Before Zhang Juzheng's death, the national land survey was basically completed, but the results disappointed him greatly.

The final number of acres of farmland counted nationwide was 7,013,976 hectares.

Compared with the land survey in the 15th year of Hongzhi, it only increased by 810,000 hectares.

Compared with the time in the 26th year of Hongwu, it was a full 1.49 million hectares less!

Moreover, Yunnan and Guizhou were not included in the land survey during the Hongwu reign. In other words, after the Ming Dynasty gained two more provinces and cultivated the land for two hundred years, the registered land was reduced by one-sixth, which was simply ridiculous!

Thus, Mr. Zhang was branded as a "thief" and "took the excess as merit", which became one of the crimes he was held accountable for after his death.

Because there were only 4 million hectares of registered land during the Jiajing period, the most conservative estimate is that more than half of the land was hidden from the government's sight and did not have to pay a single bushel of rice in tax to the state.

As for where these lands went, I have said it many times before. They were simply annexed by royal families, officials and large landowners. Even among the registered lands, they still enjoyed a lot of legal and illegal tax exemptions. The burden of the country fell entirely on the small farmers, who had no choice but to abandon their land and flee, thus the plight of the country being poor and the people being in dire straits emerged.

Zhang Juzheng's original plan was to crack down on their privileges and make these officials and landlords assume their due obligations.

However, even Zhang Xianggong could not move the biggest landlords - the princes and royal family. We know that if the reform is not thorough, it is better not to reform at all.

When faced with the land survey by the government, the bureaucrats and big landlords offered their land to the royal family. The royal family relied on their pig blood and were arrogant and unreasonable. When the officials dared to come to survey, they led their servants to drive them away. Anyway, they didn't have to pay for killing people...

How could the government clean up the land of the royal family? So the pigs took the opportunity to annex the land, resulting in more concentrated land.

Therefore, in Zhao Hao's opinion, if he didn't uproot Zhu Yuanzhang's extremely stupid vassal system and slaughter all the pigs, dry them and hang them on the city walls, he would never succeed in surveying the land!

Sorry, calling the royal family pigs is really an insult to pigs. After all, pigs are full of treasures. They are just a bunch of useless parasites and vampires that exude stench!

Hai Rui was able to successfully carry out the land survey because there were no vassal kings in Jiangnan. If there was a vassal king who fought him, he would be the one who would be finished. Because he was just a minister of the Zhu family, and they were the Zhu family...

With Mr. Zhang's wisdom, how could he not see such an obvious problem?

Of course he could see it. In his first and last memorial during the Jiajing period, “On Current Affairs”, Zhang Juzheng clearly pointed out the five major crises of the country.

The first crisis is that the princes of the royal family are arrogant and tyrannical, and have no regard for the law, which leads to the corruption of the judicial system! The strongest annexation not only does not pay taxes, but also requires most of the taxes of a province to support it!

But it was useless for Zhang Juzheng to know this, because his power came from the emperor, so as long as the emperor was unwilling to touch his own family, he could only watch helplessly.

It was precisely because Zhao Hao saw through this that he had no hope for any reform based on imperial power.

This is why he is a comrade with Hai Rui but not with Zhang Juzheng...

Therefore, a son-in-law who is too attentive to his father-in-law usually has bad intentions...

~~

Let me explain this on two sides.

While Zhao Hao was trying to persuade Prime Minister Zhang, Eunuch Feng also returned to the palace.

When returning to the palace, Feng Bao deliberately had the sedan chair go around the Meridian Gate to see what was going on there. It was really shocking. The officials who were petitioning were gathering more and more, probably three or four hundred?

Moreover, they also put up banners such as "Save the Prime Minister" and "Follow human feelings", which completely occupied the moral high ground and made the emperor unable to vent his anger...

We are doing this for Yuanfu's own good. Anyone who opposes is trying to force Yuanfu to death!

"Alas, uncle, you are really ill at a bad time." Feng Bao lowered the curtain of the sedan chair depressedly and stepped on the sedan chair board. The young eunuch lifted the sedan chair and entered the palace through the Zuoye Gate.

When Feng Bao arrived at the Qianqing Palace to see the Empress Dowager, he told her about Mr. Zhang's situation, and the Empress Dowager couldn't stop crying.

How could a perfect man like Zhang Lang have such a disease? I don't know if it's contagious...

"Can't you recuperate in Beijing?" But Empress Dowager Li still grasped the key point and said, "It's thousands of miles on the road, how bumpy it must be?"

"Isn't it also about the burial?" Feng Bao said carefully, "Mr. Zhang had not seen his father for twenty years, and he was separated from him forever without ever seeing him again. You can imagine how sad and regretful he was. But the officials didn't understand him, thinking that he was just clinging to power and didn't want to mourn. Not only did they scold him behind his back, they also scolded him in the newspapers and even went to his house to scold him. Naturally, Mr. Zhang felt very aggrieved."

"This has become a knot in his heart. If he is not allowed to be buried and cry by the coffin, I think Mr. Zhang will suffocate to death." In order to make Empress Dowager Li realize the seriousness of the situation, Feng Bao did not hesitate to curse his uncle.

"Is that so..." Empress Dowager Li stopped talking but still refused to give in.

It was not because she loved him deeply, but because she was selfish. In her opinion, the purpose of all the ministers was to serve her and her son.

Therefore, everything should be based on the needs of her and her mother, and satisfying their needs is the duty of a minister. That's why she wanted to keep Zhang Juzheng regardless of anything.

Because I need you, I don't care what your situation is...

It was only because the Buddhist temple had been burned down before and Mr. Zhang had hemorrhoids, and now because of Feng Bao's threat, Empress Dowager Li did not dare to force him to stay.

Only a living Mr. Zhang is useful, and the healthier and more energetic he is, the more useful he is. How can a dead Mr. Zhang be of any use?

But it is very difficult to get Empress Dowager Li to completely change her mind.

Now, because of the mourning of Zhang Xianggong, the two had not meditated together for a month, and Empress Dowager Li felt that she had lost her appetite and was like a lost soul. If she was gone for a year or two, Li Caifeng was really worried that she would become sick with lovesickness like Du Liniang and die.

Sometimes illness comes from the heart. Empress Dowager Li was troubled all night and felt uncomfortable all over the next day. She forced herself to get up and asked Wanli to get up, but then went back to bed.

Li Jin was terrified to see his sister like this. In his memory, his sister had always been strong and healthy and had never sneezed for years, so he quickly asked someone to summon the imperial physician.

The imperial physician came to take the queen's pulse and said it was nothing serious. The queen mother was just distracted, insomniac and tired... In other words, she didn't sleep well last night. She just needed to drink some soothing medicine and get some sleep.

But this news to the imperial physician alarmed everyone inside and outside the palace.

In the morning, Empress Dowager Chen and several concubines came to visit after hearing the news. At noon, the Grand Princess also heard the news and hurriedly brought precious supplements into the palace to visit the patient.

Empress Dowager Li was annoyed by the constant visits and wanted to close the door and have a good sleep, but when she heard that Ning An had come, she immediately lost all her sleepiness. She asked someone to invite her in quickly and moved a cushion to the bedside for the eldest princess so that they could talk for a while.

After the palace maids and eunuchs served tea and snacks, they tactfully withdrew and closed the door of the warm room to prevent people outside from hearing the shocking conversation inside.

Li Caifeng actually told Ning An all about her distress.

And she already knew about Ning An and Zhao Shouzheng...

This is not surprising. After all, Li Caifeng is the mother of all the sons of Emperor Longqing. Besides, Longqing also needs to talk, so many things are not hidden from her.

She learned about the love story of Ning An and Zhao Shouzheng from Long Qing. She also learned why Ning An adopted Zhao Shouzheng's son as her godson and insisted on marrying her daughter to him. It was purely to make up for the regrets of the past...

She also knew that Ning An's annual trip southwards for the winter was fake, and her husband and wife life with Zhao Zhuangyuan was real...

My goodness, she was so envious!

Because there is also someone hidden in her heart.

Li Caifeng will always remember the spring of the 43rd year of Jiajing's reign when the peerless and unrivaled Mr. Zhang walked into Prince Yu's mansion.

She was only eighteen years old at that time. Although she had given birth to a prince, she was just at the age of falling in love.

Soon, she was captivated by the extraordinary charm of the palace's daily lecturer.

Especially in the most terrible years of the last few years of Jiajing, the moody emperor tortured his only remaining son all the time. At that time, Emperor Longqing lived in fear, surprise and frustration for a long time. Not only did he have no kingly spirit, but he was even a little wretched.

At that time, Gao Gong had already left the palace and became the Minister of Rites. It was Zhang Juzheng who calmed Prince Yu with his calm and composed attitude. He also helped Prince Yu to make plans and overcome crises time and time again with his foresight.

This completely captured Li Caifeng's heart, but a woman's heart can only hold one man at a time.

So even when she was enjoying her love, she imagined Prince Yu to be him...

Later, Prince Yu became Emperor Longqing, and she became the mother of the crown prince and Imperial Noble Consort. On the one hand, she had to respect her status, and on the other hand, it became difficult for her to meet Mr. Zhang, so she prepared to forget her dream lover.

However, Longqing became a little bee, disliked her nagging and alienated her. Later, when he had Huahua Nuer, he rarely went to her palace. Concubine Li was only in her early twenties, grinding soy milk in the deep palace, and the more she grinded, the lonelier she became... She woke up from her dreams at midnight, and she didn't know how many times she had married Zhang Xianggong and unlocked hundreds of postures.

Unexpectedly, her young son became the emperor, she became the empress dowager behind the scenes, and Zhang Xianggong became the imperial tutor who assisted in the administration. The two of them had more time to interact with each other.

Moreover, Zhang Juzheng treated the emperor as if he were his own son and devoted all his energy to him, which completely matched the image of a perfect husband in her mind. He also managed state affairs in an orderly manner, filled the treasury, and allowed her and her mother to live a peaceful life. She did not feel the desolation of an orphan and a widow being bullied at all.

This is all because of him!

He even patiently lectured her on the sutras and practiced Zen with her, which greatly satisfied Empress Dowager Li's spirit. She even felt that these were her best days.

People who live in happiness and sweetness every day always want to share with others. Sharing with no one is like walking in the night in fine clothes, which can suffocate people to death.

But she was not unaware of the seriousness of the matter. She knew that such things must not be told to anyone, otherwise not only would the royal family's reputation be ruined, but she would also not be able to face her son.

So she set her sights on Ning An, who was in a very similar situation. When she invited her to stay in the palace and slept on the same bed, she told her all about her love...

Ning An was really frustrated, so he shared his story...

Having common hobbies can bring people closer together. Now the Grand Princess is Empress Dowager Li’s best friend.

However, Ning An still felt a sense of superiority, thinking that she could only satisfy her desire and was not like him who could actually do it.

Well, so it’s better to be happy yourself.