The first day of June in the first year of Chongzhen.
Wei Zhongxian led nearly ten thousand factory guards into Nanjing under the pretext of repairing the imperial mausoleum.
After entering Nanjing, the factory guards divided their troops into more than 100 groups without rest, and went straight to the 14th Prefecture of South Zhili, the 4th Zhili Prefecture, and the 97 counties of 17 subordinate prefectures.
The farm account books of Nanzhili were seized immediately. and tax books.
Wei Zhongxian, who has been in a high position for a long time, is very clear about the nonsense of local officials.
In the past, they paid filial piety to him, so Wei Zhongxian was naturally too lazy to deal with it.
Now he represents the emperor, especially after being tricked by Shi Minlai and others, Wei Zhongxian, who is eager to achieve great results, naturally does not dare to be careless.
In recent years, with the rise of Wei Zhongxian, the name of the factory guard has become very famous.
Among the people, it is even possible to stop crying at night.
Especially in the south, in order to discredit Wei Zhongxian, the Donglin Party bluntly described the factory guard as a devil who eats people without spitting out their bones.
It is precisely because of the evil reputation of the factory guard that no one from Nanzhili, 14th Prefecture, 4th Zhili Prefecture, 17 subordinate prefectures and 97 counties dared to stop him.
The Ming Dynasty lasted for more than 200 years. Those officials have long forgotten the reasons for the collapse of the previous dynasty.
There are more people, but the land in the hands of the people is getting less and less.
This leads to more and more agricultural taxes being collected. In order to avoid taxes, people choose to seek refuge with powerful people. As the number of farmers paying taxes decreases, the pressure on the remaining farmers is naturally greater.
The imperial court gave preferential treatment to literati and gave those who were officials some preferential tax-free land.
But actually?
Those literati did not care about the life and death of the imperial court.
Don't take the court's laws and disciplines seriously,
He wantonly accepted the contributions of others and collected the taxes that should have been attributed to the court into his own wallet.
As for what the imperial court would do if it lost so much tax revenue, would they consider it?
What is even more despicable is that many wealthy households, who have money and food in their hands, rely on their relationships with civil servants to delay paying until the court reduces taxes.
This made the court's already severe financial situation even worse.
It can only continue to squeeze the pockets of ordinary people.
In order to solve this problem, Zhu Youjian planned to take back the salt and iron management rights to the court.
But considering that there has been enough trouble recently, and the main task now is to eliminate the slaves and ensure the stability of Shaanxi.
Therefore, the purpose of Zhu Youjian's trip to Wei Zhongxian was to collect the wages owed by those wealthy households, and at the same time cover the secret guard operations.
That's right, Zhu Youjian did not give Wei Zhongxian any hope of rectifying the south.
Letting him go south was just to attract the firepower of the Donglin Party.
It was convenient for the secret guards to collect evidence of the crimes of the Donglin Party and Yangzhou salt merchants.
There are many clans in the south, and the Ming Dynasty has focused on the north in recent years.
As a result, the Ming court's influence on the south was far less than that of local clans.
Not to mention other things, in the twenty-seventh year of Wanli, the eunuch Chen Feng went south to collect mining taxes. Why did it trigger a civil uprising?
What are the conflicts of interest between ordinary people and the mines?
The interests of both parties are not related at all, so why did it trigger a popular uprising?
Is it really as unbearable as the civil servants said? Doing all kinds of evil to oppress the people?
Do you really think that Jin Yiwei during the Wanli period was blind?
Or is Emperor Wanli's temper good?
...
Field account books. With the tax account books in hand, Wei Zhongxian started a large-scale inspection without stopping.
After sorting out the list of wealthy households with tax arrears, they directly wrote a notice and hung it at the city gate. At the same time, they also hired two scholars to explain it to passers-by.
The best way to deal with such a wealthy person who defaults on taxes is to discredit him.
At the gate of Yingtianfu City. A group of people were gathered around a notice, pointing.
Although many of them were illiterate, everyone still knew the contents of the notice from the gossips of several scholars nearby.
"No, Mr. Li has a huge fortune and still defaults on paying taxes to the court."
"What's the matter? Zhang Yuanwai from the west of the city owes the court taxes for five years."
"These damn people deliberately don't pay taxes, which is why our taxes are so heavy."
"Hush, please be careful. The daughter outside the Li family is Lord Fu Yin's favorite concubine. If the other party hears about it, she will be punished."
"Hmph, these dog officials really deserve to be cut to pieces. My cousin just served as an official in Shuntian Prefecture. When he came back to visit relatives the day before yesterday, he told me that the imperial court was preparing to wipe out the Jiannu in one fell swoop.
But his family officials are really not human beings. Instead, they want to take the opportunity to join forces with officials to give tax exemptions to these businessmen and wealthy households.
Think about it, if their taxes were exempted, how much would everyone pay? "
'The imperial court is not stupid, so how can it agree? '
"It doesn't matter if you don't agree. My cousin has said it. His master is a student of Qian Qianyi of the Donglin Party. As long as they give an order, they will talk about the court's plan to increase wages and mobilize a group of gangsters to take advantage of the court and the slave-building industry. During the war, create civil uprisings.
The court has to agree whether it agrees or not. "
..
Voices cursing corrupt officials appeared at the gates of the ninety-seven counties including Yingtian Prefecture, Fengyang Prefecture, Luzhou Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture, etc.
Immediately afterwards, those members of the staff who everyone once respected were also scolded.
Human nature pursues profit, and ordinary people are not fools?
Because those officials deliberately failed to pay taxes, the court imposed taxes on themselves, and the people were naturally unwilling.
I didn’t know it before, but now that I know it, I will naturally complain.
Looking at the excited people around him, the secret guard who had led the conversation quietly left quietly.
From now on, there will be fourteen prefectures in South Zhili, four Zhili prefectures, seventeen subordinate prefectures, and ninety-seven county magistrates. The ability of local powerful people to manipulate public opinion will be greatly reduced.
After all, once the seeds of distrust are planted, no matter how extravagant your words are, people will still raise a few more question marks when they listen.
. . . . .
A person has a face, and a tree has a bark. Especially those with money regard their face as more important than anyone else.
Originally, I relied on my connections to delay taxes, hoping that one day something would happen to the court and the taxes could be reduced. Wouldn't it be possible to save a lot by paying them together?
But now Wei Zhongxian actually posted the list of tax arrears directly at the city gate. Moreover, they also secretly sent people to guide public opinion, destroying the reputations that those outside the government, landlords, wealthy people, etc. had worked so hard to build.
It can't be said that it is not poisonous.
In Qian Mansion, Changshu, Suzhou, a man in commoner clothes hurriedly ran in.
"Sir, what's wrong with you? The imperial court posted a list of tax arrears at the city gate. Now the people in Changshu County are scolding you?"
"What? Those idiots like Wei Zhongxian actually posted a list of tax arrears on the city gate. Quick, quickly organize the servants to tear up the notice."
Qian Qianyi shouted hurriedly.
A person has a face, and a tree has a skin. He is a prominent figure in the Donglin Party. Once the news about tax arrears spreads, how can he still hang out in the future?
Can the Donglin Party still control public opinion? Without the armor of public opinion, why wouldn't the emperor have removed the Donglin Party altogether?
"Master, we don't dare. There are guards in uniform watching the announcement." The man in civilian clothes said hurriedly.
The Jin Yiwei are the emperor's personal soldiers. It would be a serious crime to commit treason against Jin Yiwei in public.
