Ma Ziqiang nodded after hearing this and asked: "So, Runlian doesn't support the increase in commercial tax?"
Wang Yongji Zezuo bowed his head and said solemnly: "Please forgive me for making a mistake!"
Then, Wang Yongji replied: "Because the old minister asked, I boldly said that I don't know whether it is appropriate to impose commercial taxes in other places, but if it is in Fujian, it may cause chaos!"
"What's the meaning of this statement?"
Ma Ziqiang asked hurriedly.
Wang Yongji said: "The additional business tax can only be levied on ordinary people doing business, and the small people in Fujian can only earn enough from Hukou, and the rich can only afford one person's education."
"The imperial court now sets up a moon harbor to collect taxes, which has already made it difficult for the common people to bear, and there are many smugglers;"
"It's just because the lessons from the Japanese Rebellion are not far away, especially because many old people know that it is necessary for the imperial court to have money to maintain the naval force and ensure the peace of the sea, that many villagers are willing to give in to the imperial court and take the initiative to go to sea from Yuegang , so that the local vassal treasury can obtain tens of thousands of taels of silver every year to maintain military supplies for the navy;"
"Otherwise, it will be difficult for the imperial court to collect the tax revenue from Yuegang;"
"After all, the Fujian people's income from going to sea is indeed too little!"
“The real Haili is still obtained by the big investors;”
"Old Ge doesn't know that they monopolize the price of goods and collude with the Fanyi to impose heavy taxes on the Han people who go to trade in the Fanyi areas, or to lower the wages of the Han people who go to the Fan areas to work, so that the total income of the small people throughout the year is far less. It’s not as good as the annual profits of the big families and barbarians.”
"Therefore, many Fujian people are still proud to be large-scale tenant farmers."
"Even if there are hundreds of acres of fertile land in the lower clan, there is not a single tenant who has escaped to do business. This is all because they know that going to sea to do business or work is not as good as being a tenant farmer of my Wang family."
After hearing this, Ma Ziqiang looked solemn and said: "From this point of view, it is definitely not feasible to impose additional business taxes."
Then, Ma Ziqiang suddenly brought up another topic and said: "I came here and found that whether it is Nanzhi or Fujian and Zhejiang, the trend of reading is strong. Mr. Gangfeng also mentioned that although the people of Nanzhi work hard, Because most of the hard-earned money was taken away by the officials and gentry and used for their children's education, very few of them kept it for their own use, which shows that the love of learning is very strong."
"What Mr. Ge said is right."
Wang Yongji replied, and then said: "Learning literary and martial arts will help the emperor's family, but in general, it is easier to get ahead if you learn literary skills."
"Only those who serve as emperors can avoid being exploited and have dignity. Whether they are doing business or farming, they can be protected."
"Rather than let all the hard-earned money go to waste, or even be bullied by powerful right-wingers at will, and not be taken seriously by the government."
"Therefore, everyone in the world who has money and resources desires fame and power; this means that all things are inferior, only reading is superior!"
Ma Ziqiang nodded: "So no matter how hard it is, the common people must let their children study."
"This is exactly the case, especially since His Majesty issued an edict to increase the number of career quotas for civilians, which has increased the opportunities for civilian children to obtain fame. Therefore, more civilians are more willing to send their children to study, and even engage in business or farming. They are all more diligent, some are walking around the streets selling goods from door to door before dawn, while others have to run multiple side businesses without rest all year round. As a result, the trend of reading among the people has become more popular, and agriculture and commerce have become more developed."
Wang Yongji said.
Hai Rui also followed up and said, "This imperial edict from the emperor is indeed a good policy that encourages the people to be diligent and diligent, and has the effect of winning over the hearts of the world."
"The emperor understands the concerns of the people, he is truly a saintly king and a benevolent master!"
Ma Ziqiang couldn't help but look north and bow, and then proposed his true purpose of chatting, saying:
"This time I and Shen Changzhou inspected the place. Yuan Fu gave us three policies to implement. We asked us to inspect the place and talk about it. In addition to levying additional commercial taxes, it is to share the grain with the farmers and the officials and gentry. .”
Having said this, Ma Ziqiang said without a doubt: "It is absolutely impossible to spread a small family into a small family!"
Then, Ma Ziqiang said: "The servants originally wanted to increase the commercial tax. Now it seems that the only thing that can be discussed is that the officials and gentry must pay the grain and serve as errands."
After Ma Ziqiang said this, Wang Yongji glanced at Hai Rui in surprise.
Hai Rui was not surprised by this, because in the past when he was in front of the emperor, Zhao Zhenji mentioned in front of the emperor that officials and gentry should pay for the food and work together, and he was also present at that time.
"Is it really time for the imperial court to cancel the privileges and exemptions for officials and gentry?"
Wang Yongji said with a helpless smile at this time.
Ma Ziqiang sighed and said, "You must understand Yuan Fu's thoughts. He wants to help your majesty solve the hidden dangers in the future, so that your majesty can truly be a prosperous and wise king!"
"The so-called "dedicated to the emperors, Yao and Shun" means that in the future, your majesty will not continue to reform the system just because he wants to continue the national destiny, and then be scolded by the rentiers in the world. Instead, he will clear away all the thorns ahead for the emperor, so that the emperor can truly become the only emperor. The Holy Emperor who shows kindness and kindness can really win the name of Yao and Shun again."
"In short, I would rather bear infamy for all eternity than become a holy king!"
"This is Yuan Fu's ambition in this life!"
"Zhao Wensu Gong (Zhao Zhenji) said that the number of officials and gentry will increase, which will lead to more people enjoying preferential treatment and exemption. In the future, there may be no people to serve and no land to collect taxes. The only way to solve this problem is to cancel the preferential exemption. .”
Hai Rui immediately spoke after hearing this.
"Are the scholars in the world willing to accept this?"
Wang Yongji asked.
Hai Rui said: "What I care more about in order to gain fame is not being bullied by officials, not being easily exploited at will, being more dignified, being respected, and not being treated like cattle and horses!"
"Not to mention canceling the preferential exemptions, it means that people need to pay money every year to maintain their reputation, and then they can be respected by the government and the gentry. If they can be a leader, I am afraid that everyone in the world will be willing to do it, especially scholars!"
Wang Yongji nodded, then took a deep breath and said: "A gentleman should value righteousness more than profit. This will indeed prevent the increase of officials and gentry in the future and the decrease of the country's annual income, so that the country can maintain long-term peace and stability."
"At least, I, the Wang family, are willing to accept this policy. They just ask the court to allow the officials and gentry to pay for their services. After all, as a scholar-bureaucrat, it is really disrespectful to let them serve and be driven by subordinate staff."
"It's natural."
Ma Ziqiang nodded, and then said: "This policy is indeed just to prevent too many officials and gentry from affecting the national revenue in the future, rather than denying the farmer the opportunity to ascend to the Emperor's Hall, so it does not harm the overall situation; and it does not It undermines the foundation of the powerful and right-wing!"
"After all, it's not like raising business taxes, which requires them to cough up their huge profits, but he just asks them to pay the grain as errands. They can completely pass on the cost of paying rations as errands to the tenant farmers, and this can curb their contribution."
"And now that there is no shortage of farmers in the world, tenant farmers will not run away because of this. Even in the north, they can certainly tolerate it. I just think that as officials, are you willing to sacrifice the benefits of the officials and gentry to ensure the court taxes? .”
"There is no problem with the bureaucracy. After all, most of the officials in any place are foreign officials and have nothing to do with the local gentry. Therefore, the bureaucracy may be willing to do this for political achievements. Anyway, it will not harm the interests of his own family."
“If the imperial court could at the same time, as it did during the Qing Dynasty, give heavy rewards to officials who work as errands and pay taxes to the government, so that they can bribe officials and make up for the losses of their own clans, they will be more active in their personal careers. "
"But the number of officials is still not equal to the number of officials and gentry. What's more, there are many officials and gentry in the world but they are not unified. The imperial court can take advantage of the fact that there are many officials and gentry but not many officials to provide heavy rewards to raise honest silver and greater wealth. Use your power to win over enterprising officials to fight against the officials and gentry of the world!"
"If the gentry and gentry who are willing to obey the imperial decrees can have the opportunity to become even bigger gentry and tyrants, then they will definitely be willing to suppress the disobedient officials and gentry on behalf of the imperial court, and then force all the officials and gentry in the world to obey the government's policy of paying grain and serving as one of the officials. "
Hai Rui said.
Wang Yongji also nodded and said: "There are too many officials and gentry in the world. As long as their common roots are not harmed, most of them are against each other. If the court can win over some obedient people and attack most of the disobedient people, it can indeed be done. Four taels can make a thousand catties."
"But whether it's feasible or not, we have to think about it again."
Hai Rui suddenly added something at this time.
Ma Ziqiang and Wang Yongji both looked at him: "What do you mean by this?"
Hai Rui smiled and said, "I have been the governor of Yingtian and the magistrate of other provinces, so I know better."
"Except for Nanzhi, there are more landowners in other places than officials and gentry, and the officials and gentry are scattered. Therefore, the court can reduce the favor to the officials and gentry, as long as they continue to live above the common people;"
"But it's different in Nanzhi. Among the landowners in Nanzhi, there are more officials and gentry than common people, and the officials and gentry are also relatively concentrated. Let the officials and gentry work as errands together, which is undoubtedly equivalent to eradicating the fame of the entire landowners in Nanzhi. There is no difference in status!"
"Both the minister and ministers have to pay for their services. How can the minister be willing to do this?"
"Moreover, the officials and gentry in Nanzhi are concentrated. Many of them share the same surname, and they have many in-laws. There are many in-laws with different surnames. There are also many officials in the two capitals. Therefore, once the officials and gentry accept food and serve as errands, Jiangnan will be in chaos again!"
"Chaos in the south of the Yangtze River is better than chaos in the world!"
"As long as Jiangnan is disrupted, the imperial court can suppress it."
"What's more, the imperial court only ordered the officials and gentry to pay grain and serve as errands instead of raising commercial taxes, so it did not harm the interests of the people in the south of the Yangtze River. The officials and gentry in the south would not be able to mobilize the people. If they really want to pay to mobilize the people to rebel, that would be different from paying grain. What’s the difference between being a errand? But at least the latter doesn’t have to bear the burden of the nine clans!”
Ma Ziqiang replied, and then said: "After listening to what you two said, I feel that if I really have to choose one of the three strategies, this one is feasible. What do you think?"
Hai Rui nodded: "What Mr. Ge said makes sense."
Wang Yongji nodded and sighed: "Now it seems that this is the only way! I wish there were more loyal ministers in the world and would understand the difficulties of the court!"
Ma Ziqiang said: "If you want to succeed to the kings Yao and Shun, you can only suffer the world's officials and gentry. Therefore, I have decided to only agree with this strategy and wait for Yuan Fu to consider it!"
