Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 17: Going to the morning court (please follow up)
But at this time, the Ming Dynasty was no longer a backward feudal dynasty that only relied on land to generate income. Its industry and commerce were already very developed, especially in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fuguang areas.

Therefore, instead of thinking about how to further squeeze the farmers, it is better to think about how to standardize the tax system, especially the collection of industrial and commercial taxes. If the wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan spend a little money, they can collect taxes several times that of ordinary farmers. , just counting on the farmers, even if they were squeezed dry and crushed, they would not be able to support such a big Ming Dynasty!

Therefore, those who ask for tax adjustments are more for themselves than for the country and the people.

Zhu Tianqi naturally did not want to comply with their wishes, but if he did not agree with their proposal and followed his own ideas and shifted the tax target to wealthy merchants and landlords, it would infringe on the interests of most officials and gentry, and these people But they happened to be the most energetic group of people in the Ming Dynasty. If they broke out, it would be much more difficult to deal with than the peasant uprising!
Therefore, tax reform can only be done step by step and cannot be rushed, but reform is necessary!

Zhu Tianqi's reform goal is simple.

First, the tax system should be as simple as possible. The simpler the system, the fewer opportunities for officials to cheat;

Second, the tax targets should be tilted towards high-income groups, while there should be corresponding exemption policies for poor groups!
Having set this benchmark, Zhu Tianqi announced that his illness was almost healed and he would attend the morning court starting tomorrow!
Early the next morning, Emperor Zhu Tianqi, who had not been in court for several months, finally appeared in front of the ministers again. As the Bell and Drum Division played music, surrounded by warriors in gilded uniforms holding umbrellas and fans, He walked up to the golden platform and sat on the throne in the middle of the upper corridor of Huangji Gate.

According to the rules of the early dynasty, Honglu Temple first reported the list of officials entering and leaving Beijing, and the emperor decided whether to receive them. Then, the urgent reporting at the border was handled, and then general government affairs were handled.

Most of the officials Zhu Tianqi didn't know, so naturally he wouldn't receive them. As for border affairs, there is really no border crisis now. The "Ningjin Victory" just won made Huang Taiji afraid to invade the border again for a while. , Furthermore, before Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan entered Beijing, he did not want to discuss military affairs with anyone!

Therefore, what is important to discuss today is the issue of tax reform.

As expected by Zhu Tianqi, he was anxious about the issue of taxes, and the ministers were even more anxious. When someone coughed slightly, he knelt down and shouted with a serious face: "Your Majesty, Qian Longxi, has my invitation." Play!”

When Zhu Tianqi heard this name, he immediately knew what he was going to say. Qian Longxi was the big boss of the Donglin Party and the person who had recently taken the lead in demanding tax rectification, so he directly raised his hand to signal him to speak.

Qian Longxi immediately said: "Your Majesty, I believe that agriculture is the foundation of our Ming Dynasty and the main source of taxation for our Ming Dynasty. Therefore, if we want to increase taxes, we must start from the farmers."

After that, Qian Longxi briefly explained his well-designed reform plan, and even calculated the amount of tax revenue that could be increased after the reform, which is well-founded!
At the same time, Qian Longxi said: "I also believe that the collection of industrial and commercial taxes should be reduced or reduced. In the past, tax collection was mostly controlled by the eunuch party, and there were many abuses.

Furthermore, it was difficult for the imperial court to establish a system for collecting industrial and commercial taxes. It often consumed a lot of manpower and material resources, but did not collect much money. Instead, it allowed the corrupt officials responsible for taxation to take the opportunity to make a windfall, and those who were The merchants who were forced to lose their families instead blamed the court. It would be better to simply abolish such a thankless task! "As soon as Qian Longxi finished speaking, many ministers stood up, knelt behind him and shouted: "I second the proposal! "

Obviously, people came prepared!
However, Zhu Tianqi also came prepared!
Zhu Tianqi did not express his position immediately, but took out a memorial, showed it to the ministers below, and then said: "I have also been considering the issue of adjusting taxes recently. This memorial was just issued by me in the past few days. I received it and the writing is very interesting, so I specially brought it to read it to all my dear friends. However, the plan written in this memorial is a bit extreme. In order to prevent any unpleasant things from happening, I will not elaborate on it. The name of the stranger!"

After hearing this, everyone was shocked and confused, and couldn't help but look at the people around them. For a moment, they all became a little suspicious of the people around them.

After all, today's Donglin Party is no longer what it used to be. Even if the Eunuch Party falls, the Donglin Party is not the only one. Nowadays, there are many parties in the court, and party disputes are becoming more and more intense. Ministers are fighting among themselves. It's hard to talk about trust.

Zhu Tianqi ignored the small actions of the ministers below, but directly opened the memorial and began to read it. This memorial was naturally not written by some mysterious minister. It was prepared by Zhu Tianqi himself. Naturally, I can't control it, so I speak plainly when I speak.

Fortunately, it is well known to everyone that the Holy Sage is not highly educated today, so the ministers do not find it strange!
"This memorial said that the current tax system of the imperial court is too complicated and should be adjusted with reference to the 'one whip method' proposed by the previous dynasty Zhang Juzheng, and the complexity should be simplified, which can not only reduce the burden on the people, but also reduce the burden on the court. "

As soon as Zhu Tianqi finished reading the first item, the ministers below seemed to be in a state of panic. Qian Longxi and several Donglin Party members who were kneeling on the ground couldn't help but salute and said: "Your Majesty, this item The whipping method is really not good governance, otherwise it would not have been abolished in just a few years..."

Zhu Tianqi raised his hand to interrupt him, and Qian Longxi also realized that he was being rude, so he quickly shut up.

Zhu Tianqi knew why they were anxious. The reason why this "one whip method" could not be promoted was because it violated the interests of the gentry and landlord class?
The Ming Dynasty's tax and servitude system was very complicated, which resulted in many ways to cheat and make profits. The implementation of the whip law combined taxes and servitude, which was simple and crude. It was difficult for landlords to cheat, avoid taxes and make profits, so they naturally formed groups. Those who resisted were gradually abolished as soon as Zhang Juzheng died.

Zhu Tianqi glanced at the ministers below and said: "I think this is very good. Nowadays, the people are in poverty due to many excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes. Some corrupt officials have taken advantage of the court's loopholes and collected taxes." In the name of tax and servitude, power is used for personal gain, so in my opinion, this 'one whip method' can still be used for reference.

Simply combine all the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes and levy them directly according to the number of acres of land. Wouldn't this be beneficial to the country and the people? "

　Kneel down and beg to read, the third update today!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)