Chapter 214 Yan Song, the capable minister who plundered the wealth of the Jiangnan gentry
Since Yan Song took over the post of governor of Southern Zhili from Wang Yangming, he has been conducting his own experiments in corn cultivation.
In this agricultural experiment, he accumulated a lot of agricultural knowledge, and he became more and more aware that there was such profound knowledge hidden behind the seemingly simple corn plants.
Over the years, although he still followed Xiao Gui and Cao Sui in terms of major political policies and followed the instructions of the central court, in terms of specific agenda and government affairs, he tried his best to benefit the people through what he had newly learned.
Yan Song was very glad that he had chosen to study at the Capital University as a clerk, and thus learned a lot of new knowledge from the Emperor Zhu Houzhao, so that now he could benefit the people even when he was serving as a frontier official.
It is not like the previous editors of the Hanlin Academy who only stayed in the Hanlin Academy to gain qualifications. They had no chance to participate in the performance in front of the emperor, and no chance to seek welfare in front of the people.
After Yan Song came to South Zhili, he began to cooperate with Royal Industrial Company to establish a fertilizer factory in South Zhili.
Even after applying for permission from Emperor Zhu Houzhao, Yan Song personally organized manpower to open the Agricultural Science Research Institute of Jingshi University in Nanzhili, and used the newly refined converter steel of the Royal Industrial Company to manufacture agricultural machinery and equipment and fertilizer production equipment.
Because of this, when Yan Song took office as the governor of Southern Zhili, chemical fertilizers were promoted in the Southern Zhili region, and as a result, the grain production in the Southern Zhili region was greatly increased. It was not only the promotion of chemical fertilizers, but also the use of agricultural machinery and equipment. More scientific research and guidance on the physiological characteristics of crops have also allowed South Zhili's grain production to increase a lot.
"I report to your Majesty that this year, the grain harvest of Nanzhili will increase by 30%, and the people's faces are all excited. The annual wealth has not increased, but the grain production has increased, and the people's wealth will be more than enough. This is a sign of a prosperous age;
In addition, due to the use of chemical fertilizers, many barren lands have become productive. Officials hired refugees to cultivate them, and the harvested crops were exchanged for treasury silver or for disaster preparedness and poverty relief. In addition, commerce and trade flourished, and now the people of Jiangnan are wealthy. And the country is rich! This year Caoliang is also expected to escort one million more dan to Beijing..."
Yan Song wrote in detail about his gains and losses in politics in a secret note to Zhu Houzhao. What he didn't know was that soon, Zhu Houzhao would give him a more important task, which was to continue to implement new education reforms in Southern Zhili. .
However, when Yan Song was asked to pilot a new education reform in Nanzhili, he did not feel any pressure because of it. He even felt that this was an opportunity to prove himself again. He believed that as long as he did well, His Majesty would see him. In eyes.
Yan Song is not worried about education funding, because his agricultural science and technology development in Southern Zhili has increased his local fiscal revenue a lot, and he is also very good at business investment and other ways to make money.
For example, after he took office as the governor of Southern Zhili and obtained his first additional financial income from the use of chemical fertilizers, he built a cement road from Suzhou to Nanjing.
It cost him a lot of money to build this road, but Yan Song turned this road into a way to make money. He set up roadblocks on this cement road and set up toll stations in every other county to collect fees from merchants along the way. Lijin.
In addition, Yan Song also asked people to collect tolls from the officials and gentry riding carriages, and his reason was very simple, just to maintain the roads, but he did not charge tolls for walking civilians.
Because each county collects it, and each county’s local magistrate and state capital have a share, each county also actively collects lijin and tolls.
In addition, Yan Song also gave part of this income to the central household department, which gave the central household department an extra income, so that neither the cabinet nor the household department had any objections to Yan Song.
Even the imperial censor and the Liu Ke Correspondent of the Metropolitan Procuratorate were bribed by Yan Song, so that so far, only when someone impeached Yan Song, the censor or the imperial censor defended Yan Song.
This was not enough. In the name of revitalizing culture, Yan Song also funded the great Confucians in the southern Zhili area, causing these great Confucians to shut up.
As an official, Yan Song knew everything about everything. Because of this, he took the opportunity to collect a large sum of money for the local treasury in South Zhili, making all levels of government in South Zhili very wealthy. That's why Yan Song dared to say in his memorial When the people are rich, the country is also rich.
Of course, wealth cannot grow out of thin air. If there are benefits, there will naturally be losses.
Many gentry in Jiangnan were still damaged.
After all, Yan Song could only bribe a few great scholars, but it was impossible to bribe all the great scholars. It happened that most of the people doing business in the Jiangnan area were gentry, and most of the people who liked riding carriages, especially the new four-wheel bearing carriages, were Jiangnan gentry, so The gentry in the south of the Yangtze River suffered the most serious damage, so that the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River were very dissatisfied with Yan Song, and even secretly scolded Yan Song for being a bastard.
However, Yan Song's status still stands.
In the central court, although there were officials who spoke for the Jiangnan gentry and impeached Yan Song, there were also officials who took Yan Song's filial piety and defended Yan Song, and the reasons were very good.
The reason is that when Yan Song took office as the governor of Southern Zhili, he paid more than one million taels of silver in taxes for the central court, which increased the central court's income a lot.
In addition, Yan Song also successfully provided relief to the people in the Southern Zhili region. Several local disasters in Southern Zhili did not allow the central court to allocate funds. Even in terms of academic reform and official examination, the Southern Zhili region has always done most.
Because of this, the cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue had nothing to say, and praised Yan Song as a capable minister and official. Emperor Zhu Houzhao himself naturally had nothing to say. He did not sympathize with the Jiangnan gentry. He just issued an order to warn Yan Song to spend more energy on the national economy and people's livelihood. Above, the implication is that it is okay to make money, but the money must be used to benefit the people. Because of this, although Yan Song's reputation in Jiangnan was worse than when Wang Yangming was the governor of Southern Zhili, his position was very stable. Not only did the people above him not move, but the officials below also supported him.
Only the Jiangnan gentry hated Yan Song.
"Sir Futai, Ren Li, a member of Jiangpu County, scolded you in the newspaper for being a ruthless and ruthless person who robbed the people of their wealth. The public resentment was so serious that you embezzled millions of silver and thousands of wives and concubines at home, and even spared no expense. Buying the combing rights of the courtesan of Wujiang Pavilion with ten thousand taels of gold is not out of thin air. I believe that such crazy people must be punished, otherwise it will be detrimental to your official reputation!"
Zhan Hui, a guard from the Security Department, said worriedly that he had a good impression of superiors like Yan Song because he could make a fortune by following such a superior. Therefore, he was also worried that Yan Song would lose his official position because of the frame-up by the scholars, which would make him also Then lose the opportunity to get more benefits from the gentry.
"Don't worry about him. I don't worry about how these people bark. Now the court only uses political performance as a criterion, and reputation is also measured by the censor of Dongchang. Of course, the higher ups won't believe what these people say, but they just want to Let me explain to you, madam, these scholars are really weird. They always try to accuse someone of their romantic debts! I’m afraid they only know or only like to fantasize about romantic affairs, so it’s no wonder they accomplish nothing!”
As Yan Song was talking, his wife Ouyang barged in and slapped the newspaper on the table: "Yan, how could this happen? When did you spend ten thousand taels of gold to buy a brothel girl!" < br>
"Madam, why do you still believe the nonsense of these literati? Don't you know who I am? Besides, it's very tiring to satisfy you alone. How can I have the energy to spread the rain and dew?" Yan Song hurriedly coaxed Ouyang to He got up, and after Ouyang left in relief, he turned coldly and asked:
"What kind of business does this family named Ren Li do?"
"In the spice business."
Zhan Hui replied.
"His Majesty has decreed that before the establishment of customs in Nanzhili, the Lijin can be temporarily not canceled in order to cultivate customs talents, but this must not hinder the development of commerce;
Therefore, I have decided to reform the lijin collection system starting from next month. Goods with a value of less than 100 taels will be exempted from lijin. Food, cloth, salt and other items needed by the people will be exempted from lijin, in order to curb the rise in prices;
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At the same time, spices, jewelry, etc. will be levied three times the luxury tax on the existing basis. The reason is in response to Zhu En, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, who advocates frugality and abstains from extravagance! ”
Yan Song is obviously not a really tolerant person, and he also has his own counterattack against the offensive behavior of the student Ren Li.
However, Yan Song's actions curbed the extravagance in Jiangnan.
But at the same time, a large amount of wealth that would have been consumed by the luxurious consumption of these Jiangnan wealthy businessmen also flowed into the pockets of the Southern Zhili government. When the edict issued by the central court on the construction of higher primary schools was passed to Nanjing, Yan Song also had sufficient funds for education reform.
More than a hundred candidates who studied at the Capital University were all appointed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs to serve as edicts in Nanzhili. As governor, Yan Song gave these edicts sufficient financial support.
Not only that, Yan Song also relied on his wealth in Nanzhili to directly fund and provide free tuition for higher elementary schools, and also directly provided subsidies, so that ordinary people would let their children attend higher elementary schools in order to gain an extra income. exam.
Because of this, the enrollment rate of higher primary schools in Nanzhili is very high, and because they have a certain foundation in commercial economy and industrial economy, and the newly appointed professor and Yan Song themselves are both from the Capital University, Nanzhili The primary school of higher education is also the only new school with a new education form.
Yan Song did not give up on the students who had not been admitted to the new schools. He independently established the Nanzhili Agricultural School and the Industrial School to recruit these students as apprentices.
In addition, Yan Song also responded to the call of the central court. After receiving Zhu Houzhao's approval, he established the Central University in Nanjing. He followed the example of the Capital University and established the second modern university in the Ming Dynasty. However, the Central University was the same as the Capital University. , the main task now is to train normal students.
Yan Song spent money like water in Nanzhili, so he naturally had to continue to make money. The lijin system alone was not enough. He knew that His Majesty the Emperor had no feelings for the gentry and loved the common people very much, so he understood this idea and began to use it. In the name of continuing to promote civilized frugality and etiquette, fines were imposed on those merchants and gentry in Jiangnan who did not dress according to etiquette and law.
Even those who spit and dump garbage indiscriminately are punished with fines or hard labor.
Due to the increase in private wealth and the increasingly developed commodity economy, the gentry and merchants are living more and more luxuriously. Not to mention that they also have privileges such as being exempted from service, and often receive preferential treatment in law, so they have to abide by the Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's regulations. The etiquette levels established during the period, that is, what kind of clothes and hats people of what level should wear.
So many students were fined for wearing red robes, and many wealthy businessmen were fined for wearing silk.
Anyway, Yan Song was trying his best to make money in the name of following etiquette.
Zhu En, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, who was the first to advocate frugality and observance of etiquette, regretted it after learning about this. He said that he did not expect that his remarks were just to persuade the emperor, but Yan Song used them to enrich the gentry.
(End of chapter)