Zhang Reform is a series of reforms carried out by politician Zhang in the middle of Ming Dynasty to save the Ming Dynasty.
In the middle of Ming dynasty, the situation of land annexation by aristocratic landlords was quite serious. In Jiangnan, some big landlords occupy 70,000 hectares of land.
In the imperial court, Xu Jie, a university student, occupied 240,000 mu of land. About half of the land taxed in the country was hidden by big landlords.
Refusal to pay taxes has seriously affected national income. The aristocratic big landlords plundered the land crazily, which further aggravated the feudal exploitation.
Drama caused the intensification of social contradictions, and Deng, Liu Tong, Lan Tingrui, and others happened one after another.
Seventh-class peasant uprising. The Ming dynasty was in danger.
How can we maintain feudal rule? Some authorities in the landlord class believe that politics must be reformed to find
Seek a way to save yourself. In this situation, Zhang carried out new reform measures.
Zhang (1525? 1582) from Jiangling, Hubei.
During the Wanli period of Ming Shenzong, he served as the cabinet first assistant (prime minister) for 10 years. The measures he took mainly include:
In internal affairs, he first reorganized the bureaucracy and strengthened centralization of authority. Zhang Chuang created the "Examination Law", which is strict.
To investigate the implementation of imperial edicts by officials at all levels, and to report local political affairs to the Cabinet on a regular basis in order to improve the real power and recall power of the Cabinet.
Die-hard officials who are old-fashioned and opposed to change have chosen and promoted the new forces supporting reform and done something for the implementation of the new law.
Organize preparation. He also reorganized the postal service and civil servants. His policy towards politics is: "Respect sovereignty, instructors, rewards and punishments, one."
Preface "and" strong public house, du private door. "
On the economic front, Zhang's achievements are the most outstanding. He once used Pan Jixun, a famous hydraulic scientist, to supervise the repair of the Yellow River.
The Yellow River no longer flows into the Huaihe River from the south, so "the land is exhausted, and the abandoned land has been turned into ploughing mulberry for decades", and the Caohe River can also reach the north directly.
Jing.
"One whip method" is an important content of Zhang's economic reform, and it is also an important content of China's feudal social labor history.
Major changes.
The tax system in the early Ming Dynasty was very complicated. At that time, the taxes were mainly grain, supplemented by silver wire, and collected in summer and autumn.
In addition, farmers are required to bear all kinds of corvees, pay special local taxes and so on. The content of "one whip method" is:
"It is necessary to add up the taxes of a county, measure the land, plan the land, collect all the silver, decompose the government and hire servants to deal with it." Is to put the fields in every state and county
Fu, corvee and other miscellaneous taxes are always one, and silver is collected together and paid according to the conversion of mu, which greatly simplifies the collection procedures.
At the same time, it also makes it difficult for local officials to cheat. By implementing this method, landless farmers can reduce their labor burden and own land.
Some farmers can spend more time cultivating the land, which has played a certain role in developing agricultural production. At the same time, change the corvee.
In order to collect silver, farmers have gained greater personal freedom and are more likely to leave the land, which provides urban handicrafts.
More sources of labor. Industrial and commercial people who have no land do not have to pay silver, which is also positive for the development of industry and commerce.
Function.
The implementation of the "one-whip law" made the fiscal revenue of the Ming government increase significantly, and the financial and economic situation also changed greatly.
Oh, my god The national treasury reserves more than/kloc-0.3 million stone, which can be eaten for five or six years, and it is less than 1 of the national grain inventory during Jiajing period.
The year-round use is a great progress.
Zhang also took some military reform measures. He sent Qi Jiguang to keep Jimen and Liaodong in Li Zhiliang Town, and
There are more than 3,000 "enemy stations" on the Great Wall from Shanhaiguan in the east to Juyongguan in the west. He also entered between Dahan and Tatar.
Trade in the tea-horse market and adopt a peaceful policy. Since then, the northern border defense has been further consolidated. In twenty or thirty years, the Ming Dynasty and Tatar
There is no cymbal war.
After the above reforms, the centralized feudal state machine was strengthened, and the "law must be enforced" was basically realized.
As a result, the country's economic situation has improved, its fiscal revenue has increased, and its national defense has strengthened its anti-aggression.
Ability. Of course, Zhang advocated political reform not to reduce the burden on the people, but to consolidate the Ming Dynasty.
Feudal rule. Therefore, his political reform could not touch the fundamental interests of the landlord class, and he could only make some tinkering.
Reform can't save the historical trend of the inevitable demise of feudal society. Nevertheless, Zhang's reform to some extent.
In fact, it restricts the vested interests of big bureaucrats and big landlords.
1in June 582, Zhang died of illness, and some reformist opposition regrouped and counterattacked wildly. They attacked Zhang's reform, saying that clearing farmland was "harmful to the people by increasing taxes" and that it was chaotic to implement "one whip method"
"Ancestral system" They ordered the revocation of Taiga's rank and title after Zhang's death, and then confiscated the property.
Zhang's eldest son was forced to commit suicide and other family members were persecuted. Represented the feudal stubbornness of the big landlord big noble.
The die-hards are back in power, and the life of the working people is even more painful.
In the feudal society of China, many emperors rose from ordinary people to the throne. Both Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang are famous for their founding monarchs, but there are few prime ministers with humble origins who can turn the tide. Zhang is one of the few. He rose from scholar, juren, scholar and official to cabinet scholar and from common people. He worked as a clerk for ten years in the early Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, assisting the ten-year-old emperor to carry out reforms, governing the declining and chaotic Ming Dynasty, and making the country rich and the people safe. People praised him as "the prime minister of saving the times" (1).
"Salvation" is a high reputation, which not only shows that he is a great politician who kept up with the crisis when the dynasty declined, but also created history with his extraordinary measures to revitalize the world. His brilliant achievements are comparable to those of Shang Yang and Wang Anshi, and he is one of the three most famous reformers in China's feudal society.
The reform took place from the first year to the tenth year of Wanli in the late Ming Dynasty (1573- 1582), during which Zhang served as the meeting record. This is an eventful year for the country, but in the specific era of16th century, it is not only the decline of a dynasty, but the decline of the whole feudal system. At the end of the dynasty, some politicians tried their best to revive the declining trend, but at the end of the feudal society, only Zhang Chenggong succeeded in reviving the aging system with the power to turn the tide. The history of China at the end of 16 gave him a different background and opportunity from previous reforms.
The feudal autocracy in China lasted for more than 1,600 years from Qin and Han Dynasties to the end of Ming Dynasty. It not only has the process of creation and perfection, but also develops in the repeated shocks of continuous strengthening and weakening. How many peasant uprisings overthrew one dynasty after another, causing the paralysis of feudal rule again and again, while the feudal autocracy still survived and developed, and it was strengthened more and more in the later period of feudal society. In the Ming Dynasty, political centralization reached an unprecedented intensity, and even the power of the prime minister was owned by the emperor, so later generations regarded the Ming Dynasty as a dynasty with extremely developed feudal absolutism. However, in the last few years of this highly strengthened autocratic dynasty, the scene of decline far exceeded that of the late Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. Such an extremely strengthened and extremely weakened situation was born in the beginning and end of the same dynasty, which was unprecedented in previous dynasties. This phenomenon of alternating strength and weakness reflects the insurmountable contradiction of the feudal autocracy itself, indicating that the feudal autocracy has been plagued by many diseases, and it will die if it does not advance.
Zhang stepped onto the political stage at this critical moment of historical development, leaving behind his legendary life.
The son of a farmer in Jiangling, Hubei Province, has been a famous child prodigy in the village since he was a child. At the age of ten, he read through the four books and five classics, and at the age of thirteen, he wrote the quatrains of Zhu Yong:
Green is all over Xiaoxiang, and the forest is cold;
Phoenix feathers are strong and straight to the pole.
In his early years, bamboo was used as a metaphor for people, which showed his great ambition as a teenager. He could have won the exam this year. Gu *, the governor of Huguang as an examiner, saw the young man's greatness and deliberately let him lose the election, which made him suffer setbacks and encouraged him to forge ahead. Sure enough, three years later, Zhang tried his hand again and became famous at the age of 16, becoming the youngest juren. Gu * was very happy after knowing it, and immediately took off the jade pendant he was wearing and gave it to him, encouraging him to become a talent in the auxiliary country.
Young Zhang was successful, entered the cabinet in his prime, was ingenious, smart and decisive. Tong Mingjian said: "The national treasury is full, and the country is the richest." "Rise and fall, strengthen discipline, improve discipline, and live in the right place." This is a fair evaluation of him by the Qing people. But in the eyes of people at that time, there was a lot of fame. People commented on his merits and demerits, and many people attacked each other and sheltered each other. In the notes of Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as Supplement to Wan Ye Li, Zhuang Yong's Sketch, Five Miscellaneous Notes, Notes on Dingling and Notes on Sending the Garden, I doubt whether Zhang has framed his friends and accepted bribes.
Collusion with the inner prison, whether the two sons won the first and second place in a row, whether they were secretly linked, and so on, some accused, some defended, praised and criticized differently, and even "human feelings were fierce", so many right and wrong were combined into one, which is rare in history.
His personal ending was as bumpy and unfortunate as that of Shang Yang and Wang Anshi. If all this is not uncommon in the experience of reformers in past dynasties, it is intriguing that it was Zhang Siwei, his successor who was hand-picked and reused, which led to the "whipping of the corpse" behind him and Zou Yuanbiao, the official department minister who was disabled by the imperial aides, who rehabilitated him. Such an ironic ending is unheard of in the history of China's reform.
Why did history give him such a dislocation? !
Second, the critical moment was ordered.
The Ming Dynasty was a dynasty with extremely developed feudal autocracy. Its ruling system leads to the abuse of absolute monarchy and bureaucratic corruption. Since the establishment of feudal society, the emperor has the highest autocratic power in handling state affairs. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the power of the Prime Minister was recovered, and the cabinet was set up as the secretary of emperor affairs. All the chapters were examined and approved by the emperor himself, and no one was allowed to ask. Whenever there is a big event or doubt, the liegeman can only listen to the decree in person and concentrate everything on the emperor. The monarch's power is highly inflated, surpassing all previous dynasties.
When things develop to the extreme, they often go to the opposite side. The high concentration of power has brought a more luxurious lifestyle to royal relatives and nobles, eroded their minimum ability to manage state affairs and nourished generations of confused emperors. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it became a practice for the emperor not to visit the DPRK. Emperor Jiajing lived in the inner palace, cultivated immortals and monasteries, and ignored politics for 30 years. Qin Long was in office for six years and rarely approved official documents. In case of state affairs, he let ministers argue and say nothing. Some people think he is stupid. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the court had strict etiquette, and officials who were slightly disrespectful would be punished or even died. Ministers are afraid to slack off. More than a hundred years later, during the Qin Long period, courtiers had long been forgotten, and no one even figured out how to advance and retreat. Occasionally, ministers swagger in the temple, make a loud noise, spit everywhere and blaspheme the emperor. This phenomenon was unprecedented not only in the history of feudal dynasties, but also in the late Qing Dynasty.
The emperor is the highest political representative of feudal absolutism. The decline of the emperor's authority means that centralization of authority has been unable to control his ruling sequence, which is the manifestation of the collapse and division of the ruling machine. When the emperor ignored state affairs for a long time, the political center of gravity naturally fell on the cabinet. Whoever becomes the recorder will be in power, actually holding the highest power, which will inevitably lead to a sharp struggle against cabinet records within the ruling class. During the reign of Jiajing and Qin Long, in just six years, Xu Jie overthrew Yan Song and Gao Gong overthrew Xu Jie. Defeated by the high arch, the high arch was blown away by Zhang and replaced almost every year. A record was broken, involving a group of demoted officials. People in power today may be ousted next year. The cabinet loves evil, spits abuse and even fights. Officials ignore laws and regulations, and there are many political disputes and no discipline. The anonymous cashier in charge of Qian Gu and the criminal name in charge of punishment are ignorant of law and cannot be corrected by supervision. People angrily pointed out: "Since Jialong, Ji Gang has died, bullying foreigners by law" (2), "The appeasement policy of this dynasty is better than that of Song Dynasty" (3). The corruption, chaos and out-of-control of the ruling clique are far more serious than Wang Anshi's political reform in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Financial difficulties are more urgent than political crisis. The most difficult social and economic problem is land annexation. The scale of land concentration is getting bigger and bigger, and the royal family and the country are scrambling to annex land. Once they take it for themselves, they use their privileges to evade taxes by avoiding land. The more land is annexed, the less tax revenue the country has. Zhu Zaizhen, the fourth son of Jiajing, occupies tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land in Huguang, and Wangzhuang and Wangdian, the son of Qin Long, are all over the country. Honorary ministers with titles, powerful eunuchs and well-known squires used the privilege of not paying taxes and doing bad things to seize land, and all kinds of farmland expanded rapidly. "Private people are getting richer and poorer" (4), and tax sources are gradually drying up. In the past five years, Qin Long's total fiscal revenue was only 2.52 million, while its expenditure reached more than 4 million, with a deficit of more than one third. Government revenue
The situation has gone from bad to worse, while the huge expenses of the royal family are increasing. Emperor Qin Long's court expenses were dozens of times higher than those at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The corruption and waste of officials and the huge military expenditure have aggravated the financial tension, and the poverty of the country has reached an alarming level.
It is worth noting that the contradiction between the peasant class and the landlord class has not yet reached the level of intensification. According to Shi Minglu, there were more than 30 peasant uprisings in Qin Long in the early Ming Dynasty, which was lower than that in Hongwu. Most of them were scattered small teams, which did not pose a big threat to the rule of the dynasty. Lenin, when discussing the law of Russian revolution, once regarded the lower class's unwillingness to live as usual and the upper class's inability to rule as usual as two conditions for the success of the uprising. However, these two conditions do not necessarily come at the same time. When the class struggle has not been completely intensified and the ruling institutions have been paralyzed, it is possible to have a ruling crisis in advance. The political and economic turmoil in Jiajing and Qin Long years mainly came from contradictions and conflicts within the ruling class, which was the main manifestation of social crisis.
It is not that no enlightened people in the ruling class tried to change their ways, but they all failed. Xu Jie, the records of Jiajing's last years, made up his mind to change the situation. He put up posters on the wall to motivate himself, stayed in the cabinet, worked all night to handle official duties, cut down redundant staff, rehabilitate unjust imprisonment and improve the lives of soldiers. However, it has not made much contribution to the current corruption situation. He was quickly attacked by his opponent and forced to resign. Gao Gong, who succeeded the records, was ambitious and wanted to rock the boat. He thought that his predecessor's measures were irrelevant, so he took the opposite action to Xu Jie, rehabilitated all ministers, and took "knowing talents" as the fundamental policy of "governing the country". Fifth, he chose officials regardless of their origins and qualifications, and vigorously promoted young officials, and stipulated that anyone who reached the age of 50 could only be awarded miscellaneous officials, and could not be the head of counties. All these have merits, so he has gained the reputation of "being good at employing people". However, he could not understand the overall situation and control the left and right, and was soon removed from office.
They are all recorded talents and have made great efforts to promote the advantages and eliminate the disadvantages. The problem is that this improvement neither offends the existing social relations nor interferes with the financial system, but only repairs the decadent bureaucratic machine on the basis of maintaining the status quo. The reform didn't hit the nail on the head, and it didn't touch the main political and economic drawbacks, so they couldn't support the dilapidated Empire State Building. Therefore, they all lost quickly and left their jobs in a mess.
Zhang is a leader among people of insight. He witnessed the deterioration of the situation and wrote this poem with great anxiety:
The sea of dust is dark and the clouds are full of Zhongzhou.
My eyes are extremely heart-shaped, but I feel sad when I look at them. (6)
His deep sense of hardship made him have no intention of staying in a leisurely life. In the days when his colleagues were intoxicated with singing and dancing pavilions, he closed the door to thank guests, studied the laws and regulations of dynasties, analyzed government affairs, and explored ways to save the country and rejuvenate the country. During the three-year holiday in my hometown, I tirelessly visited the people's sufferings and determined to clean up the troubles of the world. The dragon was bored for six years (1572), and an unexpected opportunity came. This year, the emperor died, and Gao Gong, Zhang and Gao Yi were ordered to assist the ten-year-old little emperor (Zongshen, the owner of Jingding Mausoleum). The high arch is a record, and he is arrogant. In his mind, Zhang is just a subordinate. Senior one is sickly, not his own opponent. The only person who can compete with him is Li Si prison eunuch Feng Bao. In the struggle between Gao and Feng, Zhang took the opportunity to unite and crowd out Gao Gong. Gao Yi died this year and was promoted to record in turn. He was the teacher of the little emperor and the only surviving minister in charge of life, and he was completely trusted by the emperor. During his ten years in power, he actually mastered the power of the Ming empire, which created extremely favorable conditions for his reform.
Third, the way to success
Zhang's political reform was a top-down movement to save the crisis of dynasty rule when the ruling institution was almost disintegrated and the finance was on the verge of bankruptcy.
He has a famous saying: "it's too big for you, but it's not as good as it is, not enough to settle down!" " "This' just past' fully shows that he pushed the New Deal to the whole country with resolute knowledge and courage, so it also left the great difficulty of' harsh politics', right? No? Has become the past. History is concerned about what kind of decisions he made to turn the dynasty from danger to safety!
Ten-year reform has been promoted from politics to economy, and remarkable achievements have been made in strengthening the country and enriching the people from four aspects.
(A), the rule of law as the center of governance, showing great faith in the world, so that the reform has a strong organizational guarantee. "
The reform of feudal society is a reform movement initiated from the upper level, which first requires the upper level to centralize power and unify power. If the courts do not strengthen their control over institutions at all levels, the reform will be a dead letter. Before Wanli, the public security was lax and there were many political disputes, so it was impossible to implement any wonderful New Deal. It is precisely because of this that Zhang proposed "respecting sovereignty" as a "top priority". This "respect for sovereignty" is not loyalty to the monarch in the general sense, but emphasizes the function of the government. The so-called "the foundation of one party lies in caressing, and the foundation of the world lies in politics." (7) "Everything is to respect the Lord, protect the people and inspire decadence." (8) In order to achieve the goal of "Zhang annihilates the heroes and seizes power, and is loyal to Baidu" (9) Combine respect for the imperial court with law enforcement. Its essence is to rectify government institutions and ruling order, with the focus on maintaining law and discipline. To his credit, he regards the lawless powerful as "the scorpion of power" (10) and thinks that they are the real disaster for the country and people. Therefore, he took cracking down on the lawless powerful as "the beginning of making great efforts" (1 1) and put forward the idea of "eliminating evil from evil" (12). It is obviously more courageous and superior than ordinary landlords and bureaucrats whose first task is to suppress the people to point the edge of reform at illegal phenomena within the ruling class and touch the most decadent and darkest social forces.
Lawless dignitaries as their agents have been rampant for a long time, and the evil forces are intertwined and no one can touch them. Whether you have the courage to bring them to justice is a severe test of whether you can win the trust of the world with the rule of law. On the eve of Zhang's administration, that is, in the face of the case that his childhood benefactor, the Liao King of Jiangling, did evil in the village and fished for the people, local officials were afraid of the power of the Liao Palace and dared not report the crimes of the Liao King truthfully. Zhang resolutely dealt with dereliction of duty officials, carrying the stigma of "seeking wealth and harming friends", abolishing the Liao king and punishing the bully in Jiangling. At the beginning of the political reform, the most powerful eunuch's nephew's illegal beating of civilians attracted attention, because Zhang was mainly supported when he became an official. However, this matter is not difficult. He made a quick decision, fired Feng's nephew, beat him with a stick, and told him to be strict in family education and maintain law and order. He also punished the Duke of Feast, the descendant of Confucius, and sued the Duke of Guizhou, and used powerful measures to restrict the royal family from exercising their power, repeatedly declaring: "Anyone who dares to bend the law will be severely punished." ( 13)
It is his most successful move to link cracking down on illegal powerful people with getting rid of graft and plugging loopholes in rules and regulations. In the Ming Dynasty, post delivery was the main means of official business. There were post stations on the main roads from Beijing to the provinces, which were responsible for providing officials with food, accommodation, officials, horses and chariots. These burdens are shared by people nearby. In the early Ming dynasty, there were strict regulations on the use of post offices. Unless there was an urgent military need, it was not allowed to send stamps to pick up post offices. By the end of the Ming dynasty, these regulations had existed in name only, and the Ministry of War and the provinces were pressing them to fill in and issue seals at will, and each seal was used for life or given away. It is a cruel tyranny that officials extort money, arrest people and rob thieves in various ways at the post station. Zhang is determined to have an operation and a painful incision from now on, so as to eliminate the disadvantages accumulated over the years and benefit the people. This is an important guarantee for the reform to win the trust of the world and the people.
(2) Take financial management as the supervision center, rectify the government, and make the New Deal get financial benefits.
Zhang believes that collusion and merger of foreign forces and fraud within the government are the main sources of social instability. In order to effectively restrain illegal dignitaries and crack down on illegal activities, we must start with official management to rectify government institutions. However, this has always been the case between officials. When a matter touches the vested interests of officials, large and small, it is a hornet's nest, encountering numerous obstacles and even being isolated. Therefore, it is risky to rectify the government in feudal society. Zhang's government soon succeeded. There are three main ways.
First, strengthen supervision and improve administrative efficiency. In the Ming Dynasty, the central organization was divided into six departments: official, household, ritual, military, criminal and industrial, and the six departments were divided into six branches of supervisory organizations. The highest officer of the company is the second officer, and the highest officer of the company is the seventh officer, but these seven officers have the power to refute and correct the disintegration of the second officer. So big officials command small officials, but small officials can control big officials, and six departments and six subjects are directly responsible to the emperor, and the cabinet does not interfere. Speaking of bad king, it's a mess. When Zhang arrived, it was changed to a cabinet, and the method of official assessment was promulgated. The official department examines the words with inquiries, the words are verified, the results are verified, the officials' laziness is evaluated, the attendance is checked regularly, and the assessment is done with them. A strict supervision system has been adopted to prevent dereliction of duty.
Second, taking financial management as the assessment standard is the ultimate goal of the examination method. At that time, it was common for the officialdom to raise taxes and search for the king's head, and they dared not supervise the payment of the land tax, because all the tax evaders were powerful people, and recovering the land tax was tantamount to breaking ground in the traditional era, and no one dared to do so. Zhang Yiran put forward the idea of "taking Qian Gu as the test score" (14), and all officials who fail to recover taxes will be criticized, transferred or dismissed. It is a successful experience to pursue land and food, force officials to crack down on illegal dignitaries, leave corrupt officials nowhere to hide, and make up for national losses without increasing taxes.
The third is to use talents in an eclectic way and cultivate the backbone of reform. Promising politicians can often get rid of the prejudice of seniority in employing people, but it is rare for Zhang to attach importance to promoting talents from the lower levels. He advocated: "bacteria are collected from the manure, and ginger is pulled out from the withered." (15) thinks that talent is the best way to build a virtuous person. Even if you are a monk, as long as you are outstanding, you can become one of the nine big noble and become a pillar of the country. He broke away from convention, using veteran Li as the general beside the town, disabled petty officials as Taifuqing, and reusing dismissed water conservancy expert Pan Jixun to manage the Yellow River. At the climax of the reform, candidates from prefectures, prefectures and counties were chartered to enter imperial academy, the imperial capital, and talents were recruited from all over the country, which soon formed a capable team and formed the backbone of the reform, making contributions to the establishment of the New Deal.
(c) Focus on unifying taxes, benefiting farmers and developing social economy.
The tax system of the Ming Dynasty was to collect land tax from landlords and assign officials according to their heads, so land and hukou were the main sources of finance and labor in the dynasty. With the development of merging forces, people's land and population gradually concentrated in the names of ministers, nobles and big landlords. Relying on their privileges, they bribed the government, concealed their household registration, evaded land taxes and evaded officials. By the eve of Wanli, the land legally requisitioned for grain was reduced by half compared with the early Ming Dynasty, and the population was reduced by more than one third. A large amount of land and manpower flowed into private pockets, which exhausted the country's tax sources. Originally, the land tax levied by the state was to levy more land and less land, which was fair from the legal point of view and the essence of tax equalization under feudal land ownership. Some farmers' land is occupied by powerful people, but the land tax remains in the name of the original landowner, which leads to tax precipitation and social problems of uneven tax revenue. The assessment method can only solve part of the problem of tax arrears, and a large number of problems such as tax evasion and uneven tax service need to be rectified from the tax service system in order to open up a new road to financial management and protect the people. Wanli began to investigate in the fifth year, and the next year ordered the whole country to clean up the fields and check them carefully. In three years, more than 800,000 hectares of tax evasion land were found, which severely cracked down on illegal landlords, forced them to abide by the law and dare not cheat easily, and exempted small farmers from compensation. State taxes were collected on time, which reversed the financial losses. Later generations commented on this move: "Without reduction or increase, the difficulties of the poor will be alleviated, but the merger of Hao Min will not succeed." (16) has truly achieved both public and private interests.
After the phenomenon of uneven taxation was initially corrected, the problem of escaping from service was immediately solved. In the ninth year of Wanli, the method of "one whip" was implemented throughout the country, that is, various taxes in taxation, such as miscellaneous, unified, poor power and poor silver, were merged into one, and the poor power was included in the land tax, accounting by field, simplifying procedures and unified collection. It can also be exchanged for silver, so that the enlisted officers can pay for it. This expanded the scope of currency circulation, weakened personal dependence, made businessmen and craftsmen gain personal freedom, and promoted the development of commodity economy.
While adjusting economic policies, we should take water conservancy construction as an important task to develop production. Traditionally, the policy of river management has only been to transport grain for the imperial court, regardless of people's livelihood. Therefore, most of the methods of diverting water from the Yellow River are used to ensure the smooth flow of canal channels, that is, more branches are opened in the lower reaches of the Yellow River to divert water. This method is easy to block the river and raise the river bed, but it was used by successive dynasties for quick success and instant benefit. Zhang Dali supported Pan Jixun, a water conservancy expert, to abandon the traditional method and adopt the principle of giving consideration to both water transport and people's livelihood, build dikes to control water, attack sand with water, and use the fast-flowing river to wash the sand into the sea. Since then, there has been no major disaster for many years, which has turned the wasteland on both sides of the Yellow River into farming mulberry fields, and tens of thousands of rivers are faster than traffic. (17) ensures production and stabilizes the government's financial resources.
(4) In order to get close to the people and conform to customs, we advocate facing reality and providing powerful ideological resources for reform.
Since Zhang came to power, advocating governing the country is nothing more than seeking prosperity, which was not easily accepted by some bureaucrats and scholars at that time. Since the Song and Ming Dynasties, Neo-Confucianism has been regarded as authentic Confucianism and the official thought of the ruling class, and it became more and more empty at the end of the Ming Dynasty. It preaches that there is nothing outside the heart, and seeking outside is not false. It leads the efforts to explore the inner world and denies the objective truth. This style of study, which is completely divorced from reality, has cultivated a group of scholars who talk empty about metaphysics and despise people's livelihood. They mocked Zhang, saying, "Our name is Zhang Gongbing and we became emperor Wang Zhidao. Look at what they are saying now. It is just a rich country, Qiang Bing, which is extremely disappointing." Zhang smiled at one of the newspapers and said, "You flatter me! I can make Qiang Bing a rich country! "