"Them? What's wrong with them?" Zai Chun was a bit stimulated today, and he couldn't analyze what Er Mao said for a while.
"Hey... Your Majesty, why are Mr. Weng and Mr. Li leaning towards the Eight Banners today? It's not that there is no conflict between Hanchen and Manchu, but that there is also a conflict between Hanchen and Your Majesty's industrial plan!"
"Your Majesty is so smart, why can't you see through it? The Capital Iron Works has a hundred thousand civilians, and the railway has more than a hundred thousand. Let's calculate the minimum number for now, two hundred thousand!"
"Do you know what these 200,000 people are to these Han ministers? These are all tenants that His Majesty snatched from them!"
"I was born in a farm family and know the details of the farm family. Your Majesty's projects use strong laborers who can work hard. When these people are at home, one person can manage at least five acres of land!"
"You have brought together 200,000 people, and there is only one million acres of private land that lacks farmers to cultivate. And the lack of farmers to cultivate the land will make the landlords very passive..."
"Landlords are afraid that their land will be abandoned, so they have to attract tenants to rent more land. This turns into landlords begging tenants to rent land... So can the land rent be increased? Not only cannot it be increased, but it has to be reduced. It’s rented out!”
Zai Chun was shocked when he heard what Er Mao said, "You... you have always been in contact with the master? The master has been teaching you things?"
Er Mao nodded, "My godfather promised me a position as a museum director, so that I can retire in this position! Those are places where educated people stay. If I don't study hard now, I won't make people laugh in the future." ?”
"You...you will leave me eventually! You will eventually go with the master..." Zai Chun looked lonely.
Ermao was born into a peasant family. Not only was his life given by Xiao Letian, but the thoughts in his mind also came from Xiao Letian. His feelings for his godfather should not be loyalty, but a father-son relationship!
Er Mao smiled bitterly and said, "I spent the first half of my life serving His Majesty, and the rest of my life I have to take care of my godfather! I have too many **** fathers..."
"Let's get back to the topic, Your Majesty, you should know very well that since the generation of Emperor Yongzheng, people have been divided into acres, and after the officials and gentry pay the grain together, the head tax will no longer exist!"
"The government does not collect taxes based on the population of your village, but directly looks at the amount of land, and then goes to the land owner to collect taxes!"
"Besides, it doesn't matter if your family is a government official's family, you still have to collect taxes!"
Ermao is right. The Song Dynasty was the first to provide officials with high welfare. Officials did not need to pay for the land under their names, and they owned whatever they produced!
This kind of welfare policy has great flaws. If the land in the world is concentrated in the hands of officials, won't the court have no tax revenue?
Yongzheng was a hardliner and directly broke this rule. He abolished the head tax and collected taxes based on land. In this way, landlords with more land and less people would have to pay more taxes!
When the officials and gentry pay taxes together, it forces all people to be equal and pay taxes to the court together!
Under this background, Emperor Tongzhi removed 200,000 young men from the people, which directly caused the landlords' land to be severely abandoned, and this abandonment did not delay the court's tax collection.
The government doesn't care whether your land is deserted or not. It says on the land acreage page that you have to pay taxes!
This is a situation where the landlords are being put in a difficult position by both sides. On one side, the tenants are being given reduced rents and asked to farm their land, while on the other side, the wasteland must be paid to the court for food. They are being slapped in the face by both sides. This is really uncomfortable.
And who is the initiator of all this? Aren’t you Emperor Tongzhi?
After saying this, Zai Chun immediately understood the crux of the problem. He had previously thought that the industrialization of the Qing Dynasty would have an impact on the landlord class, but he did not expect that the impact would come so fast and so big!
The Han ministers are landlords at home. How can they not worry when they see such changes and such impact and such losses in their own interests?
This time at the court meeting, they stood on the side of the Eight Banners nobles. This is an obvious political signal. They are beating the little emperor!
"So... I not only offended the Eight Banners and the people, but now I also offended the Hanchen?"
"Hahaha... I just want to reform. I just want the Qing Dynasty to stop being so weak and stop being bullied... Why do they all come up against me in a swarm?"
"Even the two masters are like this. As an emperor...what else does it feel like to be an emperor?"
Zai Chunbei stood up and left the Yangxin Hall with sadness in his heart. He waved his hand to prevent Ermao and others from following him, and walked towards the harem alone in despair, towards the imperial garden.
Er Mao asked two smart little eunuchs to follow him from a distance. Looking at the back of the little emperor, he couldn't help but sigh with distress.
The ministers dispersed, and nothing was discussed at today's court meeting. Although Guang Liang and others said they had not been released, and they did not say how to deal with them, the lack of news meant that they did not have to die, and the emperor's arrogance was suppressed!
The Eight Banners disciples who crowded near Daqing Gate, Qianmen, and Dashilar suddenly looked like big roosters that had won a cockfight, except that their braids were standing up.
"Ouch... look, what did I say? In the end, the emperor has to turn to our bannermen, our bannermen!"
"That's right... go and drink, go and drink, and you won't come back until you're drunk... I won a big victory today!"
"Let the whole world see the power of our banner people! Let them know that in the end this world belongs to our banner people!"
People cheered and cheered, and at this moment, warm sedans were carried out from the Great Qing Gate. Looking at the standard, they knew they belonged to those princes.
"Minions send greetings to the master! Good luck to the prince!" There were minions kowtowing on both sides of the street, and they were all very happy.
This scene was quite spectacular. Prince Zheng and Prince Li moved their sedans forward steadily, and no one paid any attention to these minions. The sedans dispersed one by one.
Among these sedans, there are also several ordinary sedans carried by four people. These Eight Banners dudes recognized them at a glance. Isn't this the sedan of Li Hongzao and Weng Tonghe?
They also stopped kneeling and approached each other with playful smiles, "Master Weng! How many books have you read today? How many books have you been approved by, Long Live the Lord?"
"Master Li... if Guang Liang and the others are beheaded, your housekeeper will have to be the general manager. Remember to support us poor people!"
The Eight Banners dandies burst into laughter and used all the yin and yang to taunt Han Chen. They really felt that the Manchus could no longer be corrupt, and the money would naturally be stolen by the Han people.
Weng Tonghe and Li Hongzao would not pay attention to these people. They drew the curtain to block the cold wind and allowed these people to laugh outside.
"What? Who do you think you are? How dare you laugh at the pillar of the country? Get out of here..."
At this moment, the curtain of the sedan chair in front of Li Hongzao was opened, and Prince Zheng Chengzhi stared at those who made sarcastic remarks with his triangular eyes.
"Come on! If these bastards don't get out, I'll beat them out!"
"Hey..." The guards around the prince rushed over and pushed and shoved these Eight Banners bastards away.
