As a rule, the Japanese never raided the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty in winter.
They all took small boats, and their shipbuilding skills were not as superb as those of the Ming Dynasty. The sea in winter was so bitingly cold.
The Japanese are here to rob property, not to freeze into dogs at sea.
But those thieves on the southeast coast have no such worries. They only need to board the ship from the land quietly and hide their traces, go around to the sea, return to the place where they want to plunder, and land, and they can obtain considerable wealth.
The wealth will be transported back from the sea by them, which is like laundering the wealth in the sea.
Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely angry at this moment.
He was not just blaming God for bringing such heavy snow to the south of the Yangtze River, triggering a snow disaster in Zhejiang Province and plunging the people into disaster.
He was angry at the inaction of the local government in Zhejiang Province, and angry at the unscrupulous thieves in Zhejiang Province who disguised themselves as Japanese and took advantage of the fire.
Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily, "They all deserve to be killed! They all deserve to be killed!"
Zhu Yunxi looked at Jiang Gu, who came to report the snow disaster and Japanese invasion of Zhejiang Road, and said in a deep voice, "Grandpa, the court still needs to know the details of Zhejiang Road now. At this time, in the ice and snow, the people destroyed their homes and holes, and the court also needs to supervise Zhejiang. Dao provides disaster relief, rescues people, and stabilizes the place."
Logically speaking, it is impossible for a snow disaster to happen on Zhejiang Road.
Even though the land south of the Yangtze River is colder, its geographical location will not cause snow disasters.
But Zhu Yunxi knew very well that all this was just because Ming Dynasty was unlucky to be in a stage of major changes in the world climate.
In the future, all kinds of disasters will happen one after another.
In the end, the courage on the shoulders of this empire gradually increased, and it was crushed step by step.
At this time, Jiang Wei reported in a low voice, "The Zhejiang Capital Command has dispatched officers and soldiers from the Hangzhou Prefecture Guard to go to Ningbo Prefecture to eliminate the Japanese invasion. It also issued instructions to all localities to strictly guard against the aggravation of civil unrest and urged local governments to suppress the civil unrest as soon as possible."
"Incompetent! Incompetent in disaster relief, are they going to kill the people of Ming Dynasty now!" Zhu Yuanzhang cursed unceremoniously, and then waved his hand, "Call people, call people from the court to enter the palace."
With a gloomy expression, Jiang Wei followed the order and left the palace.
But Zhu Yuanzhang was still furious, and his chest was heaving violently.
The prince Zhu Biao on the side turned his wheelchair and arrived here, wanting to pour a cup of tea for the old man.
Zhu Yunxi came to his senses, quickly took over his father's action, and got a cup of tea for him.
"Grandpa, please take a sip of tea and take your time."
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, picked up the tea and drank it in one gulp.
Zhu Biao clasped his hands and sat aside, "The local government has never experienced the snow disaster in Zhejiang. Who would have thought that Zhili had never reported the disaster situation, but Zhejiang was hit by the snow disaster. I didn't notice it for a while, but now we still have to clean it up first." The most important thing is to help the people."
Zhu Yuanzhang's face was very solemn, and his brows were swollen: "If we didn't know the truth, whether it was disaster relief or the eradication of fake Japanese, the people from Zhejiang Road would be needed to do the work. I would have asked Jiang Wei to detain them back to Beijing now."
At this time, the emperor of Ming Dynasty wanted to kill people, but in the face of disaster and civil unrest, he was helpless.
Killing people is very simple, but local affairs still require people to handle them.
If all officials from Zhejiang Province are taken into custody at this time and unfamiliar officials from North Korea and China are sent, it will only aggravate the local situation and develop it in a worse direction.
Zhu Yunxi looked at the old man and his father with worried expressions.
He thought for a while and said in a low voice, "Grandpa, father, Zhejiang Road has always been divided into seven parts mountains and three parts land, and people use a lot of it to grow mulberry and raise silkworms. The people around the city are quite wealthy at home, and it is precisely because of this that they are intensified Due to the greed of some disobedient thieves, they often pretended to be Japanese pirates in times of crisis, thereby harming the peace of our Ming Dynasty."
Those merchants and gentry are just white-eyed wolves who can’t get enough to eat.
Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows: "What do you want to say?"
Zhu Yunxi raised his head and looked at the old man, "My grandson wants to say that the court should pay more attention to local merchants and gentry."
Probably because of Zhu Yuanzhang's background, since the early years of Hongwu, most of the court's energy has been involved in the Northern Expedition and farmers' farming.
Zhu Yuanzhang never paid much attention to business affairs. In order to promote local stability and development, taxes on merchants were also set at extremely low levels. Under unfavorable supervision, merchants and gentry had many means to avoid the court from collecting taxes.
Compared with the former Song Dynasty, which only occupied half of the country, the Ming Dynasty, which ruled the entire Central Plains, had less than one-tenth of the business tax of the former Song Dynasty.
You know, in the former Song Dynasty, commercial taxes basically accounted for more than half of the country's annual revenue.
"Merchant, gentry, merchant, gentry," Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and muttered in a low voice, and his tone gradually turned gloomy. "They pretend that we don't know. They are merchants when they are outside, and they are gentry when they return home. All the cheap benefits in the local area are given to them. Taken!"
Zhu Yunxi said at the right time, "So Sun'er thinks that this snow disaster in Zhejiang Province, coupled with the fake Japanese rebellion, may be a rare opportunity for the imperial court."
Zhu Biao coughed lightly, "If you have something to say, just say it, hide it and keep it under wraps."
Zhu Yunxi immediately said, "Share the land into the acres, pay the grain to the officials and gentry together, and strictly check the commercial and tax collection! My grandson has been thinking a lot recently and has some immature ideas. Looking at the situation in Zhejiang Province, it is the most appropriate."
When he spoke, although they were all unfamiliar nouns, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao both understood the meaning based on the literal meaning.
Zhu Yuanzhang's brows relaxed and furrowed several times, and then he said slowly, "Please elaborate, don't worry, talk to grandpa carefully about how you plan to handle these things."
Zhu Yunxi nodded, licked his lips, poured himself a cup of tea to moisten his throat, and then continued, "Zhejiang Road has many mountains and little land, and most of the people work to survive. The imperial court's capitation tax seems a bit out of place.
The imperial court might as well try it out in Zhejiang Province. The imperial court would check the acres of land, set rules based on the number of acres, and collect taxes. It can also be divided into levels according to the number of acres. Those with fewer acres will pay less, and those with more acres will pay more.
Now that disaster relief in Zhejiang Province is unfavorable, the imperial court can use this to punish the local officials of Zhejiang Province. The common people, officials and gentry should be treated as one without distinction between each other, and they should pay a tax of dingyin. "
After observing the reaction of the old man and his father, Zhu Yunxi continued, "Furthermore, my grandson has seen Zhejiang Road. There are workshops everywhere, and most of the people are attached to the city walls, working for the local gentry and merchants.
Although the imperial court has had commercial taxes in recent years, the collection has been unfavorable. From then on, Zhejiang Road should strictly inspect merchants' taxes and strictly monitor them to increase the imperial court's financial resources.
It’s not like these merchants are well-clothed and well-fed, while the common people in our court have no clothes to cover their bodies and no food to eat. "
Zhu Yunxi's words had fallen, but there was silence in the side hall.
Zhu Yuanzhang's frown never dropped, and he looked at his expectant grandson from time to time.
Finally, he looked at the prince next to him, "Prince, what do you think of what Yunxi said?"
At this moment, Zhu Biao was still thinking about what his son had said about the reform of integrating officials and gentry into one family.
At this time, the old man asked, Zhu Biao hesitated and whispered, "Does the father want to reduce the preferential treatment of officials and gentry?"
In the Ming Dynasty, although it was not as good as in the previous Song Dynasty, it shared the world with the scholar-bureaucrats.
Zhu Yuanzhang also hated those corrupt officials the most, but it must be said that he also respected those scholars the most.
For those families who studied hard and became famous in the imperial examinations, the imperial court would give these families various preferential treatment and privileges in accordance with the rules set in the early years of Hongwu.
Starting from the beginning of scholarly education, tax exemptions and exemptions will be gradually given to these families. They also have invisible privileges such as not worshiping officials before they see them, which allows these people to be invisible above the common people.
This enabled the court to have a steady stream of talents for selection, but it also increased the burden on the court.
Seeing that the old man was still hesitating, Zhu Yunxi immediately said again, "Grandpa, whenever local officials and gentry get official positions, there are always countless people who turn to avoid paying taxes.
And these gentry clan have a lot of money and food in their families, and they will buy up land in large quantities every time of disaster.
One is ebbing and the other is ebbing, so where can the court get enough tax revenue in the future? In the end, the people will only become poorer and poorer, and only the officials and gentry will be fat. "
