Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 209 People's Livelihood

Hou Xun, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, said: "The old minister dare to ask the sage, the victims moved to Jining Prefecture and other places to open up wasteland and open up fields. Is the tax reduction and exemption policy for their fields just like Sun Zhongcheng and Shaanxi? In the next few years, the land tax income will be much less, and I think that the new land will be exempted from the tax for the first three years, but it is best to be taxed the same as the mature land from the fourth year, so as to increase the income of the Taicang treasury!"

Former Zhu Youjian decreed that all the affected prefectures and counties in Shanshan, Shandong, Henan, and Gyeonggi areas would be exempted from taxation for three years, starting from the tenth year of Chongzhen, all newly cultivated land would be exempted from taxation in the first three years and halved in the next three years. It is estimated that this measure will bring huge benefits to tens of millions of farmers in the Northland.But Hou Xun, who is the Minister of the Household Department, knew that the imperial court would lose a huge amount of income, which made him feel very reluctant after living a hard life, so he took the opportunity to put forward his own suggestion.

After the household department shared the salt profit with the emperor, the income of the Taicang treasury increased significantly, and many large expenditures were paid by the emperor from within, which left a large amount of money for the household department.Since there was a lot of money, the Ministry of Household Affairs was afraid of seeing foreign officials cowering before the change, and each of them became louder, as if they were afraid that others would not know that the Ministry of Household Affairs had money.

Why were you afraid of meeting foreign officials?Because people who come here ask for money, and they all have legitimate reasons. You don’t have any money to give them, and at the end you explain everything, and they get angry and leave after a big fight.After this kind of thing happened many times, everyone in the household department felt that they owed money to others, so when foreign officials came to the door, the family quickly found excuses to avoid it.

Out of curiosity, Wen Tiren and other important ministers once asked the emperor, why did the emperor use his own money to pay out many expenses that should have been paid by the treasury?You must know that most of the emperors of the Zhu family were misers, and they have always been very disgusted with the courtiers' demands for money from the inside to finance state affairs. The court takes money to deal with it, why should our Zhu family use our own money to do things for the court?
Zhu Youjian was a cowardly man who was overwhelmed by such weird reasons from his predecessors.Doesn't this world belong to the Zhu family?Shouldn't the royal money be used for national use in addition to its own expenses?If Daming were to perish, wouldn’t your money piled up like a mountain also belong to someone else?
Zhu Youjian's answer to the courtiers' questions was very simple: this world belongs to our Zhu family, and the wealth of the world should be used by the world. How can there be a distinction between public and private?

Wen Tiren and the others all responded with great admiration to the emperor. This is the kind of mind and tolerance that a king should have.

Hou Xun's wrinkled, bitter melon-like old face is now somewhat rounded, and he looks much younger.In a good mood, the old man Hou, who is nearly [-] years old, actually took another concubine. It is said that he has a body now, which makes Zhu Youjian have to admire the powerful functions of Lao Hou.

Zhu Youjian said: "The situation in the country has been in turmoil for more than ten years. The current territory is initially determined. It is time for the people to cultivate their lives and rest. Only when the people are rich can the country be strong. I don't want to see a Ming Dynasty where the country is rich and the people are poor. Although Hou Qing’s words are for the imperial court, no matter whether it is Taicang or our internal funds, there is no shortage of money and food for the people to live on. The increase of land taxes is the real way to compete with the people for profit! Qing's words just woke me up, and I suddenly thought of the matter of Jinhuayin; as the emperor, I should always think about the people in everything, Jinhuayin has been going on for nearly two hundred years, and the situation now is very different from before , I think it's time for a change!"

The establishment of Jinhuayin began in the Zhengtong period, and it has always been the most important source of royal private property.

In the first year of Zhengtong, Zhou Quan, the censor of the left deputy capital, went to Zhuqi Town of Yingzong Zhuqi, and suggested that in areas with underdeveloped transportation such as Nanzhili, Huguang, and Zhejiang, the land tax should be converted into cloth and silver and handed over to solve the difficulty of farmers in paying taxes.

Zhu Qizhen then decreed to collect more than [-] million shixiaqiutian taxes and silver payable from the six provinces of Nanzhili, Huguang, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jiangxi, so as to save the people from running around.

The grain paid by the six provinces was converted into silver at the market price at that time, and each stone of rice and wheat was converted into silver.

Yingzong then set the amount of silver received at 100 million taels per year, which is the origin of the royal golden flower silver.

Wang Chengen, who was on the side, knew his master's temperament. When Zhu Youjian mentioned that it was time to change the gold flower and silver, he quickly whispered: "My lord, that's 100 million taels of silver, and you can do a lot of great things if you keep it! Lord, we have to live a good life at home too!"

The officials in the palace didn't react much after hearing the emperor's words. They were also used to the emperor's various ways of distributing money in the past few years. It seemed that the emperor had plans to exempt gold, flower and silver.

Although it has nothing to do with himself, the ministers also admire the emperor's way of giving up his personal wealth and benefiting the people. In the past dynasties, there have been few kings as benevolent as the current emperor.As far away as the Wenjing of the Han Dynasty, and as close as the Renzong of the Song Dynasty, although he is also a wise king who treats the people well, he is not as kind and generous as the one in front of him.

Zhu Youjian ignored Wang Cheng'en, and said in a low voice, "I seldom went out of the palace before, and I don't know much about the sufferings of the people; but in recent years, after inspecting the farming work in Huangzhuang several times, I know the sufferings of the people! The old man of an ordinary farmer's family A small number of mouths, after a year of hard work, barely end up with only food for subsistence. You must know that life is not only about food, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, cloth, silk, needlework, sickness, and many other things, which one does not need money? Where can farmers get the silver they use? I only know that the young and strong in most families use the slack season to help out in exchange for meager funds to support the whole family. Do you know? The income of one season’s hard work is not even worth it One meal for everyone in the hall!"

After hearing the emperor's words, all the ministers and workers in the palace were ashamed, while others were indifferent.

Zhu Youjian's voice gradually became louder: "Many poor households can barely survive without disease or disaster, but once there is an unexpected event in the family, such as a family member suddenly contracting a serious illness, the family will use up their only wealth. , will eventually die due to lack of money for medical treatment! There are countless such cases in Daming every day. As the lord of a country, and the officials of the herdsmen, have you ever asked yourself, have you done your duty? I am not teaching you You sacrifice yourself for the people, but since I am the co-lord of the world, if I pluck out a hair to benefit the world, why don't I do it? I don't want to force you to do the same, I just hope that when it is about the people's livelihood, you will do more Considering the hardships and hardships of the people, instead of only focusing on your own interests, I hope you will think about it!"

All the officials were silent, the emperor's words still touched the hearts of many people.But all the ministers are people in high positions after all, and they have no personal experience of the hardships of the people.
So although I feel it in my heart, I still lack a more real cognition.

Zhu Youjian also knew that it was difficult for the ministers to have an intuitive feeling about the difficulties of the people based on his own rhetoric. If there was no specific method, his words today would disappear in the blink of an eye like a gust of wind.

He went on to say: "From my point of view, people in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, no matter whether they are in the court or in the place of Jiuli, they all have one thing in common, that is, they are used to being superior, and they think they are superior; many officials will think that the so-called Grass people, life is like weeds. After harvesting a stubble, new grass will grow in the next year. This cycle goes on and on, endless; Grassroots people should also accept it and let it go. How absurd this kind of cognition is! Don’t you know that your salary is rich, and the people are fat and the people are anointed; , scolding him why he didn’t sit at home and wait to die, but added trouble to the government! When I first heard what he said, I was as shocked and angry as I was when I learned about Xinyang today! What puzzles me is that this How did such a person go to study, take a mid-term exam, and enter the court! How are their words and deeds different from animals?!"

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　　What officials admire is the courage of the emperor to abolish Jinhuayin, which is the same as the idea that although we don't like certain celebrities and Internet celebrities, we still admire their ability to make money.As for officials seeking personal gain, this cannot be resolved at any time. Selfishness is human nature. Many people are corrupt officials, but if he is replaced as an official, he may be even more corrupt than a corrupt official.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)