For the prince.
Although the territory in the south is better, it is actually an industry belonging to all citizens of the entire Ming Dynasty. It is a state-owned asset used by the cabinet to repay government bonds.
The entire northern Xinjiang is the basis for whether he can become an emperor with capital strength in the future.
After all, the entire Northern Xinjiang is now considered the private property of the royal family, and as the future emperor, the entire Northern Xinjiang is also the property that he will truly inherit in the future.
Therefore, the prince's reaction to the Rakshasa Kingdom's eastward invasion was the strongest.
The prince who served as the Xuanfu envoy in Busan even took the initiative to write a secret letter to Zhu Yijun, hoping that he could be transferred to Northern Xinjiang to serve as an official in the future, and that he could learn about Northern Xinjiang in advance, so as not to sit back and watch the imperial property be swallowed up by the Rakshasa Kingdom in the future. .
Zhu Yijun fulfilled the prince's request soon after, and promoted the prince to the governor of Hanhai, allowing him to manage the huge Mobei territory.
at the same time.
Zhu Yijun also sent an army composed of many royal children as his supervisor.
The so-called supervisory standard is the main force that can be controlled by the governor.
Because the Rakshasa Kingdom's conquest of Yanming City also made many royal children dissatisfied, after all, the interests of the entire northern Xinjiang would also affect their interests.
Therefore, Zhu Yijun sent all the royal children who volunteered to fight Rakshasa to the prince, asking them to assist the prince and safeguard their royal property.
Of course, the main force that actually went to rescue Yanming City was not the prince and these royal children, but the emperor's personal guards and part of the Beijing camp led by Li Rusong.
Although Northern Xinjiang is the private property of the royal family, it is also the territory of the Ming Dynasty. The court naturally has to manage it, and it also has to dispatch troops through the Privy Council. It cannot just be the emperor who dispatches troops.
Who made Ming Dynasty a country of autocratic monarchy?
Of course, bureaucrats and scholar-bureaucrats did not dare not to actively defend His Majesty’s property. After all, if they did not defend His Majesty’s property, then His Majesty would transfer the financial burden of raising the royal family back to the country, and let the domestic scholars and people support the Ming royal family. .
Therefore, neither Wang Xijue's cabinet nor Li Chengliang's Privy Council opposed supporting Yanming City. Wang Xijue even took the initiative to say that the Rakshasa Kingdom should be destroyed and no country should be allowed to exist in the north.
After all, the north is the private domain of the Ming Dynasty royal family. It can only be managed by the emperor's employees and there can be no so-called national monarch. The Rakshasa Kingdom should not exist in the north.
"In order to make the northern border stateless, we should increase commercial taxes as soon as possible to increase the annual revenue of the court, so as to avoid people in the world not believing that the country can repay its debts. After all, everyone in the world knows that using troops in the northern border is a waste of food and grass. Everyone is worried that the imperial court will no longer be able to repay a large amount of debts because of its military aggression."
On this day, Liu Quexian also talked about the increase in commercial taxes that Wang Xijue had mentioned before because Wang Xijue advocated that the Rakshasa Kingdom should be destroyed.
Wang Xijue nodded after hearing this: "Of course I don't have any objections to raising commercial taxes, but there are still a lot of objections both inside and outside the government. They all say that raising commercial taxes will hurt the people. If the commercial taxes are raised, the additional taxes will be levied. Commercial taxes will eventually be transferred to the common people, which will make many people dare not buy goods anymore, and they will only continue to be self-sufficient. They would rather be idle than think about doing more work and making more money. This in turn makes the people more lazy."
"That shouldn't be the case, right?"
Liu Quexian smiled and replied:
"Because I have been a commoner, Yuan Fu must also know that I come from a humble background."
Wang Xijue nodded.
Liu Quexian continued: "So, I know that if prices continue to rise, as ordinary people, they will be more willing to spend money on goods, for fear that they will not be able to afford the goods they want in the future. If the prices of goods are not When things go up or even down, they don’t dare to buy, but are only willing to hold the money in their hands, so there is no need to worry about adding business taxes to the people.”
Wang Xijue nodded after hearing this: "That's right! I wasn't really worried about this at first. What's more worrying is that if the current business tax is to be levied, the most difficult part is that among the people doing business in the world, government officials, businessmen and powerful people The majority of merchants are from bureaucratic backgrounds, and there are still few merchants from civilian backgrounds. Now, it will undoubtedly be difficult for them to levy their own taxes, and it will be even more difficult than before to clear their land!"
"When Gein cleared the land before, they, the powerful bureaucrats, were already mainly relying on business profits and lending, not agriculture!"
"Therefore, when the imperial court forcibly clears the land, the loss to them is not big. Even many powerful officials who are a little loyal will understand the country and know that the country is in serious debt and needs to increase its annual income, so they will actively cooperate. Therefore, the late wife Only by clearing the land from your father-in-law can you succeed."
"So, instead of clearing the land, the officials in the world are asking them to levy their own commercial taxes. They will definitely not implement this seriously."
After Wang Xijue said this, Liu Quexian nodded. He also saw the hesitation of Wang Xijue, a scholar-bureaucrat with a business background, in raising commercial taxes, and said:
"This is indeed the real difficulty. In my humble opinion, perhaps we don't need to check how much business profits the merchants around the world have, but only need to increase taxes and tariffs at major checkpoints to achieve an increase in commercial taxes."
"In this case, will they simply collude with the common people along the coast to participate in smuggling, and even commit banditry? And blame the increase in commercial taxes for the frequent bandits, and compete with the people for profits too much, which will lead to The common people were desperate, so many common people turned into bandits?"
Wang Xijue expressed his worries again.
Liu Quexian nodded and said nothing more. He knew that Wang Xijue was still hesitant.
For the current Ming Dynasty, collecting commercial taxes is still a big problem.
The difficult question is whether the majority in the bureaucracy is willing.
If the majority of the bureaucracy is unwilling, not only will business taxes not be able to be raised much, but it will increase a lot of civil strife.
Therefore, even if ministers such as Wang Xijue and Liu Quexian are willing to increase commercial taxes, they have to treat it with caution.
"I recently heard that you are discussing the levy of commercial taxes?"
On this day, Zhu Yijun also asked about Wang Xijue and other ruling ministers in the Imperial Palace.
Wang Xijue replied: "Yes, Your Majesty, because it has not been agreed yet, so it has not been reported to Your Majesty. In the view of the ministers, the commercial profits in the world have far exceeded the agricultural profits, and it is necessary to increase the annual income, and in order to avoid serious abandonment of farmland in the country." , affecting the local grain output, and then affecting the military affairs of the world, especially the use of troops to supply food in northern Xinjiang, so I and others believe that commercial taxes have reached a time when they must be levied."
“Because only by increasing the commercial tax can we talk about exempting land tax.”
"Since the time has come when conquest is inevitable, why hasn't it been agreed yet?"
Zhu Yijun had to admit that the ruling ministers like him did not lack the idea of taking the initiative to reform some benefit distribution systems with the times, but they often did not dare to challenge the entire bureaucracy decisively because they had too many considerations. Also because of his own class attributes, he is not completely brave enough to offend the world's powerful bureaucrats who occupy the main scale of the world's commerce.
Wang Xijue replied at this time: "Your Majesty, I am worried that the bureaucrats in the world are not willing to increase commercial taxes, so they are threatening people's livelihood."
"Since the matter involves the world's bureaucrats, we should talk to the world's bureaucrats."
Zhu Yijun said something and looked at Wang Xijue: "Yuanfu, let me ask you, do you really want to increase the commercial tax, or are you pretending to increase the commercial tax?"
"How dare I serve you hypocritically?"
"It's sincere."
Wang Xijue stood up and replied.
Zhu Yijun therefore nodded: "Since you are sincere, as Yuan Fu, you should take action on your own in this matter, and don't let the nomination power I gave you be in vain!"
Wang Xijue raised his hand and said yes.
Zhu Yijun stood up and touched his slightly protruding abdomen and said:
"As the saying goes, everything depends on human effort. Since you are worried about the unwillingness of the bureaucrats in the world, you can go there in person, ask questions, and talk about it. This increase in business taxes will not only benefit the court, but also the local officials. It’s nothing more than making some modifications to the tax-sharing system.”
After hearing this, Wang Xijue suddenly understood, and he immediately raised his hands and said, "Sure enough, your majesty is the wisest. I understand what your majesty means!"
Zhu Yijun nodded.
…
"What did Yuansuke understand?"
After the dynasty dispersed, because Wang Xijue said something he understood in front of the emperor, Li Chengliang asked Wang Xijue in confusion.
Wang Xijue smiled and replied: "Of course we are going to talk about the reform of the tax-sharing system. Part of the taxes of the imperial court have always been retained in the vassal treasury and part sent to the two capitals. If we need to increase commercial taxes, of course it requires bureaucrats to implement them. However, ensuring local peace after the increase in commercial taxes also requires the guarantee of bureaucrats. If the court wants to successfully increase commercial taxes and successfully replace agricultural taxes as the country's main annual revenue and increase the country's annual revenue, it cannot let local bureaucrats There is no benefit to offending people, and here, how to distribute the additional business taxes is the key."
"In other words, the local treasury must also increase its annual revenue due to commercial taxes."
After Li Chengliang said that, he asked: "Isn't this to enhance the strength of local officials?"
Wang Xijue nodded: "What the Prime Minister said is true, but in today's Ming Dynasty, it is inappropriate to strengthen the branches and strengthen the branches. What's more, it is the financial resources of the local government agencies that are enhanced, not the financial resources of the local big families. In this way, it may be beneficial to the local government agencies to use local vassals. We will use our wealth to support farmers and workers, and then fight against local tyrants, and try to make the increase or decrease of local wealth more even."
Li Chengliang nodded after hearing this: "Fortunately, the imperial court now has a bureaucratic system. Otherwise, I would really be worried that this would lead to the emergence of powerful vassals in the local area."
"We need to quickly build more railways and form a railway network in China as soon as possible to connect the east, west, north and south. This way we don't have to worry about local financial resources to do big things."
At this time.
Chen Yubi also said something.
Wang Xijue nodded: "What Mr. Chen Ge said is absolutely true. When the time comes, I will use this as a temptation to kill three people with two peaches."
Everyone nodded and laughed.
Therefore, Wang Xijue then asked the emperor for an order to inspect the internal affairs of the world and find out what hidden worries there were in the prosperous age, so as not to stay in the temple for too long and isolate China and the outside world too much, making the upper and lower areas blocked.
Zhu Yijun agreed to Wang Xijue's request.
As a result, the Ming Dynasty had the first example of the chief minister patrolling the country to inquire about civil affairs, and began to have a tendency of dualism. (End of chapter)
