"Your Majesty, I haven't heard anything about it through the grapevine. It's just that people are talking about it very lively!"
Zhou Yuji seemed to have thought of something, with a smile on his lips.
"But the most talked about thing is the edict of amnesty for the whole world, especially the heinous crimes, corruption, bribery, tax evasion, etc. that are not within the scope of the amnesty. Many people can't figure it out and are protesting."
"What do you think?"
"Your Majesty, the heinous crimes should not be pardoned. This has been a serious crime since ancient times. If the crime of murder can be pardoned, then the average amnesty once every two or three years will only encourage this arrogance.
Corruption, bribery, and bribery. I just want to say one thing. Without bribery, bribery will naturally not exist. Naturally, there will be no transactions of power, wealth, and sex. If the administration of officials is clear, officials will be able to do their jobs with all their heart.
And tax evasion is even more shameful and deserves to be killed.
The treasury is empty, military pay cannot be issued, the military is unstable, and the strength of the nine sides is weakened. If the border defense is unstable, how can the Ming Dynasty be internally stable?
Although many generals in Jiubian and various military stations should be cut off in half, this is not a reason for tax evasion! "
Zhou Yuji's response made Chongzhen take another look, it simply spoke to his heart.
Tax evasion is far more hateful than corruption and bribery.
He could understand the people's tax evasion. After all, Mr. Tian's harvest was low and the rent was high, so it was not easy to support his family.
But businessmen have made so much money and yet they still evade taxes. This is simply unforgivable.
The scope of this amnesty is to shake the mountain and shake the tiger, and say hello to them.
As for corruption and bribery, there have been laws against corruption and bribery in all dynasties, but active bribery is the root cause.
After this period of work is over, the Ming Dynasty Law will have to be revised.
"Okay, you go down and rest first, then notify Li Ruolian to interrogate Kong Yanxiang!"
"I resign!"
Zhou Yuji bowed and exited Dongnuan Pavilion. Chongzhen was holding a cup of tea.
He left Dongnuang Pavilion with his hands behind his back and looked outside the palace, as if he was listening to the discussions of the people from all over the Ming Dynasty on the three edicts of war report, amnesty, and the abolition of the secular service system of Qufu County Magistrate.
At this moment, all parts of the Ming Dynasty, except for remote Yunnan, northwest Shaanxi, Guangxi, Guizhou and other provinces, have received three expedited edicts of four hundred miles.
Once the edict was posted, there was an explosion everywhere.
The battle report showed the battle damage data between the Ming army and the Jiannu army, as well as the high-ranking officials who died in the battle of the Jiannu coalition forces, which made them look shocked, happy, and relieved.
He felt angry and resentful towards the generals who surrendered to the Ming army.
I was surprised, gratified, and happy about the imperial court's handling of silver rewards, rewards, pensions, large tombs, and memorial towers.
If the imperial court can issue an edict, it is basically unlikely to be false, because there are too many merchants traveling from north to south, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers participating in the war.
Once the lie was exposed, the people of Ming Dynasty completely lost trust in the court, which was not worth the loss.
"Most of the top officials of Jiannu are almost dead. Why not take the opportunity to lead the army to kill them and regain Shenyang and Liaoyang?"
"I'm afraid you're not a fool. This is the home field advantage of the Ming Dynasty. The Jiannu cavalry was unable to give full play to its maximum advantage to achieve victory. Going to Shenyang, can it hold back tens of thousands of Jiannu cavalry?
Of course you want to mobilize 500,000 troops to exchange for lives, pretend I didn’t say that, but I dare say you will be scolded to death by the people! "
"Looking at it this way, it will be just around the corner to establish slaves and conquer Shenyang!"
"It is said that the emperor copied the locust rewards from Wei Dang, Jin Wang, Dai Wang, and the Eight Great Locusts, which exceeded hundreds of millions of taels of silver. The reward for killing a slave was twenty taels, and the pension was only three years of silver. How stingy!"
"You won't feel bad if I don't spend your money, right? People's hearts are not as good as snakes swallowing elephants!"
…
"There will be no amnesty for the heinous crimes, there will be no amnesty for corruption and bribery, and there will be no amnesty for tax evasion. What kind of amnesty is this?"
"You say that our new emperor is generous even if you say he is generous, and he is generous even if you say he is rewarded with silver coins and pensions, and he is stingy even if you say he is stingy. This pardon is too narrow!"
"Hmph, some pardons are good, but in my opinion they shouldn't be pardoned. Since you have violated the laws of the Ming Dynasty, you must bear the consequences!"
"Yes, once there is a first time, there will be a second time. Will you continue to cause trouble to the village after being released?"
…
The people in every county are talking about it, because this kind of thing is far away from them, and they only see the surface.
But they can't clearly see the meaning behind the battle report, the amnesty, and the Confucius incident.
Ordinary people can't understand it, but there are many smart people among officials, gentry and wealthy businessmen.
As night fell, several people gathered in a mansion in Suzhou City.
These people may be fat or thin, tall or short, but they have one thing in common, that is, their clothes are made of luxurious fabrics and are jeweled.
The objects on the fingers, wrists, and waist are all of high quality, and any one of them can be sold for dozens of taels of silver.
The expressions on everyone's faces at this moment were different, but the atmosphere in the lobby was a bit depressing.
After a while, the middle-aged man in the first seat said in a deep voice: "Everyone, we are all acquaintances, people on the same boat. What do you think of these three edicts?"
"Corruption and bribery are easy to say. The Ming Dynasty Law does not stipulate bribery. But does the content of this edict say that it will be done in the future... Will you also be caught if you give gifts to officials?"
"The possibility is very high. As long as we don't pay bribes, there will be much less corruption and bribery, but this is driving us to death.
Officials ask us for bribes. If we give them, it is a bribe. If the officials are liquidated in the future, we will be arrested.
If you don't give it, you will offend the officials. The county officials are not as good as taking charge now. If they often mess with us, we will suffer. "
"I don't think we need to worry about this. Since bribery is not allowed, bribery will definitely be severely punished. Officials will probably restrain themselves and we will be better off.
Rather than accepting and giving bribes, I am more concerned about tax evasion and tax evasion. The purpose of this edict is obvious, it is to beat us and warn us not to evade taxes! "
"In my opinion, it's more than just beating. Since the emperor has carried out reforms to return the land to the people, he may have to reform taxation in the future!"
"Pretty much, I think this is testing our attitude. If we don't object, we may start reforming next year. If we object and things get serious, it will be a few years later."
"Maybe, this battle report shows that the emperor has a strong army in his hands. If we object, will we let the Jin Yiwei frame us and kill a few to scare the monkeys?"
…
Everyone expressed their opinions one after another. The more they analyzed it, the more frightened they became and their expressions became uglier.
Although the commercial tax is not high, only one tax per thirty, the various miscellaneous donations and temporarily added tax items based on the commercial tax are the bulk of the tax revenue, as well as the accumulated customs duties.
As the distance increased, the accumulated tariffs became a heavy burden for merchants.
If all were counted, it would account for at least 30% of their profits. How could they hand back the money they received?
"Everyone, the imperial court is sending out a signal to test us. Whether we surrender or not, we will all face impact.
The emperor controls a certain amount of military power, and this matter is no longer something we can fight against! "
"We know this, now let's find a way to crack it!"
