Emperor Wanli was furious and said: "Why are state affairs being controlled by factory guards? That is the court's yamen! And there are hundreds of officials supervising it. How can there be so many mistakes?"
Someone else came forward and said, "Your Majesty, the chief minister is already reforming the talent tax system, and the national treasury is about to be full. Why bother to make the people unhappy because of some small money!"
Emperor Wanli squinted his eyes and said: "Since it is a small amount of money, why don't they pay it? And is this really a small amount of money? How many merchants are there in the world? Have you calculated how much tax can be recovered? What the imperial court wants is to help orphans and widows and build roads. , improve the river embankments, and provide salaries to hundreds of officials, don’t these all cost money?”
These officials took turns to come forward to speak, but Emperor Wanli refuted them one by one! Moreover, the more Emperor Wanli talked, the more excited he became, and he actually felt a little bit like he was crossing the border! But he knew in his heart that this was thanks to the many principles Liu Haojia usually taught in his letters!
After a confrontation, Emperor Wanli firmly adhered to the principle of "take from the people and use it for the people" and said that "I just want to force useless merchants back to the fields", which made all the officials speechless. Speechless, and finally had to fall silent one by one!
At this time, Emperor Wanli sat upright on the dragon chair, feeling extremely happy! Especially when he defeated the civil servant with the principles given to him by the civil servant, he was in a particularly happy mood! But he also thought of one thing, that is, as Liu Haojia said, most of the things they usually give him are just to fool him!
Because their theories are not self-consistent or even contradictory! The only explanation is that these knowledge were explained to him according to the needs of civil servants, which completely distorted the original intention of Sage Kong! So when he thought that he and the previous emperors had been fooled by these scholars, he felt very angry!
Just when he was hesitating whether to scold them again, Zhang Juzheng suddenly took a step forward. Emperor Wanli cheered up immediately after seeing it! He knew that his teacher was very difficult to deal with!
Just listen to Zhang Juzheng say: "Your Majesty, there is no precedent for this kind of thing in the country! How about the cabinet, together with the ministries and palace supervisors, discuss the laws and regulations and then implement them?"
The courtiers were extremely excited when they saw Zhang Juzheng standing up. They all felt that it would be a piece of cake to convince Emperor Wanli with Zhang Juzheng's talent and status! But when they heard Zhang Juzheng's statement, they felt as if they were struck by lightning, and they were all dumbfounded!
But then some people seemed to understand something and sneered slightly. Some smart people came forward and prostrated themselves on the ground and said: "Your Majesty, these words of the chief minister are mature words for the country. I hope your Majesty will give you permission!"
Emperor Wanli won victory at the hands of Zhang Juzheng for the first time. He was so excited that he immediately said without thinking about it: "Okay, please do more work, Mr. Zhang!"
Zhang Juzheng bowed and said, "This is an old minister's duty!"
After all this tossing, the other courtiers no longer had the mood and energy to discuss other matters, and they dispersed after confirming that the morning court was over. However, many people are still complaining that Zhang Juzheng has no dignity, bowing to the emperor and waiting for words!
However, after saying a few words, he was pushed by a wise man and said: "Don't you know that the court needs to be safe when doing things? This kind of thing always needs to be discussed over and over again to achieve an even and stable situation! If you come up with the law in a hurry, The laws and regulations are wrong and harming the people, who can bear the responsibility?"
The person who was prompted understood in the blink of an eye that this was a procrastination trick! So after he understood it, he immediately criticized himself for not thinking well and once again expressed his admiration for Prime Minister Zhang! So the courtiers were not far away from the main hall, and the atmosphere in the crowd was already much harmonious!
After returning to the duty room and sitting down, Zhang Siwei was the first to say uncontrollably: "Chief Assistant, what do you think of today's events?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Juzheng put down his tea cup and said, "I actually have no opinion!"
Everyone was surprised when they heard him say this! Your dignified chief minister actually has no opinion on collecting business taxes. How do you say that? Don’t forget that you represent the interests of scholars all over the world. Without the support of people all over the world, how can you achieve the position of chief minister!
And Zhang Siwei's face was also a little gloomy, because the Zhang family's business is not small in the northwest. If the business tax is really pushed back, it will be like cutting his flesh!
But Zhang
Siwei still adjusted his expression and said: "Chief Assistant, you can't say that! This matter of collecting business taxes involves the gentry of the world!"
Zhang Juzheng twirled his beard and said, "It's not that I don't try my best, but that I don't have the energy to get involved in this matter now!"
Now Zhang Juzheng is busy promoting the examination method and the one-step whipping method, so where can he allocate his energy to this matter? And even if you want to get a rough idea of this kind of thing, it can't be solved in two or three months! So he really didn't want to pay attention to it!
Zhang Siwei immediately followed up and said, "But we can't just watch the world's gentry being in trouble, right?"
The reason why Zhang Siwei asked this was that he had actually noticed Zhang Juzheng's thoughts. Zhang Juzheng simply wanted to use Liu Haojia as a pawn to explore the way, and he didn't want to get involved in this matter! When things are done, he will take full credit; if things fail, his reputation as the chief assistant will not be damaged!
People who have reached their position don’t know the importance of silver to a country! However, none of the gentry in the world pay taxes, and the most profitable business is in their hands. As a result, the national treasury is empty! If this were not the case, why would Zhang Juzheng have to clean up the world's fields and do such a thankless task?
However, cleaning up the fields is something that the court must do anyway. Although it will make the gentry all over the world angry, it will not cause big turmoil! But if we collect business tax, it will really hit the lungs of the gentry all over the world! Because everyone knows that the money earned from doing business comes faster and more than from digging in the soil!
So now as long as Zhang Juzheng reveals that he intends to collect business taxes, he may not be able to do it reliably as the first assistant, and he, the second assistant for ten thousand years, will also have the opportunity to take a step forward. That's why he dares to question Zhang Juzheng like this and force Zhang Juzheng to express his stance!
But how could Zhang Juzheng not understand what Zhang Siwei meant, so he said directly: "I am too busy to pass the exam to become a Dharma master, so why not leave this matter to the wind?"
After speaking, Zhang Juzheng quickly glanced at everyone's faces and found that some people's eyes were already showing some dissatisfaction, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart! Come to think of it, he was devoted to managing the country's finances, so how much pressure did he put on cleaning up his fields? But now, most of the people in the court are sitting idle, only looking at the few taels of silver in their pockets, completely ignoring the life and death of this country!
