Soon, Bi Ziyan was promoted to the left minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the manager of the Ming Dynasty Grain Bureau.
The so-called setting up Zuo Shilang in the Ministry of Household Affairs refers to the addition of a Zuo Shilang official position in the Ministry of Household Affairs.
This is a relatively common phenomenon in Ming Dynasty.
For example, many governors oversaw local military affairs as ministers of the Ministry of War.
Therefore, Bi Ziyan came to the Ministry of Revenue to participate in the ministry meeting.
Fang Congzhe also came to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Although his official position is the chief assistant of the cabinet, Zhu Youxiao has now given him the task of supervising the Ministry of Household Affairs so that he can preside over internal affairs reform.
After all, the Ming Dynasty could not directly appoint a prime minister to implement decisions for the emperor.
Zhu Youxiao could only let Fang Congzhe have the status of prime minister even though he did not have the name of prime minister.
Allowing him to supervise the affairs of the Ministry of Household Affairs would give Fang Congzhe greater executive power in the internal affairs reform of the Ming Dynasty.
There is precedent in history for the cabinet to be in charge of six ministries.
For example, Gao Gong has supervised the personnel department.
But Zhu Youxiao did not let Fang Congzhe take charge of the staff department as well.
As for personnel matters, Zhu Youxiao still wants to keep it in his own hands, while Fang Congzhe can recommend officials as an auxiliary minister at most.
In addition, Zhu Youxiao did not let Fang Congzhe also be in charge of the Ministry of War.
Because it was impossible for him to let Fang Congzhe get involved in military matters while also getting involved in financial power.
But even so, Fang Congzhe is now regarded as the most powerful chief assistant of the Ming Dynasty only inferior to Zhang Juzheng and Gao Gong.
Therefore, after Bi Ziyan entered the Household Department, he had to greet Fang Congzhe first: "I have met Yuan Fu!"
Then, Bi Ziyan paid a courtesy visit to Wang Yingjiao, the Secretary of the Household Department and the Governor of Xichang, who was actually in charge of the affairs of the Household Department.
"You must all know about the imperial edict that has just been issued to the Ministry of Hunan. The Ministry of Hunan is now discussing this matter. If you don't understand anything, directly ask Bibutang who proposed this proposal, and then calculate how much food can be given to Grain Industry Bureau, and strengthen the construction of projects that benefit the country and the people."
After greeting each other, Fang Congzhe spoke first.
At this time, Zheng Sanjun, the left minister of household affairs, spoke first.
Because everyone was a civil servant, and Fang Congzhe had allowed ministers to speak freely in previous court and ministry meetings, and basically did not report anyone who was dissatisfied with the New Deal to the emperor.
Therefore, in this kind of court or ministry meeting with only a few important ministers participating, each other still dared to speak, and Zheng Sanjun naturally dared to express his inner thoughts at this time.
"Currently, the warehouses in Tianjin, Tongzhou, and Beijing have a total of more than 30 million shi of grain stored in them. As a result, they can only be used for large-scale construction projects. I really don't understand that the imperial court is so strict in urging the people of Nanzhili to pay so much. What’s the need for food!”
Therefore, Zheng Sanjun said in a more serious tone: "For this reason, many people below say that doing this is tantamount to excessive extortion!"
"Not only has this caused resentment among the people in Southern Zhili, but now they can only waste the food on large-scale construction projects. They have to think of ways to build additional projects, otherwise they will just rot!"
Zheng Sanjun continued.
Then, Zheng Sanjun expressed his opinion and said: "So, I think that instead of using this extra food for large-scale construction projects, it is better to exempt half of the world's money and food next year as a show of the emperor's favor, and use the extra food collected this year as next year's food." Military food and the needs of the capital! The Ministry of Revenue should use this argument to refute the decree issued by the cabinet."
"Directly exempting the world from money and food may not benefit the people. Zheng Gong has also served as a state and county official. He should know the harm caused by subordinate officials and evil gentry. If the court directly levies less money and less tax, it will not benefit the majority of the people. It will only benefit the majority of the people. If the imperial court imposes additional levies on large and powerful households, it will often focus the burden of additional levies on ordinary people, leaving the big households exempt. Therefore, because the national treasury is overflowing, directly exempting half of the world's money and food next year will not benefit all the people. of."
Wang Yingjiao, the Minister of Household Affairs, replied at this time.
Although he and Zheng Sanjun were both civil servants, Zheng Sanjun came from a bureaucratic family. Before he became famous, his father and ancestors were common people landlords, that is, self-cultivators with some land. Therefore, he was more concerned about the interests of the common people.
Zheng Sanjun therefore retorted: "Now the imperial court has implemented the imperial examination law and strictly enforces official administration. In addition, in addition to the inspection department and the censorship inspection department in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, the Dongchang Anti-Corruption Department has been added. It can be said that there are many people inside and outside the imperial court. The administration of officials has been very good, so why does Wang Gong still worry about the misdeeds of subordinate officials? Collusion between officials and gentry? Do local subordinate officials and rural eunuchs really regard the iron law of the court as nothing?"
After asking, Zheng Sanjun raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
"What are you saying, Mr. Zheng? Nowadays, the government's officialdom has been very good, but the harm caused by subordinate officials and evil gentry can't be eradicated. In Wang's humble opinion, benefiting the people is not as simple as frivolous corvee and low taxes. It needs to be considered." Comprehensive, what’s more, in our Ming Dynasty, the official tax is not high, only the local levy is high. Therefore, the central government exempts half of the official tax, which only has a benevolent effect on large households with more fields and food, but the official tax is already low. It’s meaningless to the common people!”
Wang Yingjiao spoke with some excitement.
"Aren't those who have more land not the people of our Ming Dynasty? If half of the money and food is really exempted, no matter whether they are poor or rich, as long as they are land-owning people, they will be able to get 50% of the tax-free favor. There is no preference. Instead of paying for it from these land-owning people, The taxes collected from good people are used to feed more landless people. Most of these people are unscrupulous people who wander around because they are lazy, not diligent in farming, and even do not abide by the king's laws. What is the benefit to the court of feeding them? There are more and more unscrupulous people who will only rely on the court to feed them, and they will be more likely to cause trouble. It is not as good as now. Except for some who can work as trackers on both sides of the canal to transport grain or perform other chores without starving to death, other weak and sick people The disabled will starve to death directly, so that the number of refugees in Gyeonggi will always be maintained at a fixed number!"
Zheng Sanjun asked and then continued.
Wang Yingjiao stood up immediately and stared at Zheng Sanjun fiercely.
Fang Congzhe pulled him: "We are all colleagues, and this is just a ministry meeting. Wang Gong, why are you so angry?"
Wang Yingjiao had no choice but to sit down.
Zheng Sanjun also raised the corners of his mouth slightly and cupped his hands towards Wang Yingjiao: "I'm offended."
At this time, Fang Congzhe asked Bi Ziyan, who had been silent all the time: "Bi Budang, it was you who proposed the construction of the project with the surplus from the treasury. Tell me, what does Mr. Zheng think?"
"When he was the next Chief Envoy to Shaanxi Province, he conducted a liquidation of the land in Shaanxi. The vassals and gentry accounted for 90% of the land in Shaanxi. This time, the situation of the land in Qingzhili in Southern Zhili has been published by the "Huangming Newspaper". I have also made some calculations and found that although there are no vassals in Nanzhili, the Nanjing nobles and gentry also occupy more than 90% of the land;
It can be seen that if it is true as Zheng Gong said, if half of the world's taxes and grains are exempted, it will only benefit the gentry, but not the common people!
However, the imperial court had already given exemptions and exemptions to the gentry, and this time the tax payment was called for. The reason why more than 30 million shi of grain was demanded at once was not that the common people were in serious tax and grain arrears, but that the gentry was in serious tax and grain arrears;
Because Xiaguan also made his own calculations based on the collection of taxes from Southern Zhili as reported in Huangming Newspaper and Dibao. Among the more than 30 million in taxes collected, gentry accounted for 80%, and gentry accounted for 80%. Twenty percent was also owed by large households related to the gentry, either by their in-laws or their family friends;
It can be seen from this that the court’s call to pay the debts accumulated over the years has nothing to do with the people!
I really don’t know why Mr. Zheng thinks that the imperial court is imposing excessive taxes, and how can the public resentment boil over?
In fact, during the process of land clearing in Nanzhili this time, it was also discovered that many common people were burdened with heavy taxes due to collusion between subordinate officials and local gentry. Therefore, His Majesty ordered the West Factory to pay the back taxes at the same time. He also asked Xichang to refund his taxes, which undoubtedly reduced the people's burden a lot. Therefore, what Zheng Gong said was partial and cannot be relied upon. "
Bi Ziyan answered and handed the booklet he brought to Fang Congzhe: "This is the result calculated by the lower officials. Yuan Fu and the princes will know it at a glance."
Fang Congzhe was surprised: "Bi Gong is really thoughtful. Calculating the farm situation in the entire southern Zhili is not an easy task!"
"Yes! I'm ashamed, even the household department didn't do this."
Wang Yingjiao also said with a smile.
Only, Zheng Sanjun glared at Bi Ziyan. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know how to refute it at the moment, because Bi Ziyan actually calculated it in black and white, which seemed reasonable and well-founded, and also refuted what he had just said. The ground was riddled with holes, and he thought to himself: "Well, Bi Ziyan, are you very busy in Taipu Temple? What are you doing if you have nothing to do?"
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