The annexation of land is not limited to the gentry. In local areas, especially in places where clan clans are concentrated, the phenomenon of annexation of land by clans and feudal lords is often more serious.
Because vassals often have legal privileges, according to past practice, they will not be executed unless they rebel.
Therefore, vassals tend to become more and more unscrupulous. In history, many vassals even directly bullied the market and even set up private checkpoints to collect taxes.
In short, in the Ming Dynasty, whoever the emperor indulged would become a more violent group of forces.
Zhu Yijun had no intention of indulging Zong Fan.
In fact, Zhu Yijun had long thought about rectifying the vassal system.
It's not just about cracking down on the vassal's behavior of amassing money and bending the law.
More importantly, we need to give the sects and vassals a new way out. They cannot be kept like pigs and can only make money by bullying the people and plundering people's wealth. They cannot do other things and make money in other ways.
But now, most of the interests of foreign trade are controlled by the wealthy and powerful; the court can only raise troops and generals by increasing internal people's interests as national funds, and then have the strength to distribute external interests in the future. This allowed the sects and vassals to benefit from the external distribution of benefits.
Therefore, if the vassals obstructed the implementation of the new policy of clearing Zhang Tianmu and refused to allow part of the internal people's benefits to the court, then Zhu Yijun, as the emperor, would still not be polite.
"Owl leader?"
Zhu Tingpu looked at the imperial edict above his head in astonishment, murmured, and then denied it: "Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! How can there be a reason to kill the clan?! This is definitely Zhang Juzheng's correction. Edict!"
Ru Zongshun just had a sullen face, and then ordered: "I will punish Zhu Tingpu immediately!"
"yes!"
A sergeant held down Zhu Tingpu.
Zhu Tingpu struggled and shouted: "I want to see your Majesty! I want to see your Majesty!"
Uh-huh!
As the knife fell.
Immediately, Zhu Tingpu's head fell in a bloody mess in front of the other clan members.
At this point, Zhu Tingpu was beheaded.
At the same time, Zhu Juncun was also shackled, locked into a prison car, and taken to Fengyang.
The descendants of the Datong clan were all shocked.
None of them expected that the imperial court would take serious action and directly execute the clan members who were good at killing officials.
However, because of this, the descendants of the clan in the Datong area no longer dared to resist the New Deal, and honestly cooperated with the court in clearing their father-in-law's land.
And as the news of Zhu Tingpu's death spread to other parts of the country, the clan members in other places were also greatly shocked by this, and they all had to stop their activities and did not dare to obstruct the matter of clearing their father-in-law's land.
As Zhu Yijun expected, the vassal princes did not rebel because of this. Perhaps for the vassal princes, it was not worth it to rebel just to clear their land.
After all, clearing the land is not ruthless. It only requires them to spit out the extra land they occupy, rather than forcing them to pay grain and taxes.
In fact, the same is true for the nobles and nobles. They can still tolerate the clearing of their father-in-law's land and the opening of the sea, as long as the court does not crack down on smuggling and does not cancel their exemptions.
After all, the latter is the fundamental reason why they control most of the world's wealth.
Of course, the current clearing of land has still caused them a lot of damage. First of all, the occupied land has to be vomited out, and secondly, the new acres of land beyond the exemptions have to pay full taxes and can no longer be passed on to ordinary people.
It was just that the failure of the Fuque incident last time made them realize that the two queen mothers could not stop Zhang Juzheng's will to implement reforms, so they had to endure it temporarily.
"Since the officials from the north and the south have different opinions on the whip law, we will not implement it across the country for now, but let each locality decide according to local conditions. If it is convenient for the people to pay money, they will pay money, and if it is convenient for them to pay grain, they will pay grain."
When the land clearing was implemented nationwide, Zhang Juzheng, based on the experience of promoting the one-whip method in the south, suddenly asked Zhu Yijun to also implement the one-whip method nationwide when the land was cleared nationwide.
But the one-whip method was criticized by many northern officials.
Many northerners believe that the one-whip method is not conducive to the north, which has underdeveloped commercial activities and little land output. It blindly converts taxes and grains into silver. Although it is beneficial to the people in the south to use the silver earned from side jobs to pay taxes and grains, it will intensify the exploitation of northern farmers. , which will make the people in the north have to increase the burden of exchanging grain for silver.
Therefore, Zhu Yijun did not approve Zhang Juzheng's proposal.
"Your Majesty, a whip will be adopted throughout the country, which will facilitate the collection of taxes and grains. The servants can also be assigned according to the land, and the silver is collected according to the land and the silver is collected according to the mu. The government provides money to hire servants. Large households can be exempted from extravagant expenses. The solution can be dealt with by the local leader. The fee can avoid false requests and so on;"
"The rich can get relief, while the poor can get no increase."
"Moreover, the bank has established regulations and the records are easy to clear and check."
"And if this law is not implemented nationwide, the above convenience will not be achieved."
"Although there is insufficient money in the north, taxes are always light in the north. A whip will not make it difficult for the people to bear."
Zhang Juzheng argued with reason.
Zhu Yijun asked: "Sir, do you really think the price of silver will be a fixed rule? Will it not rise when taxes are paid and fall when taxes are not paid?"
Zhang Juzheng did not answer.
Then, Zhu Yijun added: "The north is bitterly cold and has little output. The taxes are light and not as rich as the south, which has caused a large number of wealthy households to move to the south. If we continue to only provide food for the government and the convenience of the wealthy gentry, and increase the burden on the people of the north, I am afraid that The desolation in the north will become even more serious in the future!”
“Converting physical objects into two-class currency is an inevitable trend in the future, but sir, you’ve got it right!”
At this time, Zhu Yijun suddenly said this to Zhang Juzheng, and added: "But if the whole country wants to collect silver coins in kind, that is, a whip method, we have to wait until there are silver coins in circulation in the north in the future!"
"And this silver coin cannot simply be equated to silver taels. At least its price must be controlled by the court to prevent the rightists from manipulating its price and taking the opportunity to exploit the people."
"So before the silver coin that truly becomes the country is determined, the local government must allow the people to continue to pay taxes in kind, and strictly order each local government not to forcefully collect taxes in silver!"
"silver?"
Zhang Juzheng did not expect that Emperor Zhu Yijun not only wanted to collect taxes in kind by converting them into silver, but also wanted to control silver coins, and did not want big households to have the opportunity to exploit the people by manipulating silver prices.
Zhang Juzheng had nothing to say, so he could only say yes, instead of insisting on the implementation of a whip, he accepted the emperor's request and only let the local governments handle it according to the actual situation of their respective jurisdictions.
Zhu Yijun added: "What the court needs to establish as soon as possible is a silver coin that can be circulated throughout the country. It is best to use silver as the main currency. After all, copper is insufficient, and banknotes have been overused, making it difficult for the people to trust them in a short time; Therefore, sir, you need to put more thought into this and gather a group of excellent craftsmen to see if you can smelt silver coins that are not easily copied and doped with a certain amount of other substances."
"I obey the decree!"
