Chongzhen and I became partners

Chapter 505

After the Emperor Chongzhen and Liu Weichao had such a pair of information about each other, they couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "I have seen it today, and my last words back then are really correct!"

There is not much information on the various tax evasion and tax exemption methods of officials and gentry; on the contrary, Liu Weichao's side, based on the records of previous dynasties, compiled them and told Emperor Chongzhen that he understood something.

And the last words he said refer to the original history of "the ministers misunderstood me". After understanding what these officials and gentry did, he remembered this sentence and felt that he was really right!

Emperor Chongzhen paused at this point, and then continued: "I didn't expect so many evil things to be uncovered because of Ma Shiying's memorial!"

Liu Weichao nodded, but did not speak.

"Tell me, what should I do?" Emperor Chongzhen frowned and said worriedly, "This time about the Jiangnan incident, I can deal with them in turn according to the method you gave. But, I was afraid, so I Based on their various methods, it may start again in a few years! Do you have any good methods, can you teach me?"

As far as the current matter is concerned, it is indeed possible to follow what Liu Weichao said, based on the local tax payment records, and in turn determine how many preferential exemptions and lands that should be taxed by the officials and gentry, and the rest will be returned to the officials, earning a lot of money. a sum.

However, officials and gentry have no bottom line, and it really hit Emperor Chongzhen a little bit.He was afraid that within a few years, the localities would start acting like demons again, passing taxes on to ordinary people, thus planting the root cause of turmoil.

What did Emperor Chongzhen care about most?
What he cares most about is the country left by his ancestors. He has discovered the root cause of the instability of the country. Naturally, if it is not resolved, he will forget about food and drink!

Seeing Emperor Chongzhen like this, Liu Weichao said to him: "After the Manchus entered the Central Plains, they soon encountered this problem. Their approach was to directly abolish preferential exemptions for officials and gentry, except for the officials and gentry themselves. , everything else is unavoidable, just like ordinary people, you have to pay taxes and serve in the military!"

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he was surprised and said, "This is also possible?"

For him, or for the people of the Ming Dynasty, it is a deep-rooted idea that officials and gentry should be exempted. After all, it has been like this for hundreds of years, and it is a kind of common sense.

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen was a little excited after being surprised, and before Liu Weichao could speak, he immediately continued: "Since even Jianlu can do this, so can I!"

After hearing this, Liu Weichao did not agree with a smile, but reminded with a serious expression: "This practice of the Manchu Qing does not include them themselves, that is, the banner people are not in this case! It can even be said that the power enjoyed by the banner people is greater than that of the Compared with you at this time, the officials and gentry are even bigger!"

"..." Emperor Chongzhen was dumbfounded when he heard this.

He is not stupid, and he naturally understands that the foundation of Jianlu's rule of the world is the bannermen, so they have the capital to do this thing, which is completely different from his situation.

Emperor Chongzhen was in a daze, when Liu Weichao continued to say to him: "Moreover, this measure of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was only implemented in Henan province at the beginning. After the emperor who made this policy died, this measure will be abolished. !"

"..." Emperor Chongzhen heard his words, and just recovered, he was stunned again.

The implication of Liu Weichao's words is nothing more than saying that even Jianlu, who relies on bannermen to rule the world, cannot abolish the preferential exemption for officials and gentry!
After being in a daze for a long time, Emperor Chongzhen came back to his senses and became very depressed and said: "Could it be that this is a knot that cannot be resolved at all?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly came back to his senses, a trace of expectation immediately appeared on his face, and he quickly asked Liu Weichao, "By the way, what did you do at that time? Did you solve it?"

Liu Weichao couldn't help laughing when he heard this, shook his head and said: "In my era, the land is all owned by the state, the agricultural tax has been abolished, and there is no labor. It is all paid by the state. There is an essential difference from your time!"

"..." Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen was speechless again.

At this time, he remembered that Liu Weichao seemed to have told him before that the land tax had already been abolished at that time!The development of science and technology and the development of commerce in later generations have made the country a lot of money.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen was a little frustrated, and said to Liu Weichao in a bit of frustration: "Then what should I do, is it possible to just watch the reincarnation for so many years?"

He found the root of the matter but couldn't solve it, which made him feel very powerless.

But who knows, after Liu Weichao heard it, he smiled slightly and said: "I have been thinking about this for the past two days, and I have come up with a solution for you. You can listen to it and see if it is useful, or suitable for you. when to use it?"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed immediately, and quickly said to him: "It must be useful, it must be useful, tell me quickly, I will know, you are the smartest!"

"..." Liu Weichao was speechless, this dog emperor, do you want to flatter like this, what about the emperor's dignity?
Although he thought so in his heart, he was actually very useful. No, he immediately replied to Emperor Chongzhen: "Didn't Zhang Juzheng implement a whip method during the Wanli period? All things can be converted into silver. In this case, I feel that you Is it possible to do this…”

"How?" After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen hurriedly asked with anticipation.

Sensing his urgency, Liu Weichao immediately replied: "It is to abolish the preferential exemption for officials and gentry, but according to the previous quota of preferential exemption for officials and gentry, it will be converted into silver and distributed to them in the form of salary. In this way, your Ming Dynasty will be Everyone has to pay taxes and serve in the service, and no one can escape it. But because the tax can be deducted by paying money, the part of the official’s preferential exemption within the limit is equivalent to being exempted by the imperial court.”

Emperor Chongzhen was very excited when he heard this, but he didn't express his position immediately, but was thinking about this proposal.Apparently, he has passed the stage where Liu Weichao is like an answering bug, saying "Okay, okay".

Liu Weichao looked at him and didn't bother him, letting him think for himself.It wasn't until he felt that it was almost done that he added an explanation: "Although the salary issued by the imperial court will increase a lot at once. However, this part of the increased salary can actually be understood as the payment after the tax is collected in advance. One of the biggest advantages of doing so is, It can solve the problem that officials and gentry find ways to evade and evade taxes beyond the limit!"

"For the officials and gentry, the preferential treatment given to them by the imperial court in terms of law has not been reduced, it has just been manifested in another form!"

When Liu Weichao checked the information, he found that many officials saw the harm of excessive exemptions beyond the preferential exemption quota for officials and gentry, and they also regulated them or expressed concern.

One of them made him a little surprised. This person is Qian Qianyi.

In his letter to the prefect of Suzhou, he said indignantly that the abuse of indiscriminate exemption "wrongly listed names and colors, and confused nobles and purples", which caused "the middle and lower households of the leaders trekked hard, broke their families and lost their properties, and even died. To make up for it, the rich and powerful families should not take the public's urgency at the top, and do not care about the poverty of the poor, and enjoy the benefits of the golden caves of the copper mountain, and commit the evil of knocking the bones and sucking the marrow. , the calamity of burning, looting and looting is brewing from now on, so don’t be afraid anymore!”

From this we can also see that there are still some wise men among the officials and gentry, and if they make innovations within the scope of the law, they can also get support.

When Liu Weichao was thinking about it, Emperor Chongzhen had obviously thought about it, and said with joy, "I think it will work!"

After finishing speaking, he felt that his words were too short to express his joy, so he immediately continued: "I just thought about it, if I were those black-hearted officials, what would I do if this national policy was carried forward? ? After thinking about it for a long time, I can't think of any other advantages. Therefore, I think this method is very good, very good!"

After a pause, he suddenly added another sentence: "It's much better than Jianlu's bullshit method!"

"..." Liu Weichao couldn't help being speechless for a while after hearing this, and then, instead of showing a satisfied smile, he said to Emperor Chongzhen seriously: "Don't be so exaggerated, any policy must have good and bad, especially There must be more or less problems with your nationwide policy! There are still many details to be resolved!"

"..." Emperor Chongzhen was slightly taken aback when he heard this.

Afterwards, he asked a little unconvinced: "Then tell me!"

After hearing this, Liu Weichao immediately replied: "First, the salary is paid on a monthly basis, how many times a year are taxes and labor? Then how do you calculate the balance?"

Without waiting for Emperor Chongzhen to answer, he continued, "Secondly, I estimate that according to this method, everything in the Ming Dynasty will be focused on money! You must pay attention to this point. This kind of atmosphere will cause Corruption that causes officials and gentry falls in the eyes of money."

Emperor Chongzhen was dumbfounded. He had never thought of these details.

So, he quickly asked: "Since you have thought of it, have you thought of a countermeasure?"

Emperor Chongzhen felt that Liu Weichao thought more, so he simply asked directly.

Liu Weichao listened, nodded, smiled and said, "Of course, I'm just being picky. For example, for the first point, you can be generous. Don't be fussy. It's a kind of high salary."

Regarding the matter of high salaries and honesty, he once said before that the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were really too low.

Of course, Emperor Chongzhen also agreed, and had already issued a decree, saying that he would increase the salaries of officials.

After hearing Liu Weichao's words at this time, he nodded and immediately asked: "What about the second question?"

(End of this chapter)