Jingming

Chapter 159 It's Too Late for Yang Tinghe to Regret

When there was a quarrel, Zhu Houcong looked at them quietly.

"The two battles in Tuen Mun were decided on the sea, and never invaded the hinterland. The annual grain amount in Guangdong in summer and autumn exceeded one million shi, and it was only 10 taels of silver when it was transported to Beijing. How much can we save on transportation costs? If we don’t send a little more this time, what if the rest of the provinces intend to follow suit and ask for taxes in lieu of payment in the name of banditry?” Li Nai retorted first.

Yang Tan also said, "Your Majesty's big wedding will be after the harvest of the autumn grain. Guangdong's summer grain quota is only [-] shi. At this time, only places like Guangdong have the most people!"

Mao Ji said: "However, Guangdong has already cleared the land, and everyone knows that the new law will be implemented. At this time, the corvee has increased. Isn't it an opportunity for the gentry and wealthy households to incite the people to make trouble?"

Wang Qiong joined the battle group: "It's just clearing the land, and it hasn't been reformed. If there are gentry and wealthy households who take the opportunity to make trouble, Zhang Fujing's sword will still be given by the emperor!"

Fei Hongda shook his head: "If this is the case, won't the provinces be terrified? There may be another incident of rebels killing officials last year, and the whole world will be uneasy. The new law must be implemented, but it can only be slowed down."

Jiang Mian: "There is also the matter of the daughter of the Grand Master Sun becoming the queen, and who is to release the forbidden Chinese language? Da Si Nong, your household department has invited all places to offer fragrant tea, isn't it another reason for Guangdong to apportion it? How time-consuming and laborious tea picking is, and the offerings need to be picked out of a hundred! Strong men are serving in the army, women and children are picking tea, who in Guangdong has the time to plow spring?"

Li Chongsi's people were all dumbfounded: Sun Jiao's daughter?Queen?

In addition, why are you arguing like this?
Xiao Zongbo Zhang Zilin, did he mean that under the national policy meeting, the monarch and his ministers are of one mind?

"As for the farmland in Guangdong, it was only about 17 hectares at the beginning of the country, but now? More than [-] hectares! I am also vague. Over the years in Guangdong, not a lot of civilian land has been converted into military settlements. Even though the output of Guangdong's farmland has exceeded [-] shi, The imperial court still needs to send food and salaries to the country every year!" Yuan Yihe sighed, "Your Majesty, that is only the land of the eight prefectures, and the new policy on taxation and labor has not yet been tried."

It is difficult to rebel, what kind of emperor is he now?I will definitely be very impatient to lay out the fishing.

But what Wang Qionghe said, only the first sentence touched the root, only one word in it.

I know how to get off the assembly line, forget? !
The eight ministers are all alive, and there are only four people left.

The rich must want to serve in the military service, what should I do?Look for those who are officials, or those without fame, and "sell" the land to us.

Sun Jiao has not yet lost the earl's "adventure": "...the minister thinks that it is really necessary to plan for descendants."

Because it has fallen to the low level of loyalty is loyalty, "filial piety is filial piety".

Few people are thinking of changing the law and trying to be weak?

Zhang Fujing stopped us from quarreling: "Guangdong is trying out the new law, and the provinces are worried. What is the current situation? It is a confluence of heaven and earth, trying to prevent the effectiveness of the new law in Guangdong province. Eight or seven years ago, the more reforms got worse, I will Stop thinking about it, am I wrong?"

Of the remaining seven cabinet ministers and the four ministers, which one is a young man who becomes an official, and the interests represented are relatively small and incomparable?
Yuan Yiyan looked at us quietly: So why are you acting so tacitly now?

What does it feel like the emperor understands too well?
Because it is a chain of interests, and it is natural to cultivate with heart by taking on corvée, and the output is less.

Where did the people in Xiaoming's demographic caliber go?If you die, you have escaped.Without a legal identity, they are all slaves.

Therefore, Yan Song was the first to say righteously: "I think what your Majesty said is true. It's a fundamental problem, and it's time to move!"

Fields were the asset that provided the most stable output in that era.Even if you want to do business, the stable output of the field is also a guarantee, and there is certainty that there will always be no big or small businessmen.

Before Wang Qionghe dared to stand behind, he finally made a series of statements.

Why don't you just stay in the court?You should have slipped away before you discovered that your Majesty understood the importance of Neo Confucianism.

But Guan Tian, ​​Wang Xian, Yang Ting, and Li Nai all understood His Majesty's real intention to protect us: "The minister seconded the proposal."

Cui Yuan looked at the emperor in embarrassment: There is no way to think like that.

Why did Guangdong Qingzhang start with the land before it was finished?Because the method Li Chongsi and Gui E asked to play down also solved the fundamental problem.

What is moving is the corvee burden that we live in those fields, and we are required to bear the apportionment of corvee.

"The minister seconded the proposal..." After all, Zhang Zilin was willing to leave as soon as he came.

But is it really a problem to say that the scholar-officials rule the sky and reward the emperor with a bite of food?The killing intent is too heavy!
At that time, there is no need to be afraid. With the concerted efforts of the fourteen ministers under the National Policy Conference, what kind of things should be suppressed?
Yuan Yihe looked at the emperor with a solemn expression.

In the local area, it is the conspiracy of the small gentry and the desire for power of the local officials to please the emperor.

The definition of people is also the same in our minds.

Zhang Zilin thoroughly felt that the current national policy conference and the court are the same.

The rest are still thinking.

Now it's time to speak and punish all the crimes together!

Zhang Fujing smiled when he heard it: I want you to take the blame, I want to make peace with you, and I want to remind you of the fundamental difficulties of the new law.

Zhang Fujing nodded: "Your Majesty, don't forget that when I came to the throne, the first thing I did was not to check the accounts. In the 17th year of Chenghua, your Xiaoming's household registration was more than 11 million. In the 8000th year of Hongzhi, 80 million. In the first year of Zhengde, [-]. More than eight million. In [-], what kind of natural disasters and military disasters happened to Xiao Ming, so that there were [-]% more people? Two years after the emperor's brother ascended the throne, more than [-] million people died in Xiao Ming? Hongzhi ZTE, over [-] people die every day? It doesn’t matter whether it’s ZTE or not, it’s about how much more people there are, how much more land should be paid, the land tax is too much, and the annual income is also too much. They are very stable. People say it’s amazing strangeness?"

The emperor's words made the hearts of those old officials jump a little.

It's strange that I'm slowing down now, Li Chongsi is like an ant under the cold pot in Guangdong, but I'm always thinking about taking a step back to let Li Chongsi do something.

Wang Qionghe looked at me: ...

That's not the real meaning of Fang Muxian's words.

"So what's the current situation in the local government?" Zhang Fujing looked at Yuan Yi with a smile, "Little Si Nong, the annual income of the land tax is not much, but it is actually handed over by the official household and Yuan Yi?"

Now Wang Qionghe seems to have really become a member of the reform group, and he wants to do it, but he has to say where the difficulty lies.

Two months before the Spring Festival, the emperor was once again tough on a certain matter, but his words and deeds were consistent, and what he said was only the new law in Guangdong.

There is a tacit agreement on whoever wants to harm someone.

In fact, more than half of Xiao Ming's taxes are paid by the officials, and the wealthy households and farmers who rent our land are low-level managers and migrant workers respectively.

As long as you can say that you are afraid of corvee, that's enough...

What kind of mood did Zhu Houcong have when he said that?
I'm new here, and it's not perhaps the most important national policy meeting yet.

"The implementation of Guangdong's new laws is secondary. Qing and others are involved in national policy. At this time, they are just discussing, so don't act. The fundamental problem lies outside this. What the monarchs and ministers need to discuss at this time is that the new law is to avoid that fundamental problem." In Zhang Zilin's eyes, the emperor said those words very fiercely, "Although I am indeed ruling the sky with the gentry now, if all the people under the yellow book hide away from the officials and gentry, what will happen in the future? Become a scholar-official and rule the heavens, and reward my descendants with a bite of food?"

The emperor is very special.

I really understand...

I understand the spirit of the meeting.

First of all, I want a special iron bucket, the center of the real "monarch and ministers as one mind".

The chief assistant could only speak again on behalf of: "Your Majesty, I will not say anything since then. It is not my wish to change the evils and make new ones. However, the difficulties of the century-old evils are actually here. Supervision, warehousing and transshipment, and the division of military and government are all entangled. In Guangdong, there are no other difficulties such as city ships, sea bans, and frontier guards. Where did the new law start? It’s difficult for the fields.”

Zhang Zilin really wanted to escape, but he escaped.

If it is still called the next retirement, Xiaochai will be a new Mao Cheng.

As for the corvee, this is even more of a discussion.It's called a few dings, but in fact, who will manage the officials and gentry's house?
It must be fixed now, the front is over, and if there is another rebellion, the minister who has no experience in counseling is not the smallest target!
Because of the apportionment of corvee by the local government, those who are officials and officials will all be apportioned to the tenants of the official households.

The emperor remained silent.

Li Chongsi killed many people in Guangdong, and collected many stolen land for Yang Tan.Yangtan also needs to find people to cultivate it.When the common people cultivate Yangtan, they not only pay the land tax, but also pay a rent to the local government.

If it is stable, it means that there is a problem, that is, it will check the local people who have illegally escaped the land tax.

The real private land has a high tax rate.However, the proportion of real private households and private land now is only [-]% on the national average.

Wang Qionghe thought of Yang Shen who had not gone to Guangdong to experience "meritorious service", and remembered that before he slapped his ass and left, and handed over the important task of protecting the interests of the gentry to Fei Hong, would that old fox treat King Ning to my ancestral grave? Those who are planed use their own knives.

At this time, from Beijing officials to Li officials, from scholars, Juren to miscellaneous officials, there are no regulations on exempting Ding and exempting taxes.In the Wanli period, the first rank of the capital was exempted from the land tax of [-] mu, and the fourth rank was less than [-] mu, and the official was halved.A retired official who is an official must have at least [-] acres, a person with [-] acres, and a scholar who does not have [-] acres.

That attitude, is a bad show.That attitude, however, can be expressed.

"In order to ensure that the monarch and ministers are of one mind, I said at the beginning of the establishment of the National Policy Conference that ministers participating in the National Policy Conference do not have these eight small privileges. Even if they just come there for a while, they cannot be retired. Therefore, Yuan Yi and others involved I can't protect the old things first." Yuan Yiyan pointed out first, "I have only paid attention to the Beijing camp and this matter under the national policy meeting for eight years, so you can think carefully about expressing your position now. The fundamental problem is to use corvee."

Guan Tian nodded, not knowing what the emperor was going to say.

And now, what is the background of that superficial fight and quarrel with each other?
The local government levies miscellaneous taxes, and that kind of corvee is the real burden on the common people!

Many local departments were edited and reviewed as a whip, which solved the problem of corvee apportionment.

Yuan Yiyan nodded with a smile on his face: "The monarch and his ministers are united, and my heart is very comforting."

Pretending to be false and submissive?It exists, if they can arrange their own tasks and take the lead in implementing this kind.

Some helpless tears welled up in my eyes from the bottom of my heart: "Minister... seconded."

Fighting away someone and sitting in my seat, if you avoid the fundamental problem, you will also leave.

Yuan Yiyan listened.

In the imperial court, it is the backbone ministers in charge of practical affairs of various ministries who secretly bury their selfish desires in the national policy, and it is the central officials who use it to fight.

There was silence in the imperial study room, and everyone looked at the emperor with simple expressions.

After the new law has been formally launched, and after Guangdong is only cleared to the land, go to join the rebellion?In what name?
"I said this because Wang Qing and others understand the truth. All the people in the world are my people. Now the eldest son has failed to study, and the second son takes care of the family business on his behalf. The youngest son bears the burden. The weak body is a heavy burden, and the youngest son is almost the slave of the second son, even if I want to teach us brothers and sisters to be respectful, I have to look at the face of the eldest son and the second son, so what kind of father is kind and son is filial piety?" Yuan Yiyan looked at We, "Mentors, is that the situation? What should be the reason? If things go on like this, will the murder of father and brother happen again?"

There must be no result on that position issue, and I am afraid that it will be discussed until it is truly stable.

Small fish under the national policy meeting.

The concept of a country is very vague outside our minds.

When the imperial study came up quietly, Zhang Zilin also had the same feeling as Cui Yuan had at the beginning: the ministers participating in the national policy meeting must prepare a few pills with them.

"The minister seconded the proposal..." Zhu Houcong saw the importance of the Ministry of Rites in the future, and I have no "record" with the emperor.

"...Your Majesty, please clarify." Yuan Yihe could only bite the bullet and listen to what I had to say first.

The situation is not so funny, what is Xiaomingzhushi?
If so, the ministries requested it, and the cabinet had no opinion, why did it mention it at this time?Jiapai, which has nothing to do with this year's minor marriage, why does the emperor have to nod and agree to everything?

The Taizu set a tax of [-] per cent, but the ratio is actually low. Why do the common people flee their nationality?

The central ministers who sat under the national policy meeting, in the past, none of them would be consistent with the emperor in a small direction, and at least they would suggest taking the waterway or the dry road or the big path.

I do know that it was originally formed in Jiajing 78, and then expanded even more in the Wanli period.

Zhang Fujing quietly looked at us who were embarrassed.

Don't be weird, know that he understands.

I lived outside the countryside for a long time, and then only stayed in the Imperial Academy.I have family interests and the pressure of the interests of the township party, at best it is small.

This is a real chaos in the sky, affecting officials, gentry and wealthy households all over the country.

As far as the country is concerned, food is also the most important thing, and people must live first.

"As I said, after the next eight years, I only focused on eight things, and the new law in Guangdong is one of them." Zhang Fujing looked at us, "Is there any way? Let me talk about the direction first?"

"I've always made it clear." Yuan Yiyan glanced at me quietly, "It's really cheap to study out of production, and I know it. I also know that the local editors have a lot of thin salaries. There are rich households, officials, and relatives involved in commercial taxes. It is the pillar of stability between the upper and lower, and I also know it. However, Tai Shigong did not say: There are no people who died because of service, but those who died because of taxes. The servants are the officials and gentry. Sooner or later, the Xiaoming Yellow Book will have people to serve. It is about to perish. The foundation of my society is the people after all. Those pillars are also based on the people, and on the order of Xiaoming's etiquette."

Whether the emperor is happy or angry, he just explained the problem thoroughly, and then let us find a way.

The situation in Guangdong has never been watched by Li Chongsi, Chen Jin, Mai Fu, and Zhu Qi. What Zhang Fujing wants to solve is the root of the problem: everything is because of the new law.

Partly hoped that Zhang Fujing could see where the real difficulty was, and partly hoped to dissuade me from moving the knife down there.

Yuan Yiyan finally confirmed: the unity of the monarch and his ministers under the national policy meeting has always been formed in that way.

"There was no mention of Taizu compiling the Fish Scale Book. The rich people in Zhejiang and Zhejiang were afraid of avoiding corvee, and often used their land property to cheat relatives, neighbors, and tenant servants, calling it iron-footed cheating. After a long time, it became a common practice. There are many frauds and frauds, which are called all-day deception. So the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. What Yang Ge said about shrinking the rope to hide the fields, hiding the households, using disasters to report famines, flying, and narrow lines is also small. Are those big tricks?"

But now, is it really necessary to blame the eldest son and the second son?
Yang Ting only felt the sweat on his head, and answered bravely: "More than half..."

If you don't have any other thoughts, just kill some first.

Because officials and gentry are only exempted from corvee, and official households do not have a certain tax reduction or exemption, it is the most cost-effective to sell the land to official households.

If so, the other positions are not the end of official career.

There is no choice yet for that matter, it must be a statement, either retiring as an official or finding an idle job to stay is a new way of approval and cooperation in the future.

Zhang Fujing also checked the accounts in detail and found out: Does Xiao Ming seem to have the so-called exemption from land tax and corvee for officials and gentry in his memory?

"Shrinking the rope to hide the fields, slyly hiding the households, borrowing disasters to report shortages, flying, narrowing the line...the methods of those places, the gentry, rich households, and officials colluded. Last year, Guangdong only cleared Guangzhou, Zhaoqing, etc., which are Zubafu. The situation of the land is already small, which is worrying. The land that should be granted by the two prefectures is less than [-]% more than that in the Hongzhi period. That is not counting the results of some hidden fields and some lands that have no proof of sale. "

Officials, gentry, wealthy households and subordinate staff are all decent people. How can we and our people do these corvees?The apportionment to the private households is no longer the case.

Yang Shen’s entry into the imperial study and the battle in Tuen Mun together, how could he be coaxed by a series of events and the emperor’s “heart-to-heart words” that are “difficult for anyone” and stayed until now in a daze?
If it is rejected, change another batch.

"At the beginning of the country, those who were exempted from the tax were only limited to Beijing officials, and only a certain number of acres were exempted, and Li officials were halved. During the reign of the emperor's brother, only [-] acres of Zhengyipin were exempted. There is no exemption for corvee. Is that so?"

Wang Shouren was silent for a while, and then said: "This is a confidant, there is a way to avoid it, and the minister agrees."

Cui Yuan is an honored relative, and I know that His Majesty has not yet come up with new ideas about the honored relatives, so I think the silence is a small matter: "I also think it should be avoided."

Yan Song finally understood the emperor's minor marriages, relatives, heirs of Emperor Zhengde, new laws, etc., what kind of fish were caught offline.

It is the magistrates and subordinate officials who execute the whip, and we ourselves bear the apportionment of the land tax.In the end, it will be borne by the common people, and at least some places will be more greedy.

It's time!
Zhang Zilin was terrified, and he left his seat and knelt down with the others tacitly: "Your Majesty dares to wait, please calm down..."

Yuan Yiyan watched our performance quietly.

"Your Majesty is very discerning." Yuan Yihe was silent for a while, and then looked at me seriously after finishing speaking.

The private households have to be busy farming, so they have to pay in cash, and the government hires people to serve.

Therefore, although more and more land should be granted, the land tax has always been stable.

Rich households in many places are actually tenants, or "partners" of officials and gentry.

In that case, how could the finances collapse?

There is something wrong with referring to the country as a family.

"That's why I clearly told you and others. The new law in Guangdong, I think we have to face the fundamental problem of corvée." Zhang Fujing looked at us, "Unless it is in the national policy meeting, before the agreement, Qing and others are all walking with me. The new law must be implemented. , Qing, etc. are all people who advocate reform. How to do it cannot be discussed next; but walking with me is still the opposite, that is more important."

Many peasants are also willing to sublease land from wealthy households for cultivation, and officials, gentry, and wealthy households will also "cherish" their tenant farmers and "household slaves."

"Do they look angry at me?" Zhang Fujing smiled, "When Fang Muxian uttered wild words, I told them. What a scholar wants in his life, it is a mistake to serve the country with his family. The method of motivation, I understand its importance very well. If you become an official, you will serve the country, and if you are an official, you will educate. I will also protect the status of officials and gentry. When discussing the ceremony, I also said that I bear the responsibility of safeguarding the interests of everyone in the order of etiquette and law. Thinking of the new law, talking about I have misunderstood the new law, why do you also misunderstand it? Do I seem to understand those principles? Everyone get up and sit down."

So the ministers acted tacitly, and by the way, what's the use of that incident?

"Student supervisors, student officers, and juren were exempted from corvee labor at the beginning of the country, right?"

What is the confluence of the heavens to block Guangdong... Under the national policy meeting, are all the ministers working together to block the emperor?
The fourteen people, together with the "scholar" Zhang Bi who was shaking with fright just now, got up tremblingly and sat down again.

Kill only those, too, while continuing to be narrow, easygoing, and honest with others.

"Okay, stop acting."

Why?The land tax is very heavy, and the corvee is even heavier.

Gui E could see that it was coming out, and so could Li Chongsi and Yang Shen.

Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that one mu of Yangtan would be taxed with seven liters, eight combinations and seven spoons, and one mu of civilian land would be taxed with eight liters, eight combinations and seven spoons.As for Yang Tan, who is native, the land tax standard is one bucket and seven liters per mu.

Xiao Ming's Tian Fu is under our shoulders!The meaning of moving our fields is the land tax, how much is the land tax in total?
Wen Yanbo said: "Your Majesty will rule the heavens for the sake of the scholar-officials."On the surface, few people would agree with that sentence, but outside their hearts they would silently give a thumbs up.

(End of this chapter)