this, Zhang Juzheng nodded first, and then said to Wei Guangde.
Wei Guangde knew that this was the end of the matter, so he just continued to delay it.
However, if it drags on for a long time, I am afraid that when other places need to use the silver, the 50,000 taels of silver will not be saved.
However, Wei Guangde is really unwilling to let this matter continue like this.
Building the Great Wall to develop tourism will happen hundreds of years later. Is it so urgent?
Obviously not, Ming Dynasty was not financially wealthy.
In response to Zhang Juzheng's question, Wei Guangde nodded and replied: "It has been sent. I think I should be preparing to leave for Tianjin now."
With an army of ten thousand people eating, drinking, and eating, even if Jizhen responds quickly, it will still take some time to allocate supplies.
Mainly not during wartime, when there is a beacon warning, it is only said to be a normal transfer to the outside world.
Of course, this statement would not fool anyone in the capital.
Things in Liaodong have long been spread in the capital, but they have not yet spread to the surrounding areas.
"Can the Nanyang Navy warships carry so many people and horses?"
This is actually the topic that Zhang Juzheng is concerned about. It is no small matter for ten thousand people to cross the sea.
If the Nanyang Navy has been able to ensure that a force of ten thousand people can cross the sea for several days, does that mean that the Navy no longer needs to allocate more funds?
Can this money be taken back to the court and used for other things?
After Zhu Heng inspected the Yellow River during the flood season, he had already re-established the Kanjia Canal route, and the previous reports were pretty good.
The Ga Canal is difficult, but surmountable.
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