The Meridian Gate is open!
All civil and military officials filed in!
Zhu Gaoxu appeared on the stage amid a burst of palace music and sat down on the dragon chair.
Immediately, hundreds of civil and military officials, overseas vassal kings and foreign envoys began to pay their respects, allowing him to once again experience the wonderful feeling of a Nine-Five Supreme Being.
In the past, the prince always stood at the back next to the dragon throne. Although it was equivalent to accepting the worship of hundreds of officials in disguise, it was always a little less interesting.
Now sitting on the dragon chair and experiencing it personally, Zhu Gaoxu had to admit that power is really a wonderful thing and it is very addictive.
After a series of red tape, the ceremony was almost complete. Next, it was time for Zhu Gaoxu, the new emperor of martial virtue, to ask questions and plan the affairs of the world.
Zhu Gaoxu did not hide it, and directly issued the first edict.
"I, Jian Zuo, proclaimed himself the emperor and have little virtue and talent. However, I am forced by the current situation and dare not to do my best. The late emperor entrusted me with the three hundred years of inheritance of my ancestors. I feel that the responsibility is heavier than the mountain. I dare not slack off. I work conscientiously and devote myself to my work in order to achieve great success. Beginning of the reign of Yao and Shun..."
This first translation was quite official and quite humble.
After hearing this, all the ministers could hardly hold back their laughter.
If another new emperor had said this, they might have been more accepting.
But, you are Zhu Gaoxu!
When you were the King of Han, you started causing trouble!
Why is it that now that he has ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he knows how to be humble and polite, but he knows that his virtue and talent are shallow?
Many ministers of the feudal dynasty found it a bit funny, but they did not dare to laugh in such a serious occasion.
Only the court officials such as Jian Yi, Gu Zuo and Xia Yuanji didn't find it funny at all.
Because they had vaguely guessed that the Wude Emperor was going to cause trouble!
After all, Emperor Wude had been planning and preparing for this new policy for a long time when he was still the crown prince. Today is another great meeting, a grand event that demonstrates Emperor Wude's philosophy of governing the country and determines the direction of the Ming Dynasty's empire in the coming year. , is undoubtedly an excellent time to announce.
Therefore, this Emperor of Wude is not showing any modesty, he is clearly going to cause trouble!
"I believe that in ancient times, the sage kings ruled the world and the people did not add taxes, but the sea was rich and abundant. Although I am not sensitive, I am eager to do it... Nowadays, the sea has been peaceful for a long time, and the number of household registrations is increasing. If I see more people, I will add levies. Money and food are really not enough."
"Although the number of people has increased but the acres of land have not increased, we should order the government offices all over the world to see that the number of names in the current money and grain book should not increase or decrease. It will always be a fixed quota. The number of people born in the future will not need to collect money and grain... …Never breed more people, never add more talent!”
As soon as these words came out, the whole court was in an uproar!
All the civil and military officials were talking about it, and they were all shocked by Zhu Gaoxu's generous move!
Breed people, never add gifts!
This is a truly benevolent act!
Although taxes are connected together, they are essentially different.
Taxes were used to supply military supplies and replenish the treasury for rewards, while taxes were used to provide various sacrifices, support the emperor, provide salaries for officials, and numerous miscellaneous expenses.
By the time the Ming Dynasty developed, taxes were the source of income for the emperor's internal funds, while taxes would enter the state treasury.
To put it bluntly, under normal circumstances, taxes are used for defense expenditures, government expenditures, various local affairs, channel construction and repairs, etc.
Fu was used to build palaces and temples for the emperor and for the royal family to eat, drink and have fun.
Emperor Takeru's first new policy after he came to the throne was to "never add taxes to the population until it grows." This was tantamount to him abandoning some of the interests of the royal family to implement a benevolent policy of thinning taxes. This was a truly benevolent and benevolent act. !
The eyes of all the civil and military officials were a little dazed. They were hit by this huge surprise for a while, and they were a little unable to react.
Never add gifts?
Is this what you, Zhu Gaoxu, should do?
Shocked, confused, ecstatic... After a brief period of astonishment, the civil and military officials of the entire court made uniform movements. They all knelt on the ground and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, the Holy Ming Wu Guo!"
They were really convinced and really happy!
No matter what the purpose of this new emperor is, it is a fact that he will never be given any more gifts!
In order to show their benevolence, the new emperors in the past dynasties would adopt some policies that were lenient and light on taxes, such as exempting taxes for one year, or reducing or exempting unpaid taxes from local and state governments. This is all commendable. A commendable act of benevolence and good deeds.
However, these benevolent and benevolent deeds are really weak compared to "never adding gifts"!
The civil and military officials of the entire dynasty were convinced that as soon as this new policy was announced, the people of the world would definitely rejoice and respect and love the new emperor, and their ministers would also be able to take advantage of it.
So, this is a great thing, a great thing!
Zhu Gaoxu sat on the dragon chair, looking at the jubilant civil and military officials, with a slight curve in the corner of his mouth.
I have to admit that the Manchu Qing Dynasty's political show of "nurturing the population without adding wealth" is indeed a very good bonus measure.
However, the so-called "never add gifts" is an empty talk in itself, and it is nothing more than deceiving the feelings of the people.
Taxes are not the same thing. Never increasing taxes does not mean not collecting taxes, and if you don’t increase taxes, you can increase taxes. Isn’t this just a left-handed and right-handed concept?
If the royal family really feels that it is poor and cannot afford to support the army and soldiers, then it can definitely increase taxes. Anyway, commercial taxes and mining taxes are now collected by the royal family, and the court has no right to ask or intervene. Then the tax standard is not the emperor's A matter of words.
Of course, Zhu Gaoxu would not do such a thing. He just felt that the Manchus were so good at it that many Qingqiu even boasted that the people lived in paradise during the Manchu era. How did they know that this was just a trap? Just a scam.
Breeding population and never increasing taxes is essentially an attempt to fix the total amount of tax to ensure tax revenue and eliminate the fluctuations in tax collection caused by strict controls on population changes. In fact, it is difficult to achieve practical results. With the implementation of the system, the phenomenon of landlords transferring Ding Yin to the people still exists.
For example, if one household is reduced by one and a new one is added, the new addition will be used to make up for the decrease; if two or three are reduced and the new addition is not enough to make up for it, then more than one family member will make up for it; if it is not enough, , with many households in the same A and the same map as the Zhongliang family to make up for the compensation, the remaining people after the compensation are included in the breeding population list for reporting.
Therefore, after the implementation of the method of never increasing the number of people, the contradiction emerged that no tax will be taxed for new people, and taxes will not be reduced for the old people; moreover, there are a lot of new people, who will be used to make up for the shortfall of the old people? It is difficult to balance pain and pleasure.
This capitation tax is a poll tax, but it still has not escaped its essence.
Emperor Wude's move of "never adding gifts" only added fuel to the fire.
What he wants is to arouse the people's dissatisfaction with the poll tax, and then completely abolish it in one fell swoop, and then implement the national policy of apportioning one person to another!
There is no way. Spreading a small family into a single family will harm the interests of scholars all over the world, and will cut off the foundation of the gentry. The obstacles and difficulties that will be encountered can be imagined, so Zhu Gaoxu cannot be too cautious.
Therefore, before truly implementing the new policy of dividing one person into one mu, Zhu Gaoxu wanted to give these gentry and gentry some sweeteners.
Breeding people and never increasing their talents is just one of them, and there are also sweet things that can make them crazy.
After these sweet things have been eaten up, it will be too late for the gentry to resist if they want to!
