The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"I think it's feasible to establish a new government office specifically to serve crops. Our government is based on agriculture, so this matter should be done by the imperial court."

Lu Tiaoyang just thought for a moment and nodded in support.

"Your Majesty also had the same idea after hearing this. He asked me to come back and discuss it with you two. He also has to discuss it with the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry. Once the matter is settled, we can report the matter to the public."

Wei Guangde smiled and said, since Lu Tiaoyang didn't object, the matter was basically settled and they were just waiting for Zhang Juzheng to show his attitude.

"It's better to choose a different day than to hit it. Just send a note to the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Works immediately and ask them to come over. We will discuss it immediately so that they can have a taste of Yumai."

Zhang Juzheng made a decisive decision, "But when you talk about this new yamen, I think of one thing. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was a Department of Agriculture. I remember it was in the first year of Hongwu. It was restored three years ago and the administrative office was opened in Henan. One member, two Shaoqing members, four chief ministers, two members chief secretary and recorder, and then stop after four years."

After being reminded by Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde also remembered that there seemed to be this record.

However, the existence of the Department of Agriculture was very short, it only existed for one year and was not established again. Therefore, Wei Guangde did not think of the name of this official office at the beginning, but thought of the name based on the names of later generations of units.

"Si Nongsi, I remembered that there was such a yamen at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China."

Lu Tiaoyang nodded and said, "In the early days of the dynasty, the Agriculture Department was established under the Ministry of Household Affairs. It was responsible for advising people on farming, as well as inspecting and conducting interviews on official matters."

"The Household Department is in charge of land, household registration, taxes, salaries and all financial matters. The affairs are inherently complicated and it is not suitable to be in charge of this new yamen."

Wei Guangde immediately expressed his opinion. Although the Ministry of Household Affairs once had a Agriculture Department, so what.

Although this new yamen now has the responsibility of encouraging people to learn about farming, in fact it is more about finding and developing new varieties of crops, and the promotion of them requires the cooperation of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Such a yamen must not be placed under the name of the Ministry of Revenue.

What's more, Wei Guangde has already arranged the first few tasks for this new yamen, the most important thing is the matter of keeping wheat.

Wei Guangde was not willing to let Wang Guangguang's household department pick the peach.

Why?

This is the reason why we are called the Ministry of Works. If we give credit to the Ministry of Works, we will be rotting in the hands of our own family members.

Zhang Juzheng probably thought that this was a great achievement when he proposed the Agricultural Department, so he did not want to fall into the hands of others and wanted to try to compete with Wei Guangde.

By this time, Lu Tiaoyang also realized the reason behind Zhang Juzheng and Wei Guangde's remarks, and simply chose to keep silent, not wanting to settle the matter.

"But after all, this is related to field farming. In the past, the Ministry of Household Affairs was responsible."

Zhang Juzheng still emphasized this matter repeatedly, obviously trying hard.

"The main business of this yamen is to find and cultivate new crops, which is completely different from the household department's charge of fields and the collection of taxes and levies."

Wei Guangde also smiled and emphasized, "It is best for the Ministry of Industry to do this as a long-term project. After all, it is better for practical officials to be responsible for this matter."

Zhang Juzheng saw that Wei Guangde's attitude was relatively firm, and it seemed that it was not a whim. After all, he had mentioned this idea more than ten years ago, so he gave up his plan to take advantage of this matter.

He nodded, acquiescing to Wei Guangde's attitude.

Afterwards, Wang Guoguang and Zhu Heng came to the cabinet chief assistant to check the room, and had another heated discussion about the new yamen.

Although everyone agreed on the establishment of this new Yamen, there were huge differences in the details.

Wang Guoguang believed that it should be placed under the Ministry of Household Affairs. In his opinion, all matters involving fields should be managed by the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Zhu Heng understood that Wei Guangde was giving him the credit, so naturally he refused to give in.

In the following days, the cabinet convened the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry to discuss the matter of the new government office, and finally decided on the establishment of the Agricultural Plant Office, which would be placed under the Ministry of Industry. The Ministry of Household Affairs also had the responsibility of supervision.

The Agricultural and Plant Research Institute will have one doctor in charge, two assistant doctors and a number of principals, and each branch office will be in charge of one principal, etc. This can be regarded as roughly setting the framework of the Agricultural Plant Research Institute.

However, in order to save funds, the Ministry of Household Affairs requires that any branch established by the Agricultural and Plant Research Institute must be submitted to the Ministry of Household Affairs for approval.

However, when deciding who should be the director of the Agricultural and Plant Research Institute, we encountered a problem, probably because it is difficult to find officials who are familiar with agriculture in the court today.

In fact, many officials in the Ming Dynasty who had official status but were not appointed were recorded in the Ministry of Personnel. However, for people in this position, Wei Guangde put forward his own requirements, that is, they should be familiar with and love agriculture, and be willing to do this. struggle.

He didn't want to have a politician in this position giving random orders.

You know, now that the Agricultural Plant Research Institute has been established, the main task at the moment is not only trying to plant royal wheat, but also looking for seeds such as sweet potatoes and potatoes.

Wei Guangde now seriously suspects that what he is looking for may actually exist somewhere in the Ming Dynasty, but it is not known to the court.

For example, the chili peppers he saw in Nanjing before, and the Yumai that appeared in Xiyuan now.

The Agricultural and Botanical Research Institute not only needs to grow royal wheat, but also recruits various plants from various places for identification. If you don't like this business, you may just do it perfunctorily.

"Shandai, I would like to collect the opinions of the heads of the six departments from the court first to see if anyone is willing to be transferred to the Agricultural Plant Research Institute. There is really no suitable candidate in the court now. You don't really want to take on the job of this chief, do you?"

The memorial palace has already approved it, and the Ministry of Industry has also arranged an office in the capital, but the person in charge has not yet been selected.

It is worth mentioning that in the latest appointment and dismissal of court personnel, Fu Yi, the right minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was promoted to the censor of the Youdu Censorship of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate, and Dong Yao, the young minister of Taipu Temple, was promoted to the censor of the Youqiandu. The admiral controls the river and is also in charge of patrolling the river and so on.

Wei Guangde finally fulfilled his promise to Wang Guoguang and arranged for Fu Yi to take charge of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate. The Ministry of Household Affairs also quickly submitted a report on grain and sea transportation, saying, "The benefit of all time lies in the river, and the emergency lies in the sea. The sea route is unpredictable, so only It is advisable to prepare this road for all. Since the first year of Wanli, only 120,000 stones have been transported by sea."

The person who spoke was the assistant minister Lu Tiaoyang. The yamen of the Nongzhi Institute had been established. Since there was no one to appoint, Wei Guangde was actually in charge of all matters.

In addition to obtaining an imperial village on the outskirts of Beijing as an experimental field, the Agricultural and Plant Research Institute also plans to build one each in Shaanxi and Fujian to try to grow royal wheat.

There is no way around this. There is really no official land in the suburbs of Beijing that can be allocated to this new government office. All of it has been allocated by the powerful and powerful.

While Wei Guangde was still hesitating, Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant, sighed and said: "If it had been a few years ago, Ma Fuitu would have been a suitable candidate."

"The horse is in trouble?"

When Lu Tiaoyang heard this, he turned his head to Zhang Juzheng.

"He is of the same year as me. His name is Ma Yilong. He is named negative picture. He was a Jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing reign. He was previously appointed to the Imperial College in Nanjing. He prefers agriculture. He once recruited farmers to cultivate wasteland and adopted a share-sharing system. He gave half of the harvest to Give it to helpers, and after a year all the wasteland will be reclaimed and a good harvest will be achieved.

He edited "Nong Shuo" based on his own farming experience, using the Yin and Yang theory to explain agricultural production, especially rice production. He also wrote "Agricultural Classics" and other books. "

Zhang Juzheng looked at Wei Guangde and Lu Tiaoyang's confused eyes and introduced them.

"Where are the others? What is their current position?"

Wei Guangde asked.

"There were no more people last year."

Zhang Juzheng indeed shook his head and said, "If he were still here, it would be difficult to arrange the official position of this fifth-grade chief. When he became an official, he was the Nanjing Imperial College's minister of wine, Da Sicheng."

Wei Guangde was disappointed when he heard that no one was there.

He only knew that the scientists of the Ming Dynasty were Xu Guangqi and Song Yingxing, but these two seemed to be active figures during the Chongzhen Dynasty. They were probably not born yet, so they were naturally not suitable for this job.

Xu Guangqi, in particular, is actually the most suitable person to manage the Agricultural and Plant Research Institute. I remember that this person has been hanging out with sweet potatoes for a long time. Someone once said that if he could be given a few years to thoroughly study sweet potatoes and promote them to the world, maybe the Ming Dynasty would be able to There is a chance to live longer.

It can be seen that Xu Guangqi was a scholar with profound research on agriculture, and he seemed to be an official with a bachelor's degree in the cabinet.

"By the way, Shandai and Qing are here today and there is something we need to discuss."

Today, Wei Guangde and Lu Tiaoyang showed up at Zhang Juzheng's room. They were also convened by him for a cabinet meeting. Previously, they only asked about the current situation of the Agricultural and Plant Research Institute.

Having said that, it’s time to get back to the topic.

While Zhang Juzheng was talking, he handed a memorandum to Wei Guangde and said, "Let's take a look at it first, and then we'll talk about it."

Wei Guangde opened the memorial and browsed it quickly, then frowned and handed it to Lu Tiaoyang without saying a word.

The memorial was written by Chen Tang, the censor of Huguang Taoist Examination, and describes the current situation of the officials in various places.

"In the first ten years of the Republic of China, a large number of records were created, and all household registrations, land taxes, and service records, old and new, were recorded truthfully.

It has been followed to this day, with traitors moving around, powerful insinuations, and countless ills.

The Yellow Book was in the hands of Lixu, and he was allowed to increase or decrease it. The amount of money and food owed, the severity of the service, and the increase and decrease in household registration were all inconsistent with the facts.

Therefore, when collecting money and food, and organizing corvee labor, all officials attach great importance to the white book.

Everyone's business and property are compiled according to the white book, and the yellow book has become a virtual document. "

After Lu Tiaoyang read Chen Tang's memorial and returned to Zhang Juzheng's hands, he only heard him say: "Now Jiangxi and other places are trying a whipping method, which focuses on measuring the land and calculating the size.

According to Chen Tang, the disadvantages of the yellow book can no longer be used, and local governments have compiled their own white books as the basis for tax and conscription.

According to him, this white book has turned into a real yellow book. "

When Zhang Juzheng finished speaking, Wei Guangde kept lowering his head and thinking. In fact, he was recalling the records about Zhang Juzheng in his mind.

Clearing the land was a major event that Zhang Juzheng did, but calculating the population did not seem to be mentioned separately. However, since the whip method was implemented in the world under Zhang Juzheng's rule, it is likely that the Yellow Book was also compiled again.

Or, the yellow book remained unchanged, but the court also got the white book from local Li Xu.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde realized that Chen Tang's memorial was probably the beginning of Zhang Juzheng's implementation of the whip method and the clearing of land.

Immediately, Wei Guangde thought of the joke about the yellow records of Chongzhen for more than 20 years, which were painstakingly copied by the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty. He believed even more that during the Zhang Juzheng period, the court actually formulated policies based on the white records, instead of taking care of the useless yellow records. book.

It's just that the Yellow Book is something left by Taizu after all, so everyone knows that it is useless, but no one will propose discarding it or re-editing the Yellow Book. The cost of re-editing is really too high.

Moreover, even if the imperial court re-edited the yellow book, the result might be a white book of copies. After all, the people who handled it were Li Jia and subordinate officials in the countryside. It would still be difficult for the court to obtain the most true situation.

After all, this is no longer the beginning of the country's dynasty. Local power is so intertwined that it is difficult to worry about it.

Seeing that Wei Guangde was just lowering his head and thinking, Lu Tiaoyang had no choice but to ask: "I wonder what the Lord Chief Assistant means about the white book mentioned in the memorial?" ’

In fact, everyone who is an official knows something about the yellow book and the white book, but no one has mentioned it before, that is, people who are new to the officialdom will bring it up to talk about it.

"I think both of you are well aware of the disadvantages of the yellow book.

According to the system, the Yellow Book is created every ten years. How much of the national tax comes from it? "

Zhang Juzheng smiled bitterly.

"But household registrations are all from the yellow book."

Lu Tiaoyang answered.

The yellow book seems useless, but in fact it is related to all officials, because the yellow book is continuous, and according to the yellow book, you can find information about the elders above all officials.

Ming system: "At the beginning of the examination paper, there are written the names of the three generations and the year of their place of origin, the classics studied, and the seals of the officials." Anyone who escapes, omits, fakes, or crosses the nationality will be regarded as illegal and will be severely investigated and punished.

In fact, students who are eligible to take the imperial examination must have a clear household registration in the yellow book.

"The yellow book is still required, but you can ask the local government to submit a white book as well."

Wei Guangde suddenly interjected, "The local whip law is implemented, and the court can approve it by comparing the yellow and white books."

"Creating a white book?"

Lu Tiaoyang asked in surprise, but he had already seen Zhang Juzheng at the top doing his signature move, gently stroking his beard.

"The Ministry of Household Affairs needs to master the yellow book, fish scale book and white book so that it can better collect taxes and labor and avoid corruption."

Although Wei Guangde knew that what he said was actually useless, he could only say this.

The Ministry of Household Affairs collects the white records compiled privately by local governments, so that it can at least understand some of the actual situation in the local area, instead of relying on the yellow records that are made up at random.

After all, the population movement in the Ming Dynasty was relatively frequent. Although limited by traffic conditions, most people were still firmly fixed in one place. However, due to various reasons, countless refugees had already appeared, and some even fled their country. The people exist.

"That's what I mean. To implement a whipping law, the court has to grasp the white book in the hands of local officials."

Zhang Juzheng said.

"In this case, the pressure on the Ministry of Revenue will be great. In addition to the yellow list and the fish scale list, there will be a white list."

Lu Tiaoyang said hesitantly.

In fact, Wei Guangde also thought of abolishing the Yellow Book, but he did not dare to say that the Yellow Book was the foundation of the country.

As for why the white book is not used to fill the yellow book, the problem is complicated. The most important thing is that every time the yellow book is made up, the real executors are mostly cheating and do not check it carefully because the workload is too large.

The yellow book of the Ming Dynasty was mainly based on household registration, and the white book was a supplement to the yellow book. In addition, the fish scale atlas was based on land.

The Fish Scale Book, also known as the Fish Scale Atlas, Fish Scale Map, and Measurement Book, is a land registration book in ancient China. Houses, mountains, forests, ponds, and fields are arranged and connected in order to indicate the corresponding names. It is a general register of folk fields. , named because the field picture resembles fish scales.

Each piece of land number, name of land owner, size, location and land grade are recorded in detail in the atlas. The shape of each piece of land is also drawn into a map, and there is a comprehensive map of the land at the front of each volume, which looks like fish scales.