All the Ming ministers present looked at each other in astonishment.
I don’t know why the emperor suddenly changed the subject and brought it back to the issue of tax arrears.
Zhu Daohua saw some panic on the faces of the ministers in the audience.
I couldn't help but snorted in my heart.
He is not an emperor who grew up in a deep palace.
He is the founding emperor.
Of course, it is clear that relying on the power of some low-level scholars cannot create the great chaos that spreads from Sichuan to the Central Plains and southwestern provinces!
Behind this must be the instigation and laissez-faire of the local Confucian scholars and bureaucrats.
They want to use the Sichuan incident to attack the new learning.
And the timing was spot on.
Just when the Ming Dynasty needed to hire people, the students from the new universities that the emperor had placed his hopes on had just graduated and were not yet ready for use.
Although Emperor Zhu was anxious to hire new people, he also knew the dangers of overthrowing talents.
Therefore, the first batch of new college students were placed at the grassroots level, not only in the officialdom, but also in some factories and the Ming Royal Consortium.
But everyone knows it.
Although these people do not have high official positions now, they are the real "disciples of the emperor".
It will definitely be of great use in the future.
As long as the emperor insists on this direction.
In the future, it is inevitable that new learning will flourish and Confucianism will decline.
therefore
This time it happened in Sichuan.
It can be seen as a counterattack by the unwilling old literati.
A test!
It is not that the new learning will be banned at once, but it will be adopted in small steps. If the emperor succeeds in making concessions this time, he will ask for more next time!
These old literati can gradually take away the power of the imperial examination content.
How could Emperor Zhu endure this?
He can tolerate everything else.
Only this one is definitely unbearable.
What is the imperial examination?
This is an issue related to the development future of the country.
If these old literati succeeded, where would the authority of the founding emperor be?
A sneer appeared at the corner of Zhu Daohua's mouth, and his eyes were like swords as he scanned the ministers.
It was the first time for many ministers here to see Emperor Zhu, who was smiling every day, angry.
Suddenly a chill ran down my back from fright.
Finally, he remembered the identity of the emperor in front of him.
He is the restored emperor of the new Ming Dynasty whose authority surpasses Ming Taizu!
He was a founding emperor.
His power cannot be easily offended
Many civil servants could not help but lower their heads with a guilty conscience.
"What? Are the land taxes on the fields in Zhuqing's family also deferred?"
As soon as this statement came out.
The air in the hall suddenly became even colder.
It is actually an ancient thing for wealthy households to accumulate land taxes.
The so-called deferral means to indicate the postponement of payment and the reduction of income.
Originally, this system was designed to take care of small people with meager land or victims of disasters.
You can defer the payment of field taxes and survive the disaster years when the harvest is not good.
If there is any happy event for the imperial court in the next few years, and if you want to do some good governance, then these accumulated land taxes can be waived.
However, the policy of the imperial court was good, but the people below read the scriptures wrongly again.
Since the Yongzheng year.
"Delay" has completely become the privilege of wealthy households.
Wealthy households have tens of millions of dollars in land, but they can avoid land taxes by "paying moratoriums" to reduce their income, and the shortfall is passed on to the homesteaders who only own meager fields.
The so-called "officials and gentry receiving food from one body" soon became a legend. It only gave the Qing court more knives that could manipulate local wealthy households.
And after the revival of the Ming Dynasty.
In many places, no radical reforms have been carried out, and large parts of the old system have been retained.
Because the Ming Dynasty did not kill many people in the local area, thorough reforms definitely did not exist.
To change, we can only establish a new system by reforming the old system.
But if we want to reform, we will inevitably offend the old vested interests.
And now, although the Ming Dynasty has replaced the original official class with scholars as officials.
But the number of officials in each province also increased more than ten times compared with the Qing Dynasty.
It is impossible for the grassroots to implement the strategy of serving as an official in a different place.
Therefore, local officials in various places are actually from wealthy families.
Without touching the fundamental revolution, local wealthy households still occupied large amounts of land. This situation did not change much from the previous Qing Dynasty.
Emperor Zhu knew this situation.
But during the war, Emperor Zhu could turn a blind eye.
Wait until the big battle around is over.
It is also time for these wealthy households in the country to experience the iron fist of the Ming Dynasty.
Seeing everyone was silent.
Emperor Zhu stood up, looked at the ministers and said: "You all know that our Ming army is invincible. It defeated the former Qing Dynasty with almost no effort and conquered the world. This change of dynasty did not involve a mountain of blood. People are rolling in, which is naturally a good thing. But this also means that the local area is still controlled by wealthy households. The wealthy households have a lot of wealth, but they can collude with local officials to use various means to avoid paying taxes and transfer the taxes to the poor. Is this right? Aren’t you afraid that the government will force the people to rebel?”
Emperor Zhu looked at Luo Fangbo.
Prime Minister Luo said hurriedly: "There is no one among the three clans who owes taxes!"
The Luo family in Jiaying Prefecture runs a shipping company and doesn't buy much land. Moreover, running a shipping company is so profitable, so the income from that little land has long been out of reach.
"Okay, you are the Prime Minister, you should lead by example!" Emperor Zhu smiled slightly.
"I won't say much else, three months! In three months, I will send people to thoroughly check whether the three official clans in the southeastern provinces have any tax arrears. If anyone's name appears on the list of tax arrears, This official has reached his end!"
Everyone felt cold, knowing that the emperor was serious.
The local literati and bureaucrats gave the emperor a difficult problem: Sichuan students were on strike to take exams, and he in turn wanted to inspect the taxes!
This is just great.
Officials in the southeastern provinces are all in danger.
"It's better to go back and pay up all the taxes quickly. The land tax in my Ming Dynasty is not high, it is just a regular tax, and everything else is exempted. If you don't even pay this, then the black gauze hat will not be guaranteed. Which one is more important? , everyone weighs it up for himself."
After Emperor Zhu left, Luo Fangbo turned to the officials and said.
"Also, if the students in Sichuan don't want to take the imperial examination this time, then they should not take it for now. When they are willing to take it, they can start the exam again. Anyway, our Ming Dynasty will never be short of people who want to be officials."
Of course, the officials of the Ming Dynasty were not afraid that no one would come to serve.
Wait a few years.
These Sichuan scholars had to relent.
Qin Ying's face darkened slightly, then he shook his head and said, "I don't know how many people's careers will be delayed now."
Gu Song sneered: "You asked for it. If you delay it, just delay it. Who makes them unable to withstand provocation. This time, go back and warn your nephews and brothers at home not to anger the emperor on this matter, otherwise there will be no good results." Eat! The Emperor is quite dissatisfied with the collusion between wealthy households in the southeast and officials!"
This time, there were many more officials with discolored faces.
"I'm afraid a lot of black hats are about to fall to the ground now."
Zhang Huiyan muttered in a low voice after hearing this.
(End of chapter)
