"Your Majesty, I believe that this time we should not exempt Jiangnan from heavy taxes. We should exempt Shandong, Jingshi, and Fengyang from horse price silver and fodder silver. We should abolish the squadron system in Shandong and further alleviate the plight of the people in the north."
"First, the north is not as wealthy as the south, so the actual burden is heavier, especially for Shandong military households who have to pay horse price silver and fodder silver and are selected to transport grain to the squadron!"
"Precisely because the burden on northerners is actually heavier, a large number of northerners move south instead of southerners moving north, which also causes serious desertification in the north. Therefore, we should further benefit the people in the north."
"Secondly, the tax resistance in Jiangnan was serious in the past. In the Nanzhi area, there was a rebellion against the silk tax reform, and then there was a rebellion against the officials and gentry to pay grain and serve as errands. They even bombarded the imperial envoys and established their own government agencies. It can be seen that the scholars in Jiangnan were more rebellious and less loyal, so they did not Earnestly guide the people to make the people's customs unsophisticated. This tax reduction and exemption should not first benefit Jiangnan and make it ashamed, but can revive the customs."
"Third, this time the price of silver dollars has risen sharply. According to my investigation, I learned that those who took advantage of the country's sharp increase in silver dollars and the turmoil to sell their property at low prices and secretly hoard silver dollars were the most powerful ones in Jiangnan. It can also be seen that Jiangnan There are many right-wing people who have no regard for the country, and many people do not know enough about the new rites and do not teach them enough, so they should not benefit them first and let them know the lessons."
Zhu Yijun and his ruling ministers indeed considered implementing a great policy of tax reduction and exemption after obtaining Shi Jian Yin Shan to achieve the purpose of restructuring to benefit the people. After all, the most fundamental way was to further activate the Ming Dynasty's commodity economy. It is better to reduce or reduce taxes. After all, as long as the top charges less profit, the bottom will indeed get more profits, the people's consumption power will naturally increase, and the economy will naturally become more prosperous.
However, when the court was discussing which areas should be exempted from which tax burdens, Wang Lin, the Minister of Household Affairs, directly rejected the proposal of the cabinet minister Wang Xijue to exempt Jiangnan from heavy taxes first, and put forward his own reasons.
Wang Xijue couldn't answer for a while, so he had to return to the court with a look of shame on his face.
Shen Shixing and Xu Guo also looked at each other and sighed.
There is no way, because what Wang Lin said is indeed true. If nothing else, famous ministers like Hai Rui were bombarded when they went to Nanchang to collect taxes. No one can deny this, so Rao is Nanzhi. Even if the local ministers wanted to fight, it would be hard for them to fight.
Zhu Yijun also nodded at this time: "What you said is that we should first exempt the capital, Shandong, and Fengyang from horse price silver and fodder silver, and abolish the Shandong squadron system!"
"As for the scholars and people in the south of the Yangtze River, I am an innocent son. However, the country has not yet reached its peak of wealth and the empire has not yet become a complete king. Therefore, we have to wait for now. If we change our minds and become patriotic and loyal to the emperor from now on, so that the whole world can see it, we may not have to wait too long. "
Zhu Yijun said this. The great scholars Liu Yingjie and Zhang Xueyan, the Minister of Household Affairs Wang Lin, the Minister of Rites Yu Shenxing and other northern ministers all bowed to the ground with tears in their eyes: "My emperor is as benevolent and virtuous as heaven! I and others kowtow to my emperor on behalf of the villagers." !”
At this time, academicians Shen Shixing, Wang Xijue, Xu Guo, and Minister of War Yin Zhengmao praised him: "I will remember the holy teachings."
"I have long advised many villagers to be more considerate of the imperial court and not to quarrel with the imperial court at every turn. They didn't believe it. The result is now better. The results of the two great good governance did not benefit Jiangnan. This Yuanfu is also So it’s not shameful and I can’t argue even if I want to.”
Therefore, after the dispersion of the dynasty, Shen Shixing complained loudly to Wang Xijue, Xu Guo and other officials from the south.
Wang Xijue sighed: "There is no way. Who doesn't know that all the prefectures in the world, but the prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River are the most scattered. Suzhou does not obey Yingtian, Songjiang does not obey Suzhou, and the scholars in Changzhou, Huizhou, and Yangzhou are all pretentious."
Shen Shixing said: "Next, if you can, please advise the township party. We should take this as a warning, so that the emperor's favor will not come to our hometown again next time."
Xu Guo nodded: "This is natural. I will write letters to my hometown friends after I return."
Wang Xijue also followed up and said: "All the prominent families in Taicang, I also wrote to talk about this matter. At least now the price of silver has plummeted. We can't just be unwilling to accept the fact that we sold off many fields and shops at a low price, and don't care about the rules of the court, and resort to plundering and plundering." Things come up."
"yes!"
Shen Shixing nodded.
…
"What did you say?"
"The heavy taxes in the south of the Yangtze River have still not been reduced or reduced. What have been reduced or reduced are the horse price silver and fodder silver in Shandong, the capital, and Fengyang in the north of the Yangtze River. And the ban army system in Shandong has been abolished?"
Gu Xiancheng looked at Wang Zhixiang, the imperial censor who came to visit him. Because Wang Zhixiang mentioned the tax reduction and exemption in the court discussion, he asked in shock.
Wang Zhixiang nodded: "For this reason, Mr. Wangge called me to give some advice and asked me to go to the Nanzhi Guild Hall to convey the message and tell everyone not to go against the court again, otherwise good governance will never be our turn in Jiangsu." A mansion!"
Gu Xiancheng helplessly frowned and asked, "Don't they know how to fight in Shenwu County?"
"Why fight? I'm afraid they are eager to do so. After all, we don't treat him with the same courtesy as a fellow countryman."
Gu Yuncheng said with a smile at this time.
Gu Xiancheng couldn't help but let out a long sigh: "We really lost everything!"
Wang Zhixiang said: "No, we have to take the initiative to restrain the villagers, otherwise maybe there will be mercy next time and it won't be our turn."
"So, you believe that the Holy Will is God's will?"
Gu Xiancheng asked.
Wang Zhixiang smiled helplessly: "I don't believe it. I just didn't believe it this time. As a result, I lost more than half of my family business. Now I don't dare to go back to my hometown to meet my clan members."
After hearing this, Gu Xiancheng became even more disappointed and said nothing more.
In other words, firstly, because the New Party is now keeping a close eye on corruption and bending the law, Zhu Yijun also dealt with such perpetrators strictly; secondly, because of two consecutive great good governance, most officials in the world have to restrain themselves a lot, so many After the powerful bureaucrats sold their high-quality assets at low prices, they no longer dare to take advantage of the wealthy to get them back.
Many ordinary people have indeed obtained many high-quality assets through this crisis about the silver dollar.
In February of the 16th year of Wanli, the weather was getting warmer.
"Husband!"
On this day, Ruiya brought food to Ren Yonggang who was farming in the fields, called him, and then wiped Ren Yonggang's sweat with a handkerchief.
Now there are no powerful officials to seize the land he bought from Lu Yinchang, so he has become a small landowner. As soon as he finishes working on the construction site, he will come back to farm, hoping to have a farm this autumn. A bumper harvest.
And his wife Ruiya is also pregnant with Liujia, which gives him the motivation to work hard. He is already thinking about buying a few brick houses this year with the silver dollars accumulated on the construction site, like the one he used to live in Qingjiangpu. Wang Chenglin's son-in-law Ye Agui, whom Laxian knew, lived in a brick house similar to the one he lived in. It was best to be close to the canal, so that he could do some business, and from now on he could support his family without having to work and just keep the shop.
"It's really a good time. I got you without spending much money, and I got so much fertile land. I couldn't even think about it before. My father and my grandfather have worked hard all their lives, and they don't have their own fields. Only my father has his own hut."
Ren Yong just smiled and said to Ruiya after Ruiya wiped his sweat.
Ruiya also smiled: "I read in the newspaper that it is the current emperor who is the best! However, my husband is currently working on the river construction site and has to farm so many fields. I can't help you, so it is really hard."
"It's okay to work hard. I couldn't work this hard before!"
"Since you can read, if you give birth to a child in the future, whether it is a boy or a girl, you should teach him to read. If the man is a boy, let him go to school and become an official to repay the kindness of the emperor; if the woman knows some etiquette, she can marry A good family.”
Ren Yonggang said this and took the rice and chopsticks handed over by Ruiya, then squatted under the elm tree beside the field ridge and started eating.
Ruiya said "hmm" and touched her belly.
Ren Yonggang asked again: "Do you regret following me?"
"No regrets!"
"If you are not with your husband, although you will have no worries about food and clothing in the Lu Mansion, it depends on the master's face. You may be called to accompany guests, and then be paired with a servant, and the child you have will still be a slave."
Ruiya replied with a smile.
…
"My Ruiya!"
"My fertile land."
Lu Yinchang, who was in shackles and was about to be taken to the place of exile to guard the border, happened to pass by here at this time, and saw this scene again. For a while, tears burst into tears again, and he started to talk with his lips pursed.
There are many rich and powerful bureaucrats like Lu Yinchang who are heartbroken.
Gu Xiancheng's other younger brother, Gu Xuancheng, who was looking after the house, looked at the farmer who was planting rice seedlings on the 800 acres of irrigated fields by Taihu Lake with a sullen expression on his face, and he couldn't help but gnashed his teeth and said: "Hateful! "
Wu Daliang, a farmer who was planting rice in the original Gu family's field, was indeed very happy at this time. He even hummed a song happily. After humming for a while, he said to his father Wu Da, who was planting rice in front of him:
"Dad, what do you think the Gu family thinks? The rent they charged was so high before that we didn't even want to plant it. Now they sell it to us at a low price. After selling it to us, we want to buy it back. How can it be so good? thing!"
"Plant your seedlings, what are you talking about?"
"As long as the government doesn't turn against them, and as long as this field belongs to us, we will plant it well! Then we will send Xiaoliang to study with the extra harvest. In the future, as long as he gets a meritorious examination, he can keep these good fields, and our Wu family will Can become rich."
Wu Da said at this time.
"What dad said is true, but if you had known it earlier, the price of this land would still have gone up because of the extra silver dollars. You should have bought a few more acres from it in the first place."
Wu Daliang said something at this time.
Wu Da glanced at Gu Xuancheng who was sitting on the bank and came over with a sliding pole: "Don't be greedy, be content, otherwise you will be like them and lose more."
Gu Xuancheng noticed Wu Da's look. He always felt that these farmers were mocking him, so he shouted: "Get out of here quickly. These people won't buy their fields if they don't want to sell them. Anyway, if the ancestors want to blame them, they will blame the third brother!"
Gu Xuancheng's third brother is Gu Xiancheng, and his fourth brother is Gu Yuncheng.
Gu Yuncheng was asking Gu Xiancheng that day: "Brother, the fifth brother wrote a letter saying that the owners of our irrigated fields in Taihu Lake will not sell them. Even if we only buy the bones of the fields, the skins will still be theirs. Now it seems that if we want to redeem them, It’s difficult to return to our ancestors!”
"Then we can only wait for the disaster year to come."
"As long as we wait for the disaster year to come, relying on the relationship between the subordinate officials in Wuxi County and our Gu family, it will not be a problem to take back the ancestral property in the name of disaster relief. Just be patient for now, and don't let Lao Wu take advantage of it. We are nobles, not local tyrants and bullies. .”
Gu Xiancheng said.
Gu Yuncheng nodded: "That's what the elder brother said."
…
"Your Majesty, I have discussed with the officials in the Ministry of Personnel, and they believe that the official system should be changed now. Therefore, I request that the existing system of subordinate officials be abolished, so as to curb the disadvantages of hereditary subordinate officials and the disadvantages of being a right-hand minions!"
After Hai Rui discussed the reform of the official system with Wang Yongji and others, on this day, he reported to Zhu Yijun at the Shi Yusi about the reform of the official system.
After Zhu Yijun heard this, he took Hai Rui's question book and read it. After reading it, he asked Hai Rui: "Do you know how many scholars you will offend by doing this? Do you want to give up your good reputation in scholars? "
(End of chapter)
