At the Ministry of Household Affairs in Beijing, as the tax system reform plan was finalized, Liu Jin's daily life became extremely busy.
As a third-rank official, Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Marquis of Liaodong, it is necessary to attend this morning court.
Although in Liu Jin's view, this early court was really boring, and even in Liu Jin's view, many of the early court in the Hongzhi Dynasty were formalistic.
There are so many things to discuss in the morning every day. Most of the time it is just trivial matters that are just a waste of time, and it also wastes the time of many ministers.
Real national affairs are often not decided in the morning court. As some people said in later generations, meetings with many people are not important, and important meetings with few people. The early court is a typical example of the former.
After attending the morning court every day, Liu Jin would sometimes attend a small meeting with Emperor Hongzhi, report his work to Emperor Hongzhi, and chat along the way.
In this way, the whole morning passed, and all the time for real work was spent in the afternoon.
There are many things about tax reform.
The establishment of the Municipal Shipping Department and the establishment of a tax office directly under the imperial household department were all good. After Liu Jin handed over the instructions, there were naturally many officials under him who were busy on Liu Jin's behalf.
What is really difficult is the training of tax officials and officials.
Officials in this era are all officials who have passed the imperial examination. If you ask them to write beautiful articles, everyone will be very good at it, and you can easily find a lot of talents.
But if you ask them to do arithmetic, calculate the value of goods, determine the amount of taxation, etc., many times these people will turn a blind eye.
This is not sarcasm or nonsense, but the real thing that makes Liu Jin feel broken.
I originally thought that they are all scholars after all, and although they mainly read the Four Books, Five Classics, and Eight-Part Articles, they should also dabble in arithmetic and the like.
However, in fact, most officials do not know how to count. Moreover, these people have basically grown up with food to open their mouths and clothes to stretch out their hands. They do not need to count at all. Many of them even do not understand some basic common sense.
It truly embodies the saying that all things are inferior, only reading is superior.
The imperial examination is very difficult. It requires not only talent, but also a lot of hard work. Many people have become nerds and do not understand anything other than this.
This is quite similar to the examination-oriented education of later generations. Except for the content and scope of the examination, other subjects are miscellaneous courses and can be squeezed out.
Various rules and regulations, the establishment of the Municipal Shipping Department, the tax yamen, etc. are not difficult for Liu Jin. The Municipal Shipping Department can refer to the Municipal Shipping Department of the Song Dynasty for its establishment, and then combine it with the customs of later generations to formulate relevant rules and regulations.
It's not difficult.
It is not difficult to set up a tax bureau. It can be easily done by referring to the tax system of Western time and the tax system of later generations.
What really drove Liu Jin crazy was the lack of suitable manpower. There were many people who came to report, but there were very few people who knew mathematics, could do arithmetic, and were familiar with all kinds of goods.
There was no other way, so Liu Jin had to stand on the podium again, faced the blackboard, picked up the chalk, and began to teach and train the officials.
In a huge room in the Ministry of Hubu, people ranging from Shangshu Shizhong and Shi Jie, the right minister, to ordinary officials and officials from the Ministry of Hubu, as well as officials from all over the Ming Dynasty, arrived in the capital one after another to report, and then were assigned to the Hubu.
Ministry of Juren.
The whole room was packed with people, and everyone was looking at Liu Jin at the front, watching Liu Jin's eloquent lectures on the podium.
"Everyone, please remember one sentence: Taxes come from the people and are used for the people!"
"Perhaps everyone has always felt that the court's tax collection is squeezing the people, so many people are unwilling to come to the Ministry of Household Affairs."
"But do you know that if the court has no money or silver, what can the court do to support the army? If the army is not strong, what can we, the Ming Dynasty, do to resist foreign invasions?"
"In the past, the grassland people went south every year, blocked the customs every year, and burned, killed, and looted wantonly in our Central Plains land every year. Every year, tens of thousands of people of the Ming Dynasty died at the hands of the grassland people's butcher knives."
"The Ming Dynasty has a population of tens of millions, but the total population of the grasslands is less than a million."
"Why don't we even dare to fight head-on when facing the prairie people? We can only watch them go south year after year?"
Liu Jin looked at the people present. He was poor at math and didn't know common sense. They were all scholars. Where was their learning ability? Compared with those illiterate people, it was relatively easy to give them lessons and teach them arithmetic.
There are many smart people, and they can learn many things in one go, and can get started quickly. In addition, the basic mathematics compiled by myself is definitely sufficient if it is mainly used.
What really drove Liu Jin crazy was the change in these people's ideas.
Many people were assigned to the household department, and they all looked reluctant.
Some people even bluntly said that even if they were sent overseas as officials, they would not want to work in the household department, let alone work in the tax yamen.
Taxation seems to have been portrayed in a bad light since ancient times.
Derogatory terms such as exorbitant taxes, excessive levies, etc. are used to describe officials and officials who collect taxes. In addition, taxation is bound to offend people, so many people are not willing to serve as officials under Liu Jin.
Even if they are assigned to Liu Jin, many people are ready to cross their legs, drink tea, and collect taxes like the people in the past. Those who are willing to pay taxes will naturally accept them, and those who are unwilling to pay taxes will be accepted.
Too lazy to urge.
In short, on the one hand, I feel that taxation is squeezing the people, and on the other hand, it will offend people. In short, I feel that this job is very bad.
So Liu Jin must change their ideas. Only when a person's ideas change can his actions change.
Otherwise, no matter how many rules and regulations Liu Jin formulates, no matter how detailed the contents are, if those who implement them do not conscientiously implement them, they will ultimately be nothing more than a piece of paper.
If you want to change the minds of these people, the most important thing is to make them understand the truth, that is, taxes are taken from the people and used for the people.
After hearing Liu Jin's question, some fell into deep thought, while others did not pay any attention to it.
Liu Jin saw the performance of these people one by one, thought for a while, pointed to one person and asked: "Tell me, why do we have millions of people in the Ming Dynasty but we can't even attack the grassland people with less than a million people?"
but?"
"That's because those Qiu Ba are greedy for life and afraid of death. They live in an ignoble way and don't know the justice of the country. That's why we can't defeat the grassland people."
The person who was named was a Juren named Geng Yuanlu. As soon as he stood up, he unthinkingly shifted the responsibility to the border officers, believing that these border officers were greedy for life and afraid of death, so they could not defeat the prairie people.
After hearing Geng Yuanlu's words, many people nodded. Apparently they all had the same point of view. They all felt that they could not win because the border officers were greedy for life and afraid of death.
"May I have your name?"
After Liu Jin heard this, the smile on his face disappeared, and he thought about it and asked.
"My name is Geng Yuanlu."
Geng Yuanlu replied.
"Have you ever been to the border?"
Liu Jin nodded slightly, and then asked again.
"No~"
Geng Yuanlu shook his head.
"Have you ever dealt with prairie people?"
"No~"
"Have you ever been on the battlefield yourself?"
"I am a scholar and a scholar. How could I have been on the battlefield?"
"That's it. You have neither been to the border, nor have any contact with the grasslands, nor have you been on the battlefield in person. How do you know that the border officers are greedy for life and afraid of death?"
Liu Jin asked one after another. When he heard Geng Yuanlu's answer, Liu Jin immediately asked angrily.
"Do you know that because the imperial court has no money, the soldiers at the border don't even have enough to eat and are hungry? Why don't you go and fight with the prairie people?"
"Did you know that because the imperial court had no money, the weapons issued by the Ministry of Revenue to the border officers were muskets that would explode and swords as thin as iron sheets. The border officers and even the wooden sticks were not willing to use such weapons. You are bare-handed.
Go and have a try with the prairie people?"
"Did you know that because the imperial court had no money, the border officers did not have a single cotton-padded coat for four to five years, let alone armor?"
"You have plenty of food and fish at home, and you have fine clothes and fine food. What qualifications do you have to say that the soldiers at the border are greedy for life and afraid of death?"
Liu Jin's voice was very loud, filled with incomparable anger, filling every corner of the room, causing the faces of all the officials present to change.
After listening to this, many people couldn't help but fell into deep thought. Some people didn't give a second thought. They are noble scholars. Scholars should naturally have good food and clothing. As for those Qiu Ba, shouldn't they be a little miserable?
"I...I~"
Geng Yuanlu didn't know how to answer for a while.
"I think you are not suitable to stay in the Ministry of Finance for the time being. I think it would be more appropriate for you to go to the grassland and the border areas of the Ming Dynasty and have more contact with the border officers first."
Then Liu Jin gave him a ruthless look and said.
"No, no, I don't want to go to the grassland, I don't want to go to the border~"
When Geng Yuanlu heard this, he immediately became anxious. If he was sent to the border and grassland by Liu Jin, it would be over.
"Sit down, what are you shouting about? You are still a scholar. Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles. Go out and see more. It will be good for you in the future."
Liu Jin immediately glared at him fiercely. Geng Yuanlu could only slowly sit on the chair, his whole face turned dark, he was finished!
"A war between two countries is not just a battle of life and death on the battlefield, but more often a contest between the strength of the entire country."
"In the past, our Ming Dynasty could not defeat the grassland people. One of the important reasons was that our court was short of money and had no silver. Therefore, even though our Ming Dynasty has a population of tens of millions, the grassland people are only less than one million."
"But we lost to them time and time again and were bullied by them."
"Why is it that our Ming Dynasty, which is so big, doesn't even have enough money to defeat the people on the grassland?"
"It's because our Ministry of Household Affairs has not done a good job in tax collection. Many people don't know the importance of this tax. They don't understand that this tax is taken from the people and used for the people..."