Emperor Zhu Jianyan of the Ming Dynasty was mentally prepared for the actions of his father, the Supreme Emperor Zhu Zhongliang.
When Zhu Zhongliang's request was sent to Zhu Jianyan, Zhu Jianyan was in the Wenhua Hall of the Forbidden City in the capital, presiding over a meeting to discuss the promotion plan of the ticket system throughout the Ming Dynasty.
After seeing the message from Zhu Zhongliang, Zhu Jianyan immediately became extremely angry.
Zhu Jingyuan was originally sitting at the front of the conference table, but stood up immediately after reading the telegram.
The surrounding officials didn't know what happened, but the emperor stood up and others did not dare to continue sitting.
As soon as the officials stood up, they heard the emperor curse directly:
"These greedy worms!"
Zhu Jianyan is fifty-six years old this year, almost the same age as the oldest official in the court.
He has been emperor for eleven years now, and his majesty has been fully established.
A group of officials almost knelt down on the spot when they heard the curse.
Everyone was speculating in their minds about what was written on that telegraph newspaper.
Now in the entire Ming Dynasty... in the entire world, is there anything else that could make the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty so angry?
Is there major embezzlement, corruption or tax evasion happening somewhere?
I have to say that the ministers' guess was basically correct.
In this world now, there are only a few things left that can make Emperor Ming so angry.
Then they watched the emperor holding the telegraph newspaper and suddenly turned to look at the great bachelor at the scene:
"A decree is issued to order all banks across the world to cease all marriage-related loans from now on.
"All banks that have handled relevant business will cease operations from now on for rectification, and will cooperate with the tax authorities to investigate all past related types of loan business, recover loans suspected of tax evasion, and recover all evaded taxes.
“The Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Taxation, the Ministry of Punishment, Dongchang, and Jinyiwei jointly organized a tax evasion investigation team to investigate large private loans and capital flows, investigate all tax evasion behaviors, and recover the evaded taxes.
"Immediately proceed to amend the tax laws. Anyone in Ming Dynasty and any Ming Dynasty person anywhere, and any income received from anyone in any form, must pay uniform personal income tax.
"Delete all exceptions in the original law that allow for less or no income tax, including gifts of property between relatives who are related in any way, including any property inherited from deceased or living relatives.
"Until the corresponding regulations are revised and promulgated and implemented, all yamen across the country will stop all transfer procedures between relatives involving assets worth more than one hundred silver coins."
Zhu Jianyan's series of orders were generally the requirements put forward by Zhu Zhongliang, but with more precise explanations.
The ministers present knew that they had guessed correctly when they heard the first few sentences.
Some people really dare to evade taxes and even use marriage-related means.
Some ministers were surprised and curious, but more ministers had begun to panic, and it seemed that bad premonitions were spreading rapidly.
The emperor had long wanted to impose an income tax on gifts between relatives.
It's just that this tax is obviously against the interests of all upper-class people in Ming Dynasty who have certain assets.
Therefore, from the official to the private sector, everyone opposes from the perspective of traditional Eastern morality and from the perspective of human ethics and justice.
This is the absolute political correctness of Chinese tradition, and even Emperor Shizu would find it difficult to overturn it.
The Ming Emperor, who was obsessed with collecting taxes, had to give up this idea.
But now, some people are using marriage to avoid taxes, which is destroying the banner of opposition to this tax.
The emperor considered the current situation of traditional morality and human ethics and did not impose this part of the tax.
As a result, this group of people did not know what to do and actually used this method to evade taxes.
Now the emperor had a reason to impose compulsory collection.
So, where did this idiot come from to do such a thing? The key is that it was discovered!
The ministers' bad premonition soon became a reality.
Zhu Jianyan's next few orders stunned all the ministers present.
This is not only taxing gifts between relatives, but also taxing inheritance. This is really outrageous!
Regardless of who actually did these things, the key now is to stop these orders.
The first person to react was Wang Tingzhen, the tomb master among the nine ministers:
"Your Majesty, calm down, calm down. What is it that makes Your Majesty so angry?"
Zhu Jianyan directly asked his secretary to hand over the telegram:
"See for yourselves!"
Wang Tingzhen took it with both hands, glanced at it as quickly as possible, and then secretly said "Bitterness" in her heart.
In addition to the Emperor's orders, the telegram also contained a brief introduction to what the Emperor had discovered.
After Wang Tingzhen read it, she closed her eyes and passed the telegram to other officials around her.
After the telegram was circulated around the scene, the expressions of the officials present felt a sense of despair.
At the same time, there was uncontrollable anger. If it were not in front of the emperor, they might have jumped and cursed.
Of course, they wanted to scold not the Emperor and the Emperor, but the officials, banks and businessmen of Suzhou Prefecture.
The first to bear the brunt must be Gusu Bank and those directly involved such as Qian Feng, Wang Baoqing, and Liu Yudong.
Treating marriage as a transaction is of course against the Ming Dynasty's morals.
This kind of behavior is of course taking advantage of a loophole in the law.
Tax evasion violates an absolute taboo established during the reign of Emperor Sejo.
But the fundamental reason why the ministers want to scold them is not just the things these people did.
What's more important is that these things were exposed in front of the Supreme Emperor.
Let the Supreme Emperor and the Emperor stand on the triple high ground of traditional morality, court laws, and the Ming ancestral system.
Then the gift income tax between immediate family members can be forcibly collected.
It would be fine if he also used this method to avoid paying taxes. At least it would not be an injustice.
The key is that the ministers on the scene have basically never used it.
Traditional aristocrats and professional bureaucrats do not rely on business to make money.
Even those whose families run industrial and commercial industries, because they are nobles and high-ranking bureaucrats, they care more about reputation and influence, and are not willing to use weddings to evade taxes.
The point is that nobles and high-ranking bureaucrats had closer ties to the court and were easier to detect.
At the same time, the status of aristocrats and senior bureaucrats is much more important than the evaded taxes.
They don't want to lose big for small things.
There are also people who simply don’t know that they can evade taxes by getting married.
Therefore, they have not taken advantage of this evaded tax, but they cannot escape the increase in taxes caused by this news.
The middle and low-level officials below may also evade taxes. They, the senior bureaucrats, all have to take the lead in paying the full amount...
Whether you are giving resources to children or parents, it involves relatives receiving income tax.
Therefore, the current situation is that for the highest-ranking officials in Ming Dynasty present, this is a completely unreasonable disaster.
There were very few reasons to prevent the emperor from collecting taxes, and even less effective ones.
Originally, the emperor had acquiesced, and immediate family members did not pay taxes on the income received from gifts.
Now because of the exposure of this group of people, the most important one is about to be lost.
All the officials present hated the people of Gusu Bank.
Of course they want to scold these people.
However, the senior bureaucrats present also understood that it was already too late to scold these people.
What we need to do now is to control the impact of this matter as much as possible.
So Wang Tingzhen was the first to read the news and start thinking, and was the first to speak:
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty is very aware of everything and discovered that Liu Yudong and Wang Baoqing, two shameless fools, were evading taxes through their children's lifelong events.
“These two people are really hateful to the extreme and should be dealt with strictly by the relevant government agencies.
"However, this matter is obviously just the greed of a few people. It is impossible for most parents to use their children's lives to evade taxes. I think the court should control the influence locally...
"Just let the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel jointly reprimand the local officials, and at the same time completely prohibit the corresponding behavior..."
Zhu Jianyan directly recited a passage from Emperor Shizu's holy words:
“Emperor Shizu said that when you see one cockroach at home, it means there are a thousand cockroaches in places you can’t see.
"My father has seen a large number of similar large loans in a local bank.
“I don’t know how many similar things have happened in other banks and other prefectures.
“Gifts between immediate family members and couples are exempt from taxation, which is already a huge tax loophole.
“It was this loophole that allowed these cockroaches to multiply rapidly.
“Emperor Shizu also said that virtue is the standard for judging good people, and the law is the means to punish evil people.
“It is possible to promote virtue and expect all people to be good people.
“But also make laws because we can’t guarantee that everyone will be a good person.
"From ancient times to the present, countless facts have repeatedly proved this point, including the new discoveries of the Supreme Emperor.
“So the law must be changed, and no one is allowed to obstruct or disobey it, otherwise it will be punished as treason.
"Let's end today's meeting. We will discuss the details of the law revision tomorrow morning."
The officials at the scene, including Wang Tingzhen, all sighed deeply in their hearts.
Regardless of whether the Supreme Emperor and the Emperor are truly angry or fake, whether the incident at Gusu Bank was specifically targeted as a target, it has now become an established fact.
It is certain that a large group of businessmen are taking advantage of the family exemption loophole to evade taxes.
The Supreme Emperor and the Emperor's order to amend the scope of income tax collection can no longer be stopped from a moral perspective or from a dozen governance needs.
The most we can do now is to strive for the highest possible tax threshold and the lowest possible tax rate.
And avoid inheritance tax as much as possible.
Ministers speculated that a direct order such as an immediate cessation of marriage-related loans would probably not be cancelled, but the details of amending the law should still be discussed.
The former is to be sent directly to the executive agency and implemented directly on practical matters facing the people.
The latter is aimed at officials related to the law. The modification, formulation and promulgation of the law are a process, and have not yet reached the stage of implementation by specific executive agencies.
However, the emperor's attitude was very resolute, and he didn't know exactly what he could talk about.
The officials resigned with such complicated thoughts, and the corresponding imperial edict was quickly issued.
At the same time, a severely worded edict of rebuke was issued, requiring the Ministry of Rites and other orders to be announced to the world.
The content is very simple. First, it introduces the discovery of the Supreme Emperor in Suzhou Private Bank.
Then he scolded this group of greedy businessmen who used the court's accommodation of family friendship to evade taxes. They were the scum of the Ming Dynasty.
In the end, he stood on the moral high ground and reprimanded these businessmen who only had money in their eyes.
At the same time, he clearly expressed the attitude that "both the Ming Emperor and His Majesty the Emperor are angry now."
These imperial orders and edicts of rebuke were also included in the imperial newspaper of the day at the request of the emperor, and were distributed to all yamen, royal families and government agencies all over the world before the yamen were released.
Most officials throughout the Ming Dynasty were stunned after receiving the notice, and they couldn't help but jump and curse after being released from office.
Then came their relatives and friends, who started jumping and cursing together after receiving the news.
Then, whether it was in public restaurants, restaurants, teahouses, or private halls or manors, wherever the upper class people of the Ming Dynasty were active, there were scenes of violent roars everywhere.
In the background sound of these scenes, there is also a Daming broadcast introducing the causes and consequences of the entire incident.
The scope of radio's influence is even wider.
In addition to people with connections in the yamen, many small and medium-sized businessmen and even ordinary middle class people also learned about what happened in Suzhou Prefecture today through the radio.
Then more people were angry.
Although there are definitely many people who have used Gusu Bank's tricks to avoid taxes, in the entire Ming Dynasty, they are really not that many.
Just like the officials of the imperial court, many ordinary businessmen do not know that this trick exists.
There are also many businessmen who have realized this themselves, but did not have the courage or opportunity to try it.
More businessmen have not found suitable opportunities where they live and have not found a bank willing to cooperate with them, so they have not had time to try.
As for the businessmen in other areas who had secretly used the same method, they were more panicked than angry.
The imperial edict has been issued, and the imperial court is going to investigate similar matters in the past, and it is very likely that the investigation will be blamed on itself.
This group of people even wanted to kill the Gusu Qianzhuang group.
Why is it such a coincidence that when the Supreme Emperor comes to inspect your place, can't you make a good account book?
Shouldn't there usually be two ledgers? How could it be possible to show the actual report to the Supreme Emperor?
However, like the officials, no matter whether they have tried and understood this method or not, no matter how angry they are with the people of Gusu Bank, these businessmen have to start thinking about how to pay income tax.
Throughout the Ming Dynasty, most middle- and upper-class people did not sleep well that night.
Related discussions, contacts and curses continued for most of the night.
The next morning, they saw relevant news in official and private newspapers.
As technology continues to advance, news spreads faster and faster.
(End of chapter)
