Zhang's reform promoted the germination of capitalism in China and played a certain role in the poor and weak Ming Dynasty at that time. However, due to the short implementation time of the New Deal, when the reform achieved initial results, it was stopped by the ruling class.
The reasons for the failure of Zhang Reform can be divided into direct reasons and fundamental reasons.
The fundamental reason is that Zhang's political reform violated the fundamental interests of the ruling class. Zhang's tax policy is a method of flogging. When collecting taxes, it is collected according to the head of each household, that is, spreading the land into acres. In this way, when Zhang eased the contradiction between farmers and land, the aristocratic class lost many opportunities to profit from it. When Zhang's reform was being implemented, he saw that his own interests were gradually deprived, so he called nobles to obstruct Zhang's New Deal, and Zhang's New Deal died.
The direct cause of the failure of Zhang's political reform was the long-term poverty and weakness of the Ming Dynasty. This kind of situation has already appeared in Jiajing and Years, and Zhang's reform needs a long process. In addition, the Ming Dynasty suffered serious losses not only economically, but also militarily and politically. There were many officers and men in the Ming Dynasty. People have to pay more taxes every year to support these officers and men, and the country's grain storage is much worse than before. In addition, the Ming Dynasty only supported Zhang's reform. In addition, in the imperial court, the conservative voice drowned out the reformists headed by Zhang. In the process of Zhang's reform, he encountered many obstacles, which made the implementation of the New Deal very difficult.
When the New Deal achieved initial results, the emperor was forced to bow to the powerful class, interrupted Zhang's reform and finally failed.
Second, the content of Zhang Reform:
Zhang was a reformer and politician in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, who carried out the New Deal during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. As a prime minister, Zhang's reform measures played a certain role in the economic recovery of the Ming Dynasty, and Zhang's reform promoted the germination of capitalism in China. And Zhang has become a model of a generation of wise prime ministers.
Politically, Zhang strengthened centralization of authority. In view of the large number of redundant staff in the imperial court, he explained the solution to Ming Shenzong, that is, streamlining the imperial court officials and assessing the administrative level and achievements of the imperial court officials at all levels on time.
Economically, Zhang adopted the method of "one person, one whip". The general content is that when people pay taxes, they will abolish the substitution of manpower for taxes and unify the land. This not only ensures the steady growth of national fiscal revenue, but also alleviates the contradiction between people and land to some extent. In agriculture, Zhang sent water conservancy experts to increase the construction of the Yellow River and Huaihe River basins. At that time, the sediment control in Huanghuai had achieved initial results.
Militarily, Qi Jiguang and Li were assigned to guard the border. Qi Jiguang is in charge of the southeast coastal security, and Li is in charge of the northeast border security. With Qi Jiajun and Li Jiajun, the national defense security of the Ming Dynasty was guaranteed.
Culturally, vigorously promoting Neo-Confucianism and cracking down on the spread of "Xue Xin" suppressed the ideas of progressives to a certain extent. Zhang also ordered the demolition of academies in various places and implemented the idea of one family. Zhang's cultural reform is undoubtedly a failed exploration, which suppressed the progress of emancipating the mind and fundamentally hindered the progress of society.