Chapter 25 Chapter 9 Don't Let Your Benefactors Let You Go

After the first two fires were burning beautifully, Hai Rui was going to deal with the third and most important thing: solving the land acquisition issue. At the end of the dynasty, the issue of land annexation would inevitably become a cancer of the society, and eventually lead to the death of the dynasty. It can be said that this issue is related to the life and death of the Ming Dynasty.Specifically in the Yingtian area, since officials can be exempted from taxes, if one person becomes an official, many people will "donate land".The rich have tens of thousands of acres of land, and about half of the farmers have no land, and they are living in extreme hardship.

Land can be said to be the end of all problems, a dead end.However, any problem was clear and clear to Hai Rui.In the early years of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the phenomenon of land contribution already existed. Taizu stipulated: "All people are not allowed to offer land to the kings, sons-in-law, meritorious ministers and various yamen." "When the incident happened, the whole family was confiscated." Although Hai Rui did not have the right of life and death, he could ask the wealthy family to withdraw their land according to the regulations.Hai Rui issued a notice ordering the rich households to return the fields donated by the poor so that the refugees could live.The announcement said:

I don’t know what the law of this court is doing. I don’t know that it’s a calligrapher of the old minister... Let the people cultivate their own fields, and those who invade and receive donations return to the owner. The word "Ge Lao Shang Shu" involved in the announcement is a key point in Hai Rui's political career, so I have to explain a few words.Since the Ming Dynasty abolished the system of prime ministers, people generally respected cabinet members and ministers of various ministries as prime ministers, and also called the chief assistant of the cabinet "Ge Lao".The elder Ge in Hai Rui's announcement refers to his political benefactor Xu Jie.

It turned out that not long after Hai Rui was appointed governor, Xu Jie lost the high-level political struggle in the central government and was forced to retire. He returned to his hometown in Jiangnan and became a country gentleman under Hai Rui's jurisdiction.The winner of the struggle, Gao Gong, succeeded him as the chief assistant of the cabinet and took control of the court. People in the official career value the grace of promotion and weaving a network of relationships the most.According to the logic of the officialdom, Xu Jie is as important to Hai Ruien as a mountain, and Hai Rui should obey Xu Jie.However, Hai Rui is an unusual character who never plays by the rules of the officialdom. He never recognizes human nature, inevitability of reason, unspoken rules, or unwritten laws.He only accepts the dogmas of the saints.He felt that Xu Jie promoted him in the first place to select talents for the country, not to show any personal favor to him personally.Therefore, since he is under his rule, he must treat everyone equally. When others withdraw their fields, you Xu Jie must also withdraw, and you must take the lead in withdrawing.That's why Hai Rui added a sentence in the announcement, "I don't know if he is the old Shangshu family", in order to dispel the hopes of those wait-and-see groups who count on Xu Jie to stand out for them.

Hai Rui felt that Xu Jie should be able to understand what he did. However, Xu Jie couldn't understand.Xu Jie was taken aback when the announcement was made.Xu Jie, who thought he knew Hai Rui quite well, did not expect this result.Not only did Hai Rui not miss his old favor, but he was the first to be attacked.Although the character is honest and honest, although it is honest and refined, don't you understand the principle of repaying kindness?Only now did Xu Jie realize that he had misjudged the person. Anger is anger, but what a character Xu Jie is.He knew that there was someone behind Hai Rui, and this person was Gao Gong.It is impossible for Hai Rui to make such a big move by ordering wealthy households to withdraw their land, and it must be approved by Gao Gong.With Gao Gong's insight into the world, it is impossible for him not to know that this move is bound to fail.Because you forbid eating and drinking, and forbid building halls and halls, these are all feasible, and resistance can be eliminated.But the land is the lifeblood of human beings, and it is a foolish dream to want to use a knife on it!The fundamental interests of the people are involved, and the power of the people who are driven to a dead end is astonishing. The big households of Yingtianfu have roots in the court, and the court opposes it.

Since the facts are so clear, why did Gao Gong approve the implementation?It turns out that Xu Jie has the most extensive land, which is a well-known fact.Gao Gong's move was to use Hai Rui's hand to deal with him, Xu Jie, so that he would not be able to escape this huge embarrassment after retirement. Gao Gong's calculation is really too precise.If Hai Rui misses the old love and let Xu Jie go, people cling to Xu Jie, the decree of retiring the land will fail, and Xu Jie will become the target of public criticism and the target of public discussion. If Hai Rui had made a real move towards Xu Jie, the old Xu Ge would now have to endure the pain of his own skin and lose most of his property.What's more, the decree of retiring the land will eventually arouse huge opposition in Ying Tian, ​​which is enough to overthrow Hai Rui.In this way, Hai Rui, a difficult political trouble to deal with, was also taken care of by the way.After all, it was Xu Jie who brought up Hai Rui, not him.

What a sinister plan to kill two birds with one stone!But Xu Jie would not be fooled.Those who know the current affairs are heroes, and the current strategy is to bite the bullet and return some of the land, so as not to focus on him and let others stand up against Hai Rui. So, contrary to the expectations of the wealthy and powerful households, Xu Jie did not boycott Hai Rui, but voluntarily withdrew one-tenth of the total property, 12,200 mu.As soon as the news came out, the whole area was shocked.No one expected Hai Rui to have such great power, nor did they expect Elder Xu Ge to be so weak.More than 10,000 mu of land, accumulated by the Xu family for generations, was once cut down by Hai Rui.Now, many people who originally hoped that Mr. Xu Ge would stand out for them had no hope, and the poor people were encouraged by this news, and they went to the Yamen to ask for their land to be returned.As soon as Hai Rui's governor's yamen was opened, there were thousands of papers filled with pleadings, and in a short while, the whole world was turned upside down.It seems that Hai Rui made the right attack on Xu Jie, and the third fire was a good start.

However, what everyone didn't expect was that Hai Rui still didn't buy into Elder Xu Ge's account after starting the process of retiring the land.He openly stated that Mr. Xu Ge should return at least "more than half" of the land, that is to say, at least 60,000 mu of land should be returned. I thought it was just for shocking the mountain, but no one thought that Hai Rui would be so serious, including Xu Jie.Everyone was stunned to see how the situation would develop.