Chapter 199: 201. Chapter 195: Seeing the Microcosm, Exhausting All Means

201. Chapter 195: Seeing the Microcosm, Exhausting All Means

The problems of measuring land and clearing households were numerous, and they were not limited to just one or two places in Shuntian Prefecture.

The issue of grazing lands was the same, and it was not limited to just Wanping County.

Over the past few days, the Emperor's inspection tour had passed through Wanping, Liangxiang, Fangshan, Gu'an, and then to Yongqing. In the several counties he had seen, not a single one had grazing lands that were clean, intact, and complete.

If they weren't occupied by farmland, the records didn't match the land, or they had simply been sold to wealthy families, leaving their ownership in a state of confusion.

Grazing lands could be reclaimed as farmland, and the price difference was collected by the Ministry of War and the Court of Imperial Stud. This was already established in the regulations: "For grazing lands already reclaimed as farmland, collect rent annually; in times of disaster, use it to assist in purchasing horses; for compensation and conversion, collect horse-funds and remit them to the Ministry of War."

The problem now was, why hadn't it been reported? And where had the price difference gone?

Why had the Court of Imperial Stud remained silent? Why was the Imperial Horse Administration completely unaware? And how had the supervision of the local grazing land commissioners and the oversight of the Ministry of Revenue's grazing land secretaries all vanished without a trace?

Dong'an County Grazing Land.

Zhu Yijun stood on a slope, gazing into the distance: "Which guard unit does this grazing land belong to?"

Every grazing land had a corresponding camp or guard unit assigned to it, and under normal circumstances, they did not share from the same pot.

Dong'an Magistrate Zhang Yixin replied with difficulty: "Your Majesty, it is a grazing land for the various camp and guard units in the capital."

This answer was completely off the mark, so much so that Chen Jingbang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War who was assisting in the management of the Beijing camps and had been somewhat nervous, couldn't help but turn his head away.

Zhang Yixin was a Jinshi from the fifth year of Wanli, ranked 218th in the second tier.

For the past two years, he hadn't been particularly outstanding; he hadn't been transferred to the Censorate, nor had he been promoted to Prefect, just spinning his wheels in the position of County Magistrate.

Zhu Yijun was clearly displeased, frowning: "I am asking you specifically which guard unit!"

Zhang Yixin wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and replied hesitantly: "Your Majesty, this grazing land was opened during the Hongzhi reign. It has been used for grazing for a long time, and the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue have supervised it properly, providing for the storage of horses for the Beijing camps during the spring and autumn defense."

Fan Yingqi of the Ministry of Revenue and Xu Guo exchanged glances, silently mourning in their hearts.

Where did this hermit come from, using the same old set of excuses he used to fool superiors to try and fool the Emperor?

This was surely a one-way ticket to a seat in the Censorate.

Sure enough, looking back, he saw the Emperor looking absolutely furious.

Wanping Magistrate Zhang Mengtong, who had exposed this matter and had been ordered by the Emperor to follow along, saw this and hurriedly squeezed past Zhang Yixin, interjecting: "Your Majesty, this grazing land is for the Yanshan Right Guard to raise horses. The registered original amount is 15 qing and 81 mu."

The Yanshan Guard was stationed at Beiping, which was the capital defense force; the Forbidden City was also within their scope of duty.

Wang Xijue, who was following closely behind the Emperor, shook his head upon hearing this. This was why the invasion of grazing lands was extremely thorny.

The Ming military generals who had been able to gather and mutiny for rewards around the time of the late Emperor's passing were truly not to be trifled with lightly, even if there had been improvements after several years of rectification, one still had to be extremely cautious.

"Yanshan Right Guard... 15 qing and 81 mu..." Zhu Yijun muttered, his expression softening, before suddenly sneering: "By comparison, the Wanping Magistrate is so well-informed, it's as if he also serves as the magistrate of Dong'an County."

This cold sneer didn't indicate who it was directed at.

Zhang Mengtong lowered his head: "Your Majesty, if the evidence hadn't been so overwhelming, I wouldn't have dared to expose it."

His exposure was well-prepared, so he was naturally clear about these things, or rather, he had been prepared for a long time.

Otherwise, after the Emperor had toured Wanping, he wouldn't have brought this magistrate along to provide information.

Zhu Yijun skipped over this point and looked at Dong'an Magistrate Zhang Yixin again: "Magistrate Zhang, does this grazing land still have 15 qing now?"

The group was standing on a hillside, and the view wasn't bad.

Looking out, the grassland was far from 15 qing; it probably wasn't even half of that.

Zhang Yixin was vague: "Although it is not the full amount, it is not far off."

Grazing lands belonged to a triple-leadership system. In terms of ownership, they were under the Ministry of War; in terms of financial power, they were supervised by the Ministry of Revenue; and according to the principle of regional division, local magistrates had to check the numbers and clear the records with the grazing land commissioners every year.

Zhang Yixin's evasiveness when caught off guard could be considered understandable.

However, this "dead pig isn't afraid of boiling water" attitude almost made Zhu Yijun laugh with anger.

Not far off? If there were seven or eight qing here, he wouldn't be this furious.

Historically, this person lived his life in a muddle. When he was the magistrate of Huojia County in Henan, he remained motionless during the land measurement. When reporting the number of households and land, he simply copied the old records without changing a single word, and was caught by the Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, Yao Xuemin, who memorialized to have his salary reduced by two grades.

It could only be said that not everyone would change after the Emperor became determined.

Zhu Yijun nodded, disgusted: "Take him to the Censorate for strict interrogation."

After touring Shuntian Prefecture all the way, there were countless corrupt policies, and there were countless officials who were derelict in their duties or broke the law.

He no longer had any extra expressions left.

For those derelict in their duties, the Censorate would invite them; for those who broke the law, the Northern Secret Service would host them. Zhu Yijun had already developed muscle memory for dealing with them.

Zhang Yixin's expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and he hurriedly changed his words in a panic: "Your Majesty! I remember now! There are currently 5 qing, 95 mu, 3 fen, and 3 li of land!"

Although the change from 15 qing to 5 qing was outrageous, Zhu Yijun was too lazy to talk to him anymore.

He waved his hand perfunctorily: "Interrogate him well, and while you're at it, raid Magistrate Zhang's home as well."

After saying this, he ignored the latter's pleas and ordered his men to send Zhang Yixin to the Censorate.

After the pig-like screams gradually faded, the Emperor didn't look back, stepped down the hillside, and walked onto the grazing land.

The court officials looked straight ahead, having long since become accustomed to this along the way.

Even the most pedantic Minister of Rites, Wang Zongyi, followed behind the Emperor with a calm expression, not knowing what he had experienced.

Zhu Yijun stepped onto the grazing land and sighed: "In the 27 departments and counties of Shuntian Prefecture, the original amount of grazing land was 1,846 qing, 44 mu, 4 fen, and 6 li, 1 hao. Now, I'm afraid there isn't even 800 qing left, and I don't know how Jizhou and other places are doing."

This wasn't even a fraction of the total.

Touring all the way, the issue of invading grazing lands was truly complicated to the extreme.

That it involved the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and local county offices was within expectations.

After the grazing lands were converted into farmland, the ownership was even more varied: there were merchants bribing for them, commoners renting them, and various guard units operating them privately... it was truly a tangled mess!

The root cause of all this was that there was profit to be made.

It was the same piece of land, but farmland was much more valuable than grazing land.

And after grazing land was converted into farmland, as long as it could be hidden, the price difference fell into the hands of officials and soldiers—of course, soldiers, if the amount of horse grass wasn't enough, the horses would naturally be silent, but if the soldiers didn't share the money, where would they be silent?

The central government's plan wasn't like this.

The grass was intended to be used for raising horses.

Grazing land might not be as valuable as farmland, but its starting point was originally considered from the perspective of military affairs, not profit—having suffered so many losses at the hands of nomadic peoples, when was raising horses a time to care about profit?

Unfortunately, in the eyes of some people, the horses were hungry, but the people were full, so which was more important?

If the horses were thin and weak, causing the border troops to suffer in cavalry warfare... that was the border troops' own problem; they weren't good at fighting.

All the benevolent policies of the central government that yielded profit were like this.

That was why the nursing homes of the Ming Dynasty were designed to be extremely simple; that was why when providing disaster relief, many local officials would mix in coarse bran, making the relief grain difficult to swallow.

As long as there was profit to be made, there would always be people who would seek it.

"Your Majesty, the harm of grazing lands goes far beyond invasion." Zhang Mengtong, who had exposed this matter, spoke again, seemingly wanting to show that his preparations went beyond just this, "Since the 43rd year of Jiajing, the shortage of grazing lands has become increasingly severe. Every year when the Ministry of War had needs, the Ministry of Revenue would order the county offices to organize merchants to trade with the grazing lands."

"In the past few years, both the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War ordered the purchase of new grass on February 11th, but now it has gradually been delayed to April, or even May."

"April and May are summer, with much rain, making the grass easy to get damp and rot, and the price will also rise. Yet the autumn defense is urgent, and the various grazing lands are empty, not daring to delay in the slightest, so they can only let the merchants raise the price."

"The huge price difference is all a loss to the national treasury..."

Zhang Mengtong was denouncing the corrupt practices, but before he could finish speaking.

Suddenly, Wang Xijue, who was walking in front, waved his sleeves and directly interrupted his words: "Enough, we will talk when the people from the Court of Imperial Stud, the Imperial Horse Administration, and the Ministry of Revenue's grazing land secretaries arrive."

When some things were not yet clear, it was inconvenient to get to the bottom of them.

Monks, Daoists, old masters, and wealthy squires, and even eunuchs and nobles, their lives were cheap and not worth mentioning; if they died, they died.

But now that it involved the Six Ministries and court officials, one had to be extremely cautious.

Zhang Mengtong saw this Minister of Personnel speak to interrupt, and the Emperor didn't show any intention of refuting, so he had to honestly shut his mouth and stop while he was ahead.

He naturally understood Wang Xijue's concerns.

Among the various parties invading the grazing lands, besides the officials of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War, there was no lack of deputy commanders and assistant regional commanders from the various Beijing guard units.

Whether the Jinwu Left and Right Guards, the Yanshan Left and Right Guards, the Shenshu Camp, the City Defense Camp, or even the 1,000-plus soldiers of the Divine Machine Camp following the Emperor, it was hard to say whether they had shared in the spoils.

What if they gave the Emperor two slashes?

The common soldiers didn't care about these things. When Chen Jin, the Zhuangyuan of the Guichou year of Jiajing, was observing mourning at home, the common soldiers came to the door to demand military pay. Chen Zhuangyuan relied on his status and didn't give it, and was slashed to death by the common soldiers on the spot.

Other things, like common soldiers fighting for the road and killing imperial envoys, or battalion commanders stealing money from the feudal princes and killing them on the spot, were all too common.

That these central officials remained calm at this time showed that they were clear-headed enough.

Being clear-headed was good. If these central officials hadn't had some ability, he wouldn't have dared to bet on the New Policies and resolutely expose the invasion of grazing lands.

"Magistrate Zhang, I remember you were promoted to Wanping from the Salt Administration Office?"

Just as he was thinking about things, Zhang Mengtong suddenly heard the Emperor's question.

He hurriedly collected his thoughts, and regardless of whether the Emperor was changing the subject, he replied respectfully: "Your Majesty's holy heart encompasses the universe!"

"I am a Jujian from Shandong. I served as a clerk in Jining Prefecture, was promoted by the examination in the second year of Wanli, and was in charge of the Dengzhou port affairs."

"In the fourth year of Wanli, because the port was built, I was credited for maritime transport and transferred to work under the Salt Commissioner Yu Gong."

"Last November, I was credited for the Salt Administration and promoted to Wanping County."

The official environment of the Ming Dynasty underwent a tremendous change around the first year of Wanli.

There were also new directions for drilling and promotion.

In the past, it emphasized: "Official career drilling must be precise, capital letters must be frequent, and charcoal gifts must be abundant. Everyone's support must be harmonious, always round and smooth, always humble and respectful."

Later, it changed to: "Advancing rapidly to the Three Dukes, must show strange achievements, and speak of pure loyalty. Striving for the New Policies to show heroism, if not posthumously titled Wenxiang, then posthumously titled Wenzhong."

Therefore, Zhang Mengtong, who had hard work in port construction and merit in the Salt Administration Office, could be said to be advancing rapidly with every step.

Zhu Yijun nodded and asked casually: "The Salt Administration reform has been seven years now. In your opinion, what is the effect?"

The Salt Administration Governor Yin Shidan would report to the capital every year, but anyone who had been an Emperor often knew how precious the opportunity was to understand the local situation from different angles.

This question was asked, and Wang Xijue also turned his head to look at Zhang Mengtong—his fellow classmate Yu Yuding had been promoted to Governor of Shandong by promoting the Salt Administration.

Zhang Mengtong saw everyone looking at him and paused.

After thinking it over, he decided to give a brief summary of the Salt Administration reform impartially: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, the Salt Administration reform can be said to be proceeding according to plan and has been quite effective."

"After the salt trade in Lianghuai, Liangzhe, and Shandong was unified under the jurisdiction of the Salt Administration Office, the suppression of private salt, the transport of southern salt to the north, and the stabilization of salt prices have all been highly effective."

"Salt taxes have increased year by year, while the common people have not added any burden. Especially after opening maritime transport, salt prices in Jizhou, Liaodong, and other places have dropped significantly, and the common people all consider it a benevolent policy."

The Emperor and the officials listened quietly.

In their hearts, they also understood that there were some elements of flattery. If it was said that after unified dispatch, taxes were easier to collect and private salt was easier to crack down on, this might be true.

But to say that it suppressed salt prices, it was estimated that it was just slightly lower in a certain place at a certain time, after all, the total output hadn't increased much.

After Zhang Mengtong finished speaking, Zhu Yijun asked about the issue he was concerned about: "What about salt certificates?"

The reputation of salt certificates had already been ruined by nobles, feudal princes, and court officials.

Rebuilding trust was a long-term process.

Seven years had passed, and Yin Shidan had been saying every year that it was within reach, but specifically how it was, Zhu Yijun wasn't sure.

Zhang Mengtong carefully observed the Emperor's expression and spoke slowly: "Your Majesty, when salt certificates were first issued, they were indeed not trusted by salt merchants. Now they have improved significantly."

"In the second year of Wanli, the Ministry of Revenue issued the first batch of salt certificates, the number of which was equivalent to 70% of the salt held in the Lianghuai and Shandong salt warehouses. Even so, the salt merchants were still afraid that the Ministry of Revenue would issue them indiscriminately, or that the Salt Administration Office would print and sell them privately, so they hesitated and watched."

"Fortunately, in these four or five years, the Ministry of Revenue has held to the right path, and during this period, there has been no indiscriminate issuance or abuse. Under the repeated orders of Governor Yin, there has not been a single salt certificate that could not be redeemed."

"Plus, with the secret help of the clansmen of Grand Secretary Wang and Xu Vice Minister, the salt certificates have gradually gained some credit among salt merchants."

"Especially last New Year's Day, the Ministry of Revenue synchronized the first phase of salt certificates, either exchanging or recycling them, and issued the second phase of salt certificates. The salt merchants were extremely enthusiastic, and it can be said that they were scrambling."

These were all facts.

It was mainly because he himself and his sponsor Yu Yuding had already left this office, so he didn't bother to speak well or ill of Yin Shidan.

It was the Minister of Justice Xu Guo who suddenly heard himself mentioned and subconsciously shrank his neck, looking over twice.

Zhu Yijun looked expectant: "Can salt certificates be exchanged for an equivalent amount of silver in Shandong now?"

Zhang Mengtong saw the Emperor's expression and naturally understood what the Emperor wanted to hear.

This was also something that the Salt Administration Office had been guessing about for many years.

But after thinking about it, he chose to tell the truth: "Your Majesty, it is not common for salt certificates to be exchanged for silver since they were issued."

"Only bankrupt families or those who don't know the situation would hold salt certificates to exchange for silver."

"Last year, a merchant wanted to sell salt certificates, but didn't want to sell them at 80% of the market price. He wanted the full equivalent amount, and was scolded by the whole city, and finally sold them at 70%."

Compared to other places that followed the ancient system of the Yellow River flood area for two thousand years, Jining's scolding was more elegant.

Zhu Yijun shook his head upon hearing this.

According to this trend, salt certificates had probably returned to the status of assets.

Compared to waste paper, this progress was not slow.

However, if he wanted to use them as silver notes, I'm afraid he would have to proceed step by step.

He asked a few more questions, and had a general idea of the situation of the Salt Administration in his heart.

Zhu Yijun nodded slowly and nodded to Zhang Mengtong with a smile: "That's all for now. Magistrate Zhang, go back and resign from your position in Wanping, and report directly to the Censorate."

This Wanping Magistrate had also followed along the way, and he had learned enough about the situation.

The aftermath of the grazing land issue was not a matter for grassroots research.

Zhang Mengtong reacted immediately and knelt down: "I obey the decree."

His reporting to the Censorate was different from Zhang Yixin's.

This was to be promoted to a Hai Yushi!

Although both the County Magistrate and the Hai Yushi were seventh-rank, the power contained in them was worlds apart!

Zhu Yijun didn't stop to wait for this former Wanping Magistrate, but after the person stood up and followed, he continued: "The matter of grazing lands in Beizhili will be supervised by you, the Grazing Land Commissioner, the county office, and the military defense to measure them."

"Get the numbers out first, then talk about the rest."

Zhang Mengtong expressed his position upon hearing this: "Your Majesty's heavenly grace is vast! I am promoted beyond my merits, and I will die without regret!"

A mere Juren with no roots, in seven years, walked from a mere state clerk into the Censorate.

Living in this world, floating and sinking in the official sea, one should gamble!

Measuring grazing lands, he couldn't ask for more!

Zhu Yijun waved his hand, indicating that he could set off back to Wanping.

The latter sensibly stopped his steps and bowed to leave.

Zhu Yijun paced on the grazing land, looking at the farmland not far away, and asked casually: "Who is the Ministry of Revenue's Grazing Land Secretary?"

The Ministry of Revenue's Grazing Land Secretary was the main official of the Ministry of Revenue, who checked the situation of grazing lands every year.

Logically speaking, it was impossible to bypass him in the invasion of grazing lands.

Minister of Personnel Wang Xijue opened his mouth to speak, but was preempted by Fan Yingqi of the Ministry of Revenue: "Your Majesty, it is Gao Shi, a Jinshi from the second year of Longqing."

Zhu Yijun paused, showing a look of recollection, and asked somewhat uncertainly: "Gao Shi... was he previously the Commissioner of the Da'an Pass grazing land in Jizhou?"

Since he took personal control, he naturally read quite a few memorials.

The people he contacted and understood also gradually spread from the hall officials of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers to the minor officials of the fifth and sixth ranks.

Wang Xijue nodded: "Your Majesty, it is this person."

Zhu Yijun frowned: "I remember this person. The year before last, Xiao Lin, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Stud in Nanjing, memorialized, saying that grazing lands and horse farms were all set up for breeding, but there were many powerful families occupying and planting them, and asked me to check and return the grazing lands."

"I followed the meaning of the Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue, and did not conduct a large-scale investigation, only issuing an edict to slow down the investigation of Jizhou and Bazhou."

"Just after the edict was issued, there was a fire in the Da'an Pass grazing land in Jizhou, destroying tens of thousands of bundles of grass, and the matter was left unsettled."

"At that time, I wanted to deal with him, but everyone said that without evidence, he could not be lightly punished, and finally I had to demote him by two grades for dereliction of duty."

"Is that right?"

The matter of grazing lands had actually existed for a long time, and people with insight could see a clue or two.

It wasn't just Xiao Lin who had memorialized.

Xiao Yan, the Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, Wang Guoguang, the Minister of Revenue, and Ren Kai, the Secretary in charge of grazing lands in the Ministry of Revenue, had all memorialized requesting the measurement of grazing lands.

But at that time, because the timing was not mature, the central government was unwilling to touch the sensitive nerve of land measurement too early, so they did not agree.

However, Zhu Yijun, who had tried slightly but failed due to the fire, still had a deep impression of this.

Wang Xijue wanted to answer, but paused.

He had just arrived in the capital, so how could he know these old accounts.

At this time, Fan Yingqi took up the topic again: "Your Majesty, that is the case. At that time, it was the Prime Minister who drafted the ticket, demoting Gao Shi to Jiangxi."

Zhu Yijun sneered: "I demoted him by two grades, and someone promoted him by three grades immediately. Who is so righteous?"

This was called hazy promotion.

Every Emperor who did not have complete control over power had to experience this. The demotion was issued above, perhaps the person hadn't left the capital yet, and the second transfer order arrived.

Who transferred him, nobody knew, anyway, it was to erase the Emperor's penalty ticket. This was called hazy, focusing on mutual protection among officials, muddled and confused.

Of course, Zhu Yijun saw less of this now, only once every year or two.

On the contrary, the Wanli in history was truly a penalty ticket that was not as good as toilet paper, demoting one grade personally today, and promoting three grades hazily tomorrow.

Wang Xijue reminded him unobtrusively: "Your Majesty, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Chen Kai, has already retired."

This matter certainly wasn't done by Shen Shixing.

But since the Vice Minister Chen Kai had already retired, it was not easy to pursue.

Zhu Yijun pulled the corners of his mouth with a fake smile: "This matter cannot be separated from Gao Shi. Let's see who will promote him hazily this time."

Wang Xijue was energetic and would not be forced to distribute key personnel rights to the left and right vice ministers like Shen Shixing.

In this regard, Wang Xijue was very useful.

The group walked from the grazing land to the farmland, talking about the grazing land.

Just then, Zhang Hong ran over from not far away.

Everyone turned back.

"Your Majesty, the people have arrived." Zhang Hong bowed and stepped aside.

Zhu Yijun heard this and finally stopped the action of twisting and stepping on the soil, and slowly turned around.

He saw two middle-aged officials walking closer with small steps, one wearing a scarlet robe, meticulous, with an official appearance; the other wearing a green robe, thin, with a weathered look of sun and rain.