Transfer public grievances

Yang Tinghe is a native of Xindu, Chengdu, Sichuan. In the seventh year of Chenghua, Yang Tinghe 12 was on the list (Yang Tinghe was the youngest juren in the Ming Dynasty). Seven years later, Yang Tinghe Zhong Shi, who was in a weak position, was elected to imperial academy, and a new star of the imperial court, Ran Ran Ran Ran, rose.

In the fourth year of Hongzhi, he was promoted to Hanlin as a reading assistant, and held an official position at the banquet for the compilation of A Record of Xianzong Minghui Hall. In the eighth year of Hongzhi, he was appointed as Zuo Chunfang and Zuo Zhongyun by Xiaozong because of his talent, specializing in the study of Pope Prince Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao and Yang Tinghe are very similar, both of them are very clever, and both of them dare to think and do. This herd mentality also makes Zhu Houzhao, a difficult student, very tired of the teacher's discipline, but he has great respect for Yang Tinghe. Until his death, he addressed Yang Tinghe as "Sir".

After Hongzhi, although Yang Tinghe did not occupy an important position in the imperial court, he presided over the provincial examinations and examinations many times, which won him a lot of prestige and contacts.

In the second year of Zheng De, Wu Zongsheng made Yang Tinghe a college student in Dongge, and entered the cabinet to draft lectures for a banquet. Because Yang Tinghe didn't like the eunuch Liu Jin's bossiness, he took "the same model" as an example at the banquet and advised Wu Zong that "a virtuous minister is far from a villain". The angered "villain" found a reason and sent Yang Tinghe to Nanking.

Soon, since reprimanded Liu Jin, and called Yang Tinghe back to Beijing to reinstate. In this respect, Yang Tinghe and Liu Jin have become endless rivals.

In five years, Yang Yiqing secretly discussed to destroy the traitor through the curse caused by Liu Jin's "Zhang Qing Jun Tun" (Anhua Wang raised the flag in the name of "Jin"). First of all, by drafting letters, Yang Tinghe alienated thieves and helped Qiuyue put down the rebellion quickly. Then impeach Liu Jin with Zhang Yongli. After Wu Zong was shaken, Yang Tinghe launched the six-product suggestion of six subjects and thirteen laws to impeach Liu Jin again and finally succeeded in overthrowing Liu Jin.

In this process, Yang Tinghe's decisiveness and courage were in sharp contrast with Li Dongyang's smooth and cautious record, which also made Yang Tinghe vaguely become the first civil servant of the imperial court. In the seventh year of Zheng De, Li Dongyang returned to China to be an official, and Yang Tinghe was awarded the posts of Shao Shi, Prince Taishi and Huagaidian, and officially took charge of the court.

At this time, the Ming dynasty was riddled with holes, and the Mongolian Khan (little prince) in the north frequently disturbed the border; The "Liu Liuqi Uprising" in several provinces of the Central Plains was in full swing; Jiangxi thieves have mushroomed; The "Shunyi King" uprising in Yang Tinghe's hometown of Sichuan has also intensified. What's more, at this time, Wu Zong still had no intention to settle the internal affairs, but was expanding the "leopard room".

In order to stabilize the situation and people's hearts, Yang Tinghe's first move is to "reduce the burden" for the people. All counties that suffered from war disasters were free of food for one year. For those farmers whose livelihood is difficult because of the war disaster, Yang Tinghe allows them to borrow grain from the official warehouse and pay no interest when repaying the loan next year.

In order to prevent local officials from extorting farmers by "borrowing", both borrowing and returning must be reported to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development for verification and based on the "receipt" verified by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. This is nothing to us now, but it was very important in those days. A lot of good governance has become a "bad policy" to arouse people's resistance because of the "distortion" of implementation. This also shows that Yang Tinghe is not a bookworm divorced from reality.

"Liu Liuqi Uprising" also brought negative benefits to the Ming Dynasty, and Yang Tinghe was keenly aware of this. That is to create a large area of uninhabited wasteland, which to some extent provides a shortcut to alleviate the shortage of land resources. Yang Tinghe asked several provinces in the Central Plains to recruit refugees to farm landless fields, re-register their household registration on the spot and become naturalized.

"Recruiting soldiers and horses" not only quickly resumed production, but also made the court temporarily alleviate the very serious refugee problem at a very low cost, which played a very significant role in maintaining social stability and quelling the rebellion (the main source of soldiers for the rebels was actually refugees).

Yang Tinghe not only "lightened the burden" for the people, but also increased the income for the court.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the main income of the imperial court has been "grain tax", mainly in kind tax. However, there is a big problem in collecting grain tax-the transportation cost is very high, and the value of grain collected every year in some places is not even enough to be transported to the warehouse in the capital or the imperial court. After the Ming Dynasty moved its capital from Nanjing to Beijing, this problem became more and more serious.

Therefore, during the Xuande period, the "square meter method" was adopted to share the transportation costs with all taxpayers. In principle, the rich pay more and the poor pay less. However, the proportion of grain tax between official land and private land in Ming Dynasty was very different (official land was higher than private land). At first, the allocation method was "discussing land to increase consumption", and the official land was divided less or not. With the serious land annexation, rich households either pretend to be official land or transfer this part of the showdown right to landless tenants.

The final result is that farmers abandon their land and refugees because of the heavy burden, and the grain tax collection in various provinces is getting less and less, and the arrears are getting more and more serious. In Yang Tinghe, the "theory of increasing land consumption" was abolished, and it was uniformly levied according to the proportion of taxes, and the official land that was in arrears and the actual tax revenue became heavier was allowed to convert the losses into silver, which reduced the transportation cost and thus reduced the apportionment.

Yang Tinghe's method looks simple, but it works well. In two years, nearly 60% of the taxes owed by the provinces have been paid off. In the ninth year of Zheng De, the imperial court collected grain tax of 26 million stone and Taicang cashier/kloc-0.92 million stone (the balance in that year was nearly 702,000 stone). It doesn't seem like much, but after ten years of innovation, the court has a surplus of less than four million and two thousand pieces of silver.

In addition, Yang Tinghe also played a passive role-as a buffer between the emperor and the civil servants. Wu Zong was the most unruly emperor in Ming Dynasty. He is arbitrary and naturally has many contradictions with officials. Yang Tinghe can only try his best to persuade and stop the emperor, while enduring the "incompetent" attacks from officials. Although caught in the middle, at least the monarch and his subjects were separated, and the contradiction was controlled.

It was Yang Tinghe's actions that made the stormy Ming Dynasty stable again, and his "role" gave Wuzong the capital to continue wandering. Therefore, in December of Zheng Dejiu, Yang Tinghe applied for returning to his hometown because of his father's funeral, but since then he refused anyway.

However, Yang Tinghe is determined to worry about it. First, he insisted on filial piety. Besides, he has to say that he wants to escape the pressure. In March of Zheng De's tenth year, Wu Zong, who could not defeat Yang Tinghe, finally agreed to his request for Ding You. Yang Tinghe's move also formed an example that civil servants had to worry about, and then Zhang "suffered greatly".

However, by the end of the 12th year of Zheng De's reign, Yang Tinghe, who lost his life, was ordered to return to Beijing a few months later and be reinstated as the cabinet record. The reason is not complicated. Without Yang Tinghe's mediation, Wu Zong and his ministers have gone too far for themselves. Not only did Wumen motorcade go to Sichuan to meet him, but when Yang Tinghe arrived in the capital, all court officials, ministers and nobles greeted him on both sides of the street.

But Yang Tinghe couldn't solve the fundamental problem, and Wu Zong still went his own way and squandered money everywhere. Officials are still outraged and feel that Yang Tinghe has done nothing. Yang Tinghe can only move around and wait for opportunities.

On March 16th, the 16th year of Zheng De's reign, Yang Tinghe's opportunity finally came. Wu Zong, who can never die, died of a sudden illness. At this time, Yang Tinghe faced three problems:

First, Jiang Bin, Minister of Wu Zongchong, led the elite "four foreign countries" of the border guards to be stationed outside the capital, which caused great hidden dangers. Yang Tinghe once again joined forces with Zhang Yong of the Imperial Palace. After taking control of the Beijing defense, he tricked Jiang Bin into the palace, arrested him, and sent the officers and men of the "four foreign families" back to their original posts, thus successfully eliminating this hidden danger.

Secondly, Wu Zongjia had no children, Wu Zongjia had no brothers, and the dynasty had no heirs. This problem is not complicated. According to the principle of "the father dies and the son succeeds, and the elder brother dies with the younger brother" in Ming Taizu's Legacy, the royal family sorted them, and soon chose an heir, namely Zhu Houzong, the second son of the king (his brother has passed away).

Thirdly, how to deal with the mess of Wu Zong is actually what Yang Tinghe has been wanting to do for more than ten years. There was no opportunity before, but now there is not only opportunity, but also power that was not available before.

After determining Zhu Houzong's inheritance right, he sent a special envoy of the imperial court to Zhu Houzong and arrived in the capital to ascend the throne. During this period, there was a * * * for 37 days, and there was no emperor in the dynasty for 37 days. Yang Tinghe, the cabinet record, became a leader worthy of the name, and he also had the privilege of "testamentary edict".

Testament is the most special imperial edict of ancient dynasties. Basically, everyone knows that testamentary edicts are mostly "pseudo-edicts" written by others in the name of the former emperor, but it is impossible for people to oppose the maintenance of the reasoning and legal tradition of the dynasty. History has proved that those who dare to openly question the "testament" of the first emperor will die unless they attack the upper position.

Yang Tinghe started his own "reform" with the help of his own records and testament.

First of all, the "leopard room" and palaces around the country were abolished, sealed up and closed, and all the maids, monks and handymen inside were dismissed, and all the property inside was confiscated. It not only saves the expenses of the palace, but also adds extra money to the national treasury.

Then, streamline the organization, close all newly established and expanded departments of the Fifth General Administration, and abolish a large number of redundant staff. Among them, Dongchang and Jinyiwei abolished100,000 people. This not only greatly reduced the burden on the court, but also greatly weakened the power of eunuchs and military commanders who have been expanding since the beginning of Wu Zong.

Economically, in addition to canceling all kinds of forced levies that Wuzong increased in order to expand financial resources, he also implemented a nationwide tax reduction and exemption policy, which reduced all the taxes owed by Zheng De fifteen years ago. This move quickly cooled down and eased the already boiling public grievances in the sea.

While reducing the burden on the people, Yang Tinghe still did not forget to increase the income for the imperial court. He aimed at the salt tax this time. The method is very simple, directly borrowing Liu Jin's "audit" of corrupt officials. Check the nobles of salt merchants involved in salt trading, and confiscate the property that cannot be paid within one month. If the property is insufficient, the children and grandchildren will continue to pay compensation until the compensation is completed.

During his thirty-seven days in office, Yang Tinghe handled nearly a hundred affairs, all of which he planned and presided over personally. In a very short period of time, the weather of the whole dynasty was completely new and people's hearts were stable. These 37 days were the brightest moment in Yang Tinghe, but Yang Tinghe dug a hole and buried himself.

Although Zhu Houzong, the heir of the imperial dynasty, was only 14 years old, he was brilliant. Due to the early death of his father, at the age of twelve, Zhu Houzong managed the palace as a prince, keeping it in good order, which was highly praised by the imperial court and appreciated by Yang Tinghe.

Zhu Houzong went to Beijing lightly, declined the audience of the officials and gentry along the way, and strictly restrained the attendants around him, which was quite virtuous and far from Wu Zong. Moreover, Zhu Houzong not only admired Yang Tinghe, but more importantly, he didn't like Wu Zong's manners very much, and he was determined to "cleanse evil spirits, promote advantages and eliminate disadvantages".

This is perfect for the monarch and his subjects. Even if it can't become a legend, it shouldn't cause too much conflict, but Yang Tinghe wants too much.

Yang Tinghe hoped that there would be no more autocratic emperors in the dynasty, so he wanted the foreign dynasties to form greater restrictions on the emperors. To put it mildly, let the emperor hang down his skirt and do nothing, or to put it mildly, become a "puppet." Initially, Sejong (Zhu Houzong) succeeded to the throne as a foreign vassal. He has no foundation and is a real loner. Moreover, he is only fourteen years old and seems to have no experience in struggle. Yang Tinghe has a great chance to realize his idea.

In order to unite foreign civil servants to suppress the emperor's authority as much as possible, Yang Tinghe asked Sejong to recognize filial piety as his father in the name of not letting the filial piety remembered by civil servants become his biological father Wang Weishu and his biological mother his aunt. Sejong will naturally disagree. He decided not to add a name to his biological father, but his will was stamped by Yang Tinghe continuously. Sejong tried to negotiate with Yang Tinghe, but there was no way. Yang Tinghe never gave in and threatened to resign.

Just when Sejong was in despair, Zhang Cong, a great scholar of etiquette, stood up to support Sejong, and Zhang Cong even linked giving books with giving or asking questions, which fundamentally changed Sejong's passive position and made courtiers stand on Sejong's side slowly. Sejong and Yang Tinghe formed a delicate balance, and they ruled each other. Finally, the two sides reached a compromise first, and Sejong temporarily recognized his biological father and Ming Xiaozong as "second ancestors".

Yang Tinghe didn't realize that the problem was his own, but took revenge on Zhang Cong (driving him to Nanking) with the intention of cutting off Sejong's wings. This unreasonable and overbearing behavior also angered many courtiers, and more and more officials began to openly support Zhang Cong and Sejong, impeaching Yang Tinghe for domineering and arrogating power.

In the second year of Jiajing, Yang Tinghe once again sealed Sejong's request to send eunuch prefect to weave in Jiangnan, and the contradiction between them became public again. Yang Tinghe did the same thing again. Last week, he asked to resign and threatened to "strike". But at this time, the full-fledged Sejong is no longer afraid. But to recall Zhang Cong and renegotiate the gifts, with the intention of taking this opportunity to attack the Yang Tinghe faction.

Although Yang Tinghe joined more than 200 officials in collective opposition, not only Sejong stopped making concessions, but many ministers also publicly supported Sejong and Zhang Cong. Yang Tinghe, who felt that the tide had run out, resigned again in February of Jiajing three years, and Sejong allowed him to return to China as an official.

However, this is not the end. After winning the Grand Ceremony, Sejong consolidated his victory by compiling the Grand Ceremony of Minglun. At the same time, he also characterized Yang Tinghe as a guilty minister, deprived Yang Tinghe of all titles and dismissed the people. In the eighth year of Jiajing, Yang Tinghe, who almost tamed the imperial power, died in Xindu's home with the stigma of "guilty minister".