"Your Majesty, they are talking nonsense, they are talking nonsense~"
"I am loyal to Your Majesty. You are a member of the Ming Dynasty in life and a ghost of Ming Dynasty in death. How dare you be disloyal to Your Majesty and to the Ming Dynasty!"
"Yes, Your Majesty, your loyalty can be seen in the sky!"
Being slapped with such a big label, Gao Yuanlong, Qian Qi and others immediately fell to their knees and continued to show their loyalty to Emperor Hongzhi.
They would not dare to accept this hat no matter what. Once they accept this hat, they will really be doomed.
"Loyalty is hard to hear. Since ancient times, the sage kings have been light in corvee and low in gifts, and have governed the world with loyalty and filial piety. However, most of the kings who have subjugated their country have been violent in expropriating, extravagant, lustful, militaristic, and engaged in large-scale construction projects."
"The territory of our Ming Dynasty is already large enough. We don't need to maintain an army of millions at all. There are barbarian lands on all sides, which are far less wealthy than our Ming Dynasty. We, our Ming Dynasty, cannot resort to military warfare."
"Since ancient times, large-scale construction projects have wasted the people and cost money. Nowadays, our Ming Dynasty is building large-scale roads and railways, which often cost hundreds of millions of taels of silver. These are the blood and sweat of the people. If things go on like this, the people of our Ming Dynasty will be in dire straits. According to time
There will definitely be wars everywhere."
"As long as the royal court's taxes are sufficient, there is no need to impose such excessive taxes, set up tax bureaus, and recruit tax agents to collect taxes by force."
"I request your Majesty to abolish the tax office, implement the policy of light corvee and low tax, and let the people rest and recuperate!"
While professing loyalty to Emperor Hongzhi, he constantly criticized the super taxation policy. He even described the expansion of territory in the Ming Dynasty as militarism, and the massive infrastructure construction as large-scale construction projects.
The core still revolves around taxation. Emperor Hongzhi wanted to abolish the tax bureau and abolish the current tax system.
"Your Majesty, they are simply full of nonsense~"
"My Ming Dynasty is now building roads and railways, all of which are built through employment. Whether it is building roads or railways, the workers involved in the construction can get at least five taels of silver a month. Five taels of silver is enough to easily
to feed a family of eight.”
"Therefore, there are now millions of workers in our Ming Dynasty who rely on building roads, railways, ports, dams, bridges, etc. as their profession and earn a lot of money."
"It's not like the ancient times that used corvee labor to build construction projects. Since the 13th year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty, people have basically not been forced to do corvee work nationwide. Instead, they have used employment to build infrastructure.
.”
"Secondly, our Ming Dynasty has built large-scale infrastructure, which is a policy that benefits the country and the people. The construction of roads makes travel easier, and the construction of river embankments and dredging of rivers improves flood resistance and facilitates waterway travel."
"The construction of the port has facilitated overseas exchanges and trade. Rice from Nanyang and white flour from Liaodong are shipped to the capital, and the price is still very cheap."
“Beijing and Tianjin are home to numerous factories, workshops, and businesses. Millions of migrant workers come to work through roads extending in all directions, and freight transportation is convenient.”
"The railway travels thousands of miles a day and has a huge carrying capacity. It only takes two days to transport grain from the south of the Yangtze River to the Beijing-Tianjin area."
"The imperial court rectified military affairs, strengthened the country and the people, opened up new territories, and fertile and vast lands such as Nanyang, Liaodong, grasslands, Western Regions, Hezhong, Nanyun, Australia, and Huanghuangzhou have all become the cradle of China. However, in their eyes,
It is a desperate act of war, and even the army has to be disbanded. Doesn't this mean that it is a waste of martial arts? When the time comes, everyone will be a swordsman and I will be a fish, won't our vast territory of the Ming Dynasty be made easier for the wolves, tigers and leopards from all directions?"
"Your Majesty, these people are truly determined to destroy our Ming Dynasty. They are the enemies and traitors of our Ming Dynasty. They are trying to destroy the foundation of our Ming Dynasty and destroy our Ming Dynasty."
After hearing what Gao Yuanlong, Qian Qi and others said, the officials on Liu Jin's side immediately became angry and pointed at their noses again, looking extremely angry.
These people simply want to punish Ming Dynasty to death.
The Ming Dynasty relied on its current huge territory to have a powerful elite army of one million people. Without this army of one million people, how could the Ming Dynasty conquer all directions?
Can you defeat the Tatars in the north with your mouth, or can you annihilate the Japanese pirates on the southeast coast, or can you sweep the western regions and rivers, and seize Nanyun Province from the hands of the Ottoman Empire?
These are all based on having a strong army, so that we can seize Nanyang and suppress the barbarians from all directions.
But when it came to their mouths, they felt that the Ming Dynasty already had enough territory, so there was no need to raise so many troops. Some of the troops should be disbanded and expenditures reduced, so that there would be no need to levy so many taxes.
Then he described the large-scale infrastructure construction as a large-scale construction project.
These large-scale construction projects all use the form of corvee labor to recruit people's power. Therefore, since ancient times, people have been very afraid of doing corvee labor because not only do they have no money, but they also have to bring their own food, tools, etc.
But the current infrastructure of the Ming Dynasty is completely different. The imperial court is responsible for paying or raising funds, and hiring specialized construction firms to do these things. The recruited workers must not only pay wages, but also take care of food. Even because of the construction industry
It's all manual work, and the young man's salary is much higher than that in the factory.
They associate infrastructure construction with large-scale construction projects, confusing right and wrong. At the same time, they completely fail to see the role of infrastructure construction. They pick up the bowl to eat, and then put down the bowl to curse.
We must know that even though Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty built the Grand Canal, although it was a waste of time and money, the Grand Canal is still benefiting the people from the north to the south and the people along the coast. It is still an important water transportation route.
After the death of the Sui Dynasty, this river has been connected to the river for thousands of miles. If there was no dragon boat incident in the water palace, Yu would not have much merit.
What I am talking about is the Grand Canal, and I see the positive role played by the Grand Canal.
The large-scale infrastructure construction carried out by the Ming Dynasty now has only much more effect than the Grand Canal. The key is to spend real money and money on it, and it is basically built by recruiting people's labor force.
They confuse right and wrong and criticize randomly. How can we not make people angry!
Even some ministers in the DPRK who originally held a neutral attitude felt that these people were talking nonsense and couldn't help but shake their heads.
Emperor Hongzhi remained expressionless, looking coldly at the debate in the Jinluan Palace below. At the same time, he also looked at the senior ministers of the three cabinets, six ministers, ministers and other important ministers standing at the front.
Liu Jian was frowning at this time, Li Dongyang was silent, Xie Qian was expressionless, and the Minister of Household Affairs, Ji Zhong, had an angry look on his face.
"Liu Jian, what do you think about this~"
Emperor Hongzhi waited for everyone to stop, looked at Liu Jian and asked.
After hearing Emperor Hongzhi's question, Liu Jian stood up slowly and said: "Your Majesty, this matter was caused by the attack on the Nanzhili Taxation Office. I thought that the imperial court would thoroughly investigate this matter, so that I really want to know how to do it in this way.
It can be concluded.”
Liu Jian is actually trying to reconcile. He has already felt the power of fire and water in the court, so the better way now is to transfer the points of conflict between the two parties, reduce the major issue to a smaller one, and try not to cause a big shock to the government and the public.
"What do you think about taxes and tax yamen?"
Emperor Hongzhi would obviously not be satisfied with his answer. There was no such thing as excessive taxation and massive construction projects. I, Emperor Hongzhi, have always been conscientious and frugal, but in their words, I looked like a king who had subjugated his country.
Emperor Hongzhi was actually furious in his heart, but as an emperor, he could not express his emotions and anger for a long time.
"Your Majesty, our Ming Dynasty's current tax revenue is collected from the people and used for the people. This is a policy that benefits the country and the people. All the Ming Dynasty, from top to bottom, up to Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince's property is taxed in accordance with the law and in accordance with the regulations. This ordinary gentry,
People, businesses, etc. should do the same."
"Because the taxes collected by the imperial court were eventually given back to the people of the Ming Dynasty, and roads, railways, dams, reservoirs, bridges, etc. were built for the people."
"Although the current tax bureaus often use force to collect taxes when collecting taxes, this is purely helpless. For example, there are many merchants, wealthy households, and gentry in Nanzhili who do not understand the purpose of the imperial court's tax collection and resist the tax.
There are many tax evaders and tax evaders, and it will be difficult to collect tax money without taking some necessary measures."
Hearing Emperor Hongzhi's culture, Liu Jian felt bitter in his heart because he was forcing himself to take sides.
There was no other way, Liu Jian still had to make a wise choice to side with Emperor Hongzhi and support the existing tax system and policies.
Although he was also a traditional civil servant, what he learned since childhood was all Confucian.
But after these years of great changes, he also deeply felt that the original set of things may not be suitable for the current Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty wants to be strong, it must make changes, and today's Ming Dynasty is becoming more and more powerful.
Prosperity and strength.
If we continue to implement the previous systems, I am afraid that the world will really be disrupted.
"Hmm~"
"Li Dongyang, what do you think?"
After hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi nodded with satisfaction and looked at Li Dongyang.
"Your Majesty, I think what Mr. Liu said is true~"
"The current tax revenue of our Ming Dynasty is obtained from the people and used for the people. However, there are a large number of ignorant people who do not know the difficulties of Your Majesty and the court. They do not want to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country. They evade taxes, evade taxes, and resist taxes with force. The tax yamen's policy is also true.
have no choice."
"I believe that in addition to continuing to adhere to the existing policies, we should also increase the publicity of the role of taxation, so that the people of the world know the importance of paying taxes in accordance with the law and the essence of taxation, which is actually to serve the people of the world.
."
Li Dongyang thought for a while and replied.
"Well, that's good~"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded with satisfaction.
Li Dongyang is still very smart. The key is that he is a truly talented minister who knows what is useful and beneficial to the Ming Dynasty and what is not.
"Xie Qian, what do you think?"
Emperor Hongzhi looked at Xie Qian again and asked.
"Your Majesty, what Liu Gong and Li Gong said is true. Taxation is the foundation of the imperial court and the basis for supporting the operation of the imperial court and the implementation of many national policies. I think we should continue to persist."
Xie Qian sighed helplessly in his heart. He was from Jiangnan and had always been firmly opposed to the levy of commercial taxes, but he still knew the situation at hand and knew which side he should stand on.
