The township examination starts every year on the ninth day of August, so it is called Qiuwei because it is in autumn.
In early June, scholars from Guiyang began to set off for Kunming, Yunnan.
Historically, a Guizhou scholar named Tian Qiu will pass the examination this year, and twenty-five years later he will successfully allow Guizhou to launch its own provincial examination.
He said this in his memorial: "The distance from Guizhou (Guiyang) to Yunnan is more than two thousand miles, and the distance from Sinan, Yongning and other prefectures to Yunnan is three to four thousand miles. And it is more difficult to travel in midsummer because of the steep mountains.
, the miasma poison invades adultery, and the Confucian students take the exams, the suffering is the most extreme. Among them, there are those who are poor and have no means to earn money, there are those who are young and weak and cannot walk alone, there are those who cannot bear the hard work and return to the middle way, and those who are exposed to the miasma poison and become ill
Those who are on the wrong side of the road often have..."
Tian Qiu himself is from Sinan Prefecture, that is, "one who has traveled three to four thousand miles to Yunnan", and he had to travel more than a thousand miles further than Wang Yuan to take the exam.
It’s impossible not to rush on your way in advance. If something unexpected happens, you’ll have some room for maneuver.
Among Wang Yangming's core disciples, only four, Wang Yuan, Li Ying, Yue Zhen, and Zou Mu, took the exam. The others gave up due to various reasons. Chen Wenxu and others did not even take the exam last year.
The main reason is that the cost of the exam is too high, and the students are not sure about it, so they simply don’t take the provincial exam. Going back and forth will take several months, not to mention the cost, and it is also very taxing on the body. It is not like other provinces, regardless of whether they have
If you are not sure, take the exam first to try your luck.
Among the four, Wang Yuan and Li Ying rode horses, while Yue Zhen and Zou Mu rode donkeys.
Zou Mu, courtesy name Jinren, is nearly thirty years old. He became a disciple of Wang Yangming last summer and is also studying at Wenming Academy. He especially likes to run errands for Wang Yangming.
In addition to Wang Yuan, Li Ying, Yue Zhen and Zou Mu all had book boys with them, and they were book boys who were accustomed to fighting.
Chengxi Station.
A caravan with more than thirty horses was waiting on the official road, and there were also several people in the team who were going to take the imperial examination.
Wang Yuan and others arrived late and hurried to join the caravan.
This is a common method among Guizhou scholars. Walking with the caravan, there are many people to look after you. Moreover, the caravan is familiar with the road conditions and knows where to stop, so as to avoid sleeping in the wilderness after dark.
Li Ying quickly dismounted and apologized: "Boss Qin, I'm really sorry for keeping you waiting for so long."
The leader of Qin, named Qin Hao, was the leader of this caravan and specialized in doing business on the Yunnan-Guizhou Post Road. He was contacted by Li Ying's family for help.
Qin Hao was sunburned all over and his arms and legs were very strong. He smiled brightly and said: "It doesn't matter, I didn't delay anything. Li Sanlang was too polite."
Wang Yuan and others also dismounted to say hello, and then followed the other scholars who set out with the caravan to greet them.
After learning that Wang Yuan was a famous child prodigy, everyone became more respectful. Even in the caravan, many people secretly looked at him, as if they wanted to study the difference between Wenquxing and ordinary people.
Although the caravan has horses, the horses carry the goods, and everyone leads the horse on foot.
While observing the terrain along the way, Wang Yuan chatted with Qin Hao: "Boss Qin, can you make a lot of money from this trip to Kunming?"
Qin Hao smiled and said, "What do I earn? I'm just a hard worker."
Well, it seems that he is not the boss, but the captain of the transportation team, who is only responsible for leading people to transport the freight.
Wang Yuan asked again: "What are the things that are transported?"
Qin Hao saw that the prodigy was very interested in this, so he explained in detail: "It's mainly goods from Huguang, shipped from Guiyang to Kunming to earn the price difference. The real business is on the return trip, transporting some Yunnan salt from Kunming to Guizhou, our boss has
Yin Yin.”
Wang Yuan inquired carefully and found out that this route was also one of the tea-horse trade routes, but it was the one that was least valued.
The busiest tea-horse trade route is the Sichuan-Guizhou-Yunnan line, which goes directly from Yunnan to Sichuan via western Guizhou without passing through Guiyang. The Sichuan-Guizhou line is also very busy, transporting tea horses from central Guizhou to the north, with the final destination being the Shaanxi-Gansu-Zang area.
"I heard that business taxes are very low?" Wang Yuan asked curiously.
"The commercial tax is still low? Who did you listen to?" Qin Hao exclaimed, "The commercial tax is so high that it's scary. It's common to have bad luck and lose everything."
The business tax of the Ming Dynasty was indeed 1 in 30, and books, pens and ink, farm tools, fruits and vegetables, livestock and wedding and funeral items were also tax-free.
But that’s just sales tax!
There is also a transit tax levied at Jindu Pass, and the tax rate ranges from 20 cents for 30 to 10 cents. For example, timber is taxed for 10 cents when passing the customs; firewood and thatch are also taxed for 3 cents; mane and yellow vine are also taxed for 1 cent.
That's two out of thirty.
When encountering unreasonable and corrupt officials, a transit tax was levied upon the caravan's departure. One-tenth of the capital was already taken away from the timber merchants before they even set out on the road.
During the Xuande period, in order to promote the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes, the store tax in the market was increased five times. Large fruit and vegetable growers were also targeted. They had to pay taxes as long as they were loaded into trucks for wholesale, which violated Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral system of not paying taxes on fruits and vegetables. In addition,
Set up river transport checkpoints, collect transit taxes repeatedly, and collect taxes according to the size of the vessel.
In addition, there is also a royal store.
This thing became popular during the Zhengde period, and Eunuch Liu took the greatest credit.
In Beijing alone, six imperial stores were set up to levy taxes on merchants without any legal basis. Now the imperial stores have spread to surrounding areas with Beizhili as the center. Eunuchs used the emperor's sign to intercept merchants.
Conquering more or less depends entirely on one's will, and they often "kill people's lives for what Mi would not do".
After Liu Jin was overthrown, not only did the imperial shop not close, but it spread across the country.
Because Zhu Houzhao had already tasted the sweetness, the commercial taxes levied by the imperial store were directly put into the emperor's small treasury without going through the government channels. In the end, even small traders had to pay, and the eunuchs raised a bunch of helpers to collect taxes along the street.
Huangdian belonged to the mid-Ming Dynasty and was the most harmful existence to commercial development. Because the objects and amounts of levies were very arbitrary, businessmen had no idea at all and always had a sense of crisis.
Moreover, the eunuchs levied so many taxes, and most of them were embezzled by the eunuchs.
Since the emperor did this, the vassal princes and relatives were naturally not idle either. They often set up checkpoints privately and levied transit taxes indiscriminately, but local officials did not dare to take care of them.
Anyone who insists that business taxes are low in the Ming Dynasty will be beaten to death by the merchants.
Do you think it's a joke to emphasize agriculture and suppress business?
Those wealthy merchants, without exception, all colluded with eunuchs, relatives, and the government to achieve the purpose of bullying and dominating the market.
Serious businessmen have trouble making progress, and they often end up bankrupt in one fell swoop. Therefore, when they get rich, they train their children and grandchildren to study and become officials, and at the same time they buy land like crazy. After all, being a landowner is much more reliable than being a businessman.
Wang Yuan and Qin Boss chatted for a long time and were completely speechless.
The phenomenon of repeated taxation in the Ming Dynasty was too serious, and local tax powers were too large. The central government was always short of money. The emperor was also short of money, so he asked the eunuchs to set up imperial shops to do things. As a result, the emperor himself did not make much money, but he became fat.
A lot of eunuchs.
The court must gather financial power!
"Ruoxu, why are you asking these questions? Do you still want to do business in the future?" Yue Zhen said with a smile.
Wang Yuan said: "An official who does not pay attention to the people's sentiments is like a doctor who does not care about hearing and asking questions. Administering policies indiscriminately is like using medicine indiscriminately. Wouldn't the Ming Dynasty be seriously ill?"
Yue Zhen immediately became solemn, dismounted from his horse and saluted: "Ruoxu, this is a golden and good advice, I have learned from you!"
Wang Yuan laughed loudly: "I just said it casually."
"No," Zou Mu shook his head, "Although Ruoxu is a young man, he has a far-sighted vision than we do. I am almost 30 years old, and what I think about every day is the imperial examination. How can I hope to heal the Ming Dynasty? It is really shameful.
"
Li Ying pointed to the surrounding mountains and said with a smile: "You heal the country, but I want to scan the four directions and build the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty like an iron barrel. Therefore, I should also observe the mountains and rivers along the way. I will definitely use it when leading troops in the future."
.”
Qin smiled and said nothing, and hurried on his way. There were many scholars who went to the exam with him. They were all enthusiastic before passing the exam, but there was no news at all after they passed the exam.
He was just assigned a small official and struggled to get by in his official career. How could he still have the energy to heal the Ming Dynasty?
Let’s just say that Zou Mu, who is in front of me, passed the imperial examination in history and ended up being a teacher for the rest of his life.