Attack businessmen?
Shi Hao thought for a while and shook his head.
"We can't start by saying that we need to increase commercial taxes. Instead, we should say that we need to increase agricultural taxes from the landlords and gentry, allocate them to them, and then wait until they protest in groups before imposing commercial taxes. In this way, there will be less resistance. That’s a lot.”
After hearing this, Ye Yiwen and Zhou Linzhi praised Shi Hao repeatedly, feeling that Shi Hao was indeed a wily and calculating politician... This method was really wonderful for a mature and prudent politician.
The two of them praised each other, but Shi Hao was not happy at all.
"I'm afraid the commercial tax alone is not enough. There are only so many merchants. Even if the tax is doubled, it probably won't be enough for the military and state consumption."
When he said this, Ye Yiwen looked a little sad.
"Is it still necessary to impose additional agricultural taxes? On the gentry?"
Shi Hao shook his head.
"That's too difficult. The court is in urgent need of money, and negotiating with the gentry takes too much time. It's really too late, so... let's increase taxes."
Ye Yiwen and Zhou Linzhi looked at each other and understood what Shi Hao meant.
It is nothing more than adding a little more to the already heavy burden of the common people and squeezing more oil and water from them.
This was not without negative consequences, so Shi Hao didn't look good.
"The country is in a difficult situation. We can only temporarily suffer the people. I will bear the blame. It is just for this period of time. After this period of time passes, we will restore the tax to the original state. This will appease people. By the way, we will put the salt in Let’s add ten to five cents to the price.”
After hesitating for a moment, Shi Hao stood up and said, "Do you two want to come with me to see His Majesty?"
Zhou Linzhi and Ye Yiwen looked at each other.
Although Shi Hao was promoted to the Privy Council, the emperor now trusted Shi Hao. Zhou Linzhi and Ye Yiwen had not yet established a firm foothold, so they had to listen to Shi Hao's advice on many matters.
But they didn't want to get involved in this matter.
Once you bear this kind of infamy, it's not that easy to get rid of it.
"Please go away, Prime Minister. We both have official duties."
Zhou Linzhi stood up and thanked Shi Hao.
Shi Hao nodded and went to find Zhao Hao himself.
A few days later, news came that the court was planning to increase agricultural taxes. It was said that the way to increase the tax was not to simply increase the burden on the people and take away the money of the poor, but to increase the tax based on the amount of land.
In short, the imperial court planned to measure the acres of land and levy more taxes from those with more land based on the number of acres, in order to make up for the lack of funds for military and state affairs.
When the news came out, my dear, the whole court was shocked and the reaction of the officials was even stronger than when they targeted Zhang Jun. One or two people immediately launched into an attack like wild cats whose tails were stepped on, and almost failed to implement this policy. The proposer, Shi Hao, was eaten alive.
One person competes with the people for profit, another person is greedy, another person brings disaster to the country and the people, and another person deserves death.
Shi Hao, who had been an official for so many years, suddenly became in their mouths the number one sinner in the Song Dynasty who brought disaster to the country and the people. Some people even wrote to Zhao Hao to tell him to stay away from villains like Shi Hao to avoid being deceived by him.
Shi Hao, who was prepared for this reaction, stayed behind closed doors and turned a blind eye to the many people who suddenly came to harass him at his door.
On the other hand, Zhao Hao also persisted in cooperating with Shi Hao, refusing to approve similar memorials and refusing to meet with officials who came to see him. It was only after things got so bad that the entire Shangshu Province found it difficult to operate normally, that Zhao Hao Finally let go.
Since you all don't want the court to levy agricultural taxes, then just increase commercial taxes. In short, if the court wants to increase taxes, if it doesn't increase agricultural taxes, it will increase commercial taxes. It's your choice.
This time, the officials who jumped up were a little hesitant to jump. Among the two choices, the latter one was obviously much better than the former one. They chose the lesser of two evils, and their attitude softened.
Shi Hao stood up at the right time and submitted a proposal to increase commercial taxes and allocate additional taxes to multiple regions. This proposal was quickly signed by Zhao Hao, and then quickly handed over to the Shangshu Province for approval and implementation. The whole process took less than 10 days to complete. one day.
It was only later that many people came back to their senses and realized that this was a double act performed by the emperor and Shi Hao. One of the two charged into the battle, and the other provided support during the play, toying with everyone's applause.
Many people were angry about this, but the end was done and they had nothing to do except to say that they would never let Shi Hao have an easy time.
Commercial taxes are still related to the interests of some officials, and they will definitely not pay the money honestly.
As for the other additional levy...
As long as everyone splits the poor guy's money 30-70, I don't have any objection to that.
Except for a few people who stood up and cried for the people and performed political performances, most people did not have any extra suggestions.
This matter has just passed at the central level. As for the repercussions it will cause at the local level, it is still unclear for the time being.
But since someone's interests have been harmed, it will never develop smoothly so easily, and more and more special situations will inevitably occur.
The Southern Song Dynasty was experiencing ripples due to tax issues, and the Ming Dynasty north of the Yangtze River was also experiencing profound changes.
After Su Yonglin returned to Zhongdu, after several months of hellish work like an old scalper, he finally solved many problems accumulated during the chaotic period and dealt with government affairs. The central court and local government finally gradually embarked on the established track. .
The political cadres trained through the assault training courses went to the local areas one after another to share the pressure of the seniors who were doing the work of two or three people alone.
It was not until the end of September and early October of the third year of Hongwu that he worked overtime like hell until he managed to recover to the level before Su Yonglin's large-scale anti-corruption campaign. During this period, not to mention Su Yonglin was very tired, even Xin Qiji, who had always been in good health, fell ill once. .
Fortunately, after October, the decentralization of a large number of political cadres who received surprise training at the Zhongdu School of Political Science and Law solved part of the problem. A group of grassroots cadres who had been transferred from the army by Xin Qiji also completed the decentralization, and gradually filled the vacancies in local positions. On.
Su Yonglin finally allowed himself and the court to take a breather, rest for two or three days, sleep well, take a bath, and relax.
However, the country's problems always come one after another. Here, there is no need to work overtime every day, and there are big problems that hit Su Yonglin's head.
On the sixth day of October in the third year of Hongwu, Su Yonglin had just finished a day's rest when he received a report from Kong Maojie, director of the Supervision Department of the Renaissance Society.
After reading the report, Su Yonglin's brows gradually furrowed.
This is not a sudden problem report, but a summary report of long-standing problems. It is a report given by the Supervision Department after several months of investigation.
The grassroots situation that Su Yonglin learned about in the past is a process of gradual recovery and development of agricultural productivity at the macro level.
But he knew very well that this was bound to happen after he abolished exorbitant taxes and high levels of exploitation of farmers.
This is the strong resilience and productivity of the small-scale peasant economy itself, but it has been suppressed and destroyed by excessive taxes, land annexation, and poor infrastructure in the past.
He solved the exorbitant taxes and land annexation, strengthened infrastructure construction, and completely released this part of productivity. This part of productivity suddenly exploded with the increase in farmers' enthusiasm for production. Therefore, in the three years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the output of summer and autumn grains has increased steadily every year.
This can certainly be said to be a change brought about by policy, but at the same time, it is also a natural law and something that must happen. Every dynasty has experienced such a period.
What was different in the Ming Dynasty was the difference at the institutional level. Through the differences at the institutional level, the grassroots in the Ming Dynasty could mobilize farmers to repair water conservancy and roads to achieve the purpose of increasing food production and resisting natural disasters.
Therefore, the explosive growth of productivity is natural, or the lack of growth is the problem. The potential of the traditional economy is far from reaching its peak. Su Yonglin's actions are only accelerating the process of the traditional economy reaching its peak.
However, this process is not without problems and is not smooth sailing.
Leaving aside the natural disasters and climate anomalies that occur about once every five years, this report from the Ministry of Supervision focuses on the issue of whether grassroots farmers’ association cadres are competent for their duties.
Through this report, Su Yonglin learned about some current contradictions within the grassroots farmers' associations that cannot be ignored.
