Time of occurrence: Wanli period in Ming Shenzong.

Year: Ming Dynasty

Event introduction

zhang juzheng reform

Zhang Reform is a series of reforms carried out by politician Zhang in the middle of Ming Dynasty to save the Ming Dynasty.

In the middle of Ming dynasty, the situation of land annexation by aristocratic landlords was quite serious. About half of the land paid taxes in the country was hidden by big landlords, who refused to pay taxes, which seriously affected national income and intensified social contradictions, and peasant uprisings broke out one after another. The Ming dynasty was in danger.

The measures he took mainly include:

In internal affairs, he first reorganized the bureaucracy and strengthened centralization of authority. Zhang Chuang created the "Examination Law", which strictly checked the implementation of imperial edicts by officials at all levels, required regular reports on local affairs to the Cabinet, enhanced the real power of the Cabinet, eliminated stubborn officials who were hidebound and opposed to change, and selected and promoted new forces supporting reform, thus making organizational preparations for the implementation of the new law. Moreover, the postal service and civil servants have been reorganized, and his policies are: "respect sovereignty, instructors, rewards and punishments, and orders", "strengthen public office and interfere in private affairs."

On the economic front, Zhang's achievements are the most outstanding. He once used Pan Jixun, a famous hydraulic scientist, to supervise the Yellow River so that it would not flow south into the Huaihe River. Therefore, "the farmland has been exhausted, and the abandoned land has been turned into ploughing mulberry for decades", and the Caohe River can also reach Beijing directly.

"One whip method" is an important content of Zhang's economic reform, and it is also a major change in the history of the labor system in China's feudal society.

The tax system in the early Ming Dynasty was very complicated. At that time, the taxes were mainly grain, supplemented by silver wire, and collected in summer and autumn. In addition, farmers are required to bear all kinds of corvees, pay special local taxes and so on. The content of the "one whip method" is: "summarize the tax of a county, measure the size of the land, collect all the silver, decompose the officials and hire servants to deal with it." That is to say, the land tax, corvee and other miscellaneous levies in each county are always one, and the silver is collected at the same time, which greatly simplifies the collection procedures and makes it difficult for local officials to cheat. The implementation of this method can reduce the labor burden for farmers without land, and farmers with land can spend more time cultivating land, which has played a certain role in developing agricultural production. At the same time, by changing the corvee cashier, farmers have gained greater personal freedom and are more likely to leave the land, providing more labor sources for urban handicrafts. Industrial and commercial people who have no land do not have to pay silver, which will also play a positive role in the development of industry and commerce.

The implementation of the "one whip law" significantly increased the fiscal revenue of the Ming government and improved its financial and economic situation. The national treasury has13 million mangoku grain, which can be eaten for five or six years, which is a great progress compared with the situation that the national stock of grain was less than one year during Jiajing period.

Zhang also took some military reform measures. He sent Qi Jiguang to guard Jimen, Li Zhiliang Town, Liaodong, and built more than 3,000 "enemy platforms" on the Great Wall from Shanhaiguan in the east to Juyongguan in the west. He also conducted tea-horse trade with Dahan Tatar and adopted a peaceful policy. Since then, the northern border defense has been further consolidated. In twenty or thirty years, there was no major war between the Ming Dynasty and Tatar.

After the above reforms, the centralized feudal state machine was strengthened, and "laws must be observed" and "words must be carried out" were basically realized. The country's economic situation has improved, its fiscal revenue has increased, and its anti-aggression ability in national defense has been enhanced. Of course, the purpose of Zhang's political reform was not to reduce the burden on the people, but to consolidate the feudal rule of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, his political reform could not touch the fundamental interests of the landlord class, and he could only make some tinkering improvements, which could not save the historical trend of the inevitable demise of feudal society. Nevertheless, Zhang's reform limited the vested interests of big bureaucratic landlords to a certain extent.

1in June 582, Zhang died of illness, and some reformist opposition regrouped and counterattacked wildly. They criticized Zhang's reform, arguing that clearing Zhang's land was "increasing taxes and harming the people" and that the implementation of "one whip law" was a destruction of the patriarchal clan system. When Zhang died, they ordered his rank and title to be revoked, and then looted his property.

Zhang's eldest son was forced to commit suicide and other family members were persecuted. The feudal die-hards, representing the big landlords and big noble forces, came back to power, which made the life of the working people more miserable.