As soon as Liu Jin finished speaking, the British Duke Zhang Mao stood up.
"Hmm~"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly.
"Your Majesty, I am in charge of the Commander-in-Chief of the Five Armies, and I am in charge of military households in the world for Your Majesty. Jiangnan has always been an important place in our Ming Dynasty, so there are also garrison troops."
"As for the so-called public dissatisfaction in southern Zhili and the attack on the tax office, I also know something about it from the troops stationed in various places."
"These so-called public grievances are actually caused by merchants from various parts of southern Zhili who violently resisted taxation. The gentry gathered local clan forces and local ruffians to attack the tax office, beat the court officials, tax agents, and servants. They had no royal laws and blatantly ignored the court laws.
Law, attack the imperial court."
"But the local government in South Zhili is colluding with these lawless people. Not only does it not punish them, it even secretly supports them. The tax office arrests people, but they use various reasons to release them."
"It's not the so-called public grievances at all! It's the local wealthy households, businessmen, and gentry in Nanzhili who used force to resist the imperial taxation, flouted the imperial decrees, and wantonly attacked the imperial offices. They had no king's laws and were audacious. There was no king above and no one below.
Regardless of the life and death of the people in Southern Zhili."
Zhang Mao is a lot older, but his voice is very loud and clear, reaching every corner of the Jinluan Palace.
His words made Gao Yuanlong, Qian Qi and others suddenly change their expressions.
Zhang Mao directly slapped a big label on the wealthy households, businessmen, and gentry in the south of the Yangtze River who were resisting taxes. They despised the court laws, attacked the court offices, and had no laws. This is enough for them.
Everyone should be executed.
The key is that what Zhang Mao said is true.
They knew very well that the so-called things that aroused public dissatisfaction and even attacked the tax office were done by the family behind them in Nanzhili, with the purpose of not paying taxes.
If this matter was such that Emperor Hongzhi sent people to investigate thoroughly, not only would they die without a burial place, but even the families behind them would be implicated. The cheapest option would be to be exiled to Winter City or Golden Continent.
"Your Majesty, this is nonsense, this is nonsense~"
Gao Yuanlong immediately stood up, pointed at Zhang Mao, and said angrily: "The tax yamen imposed excessive taxes, forcibly levied taxes, broke into people's homes, and forcibly deducted people's property. As a result, in the south of the Yangtze River, public dissatisfaction arose, causing people to attack the tax yamen."
"It's not what he said at all. It was some gentry who organized local gangsters to attack the tax office. The gentry is the foundation of Ming Dynasty. They are all people who cultivate and study and inherit the family. How could they do such a thing."
"Yes, Your Majesty, this is slander~"
Qian Qi also quickly stood up and said: "In the past, Jiangnan was the most prosperous place in the Ming Dynasty. There was never any complaint from the people, and there was no talk of people attacking the Yamen."
"The reason why these things are happening now is entirely because the tax yamen imposes excessive taxes and forcibly collects taxes, which arouses public resentment. The root of everything lies in the tax yamen and the new tax system."
"I believe that the tax bureau should be abolished, the current tax system should be abolished, and the policy of light corvee and low tax should be implemented. In this way, all people in the world can benefit, and the public grievances will be eliminated."
Qian Qi, the general below, spoke in a clear and serious manner.
He did not notice at all that Emperor Hongzhi, who was sitting on the dragon throne, had murderous intent flashing in his eyes when he heard him saying that he wanted to abolish the current tax system.
Emperor Hongzhi was a man who had gone through hard times. He had tightened his belt and managed to save millions of taels of money, but he was closely watched by the ministers in the court.
I wanted to do something, but I was told back if I had no money, or else I would just stare at my internal funds and let myself withdraw money from the internal funds.
Is this going to abolish the tax system and go back to the way it was before?
Back to the time when even the palaces were reluctant to repair, back to the time when everyone who wanted to do something every day was told that they had no money, but the gentry and wealthy businessmen in the south of the Yangtze River were so rich that they could spend a lot of money on the banks of the Qinhuai River?
Emperor Hongzhi would never allow him to return to the old days. Is that the life of an emperor?
"Your Majesty, the existing tax system should be abolished, tax bureaus should be abolished, and the policy of light corvee and low tax should be implemented. This is a policy implemented by sages and sages throughout the ages."
After Qian Qi's words fell, soon, Qian Qi's officials who supported Gao Yuanlong came forward one after another and asked Emperor Hongzhi to cancel the current tax policy and return to the past.
"Your Majesty, the imperial court's taxes are collected from the people and used for the people. It is precisely because the imperial court implemented a new tax system and established tax yamen that the imperial court can collect taxes from various places."
"Only when the imperial court has money can it implement major policies that are beneficial to the country, implement immigration, consolidate the border, and alleviate the contradiction between man and land in the Ming Dynasty."
"The construction of a large number of roads, railways, ports, dams and reservoirs has facilitated travel and exchanges across the country, promoted the development of the country, and greatly improved the disaster resistance capabilities of the north and south of the country. This has been the case for three consecutive years.
It’s time to avoid large-scale floods and droughts.”
"All the taxes collected by the imperial court are used on major matters that are truly beneficial to the country and to the people of Ming Dynasty."
"Your Majesty has never spent a penny from the treasury, and the court has never wasted a penny."
"Over the years, the Ming Dynasty has prospered, the sea has clear rivers, and the country is rich and the people are strong. These are all because the court has money and can do some truly meaningful national affairs."
"Before the tax reform was carried out, the Ming Dynasty's national treasury was empty. Your Majesty and the princes in the DPRK were helpless even if they saw the country's internal and external troubles."
"At that time, there were Tatars from the northern grasslands who went south to seize the border every year and plundered our Ming Dynasty. On the southeast coast, there were Japanese pirates rampant, harassing our sea areas and bullying our Ming Dynasty. In the land of Liaodong, the Jurchen Tatars plundered our Liaodong border residents every year.
, the southwestern chieftain is capricious and kills my officials and people."
"Internally, the conflict between man and land is fierce in various parts of the Ming Dynasty. The wealthy households and gentry have thousands of acres of fertile land but do not pay a penny in taxes. The landless poor people work hard all year round, but they can't even eat.
If there is not enough to eat, there will be a natural or man-made disaster, and immediately the ground will be full of hungry people, corpses will be scattered all over the fields, and the sky will be full of wars."
"Look at the present, our country, the Ming Dynasty, is prosperous and the people are strong. We have expanded our territory year after year. Our country, the Ming Dynasty, is dozens of times larger than before. Liaodong, the Western Regions, Hezhong, Nanyun, Nanyun, Huanghuangzhou, Australia, etc. are all
The fertile land has countless good fields and fertile fields, which greatly alleviated the contradiction between man and land in our Ming Dynasty."
"Within the four seas, there are countless vassal states, vassal states, and colonies of our Ming Dynasty. All nations come to court and respect the emperor together. The people of our Ming Dynasty travel together across the four seas, and no one in the world dares to offend them."
"All of this is based on the fact that our Ming Dynasty's treasury has enough tax revenue to support His Majesty's talented and broad strategies, support the good strategies of the princes in the court and the country, and support the expansion of the territory of our Ming Dynasty's brave generals."
"Now, these people are actually criticizing the imperial court's tax policy for their own selfish reasons. This is to destroy the foundation of our Ming Dynasty's prosperity, and it is to make our Ming Dynasty's tens of thousands of people suffer in dire straits, surrounded by wolves."
"I ask your Majesty to put all these people into the heavenly prison. They are ambitious and determined to destroy our Ming Dynasty. They cannot see that our Ming Dynasty is strong and our country is rich and our people are strong."
"Those who are truly loyal to Your Majesty and the subjects of the Ming Dynasty should be loyal to Your Majesty above, solve problems for Your Majesty, serve the people of the world below, and seek the welfare of the people of the world."
"Gentlemen, wealthy households, and businessmen are all wealthy people with tens of millions of wealth. They pay taxes according to regulations and laws. This is what we should do, because this is a manifestation of loyalty to the world, loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, solving problems for the world, and loyalty to the country.
."
"The people at the lowest level still know how to pay for grain and pay for farming. They pay the grain they have worked hard for a year to the national treasury to support the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty!"
"These wealthy households, gentry, and businessmen in Nanzhili are all rich and wealthy, but they are undyingly loyal to serve the country. Yet here they wantonly attack and slander the foundation of the imperial court to enrich the country and strengthen the people. Their hearts are to be punished!"
"Yes, Your Majesty~"
"The imperial court's taxes are collected from the people and used for the people, all for the prosperity of our Ming Dynasty and for the imperial court to implement some major policies that are truly beneficial to the country."
"These people not only resisted taxes with force, but also openly slandered the foundation of our strong Ming Dynasty in the court. This is definitely an attempt to destroy our Ming Dynasty and destroy our prosperity."
"I request your Majesty to thoroughly investigate this matter and arrest all these thieves who are causing harm to the country and the people!"
Officials who supported Liu Jin also stood up one after another, looking at Gao Yuanlong one by one. Qian Qi and others seemed to see their own life and death enemy.
At the same time, it also slapped an extremely heavy hat on them.
Those who destroy the foundation of the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty are traitors to the country, enemies of the Ming Dynasty, people who disdain the goodness of the Ming Dynasty, and traitors who are not loyal to Your Majesty and the Ming Dynasty.
These hats are heavier than front-buttoned hats.
Zhang Mao just said that they ignored the imperial decree and attacked the government offices that symbolized the imperial court. But now they were labeled as being disloyal to the Ming Dynasty and the emperor. They wanted to destroy the foundation of the strong Ming Dynasty. They were powerful enemies and traitors of the Ming Dynasty.
This is simply more terrifying than killing them.
Once this hat is confirmed, they and the family behind them will die without a burial place.
"Beautiful~"
Liu Jin listened carefully and couldn't help but cheer loudly in his heart.
Binding taxation with loyalty to the Emperor and the Ming Dynasty, and linking taxation with the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty. If you don't pay taxes, you are disloyal to the Emperor. If you are not loyal to the Ming Dynasty, you just cannot see the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty. You are a traitor and a traitor.
enemy.
Naturally, there is no need to say anything more about traitors and enemies. What's more, they are traitors and enemies of Ming Dynasty, so they should be dealt with with the most severe means.
