"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.
This peasant boy from 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, 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 of his childhood benefactor, the Liao Wang of Jiangling, doing evil in the village and fishing for the people, local officials were afraid of the power of the Liao Palace and dared not report the crimes of the Liao Wang 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 learn and 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, but Qiang Bing is a rich country, which is disappointing." Zhang smiled at one of the newspapers and said, "You flatter me! I can make Qiang Bing a rich country! " ( 18)
In order to refute the pedantic literati's opposition to innovation by patriarchal clan system, Zhang summed up the lessons of the rise and fall of Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han Dynasties, and put forward the idea of reform according to the times, and stressed: "The legal system is impermanent, people-friendly is the most important, and the trend of ancient and modern times is different. Vulgarity is also appropriate. " (19) Looking at the laws and regulations of the first dynasty from the perspective of being close to the people, you don't have to abide by those laws and regulations that can't conform to the times and run counter to the people's demands; As long as it is timely and peaceful, even the opinions of ordinary people should not be ignored. Let officials at all levels abandon the old rules, face the reality, take Qiang Bing as the first task, and vigorously advocate eliminating useless empty talk and seeking practical results. Emphasize: "If you don't understand human physics, you just don't have knowledge." (20) In an era when words must be called the way of Confucius and Mencius and the way of saints, it is put forward that ignoring people's feelings is the idea of not studying at home, which greatly breaks through the imprisonment of Neo-Confucianism. He regrets that he is a senior official, and he is not as familiar with the sufferings of the people as the subordinates at the bottom. Officials and scholars are required to go out of the yamen to study, face the reality and combine academic management with solving the national economy and people's livelihood, which is a great touch to the stale ideological circle.
For some Taoist teachers' foolish behavior of attacking the New Deal under the pretext of astronomical disasters, he gave a materialistic explanation to some natural phenomena in his severe refutation. He wrote "The Theory of Buried Land", arguing that when a person dies, his spirit dissipates, and his dead body is like earth and stone, and he no longer feels. The so-called ghosts and gods in the world, good or bad feng shui, etc., are all nonsense. Since ancient times, there have been corpses in the wild, birds peck at eagles, and later generations have dignitaries; No matter how good the geomantic omen is, there is no dead wood regeneration, and the dead bones are rejuvenated. How can we keep the wealth of future generations? He added, "The buried people are hiding." Just to avoid exposing your body, nothing profound. Miscellaneous Notes further explained that people and animals died of lightning strikes because they accidentally collided with lightning and were burned by internal heat, which is a natural phenomenon, not a spell. Zhang's atheism not only attacked the prevailing superstition and preaching at that time, but also showed the spirit of criticizing the ancestral law, which is very rare and valuable.
It can be seen that Zhang Dui's reform is not a general policy change, but has a profound ideological foundation. It is precisely because his progressive thought conforms to the historical development and forms his own New Deal system that he can break through obstacles and promote reform with sharp edge in the struggle against the opposition.
Regarding the effectiveness of the reform, Zhang, a historian in the Qing Dynasty, commented: "Naturally, everything is not decorated and the regime is clean." (2 1) strong government mechanism reappears. At the end of Jiajing, the storage capacity of the national granary was less than one year. Before the reform, the finance was empty and the deficit exceeded one third. After the reform, the national grain storage can last for ten years, and the national treasury has accumulated four million and two thousand silver. "Tong Mingjian" praised: "It is the right time, the national treasury is full and the country is the most complete." This fruitful achievement goes down in history and shines brilliantly in the history of China.
Fourth, the character of winning by fortitude.
The achievements of this decade are hard-won, and everything has experienced difficulties. This is not only because the reform that touched the interests of the powerful met with stubborn resistance, but also because the feudal system developed to the end of the Ming Dynasty, aging and rigid, and the space for reform was very narrow. The downward trend of the landlord class's human feelings, conformism, appeasement and stealing security, can not tolerate even a little change, a little update, and it is not easy to be accepted by reality. Even Wang Shizhen, a famous scholar who opposed Zhang, had to admit: "Scholars are not used to patriarchal clan system, and they find it shocking and inconvenient, and they will be slandered." (22) Zhang has a keen feeling about this. He said, "Mingxing has been around for more than 200 years! People are willing to follow the crowd, and things are willing to suffer. In recent years, the practice has been particularly rampant and has been corrupted by right and wrong. " (23)
In this difficult time to follow, only by stubbornly breaking old habits can we open up the situation. Harry was criticized for enforcing the law impartially. He wrote to express the rumor of destroying floating and praised the intention of ministers who served the law. While punishing a group of mediocre officials and corrupt officials, some people attacked him for being "too strict in deacons" (24), talking nonsense and calling for the cancellation of the New Deal. He denounced with disdain: "The traitors in the Song Dynasty only studied after betraying their country, and the old Confucianism was pedantic." (25) It is said that the perpetrators must be severely punished in order to formulate national policies, cut their posts, guard the border and put them in prison according to the charges. Because of the ruthless counterattack against the anti-reform forces, we can eliminate the resistance and lead the New Deal forward.
However, the opposition did not disappear easily. In the five years of Wanli, when the political reform was pushed from politics to economy, his father Zhang died. According to the etiquette system of the Ming Dynasty, serving officials should resign and keep filial piety for three years after hearing of their parents' funeral. If there are special circumstances, you can stay in office with the special approval of the emperor, which is called "grabbing love." The Ming Dynasty was a dynasty that attached great importance to filial piety. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there were many orders, and it was forbidden to seize love. According to the agreement, Zhang also had to abide by it. However, when the New Deal was just in the ascendant, when Zhang Yi left office, the situation might be reversed. Officials who supported the reform proposed to stay in office, causing an uproar. The opposition attacked this as "forgetting one's relatives and taking bribes" (26) and "committing adultery against public opinion" (27). Zhang disagreed, raised an eyebrow and replied, "The speaker today has insulted me and is unfilial. It is shameful to call a priest greedy, and it is shameful to insult a priest. However, I am not ashamed of this world. " (29) Regarding the accusation of "loving the right", he calmly replied: "Love the word, be pure and diligent! In the words of the General Principles, "exposing the opposition" is "an extruded plan". "(30) Strike mercilessly, so that opponents can no longer openly confront each other. Since then, the struggle against reform has no longer manifested itself as a direct conflict, but has secretly spread all kinds of gossip to reform in a hidden form. According to the old rules of the imperial court, in winter in Beijing, the emperor wears mink hats for courtiers to keep out the cold, which costs tens of thousands of dollars. In order to save money, Zhang wears a head without a mink hat. It was a good thing to get rid of this reward, but some people say that Zhang took too much aphrodisiac. " The poison started, so he didn't wear a mink hat in winter. "(3 1) In the five and eight years of Wanli, Zhang's two sons won the champion and the champion in succession, which caused criticism. Whether it is harmful or not has not been proved by history, but this unconfirmed rumor has been widely circulated and has not been clarified so far. It seems that such rumors are dazzling and there are countless examples of pursuit. If Zhang doesn't have a strong will, he may avoid others. However, he took all this calmly and thought that "private conversation is inevitable" (32). There is no need to make a fuss, as long as he thinks that what he has done conforms to the principle of national peace and security, and that "governance is confident and rational, regardless of the right or wrong customs" (33). As soon as the New Deal was criticized, he threatened: "If it is not broken, there will be nothing in the world." (34) Let it "slander the book without moving". Not only that, but he also declared: "It's not only a temporary reputation, but also a matter of interest, that is, right and wrong through the ages don't count. "
Zhang's steely will and resolute courage left a deep impression on people at that time. On this basis, some people accused him of "harsh politics" and "rigid politics", while others defended him: "People are for fun. Once they are caught by the law, if they regard it as harsh, they will maintain an upright position and gain strength through struggle, so they will be enemies of the world, but one or two things are very strange. Their traces are not without pity. " (35) In the social atmosphere of conformism, without such bold and sharp courage, the reform will be difficult to move. It was Zhang's extraordinary courage and courage that made the central government not meet with such strong opposition as the political reform in the Northern Song Dynasty. Different from Wang Anshi's political reform, the New Deal caused less confrontation and successfully pushed from politics to economy, with remarkable results. It can be said that the success of the reform is mainly attributed to Zhang's subjective loyalty and his ability to lead the New Deal to victory. /kloc-The social environment in the late 6th century provided him with a stage for full activities, which enabled him to dominate the new situation of revival during the decline of the dynasty.
Fifth, disaster befalls the fragile wall.
The success of this reform led by Zhang himself also indicates the hidden crisis behind him, that is, when people are in power, they will die. Zhang died of illness in June of Wanli decade, and in December of the same year, the opposition began to attack. Zhang raided all the houses and starved to death more than ten families. All officials believed to have relations with Zhang were removed from their posts. As for the New Deal he worked so hard to make, it was even more wasteful.
To abolish the New Deal, we must first relax the restrictions of the post office, restore the privilege of the powerful to take office, and then cancel the examination method. Everything runs counter to the New Deal. "Because of this, law and discipline are gradually weakening." (36)
Zhang's political reform, together with himself, was completely wiped out, just as the Ming Dynasty's annotation "Wildfire Debate" said: "A complete failure."
Objectively speaking, ten years of painstaking efforts and fruitful reforms have been subverted, which is indisputable for two reasons:
(1) The change of the emperor's attitude played a decisive role.
In the era of absolute monarchy, the emperor is the supreme authority, and Zhang's power is because he acted as the emperor's power.