Chapter 1005: The source of farming, clothing, and food, the foundation of people

Before the start of Spain's great expedition, except for the Great Ming Emperor reminding Felipe to be careful of the violent storms in the Atlantic, no one would think that Felipe would fight so hard. Whether it was ships, military strength, or the number of troops, Spain had an overwhelming advantage.

Spain's Invincible Armada and Great Phalanx were still the existence that suppressed the entire West.

Spain, with its overseas colonies and such huge national strength, could lose countless times, while England could only lose once. To fight an England, isn't it easy?

But the fact is, fighting to this point, the great expedition has already become a quagmire.

Fighting until the whole West is watching the joke, fighting until the gold bonds went bankrupt for the third time, fighting until even Portugal could not be suppressed, fighting until the Spanish Council of State was dissolved, fighting until the country was poor and the people were exhausted, fighting until Spain might even lose the ocean.

Zhang Juzheng and Qi Jiguang are very cautious about war, and this caution carries a strong extreme conservatism.

People are really a very forgetful animal. The suffering caused by war will be thoroughly forgotten in about twenty years. People always cheer and step onto the battlefield. Everyone thinks they will be the protagonist in the storytelling, the descent of the military star, born to make contributions, born to be enfeoffed as a marquis and prime minister.

But once on the battlefield, everyone struggles in the hell called war, is crushed in the cruel war machine, and dies like a wild dog on the side of the road that no one cares about. If they win, it's fine, the bones might be collected. If they lose, even their names will not be left behind.

After suffering the bitterness of war, they will start to oppose war, and immediately turn from being bellicose and perishing to promoting literature and suppressing martial arts, forgetting war and being in danger. This repeats again and again, cycling in this strange circle.

Emperor Wu of Han conquered the Xiongnu and achieved his goal, but the carriage of war could not stop. The later conquests were meaningless, all for the sake of fighting. After being bellicose, he began to oppose war.

During the Hongwu and Yongle periods, the Great Ming launched thirteen expeditions to the northern desert, and Zhu Di personally led five expeditions. His martial achievements were recorded in history. War brought too much pain. Promoting literature and suppressing martial arts began, but only twenty-four years later, the Tumu Crisis occurred.

Shen Li is the Grand Zongbo, in charge of all matters of the Ministry of Rites. He looked at all the court officials and talked about the predicament Felipe encountered. England, a place the size of a bullet, actually became the burial ground of the sun-never-setting Spain.

"Felipe learned the lesson of the failure of the last war and invested all the gold in his hands into the shipbuilding industry. Since the sixteenth year of Wanli, in just three years, with sufficient gold rewards, the Spanish Coruña Shipyard could imitate five-masted ocean-crossing ships and built twenty five-masted ocean-crossing ships, plus sixty Western caravel sailing ships."

"These ships carried 8,000 soldiers and sailors and set off for the English Channel again. This time, the Spaniards stepped onto England, but the English used wolf-pack tactics,"

"abandoning the navy that confronted the landing, and instead used small boats to attack the Spaniards' supply fleet."

"This time, the gold bonds went bankrupt, the Spanish cabinet was dissolved, and the expedition that bet everything finally snatched back three thousand sheep. As far as the Portuguese envoy knows, in this battle, thirteen caravel sailing ships were burned, logistics supplies worth millions of silver were snatched, and casualties exceeded four thousand."

"And Felipe still wants to go on an expedition. He has no other choice."

Shen Li's words caused heated discussion among everyone. The second expedition was relatively smooth, but the privateering license issued by the Queen of England took effect. Those privateers began to harass the Spanish supply fleet endlessly. The final result was three thousand sheep.

Even if they are far away in the Great Ming, everyone can judge slightly that Felipe cannot continue to fight this battle, but he still has to fight. Things have reached this point, and there is no time to care about the price to be paid.

Once the gears of war start to rotate, everyone's fate is only beyond their control.

"This year, the only envoys to the Great Ming were the Portuguese envoys." As the Grand Zongbo, Shen Li mainly talked about diplomatic affairs. The envoys from the West this year were only from Portugal.

Spain, France, and England have not sent envoys. It is not that they don't want to, but war has disrupted everything.

Even the ships of the Great Ming Global Caravan have encountered several harassments by sea pirates. The business environment and maritime trade environment in the West have visibly deteriorated.

The silver flowing into the Great Ming is very stable because the stable operation of the Global Trade Alliance has allowed more silver from the New World to arrive in the Great Ming.

Shen Li continued, "An interesting piece of news: the maritime patrol inspector communicated with the Western sailors and learned that Felipe ordered the three governor's offices of Mexico, Peru, and Chile this year to increase the supply of silver and gold, and the increased share is three times."

"The Mexico Governor's Office has clearly refused. The newly bought five-masted ocean-crossing ship bombarded Felipe's treasure ship, demanding that the Mexico Governor's Office retain three million taels of silver, otherwise it would directly attack all the silver mine groups."

"The Lima Governor of the Peru Governor's Office was more tactful, saying that the rich silver mines had riots again this year, and the descendants of the Inca repeatedly attacked the rich silver mines, leading to a sharp decline in silver production. Not only was it unable to increase the quota, but it also had to reduce the share of two million taels of silver. The share transported back to the mainland was reduced from the original four million five hundred thousand taels of silver to two million five hundred thousand silver."

"How did the Chile Governor's Office reply?" Shen Shixing asked with some curiosity.

Shen Li's expression was slightly strange as he said, "The Chile Governor's Office said that they do not produce silver, and this order has nothing to do with them."

Felipe's order was of course not just aimed at silver and gold, but the Chile Governor's Office needed to provide sufficient goods. The Chile Governor's reply was to deliberately play word games, knowing that Felipe had no time to conquer these governor's offices now, and the situation of the war

was already very unfavorable.

Three governor's offices: one clearly refused, one harbored bandits to increase its own importance, and one played word games. None of them agreed to Felipe's request. If it were in the past, for the sake of supplies, for the sake of soldiers, gunpowder, ships, food, wine, and other material supplements, these governor's offices would have to agree even if they didn't want to.

Now that there is the East Trade Alliance, the situation has become completely different.

Felipe's prestige is rapidly declining because of the setbacks in the war.

Grand Minister Zhang Xueyan heard this and added, "After the expansion of the Golden Shangang was completed, the Great Ming East Trade Alliance's goods had two ports for collecting and distributing goods in the East Pacific: Golden Shangang and Pengju Port."

"Pengju Port (Guayaquil) does not belong to the Great Ming; it belongs to the ship port leased by the Great Ming from the Peru Governor's Office. With two ports to collect and distribute goods, the East Trade Alliance fleet can travel to and from the East Pacific three times a year."

Concentrating on loading and unloading goods and trading directly at the two ports can reduce wasted time. Increasing from two times a year to three times a year is of great significance. This means that the Great Ming will further squeeze the silver mine shares of Mexico and Peru.

It doesn't matter if Mexico and Peru cannot eat so many goods. They can engage in entrepot trade, and they are more convenient. They can transport goods from the land to the Atlantic and transport the goods obtained from the Great Ming to the West.

The Western gold and silver will flow back into the colonies. These gold and silver can buy more Great Ming goods, and the raw materials produced by the governor's offices such as Mexico, Peru, and Chile can be directly supplied to the Great Ming. Anyway, the Great Ming is a glutton, the more the better, and never refuses anyone.

The new triangular trade of raw materials, production, and consumption was formed like this, but now the silver has changed its flow.

I don't know who came up with this triangular trade, but it is indeed easy to use.

Grand Minister Zhang Xueyan's statement seems to provide a piece of evidence, that is, the Great Ming can obtain what it wants without war.

"If there were no Golden Mountain Kingdom, no Golden Mountain Navy kicking out one of Peto's front teeth at Long Beach Port, would these governor's offices honestly do business? They would only block our merchant ships at their own doors!"

"The prerequisite for the free navigation of the Great Ming fleet is strong ships and powerful cannons." Gao Qiyu's voice sounded abruptly again, reminding all the court officials of these necessary conditions for establishment.

The Golden Mountain Navy expelled those pirates at Long Beach Port, and Mexico's probing finally stopped.

"Not to mention the far ones, the closer Korea, the Great Ming army sorted out all the old files of the Sungkyunkwan in Hancheng. As a vassal of the Great Ming, Korea should naturally respect the Great Ming as the leader. They send envoys to the Great Ming every year. I have read the notes of these envoys, and they are all

filthy and unbearable!" Gao Qiyu's tone carried some anger.

"It is filthy language, unbearable to look at!" Gao Qiyu's tone carried a hint of anger.

Ming Wuzong had no heirs, so naturally, no one maintained his reputation after death. Therefore, in the Korean documents, Ming Wuzong became an emperor who liked young girls, and also liked to loot the people's houses with soldiers, putting the civilian women on carts and bringing them back to the Leopard House.

"The Ministry of Rites verified the old cases, and they are all nonsense. The key is that these travelogues were all rearranged by merchants and spread widely in the Great Ming." Gao Qiyu talked about another thing, the evolution of rumors and prophecies.

These Korean envoys who came to the Great Ming were the source of rumors. They arranged many messy things. Because Korea, as a vassal state, could have regular audiences, these rumors and prophecies spread back to the Great Ming with the merchants, becoming even more outrageous.

These rumors not only included the Emperor, but also the ministers of all dynasties could not be spared.

"The scholars of Sungkyunkwan not only arranged the Great Ming monarchs and ministers, but also used the reason that the "History of Song" compiled in the Yuan Dynasty was sloppy and baseless, and wanted to compile the "History of Song", named "History of Song Quan". This book has not been compiled yet. Since when is it the turn of a vassal state to compile history books for the suzerain state?" Gao Qiyu talked about another thing, Korea wanting to compile history books for the suzerain state.

There are even more outrageous stories, such as Li Shimin conquering Korea, being shot blind in one eye, and kneeling down to beg for mercy.

Gao Qiyu handed the original copies of the Sungkyunkwan he brought to all the court officials. After the court officials had read them, he said, "What do they want to do? They want to negate the Great Ming's past self and negate China's Mandate of Heaven."

Korea said it was the Great Ming's own son. Which own son would arrange his own father? And they specifically aimed at deconstructing China's heroes and heroes. This is deconstructing the Great Ming's past self and disintegrating the Great Ming's Mandate of Heaven.

"These Korean scholars who arranged things indiscriminately were all killed by Li Shunchen." Ling Yunyi looked at the court officials and said with a smile, "Most of the Sungkyunkwan documents were destroyed in the war of the Japanese invasion. After reading them, they were all destroyed."

Ling Yunyi stayed in Korea for a few years. Killing people and burning books were all done by him personally. However, he could push it to Li Shunchen and the Japanese pirates.

Gao Qiyu took back the documents and summarized, "The deposed King of Korea, Li Yan, also planned to play the Great Ming around, letting the Great Ming send troops without giving grain, promising to submit, and also planning to use abdication to avoid it. This is still Korea."

"If Korea is a domestic dog, Mexico, Peru, and Chile are wild dogs. What they fear is strong ships and powerful cannons, not the Great Ming's benevolence and morality."

"Even raising a dog knows how to guard the house, raising these..."

"Ding." Zhu Yijun knocked on the

small copper bell left by the Daoist master again, reminding Gao Qiyu to pay attention to his words. What domestic dog and wild dog? Just think about it in your heart. How can you say it directly? You can't speak so ugly just to make things clear.

You can't blame Gao Qiyu for speaking ugly. He has a sense of vigilance against these barbarians. The Great Ming was established after destroying the Hu Yuan. From the root, he will not trust these barbarians.

"Continue the court discussion." Zhu Yijun signaled the court officials to continue the discussion.

The Great Ming court has been divided into two factions. Gao Qiyu is obviously the extreme force faction, and he is actually the majority, while Zhang Juzheng is the conservative benevolence and righteousness faction, advocating vigilance against war.

You come and I go, arguing with each other, and there is a big problem here, that is, they are all for the good of the Great Ming. Why should I listen to you?

They are all for the good of the Great Ming. This is the most difficult thing to handle. If it were for the benefit of a private family, Zhu Yijun would directly drag people out and beat them to death.

The court discussion continued. Grand Zongbo Shen Li continued to report on the arrangements for diplomatic affairs. June and July of each year are the days when foreign countries come to pay tribute and the Emperor meets foreign envoys. It's just that the number of envoys coming to pay tribute this time is a bit small.

Gao Qiyu reported another ban and received the Emperor's approval. It is also an ancestral law. The Ministry of Rites does things by ancestral laws, but also by changing the dynasty and opening up, flexibly using them.

Since Wan Shihe, rites and laws have never been inconvenient things.

In December of the fourth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, on the grounds that "the military and civilians perform rites, still follow barbarian customs, and when drinking and feasting, they mostly use kneeling as a rite," ordered the prohibition of such rites. Except for "listening to imperial edicts, offering tribute with objects, and receiving sacrifices, offering incense, laying silk, and reading blessings, etc., kneeling rites can be performed, all others are bowing rites."

The bowing rite is very clearly stipulated. When the inferior sees the superior, bow and cup hands, raising them to the level of the eyes as a sign of respect. The superior follows the sitting or standing.

That is, cupping hands and raising them to the level of the eyes and bowing is respect. The inferior follows the superior to sit or stand. All other barbarian rites are prohibited.

This ancestral law of prohibiting rites in the fourth year of Hongwu, translated, means no kneeling.

Hence Hai Rui has a nickname called Hai Pen Rack. He does not kneel to his superiors. Hence Hai Rui only requires himself not to kneel to his superiors, but rarely requires others to do the same.

Now, Gao Qiyu has restored the ancestral law again, and the reason is very sufficient. Both the official-selected officials and the hereditary officials (including the Emperor) are the ruling class of the Great Ming. If a ruling class kneels around, with knees taking root, waist bent, and body soft, how can they cultivate backbone and righteousness?

Shen Shixing submitted a memorial about land return. Guangzhou Prefecture and Fuzhou Prefecture both requested land return. After questioning by the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue, both prefectures met the standards for land return: silver highly dammed, land excessively concentrated, and preliminary completion of commodity economy. Shen Shixing's request was recognized by the court officials.

Grand Minister Zhang Xueyan reported that since the Wanli Reform, the world's prefectures and counties have repaired and built weirs, dredged 4,162 river channels, and 5,048 embankment banks, half of which are repairs and half are Wanli years

built.

Zhu Yijun asked in detail and learned that this number is basically the same as the number of water conservancy projects built during the Hongwu period.

In the fourth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, on the grounds that "due to the chaos of war, the embankments have collapsed, and the people have abandoned farming," set up the Ministry of Revenue's Camp Field Division to repair embankments and specifically manage water conservancy. For example, the thirty-six steep slopes of the Lingqu Canal in Xing'an, Guangxi, the Yushan Dam in Jingzhou, and the Hongqu Weir in Jingyang County, Shaanxi, etc.

Zhang Xueyan said with great emotion, "In the twenty-third year of Hongwu, Taizu ordered Zheng Xingfa, a secretary of the Ministry of Works, to take advantage of the farming slack to assess the suitability, and conscripted 150,000 people to dredge the Huai River and other places. Finally, 250,000 people were obtained, and it took three years to complete. The Yellow River seized the Huai, and there were many droughts, floods, salt, and wasteland. This three-year dredging during the farming slack made Huainan and Huaibei flourish."

"In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, Taizu again ordered the relevant departments to conscript 150,000 people to build sea embankments and build more than 23,900 zhang of the Qian Tangjiang embankment."

"All of them have benefited future generations and have been used to this day."

A large number of water conservancy projects were built during the Hongwu period and used until the Wanli period. Later years were all repairs and patches. The Qian Tangjiang tide is not only the power of nature, but also human determination to conquer heaven.

During the Wanli Reform, water conservancy was also built in various places. Half of the quantity presented by the Ministry of Revenue was newly built in these twenty years of the Wanli Reform.

The source of farming, clothing, and food, the foundation of people's livelihood.

"Ding ding ding." Zhu Yijun knocked three times, announcing the end of the court session. Zhang Juzheng was left alone and chatted with the Emperor in the Tonghe Palace for a long time, mainly about the Great Tax Investigation.

"This won't work. Teacher, you have transferred all the people with backbone to the Anti-Corruption Division to fight corruption and catch greed. Who will support the Tax Audit Institute?" Zhu Yijun waved his hands repeatedly, not recognizing Zhang Juzheng's statement.

The Tax Audit Institute needs internal investigation. Zhang Juzheng wants to transfer the honest officials who passed this investigation to the Anti-Corruption Division. By then, the Anti-Corruption Division will be full of talents, and the Tax Audit Institute will have no one to use. Zhu Yijun does not recognize this approach.

Zhang Juzheng's tone was full of discussion, and he said with a smile, "Your Majesty, isn't this a matter of expediency? Just transfer half, half is enough. In this way, the Anti-Corruption Division will be thoroughly established. Relying only on those few plain-clothed censors, I am afraid they will be unable to support themselves alone and cannot last long."

"And, Your Majesty, transferring from the Tax Audit Institute also avoids the Anti-Corruption Division being unable to fight corruption within the Zhang sect."

The Tax Audit Institute is a three-party restraint between the Tax Audit Embroidered Uniform Guards, the garrison eunuchs, and the civil officials of the Ministry of Revenue. But every tax payment ticket, after collection, the Emperor must personally review it, and he specifically asked the Ministry of Revenue to audit the accounts every year to ensure that this special agency of the Tax Audit Institute does less evil.

Developing to this day, the Tax Audit Institute has not become a protective umbrella for smuggling, private sales, and corruption, and there have been no major cases of selling opium. The Emperor has put in too much effort. It is only natural that the Emperor is unwilling to transfer half of them at once.

The Anti-Corruption Division was founded, and the three fires burned so that the officials were in danger, but this was done with the support of the Emperor and the Grand General. If this is to take root thoroughly and fight corruption normally, it needs to transfer honest officials to supplement it.

The compatibility between the Tax Audit Institute and the Anti-Corruption Division is extremely high. With sufficient capable ministers, the Anti-Corruption Division will be thoroughly stable.

The lesson that Gao Gong could not fight corruption within the Jin sect back then was also learned by Zhang Juzheng. Transferring from the Emperor's direct agency like this, this Anti-Corruption Division is not Zhang Juzheng's weapon, but the Emperor's sharp knife.

Zhang Juzheng's vigorous party cleaning in the past six months was because the current error correction mechanism could not correct the students of the Zhang sect. The Anti-Corruption Division is also part of the error correction mechanism. In any case, this mechanism must avoid this phenomenon.

"No, absolutely not. Transferring half, Teacher is too daring to think. Isn't this pulling out the main beam of the Tax Audit Institute? At most, give Teacher one-fourth, no, one-fifth. Can't your Anti-Corruption Division cultivate backbone and honest officials yourself?!" Zhu Yijun recognized Zhang Juzheng's reasons very much, but he was still a bit reluctant.

"One-fourth." Zhang Juzheng shook his head and said, "It can't be less."

"One-fifth."

"Your Majesty, this is a state affair, not a matter of being angry with the minister." Zhang Juzheng said helplessly. His Majesty's argument was a bit perfunctory, and he didn't even give a reason.

After weighing it repeatedly, Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "One-fourth is one-fourth. It really can't be more. If it is more, I cannot guarantee that the Tax Audit Institute will not become a thief's den of ghosts and monsters."

"I have been in charge of the Tax Audit Institute for these years, not by myself, but by these backbone and upright officials of the Tax Audit Institute."

"I don't have three heads and six arms, and I am not a prophet in the mouth of the Great Light Sect."

The Tax Audit Institute is a special agency with great power. Maintaining the current situation is the result of the monarch and ministers being of one mind. If you really transfer half, the Tax Audit Institute might really become a thief's den for smuggling opium.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your great grace." Zhang Juzheng was overjoyed, his eyes rolled, and he asked, "Then can the eunuch Li Yougong in the palace be lent to me for the Anti-Corruption Division?"

"No! Don't even think about it! Li Yougong is in charge of the Capital Battalion's military affairs and is also responsible for the Tax Audit Institute's affairs. If I lend him to you, where can I find a eunuch to lead the Tax Audit Institute's affairs? Don't even think about it." Zhu Yijun refused sternly.

The eunuch Li Yougong, who is in charge of the Capital Battalion, is the head eunuch who grew up with Zhu Yijun, and also the yellow-clothed envoy sent by the Emperor. Whenever there is a major event, it is Li Yougong who leaves the palace to handle it. Those Gao Huai father and son in Liaodong were personally caught by Li Yougong.

There are only a few eunuchs in the palace, and they are all in key positions and cannot be moved easily.

"Your Majesty, Qi Jiguang is the Grand General. Excessive participation in state affairs is not a good thing for him." Zhang Juzheng explained the reason. The reason for borrowing Li Yougong was to let Qi Jiguang get rid of the suspicion of excessive interference in state affairs by generals.

The Grand General is already high enough in power and position, and in military affairs, he almost has the power to make the final decision.

"Can't lend him, this really won't work." Zhu Yijun shook his head and said. The Anti-Corruption Division is important, but the Capital Battalion and the Tax Audit Institute are also very important. Li Yougong's position really

cannot be moved.

"Then forget it." Seeing His Majesty's insistence, Zhang Juzheng finally bowed and left, not entangled anymore. This request was indeed a bit greedy on his part.

His Majesty only has those few people who can stand alone, and he still wants to dig one away. It is indeed pushing his luck.

His Majesty only has those few people in his hands who can stand alone, and he, Zhang Juzheng, still wants to poach one; this is truly pushing his luck.

Fan Yuanshan is not good at drilling, he is afraid of going to the folk workshops, and his final destination is the prison in Dongjiaomin Lane.

It is almost midnight, and he is still working overtime in the office without going home. His eyes are a bit raw. He has a case in his hand. He is the main organizer, and there is an assistant, but it is just a name. The Tax Audit Institute does not have enough manpower, and everyone is treated as four people, even more than cattle and horses.

Which office is still working overtime at midnight?

It's really not a matter caused by Yuanfu's great investigation. On weekdays, Fan Yuanshan is also this busy.

It really wasn't a matter stirred up by a single "Grand Investigation" from the Senior Grand Secretary; in his daily work, Fan Yuanshan was just as busy.

In the case he has in his hand, as long as Fan Yuanshan's hand is slightly loose, the Chen Sugar Workshop can pay 12,000 taels of silver less in taxes.

Fan Yuanshan looked around and saw no one, and took out three greeting cards.

One is from the young master of the Chen Sugar Workshop, who has invited him more than ten times to the Taibai Building. The person who sent the greeting card said there would be a generous gift. This one thing alone is about fifty years of his salary;

The second is from a classmate of Fan Yuanshan at the Capital University. This classmate is an accountant in the folk workshop and handed the greeting card to him here, vaguely, asking him to reminisce about the past;

The third is from his mentor at the Capital University. The job in the left account room of the Tax Audit Institute was all because his mentor was busy, so it fell to him. Not only did he preach, teach, and solve puzzles, but he also helped him settle down.

The purpose of these three greeting cards is the same: let his hand be slightly loose.

"Eat? Eat prison food?" Fan Yuanshan put the invitation back and kept it. These are all evidence.

Fan Yuanshan is from Gansu, poor and jingling. Being able to enter the Capital University is his great fortune, and it is also his own effort. He passed the Juren exam, so he had the opportunity to enter the capital. Juren is already the limit of his literary spirit. He took the Jinshi exam once and didn't pass, so he knew it was not something he could hope for.

His wife always complains that his job has little money, many things, overtime every day, and offends people. His wife's nagging is still in his ears.

The first thing is that the child should go to school. The house he rented, the child could not attach his household registration to the workshop, so he could not go to school.

The second is that the father-in-law is going to have his sixtieth birthday. The wife wants to buy a piece of national cellar,

as a birthday gift. This piece of national cellar costs thirty silver, and his annual salary is only twenty-seven silver.

This is as it should be. Fan Yuanshan can read, all because of his father-in-law's help. Without his father-in-law, he might still be farming in some mountain nest.

Fan Yuanshan took out the three greeting cards again, looked at them for a long time, and put them back.

Like the previous forty-three cases, he will not be soft-hearted. ===== CHAPTER 1006 =====

Just like the previous forty-three cases, he would not be soft-hearted.