Liu Afu took the votes submitted by the cabinet and put them on the royal table on the kang.
He had been with the emperor for a long time and knew the emperor's temper. He mixed an inkstone full of cinnabar, prepared a pen, and then stepped aside.
Although this gentleman relied on eunuchs to draft the draft, he liked to think independently. The eunuchs who held the pen became real ghostwriters, and their power was suddenly reduced.
There is no way, the founding emperors all liked power,
The emperor casually picked up a few books, all of which were presented with inscriptions by ministers and workers inside and outside the capital, asking nothing more than greetings and explanations about the winter situation.
He had read many such question books, and there was nothing more he could leave to comment on. He put them aside and left a nail mark.
One nail mark means agreement, two means dissent, and none means silence.
Those who are not satisfied will be sent back to the cabinet for revision.
Wait for a while, Liu Afu will take care of it.
Finally, he picked up another book, which was a new commercial tax regulation drawn up by Jin Bao, the Minister of Finance, to improve the Department of Commercial Taxation and the officials and assistant officials of the Ministry of Finance.
In the past, the Commercial Taxation Department was subordinate to the Ministry of Finance and had jurisdiction over the Commercial Taxation Departments in all counties across the country.
The county level is responsible for collecting commercial taxes, while the prefecture and province are responsible for transportation.
However, as time went by, the Ministry of Finance was not only responsible for commercial taxes, but also for collecting agricultural taxes, which made its organization increasingly bloated and required reform.
Its contents include eight articles in total as follows.
The first article is a detailed constitutional report and strict assessment. Each province has set up a general bureau, and the following states, roads, prefectures, counties, markets and towns have set up branch bureaus and cards. The general bureau will issue a "circulating seal" every day when acting.
A certain amount of goods shall be published in detail. If accumulated to one month, the total amount of cash received shall be submitted to the General Administration for verification within the next month.
Every three months, a detailed booklet is prepared and the supervisor is asked to report the details, and the detailed booklet is printed and sent to the department.
To put it bluntly, direct management of the county is too complicated and not conducive to management, so an agency is established.
The second is the collection of business subjects, which should be governed by the same system throughout the country to determine the rules and regulations to eliminate malpractice and confusion.
When checking the goods transported by merchants, whether they are uneven in quality, thickness or quality, the value of the transaction should always be used as the proof, and the final assessment will be the standard.
Standardize taxes and do not allow arbitrary collection.
For example, herbal medicines are popular in some provinces. In order to protect the interests of this province, the herbal medicines from other provinces are taxed heavily, thereby safeguarding the interests of the local area.
This is a normal move.
Local officials still have some influence over the Commercial and Taxation Department.
Therefore, standards are unified to ensure fairness.
The third step is to clarify the responsibilities of the Commercial Tax Department and no longer manage land tax and freight at the same time.
To put it bluntly, the Transshipment Department is newly established to be responsible for the transshipment of agricultural taxes and commercial taxes. The Commercial Tax Department is only responsible for collecting but not transporting.
At the same time, a Land Tax Department was established to be responsible for collecting land taxes to avoid local interference.
Fourth, branch offices should be set up in places where department stores in prefectures, counties, cities and towns are integrated, and tax packages should be gradually abolished, while commercial taxes on scattered vendors should be abolished.
Strengthen power and benefit local people.
For example, ordinary farmers are exempted from commercial tax for small things such as selling some eggs, thereby reducing exploitation and benefiting the common people.
Fifth, we no longer carry out vague strategies such as drawing one out of ten, but clearly mark the prices of various products.
For example, expensive silks and satins are drawn one out of ten, basically based on the market price, and there is the possibility of manipulation, and the price difference is whether it is higher or lower.
Nowadays, the Commercial Tax Department has set a standard and levies a tax of 50 cents per piece of silk and satin, which is not based on the market price.
…
There were all kinds of long documents, which had long exceeded the limit of 500 words and reached the scale of 3,000 words. The emperor read them with great interest.
Among them, it even stipulates the amount of tax collected by the government and province.
If you cross prefectures, you will be charged ten coins, and if you cross provinces, you will be charged twenty coins. For some checkpoints that cross provinces and prefectures, there are still detailed instructions.
The troubles contained therein are a headache to read.
Together with the law to prevent the provincial tax bureaus from strictly disclosing, the concealment and false reporting of commercial taxes, embezzlement by various provinces, and the restriction of tax collection and reporting by various provinces over the years are all involved.
From my point of view, loopholes that may appear in the operation process that are difficult to list in the charter can be filled. This is already extremely complete.
It can be seen that the Ministry of Finance is serious about this.
When he looked at the ballot paper, he saw that the cabinet simply agreed, but asked the Ministry of Finance to increase the number of people and limit the number of people to avoid redundant officials.
Obviously, the political reforms in recent years have not been effective, but the number of officials has increased more and more, and the financial pressure has naturally increased.
Although I can afford it now, it will be terrible if things continue like this for the sake of future generations.
After reading it, the emperor was still unfinished. He picked up his pen and wrote in the blank space: "I have read it. The business textbook is a good way to increase the national curriculum, and the supplementary regulations proposed by the Ministry of Finance are very appropriate.
After the memorial is implemented, it should be passed through all provinces and should be followed without violation.
If there are delays, perfunctory, prevarication, fabricated excuses, and violations of the provisions of the charter, the provinces will immediately dismiss them and punish them for the crimes they deserve. The governors of each province should do their best, and if they fail to do so, they should also be punished.
responsibility."
"In addition, I feel that in the tax cards of various places, the land can still be managed, but what about the water? It needs to be filled in in detail to avoid omissions."
In addition, Zhu Yixi also feels that special training should be set up to teach them how to perform conversions, just like the Suijun Academy.
You know, although many people can read and write, if they are asked to learn arithmetic, they are simply playing the piano.
I can’t do math, I really can’t.
Therefore, if you want to secure the Ministry of Finance, you must train a large number of tax collectors.
At the same time, the increase in the number of people in the organization will also allow corruption to breed. The establishment of a supervision agency, together with internal and external supervision, can effectively prevent it, so that the Ming Dynasty's finances can operate efficiently.
At this time, he saw that the emperor was tired, but Liu Afu still bravely presented the secret box of Yu Chenglong, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.
There is no way. Once the requirements for the secret box arrive, they must be submitted without delay.
Sure enough, the emperor rubbed his eyes, still opened the wooden box, and looked at it.
The problem of Han barbarians in Guangdong and Guangxi mainly arises from two aspects. One is that Han officials despise the Yao people, and the other is serious smuggling.
Let me first talk about despising Man Yao and returning to their native land. Some Miao people still retain a certain degree of autonomy, and some chiefs still have official status such as Baihu, Xuanwei envoys, etc.
However, the Han officials believed that the Miao people were uneducated and ignorant of etiquette. Not to mention being magistrates or county magistrates, they were not popular historians within a county. When they met the chieftains, they always turned their noses to the sky.
Failure to salute him in accordance with his official status will only add to the humiliation.
This intensified the conflict and led to rebellion.
The second is smuggling.
Whether it is gold or copper mines, there are always more mines in mountainous areas than in plains. The local government conspired with the Yao people to devour the mining profits, but exploited ordinary Yao people for mining or transportation. The court took the blame.
In the past few days, Yu Chenglong had changed his plans and returned to more than thirty counties, but he had rebelled a dozen or three times. There were always rebels going back and forth, for countless reasons.
Therefore, the armies of Guangdong and Guangxi are already exhausted.
Yu Chenglong asked the court to re-send some guest troops.
"Agrarian reform in Guangdong and Guangxi must continue."
With a plan in mind, Zhu Yixi immediately ordered: "Let the cabinet consider whether there are soldiers and horses nearby entering Lingnan. The soldiers and horses of Guangdong and Guangxi are already exhausted."
"Yes!" Liu Afu agreed immediately.
"Where is the emperor's grandson?" At this time, Zhu Yixi thought of the prince and unknowingly turned to the emperor's grandson.
"Your Majesty, you are in Kunning Palace!"
"Showing in Kunning Palace."
Dealing with political affairs one after another made him a little dizzy.
Without a certain amount of experience and knowledge, it is difficult for people to figure out those plans.
Otherwise, one thing will inexplicably change to be beneficial to some people and not beneficial to the country.
It was well formulated, but the execution went awry.
There is a good show going on in Kunning Palace right now.
Amidst the clanging sound of gongs and drums, four little monkeys wearing small red coats were led by people. They arrived in front of the imperial case in humanlike appearance, bowed and knelt down, and screamed loudly.
This made the queen laugh heartily: "Your Majesty, look at it. How fun it is?"
The emperor's grandson also blushed and clapped his hands happily.
Zhu Yixi was also inexplicably happy.
The next performance was ventriloquism.
Zhu Yixi naturally understood this and listened carefully.
The man kowtowed and retreated into the brocade curtain. At this time, everyone in the hall was listening quietly. In a trance, the sound of horse hooves seemed to be heard.
Then the birds and warblers chirped, mixed with the partridge's cry "It's better to go back". Gradually, hundreds of birds chirped, the sound of horse hooves was heard, and there were the sounds of various markets selling snacks. It was empty and far away. If you closed your eyes and listened quietly, it was like seeing a bright sun.
A picture of a beautiful lady having fun in spring.
Slowly, it turned from lively to quiet, and the sound of horse hooves was extremely clear, just like the sound of beating on the rocky road. The sound of hoofbeats can be light or heavy, slow or fast, and you can imagine that it will be different depending on the winding road.
Gradually, a sound of sea waves arose, which was the pine breeze. Only when the wind calmed down could one hear the gurgling water, interspersed with the chirping of several birds, which gave a unique feeling of emptiness and remoteness.
"It's wonderful!" The emperor turned to the queen and said, "Playing quietly and quietly has the flavor of being gentle and quiet."
"I want a tiger, I want a tiger!" Emperor Sun clapped his hands and shouted.
At this time, tigers are naturally hunting, tigers and tigers are in full force, insects and birds are in confusion, wild beasts are fleeing, and all kinds of panic sounds are heard, as if they are on the ground.
While the emperor was enjoying the joy of heaven, it started to rain in Beijing.
It is raining in autumn and cold in Beijing. Although it has not snowed in Beijing, it is already winter. The police patrolling the streets are also wearing cotton-padded clothes and are wrapped in bulk.
The people looked at him with envy and could only gather up their clothes.
For ordinary people, cotton-padded clothes cost hundreds of dollars each, and each family may only have one, so they can only rely on stuffing reeds or hay to keep warm.
However, Zhang Ping felt no chill while driving the donkey cart.
Just because he was wrapped in a woolen sweater and wearing cotton shoes, he was extremely warm.
On the donkey cart, there were two buckets of ink and a large brush, walking leisurely on the street.
After a while, he arrived at his destination: Wanping County, Yangmei Street.
Although the city of Beijing is divided into "zipu" streets, the streets are the most familiar to the common people. Generally speaking, they go to such and such a street, not to such and such a "zip shop".
However, as soon as he found out, several white guards patrolling the streets came over and asked, "What do you do?"
"Painting." Zhang Ping said casually: "Let the head of your branch call out, I have something important to do."
Branch offices are set up by the Patrol Police Office, and are basically limited to several streets and a thousand households to manage private and large-scale theft matters.
It is also difficult for local magistrates to take direct control.
It can be said that he is the head of the calligraphy shop and has great power.
It is an effective supplement for decentralized management of calligraphy shops.
Soon, the branch commander came over and looked him up and down: "Are you from the Ministry of Civil Affairs?"
"The lower official is a scribe of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. I am not wearing official uniform today because of inconvenience." Zhang Ping lowered his head and said: "What I did was to divide the household numbers."
"I see."
The commander nodded: "I will help."
"Boy, Bian Tou, you help this clerk do some work, so you don't have to patrol the streets today."
"Yes, Commander!" The two of them agreed with grim faces.
But what happened next surprised them.
I thought it would be a hard job, but I didn't expect it to be easier than patrolling the streets.
"Open the door, you are Zhao Ernuo's family, right?"
They knocked on the door from door to door without scruples, then pointed and told in detail.
Zhang Ping nodded and asked him to take out a palm-sized wooden board at home and write down some numbers:
011120032
Then he asked his family to nail it on the door. If the farmer disappeared, he would write it himself and the copy would be the same.
Regarding this number, several white servants looked confused and couldn't help but ask: "What are the regulations for this number?"
"It's just accurate."
Zhang Ping didn't take it into consideration and said casually: "01 is the code name of Shuntian Prefecture, 1 is Wanping County, 12 is its branch office, and 0032 is naturally the order of his family in the branch office."
"Let me tell you, every house in the capital must have a number plate, and no one is exempt. Even the prime minister's house, our Ministry of Civil Affairs has sent people to hang it."
“What about Hebei?”
"02!"
"Where is Shandong?"
"05!"
The group of people worked hard for an hour and finally finished writing about more than a thousand households. It was a hard work.
But Zhang Ping had nothing to do, so who made his status low?
In the huge capital city, hundreds of thousands of buildings will be registered. Not only the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but also eight ministries were mobilized. Thousands of people were mobilized to work. It took more than ten days to complete.
This move once again increased the control over the capital, and also conducted a thorough investigation of the buildings and residential buildings in the capital.
The capital has more than 320,000 residential buildings and more than 50,000 restaurants, teahouses and other entertainment venues.
Even brothels have figured out their numbers.
After an investigation, the imperial court separated the post station and set up a post office.
It is divided into two parts, one part is used by the government and the army and the other part is used for private correspondence.
The official statement is to seek benefits for the people and meet their needs.
To put it bluntly, it means restructuring, making the station less burdensome, and even making it profitable.
Even though the post station has repeatedly reduced its food and beverage conditions, it still employs more than 10,000 post soldiers, even reaching 50,000 people.
Spending millions every year.
When it is indispensable, restructuring becomes inevitable.
The general public can let the post office carry out the delivery service, and as long as they pay money, they can deliver it anywhere.
Thousands of inns and huge fulcrums are the advantages of the post office.
In any county, there will be an inn or post office.
For a time, this matter aroused great repercussions among the people, and there was a lot of discussion.