In the end, Zhang Juzheng did not get the answer he wanted from Zhao Hao...

Master Zhang didn't know that with the help of Zhao Hao, he had already carried out reforms for five more years.

However, to his dismay, when he looked back at the end of his life, he found that the 15th year of Wanli was not a qualitative leap compared to the 10th year of Wanli.

If we look at the overall situation from a global perspective, we will find that the reforms in the south... or more precisely, in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, have been far more effective than those in other places.

Take the most difficult task of land surveying for example. The four provinces of Nanzhi, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong had completed the pilot projects in the early years of the Wanli reign, and all the land surveys were completed before the fifth year of the Wanli reign.

However, Mr. Zhang also knew why the survey of the southeast coast was so smooth.

First, except for Nanzhi, these provinces have little land. Zhejiang and Guangdong are known as "seven mountains, one water, and two parts of farmland", and Fujian is even more exaggerated as "eight mountains, one water, and one part of farmland". With little land, there are fewer people who rely on the land, so land surveying is naturally easier.

Although Nanzhi had a lot of land, the Ming Dynasty sword that had been suppressed by him for fifteen years had already helped him cut this hard bone into pieces.

During the Longqing reign, Hai Rui surveyed the land in ten prefectures in Jiangnan and brought down the largest landlord, Xu Ge Lao, until his family was ruined. Now, no one in Jiangnan, from the dukes to the local officials, dared to play tricks anymore and all returned their land and surveyed it.

Hai Rui handled 6,000 cases of land withdrawal every day, which completely stopped the practice of land donation, fraudulent sending and land transfer in the Jiangnan area. He completed the land survey of ten prefectures in Jiangnan within one year.

Second, the Jiangnan Group vigorously promoted the land contracting system in these four provinces, separating the ownership and use rights of land. Now in the Jiangnan region, 90% of the landlords' land is leased to local development companies for a long time. With local development companies cooperating with the government to conduct land surveys, the gentry could not hide it even if they wanted to.

Moreover, with the rapid development of Jiangnan Group, in the southeastern coastal areas and the 18 overseas administrative regions, there are many businesses with investment returns several times that of land. The eyes of the gentry and wealthy families have long since shifted away from the crowded land under their feet and turned to broader and hotter territories.

In addition, the group had to cooperate with the officials of the four provinces to improve their political achievements, so the reforms were naturally effective.

~~

But outside the four southeastern provinces, the results of land survey were very poor, and even his old nest, Huguang, was no exception.

The reason is very simple. In these provinces, the imperial power does not extend below the county level, and even the government decrees do not issue outside the government office!

In addition to the three provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong and the southern and northern Zhili provinces, only Yunnan and Guizhou did not have vassal kings. In addition, there was a Duke of Qian in Yunnan who was as evil as the vassal kings. As for Guizhou, even the provincial capital was established by Zhao Jin and named by Zhao Hao, but no one went there...

Therefore, apart from the four southeastern provinces, almost every province is filled with princes and royal families with amazing fertility. The number of registered royal families in each province ranges from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. These descendants of the Zhu family are themselves the largest landlords.

Moreover, as soon as they heard that the land was to be surveyed, the gentry in these places offered their land to the emperor and his vassal states. If the government forcibly surveyed the land, the clerks would inform the emperor, and thousands of the emperor's descendants would get the news in advance and act arrogantly in the fields to obstruct the government.

Although they were all ruffians, the lowest one was a lieutenant of the sixth rank, which was higher than the magistrate. The government dared not touch any of them. They could only withdraw in disgrace.

Under the pressure of the performance appraisal system, officials could only make the people suffer more to get the job done. For example, when measuring the land of small farmers without any backing, they would generally replace the big bow with a small bow to get more acres; or they would treat the uncultivated mountain land, sloping land, graveyard, and even houses as "flat fields" and include them in the acres to complete the measurement and appraisal of the government office.

The higher-ups don’t care whether you have made false claims or not; you still have to pay taxes on the inflated acreage of land! In order to keep their positions and avoid punishment, officials can only brutally extort land from the common people.

When the common people could not pay the taxes even after selling their children, they had no choice but to become slaves to the royal family or abandon their homes and businesses to become refugees. As a result, the land that the common people had relied on for survival for generations was regarded as a harmful thing, and "hundreds of miles away, all abandoned, and the whole family and village fled"... Only the two million immigrants from the Jiangnan Group every year played a certain role in stopping the boiling pot, and the broken pot of the Ming Dynasty barely did not overflow.

It was more than just land surveying. Any reform of the imperial court was completely ineffective in the provinces with vassal kings. This was because Zhang Xianggong, the manager, could not touch the big boss's family...

If you can't touch the royal family, you can't touch the officials and gentry. In the end, to complete the annual tax collection task, you can only rely on constantly making the people suffer...

Zhang Juzheng certainly knew the crux of the problem, but whenever he advocated cutting the royal family's salaries and investigating the royal family's occupation of land, the old Zhu family would cry, make a scene, and even hang themselves. Empress Dowager Li, who had always supported Prime Minister Zhang, also knew that she was in the wrong, but she refused to agree on this matter.

Because in the tenth year of Wanli, in order to prepare for the wedding of her youngest son, Prince Lu, the palace misappropriated more than 900,000 taels of military funds, and even bought out all the jewels in the capital.

After the wedding, the issue of the prince's vassalage was put on the agenda. As a result, the construction of the Prince's Palace in Weihui alone cost 677,800 taels of silver. The stones were all mined from the deep mountains and old forests of Huguang and Sichuan. A large number of workers were used, and it has not been completed yet. The cost has long exceeded one million taels...

In addition, the imperial stores and farms that Wanli and the Empress Dowager rewarded to Prince Lu were spread throughout the capital, with the land alone amounting to tens of thousands of hectares.

Since the Emperor and the Empress Dowager treated Prince Lu so well, they naturally could not be harsh on other princes and relatives. At least they could not reduce their treatment, right?

Besides, it all belongs to our Zhu family. The meat is rotten in the pot. What right do you, an outsider, have to interfere?

Zhang Juzheng's supreme power did not come from himself. Once he lost the support of the empress dowager, he would be helpless...

That's why he feels so frustrated. It really is true that human power is limited.

~~

Looking at his father-in-law crying in disappointment, Zhao Hao couldn't help crying while holding his hand.

For a fleeting moment, he even felt that it was wrong for him to help his idol extend his life by five years.

These five years were extremely torturous for Mr. Zhang... Even though he slept with many beautiful women, the increasingly strong sense of frustration completely destroyed him.

Maybe if he died in the tenth year of Wanli, when the reform was not yet in decline, his heart would be more peaceful. Although that would mean he would sleep with fewer girls...

After calming down, Zhao Hao looked at the old man who was about to be destroyed by despair. After a long while, he slowly said, "My father-in-law's reforms will be remembered for thousands of years. He can be regarded as the first meritorious official in the Ming Dynasty's revival!"

This is not just a comfort to the dying, but an obvious fact - the annual income of Taicang is now 17 million taels of silver, four times that of fifteen years ago; the stored grain is enough for ten years of expenditure, which is also four times that of the first year of Wanli!

Not only is the national treasury full, but the world is also at peace.

In the northwest, Altan Khan had died, and Sanniangzi became a widow. Unfortunately, the poor Bahan Naji fell off his horse while hunting and died in the 11th year of the Wanli reign. Even after his grandfather died, it was not his turn... Altan Khan's eldest son Huang Taiji wanted to take over, but Sanniangzi refused and ran to Datong to seek refuge with the Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Juzheng named Sanniangzi the Lady of Loyalty and Shun, and persuaded her to marry Huang Taiji. The couple led the Tatar tribe and lived a peaceful life. Moreover, since they believed in Tibetan Buddhism, the Tatars had been completely destroyed, and there was nothing to worry about.

Qi Jiguang was guarding the north, and no one could break through.

In the northeast, Li Chengliang was sweeping the country, and the Tartars were terrified. The nine borders of the Ming Dynasty were peaceful, and the capital had not heard any alarm for more than ten years!

In the southwest, Liu Jing and Deng Zilong conquered Burma and defeated Mang Yingli, achieving a decisive victory. The two generals united the various tribes, swore an oath of blood in Weiyuan Camp, and recovered all the lands occupied by the Toungoo Dynasty, forcing the chieftains in southern Yunnan to submit again.

The Ming Dynasty has truly regained its glory days!

And all this was gained by this dying old man, who had given everything, including his reputation, for the Zhu family...

Although he did wrong the people and officials of the world, he was a great contributor to the Zhu family!

In the past two hundred years, only Yu Shaobao can be compared with him!

It can also be compared with the miserable...

After Bao Zong killed Yu Qian, no minister was willing to be loyal to the Zhu family and die for them.

After Wanli liquidated Zhang Juzheng and forced his entire family to death, no minister was willing to work hard for the Zhu family...

If the Zhu family doesn't perish, is there still justice?!

But Zhang Juzheng at least proved to Zhao Hao that reform could not save the Ming Dynasty...

After staring at his son-in-law's eyes for a long time, Zhang Juzheng finally gave in to his fate and sighed. He used up his last bit of strength to utter a few weak words:

"Go...on your own way..."

After saying this, Zhang Juzheng, the Grand Tutor of the Ming Dynasty and Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, Minister of Personnel, and Grand Secretary of the Zhongji Palace, who had ruled the country for fifteen years, closed his eyes forever.

~~

In the Buddhist hall at the rear of the Palace of Heavenly Purity in the Forbidden City.

The 25-year-old Emperor Wanli was kneeling in front of the Buddha and praying with a beautiful woman who was so beautiful that she could shame the moon and flowers.

There were three thousand beauties in the club, and Concubine Zheng, the most favored concubine in the Ming Palace, was the most favored among them.

There was a curl of incense in the Buddhist hall and the sound of wooden fish was particularly hypnotic. Wanli could not help but lower his head and doze off.

Suddenly he let out an "ah" and looked up abruptly, scaring Concubine Zheng, who was concentrating on reciting scriptures, so much that she fell to the ground.

"Your Majesty, what are you doing..." Concubine Zheng rubbed her butt and pouted.

"I, I..." Wanli's face was pale and sweat was dripping down his face. After a while, he came back to his senses and said, "I dreamed that the master died..."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Concubine Zheng got up, took out a handkerchief and wiped his sweat, saying, "Didn't you pray every day to get rid of this worry?"

"Alas, I was shocked because I dreamed that he was sneering at me at the door." Wanli shook his head and sighed, "People say that such a great man will become a city god even after his death."

"Wasn't the City God appointed by Emperor Hongwu? Who dares to make trouble in Ziwei City?" Concubine Zheng couldn't help but smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you look like a timid old lady."

"Oh? You are so presumptuous..." Upon hearing this, Wanli grabbed her into his arms, touched her all over and said, "Look, I won't have to use a steel whip to severely whip you!"

"Your Majesty, this is in front of the Buddha..." Concubine Zheng panted and dodged. It was more of a tease than a rejection.

At this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps sounded. Concubine Zheng quickly struggled out of the emperor's arms and hurriedly adjusted her hair at the collar.

When she saw Zhang Jing, the manager of the Qianqing Palace, rushing in, Concubine Zheng frowned slightly in displeasure.

Zhang Jing didn't care about anything else and whispered in the emperor's ear: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Zhang is gone..."

"Oh, are you serious?" Wanli straightened up when he heard that, not knowing what expression to make for a moment.