Mixed with salted fish in Hongwudang

Chapter 456 Who Made Your Grandpa So Partial!
Ever since Zhu Yunxi proposed the new policy that officials and gentry should pay food as a whole, there was a trend of pretending to be poor in the court of Ming Dynasty.

Many officials have patches on their official uniforms. Even if they are newly made clothes, a few pieces have to be patched on the collar and sleeves to prove that they are living in a difficult life.

What's more, they dug out old clothes from many years ago and mended them to wear them.

In their view, the reason why the grandpa and grandson of the Ming Dynasty hated officials all over the world so much was a typical hatred of the rich.

As long as they pretend to be poor, the grandpa and grandson can let them go.

On this day, when Lao Zhu went to court, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were wearing patched clothes again.

Lao Zhu looked at it for a while, and felt strong dislike in his heart.

Although he advocated simplicity, he never advocated pretending to be poor.

Furthermore, officials are the image of the imperial court. If even officials wear patched clothes, then envoys from various states would have to laugh their ass off when they came to Ming Dynasty to pay homage?
"Anyone who dares to wear patched clothes tomorrow will not come to court!"

Lao Zhu put down these words angrily, and then began a dull and busy morning.

A group of officials looked at the patches on each other's bodies, and secretly smiled smugly.

This is what they want!

By throwing away his own people and indirectly throwing away those in the court, the old emperor couldn't stand it!

After the court was over, they whispered to each other to celebrate today's victory.

"Great, the old emperor finally couldn't take it anymore, hahaha!"

"It's all the emperor's grandson's fault, the rules of the past dynasties must be changed!"

"The Yuan Dynasty didn't collect taxes from the gentry, so why would the grandson of the emperor dare to attack the gentry?"

Chen Zongli, Minister of the Household Department, listened to the conversation of the young officials in front of him, and shook his head helplessly at Qin Kui who was beside him.

"Young!"

"The ignorant are truly fearless!"

"Who says it's not? They actually want to use this method to force His Majesty to change his mind. It's wishful thinking!"

After Qin Kui agreed, he asked quietly.

"Old minister, what have you done with the extra land in your house?"

Chen Zongli looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to the two of them, so he lowered his voice.

"Our family has a lot of relatives, so we can finish the job after we divide the family."

"As for the land that is attached to, all of them have been withdrawn, so as not to touch His Majesty's taboo at this time!"

Qin Kui laughed when he heard this.

"What a coincidence!"

"My family only left a few acres of ration land, and distributed the excess land to relatives. They only need to pay us [-]% of the rent every year!"

"There is no need to pay taxes on ration fields, but now it is cheaper than before, hehehe..."

Kong Na, who was at the front of the crowd, said to his son Kong Gongjian who was supporting him.

"Has our land been dealt with?"

"Go back to my lord father, it has been dealt with properly, and everything is done according to my father's orders!"

Kong Na laughed when he heard the words.

"The grandson of the emperor is kind!"

"The ration field..."

"As long as we turn all the land of the Kong family into ration fields, it will be fine, hehehe?"

This is the tax avoidance strategy of Ming officials, transferring all the land under their names to the names of relatives or the same clan, and then avoiding taxes in the name of ration fields.

In order to perfectly avoid taxation, they also deliberately raised the standard of local grain rations per capita, ranging from two or three acres to four or five acres.

However, this method can only be used by those in high positions, and they are not worried about the rebellion of the tenants who are farming.

As for the squires at the bottom, they can only make up for their losses by increasing rents.

While the court was going down at the Fengtian Hall, the Xiaochaohui at the Wenhua Hall was discussing in full swing.

This is not an unusual situation. After all, generally speaking, the Wenhua Palace ends much earlier than the Fengtian Palace, and there is very little delay.

The topic discussed here by Zhu Yunxi is also the taxation issue of the New Deal.

"As far as I know, there are many people who hide their land property now."

"Although they don't dare to falsify the total number, there are endless ways to swindle the wealth of rich households on top of ordinary farmers."

"In addition, there are some officials who distribute the excess land in their families to relatives, people of the same clan, and people from the same village, and embezzle their tax exemption quotas, thereby evading court taxes."

"This kind of thing should also be avoided in order to prevent the court's tax sources from drying up."

"I wonder if the masters and gentlemen have any good solutions?"

Originally, Yang Xinlu wanted to say a few words, but when he thought of being sprayed by Gao Ming last time, he shut up wisely.

Qin Hengbo looked around and didn't speak, then looked at Gao Ming, seeing that Gao Ming wasn't staring at him, he said in a low voice.

"Your Highness, you can adjust the tax exemption amount, or abolish the tax exemption system for ration fields, so that you don't have to worry about people's tricks to send fields."

Zhu Yunxi nodded when he heard the words, and then looked at the others.

"You guys also express your opinion!"

"Zhang Zongjun?"

"Zitai?"

"Xie Kui?"

"Chen Mi?"

"Qin Ye?"

"Kong Yanjin?"

"Chang Jizu... Needless to say, your land has already been confiscated by me..."

Hearing what Zhu Yunxi said, Chang Jizu stood up, smiled shyly, and sat down again.

Their family's land had long been given to the emperor's grandson, and it was exchanged from the emperor's grandson for the shares of the Minggang Chamber of Commerce.

At first, his mother didn't agree, but after seeing the court's tax reform, he realized how much the emperor's grandson took care of their family.

When Kong Yanjin heard Zhu Yunxie call his name, he stood up in great frustration and said.

"Your Highness, Grandpa Weichen did exactly what you just said. He distributed all the family's land to the clansmen."

"Weichen is so ashamed, where does he have the face to speak..."

Yang Xinlu made up his mind to shut up after hearing this, because he didn't need his grandfather to show up, he just did it himself.

As the saying goes, there are policies above, and countermeasures below.

Since ancient times, there is only one thing that no one likes, and that is paying taxes!

Not to mention that officials like Daming didn't like it, when Chen Zongli planned to make Zhu Yunxi pay more taxes, it seemed like killing him.

Therefore, Zhu Yunxi can understand this matter quite well.But understanding is understanding. Withdrawing money from the rich is his main responsibility as the grandson of the emperor, and it is an inescapable responsibility.

"It's okay, I have known about your family for a long time, you can speak freely."

"To maintain the stable operation of the imperial court, there must be a stable tax source. This tax is either from the common people or from the rich. In short, someone must pay the money."

"It has been very difficult to find rich people to collect taxes since ancient times, but we can't stop doing it just because it is difficult!"

After Zhu Yunxi finished speaking impassionedly, the blood of all the young people in Wenhua Hall was so excited that they even looked at Zhu Yunxi with eyes full of admiration.

As for Yang Xinlu, Qin Hengbo, Zhang Zongjun and other old fellows, they looked helplessly at the sky, without any fluctuation on their faces.

Heh heh, it sounds nice, you have the ability to pay the taxes for those workshops under your name!

Zhu Yunxi saw the expressions of the old guys rolling their eyes, and suddenly felt a fever on his face.

"Everyone, the workshop must pay taxes, but it's not appropriate now..."

"Now the management of the lonely workshop adopts the profit turn-in system. I use the money to develop basic industries and build railways. I can't pay taxes to the court for the time being."

"Therefore, at this stage, if the imperial court wants to maintain its operations, it still relies on agricultural taxes."

Hearing this, several people bowed their hands to Zhu Yunxi perfunctorily, said something about the emperor's grandson Shengming, and then chatted with each other.

Gao Ming endured it for a while, and stood up before Zhu Yunxi called the roll call.

"Your Highness, in my opinion, we shouldn't exempt grain ration fields at this stage, and we should collect taxes regardless of discrimination."

"After all, the current [-]% tax is much lower than previous dynasties."

"Although other dynasties say [-]% of the tax, but the population tax, corvee, and other miscellaneous taxes add up to far more than [-]%, and even as much as [-]% to [-]%!"

"We have reduced and exempted so much, and if we exempt farmers with less than three acres of land per capita, wouldn't we lose a very large tax source?"

"Therefore, I think we should levy taxes according to the land. Those with more land will be charged more, those with less land will be taxed less, and those without land will not be taxed. Instead, we should collect taxes in other ways, or continue to use the previous policy and follow the craftsman's policy. Household, fisherman and other systems..."

"The imperial court should use the amount of land in each county as a benchmark, and let them pay enough grain or equivalent money every year on time and in volume..."

Yang Xinlu, who had been an audience all along, couldn't bear it any longer when he heard this, so he stood up and began to rant.

"Old man Gao, do you think you are the only one who is smart in the world!"

"If you do this, you can guarantee the court's tax revenue, but don't you care about the life and death of the people at the bottom?"

"The subordinate officials in our Ming Dynasty are all hereditary. They have lived in the local area for generations. Even if they can't change the total amount of land in each county, they can always change the amount shared by each household, right?"

"They have countless reasons to distribute their land to ordinary people, and let ordinary people pay taxes for them!"

Gao Ming wanted to go back mercilessly, but after hearing Yang Xinlu's words, he thought about it for a long time and couldn't think of a reason to go back, so he could only helplessly bow his hands at the other party, expressing that he had been educated.

Seeing Gao Ming's posture, Yang Xinlu didn't chase after Gao Ming, but sat down contentedly.

The others echoed after hearing the words.

"Your Highness, what Master Yang said is very true, this matter must be guarded against."

"There are nearly a thousand counties in Daming Prefecture. No matter how many inspectors are dispatched, it is difficult to supervise them to such a detailed level."

"In the end, the imperial court's taxes still have to be collected by the local subordinates. Once they are forced too much, they will inevitably transfer the tax burden that should belong to them to others, which will definitely cause dissatisfaction among the people and even lead to civil uprisings." ..."

Seeing that everyone supported Yang Xinlu wholeheartedly, Gao Ming couldn't help asking angrily.

"Then what do you say we should do?"

Everyone looked at me, I looked at you, and then all looked at Zhu Yunxi.

"Of course I ask the emperor's grandson to make a decision!"

Before Zhu Yunxi could react, the old man Gao Ming became impatient.

"you!"

"If you wait for the emperor's grandson to decide everything, then what's the use of the emperor's grandson supporting you!"

Although Gao Ming's words were very harsh, Yang Xinlu and others ignored him directly.

Since ancient times, reforms have always started with sacrifices. If the emperor's grandson wants to promote such a big reform, how can it be possible for some people to die?

They are now a typical example of watching the excitement and don't think it's a big deal, they just want to see who the emperor's grandson will start the fire from!
Zhu Yunxi listened to their discussion for a while, and saw Wang De winking at him, so he hurriedly ended the morning meeting.

"never mind!"

"Let's stop discussing here today. You guys are busy with other work first. Let's find time to talk about this later."

"promise!"

After all the officials retreated, Wang De came to Zhu Yunxi and whispered.

"Your Highness, people from Jinyiwei came to report that Shuren Qin wanted to see you..."

The so-called concubine of Qin is the king of Qin, Zhu Xi. Ever since Lao Zhu demoted him as a concubine, the Jinyiwei people called him that, as if calling him concubine Zhu was an insult to the emperor.

Although Lao Zhu had already left Zhu Yu's life and death to Zhu Yunxi to decide, but Zhu Yunxi knew that the old man didn't want to see him kill his second son, so he kept ignoring Zhu Yu and locked him in Jinyiwei Prison to dry.

However, he couldn't figure it out, he didn't go to Zhu Xi, but Zhu Xi took the initiative to see him, could it be that he thought his life was long?
Seeing that Zhu Yunxi was unmoved, Wang De added another sentence.

"The common people of Qin went on a hunger strike to beg to see him, and the people of Jinyiwei didn't dare to neglect, so they ordered people to inform the servants..."

Zhu Yunxi sighed helplessly when he heard the words.

"Let's go, go meet our cheap second uncle!"

Beizhen Fusi open-air courtyard.

Zhu Xi sat out of boredom on the patio of the small courtyard, staring blankly at the gray sky.

I don't know when, the sky in Jinling is no longer clear and bright, but always looks gray, as if someone has sprinkled a handful of dust in the sky.

Only a short time after the rain, the clear blue can be restored, but it will become groggy again within an afternoon.

Zhu Xi stared blankly at the sky, then heard a gurgling sound coming from his stomach.

It was the sound of hunger, but he had no desire to eat.

Because compared to the current confined life, death may be a relief.

With a creaking sound, the gate of the small courtyard was pushed open, and Zhu Yunxie, who was dressed in casual clothes with a dragon pattern, walked in.

"Good afternoon, uncle?"

Zhu Yu sat on the recliner blankly, and replied a word in Zhu Yunxi's direction.

"install!"

After exchanging a few words, the two fell into a long silence. Zhu Yunxi didn't want to talk to Zhu Xi, but Zhu Xi didn't know how to speak.

After all, what I want to inquire about is life and death.

"Zhu Yunxi, how do you plan to deal with me?"

This was the most troublesome thing for Zhu Yunxi. Hearing this, he kicked the ball directly with Zhu Xi.

"How does Second Uncle want me to deal with you?"

Zhu Xing laughed when he heard the words.

"I hope?"

"I hope you can restore my title and let me return to Xi'an to be king again!"

Zhu Yunxi smiled playfully when he heard the words.

"Second uncle was joking, the order to confine you was given by the emperor's grandfather, I can't disobey the emperor's order!"

"But having said that, even if I let you go back to Xi'an as a prince, can you be a prince of Taiping with peace of mind?"

"If I remember correctly, my father made love for you in front of the emperor's grandfather, and then let you return to Xi'an to be the king."

"But how did you repay your brother?"

"You are doing everything possible to deal with your eldest brother's son, and even fornicating with the White Lotus Sect, intending to kill me!"

"Are you worthy of your elder brother, and the blood of the Zhu family flowing through you!"

Under Zhu Yunxi's repeated questioning, Zhu Xi couldn't hold back any longer, and shed crocodile tears.

"I……"

"I'm not human, woo woo woo..."

"But it can't be all my fault, who made your grandfather so partial!"

(End of this chapter)