Song Xuan's words determined the life and death of more than a dozen officials.
What surprised Zhu Yuanzhang was that no one in the entire hall, whether civil or military officials, spoke up about the commander-in-chief's decision.
Let alone oppose it, no one even came out to persuade me.
You must know that under the command of Guo Zixing, even if Guo Zixing, as the commander-in-chief, wanted to kill people, other officials and generals would definitely speak up and make peace with him, turning the big matter into a trivial one.
This was the first time he had seen a situation like Song Xuan's, where he had absolute authority.
After deciding the life and death of more than a dozen officials, Song Xuan said calmly: "As for their family properties, they were directly confiscated and put into the treasury. Their families were demoted to slaves and taken to open up wasteland!"
Lao Liu nodded repeatedly.
Li Shanchang was even more ashamed and said: "It's because the ministers are not strict in their governance and they disappoint the lord!"
Song Xuan waved his hand, "As the stall gets bigger, there will always be some moths coming out. This is normal, just catch them out and clean them up.
Government administration has been a big problem since ancient times. This is not something that can be solved overnight. Mr. Li does not need to blame himself."
As he spoke, he looked at Liu Bowen and said, "Mr. Liu, is the taxation in Zhejiang still going well?"
Liu Bowen smiled and said: "Where will the firecrackers of the Taxation Department stop? No matter how stingy a businessman is, he will only pay taxes honestly. Don't worry, my lord!"
"By the way, my lord, there are a lot of good things from the big families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. During the tax collection period, I looked for some ointments to remove scars among the people and tried them with some soldiers. The effect was very good. After using it several times, I
, the scars are almost invisible.”
Song Xuan said with satisfaction: "Sir, you are serious!"
When Li Shanchang saw this, he couldn't help feeling a little upset.
During this period of time, I was busy with government affairs, but I forgot about this matter. This was a favor from the future queen, and it fell into the hands of Liu Bowen for nothing. What a pity!
"By the way, there is something that you all need to discuss."
As he spoke, Song Xuan took a stack of folds from the table on one side and said: "These memorials are all requested by Shangshu to abolish commercial taxes.
What do you think about what it means to be a businessman and about competing for profits from the people?"
Li Shanchang was a little hesitant. As his lord's territory grew larger and larger, many officials in the Ministry of Internal Affairs came from the gentry class. Naturally, he was not surprised when those people proposed the abolition of commercial taxes.
After all, among the gentry, which family does not have a huge industry?
The business tax set by the Lord is one in five based on the revenue amount. This tax is not too heavy.
Although he is the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he still has to consider the wishes of his subordinates. Even if he wants to object, he would not be the first to speak up.
Song Xuan's eyes swept over him, and he had a more accurate understanding of Li Shanchang's temperament.
This person's ability to handle government affairs is good, but he still lacks some courage in doing things.
Liu Bowen, on the other hand, although he was from a noble family, he was not merciless at all when it came to those so-called gentry, and he dared to speak out at critical moments.
"My lord, Wei Chen believes that those who propose the abolition of commercial taxes are either stupid or bad! You all know how wealthy the merchants in Jiangnan are.
Our Jinling regime can raise hundreds of thousands of troops, build firearms and cast warships, and even continuously host refugees to reclaim wasteland. It also has plenty of money and food, the main source of which is commercial taxes!
The common people are working hard and only have a few dollars to farm. Those who say that commercial taxes should be abolished and agricultural taxes should be abolished, every one of them should be killed!"
Song Xuan smiled and said, "Mr. Liu, your words have offended all those businessmen and gentry to death!"
Liu Bowen said indifferently: "As long as it is beneficial to the people, it doesn't matter if it offends you?"
Song Xuan hummed, looked at Zhu Yuanzhang who looked thoughtful, and said, "General Zhu, what do you think?"
The sound of General Zhu immediately made Zhu Yuanzhang's heart skip a beat. He knew that the real test had begun.
If they answered well, their brothers would be considered as generals.
"Commander, I am a military man and I don't understand the principles of running a country. I don't know how much business tax I should collect. I don't know how much.
I was born a farmer, and my parents and brothers and sisters all starved to death, so I had no choice but to become a monk. Later, there was no food in the temple, so I had no choice but to go out to beg, and by chance I joined the rebel army.
We brothers don't have much potential. Our biggest wish since we were young is to have big cakes for every meal and never go hungry.
For those of us warriors who came from farmers, we really don’t care whether we collect commercial taxes or not. What we care about is how much tax farmers have to pay after working for a year, and whether the food at home can feed the family after paying the taxes.
In our eyes, as long as we don't starve to death, we are prosperous.
If you can still have enough money to buy some clothes for your family and a book for your children while having enough to eat, then this is truly a treatment that only the people of the Heavenly Kingdom can have!"
When he said this, his voice even choked with sobs, "On the way here, I saw that the government was in charge of food, housing, housing, encouraging land reclamation, and even allocating land.
How great would it be if our family could meet a good official like you, Marshal, back then?
As long as there is a way to survive, who is willing to take the risk of killing the nine tribes and raise an army to rebel?"
There was no profound truth in what he said, but he said it very sincerely. After hearing this, the civil and military officials in the hall were silent for a while.
Some of them are from grass-roots backgrounds, and some are from noble families, but to be honest, as long as they are literate and knowledgeable, even if their families are poor, they will definitely not be in trouble to the point of starving to death.
There is almost no one who can truly empathize with farmers as Zhu Yuanzhang does!
Even if the lord Song Xuan raised an army to conquer the world, his biggest motivation was just to restore the glory of the Han family, and did not want this great country to fall into the hands of the Tatars.
After a while, Song Xuan smiled and said: "Very good, this handsome man really needs an official who understands the sufferings of the people and speaks from the perspective of farmers."
When he said this, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a little embarrassed and smiled awkwardly.
At this moment, he felt a little upset.
Damn it, I accidentally said too much. Does this young Marshal Song think that I have the ability to govern the country and wants me to become a civil servant?
Our Lao Zhu is really not that material!
"Okay, the commercial tax issue has been discussed here for the time being. Those who propose to abolish the commercial tax will be dismissed directly! Those who propose to reduce the commercial tax will be fined for half a year to see the consequences.
Mr. Liu, please write down these lists and see which families they come from. The taxes of these families will be increased by 10% in the coming year!"
Liu Bowen immediately stood up and accepted the order.
Song Xuan looked around and said: "I'm easy to talk to, and I don't want to kill too much under normal circumstances, but the premise is that a person must be self-aware.
This time they came to test the situation. I won’t kill anyone. If the next time happens, they will let the guards in green clothes come to talk to them!
Mr. Liu can clearly tell them this when collecting taxes!"