What made Shen Shixing restless was not that Gao Pragmatic was qualified enough for Wei Xuezeng to come forward to help him - although this in itself was also a very representative thing.
Who is Wei Xuezeng? During the Longqing period, Gao Gong returned to the dynasty and served as his second assistant and also in charge of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. At that time, Wei Xuezeng was already the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and was Gao Gong's actual "first assistant".
In other words, he is of the same generation as Gao Gong. It's just that his official career was not very good at all. If it had developed normally at that time, he actually had a good chance of joining the cabinet before Xu Guo. Who knew... Ding You was worried.
After returning to the dynasty for a few years, I also experienced things such as being highly pragmatic and becoming the number one scholar. I thought it was time to join the cabinet this time, but not only did I not join the cabinet, but I was worried again, which finally led to the current situation.
When he was about to return to the court after Ding You, Yanjing was full of people, and Zhang Siwei really couldn't get him back to Yanjing (he was too senior to be demoted to the rank of minister). In desperation, he had no choice but to let him go to Nanjing to serve as the Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing first, and then be transferred back to the north when the capital was vacant.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Siwei was worried next.
In any case, Wei Xuezeng's status within the Practical School is quite special. Even if he is not one of the three elders of the Practical School, his status within the Practical School is definitely not weaker than that of Xu Guo, Zhang Xueyan and Wu Dui.
Gao Pragmatic's ability to ask Wei Xuezeng to stand up for him and do things for him is enough to show that he has completely controlled the political resources left to him by the three chief ministers Gao Gong, Guo Pu, and Zhang Siwei.
It can be said that with the advancement of Wei Xuezeng, Shen Shixing's plan of "weighing the weight of Gao pragmatism" has been completed. He already knows Gao pragmatism's strength and knows that his actual status within the Shi school will not be weaker than that of Xu Guo. leader of the party.
But for Gao Wuchen's current strength, Shen Shixing was mentally prepared at least. Although it would make him sigh when it was really in front of him, he would not feel frightened.
What made him frightened to the point of restlessness was Wei Xuezeng's pointed finger.
At first glance, this memorial seemed to be about impeaching Pan Sheng, but Shen Shixing keenly discovered that that was not the focus of Wei Xuezeng. Wei Xuezeng actually just impeached Pan Sheng by the way. What he really wanted to do was to re-draw tax rates in Yingtian and Zhejiang.
The tax rate of the Ming Dynasty was basically set during the period of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. It was not unified across the country like the tax rates of later generations. Instead, it was one tax per place, based on the economic development level of various places at the time of the founding of the country. Subsequent adjustments were very small.
Theoretically, with the development of social economy, this fixed tax system will definitely gradually accumulate more and more problems. In this case, more adjustments should be made so that the tax rate is always in line with the actual level and affordability of each place. If some areas are developing rapidly, the tax rate can be slightly increased; if some areas are developing slowly, the tax rate should be slightly lowered.
But given the consistent rigidity of the Ming court on financial issues, this idea was obviously a dream. What is it in simple terms? No matter which place your court wants to raise the tax rate, there will definitely be a lot of people in the local area (this county, this government, this chief envoy) crying out for poverty. Only when the court says it wants to reduce taxes, exempt taxes, etc., will it Hear the voices singing praises.
This is one of the reasons why the Ming Dynasty collected less and less taxes.
And specifically in Yingtian, Zhejiang and other places, raising tax rates is a taboo topic that no one dared to touch in the past.
Why? Because although these areas have the most developed economies, they also produce the most officials. The big bosses in power in the court grab a lot of them. Do you want to raise the tax rate in their hometown? You have eaten the courage of a bear and a leopard!
Even if the imperial court created the Northern and Southern Imperial Examination Rankings to balance the regional issue of official selection, the situation would not change much, because the southeastern officials relied on the most economically powerful regions in the country, and the big businessmen in the region wanted to ensure their own success. As long as their interests are not harmed, they will secretly fund and support the "development" of local officials. This issue has been discussed previously and will not be discussed in detail here.
So this has led to some very bad results: everyone's origins are already different (the southern list looks down on the northern list, unless you are Sandingjia), and now the additional support received by the two sides is not equal, of course It is easier for those who are Jinshi in the South Ranking List to get ahead.
So in this way, two hundred years have passed. Although the southeastern region is richest in the world, its tax rate has never been raised. On the contrary, some areas have even lowered it.
However, this "good situation" finally became a little looser after Gao Gong promoted the commercial tax reform.
The first is the issue of tariff collection. Gao Gong presided over the opening of the sea in Longqing. At first, he did not dare to launch a big project. He only conducted a pilot project in Yuegang and used the opening of the sea in exchange for collecting tariffs. In the past, the local people still went to sea, but after all, it was illegal to say so. Gao Gong's plan to open the sea is actually to collect a sum of money in exchange for their right to legally go to sea for business.
It has been said before that the tax rate for this tariff was not only set very low, but also pragmatically took into account the issue of "social pressure" and suggested to Gao Gong a method of taxing on a per-ship basis rather than on a per-cargo basis. This method actually secretly gives ship owners room to legally avoid taxes. The purpose is also to prevent the customs agency from being destroyed and wiped out by the coastal merchants who united during the initial stage.
The road must be walked step by step, and the meal must be eaten one bite at a time. Gao Gong then slowly expanded the "plate" on this basis. At the beginning, there was only one Yuegang with a relatively average location advantage and a small port, and gradually developed into a long list of ports now.
Guo Pu was in charge of a stable government, and he and Gao Gong were in a state of Xiao Gong and Cao Sui. He did not take any other pioneering measures and only continued to expand the number of ports.
But when it came to Zhang Siwei, last time he took advantage of the situation and reached a deal with the Xin School to collect commercial taxes in the southeastern coastal areas - this was on land, not tariffs. The tax rate for this commercial tax is still set at an extremely low level, averaging only 130 (three percent).
However, just this 3% commercial tax has caused a lot of complaints in the southeast. Of course, there is no need to elaborate on the specific people who are complaining. This is something everyone knows.
That incident put a lot of pressure on Shen Shixing, Yu Youding and others. Later, the reason why Yu Youding supported Liu Shouyou's actions was that in addition to the inherent tendency of the two factions to fight against each other, the southeast side The pressure brought to him is also a very important factor.
Similarly, Shen Shixing did not explicitly object to this matter, but chose to acquiesce, precisely because he knew these inside stories.
It can be seen that as long as the imperial court considers levying additional taxes on the southeast coast, no matter what method and name it is used, it will eventually lead to a backlash. The first people affected by this backlash were officials of southeastern origin such as Shen Shixing and Yu Youding.
They are the agents of these people in the court, and of course they have to step forward to protect the interests of their "owners" at this time.
It is not without reason that the level of commercial development along the southeast coast was called the "germination of capitalism" in later generations. This kind of Jin-Yuan politics itself can be regarded as one of the characteristics of capitalism.
This time Wei Xuezeng's policy was focused on the tax rate issue in the southeast. Moreover, Wei Xuezeng was extremely courageous. He was not a pilot like Gao Gong when he opened the sea, and he deliberately set tax laws with loopholes to exploit, nor was he like Zhang Siwei who achieved his goals through political transactions.
He actually planned to use this Pan Sheng incident as an opportunity to directly attack Tian Fu in the southeast!
He actually wants to adjust the unreasonable low land tax policy in some areas of the southeast!
Shen Shixing was stunned for a while, his head buzzing, and the noise finally converged into one sentence: Wei Xuezeng, you want to shake things up!
Tian Fu, Tian Fu, do you dare to touch Tian Fu? !
Yes, the richest people in the Southeast are not big landowners but big businessmen, especially large-scale merchants, but... except for Gao Pragmatic, which large-scale merchant in the world does not have a large amount of fertile land?
You want to ask why Dahaishang also has a lot of fertile land? What a joke, there was not a lot of fertile land in the Ming Dynasty, so your social attribute was that of a simple businessman, not a landowner and gentry!
Who doesn’t know the social status of merchants in the Ming Dynasty? If you are not a landowner and gentry, how can you deal with the officialdom?
Do you think that everyone is highly pragmatic, that your family is a practical sect, and that you don’t worry about family status at all?
He is pragmatic and doesn't worry about his family status because his family is originally a high-ranking official, and his uncle is Wen Zhenggong, and he himself is the "true leader in two hundred years" and is the number one scholar in the six titles!
Who are you to compare with him?
Therefore, Wei Xuezeng's move shocked Shen Shixing beyond measure.
But the question is, does Wei Xuezeng dare to make such a big noise by himself? Who is standing behind him? What is the fundamental purpose of doing this?
Judging from the current situation, the person behind Wei Xuezeng is most likely to be highly pragmatic. He is the only one who has the courage to do such a move. Others... Haha, it's not that I, Shen Shixing, underestimated the heroes of the world. This Except for those who are highly pragmatic, no one dares to do this kind of thing, or even mention it!
However, does Gao Pragmatic really want to take this opportunity to adjust the Southeast tax rate? Is he so sure?
He should be very clear that if you start from this aspect, the struggle between the Heart School and their Practical School will have to start in an all-round way, and not only will it start, there will not even be room for reconciliation - all the financial backers behind the scenes will be offended by you. No, I can’t do it if I don’t fight, and I can’t do it if I don’t fight to the death!
Shen Shixing was so anxious that he not only broke out in cold sweat on his forehead, but even the soles of his feet were wet with sweat after a while.
He suddenly felt very regretful. He thought that the Shi School suddenly lost its core this time. The "dual core" between Xu Guo and Gao Pragmatic was bound to be unstable, and there might even be a certain scale of internal fighting. It was him A good time to fish in troubled waters.
Unexpectedly, Xu Guo's name is just empty. Gao Pragmatic seems to be silent at ordinary times. In fact, his position within the Practical School is very stable. Once something goes wrong, he can immediately mobilize resources and concentrate firepower to fight back.
What was even more unexpected was Gao Pragmatic's reaction. This kid was obviously always cautious, but this time he exploded as if he had been fed gunpowder. Even better now, he actually cares about the land tax in the southeast!
Why? Does he know about the Zhejiang Merchants Alliance?
Thinking of the Zhejiang Merchants Alliance's plan to start a war with Gao Jingshi in the Southeast Shopping Mall, Shen Shixing suddenly felt that he had grasped the key - yes, the Zhejiang Merchants Alliance was going to go to war with Jinghua. Gao Jingshi naturally refused to sit back and wait for death, but Gao Jingshi With its foundation in the north, he obviously has no advantage in fighting the Zhejiang Merchants Alliance in the southeast.
In this case, why not use a set of "chaotic punches" to stir up the situation and catch the Zhejiang Merchants Alliance by surprise?
Shen Shixing forced himself to think from a highly pragmatic perspective. If he was highly pragmatic, what was the purpose of this move now?
After thinking for a while, he realized that he had gained something: Let me muddy the water in the southeast and let everyone in the court focus on the tax rate issue in the southeast. By then, Pan Sheng's matter will become a trivial matter, and the Xin School will To ensure that the foundation of Southeast is not bad, there will definitely be no spare time to estimate a mere Pan Sheng. It is very likely that Pan Sheng will be given up by then, and the foundation of Southeast will be preserved first.
In this case, Pan Sheng will undoubtedly die. Wang Xijue will definitely not be able to take over this position of senior minister. When the chaos comes, people with high pragmatic arrangements may take advantage of him. At the same time, the situation in which no one dared to mention the tax rate in the southeast has been broken. Even if this incident is just a high-pragmatic false shot, it does not necessarily have to be really effective, but as long as there is a first, second, and It’s not surprising that it happened the third time or even countless times.
If we continue like this, sooner or later Gao Pragmatic will succeed!
After Shen Shixing thought about this, he felt that his hands and feet were numb, and his mouth was so dry that it was smoking. He didn't care about what he was talking about, so he picked up a cup of cold tea that had been left to cool down and drank it.
