After Chen Lifu's agricultural tax reform plan was formally submitted, Emperor Sheng's attitude was vague and he ignored it, which naturally aroused controversy.
Because everyone can see the intention of Shengtianzi to stay in the target.
He neither opposed nor agreed, or in other words, the Holy Emperor needed to look at the situation before making a decision. If it was feasible, he would implement it. If it was not feasible, he would pretend he had not seen it.
Next, it means it’s time for wrestling.
But this time, the military generals were unanimously silent!
Why?
This is because Chen Lifu’s detailed agricultural tax reform plan excluded aristocratic fiefdoms.
In other words, instead of eliminating them, a flexible plan was adopted, which only targeted the empire itself, but not its overseas territories.
The nobles' fiefdoms are all in overseas territories. Even in remote local areas such as Northeastern Province, there are no noble fiefdoms.
Chen Lifu's move instantly divided the military.
The military's attitude on these internal affairs has always been very clear, that is, as long as it does not harm the interests of the military, they will not interfere with other affairs.
If you interfere too much, you can easily get into trouble. If not, you will be targeted by the Holy Emperor, and you will be unlucky.
After all, the separation of military and political affairs is a long-term national policy of the empire.
Without the opposition of the military, the remaining opposition forces would be insignificant.
Nowadays, those who still own a large amount of land in the mainland are basically the traditional gentry and landlord class left over from the Ming Dynasty. They are also stubborn old people who will not let go of a lot of land until life and death.
Unfortunately, Chen Lifu is from this class!
To put it bluntly, this time the knife Chen Lifu wielded was not aimed at anyone else, but at himself.
As for other dignitaries in the empire, most of them have nothing to do with the traditional gentry and landlords.
Even if there are a few people who oppose it, as long as the military does not object and the new generation of interest groups do not object, then no one can stop Chen Lifu from carrying out this agricultural tax reform.
Within a few days, it became clear which direction the wind was blowing. All the objections were resolved one by one by Chen Lifu. Although the other ministers on duty did not have a good impression of Chen Lifu, Chen Lifu himself was the minister on duty, and his influence from the Political Department
The power is huge.
Li Xuan is also happy to see success. Being able to further smash the land annexation in the local area is naturally a good thing for the empire.
Three days later, Li Xuan formally discussed the agricultural tax reform plan at the Xiaochao meeting. Although there were many objections, Li Xuan finally approved the reform plan.
But everyone knows that the reform of agricultural taxes is just the beginning, or even just a prelude.
The most critical minimum wage and limited working hours are the focus of everyone's attention.
Regarding these two matters, the military once again put out the war-avoidance card early.
Anyway, these have nothing to do with their military, so they are too lazy to take care of these things, not to mention that they have reached a private agreement with Chen Lifu.
Chen Lifu will support the Army in launching a new round of Western Expedition.
Since taking over Haidong Province, the Army has been preparing for the Western Expedition. However, the distance is too far and the cost is too great. The cabinet is unwilling to increase war expenses, so the Army has been unable to come up with enough war expenses.
, to start the third round of the Western Expedition.
This time Chen Lifu supported the Army's Western Expedition and also supported the overseas expansion policy that the Navy was very concerned about.
With this kind of support, he gained the military's anonymity.
But others are not so easy to fool.
The impact of these two reforms is profound and will greatly affect the interests of the new elites, because it will inevitably increase the cost of manufacturing and thus lead to an increase in commodity prices.
As for increasing costs while maintaining the original price of goods, business owners are not philanthropic, they are all greedy guys who eat meat without spitting out bones.
They won't take the initiative to give up profits.
The increased costs will definitely be reflected in the market in the end.
This may lead to turmoil in some industries.
It will definitely be beneficial in the long run, but it may cause some turbulence in the short term.
This is why Li Xuan felt that Chen Lifu was a radical reformer.
No one knows better than Li Xuan what should be done and what should not be done. It is necessary to improve welfare benefits. However, the reason why Li Xuan has not done this is that he knows that industrial development has not been too long, so he hastened to do it now.
These can easily cause big trouble.
It must be done, the question is when!
In fact, this is not only Li Xuan's own idea, but also the idea of Xie Yiwei, Jia Wenbo and others.
Their differences lie in when to do it and to what extent.
Chen Lifu's opinion is to do it now, but to what extent.
Chen Lifu believes that there should be a ten-hour work system, four paid holidays per month, and double overtime pay for extra overtime.
The minimum wage standard is set with reference to the local average income, and female workers and child workers are also included.
Because many companies now are unwilling to hire a young adult in order to save labor costs. Instead, they hire female workers or even child workers, because the wages of girls and child workers are very low.
But this will actually bring about an equally serious problem, that is, if the minimum standards are set, companies will be more inclined to hire young adults and no longer hire female workers and child workers.
So here comes the question, female workers and child workers also have to make a living. In the past, they could still survive with low wages, but now there are no job opportunities, so what will they eat?
Many ordinary families cannot support the whole family just by relying on the salary of a young adult male. If the wife and half-year-old children do not go out to work, then the family will go hungry.
Li Xuan knew these things very well, and he also knew what the problem was. It was just that his income was too low and his food expenses were too high.
However, the output of grain these days is low and the cost is high, so the price of grain will naturally not be that low. If the price is reduced, the workers can survive, but the farmers will starve to death!
What to do in the end?
There is only one solution, and that is to increase the general income of the people, and the increase must be very large.
According to the current prices in the empire, especially the price level of food, a standard family of five must have a monthly household income of more than ten yuan to maintain the most basic life.
However, at present, the monthly salary of an ordinary young labor force in Datang, such as an ordinary worker in Songjiang Prefecture, is generally only about three to four yuan.
If there is only one male working in a family of five, he cannot support the whole family. If he wants to support the family, his income must be doubled or more, and must reach more than ten yuan.
Even if a couple works together, the average income will be more than five yuan, which will still increase by more than 20% from the current salary level.