Chapter 33: The emperor pays the bill
"Is Dai Andong that stupid for giving people free benefits?" Wen Gaoming said sharply.
"Of course the benefits cannot be given in vain." Xi Xingchen chuckled, "These people must pay protection fees to Dai Andong. Although the "protection fees" will be much lower than the taxes paid to the country, the little adds up to a big gain, and Dai Andong will continue to fight day by day. Gold is a matter of time.”
Hearing this, Zhou Zhenhai couldn't help but sigh: "Is that true? These officials and gentry own most of the country's land and pay the least taxes. This is how they wipe out the imperial grain and national taxes."
"I used to think that Confucianism had finally done a good thing for scholars all over the world, but now I think about it, it turned out to be a trap that harmed the country and the people." Yuan Xingbang also said.
Now that he has talked about it, Xi Xingchen continued to dig deeper while the iron was hot: "Although tax evasion is hateful, it is not the most terrifying thing. What is terrifying is that a huge invisible web of interests surrounds Dai Andong, and one that threatens the imperial power , and even monsters that shook the country emerged."
"Are you saying this is a crony?" Zhou Zhenhai said thoughtfully.
"Exactly!" Xi Xingchen said, "Cliques are still born out of profit."
Xi Xingchen sorted out his thoughts for a moment: "What I said before is that Dai Andong has just passed the imperial examination and has not yet held an official position. If his luck is better, he will win the Jinshi in the future, enter the Hanlin Academy, and become a common scholar. So congratulations, as long as he doesn't make any major mistakes, his official career will be smooth, and if he has better luck, it is not impossible to become the Prime Minister."
"According to the rules of the game set by the Confucian sages, every time a scholar reaches a certain level, the mother-in-law, parents, and children in the family can all benefit from it, and even the wife and parents can receive imperial orders, and the children can receive favors."
"According to the principle of being a match in the officialdom, Dai Andong's son is destined to marry the daughter of a bureaucrat, and his daughter is destined to marry the daughter of a wealthy family. There are also those disciples and children who come here to submit their favors. A huge picture will be formed around Dai Andong. people network."
"To make friends with the great officials of the country, to talk and laugh with the giants of the officialdom, and to associate with ordinary people, this is definitely not an empty talk."
"Whenever Di Andong retires and returns to his hometown, he will become a so-called 'gentleman' and continue to enjoy privileges."
"In a word, the rise of the Dai family can be expected to become a great power." Xi Xingchen finally came to a conclusion.
Wen Gaoming couldn't help but said: "Tsk, tsk! I'm a good boy, the Confucian chess game is big enough, and the backhand is buried deep enough! No wonder those scholars keep saying, 'There is a golden house in the book. It turns out it's true that you have a beautiful face like jade. Damn it, it makes me want to take the No. 1 exam, Lao Wen."
Xi Xingchen made a gesture of putting his hands together and said: "But have you ever thought that the pie is so big and the officials and gentry get more, someone's interests must be damaged, so who will pay for this loss?"
"Who else could it be? Of course it's the powerless common people!" Wen Gaoming replied immediately.
"Wrong!" Xi Xingchen shook his head.
"If you're not a common people, are you the emperor?" Wen Gaoming said angrily.
"He is really the emperor!" Xi Xingchen affirmed.
"I don't understand!" One good thing about Wen Gaoming is that he doesn't pretend to understand and just hold on.
"Think about it, who owns this world?" Xi Xingchen said with a smile.
"The emperor's!" Wen Gaoming said matter-of-factly.
"If the world is regarded as a piece of land, who owns the food grown on this land?" Xi Xingchen reminded.
"The emperor's!" Wen Gaoming suddenly realized. "I understand when you say that."
"It's like the emperor is the owner of the land and rents it to the common people. The emperor's land is so big that he can't manage it by himself, so he hired some officials to help take care of it."
"These officials felt that the emperor could not do without them, so they said to the emperor, 'It is very hard for us people to help you manage this land. How about I don't have to pay rent for my land?' The emperor was right, so he agreed to them requirements.”
"only……"
At this point, Wen Gaoming followed Xi Xingchen's trick and kept silent.
Wen Gaoming looked around eagerly and asked questions.
Seeing Wen Gaoming acting like a villain, Xi Xingchen felt funny and angry, so he had to cooperate with him and asked: "What's the matter?"
Wen Gaoming's vanity was immediately greatly satisfied, and he said with a smile: "What the emperor didn't expect is that these people he invited did not pay the rent themselves, but they also brought a large group of people with them to not pay the rent or pay less. Rent. If this phenomenon is magnified to the national level, the behavior of those officials is called tax evasion."
"Elder Wen's explanation was very thorough! And he revealed the nature of the emperor at once." Xi Xingchen praised.
"What's the essence?" Zhou Zhenhai felt that Wen Gaoming talked a lot of nonsense, but got such a high evaluation from Xi Xingchen, and couldn't help but wonder.
"The emperor is the biggest landowner!" Xi Xingchen said.
"..." After hearing this, Zhou Zhenhai felt as if he had eaten a fly. He blushed and wanted to refute, but in the end he couldn't say a word.
"Old Wen, you can do it!" Another elder from Nanmo gave Wen Gaoming a thumbs up.
"It goes without saying that I, Old Wen, still have some stuff in my belly." Wen Gaoming patted his fat belly and said proudly.
"Then the question is, if you, Elder Wen, were the emperor and someone stole something from your land, what would you do?" Xi Xingchen asked.
"Needless to say, I will beat him until his mother doesn't even recognize him." Wen Gaoming blurted out without hesitation.
"Yes, the emperor did the same thing, but he was a little more ruthless than Elder Wen." Xi Xingchen made a small gesture on the tip of his ring finger with his thumb.
"In order to punish an official who embezzled his money, an emperor of this dynasty peeled off his skin, stuffed it with straw, and displayed it in the market for several months."
Wen Gaoming's mouth opened wide, and it took him a long time to say: "This emperor is too cruel!"
"The emperor is so ruthless, are those officials willing to be slaughtered by others?" Xi Xingchen asked again.
"Of course I don't want to. I have read so many books and I am not mentally retarded!" Wen Gaoming blurted out.
"What should we do?" Xi Xingchen asked immediately.
"Of course it's resistance!" Wen Gaoming said matter-of-factly.
"The emperor's power is so great, what should I do if he can't do anything?" Xi Xingchen asked.
When it came to fighting, Wen Gaoming felt that he had entered his professional field, and he suddenly became energetic and said with a smile: "It's just like fighting. If one person can't do it, just call in another person; if two people can't do it, just call in a group of people." . Two fists cannot defeat four hands, and a hungry tiger cannot defeat a pack of wolves. After all, the emperor is only one person, and if we all fight together, there is no reason to be unfair."
Xi Xingchen snapped his fingers and said, "That's the truth."
"I was right again!"
Wen Gaoming raised his eyebrows provocatively at Zhou Zhenhai.
Zhou Zhenhai ignored it directly.
