Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 83 Go to the Northwest
Zhu Tianqi then arranged for the Beijing Battalion and Jinyiwei to cooperate to escort Sun Yuanhua and his party, as well as the 20 stones, grains and rice that Zhang Guoji had previously transported to the capital.

As Sun Yuanhua led hundreds of Thai and Western craftsmen to leave the capital, all officials in the court lost the reason to attack Xu Guangqi, and Zhu Tianqi's ears became much clearer for a while.

On the other hand, regarding the reform of taxes and levies, all the officials in the court were still unwilling to give up. Now that they had the support of the cabinet, they instantly felt that they were able to do it again, and they sent remonstrances and memoranda to their superiors every two days.

However, Zhu Tianqi ignored it and always insisted on implementing the new tax law.

Because although Qian Qianyi and Qian Longxi in the cabinet secretly encouraged the evacuation of hundreds of officials in the court in an attempt to create pressure on Zhu Tianqi, they themselves did not dare to openly oppose the tax and labor reform. After all, even though he occupied two seats in the cabinet, he was unable to control the cabinet and compete with the imperial power.

After all, apart from the two of them, among the other four cabinet ministers, the chief assistant Xu Guangqi is from the emperor and a staunch reformist, so naturally he will not help them. Lai Zongdao and Zhou Daodeng are wise to protect themselves, and will not Following them to fight against the emperor, there is only one Liu Hongxun who can still fight for it, but even with Liu Hongxun's support, it is meaningless.

There is no such thing as "the minority obeys the majority" in the cabinet. The first and second ministers of the cabinet have a great say. Therefore, if you want to compete with Xu Guangqi, the first minister of the cabinet, you must work together as a rope with the remaining five cabinet ministers. But At present, it seems that this cannot be done.

Therefore, although new remonstrances and memoranda were submitted every day to oppose the reform of taxes and levy and to stop the promotion of the new tax law, Zhu Tianqi ignored them all as if he had not seen them. Although Qian Qianyi and Qian Longxi also made insinuations. Several times, he said that the officials were very excited and hoped that Zhu Tianqi could take care of everyone's mood.

But Zhu Tianqi asked them in turn: "At that time, you asked for the reorganization of the cabinet. Now that the cabinet has been formed, you have to take responsibility and help me come up with ideas. So many memorials have been submitted, but you have not been able to do it so far. If I haven’t handed over the cabinet votes, then what use do I need from you cabinet ministers?”

As soon as this question came out, Qian Qianyi and Qian Longxi had nothing to say in an instant, because they also wanted to hand over the cabinet proposal to the emperor, and it would be better for them to deal with it, but they couldn't do it. However, they could not win over the other three cabinet ministers in the cabinet, let alone the ability to fight against Xu Guangqi, so it was difficult for the cabinet to unify their opinions, and it was impossible to draft these memorials.

Therefore, as time goes by, the new tax law has been promoted in most provinces, prefectures and counties across the country. Whether it is the Donglin Party or other officials who oppose the tax reform, the situation is irreversible. , so there were fewer and fewer remonstrances against the reform of taxes and servitude.

The effect of the tax and servitude reform is still very significant, especially in places like Shaanxi Chief Minister, where the people's taxes and servitude have been greatly reduced, and they all rush to pay homage to the Holy Grace. The dissatisfaction of the people with the imperial court has also been effectively curbed.

At the same time, all provinces, prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of the Shaanxi Chief Envoy Department also began to build relief stations to prepare for the next disaster relief work.

In fact, the common people have doubts about this tax reform and the new tax law introduced by the imperial court, because the new tax law introduced by the imperial court this time is really a bit too "people-friendly" and is completely different from the previous excessive taxation and extortion. It's so extreme that people not only can't believe it, but even suspect that there are other "mysteries" hidden in this new tax law.However, the court's construction of disaster relief facilities has become an incision in the promotion of the new tax law, because in the past, local construction work must have required a large number of laborers to participate in the construction, and the court distributed free labor to the people, let alone The wages are paid, but even the food is not taken care of.

But this time it was different. This time, the imperial court did not distribute labor or forcibly capture young men. Instead, it openly recruited young men and clearly marked the wage standards for various types of work. In order to win the trust of the people, wages were paid daily.

In this way, the effect was naturally very obvious. The common people received real money and silver wages, and no longer had to worry about being forced to do labor. They were immediately convinced of the new tax law of the imperial court and praised it one after another.

Originally, the new tax law clearly stipulated that corvee labor would be abolished and all hard laborers would be merged into the field tax. If the court needed people to participate in labor, wages would be paid according to market prices, and conveniences such as food and accommodation would be provided as appropriate. People I couldn't believe it. Now someone has gone to test the water in person, and they actually provide food and accommodation, and are paid wages. Immediately, they spread the word to ten, and the construction needs were solved in just ten days. manpower issues.

Although there has not yet been a large-scale drought in northern Shaanxi, famine has already occurred, the grain harvest has failed, food prices have soared, victims are everywhere, and mourners are everywhere. The imperial court's open recruitment has also given these victims a way to survive.

And those people who still have some fields at home also feel a sense of survival in desperate situations. In times like these, the fields do not produce much food, and it is not easy to feed their families. , but the taxes of the imperial court have been increasing year after year, and local officials have imposed excessive taxes and imposed corvees indiscriminately, leaving people with no way of living.

Fortunately, the sky has eyes, the emperor's grace is great, the court reformed taxes and introduced new tax laws, and the burden on his shoulders was reduced by more than half in an instant. With the few acres of thin farmland at home, he would not starve to death. I hope that God will do a good job in the coming year and the fields will have a good harvest!

All in all, the promotion of the new tax law has won the support of the common people at the bottom. On the contrary, the wealthy businessmen and gentry in the Jiangnan area have a lot of resistance. Some people are even conspiring to collude with officials from the DPRK and China in an attempt to make the matter bigger. to thwart the implementation of the new tax law.

But these are all things for later. The most important thing now is to ensure the peace of the area around the Shaanxi Chief Envoy. Among the Jinyi guards sent by Zhu Tianqi to escort Sun Yuanhua and his party, there are also several thousand households who are patrolling the Shaanxi Chief Envoy. The department has tasks for prefectures and counties under its jurisdiction. They must truthfully report the details here to Zhu Tianqi when they go back to deliver their duties.

After Sun Yuanhua and his party entered the territory of the Shaanxi Chief Commissioner via the Shanxi Chief Commissioner, they first sent 20 shi, grain and rice to Yan'an Mansion, and then went north towards Yulinwei.

(End of this chapter)