Liu Fangyuan stood at the bow of the boat and was looking at Zixiong. He thought that what he said would scare the other party away, but he didn't expect to be retorted by the other party's words instead! At that moment, I was furious and said loudly: "Nonsense! You are already making a big mistake by collecting taxes indiscriminately. I am kind-hearted and considerate of you, but you still know that you are wrong!"
Not only was He Lishui not angry when he heard this, but he said directly: "Master He, you said that I was wrong to wait. I would also like to ask, this canal is a ship used by the imperial court to transport grain. The imperial court has strict regulations prohibiting the carrying of goods. Are you? Why don’t the officials even know this? Then who among us made the mistake?”
The reason why He Lishui, a prison guard, dared to speak like this was because when Liu Haojia sent him to the canal to collect taxes, he told He Lishui all the reasons he could think of, so he didn't care at all what Liu Fangyuan said to him! Because after listening to Liu Haojia's teachings, he felt that the court had suffered a huge loss by collecting less tax revenue from the canal for so many years! Read the book
Since ancient times, the grain production in the north has been lower than that in the south, and a large amount of grain from the south has been needed to supplement it, so water transportation came into being! And many officials and wealthy businessmen bribed water transporters to carry goods! When there are few, there must be at least 30% of the cargo on a ship, and when there are many, the entire ship is full of cargo!
In this way, both parties benefited greatly, but this situation seriously affected the transportation of grain. Moreover, water vessels cannot be intercepted to collect taxes, so these entrained goods were officially exempted from tax. This caused great losses to the court, so the court once strictly prohibited water vessels from carrying goods.
But as the saying goes, if there are policies, there will be countermeasures! Although the imperial court strictly prohibited the entrainment of cargo by ships, the entrainment trend is still getting worse! The reason is simply that during the entire activity, the water transportation party, officials and merchants, as well as the inspection and tax collection party are all profiting from it, so naturally there is no way to stop it! But don’t forget, the order prohibiting ships from carrying cargo is still there!
So Liu Fangyuan was stunned by what He Lishui said, and it was hard to reply! Because He Lishui is talking about the imperial decree, you can violate this decree, but you don't want to be singled out, otherwise it will be a problem! But after all, Liu Fangyuan had some good money that he couldn't give up. He refused to give in and said loudly: "The things on these ships are all my personal belongings! I will be an official in Beijing for a long time, so it's okay to bring more personal belongings." valid reason!"
He Lishui sneered and said, "Mr. Liu, my people just happened to be back. Why don't we let them talk about it and find out whether it is furniture or goods!"
The people He Lishui was talking about were several other Jin Yiwei. They had already boarded the following ships and opened the cabins to take a look. Liu Fangyuan was on the first ship to stop him, but no official on the other ships dared to stop the Jin Yiwei. They naturally looked through everything in the cabin!
The first Jinyiwei who ran over said: "Sir, the second boat is filled with high-quality rice paper and lake pens! There are thousands of pens alone!"
Then another one came up and said, "Sir, the ship behind is full of porcelain and lacquerware!"
Several other people also reported the items on board one after another. As a result, these six ships were filled with all kinds of best-selling goods!
He Lishui clapped his hands and said: "Mr. Liu, if you don't say secret words or say anything else, those Hu pens alone are not your property! Those Hu pens are enough for you to write in a lifetime, let alone other goods. !」
Liu Fangyuan snorted and said, "So what? I am an official and have tax-free privileges. It is legitimate to transport some goods! Open the water gate quickly and let me leave!"
He Lishui laughed and said, "I don't know when the imperial court gave you the tax exemption?"
Liu Fangyuan went crazy after hearing this, pointed at He Lishui with his finger and said: "You are such an ignorant fanatic! Officials and gentry are the pillars of the country, so naturally they are exempted from taxes, just to cultivate more righteousness, you vulgar What do you know?"
He Lishui raised his eyes and sneered: "Master Liu, this is nonsense! The imperial court has never given officials the privilege of tax exemption, only exemption from military service! If you don't believe it, I will argue with you in front of everyone. The laws of the country?"
Liu Fangyuan heard that a Jin Yiwei wanted to discuss the law with him. Hearing this, he was so angry that his face turned red and his neck became thick! In his view, officials and gentry were exempt from tax
It's a matter of course, how could it be just an exemption from military service! So he said sternly: "You're talking nonsense! What do you, a martial artist, know?"
He Lishui sneered and said, "Am I talking nonsense? Today, I will teach you the laws of the imperial court! Back then, Grandpa Taizu ruled the world..."
In fact, He Lishui was right. Gentlemen and officials did not have tax-free privileges or exemption from service. Only "official households" have the privilege of exemption from service, but this privilege is not only available to "official households", but also to all special households such as military households and horse households.
This kind of privilege in the Ming Dynasty was ultimately based on "status" rather than class. In other words, it is an individual treatment. The exempted servants refer to miscellaneous servants.
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang established a system to push many government expenditures and public services to the people. The people are asked to serve in order to reduce the court's expenditure. This is the handyman.
To give an example: when an imperial envoy goes to a certain county to do business, the county should host a banquet. In the Ming Dynasty, "hosting a banquet" was considered a chore and should be provided free of charge by families with a certain number of acres of land in the county.
Why did the Ming Dynasty exempt some status households from chores? It's because these people are already serving. For example, a certain official was from Suzhou. Logically speaking, his family should be responsible for keeping watch in Suzhou City. However, since he had already taken up a post in the capital, there was no way for him to keep watch in Suzhou. Therefore, the emperor could directly exempt his family from the chores. service.
And this behavior has become a common practice in the court. There is no need for the emperor to issue an edict. In other words, when this person becomes an official, he will automatically be relieved of this handyman job. But please note that he only has this right after becoming an official! Without an official position, even a Jinshi will not be exempted from it!
Of course, this example is rough, but the general meaning is okay. But after the mid-Ming Dynasty, handymen became a heavy burden! One reason is that local governments arbitrarily allocate all increased expenditures to the people. This has resulted in an increasingly heavy burden on local people.
Then there are the consequences of monetizing handymen. How about if someone doesn’t want to serve, they can discuss with the government office whether they can hire someone to serve at their own expense? The local government naturally agreed. As time went by, the local yamen felt that it was too troublesome to dispatch servants, so it was better to convert them into money. After collecting the money, the yamen would hire people to serve, and the wages would be even lower, and they could still make some money!
