Emperor Wanli

The New Deal started in the first year of Wanli was an attempt by the young emperor Wanli and Zhang Juzheng to deal with the increasingly obvious shortcomings in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Mainly political and economic reforms. The main focus of political reform is to "test the law." It was put forward in response to bureaucracy and documentarianism, and was intended to "respect sovereignty, teach officials their duties, trust rewards and punishments, and give orders" to improve the efficiency of government agencies. In accordance with the requirements of the examination law, work must be done full-time and within limits; supervision must be carried out at all levels, and everyone must bear their own responsibilities. Economic reforms include, firstly, clearing land ownership across the country; secondly, promoting the "one whip method". In November of the sixth year of Wanli, Emperor Wanli ordered a pilot project in Fujian Province. By September of the eighth year of Wanli, Fujian's "clearance of Zhangtian grain production" was completed. Afterwards, Zhang Juzheng immediately passed the Qing Dynasty across the country. The Ministry of Household Affairs formulated eight regulations on the scope, responsibilities, policies, methods, fees, deadlines, etc. Of the zhangzheng, which were distributed to various places in November of the same year. By December of the 10th year of Wanli, all provinces had basically completed the three-year period, and the total expenditure increased by more than 1.4 Million hectares. Promoting the "one whip method" was another important measure of economic reform at that time. In the ninth year of Wanli, a whip method has been "practiced" all over the country. This indicates that the entire reform has been successful. After this reform, the Ming Dynasty basically realized that "laws must be implemented" and "words must be effective", and fiscal revenue has also increased significantly. The national treasury has accumulated as much as six to seven million taels of silver, and its food reserves have reached more than 13 million shi, which is enough for ten years. Compared with the situation during the Jiajing period when the national grain inventory was insufficient for one year, this was a great improvement. The corrupt Ming Dynasty politics began to take a turn for the better. Although some reform measures of the New Deal were destroyed after Zhang Juzheng's death, such as the examination law, other reform measures such as the "One Whip Law" were more or less maintained and even continued into the Qing Dynasty.