Curiosity is like hunger, and humility is like foolishness.
Why did Zhang Juzheng's change of law allow the Ming Dynasty to extend its life span by seventy years?
Then, let's first understand Zhang Juzheng, Zhang Juzheng was born in Jiangling County, Jingzhou, Hubei Province, in his childhood, he showed extremely high talent, can be described as a "prodigy", so Shun was favored by the Inspector of Huguang, with his qualifications, he could have easily passed the township test, but the Inspector thought that he lacked tempering, worried about his arrogance in the future, so he interfered in many ways, causing him to pass the examination for three years, but the Inspector's will was disappointed, he was still proud and arrogant, so the Inspector personally taught him, and gave him his own waist card. To encourage him to become a pillar of the country in the future. In the end, after many exchanges, Zhang Juzheng found his own problems and corrected them in time, and this inspector can be described as Zhang Juzheng's first teacher.
Zhang Juzheng
With his outstanding talents, he became the youngest soldier at that time in his twenties. Guan Bai Shu Ji Shi, entered the Hanlin Temple, and then the right middle Yun.
Immediately after this important turning point in his life, he was appreciated by Xu Jie, during which he learned a lot of political knowledge with Xu Jie, it can be said that this period laid the foundation for his future success, and in this period when he had a good relationship with the Guozi Supervisor Gao Gong, and most importantly, he was one of the few people who had a good relationship with Yan Artemisia and Xu Jie at that time, Mu Xiu Yulin, who would be urged by the wind. Xu Jie knew this very well, and he didn't want him to step into the court too soon. Moreover, during this period, it was a generation of traitorous ministers Yan Song who came to power, Yan Song wantonly excluded dissidents, and various officials in the court openly competed for the position of the first assistant, and Zhang Juzheng deeply felt that the state was corrupt. So he went to the frontier, and after several years of observation, he found that the state's border defense military strength was extremely poor, and "Sun Tzu's Art of War" said: "Soldiers, the major affairs of the country, the place of death and life, the way of survival, must not be unaware." Therefore, he wrote a book entitled "Discussion on the Time and Political Neglect", but it did not attract the attention of the emperor.
Later, he took leave to go home to rest, during which time he indulged in landscape and water for three years, and later, seeing that the people's lives were in dire straits, as an official, his sense of responsibility prompted him to re-emerge, and under the recommendation of Xu Jie, he became the future Longqing Emperor Zhu Zaituo, and later the two became very good friends, because of this relationship, he made many officials, laying the foundation for his future success. When Zhu Zaituo became emperor, he paid homage to the official Zuo Shilang (左侍郎) and was also a scholar of Dongge University, during which time he wrote "Chen LiuShi Shu" to declare his reform opinions. And together with the then Zaifu Gaogong, he reconciled with the Tatars and settled many years of war.
Zhu Zaikun
Later, together with the eunuch Feng Bao, Gao Gong was expelled and replaced by the first assistant, and because of his behavior, he was deeply appreciated by the empress dowager at that time, and because of the young age of Shenzong at that time, the empress dowager handed over the military and political power of the state to him, at this time, Zhang Ju began his own reform plan.
In terms of national economic reforms
First, he first carried out land reform, ordering the national government to check the land area and number of households in the whole country within three years, and in the eighth year of the Wanli Calendar, the statistics of the grain and land collected nationwide reached 713,976 hectares, which was three million hectares more than before, because this survey made the wanli ten years the richest since Jiajing; second, he began to carry out taxation reforms and implemented the "one whip law," which greatly reduced the corruption of officials, made it impossible for local tycoons to easily evade taxes, and changed the phenomenon of the people's "production and tax deposits." Third, he carried out the reform of agricultural and commercial enterprises, those who did not have land taxes could enter the city to become industrial and commercial labor, he changed the previous policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, agriculture was a commodity for commerce, commerce could produce agricultural necessities, and promote agricultural development, and agricultural and commercial coexistence and common development.
Because of its economic reforms, there was a brief boom during the Wanli dynasty, which continued its Ming Dynasty for seventy years.
In the area of national political reform
First, the implementation of the examination of political law, every three years to assess the officials, unqualified, the light demotion, the heavy dismissal of officials exile, this method indirectly strengthens the central power. Second, he was well-known militarily, appointing Qi Jiguang town of Jimen and Li Chengliang town of Liaodong, building three thousand enemy stations on the Great Wall, actively resisting foreign criminals, and opening mutual markets on the frontier to reduce war economically.
Although Zhang Juzheng's various reforms were effective, they still could not change the fate of the feudal dynasty in the end, but in a sense, it did extend the Ming Dynasty for seventy years