Upon hearing the emperor's direct inquiry again, both Zhang Pu and Wu Changshi couldn't help but be humble and naturally hinted that this was indeed the case!
Emperor Chongzhen seemed even happier after hearing this, and praised the two of them again, saying that they were really models for all officials. He was relieved to have officials like them teaching the prince.
Anyway, they talked a lot, all about the reputations that Zhang Pu and Wu Changshi had deliberately cultivated. This just scratched their itch, not to mention that the person speaking was the current emperor. In addition to their original worries, they did not find out at all that the emperor did not mention that they were suspected of forming a party or manipulating the imperial examination. Therefore, both Zhang Pu and Wu Changshi became excited, and slowly, they became less excited. He was reserved and talked more.
"Your Majesty, I have been studying the books of sages since I was a child, thinking that one day I would relieve the country's worries and benefit the people. This is what scholars of our generation should do, and it is really normal!" Zhang Pu showed a serious look on his face and asked Emperor Chongzhen said.
Wu Changshi didn't expect that Zhang Pu would take over what he had in mind, so he couldn't help but feel a little depressed. In fact, he has been unhappy with Zhang Pu for a long time!
Speaking of which, he formed the Fushe together with Zhang Pu, Zhang Cai and others, and was one of the original eleven people; however, the world only knew Zhang Pu and Zhang Cai, and his reputation during the Wuchang period was far less than that of Zhang Pu and Zhang Cai. Zhang Cai was loud. What dissatisfied him most was that the power to restore society was in the hands of Zhang Pu, which made him even more indignant.
Now that the imperial prelude was right and the emperor was boasting, but Zhang Pu took the lead again, the dissatisfaction accumulated in his heart became even greater.
Of course, he also knew the occasion. This was in front of the emperor. In order to show his broad mind, of course he couldn't say anything against Zhang Pu. Therefore, he also hurriedly reported to Emperor Chongzhen: "When I was young, I was determined to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country, to dedicate myself to the emperor, and to die without hesitation!"
When Emperor Chongzhen heard their words, he seemed to say with emotion: "If there were more officials like Qing and others, the situation in Ming Dynasty would not be so serious!"
Hearing this, Wu Changshi took the lead and asked this time: "Your Majesty has annihilated the Hetao Tartars and surrounded and suppressed all the bandits. Thanks to your Majesty's efforts, the situation is already very good!"
The implication is, Your Majesty, you are humble, and this is all your fault! This is considered a flattery, given away.
This time, Zhang Pu maintained his identity and didn't say much, just echoed.
After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen stopped smiling, shook his head and sighed, and then asked Lan Tianbao to pass a stack of memorials on the imperial case to the two of them. At the same time, he said with a little worry: "I am not just talking, please wait. The two of you can take a look first. The disasters in various places are serious and they are all waiting for the imperial court to provide disaster relief!"
After finishing speaking, he saw Zhang Pu and Wu Changshi reading the memorial, and he said again: "Although I have wiped out the bandits, if the root of the disaster is not gone, there will definitely be new bandits in the future. With your talents and knowledge, You should know what the evil I am referring to is, right?"
While the two of them were reading the memorial, they were naturally also paying attention to the movements of Emperor Chongzhen. Therefore, as soon as Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, Zhang Pu and Wu Changshi said to each other almost at the same time: "Famine!"
"Yes, famine!" Emperor Chongzhen nodded and said with a slightly sad face, "There are floods in the south and drought in the north. We all need disaster relief, but the court cannot spend so much money and food for disaster relief! Sometimes, I think... …”
At this point, he glanced at the two people below and said in a stern tone: "It's better to find some rich households to confiscate their homes. In this way, the imperial court will be able to provide disaster relief if it has money!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Pu and Wu Changshi were immediately startled and shouted in unison: "Your Majesty, you must not do this!"
After they finished speaking, the two looked at each other and involuntarily shut up.
When Emperor Chongzhen saw it, he immediately asked: "The money and food confiscated from the previous major rebellion have been almost used, but the two of you must have seen the disasters in various places. Where did this money and food come from?"
What if he asked how to deal with disasters in various places? Then these two people will definitely say tax exemption. However, this was not the answer he wanted, so he directly asked where the disaster relief money and food came from?
Relatively speaking, between Wu Changshi and Zhang Pu, Zhang Pu wanted the city to be deeper. Therefore, when he heard the emperor's question, he wanted to answer that the princes in the court could make their own judgment on this matter.
But Wu Changshi beside him, without thinking, immediately said: "Your Majesty, the court has its own laws. If taxes are collected, or more taxes are distributed, there will naturally be money and food for disaster relief."
This Wu Changshi was really on the right track, Emperor Chongzhen thought, and said: "This is easy to say, but it is difficult to do it seriously! You two dear friends, are you willing to share my worries and relieve the people's difficulties? ?”
He had praised both of them fiercely before, and both of them responded. The most important thing is that this was in front of the emperor. The emperor asked them if they were willing to share the emperor's worries. Which minister dared to say that they did not want to share the emperor's worries?
Therefore, the two of them responded regardless of what they thought. At the same time, they also felt that this was probably the real purpose of the emperor summoning the two of them.
In fact, they did not resist this. They were doing things for the emperor, and this kind of thing was originally done by the princes in the court, which showed that the emperor valued them both, and maybe they would be promoted because of it.
Prior to this, they had actually seen Emperor Chongzhen promote many individuals to become feudal officials, and even Song Yingxing and others wrote a mere miscellaneous book about it, and the emperor specially gave him a new title. Got to the Yamen. It is impossible to say that they are indifferent to this situation.
The two of them were originally Jinshi, and now they are just passing the qualifications. The best job is to teach the prince. If one day in the future, the prince ascends the throne and becomes emperor, they will definitely be reused. But the key problem is that the prince is still young, and the emperor is so young. I don’t know how long it will take to wait for the day when the prince ascends the throne as emperor!
Therefore, now that the emperor seems to be giving him a chance, the two of them are still looking forward to it. If I feel that I can do it well, I will definitely be promoted.
When Emperor Chongzhen saw that both of them had expressed their opinions, he asked his personal chamberlain Lan Tianbao to take several other memorials from the imperial case and show them to them.
Zhang Pu and Wu Changshi were a little confused. They didn't know what kind of memorial this was. When they opened it and browsed it for a while, their expressions suddenly changed, and they seemed to be a little scared.
It turned out that the contents written in these memorials were the tax arrears of various counties over the years, as well as the tax payment registration of officials in various places.
The reason why the two of them were scared after seeing it was because they guessed what Emperor Chongzhen wanted them to do.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, tax arrears were already very common in various places.
If ordinary people default on their debts, the local officials will show no mercy and will probably arrest, whip, or even kill them. According to historical records, many ordinary people in Shandong and Shaanxi committed suicide after failing to pay taxes on the deadline.
But these are actually only a small part of the tax arrears. Most of the tax arrears are actually from wealthy households. If they had money, they would donate their lives to avoid possible corporal punishment and arrest by local magistrates. For these people, local officials can only report them, but reporting them cannot actually solve the problem. Moreover, if the local officials report too many reports, they will appear incompetent, which in turn forces the local officials not to report too many reports. In this way, wealthy households are the main force in tax arrears.
These wealthy households who default on their taxes are actually very cunning. First, they have power, and second, they don’t really get paid a penny, they just pay a small part, and then they rely on it, year after year, for several years. The court sees this accumulation. Tax arrears will become a difficulty in the latest tax collection, and the only option is to forgive taxes that have been in arrears for many years.
In addition, according to custom, when a prince is born, a crown prince is established, or a new emperor ascends the throne and other universal celebrations, tax arrears are often required to be forgiven. As long as it gets to this point, the tax arrears can often be waived.
This kind of thing is actually a vicious circle, which encourages those who default on paying taxes. As for those who pay taxes normally, they can ignore it at first sight, and paying taxes normally has no benefit, so they will naturally follow suit.
Therefore, the amount of tax arrears in this memorial that Emperor Chongzhen showed them can be said to be shocking.
Another type of memorial is the record of taxes paid by officials.
In the Ming Dynasty, officials were never fully tax-free. It does not mean that as long as you win the election, you will no longer have to pay taxes or perform labor service.
The laws of the Ming Dynasty stipulate that officials and gentry can indeed be exempted from certain corvee services. This point has been in existence since the early Ming Dynasty.
In the early Ming Dynasty, it was stipulated that in addition to taxes and grains and regular servants in Lijia, the officials in the capital were exempted from miscellaneous servants, and the foreign officials were reduced according to their grades. Later, with the continuous efforts of these officials and gentry, this regulation was changed to give preferential exemptions for Ding, grain or Ding fields according to grade quotas.
For example, during the Zhengde period, the rule was that officials of the third rank and above were exempted from four hectares of farmland, those above the fifth rank were exempted from three hectares of farmland, those above the seventh rank were exempted from two hectares of farmland, and those above the ninth rank were exempted from one hectare of farmland, and the number of foreign officials decreased in descending order.
This regulation is actually nothing in the north, but it would be much more in the south where the land output is more.
However, the people's hearts were not satisfied, and the officials and gentry were not satisfied, so they continued to work hard. During the Jiajing period, they persuaded the emperor several times to modify this exemption.
By the 24th year of Jiajing, the first-rank officials in the capital were exempted from grain for 30 shi, and the population was 30 ding; the second-rank officials were exempted from grain for 24 shi, and the population was 24 ding; the following decreases gradually, until the ninth rank is exempted from grain. Six stones, six people; foreign officials are reduced by half.
During the Wanli period, it was changed again, from "exemption of grain based on product" to "exemption of land based on product". The preferential and exemption content has been changed from Liang and Ding to Tian and Ding, and Tian and Ding can be interchanged.
This back-and-forth change can be seen as a change brought about by the ebb and flow of official power in the north and south, because there is a big difference between food exemption and land exemption between the north and the south.
The rule of the 14th year of Wanli was extended to the Chongzhen Dynasty, that is, the first-rank officials in the capital were exempted from 10,000 acres of land, the second-rank officials were exempted from 8,000 acres, and the following were reduced gradually, to the eighth-rank officials who were exempted from 2,700 acres of land; the foreign officials were reduced by half. Those who are not in the official position are exempted from 1,200 acres of land, those who are tribute students are exempted from 400 acres of land, and those who are supervisors and students are exempted from 80 acres of land. Those officials and gentry who retire and return to their hometowns are exempted from six-tenths of the land according to their rank.
It can be seen that for more than two hundred years in the Ming Dynasty, officials and gentry have been working hard for their own privileges.
For example, in the thirty-eighth year of Wanli, compared with the sixteenth year of Zhengde, the amount of land with preferential exemptions for first-rank imperial officials increased twenty-five times; the amount of preferential and exempted land for eighth-rank imperial officials increased by twenty-seven times; In the fourteenth year since then, the amount of preferential and exempted land for foreign officials in Jiake and Beijing has increased tenfold, and the amount of preferential and exempted land for officials who have retired and returned to their hometowns has increased sixfold;
Logically speaking, with so many privileges and exemptions for officials and gentry, they are all descendants of saints, so they should be content, right?
But the fact is that although the law stipulates that the line between officials and gentry is already quite generous, 10 out of 10 literati and bureaucrats obey and 10 out of 10 violate the law. For most officials and gentry, they can be exempted as much as they can, and it is best that all of them can be exempted. Lose.
There are many representatives who have this idea, and the famous one is Xu Jie, the chief minister of the Jiajing Dynasty. He seems to be the representative of upright officials and the leader of the clean stream; however, he is actually an extremely big landlord. When encountering someone who abuses the power of preferential exemptions, he asks the local magistrate to "mediate appropriately", which is meaningless. On the surface, it turns a blind eye and turns a blind eye. It can be seen that in fact, it is the butt that determines everything.
During the Wanli period, Gan Shijie, the inspector of Nanzhili, proposed a quota for the exemption of officials and gentry. Lu Shusheng, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, immediately strongly opposed it and even told lies. Limitations too”. This kind of thing can be said outright, so it can be seen that in order to get a full exemption, there is no shame at all.
In fact, by the Wanli period, land annexation was serious, and the officials and gentry wanted to be exempted from all taxes. They could not collect taxes, and all the taxes fell on ordinary people. Therefore, the civil unrest had reached the point where it was necessary to rectify the exemption of officials and gentry. If it is not rectified, just like in history, the Ming Dynasty will go bankrupt.
Therefore, some officials proposed that the privileges and exemptions between officials and gentry should be strictly in accordance with the law. Among them, Gan Shijia was one. Although he was opposed because he was a patrol representative representing the emperor, it was okay, but he was sprayed. saliva. As for the local officials, they were not so lucky.
In the 29th year of Wanli's reign, Zhu Guozhen, the magistrate of Wucheng County, Huzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, saw the disadvantages of the uneven distribution of land between officials and gentry who were exempted from military service and could sit comfortably while villagers joined the army. In addition, one must serve. The people welcomed this very much, and even had big letters with the four characters "Equalizing land for the convenience of the people" posted everywhere to express their support.
However, the final result was that the officials and gentry families united, entangled more than a thousand servants, and broke into the government office directly to capture Zhu Guozhen and burn down Zhu's house.
There are also the famous people in history, Shen Shixing, Qian Longxi and others, who also used various reasons to oppose the equalization of land and labor in addition to preferential exemptions.
In addition, Ming law stipulates that after the death of officials and gentry, they can continue to enjoy exemptions and exemptions for three years; however, the reality is that exemptions and exemptions often continue after three years. It is not too difficult for them to spit out the benefits they have gained. .
From this, after more than two hundred years of accumulation, by the time of the Chongzhen Dynasty, only the shortcomings in this aspect could be understood; therefore, the content of this memorial frightened Zhang Pu and Wu Changshi.
