"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, imposing additional taxes is bad government! Your Majesty is wise, your Majesty, please think again, Your Majesty!"
"In today's world, everything is in ruins. Your Majesty imposes commercial taxes. This is to compete with the people for profit... You must not do it, Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty has personally set a tax of thirty to one, but now he wants to impose an additional tax. This is tantamount to changing the decree overnight... and the Northern Yuan Dynasty has not yet been abolished. This will lose the support of the people of the world, Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty, the lesson from the Yuan Dynasty is not far away. Issuing banknotes is the way to save the country, while taxing taxes is actually the way to subjugate the country, Your Majesty!"
After a brief silence, there was a sudden cry among the civil servants. Countless officials came out, either to express their admonitions directly, or to grab the land with their heads, as if if we increase the commercial tax today, the Ming Dynasty will be destroyed tomorrow because of it.
Someone took advantage of the chaos and secretly grabbed Li Shanchang's sleeve: "Korean Lord, why don't you give me advice? Your Majesty is the most obedient to public opinion. If you can't stop Your Majesty, what will your Majesty do to the world?"
Li Shanchang calmly took out his sleeve from the man's hand and continued to work with his head down. Why don't you care about the world? Didn't you see that the superior's eyes became more and more fierce?
"enough!"
Li Shanchang expected it to be true. After a while, he heard the emperor's cold roar from above his head.
Lao Zhu looked at the frozen ministers and pointed at them: "Look at you, how are you crying and making trouble?"
"Have we said that we will harm the people? Have we said that we will change it day and night?"
"We haven't even said how we're going to tax it yet, and you're all crying and fighting... Why, we just want to change the business tax, am I trying to steal food from your mouth?"
As soon as these words came out, all the officials were speechless. They secretly communicated with their eyes, and no one dared to say another word: These words are too serious. If we impose a business tax, wouldn't we just take food from our mouths? It's just that the emperor dared to say this, but they couldn't recognize it!
"The thirty-one tax we set before was indeed too light. As the saying goes, 'The rule of a king is to respect the roots and suppress the weak, and focus on farming and grain.' Shang is the last man, and giving too much preferential treatment will eventually be harmful to the country."
Lao Zhu even made a point of shaking his head and dragging out a sentence, which choked the civil servants below and all looked strange. These words were exactly the words they used in the past when they advised Lao Zhu not to focus on business and concentrate on agriculture.
"Besides, businessmen are not engaged in production, but they can easily make money. This is inconsistent with the truth." Lao Zhu continued. "We are thinking of levying a commercial tax based on the income of merchants. If ordinary people do some small business, then the tax will naturally be 30 to 1."
"The higher the income, the higher the commercial tax. It is reasonable to collect taxes according to the tiered levels. The specific details will be determined by..."
"Let the cabinet draw up the regulations! It must be carefully investigated and drafted carefully. After we review it, it will be written into the Ming Law."
"Yes. I obey the order." Zhu Biao, who was temporarily in charge of the cabinet affairs, replied in a smooth manner, leaving no room for other civil servants to comment.
Originally, matters written into the Ming Dynasty Laws had to be discussed jointly by the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Punishment and even other ministries, but now they were handed over directly to the cabinet!
Obviously, this man had colluded with each other!
"Your Majesty!" Even though Lao Zhu was so determined, Zhan Tong, the Minister of Civil Affairs, still came out to report: "Your Majesty, this matter is not in accordance with the system."
"Besides, it is necessary to investigate the income of merchants all over the world and determine the specific tax amount based on the income... This is tantamount to the imperial court directly monitoring all merchants in the world. The manpower required is so huge!"
"I'll be honest, even if all the officials of the Ming Dynasty were to devote themselves to this matter, I might not be able to implement it."
"This policy is really difficult to implement, so please, Your Majesty, take back your order..."
As the Minister of Civil Affairs, Zhan Tong immediately thought of the manpower issue, so he raised objections that seemed pertinent, but not without any insight... Seeing this, the civil servants became active again and came out to second the objection. They abound.
"Well, that makes sense." Lao Zhu looked at Zhan Tong playfully, "Zhan Aiqing, we remember that your Zhan family in Huangzhou has a huge family fortune... Is it because of this reason that you opposed the additional tax? "
"Your Majesty!" Zhan Tong raised his eyes and looked at Lao Zhu. "I am purely out of a public spirit! Most of my family's property is owned by my clan members. I only have a few acres of thin farmland under my name for farming, reading, and family heirlooms."
"If Your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can send someone to investigate! I am loyal to Your Majesty, and the sun will show it!"
The awe-inspiring righteousness fills his face.
"Oh. What a clan member, what a farming and studying heirloom." Lao Zhu was not moved, but his expression was incomprehensible. "We asked you to be the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and you really made a mistake."
"As an official, you hold great power. What you fear most is using your power for personal gain and enriching yourself." Lao Zhu stood up and said, "There was a saying in the Song Dynasty: Three years to clear the prefecture, and one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver!"
"You high-ranking officials in the court, if you were in the Song Dynasty, you would all be officials in the capital. Speaking of which, your authority and remuneration would be higher than that of the prefect."
"How can you govern if you use your power for personal gain?"
"Your Majesty!" When the officials heard this, they sweated coldly and hurriedly bowed down and said: "I don't dare, I am loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and the sun will show it!"
"You are good, we believe it." Lao Zhu said emotionlessly, but there was no trace of trust on his face. "It's just that even though you are clean and honest, you still can't help someone using your tiger skin as a banner to make profits for themselves!"
As he said this, he glanced at Zhan Tong, who was sweating profusely when he was looking at the minister who had been performing a show of loyalty just now and had a straight face. "If your family members and clan members use your name to amass a fortune and make a fortune...how do you think the court should be governed?"
"I... I'm scared!" Zhan Tong did not dare to look at Lao Zhu anymore, bowed down and trembled.
"You said you don't have enough manpower to manage the merchants all over the world." Lao Zhu got back to the point. "Then, let's start with you officials."
"Ignore the people of the world for the time being, this policy of increasing business taxes will start with you, the relatives of officials!"
"Within the current season, any income earned by the relatives of officials in Beijing who engage in business transactions will be subject to an additional commercial tax according to the new stepped commercial tax law!"
"Anyone who delays, resists, deceives or refuses to retaliate will be punished if he is a businessman, and those who are officials at home will be imprisoned."
"That's it, it's decided, retreat from the court!"
After saying that, under the frightened eyes of the officials, Lao Zhu waved his sleeves and left Fengtian Hall directly.
A crowd of stunned officials were left behind. Although they wanted to defend themselves, they could no longer speak.
…
"Prime Minister Li, you have to come up with an idea! It was you who said that the plan to issue treasure banknotes is a sure thing...how come in the blink of an eye, not only did the treasure banknotes disappear, but we officials also had to be levied additional business taxes..." In the study room of the South Korean government, many high-ranking officials took advantage of the secret meeting with Li Shanchang to express their bitterness.
"Yes, brother, you said this morning that you know His Majesty best...why did my promotion come to an end in such a blink of an eye?" Next to Li Shanchang, even his younger brother Li Cunyou had a look of resentment on his face at this time. . This eldest brother kept his word, and he promised to get a good job... I waited excitedly for several hours in the house, and finally I ended up waiting here?
Not only do I have no food to eat, I also have to bleed myself...
What is this thing called?
(End of chapter)
