Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 750: Exemption
Most people are very interested in fighting for power and profit, especially when they are in a special environment. The things they have experienced since childhood will subtly influence them.

If you don't fight, you will be stepped on.

Not everyone can tolerate this.

Once ambition is born, it will never die unless the person dies!

For Zhu Youxiao, as long as those who are enemies of the Ming Dynasty are not killed, the threat will not be resolved. They can be ignored strategically, but must be taken seriously tactically!
Just like we treated the fleeing remnants of the Jianlu, whether you want to endure hardships or recuperate, you will have to suffer for a few years first. I will take advantage of this period of time to ask the people of Liaodong to develop it with a sense of urgency and free up their hands to solve some practical problems.

Killing people on the battlefield is also killing.

Killing people in official circles is also killing.

It's going to be killing anyway, so let's just play our own games first.

"Life in the northwestern border is really hard."

Compared with the shouting and killing in Shengjing, where the Jianlu were trying hard to recover, the capital city, two thousand miles away, remained the same as before.

In a private room of a tavern somewhere in inner city Beijing.

Zhu Youxiao, who had left the palace to take a breath, looked at the report sent urgently via Shaanxi, and frowned slightly, "I thought the lives of the soldiers and civilians in the northwest were hard, but I didn't expect it to be this hard."

Several ministers from the Southern Study who were sitting at the same table held their breath and concentrated after hearing what their emperor said, wondering what happened in the northwest.

"Let's take a look."

While the ministers in the Southern Study were thinking, Zhu Youxiao threw the report in his hand on the table, "The disaster in Shaanxi has been brought under control, but the situation in many places in Shaanxi is actually not good at all."

After hearing this, Wang Jiayan, Meng Zhaoxiang, Zhou Fengxiang, Ma Shiqi and Ling Yiqu looked at each other with different expressions on their faces.

As new scholars in the second year of the Tianqi reign, they were assigned to the Southern Study as attendants. Although their positions were low, they were able to get in touch with all aspects of life.

As time went by, many of the officials who were summoned when the two studies were specially established left the two studies and went to take up important positions elsewhere.

The pace of the two study rooms was very fast. They had to organize documents and files for the emperor, compile internal references, provide advice, and many other tasks, so the pressure was enormous.

However, this state is also the most challenging.

There were tens of thousands of officials in the Ming Dynasty, and even Zhu Youxiao was unsure how many of them could actually get things done. Therefore, all Zhu Youxiao could do was to promote people he trusted to key positions, so that when some policies were issued, there would be someone who could actually do them.

If there are people secretly plotting or obstructing during this process, we will fight them until they are defeated, and then replace them with our own people to implement the policies well.

“How come there are so many localized droughts in the Northwest?”

Ling Yiqu picked up the report and saw what was written on it. He was shocked and said, "The central government officials have not received any report on the drought."

A local drought would not easily alarm the central government.

After hearing what Ling Yiqu said, Zhu Youxiao sighed in his heart. Zhu Youxiao knew very well about some people in officialdom. They would make a big thing into a small thing and would not easily alarm higher-ups if they could avoid it.

After all, if he really did this, he would be labeled incompetent, and his career would never improve. "Fortunately, Emperor Mingzong's army marched westward according to the imperial order, otherwise a lot of the relief food and money allocated by the court would have been robbed by local bandits."

Wang Jiayan, who was sitting nearby, saw a part of the report and frowned, saying, "The various garrisons set up in the northwest border have the responsibility to protect the border, but the garrisons set up in the northwest have not fulfilled their duties. It seems that the military preparations of the northwest garrisons are lax, and I am afraid that the situation is very serious."

"more than."

After hearing this, Ling Yiqu continued, "According to the secret investigation of Emperor Mingzong's army, many of the bandits mentioned in this report are closely related to local gentry and merchants, and even some hereditary garrison officers are secretly condoning them."

"When Emperor Mingzong's army rushed to Shaanxi to provide disaster relief, many places annexed land at low prices, raised grain prices, lent money at high interest rates, and even forced women into prostitution!"

After hearing this, all the ministers could no longer sit still and stood up and walked towards Ling Yiqiu.

I have been on duty in the Southern Study for some time. It turns out that there are so many accumulated problems in the northwestern border of the Ming Dynasty. The key is that the imperial court knows little about it. This is no trivial matter.

Zhu Youxiao, who was originally in a good mood, was disturbed by the urgent report from the northwest that was sent to Beijing. His mood became bad. Zhu Youxiao stood up and walked towards the window facing the street.

Seeing this, Liu Ruoyu, who was serving on the side, hurriedly walked towards Zhu Youxiao holding the cloak.

The moment the wooden window was opened, the cold wind rushed in through the window.

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A chill came over me.

All the officials in the Southern Study Room who had been gathered together stood up immediately. Ling Yiqu held the report in his hand, and they lowered their heads one by one, not daring to say anything.

"After returning to the palace, pass a note to the upper study."

Zhu Youxiao, wearing a cloak, looked down at the crowd outside the window and said in a cold tone: "Tell them to prepare an internal report on the situation in the northwest as soon as possible, involving all the towns, garrisons, prefectures, counties and districts."

"The minister obeys the order!"

Wang Jiayan, who was in the crowd, bowed immediately.

"Also... the Southern Study Office has drafted an imperial edict and will revise it as appropriate. In view of the current situation in the northwest, I have decided to exempt the capitation tax to alleviate the pressure in the northwest."

Zhu Youxiao continued, "Shanxi will be exempted from the Ding tax for three years, Shaanxi will be exempted from the Ding tax for five years, and the two capitals of Shanxi and Shaanxi will be exempted from the Ding tax for five years. Once the decree is presented to the emperor and I approve it, it will be issued to the cabinet for immediate issuance."

"At the same time, I will give an oral order to the Ministry of Revenue, the Censorate, and the Procuratorate. I will keep a close eye on the matter of exempting the Northwest Ding Tax. Anyone who dares to collect taxes privately will be severely punished once the court finds out!"

"The minister obeys the order!"

Meng Zhaoxiang immediately stepped forward and said.

However, all the officials in the Southern Study present had mixed feelings. His Majesty's concern for the soldiers and civilians in the northwestern border was a great favor.

If we just exempt so much of the Ding tax in various parts of the northwest, the central government will be under great pressure in the future, especially since it will be difficult to raise the various expenses in the northwest.

However, they had no idea that the Northwest would face continuous disasters in the next few years, or even longer, including snowstorms, droughts, locust plagues, earthquakes, and even epidemics. If they did not find ways to alleviate the pressure on the military and civilians in the Northwest border, even if Li Hongji and his gang were gathered together before, once the military and civilians in the Northwest were forced into a desperate situation, Zhu Youxiao would not have to think much about it, as new people would inevitably take up the banner of uprising and choose to rebel against the Ming Dynasty!
The problems on the northwestern border must be solved. Otherwise, when waves of uprisings emerge one after another, the Ming Dynasty, which has finally escaped from the quagmire, will be dragged into the quagmire again, and it will be difficult for the Ming Dynasty to turn over!
(End of this chapter)