Chapter 50 Section 4: Zhang Juzheng’s post reform

Zhang Juzheng was a famous reformer in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.His reforms in taxation, administration of officials, etc. had a major impact on the history of the late feudal society in our country.In terms of Yichuan, he also carried out a series of reforms. After Zhengde and Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, politics became increasingly corrupt, and the postal system also had many disadvantages.The highest ruling class took advantage of the post office and spent it recklessly.During the reign of Zhengde, there were many incidents of eunuchs going to various post stations to blackmail post money and beat post officials.Liu Yun, the eunuch in charge of ceremonies, took advantage of the opportunity of being ordered to meet the Living Buddha in Tibet, and spent a lot of money at the water post along the way.In the Chengdu station, there are 100 taels of grain in Rizhi station and 100 taels of silver for vegetables; here, as much as 130,000 taels of silver are used to purchase materials for Tibet.Emperor Zhengde went to the south of the Yangtze River to play, and the cost was even greater.He ordered the post stations along the way to prepare beauties in case the emperor came to have fun at any time.This time, hundreds of thousands of people were employed in the waterway station alone, which seriously harassed the people's lives and hindered normal agricultural production.The post station could not bear such a heavy burden, many post officials fled, and the post service was useless.

Under such circumstances, some officials in the Ming Dynasty advocated the reform of the post office. Those who advocated the reform of the post office successively included the famous upright official Hai Rui, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials Wu Peng, and Zhang Juzheng.Zhang Juzheng's reform is a major event in the history of post offices in my country. Zhang Juzheng was the prime minister during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. His reform of the post office started with restricting the officials' privileges, and put forward six restrictions on officials.For example, it is stipulated that any officials who are not on public service shall not harass the post station; officials passing by the post station are only allowed to provide board and lodging according to the level stipulated by the state, and are not allowed to make extravagant demands; except for post post supply, no official is allowed to send ordinary households to serve It also stipulates that all travel expenses for government officials who are not on official business but to leave their posts or take personal leave, etc., shall not be borne by the post station, and shall not use the post-delivery means of transportation; and so on.These reforms have greatly reduced the expenditure of the post office, which has also reduced the burden on the people.According to statistics, after the rectification, the province has reduced the cost of postal services by about 1/3.

In the reform, Zhang Juzheng strictly demanded himself and his family, starting from his own side.His son went back to his hometown to take the imperial examination. Instead of using the official post office, he hired a car at his own expense.For Zhang Juzheng's father's birthday, he didn't use the stagecoach and horse. Instead, he asked his servants to carry their luggage and ride a donkey back home to celebrate his birthday.Zhang Juzheng was merciless to those officials who violated the regulations.There was a son of a governor of Gansu who went to the post without authorization, and was dismissed by him.This punishment shocked the government and the public, and many officials did not dare to do evil anymore.Zhang Juzheng's reform has achieved very good results, "Xiaomin cheered and sang".However, the government of the Ming Dynasty had become hopelessly corrupt, and one or two Zhang Juzhengs could not fundamentally solve the problem.After his death, some reform measures during his lifetime were all abolished, and the post office in Ming Dynasty fell into chaos again.