Chapter 13 Road

On the third day, Wu Anguo returned south under the hunchback of a group of guards. Guo Pu, Zhang Wu and others sent him ten miles as usual. The people along the way crossed the road and sent him down several times. Everyone knew the temperament of Wu Daren and did not focus on maintaining his official majesty. Since ancient times, the people have known the warmth and warmth of human nature. Every guard and his arms have been stuffed into their bodies.

Wu'anguo's mount Ben Lei in the army has been left in Andong since he returned to Beijing to Ping Rebellion. He was sent back thousands of miles apart by Andong's guards a few years ago. After not galloping for a few years, Ben Lei finally had the opportunity to go wild again. As soon as he left the crowd to bid farewell, he immediately opened his four hooves and left the guards' horses behind. After running for half an hour, he found a high place to look around, looking around, one man and one horse looking around. This time he returned south, Wu'anguo knew that he had no chance to return to Beijing, but he was not as reluctant as he left last time. After this attack, the emerging forces in Peking have gradually begun to mature. Wu'anguo can clearly see Zhang Wu, the Zhan brothers and Guo Pu.

Seeing this change. Although this force is far from his ideal, who can know which path must be correct? Even in the society where he originally lived, there is no social model that can be perfect. Moreover, those models are based on their history and society. Instead of spending too much time controversy or definition, it is better to make efforts from a technical level to avoid the recurrence of those tragedies that have happened and known. As an engineering student, Wu Anguo is not obsessed with formality. When Guo Pu asked what the ideal method in his mind was and he was speechless, he had untied his heart.

Once he compromised his ideal model with the reality of Peking, Wu Anguo did not have so much anxiety and helplessness in his mind. Perhaps from the beginning, he put himself in the position of a participant rather than a saint. When he no longer looked at Peking from the perspective of hundreds of years later, but tried his best to look at Peking from the perspective of people of this era. Wu Anguo suddenly discovered that all dark places were hidden with light, and where there seemed to be paths were actually blocked, but where there seemed to be blocked, there was a vague existence of a path. After stirring up this occasional event, Peking was no longer the original Peking, and the Ming Dynasty might not be the original Ming, and even the world was no longer the original world. At this stage of development, I am afraid that no one can retreat to the original old path, and no one can deny the existence of the new lifestyle of Peking. Whether he liked it or not, the industrial and economic lifeline of the Ming Dynasty was here, and the most powerful army of the Ming Dynasty came from here.

With Guo Pu and others in Peking, Zhang Wu and others have already learned to carefully safeguard their rights. These progress made Wu'anguo full of confidence in the future of the new policy. In terms of military, he believed that he didn't need to worry too much. The northern army led by Zhu Di, the king of Yan, could actually come up with a way to visit Genghis Khan to recognize his relatives to win over the Mongols. It can be foreseen that in less than five years, eastern Mongolia would definitely be unified under his banner. On the farther sea, Cao Zhen led the Ming navy to Japan and forced his opponent to sign a city alliance, achieving the goal that even a generation of genius Kublai Khan had not achieved. Now the reputation of the prince Zhu Biao is at its peak. If he could avoid Zhu Biao's early death, he might even be able to avoid the disaster of Jingnan.

He dared not forget his worries about the country. In ancient times, Wu'an's status changed, his life trajectory changed, but his love for this land has not diminished at all. He is not a saint and cannot reveal the inevitable trajectory of social development. However, he knows that the tragedy that happened on this land in the road of innovation, and knows the shame imposed on this land, and never wants it to happen again. His original era accumulated countless lessons to make the system perfect. Wu'an's country did not want the Ming Dynasty to give the same contribution.

The same price. Going further, even if the dream of equality is far away and no longer accepted by the world, Wu'anguo hopes that the world can accept the norm of equality and cannot give up the recognition of the concept of equality because of the existence of inequality. Because if that happens, conflict will never end. Those who think they are superior will not respect the life and dignity that are inferior in their eyes. Once the trampled person rises up and resists, they will either burn their jade or stones, or they will also step on their original superiors and start a new cycle of reincarnation.

The way back to Beijing was to think and observe. Unlike the route when he came from the north, as an imperial envoy, Wu'anguo had to take a walk around the places he had not inspected. Officials from Hebei, Shandong and other places had long sent people to "study" the experience of Henan and knew that Wu Da, who took the head of the general in the Wanma Army, was indeed a rookie in the officialdom. With their deliberate fooling around, they could not see too much deeper things along the way. It was already winter, and in the summer, Zhou Wuyou's strategy of relying on the civilian power to transport grain from the south and the north, and exchanging the power of salt management for grain had already begun to show results. In addition, Mu Ying plundered from Annan and other places and the compensation for the autumn harvest.

The food prices on the market have fallen to a level that people can basically accept. With the "Jinghai Grain" compensated by Japan, the traces of famine in the areas near the coast are basically no longer visible. The people's request is very simple. If you let him endure pain in life, at least psychologically, you can also let him occasionally feel the vanity of the people of the great country. You cannot let him not eat enough and you can hear the news that the court has compromised externally every day. The great victory in the north and at the sea greatly encouraged the morale of the people. People talked about these two wars, admired heroes, and slowly forgot the hunger of summer. As soon as they entered the wax, the smell of the New Year began to float out of the streets and alleys.

When we arrived at the north bank of the Yangtze River, the wharf became more prosperous. The exquisite industrial products from the north were placed in boxes on the shore, covered by tarpaulin and reed mats, waiting to be loaded. The wanderers who were rushing back to the capital for the New Year were bustling, hoping for the arrival of the next ferry. After crossing the river by the official boat, the princess Liu Ling was already looking at the riverside. The couple happily went to the palace to report safety. Zhu Yuanzhang was in a good mood and asked someone to tell Wu Anguo to go home to rest first. He would go to the palace to ask questions in the morning tomorrow.

A small separation is better than a newlywed. Although there have been letters from home, the couple still talked about re-examining the experiences of several months. When the jade man in his arms was asleep, the sky was already faintly seen outside the curtain.

Dragging his tired body to court, salute, and stating the experience of this northern tour, Wu Anguo secretly cursed the officials of the Ministry of Rites who had kneeled down and made a kneeling sound. Isn't this a different way to make people play? No wonder the memorials of officials of this era were written concisely. If they were really allowed to kneel on the ground and make a long statement, they would really be disabled. Zhu Yuanzhang had already learned about the memorials of his son-in-law Li Qi and Wu Anguo. Reporting in the court was just a formality. Although some ministers wanted to choose

But the successive victory of the Ming Dynasty on the battlefield, the strategy of pacifying Japanese pirates and Mongolia had a great relationship with Wu'an State. Even if the court officials were disliked by Wu'an State, they would not dare to jump out of the scene at this time. Amid the praise of everyone, Wu'an State received nearly 10,000 taels of silver from Zhu Yuanzhang. Now that the national treasury has been enriched, Zhu Yuanzhang's reward of silver to the ministers is much more generous, and it is often a scale of thousands of taels. Many ministers who received silver were obsessed with this. This is the benefit brought to them by the prince's customs.

"The court was dispersed for nothing, and the imperial study of the Pingliao Marquis Wu'anguo asked questions." The eunuch pulled Changyin and announced the end of the day's court meeting.

"Retire the court, and the matters discussed today will be discussed in the morning court tomorrow. Grand Secretary Fei Zhen and Prince Consort Wu'anguo's Imperial Study Room discussed the matter." In the envious or jealous eyes of the ministers, Wu'anguo walked to the imperial study room dejectedly and returned from the northern tour. For some reason, his status in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes suddenly increased, and he had almost no time to ask about the affairs of the Academy of Sciences. The idle people who did not have to go to court every day are now notified every day that morning court must be present, wasting the good spring guang in the tasteless discussion of the ministers.

....

"The prince-in-law Wu'anguo stayed in the study room." Wu'anguo followed the emperor with a wry smile. Today, he promised Liu Ling's plan to go out for spring in the afternoon was ruined again. It has been more than three months since he returned from the northern tour of Hongwu in the fifteenth year of Hongwu, and the early spring plum blossoms have quietly bloomed outside the window. Now he has become Zhu Yuanzhang's professional consultant without the title of Grand Secretary. He has more and more opportunities to serve in the study room, and he is getting late every day.

From an angle that does not need to be looked up, Wu'anguo sometimes sympathized with Zhu Yuanzhang. The latter spent countless efforts and efforts to abolish the three provinces, grasped all the power of the state in the hands of the emperor, and tried to manage the entire world affairs with one person. Without collecting enough information and without any feedback, it was indeed very hard to judge the proposals of the ministers entirely based on intuition and experience. Even if he put himself in the same position, Wu'anguo did not think he could do better than Lao Zhu. According to the rumor collected by Liu Ling from the palace, the old teacher's last words before his death had a great impact on Zhu Yuanzhang.

It is indeed impossible to guarantee that future generations can work as hard as he does in governing the country, but they are unwilling to be willing to reconcile the Ming Empire, which was established by themselves, will repeat the mistakes of the destruction of all dynasties in the future. Therefore, without endangering the security of the royal family, he is also trying to make various attempts and finding ways out. It is obviously natural for Wu'anguo, who has no military power but has a vision to look at the problems, to be valued again, because looking at the government and the country, no one can be like him, one can pacify Liao and the other can pacify the sea, and not kill, and settle the conflict between the two major interest groups in Jiangnan and Beiping in Peiping, so that they can live in peace in a short time.

"Without military power, he doesn't have to be on guard against you every day. Now, the reputation of King Yan, Prince Chang Mao and Lan Yu is higher than that of you. Let's be safe for the time being." Liu Ling helped her husband analyze the reasons for his recent "popularity". The couple is cautious in their daily lives and strives to implement the ideal of Wu'anguo. The libraries of the Ming Dynasty have increased unconsciously under the eyes of people. With Guo Pu's encouragement and support, some big businesses quietly extended their tentacles to Shandong, Henan and the northwest of Xin'an in the New Year's plan. According to newspaper news, several wealthy businessmen in Shanxi made a lot of money and returned home. They prepared a school similar to the Peking Academy in their hometown of Pingyao. Before classes started, many sponsors had already broken through.

The Ming Dynasty, which was calm on the surface, went through the fifteenth year of Hongwu. Everyone was exploring, everyone was trying, everyone didn't know where the road was, and some people completely lost their direction in the violent changes in the underlying social structure.

"Mr. Wu, today the court discussion, the censor impeached the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works to lose the treasury and wasted people's wealth. What do you think?" In the spring of the 16th year of Hongwu, just when Zhu Yuanzhang announced a general amnesty for the good news of the Academy of Sciences' successful improvement of rice seeds in Chameng, a memorial by the Censor Zhang Yan shocked the court and the country. The memorial was intensified by several officials of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works to privately purchase luxury houses and fertile fields. The cost of several bridges under the leadership of the Ministry of Works exceeded actual needs. The completion date was delayed again and again, and Zhu Yuanzhang asked for the severity. Officials of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works shouted that the censor Zhang Yan was disrespectful and falsely accused loyal ministers for his personal name. This time, the ministers were rarely divided into the old and new civil and military factions. Most of the older and more serious people believed that the censor's report had been speculated out of thin air.

The lack of division has become a credential for impeaching officials, but on the premise that the emperor requested widespread communication, both parties will not be held accountable. Younger officials, especially some newly-elected imperial examinations, supported the censor Zhang Yan, believing that some officials of the Ministry of Revenue did not see the harm of these actions when they were inappropriate, lived a luxury, and the treasury was full, but once they formed a habit, they might be effective and endangered the foundation of the country. Zhu Yuanzhang usually hated officials' corruption the most, and several corrupt officials arrested during Li Qi during the Northern Tribunal were all in the end. However, based on the practice of dealing with the Hu Weiyong case in Hongwu in the 13th year of Hongwu, the court did not easily kill officials when the evidence was not conclusive, and the ministers argued for this for a long time without a fight.

During the court meeting, Wu Anguo did not participate in the debate between the two sides and thoughtfully attracted Zhu Yuanzhang's attention. According to Li Shanchang's advice before his death, the son-in-law Wu Anguo was considered the emperor's family, and he was upright, did not like money, and was considerate of the people. He might have answers to this difficult question when asked him about this kind of difficult question. So after leaving the court, Zhu Yuanzhang directly pushed this question to him.

"I, I am really hard to say this time." Wu Anguo was also in a dilemma. "From the accounts listed by officials of the Ministry of Revenue during the court meeting today, there should be no omissions. The people who were impeached by the Censor Zhang are indeed very rich, but if their families are also engaged in emerging industries in Peking, Liaodong and other places, it is not impossible to accumulate so much wealth in a short period of time." If these officials are not corrupt, Wu Anguo would not believe it. Compared with doing business on this land, being corrupt officials is the least risky and fastest way to make money. Since ancient times, the Yellow River is easy to be clear, but without a good system, cleaning up a group of officials is just to clean the dust in the corners of the house. It doesn't take long, and the dirty place is still there.

"Yes, I have also sent someone to check the accounts of the Ministry of Revenue. With too much money and chaotic expenses, it is inevitable that there will be some differences, but the losses are very small. In the past two years, the money has become less valuable. The Ministry of Works' expenses may not be their responsibility. I am not willing to wrong them for no reason, which will make the hearts of scholars in the world cold." Zhu Yuanzhang was a little helpless. A few days ago, a censor suggested that he respect the wise men of the world and not punish the scholars for the benefit of the common people, because the emperor relied on scholars rather than the people to govern the world. He was so angry that he got angry on the spot and beat the censor out. But he also knew in his heart that the censor was saying the fact that although the imperial power was high, the specific implementation of the government orders had to rely on scholars and officials. The various constraints in reality sometimes made him, the emperor, feel helpless.

"According to my opinion, Your Majesty will be better to praise Zhang Yan for his praise tomorrow morning, because it is the responsibility of the censor to the supervisor. He really feels wronged. I am afraid that other censors will not dare to speak out when encountering similar things in the future. The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works cannot over-examination. Those over-extraordinary and fined some salary, and let them go home to reflect on themselves for a while. What Zhang Yan said is indeed a bit confusing. It is probably because of the minds of scholars. Your Majesty does not make any serious about them and let them know that it is boring." Grand Secretary Fei Zhen carefully observed the emperor's face and hesitatedly suggested. The Ministry of Revenue was his place where he started. If something happened to the Ministry of Revenue, he was not good-looking. If he could not get involved, he would be guilty of being in prison, and his life's official fortune would end.

"Wu Qing, what about you? I don't understand what good strategies do you have. The businessman hired in Peking, and there is no risk of losing his head with the boss's money, but it is rare to hear that any guy is not clean. In the past few years, tens of millions of taels of silver have been in and out. I have never seen Guo Pu grab any shopkeeper. Why did he get to me, so many examples of cutting the skin, and there are people who follow him." Zhu Yuanzhang didn't listen to Fei Zhen's "missing" opinion.

, This way of handling is equivalent to not being disposed of. In a few days, someone will definitely bring up old things again, and everyone will have to argue all day. Where can I have so much time in the court to argue about these things? The Japanese discussed peace; Tugustemur once again submitted a letter of tribute and requested both sides to stop the army; Timur, in Hedong, sent an envoy to thank the Ming Dynasty for providing artillery support, requesting more artillery and requesting the Ming Dynasty to enthrone it, and the memorial to press on the desk. Which of the things here is not more important than quarrel?

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to learn from Peking's experience, Wu Anguo thought about it and started a low voice. "Long live, as far as I know, the accounting of the Ministry of Revenue has always used the "Four Pillars" notation method that began in the Song Dynasty, divided into old management or Yuan management (drinkers' note: balance of the previous period), new revenue (income in this period), expelled or already paid (income in this period), and actually found in (income in this period), and it is difficult to remember the loss of the business, and it is suitable for the government but not for private merchants. Merchants in Peking are all self-profit and loss-making transactions, so the accounting method

It is also different from the government. In addition, the supervision of the account books is also different from the court..." After being an advisor for several months, Wu Anguo made great progress in his speech. Today, he wanted to propose the adoption of a new accounting method and financial supervision system in the court. However, when it was proposed at that time, it was estimated that both parties in the dispute would definitely point the finger at him, and both sides would not please him. When he arrived at the imperial study room, his topic kept raising the account books. Now Zhu Yuanzhang finally followed his thoughts, and he was happy and could not bring it out on his face.

"Peking merchants use four-legged accounts. I don't know who advocated them first. Later, everyone saw that it was easy to use, so they all used them. Lord Li, the Hou Zhonglie, also wrote a book about accounting and accounting checking, called "Four-legged Account Recording Method and Third-Party Inspection". It is also called Tiandi and Earth Account. I remember that the accounting rules are: There will be going when you come, and you will have equality when you come. This account method is the record of the collection (come) side in the upper and lower part of the account, which is called "Heaven"; and the content of the payment (going) side is listed in the lower part of the account, which is called "Earth". When checking, the total count of the upper and lower parts of the bill is at the end of the account.

The amounts should be equal, that is, "Heaven" and "Earth" are consistent, indicating that the accounting is handled correctly; otherwise, it means that the accounting is handled incorrectly. The key to the accounting method lies in "Heaven" and "Earth" are in harmony, so the merchants in Peking called the accounting method the heaven and earth together." When talking about Li Shanping, Wu Anguo felt a little sad. Li Shanping was extremely talented, but he did not leave any things that could be passed down from generation to generation. Only that festival was fixed in the glass cabinet of the Peking Academy Library. If the four-legged tent he summarized was approved by the court and published in the world, Wu Anguo would have done his best for his friends (Note 1).

"Li Qing's family is loyal, a pity." Zhu Yuanzhang saw Wu Anguo's face depressed, and knew that he remembered his old friend again. He sighed regretfully. Li Shanping sacrificed his loyalty in front of the formation. When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he personally gave him the word "loyalty and wise" and a poet wrote Li Shanping's leap at the head of the city and sang it in the capital. Whenever he played this song, the singer accompanied him with bronze drums and iron zithers, and everyone under his seat burst into tears. "You ask the Academy of Sciences to publish the accounting method of Li Qing's family. I will allocate silver for him from my own family. The Li Qing's family suggested that it be good. Unfortunately, I did not transfer him to the court as soon as possible."

The room in early spring was a little chilling. Grand Secretary Fei Zhen shrank his neck slightly and then straightened his back straight. He had also seen the play, remembering that name was "Guchengxue". While he was feeling in his heart, he heard Wu Anguo suggesting again: "Long live, the lower part of the book is about checking accounts. The division of labor in the manufacturing of military weapons in Peking is fine, and the goods are inconsistent between workshops. Zhongliehou was afraid of making mistakes, so he set up a special verification department, which was separated from the three departments of purchasing materials and selling equipment, and was not affiliated with each other. Every six months, he checked the accounts separately, and after the investigation, the conclusions were reported directly to Zhongliehou. According to the rules of Peking, anyone who was not clean will be expelled from the factory and will never be hired in all walks of life. Therefore, no one dared to do something stealing, otherwise he would never find a job again..."

Wu Anguo slowly explained Li Shanping's invention to Zhu Yuanzhang. After returning to the capital, what he did the most was this silent infiltration. In his belief, the farther the merchants of Peking went, the further the new policy of Peking could go. The more various technologies and norms of Peking were accepted by people of this era, the more people understood Peking. When the grassroots of this society were prepared for change, whether it was bureaucratic or superstructure, they would have to judge the situation and change one day sooner or later. He and his friends once sowed seeds on this land, but now they needed to care for it carefully, watch it grow slowly, spread slowly on this land of China, slowly becoming a shade. He could see hope, so he had enough confidence to irrigate, protect, and wait.
Chapter completed!