[Comprehensive] Be with Ancient Celebrities

Regarding the issue of the post station, I don’t want to think about it, but when I think about it, Ayu suddenly feels that his focus has been a bit wrong all along. After a long time, nearly [-]% of the benefits of what he did, all belong to Emperor Wanli?It made me seem to be patronizing how to help Emperor Wanli make money.Obviously, he is still very concerned about the country and the people, and he obviously sees it quite far away, so why did he just forget what it means: If you want to get rich, you need to build roads, such a wise saying?

Cleaning up rivers and repairing official roads has always been a sign of whether a dynasty is strong or not.Since ancient times, whether the river course is unobstructed and whether the official road is endless represents the far and near distance of the emperor's will.Now that he has started to intervene in the matter of water transportation, hiding behind and leading to a new situation, then this station cannot be let go.

Because of the dismantling of the post station, Li Zicheng was unemployed, and because of the arrears of military pay in the Northwest, there was the bandit who sounded the death knell of Ming Dynasty.So the problem of Ming Dynasty, in the final analysis, is still a problem of money.Now the problem of military pay has begun to gradually ease. Emperor Wanli, who was so wealthy that his internal treasury was bigger than the national treasury, while creating a steady stream of profits from the mutual market, he had the foresight to transfer this part of the money directly to the first level of military pay. Here, special funds are used for special purposes, and countless hands are avoided.It has become the most basic payment guarantee for Nine Sides.

The military pay has hematopoiesis, so this station... on the road, what can make money?In Ayu's view, as long as he dares to let go of the hands and feet of these post stations, this problem will not be a problem.Wouldn't it be a big deal to merge the Civil Credit Bureau?The big deal is to develop the express delivery industry, right?When did you ever see a highway rest stop lose money?That is, eat and drink more with public funds, so it is always possible to maintain it.It's always possible to open up new ways of making money.

It was a good idea, but after a closer look, Ayu felt a little silly.The post station in the Ming Dynasty... the big problem is not one o'clock or two o'clock.

Basically speaking, the post station in the Ming Dynasty was a luxurious official guest house.Moreover, because of postal and military information transmission purposes, post stations at this time, really, are all over the country's traffic routes, just like today's highway service areas.Provide free services for "institutional personnel" across the country!Generally speaking, it is more in quantity, higher in grade, and more in function.

According to the regulations at the time, most post stations had yards with two or even three entrances.The gate, drum tower, middle gate, front and rear halls, left and right wing rooms, kitchen, storeroom, stables, post house and other facilities must be complete.A standard post station has 10 upper rooms for officials to live in, and 20 side rooms or wing rooms for commuting servants to live in.It can accommodate dozens of guests at the same time.

And to receive such people, it is natural to need to configure the kitchen and stables.And with these, management and service personnel such as grooms, donkey drivers, steppers, shopkeepers, cufus, buckets, housekeepers, and cooks are also indispensable.And these workers also need to live. Even if there is only Datong shop, it still takes up space to build a house. If you add spare warehouses and temporary prisons, you can know how big the station is by counting with your fingers. How cumbersome it is, how complicated the staff is, from a functional point of view, this station is really powerful.

Then again, why did the emperor of the Ming Dynasty abolish the post station?To be honest, what Chongzhen did is not unusual, because the abolition of the Ming Dynasty post has been done before him, more than once.

The first time was in 1558, when Emperor Jiajing was in power and the court ran out of money, so it planned to cut down the scale of post stations across the country by 30%-50%, and half of the saved money and food would be used for military expenses.Fighting Japanese pirates is still very important, right?The problem is that the idea is good, but the execution is poor.The officials of Ming Dynasty are too low-conscious and greedy.The local government here has reduced the funds for the post station, and the officials and even their family members who come and go there continue to eat and drink for free in the post station, using carts and horses.

We all know that after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the speed of the collapse of the government was greatly accelerated.The inn is particularly evident here.Anyone who has something to do with the system can open a letter of introduction to stay at the post station and use chariots and horses.In this way, who can afford it, so the staff at the station began to flee.Everyone knows that the post station itself also undertakes the function of message delivery. As soon as this person is gone... After the pirates attacked Xinghua City in Fujian, the urgent news was delayed for more than a month before it was delivered to Beijing.How do you implement this policy?So the abolition reform was declared a failure after 5 years.

The second time I was closer to Ayu, because it was Zhang Juzheng who did it, or else this guy is famous through the ages, as soon as the technique is out, you can immediately see whether it is comparable to the people in front of you.Just in 1576, Comrade Lao Zhang started by restricting the privileges of officials, promulgated strict regulations, and used the method of killing chickens and scaring monkeys, directly punishing dozens of officials who violated the rules, and many officials were demoted or dismissed.It even includes the descendants of Confucius and relatives of the emperor.The scene was quite big, and the handwriting was absolutely ruthless, so the extravagance of officials at the post station was stopped immediately.

Although there is no mandatory reduction ratio from the perspective of saving expenses, and there is no rigid target for the reduction of funds, it is possible to pay close attention to the key problem of "official privileges" and directly incorporate the reform of post administration into various provincial-level departments. The content of the assessment of the top leader is this one.It has successfully reduced the cost of post offices across the country by more than 30%.Saved nearly one million taels of silver.

It's a pity, because this money is saved, although the huge economic burden for the people has been reduced, and both the state's finances and the people have benefited, but the privileges of officials have been damaged.So after his death in 1582, all the old tricks were repeated.

Of course, this refers to history, but it won’t happen in this book now. Isn’t this Ayu’s arrival? With a person like him, can the same mistakes be repeated?How is it possible, only further.For example, at this moment, Ayu has already begun to consider specific purge measures.

The key point is the funding of this station.The irrationality of the Daming station is that these star-studded stations are not only not operated in a market-oriented manner, nor are they supported by state funding.Each post station actually depends on the local government to apportion directly to the people, and use the extra tribute from the local people to support it?That's it!

Let's not talk about anything else, let's just talk about the northwest, or take Li Zicheng's Shaanxi post station as an example. The Xi'an post station has 27 horses, 10 donkeys, a number of oxen and a number of carts.These things need to be eaten, what kind of consumption is that?You must know that the horses at the post station do not eat grass, but food.As early as Zhu Yuanzhang's period, each horse in the station needed 80 shi of local grain every year.In the middle of the Ming Dynasty 150 years later, after some embezzlers' golden fingers came to fruition, a horse in Huazhou, Shaanxi needs 422 shi of grain every year!At that time, one hectare of cultivated land in Shaanxi could only produce 7 shi of grain.Therefore, raising a stage horse requires the blood and sweat of more than a dozen households throughout the year.If you add the semi-desert-like drought in northern Shaanxi, the similar population density in Tibet, and about 20 military households, these are combined, and then compared with the ten-thousand-density post stations across the country... How do you think this apportionment can support you? ?Sure enough, by eating other people's food, fools can become smarter, and petty officials like Yicheng can become five times greedy for money.

Anyway, Ayu thinks that the post stations in the border areas will continue with such a system, even if there is no abolishment, it will be very difficult to maintain.So he thinks that these places should be fed by the state's finances, so they still have to be fed by others. Who makes this indispensable, right?As for other places, in fact, it can be subcontracted in the form of contracting to mobilize the enthusiasm of employees.Anyone who runs an inn can make money. As long as those postmen in such a place are not stupid, they must know how profitable it is to contract, right?

As for the functions of the state...First of all, I would like to emphasize that the delivery of military information is an inescapable natural duty of the post station, and it must serve the state for free.If you don't even do it well, you'll lose your head.Then on the official reception, on the issue of the court's public affairs handlers (such as escorting prisoners), anyone who is qualified and wants to enjoy free entertainment needs to leave a handwritten document at the post station, explaining the reason for the exchange, the number of personnel, Rough consumption, etc., so that it is convenient for Yicheng to deliver to the government to enter the account. At the end of each month, the local government will give half of the market price according to the actual expenditure.Ensure that the post station will not lose too much money.In addition, this information document must be sent as an attachment to the local Jinyi Guards, as a review file for the flow of officials.

As soon as this came out... Ayu's eyes narrowed. He felt that there was no need to be cruel, as long as Jin Yiwei wanted to review, hehe, those who eat and drink for nothing will be halfway down immediately.After all, the reputation of Jin Yiwei is not something that can make them have the courage to attack them with a few dollars, right?

As for the part paid by the local government... Ayu thinks that it is not necessary to worry about how much the court pays, but the tax for the self-operated part of the station should be determined first.Which items should be taxed, and what percentage should be collected, all need to be discussed.Wait for this to be decided, and try it out for a period of time in a certain place to see how much the tax is.Then, according to the tax, according to the degree of prosperity and the number of people in different regions, the respective funding ratios of the local yamen and the imperial court are agreed.

If you want to be more strict with the card, you can also set a certain amount range for the reception amount of the station officials. Officials can also check their qualifications when they go out to enjoy the reception of the post station. For example, how much free entertainment can they enjoy every year outside of business wait.

Anyway, Ayu thinks that many terms and conditions of modern clean government construction can actually be used as a reference for the issue of post stations in this era. Since he can be lazy, why should he bother with his own brains, right?Come out more, and then disperse the ideas, and send them to the reformists who have lost Zhang Juzheng and the crisis of being a political victim, and let them go.Anyway, in the past year, these guys who have been shaking again have recently shown signs of internal fighting because of their leader's position.Rather than letting them consume needlessly, it is better to let them fight with practical actions.Anyway, it's a real thing, right?

Ayu felt that doing things by herself was quite up to standard.Listening to the thunder in a calm place, Jin Yiwei should have come like this!Otherwise, their reputation for insidiousness and cunning would be in vain.

"Ayu, Ayu... good news, good news, picture, picture... the picture you were looking for, I found it..."

Ayu was busy here, and he was happy, and the Tiehu outside, who never knew what it meant to be polite, started attacking his house's concierge again.The voice was so loud that he was in the middle of the night and sleeping, so he could probably hear it clearly.Why doesn't this person know how to walk slowly and let someone inform him, anyway... Wait, picture?What picture?Could it be... a sea chart?

Ayu's eyes widened, and then he jumped up suddenly, and started to rush out like flying.Unconsciously, he had already used lightness kung fu, and the curtain at the door of the study was hit so that it almost flew into the sky.Where is the calm appearance of the past, and everyone in the yard was stunned, that is, Tiehu who just came in, his arm was pulled by Ayu, and his eyes followed the curtain unconsciously.

"Hurry up, what map? Nautical chart? Ship chart?"

"what?"

"Ah, you're big! What the hell? Eyes come back..."

The author has something to say: Why did the Chongzhen government first use Shaanxi to abolish the post station?It turns out that the Shaanxi Chief Envoy in the Ming Dynasty was larger than today's Shaanxi Province, including part of today's Gansu and Ningxia.It is worth mentioning that there is a big difference between northern Shaanxi and southern Shaanxi in terms of climate and precipitation.The average temperature in the northern region may only be 5-6 degrees at the end of Ming Dynasty.The modern annual rainfall in the Yulin area in northern Shaanxi is only about 350 millimeters.According to the "History of Famines in Northwest China", the incidence rate of drought in Shaanxi in Ming Dynasty was 1.71, roughly 3 droughts in 2 years!

Therefore, we boldly speculate that in some years of severe drought in the Ming Dynasty, the annual rainfall in northern Shaanxi may be less than 300 mm.The annual rainfall standard for modern deserts is less than 250 mm.

Due to drought and cold, northern Shaanxi was the most sparsely populated area in the north of the Ming Dynasty.At that time, the peak population of Shaanxi was about 615 million, and more than 7% were concentrated in Guanzhong and southern Shaanxi.Xi'an prefecture alone has concentrated 60% of the province's private households, while that in northern Shaanxi is less than 3%.The population density may be lower than 10 people per square kilometer, similar to today's Qinghai and Tibet.

In addition, because the Ming Dynasty had always faced the threat of the Mongols in the north, Shaanxi had long been an important border defense area for the imperial court.There are heavy troops stationed there. There are about 15 military households in Shaanxi, and the number of troops stationed is about 20.After the mid-Ming Dynasty, the army gradually shifted to the recruitment system.Therefore, the required military pay has caused a greater burden on Shaanxi civilian households.

As a result, the number of post stations in Shaanxi accounts for a relatively high proportion in the country.In the Ming Dynasty, 1/10 of the country's post stations were distributed in Shaanxi.Due to the remoteness of the place, the distance between each post station is often 80-100 miles apart, and many folks who serve the post station often have to travel hundreds of miles.Therefore, the post stations in Shaanxi were called "bitter post stations" in that era.

Perhaps because of this reason, after the mid-Ming Dynasty, postmen across the country were changed from the original private temporary recruitment to the employment system.By the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were about 4 professional postmen in Shaanxi Province, who lived entirely on post station wages.Once they lose their jobs and land, they have no choice but to die.

In 1629, the 19-year-old Chongzhen Emperor also started the reform of post administration.He who is eager for quick success does not have the patience of Zhang Juzheng and others, and only hopes to solve the problem immediately with a package of drastic measures.So there are two major differences between his method and Zhang Juzheng:

Zhang Juzheng's post office reform focused on reducing the burden on the people, saving millions of taels of silver was just a side benefit.As the emperor, Chongzhen only stared at the few 10 taels of silver obtained from the post administration reform.Therefore, he acquiesced to the apportionment of the officials by the people, but asked the officials to hand over a large part of the funds to military expenses.

Chongzhen was too hasty and impatient in the implementation of reforms.His "one size fits all" order cut down 60% of the country's post stations.The reforms of Jiajing and Zhang Juzheng were carried out slowly and took several years.Chongzhen's reforms have to be forcibly completed within a few months!

In 629, Chongzhen's reforms came to Shaanxi like a gust of wind.Overnight, 60% of postmen, or more than 2 people, suddenly lost their jobs.A postman is not as simple as a postman, courier brother or guest house attendant.Because in addition to handling courier delivery and entertaining people, they are actually castle guards and reserve soldiers in a sense, and they basically have the foundation of horseback riding and archery.So people like Li Zicheng joined the army of unemployment.Naturally, he went to the frontier army to make a living.Who knew that Chongzhen had thrown most of the army's salary to the Liaodong area, causing the northwest frontier army to owe money.So what else is there to say?Kill officials and mutiny, formally change the famous grass bandit.