Red Chamber: Bring Xue Baochai home at the beginning

Chapter 403 Matters are boiling, follow-up measures

It is said that the new year has a new atmosphere, but most of the dignitaries and dignitaries of the Great Wei did not have a good year.

Every family in the city took advantage of the opportunity of eating New Year's wine, and started to connect with familiar officials.

The similar interest demands made them quickly reach a consensus.

Now, they are all waiting for an opportunity.

This opportunity is the first court meeting of the new year.

Before the court meeting, as Feng Yibo expected, memorials of opposition were sent to the palace like a snowflake.

The royal case in the Linjing Hall where he and Yuan Chun once had a Spring Festival night can no longer be piled up.

But Feng Yibo acted as if nothing happened when he heard the news.

Everyone in the Marquis of Chu's Mansion was full of joy and had a good year.

The first big court meeting of the new year will come soon.

All the officials lined up solemnly, and each of them seemed to have a cold look in their eyes.

After performing the ceremony, Feng Yibo calmly walked to the front and continued to serve as an official of the attendant class.

"I have the original play!"

Before Feng Yibo could speak, a Kodao speaker, under the gaze of everyone, walked to the front slowly, and bowed to Bi Dan.

"The Empress Dowager and all the elders, taking advantage of Your Majesty's change of the Yuan Dynasty, entrusted the late Emperor's behest to promulgate a new law. Is it insecure?"

As usual, the Kodao spokesperson took the lead.

After all, it is their job to play rumors.

"Not bad!"

Before Yuan Chun and the cabinet had any reaction, another person came out to pay respects to His Majesty Dan, and said with a dignified look:
"As the saying goes, on the shore of the land, could it be that the king's ministers and the people of Wei are all His Majesty's subjects, how can they pay more because of the accumulation of their ancestors, and less because of their incompetence? Could it be that the court is a ranger who robs the rich and helps the poor?"

These words almost reached the hearts of civil and military officials.

People have accumulated wealth through generations of hard work, why should they pay more taxes when they have money?

Many people become officials in order to glorify their lintels, their ancestors and ancestors.

In other words, it is to provide shelter for the family.

There are also people who become officials to save money and make life better for future generations!

As the saying goes: If you don't make a fortune as an official, I won't come if you invite me.

There are also people who become officials to complete the class transition and so on.

In short, there are not many people who serve the people wholeheartedly when they become officials.

Not to mention that no one becomes an official for charity!
The righteousness of the family and the country means that the family comes first and the country comes after?
Reform is not impossible, but if you change it to your own home, who can bear it?
Feng Yibo put down the imperial edict in his hand, and watched their performance with a smile.

Later, more officials came out one after another, and the discussion was raging for a while.

"Those who have more land pay more taxes, and those who have no land pay more taxes. This is not conducive to the herdsmen and will make the people more lazy!"

You can reform if you want, but it must be fair!

In the past dynasties, people with mud legs mainly paid taxes. If you don’t share the world with the scholar-bureaucrats, let us pay more taxes?

In the era when land was the core of the economy, as the dignitaries of the ruling class, no one had a small family.

After all, those who can afford to read books are at worst well-to-do families.

The so-called poor family is also from the rich ancestors.

Otherwise, if one of the ordinary people's families is out of production, not to mention needing support, but also buying books, pens, inks, papers and inkstones, the whole family will starve to death.

Therefore, the buttocks of civil and military officials in the Manchu Dynasty naturally sit on the landlord's side!

"That's right! Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world. How can some people pay taxes and some people not pay taxes?"

Why do those who have land pay more?

Are the people who don't pay taxes still the people of Wei?
Most of the aspirations of this era are self-cultivation, family governance, state governance and world peace.

There is everything in the family, country and world here, but there is no well-being of ordinary people.

Self-cultivation is self-cultivation, family is the family, and governing the country is becoming a member of the ruling class.

As for the leveling of the world, some people say that leveling is average, others say it is equality, and some say it is peace...

But Feng Yibo felt at this moment that the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty understood "Ping Tianxia" as follows:
As the ruling class, they divided the wealth of the people equally!
"This law involves taxation. Even if it is the will of the late emperor, it should first be reviewed by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and then discussed and improved by the court meeting. Finally, whether to implement it or not!"

You can reform if you want, but such a big thing has to go through the process, right?

At least go through the household department and discuss it at the court meeting, right?

Of course, as long as it is discussed, they will find a way to stop it.

Or change beyond recognition, not involving their own interests.

Either disband on the spot, and do whatever you want!
"..."

For a time, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty spoke out against it one after another.

Some question fairness and justice, some question the struggle for profit with the people, some question procedural justice, and some question the will of the late emperor...

Yuan Chun behind the bead curtain acted as if he hadn't heard it, and made no expression.

The cabinet at the forefront is also the presence of the old gods, and it seems that they have nothing to do with them.

At this time, seeing that the Queen Mother and the cabinet did not respond, the king of Beijing County, who rarely appeared at court meetings, slowly stepped out.

"Everyone, don't be impatient."

The gentle and jade-like voice calmed down the angry officials.

Afterwards, Shui Rong bowed to Bi Dan and said in a deep voice:
"Qizou His Majesty and Queen Mother, this matter involves the gentry of the world, and I also feel that the implementation should be postponed, and a decision will be made after re-negotiation!"

Following the initiative of the king of Beijing County, all civil and military officials expressed their support.

"My minister agrees!"

"The minister waits for the second opinion!"

They want the queen mother and the cabinet to know what it means to be angry and what it means to see things boil.

All the money must be cancelled!

Feng Yibo glanced at Shui Rong, and couldn't help but sneer in his heart.

You don't want to be an idle prince, how dare you stand out when the wind in the court is against the founding line?

In fact, the Duke of Beijing felt great pressure to be the leader as the Duke.

In his view, sharing a small household into an acre involves the interests of the gentry all over the world.

If he can successfully persuade the Queen Mother and the cabinet to back down this time, his reputation will reach an unprecedented level.

And this time he showed his face and put himself in front of the stage, just to get a "golden body".

At that time, once the imperial court wants to deal with him, the gentry all over the world will inevitably think of the matter of spreading their money to their parents, thinking that the imperial court will attack them again, so they will get rid of this person who speaks for them first.

"Your Majesty and the elders have also thought about your concerns, so the first item of today's court meeting is the follow-up measures. Do you still want to hear about it?"

Feng Yibo waited for a long while, until no one made a sound, and then asked calmly.

Afterwards, under the suspicious gazes of civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, he took out the imperial edict in his hand and said loudly:
"The first item of today's court meeting is the follow-up measures on the distribution of people into the mu."

Hundreds of officials expressed their incomprehension.

But since it's a follow-up move, it's obvious that it won't be cancelled!
Hearing this, some people started to move around the corner, pricking up their ears one by one, ready to stand up and pick faults at any time.

"After the implementation of the allocation of stipends into the mu, the salaries of hundreds of officials will remain unchanged, but His Majesty is sympathetic to the difficulty of being an official in the court, and plans to allocate one-tenth of the tax revenue as a special fund to subsidize the full-time officials of the seventh rank and above in the world."

This is... blatantly buying us?

As soon as the first topic of the court meeting came out, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty immediately looked at each other in blank dismay.

If it is carried out on a per-acre basis, one-tenth of the tax will have to be four to five million taels of silver, right?

For a time, the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty were overwhelmed by such a big deal.

Needless to say, this move was naturally made by Feng Yibo.

After the distribution of Ding Ding into the mu, the taxation will stabilize and be greatly increased.

However, it will definitely be opposed by the gentry all over the world.

Feng Yibo's solution is naturally divide and conquer.

To put it bluntly, this trick is to use interests to bind officials all over the world.

Doing so can differentiate them and the gentry and landlords to a certain extent, so as to achieve their own goal of implementing the New Deal.

Even if not all officials, at least some officials can be recruited, so that they will not fight alone and become enemies of the gentry all over the world like Wang Anshi.

As for the uproar, it was within his expectation.

But having said that, the money is aimed at officials with real positions and errands, but it has nothing to do with Xu Jue!
Moreover, if the money is divided, it may be better than nothing for the dignitaries.

But this is of great benefit to Ke Dao Yushi, Hanlin Qinggui, and some Qingshui yamen.

As for the founding family, such as the King of Beijing and the Rongning Second Mansion, there is no subsidy.

Of course, there are also real positions in the founding lineage.

For example, the Shijia brothers, or the grandson of Jing Tianhou's Wucheng soldier Qiu Liang, etc., have duties.

For a while, Ke Dao, Hanlin, Ministry of Rites, etc. who were following along just now all showed expressions of anticipation.

Obviously, they want to know how the money will be divided.

As for the founding lineage, their faces changed one after another.

Some time ago, the founding lineage in the Beijing camp was wiped out, which already made them feel great pressure.

Now that the imperial court is going to send money, it bypasses them again.

This made it hard for the founding people not to think about it.

"Among them, there are four main items: maintenance of integrity, performance, business trips, and subsidies."

Feng Yibo introduced the special funds unhurriedly.

"Nursing honesty has existed since ancient times. The imperial court will distribute according to the grade of the actual position. As the saying goes: if you have enough food and clothing, you will know honor and disgrace. Only when officials have enough money to support their families can people avoid taking risks, put an end to corruption and bribery, and favoritism."

The so-called Yanglianyin is to give officials a certain amount of subsidies according to their ranks in addition to their salaries.

To enable them to have the financial means to live a decent life.

In order to maintain honesty and integrity, put an end to corruption, bribery, and perverting the law for personal gain.

This is not something that Feng Yibo moved over from later generations, but this policy has appeared intermittently as early as the Tang and Song Dynasties.

What he has to do today is to fix and institutionalize it.

"Performance is determined according to the assessment by the Ministry of Officials and the annual inspection of Ke Dao. Those who are good or above in all items, and those who have outstanding performance in one item can be rated as Grade A and awarded to His Majesty." recognition and performance bonuses.”

This is also an existing assessment, but it has changed from a test every three years to a test every year.

The results of the original assessment mainly involved promotion.

And now on top of that, money and honor rewards have been added.

Obviously, Feng Yibo just wanted to make them roll up.

"Whether it is an outstanding contribution or not is subject to the final evaluation by the cabinet and His Majesty."

This means that the final interpretation right belongs to the imperial court.

"All the evaluations are excellent, but if there are no outstanding contributors, they can be ranked second, and the cabinet will issue awards and corresponding performance bonuses."

Hearing this, all the officials showed surprise.

Because not only the frequency of assessments has changed, but also the assessment criteria have changed.

The original A class has now become a B class, and the current A class has relaxed the standards and made an intriguing and outstanding contribution.

Such standards are somewhat illusory.

Fortunately, such a reaction was also expected by Feng Yibo.

"A and B are two classes, each department and each province has a fixed number of places every year, I hope you will encourage each other!"

With a fixed quota, there will be no empty space.

When the Qing nobles heard this, they immediately became motivated.

"Business trips, including imperial envoys, all secondments from other places, cross-regional or departmental errands must be reported to the competent department, and corresponding subsidies will be issued according to the actual situation."

For many officials who need to travel on business, this item is extremely important.
Especially the censor of Kedao, who often has to patrol around.

The chariots and horses come from the imperial court, and there are official posts for accommodation.

But how can there be no cost when going out?

In this era, reimbursement is not available. If you have money, you can pay for it yourself. If you don’t have money, you can only save.

Now that there are subsidies for business trips, it seems that it is not so hard.

"The subsidy is mainly aimed at officials in remote areas, so that they can serve as officials in remote areas, and their families can have enough food and clothing, so they don't have to worry about the future."

This item is mainly aimed at officials who have been sent to the outside world.

At the same time, this also solved part of the worries for the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty.

After all, no one can guarantee that they will not make mistakes.

Once the party struggle fails or the affairs are not done well, it is inevitable that they will be sent to remote areas to serve as officials.

Although no one wants to go, but with such a subsidy, at least one can feel at ease at home.

There are four policies in a row, all of which are favorable to officials.

With the announcement one by one, the thoughts of many of the officials have quietly changed.

It seems that it is not unacceptable for the gentry and landlords to suffer a lot.

Just at this moment, an inarticulate voice sounded.

"The first emperor worked hard, worked hard, and devoted himself to bringing the Great Wei into a prosperous age. He has made many years of planning for this, but it is a pity that good fortune tricks people, and he controls the dragon and the sky in his prime! Now, we shall inherit the will of the late emperor and carry out this benevolent government. The whole country."

All the officials searched for the source of the voice, but only the people in front could see it.

It turned out that there was a chair next to the cabinet members.

There was a person sitting on it, talking with his mouth twisted.

"Nowadays, the edict has been issued to the world. It is a golden word, and the law follows the law. How can it be changed from day to day? What's more, this edict is the time when His Majesty changed the Yuan Dynasty. It is used to show benevolence and filial piety. Does anyone want His Majesty to withdraw it?"

The civil and military officials either followed the gap or whispered to each other, most of them were shocked.

It turned out that this person was the former Chief Assistant of the Cabinet, Zhang Songyue.

Although it's too late for tea, after all, after more than ten years as the chief assistant, Yu Wei still lingers.

For a while, many vacillating civil and military officials hesitated even more.

"Mr. Zhang has worked hard for the great Wei for half his life, but now he can't rest assured on the sick bed. His integrity is admirable!"

Feng Yibo smiled at this moment, and looked at Manchao Wenwu again.

"The follow-up measures have been finished. Now I will ask you on behalf of Your Majesty, the Queen Mother, the cabinet ministers, and Mr. Zhang."

Speaking of this, he narrowed his eyes slightly, looked at everyone present, and said in a deep voice:

"Who is in favor of the first item of today's court meeting, the sharing of people into the mu and the follow-up measures? Who is against?"

(End of this chapter)