Chapter 179: The official and the gentry become one
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. p>
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 out of blaming anger because God would bring 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 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! Everyone deserves to be killed!"
Zhu Yunxi looked at Jiang Gu, who came to report the snow disaster and Japanese invasion of Zhejiang Province, and said in a deep voice, "Grandpa, the court still needs to know the details of Zhejiang Province. At this time, it is freezing and snowy, and the people have destroyed their homes and holes, and the imperial court must also supervise Zhejiang."
To provide disaster relief, rescue the people, and stabilize the place."
Logically speaking, it is impossible for snow disasters to happen on Zhejiang Road.
Even though it is colder in Jiangnan, its geographical location will not cause snow disasters.
But Zhu Yunxi knew very well that all this was just because the Ming Dynasty was unlucky to be in a stage of great climate change in the world.
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 Station to go to Ningbo Prefecture to eliminate the Japanese invasion. He also issued a message 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 back to his senses, quickly took over his father's action, and got a cup of tea for him.
"Grandpa, drink your tea slowly."
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, picked up the tea and drank it in one gulp.
Zhu Biao clasped his hands and sat aside, "Zhejiang snow disaster has never been experienced by the local government. Who would have thought that Zhili had never reported the disaster situation, but Zhejiang was hit by a snow disaster. If we didn't notice it for a while, we still have to clear it up first."
The most important thing for Japanese people 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 the Ming Dynasty wanted to kill people, but in the face of disaster and civil unrest, he had no choice but to do so.
Killing 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 the people planted mulberry and raised silkworms and took up a lot of it. 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 and harmed 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 has never paid much attention to the affairs of merchants. In order to promote local stability and development, the taxes on merchants are also set at extremely low levels. In the case of unfavorable supervision, merchants and gentry have many means to avoid it.
The court collects 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 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 snowstorm civil uprising in Zhejiang Province, coupled with the fake Japanese rebellion, may be a rare opportunity for the imperial court."
Zhu Biao coughed lightly and said, "If you have something to say, just say it. It's hard to hide it and keep it under wraps."
Zhu Yunxi immediately said, "Divide the land into acres, pay the grain to the officials and gentry together, and strictly check the commercial and tax collection! My grandson has often thought about it recently and has some immature ideas. Looking at the current situation in Zhejiang Province, it is the most appropriate."
When he spoke, even though 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. p>
The imperial court might as well try it out in Zhejiang Province. The imperial court would inventory the acres of land, set rules based on the number of acres, and collect taxes. It could also divide the levels according to the number of acres, with those with fewer acres paying less and those with more acres paying more.
But now that disaster relief in Zhejiang Province is not going well, the imperial court can take this opportunity to punish the local officials in Zhejiang Province. The common people, officials and gentry, should be treated as one without distinction between each other, and should pay a tax of dingyin. This is to divide the grain into an acre, and the officials and gentry will pay the grain as one." After observing the reaction of the old man and his father, Zhu Yunxi continued, "Moreover, 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 now on, Zhejiang Province 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-dressed 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 never let go of his frown, looking 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.
Since the beginning of scholarly education, these people have been gradually given tax exemptions and exemptions. They also have invisible privileges such as refusing to worship officials, allowing 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, so they will buy up land in large quantities every time of disaster.
As one goes and the other goes, how can the court generate 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."