On this day, Li Zhi was sitting in the second hall of the General Military Mansion, chatting with his younger brother Li Xing.
"Brother, the price of rice in other places has increased again this month. It has already risen to three liang and one stone. Xiao Youchan bought cheap grain at the Fanjiazhuang Fair Price Grain Store and wanted to sell it out of the city to make a profit on the price. I caught three of them."
Li Zhi sighed and said: "The price of food is really an unsolvable problem. From now on, each resident of Fanjiazhuang will be given fifty kilograms of food stamps every month, and the people can buy cheap food with the tickets."
Li Xing's eyes lit up and he said: "Brother, this is really a good idea. This will prevent those scoundrels from buying large quantities of grain and smuggling it out of the city. I will ask the officials to make food stamps and distribute them tomorrow."
In the first half of this year, Li Zhi's 190,000 acres of private land harvested more than 200,000 shi of grain. At that time, the price of grain was not as high as it is now, and the rice stores opened by the Jin gentry kept the price of grain low when it was time to harvest grain.
It's not just a little bit. So Li Zhi's tenant farmers are happy to sell the grain to Li Zhi's cheap grain store at the price of two liang and one stone. Li Zhi now has hundreds of thousands of grain in hand to support Fanjiazhuang.
The public is more than enough.
Li Zhi sighed and said: "This broken ship of the Ming Dynasty is leaking from the top to the bottom. It is getting harder and harder to support it."
Brothers Li Zhi and Li Xing chatted, but they dared to tell some truths that could not be told outside. Li Xing looked at Li Zhi and said, "Brother, how can we turn the tide and save the people at this time?"
Li Zhi said: "The reason why the Ming Dynasty is in such ruins today is simply because these three groups, corrupt officials, businessmen, and gentry, have eaten away at the Ming Dynasty. It's like a person's body is full of parasites, how can he still survive?
Fighting foreign enemies? To improve today's situation, we must start with these three groups and drive away the moths."
Li Xing felt that his elder brother's words made sense and asked, "What should we do specifically?"
Li Zhi thought for a while and said: "The three groups of corrupt officials, official businessmen, and gentry seem to be three groups of people, but in fact they are the same group of people. These people are gentry when they study, they are officials and merchants when they do business, and they are corrupt officials when they gain fame and become official. And this
Among the three groups, corrupt officials are the group with the most background and power. These officials are lawless and protect businessmen’s monopoly operations and the gentry’s failure to pay taxes.”
"And the Jin gentry was the group that did the most harm to the Ming Dynasty. Not only did the Jin gentry not pay taxes, but the unruly people also put their fields in the names of the gentry and did not pay taxes. For more than 200 years in the Ming Dynasty, the population was increasing.
, there are more and more fields for planting, but less and less fields for paying taxes, which is really a big deal in the world."
Li Xing said: "Then if we want to turn the tide, should we start by rectifying corrupt officials and gentry?"
Li Zhi shook his head and said: "Although corrupt officials and gentry are rampant, they dominate the court and public opinion. It can be said that today's Ming Dynasty is composed of them. If these people are to be rectified, it will undoubtedly be a cleansing of the marrow and bone for the Ming Dynasty. Among them,
The pain is unbearable."
Li Xing said: "Then we should attack the businessmen?"
Li Zhi nodded and said: "If you want to continue the longevity of the Ming Dynasty, you must get rid of some moths. Among the three major moths, the merchant group is the most vulnerable."
"When the Ming Dynasty was first established, it emphasized agriculture and suppressed business, and tried its best to belittle the status of merchants. Therefore, those officials and merchants were inherently deficient in public opinion. Moreover, Emperor Taizu Gao also set a tax rate of thirty to one for merchants, but now it has not been implemented.
This makes businessmen even less rational."
"So if the Ming Dynasty wants to regain its strength, it must start with the collection of commercial taxes! During the reign of Emperor Xian, the Ming Dynasty conquered the south and the north and the treasury was sufficient, precisely because of the collection of commercial taxes and mining taxes from merchants."
Li Xing asked: "Brother, do you want to collect business tax in Tianjin?"
Li Zhi nodded and said: "I have sent people to post notices in all counties and counties in Tianjin this morning, stipulating that the annual turnover of 40 taels is tax-free, and business with a turnover of more than 40 taels is taxed at 30 taels per year!"
Li Xing did not expect that Li Zhi would actually take action. He opened his mouth in shock and said after a long time: "Tianjin Town, one prefecture, two states and twenty counties, is no better than the original Tianjin West Road. If my brother does this, all the civil servants will jump.
Woke up."
Li Zhi picked up the tea cup and drank a glass of water, and said calmly: "It doesn't hurt to let these clowns dance."
Li Xing was speechless. He held the tea cup in mid-air without drinking.
The two were silent there, but Li Zhi's secret guard ambassador Han Jinxin ran into the second hall. The former Jinyi Guard Baihu walked a little erratically, choosing to walk in dark places, as if he could not see the light. He walked to Li Zhi and knelt down in front of him.
He said: "Captain Zuo, the tax notices we posted in various states and counties were torn up by civil servants. All civil servants from Tianjin, big and small, gathered in the governor's office, probably discussing how to deal with your business tax."
Li Zhi rubbed his right thumb and index finger and thought about it.
"Send two thousand cavalrymen of the Selected Front Regiment to various states and counties to spread the word orally, requiring merchants, big and small, to file tax returns within ten days. Those who fail to file taxes within ten days will be fined three times! The fines will be forcibly collected by the soldiers of the Huben Division!"
"Call Zheng Hui!"
Not long after, Zheng Hui trotted into the second hall of the General Military Mansion, knelt down and saluted.
"Have you hired all the tax accountants?"
"Don't worry, sir, all five hundred accountants have been hired and can start tax audits at any time."
"Okay, arrange accountants to go to various states and counties, set up tax collection points, and send soldiers from the Huben Division to protect them."
Li Zhi was making arrangements there when he saw the doorman running in.
"Sir, Governor Zha Dengbei came to the door with dozens of civil servants, and they were very aggressive! Will they be allowed in?"
Li Zhi looked at Han Jinxin and said with a smile: "The guests are here! Let them wait for me in the lobby!"
Li Zhi returned to the main room, put on the imperial python robe, black gauze hat and jade belt, straightened his appearance in the mirror, and then walked to the lobby in a swaggering manner.
In the lobby, dozens of civil servants were standing or standing, all of them with pale faces, as if Li Zhi had dug up their ancestral graves.
Seeing Li Zhi coming out wearing the imperial python robe, the civil servants were stunned, and no one spoke for a long time.
The royal python robe is the most honorable dress for ministers, and represents the emperor's support. Li Zhi is now the crown prince's Taibao, and is the first-grade left governor. His official rank is much higher than that of the governor Zhadeng Beidu. Most of the civil servants present are soldiers.
When the magistrates, county magistrates and other minor officials saw Li Zhi's noble attire, they became somewhat silent for a moment.
Li Zhi sat on the main seat, picked up the tea cup and took a sip of water, and said slowly: "You all come to my general military mansion, what are you doing?"
Zha Dengbei looked at the civil servants who were afraid to speak, raised his hands and said, "I'm going to persuade Governor Zuo to stop the idea of levying commercial taxes."
Li Zhi shook his head and said: "I have collected the business tax, there is no way I can stop!"
Hearing Li Zhi's words, Cha Denbei's face darkened and he was speechless.
Yu Tao, who was sitting at the bottom of Tianjin's Xiadong Road Bingbei Road, jumped out and shouted: "Li Zhi, you are going back on your word! Didn't you say in March that you would not levy commercial tax?"
