The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 31 Zhu Yuanzhang’s Bad Government
"One person will ascend to heaven if he or she succeeds, and his family will become a big family in the local area, and his family members will be able to enter the yamen and become officials."

"Some of these officials' families are rich, and they are protected by officials in the court. They will inevitably be in a key position."

"Officials are mobile. They are elected every three to five years. Officials can be held for a lifetime and can be passed on to their descendants."

"In this way... a gentry family will be formed."

"Now is the beginning of the dynasty, and the number of gentry is very few. What will happen in a hundred years? The gentry will be spread all over the world."

"They will form parties based on their classmates, teachers and students, in-laws, locals, etc., and connect the gentry across the country into a large network."

"When they become a community of interests, a general trend will be formed..."

"The imperial court can slaughter all the gentry in a county, but it can do nothing to kill the gentry in the world."

Chen Jingke slowly explained in detail the biggest stubborn disease in the late Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang could naturally tell that the possibility of this speculation was very high, and there was no trace of relaxation on his face.

Hearing his anger, he spoke out again: "If killing one county cannot solve the problem, then we will kill all the gentry in the world."

Chen Jingke shook his head: "You have such courage and ability, what about future generations? In troubled times, we can use heavy codes, but we can't always use heavy codes, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang glared at him dissatisfiedly, but did not refute.

In fact, he knows better than anyone else that killing can only suspend conflicts but cannot solve the fundamental problem.

Now he is attacking because people's hearts are not stable and the system is not sound in the early days of the world.

You need to rely on killing to establish your authority and solve many difficult problems.

After the Ming Dynasty was stabilized and various systems were improved, loose policies still had to be adopted.

Why didn't he train Zhu Biao to be like him?
Why is it that Zhu Biaoren, who often quarrels with him over whether to kill or not, is not only not angry but also very satisfied?
The reason is this.

He did all the dirty work, and Zhu Biao was tolerant and stable.

This is his plan.

Chen Jingke continued: "Let's deduce what harm will happen once the gentry class is formed."

"We won't talk about the clichés of ruthless rural areas and taking human life lightly. We will only talk about taxes."

"People with money and power have many ways to evade taxes. The simplest way is to pass taxes on to the poor."

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly: "If they dare, we will skin them."

Chen Jingke sighed and said, "Your Majesty, the taxes are collected by the local yamen for the imperial court, and the officials in the yamen are all from the families of the gentry."

"It's very easy for them to pass their taxes on to the poor."

"If you don't believe it, your Majesty, you can ask the Jin Yiwei to check it out. It's like this all over the world."

"I know Your Majesty can kill them, but without them, who will help the court collect taxes?"

"When an official is selected, he may not dare to do it in the first, second, and third years. What if it takes a long time?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's face was so cold that it could freeze.

"Your Majesty has stipulated that there is a quota for the land in the world, and the taxes paid by each land every year must not be less than in previous years..."

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was already angry, became even more angry when he saw that he dared to question his policies: "Why, do you think there is something wrong with our policies?"

Chen Jingke did not argue, but continued: "There are one hundred acres of land, thirty acres occupied by the gentry, and seventy acres occupied by the poor."

"The gentry will pass on their taxes to the poor, so the poor will have to pay taxes on one hundred acres of land with the harvest of seventy acres of land."

"The increased taxes per acre are barely acceptable, and the people can still live."

"But after land annexation, next year the gentry will have [-] acres of land, and the poor will only have [-] acres."

"The gentry still passes taxes on to the poor, so the poor have to pay taxes on one hundred acres of land with the harvest of fifty acres of land."

“People’s lives are low, and they can still survive even if taxes are doubled.”

"In the following year, the gentry owned seventy acres of land, while the poor only had thirty acres..."

"Bang." The cup in Zhu Yuanzhang's hand was crushed, his palm was cut by the fragments, and blood gurgled down.Apparently he was aware of the problem.

Chen Jingke no longer cared about this, and quickly took out the hemostatic medicine and gauze from the medicine box:

"Your Majesty, are you okay? I'll stop the bleeding."

When the waiters outside heard the commotion, they rushed in in panic, and some shouted to take down Chen Jingke.

"Go away, who let you in?" Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was full of anger and murderous intent.

The servants were so frightened that they trembled all over and crawled away. One of them could vaguely see that his crotch was wet.

Chen Jingke felt an uncontrollable killing intent coming towards him, and felt a little frightened in his heart.

Lao Zhu is really angry.

However, he also complained in his heart. As the emperor, many of Zhu Yuanzhang's policies were very willful and taken for granted.

For example, in the enfeoffment system, he knew there was a problem, but he still enfeoffed the vassal king.

For example, this tax system first counts the acres of land, and then stipulates that the taxes paid every year in the future must not be less than in previous years.

What he originally thought was that the land area would only increase but not decrease, and taxes would only increase and cannot be reduced.

Even if the land is annexed, taxes will still be paid.

If there are fewer, it means that some people have less to pay, and they can just go to the local officials to trouble them.

Once this regulation is promulgated, the problem of tax evasion and tax evasion can be effectively eliminated.

However, he never considered passing on taxes at all.

In fact, the bureaucrats and gentry never had to pay taxes.

This power was not given by the state, but was obtained illegally by using the power in their hands.

Let me just say here that corvee and taxation are different.

In the Ming Dynasty, famous scholars did not have to perform corvee service, but they still had to pay taxes.

Zhu Yuanzhang's tax policy made the people miserable.

Now that Chen Jingke has revealed this cruel truth, how can he not be angry?

However, his anger was not directed at Chen Jingke, but came from two aspects.

On the one hand, it is naturally the behavior of corrupt officials and the gentry class; on the other hand, the loopholes in his policies actually harmed the people.

If this matter was not resolved, he could already foresee the consequences.

The common people who have no property or land have to pay taxes on behalf of the wealthy families.

If you can't survive, you can only rebel.

As for the imperial court, it could not collect taxes, could not issue military pay... and eventually the country perished.

How can he not be angry.

Chen Jingke carefully cleaned Zhu Yuanzhang's wounds and found that his hands were thickly calloused, like an old farmer's.

This cocoon is not ground out by holding a weapon, but more like it is made through hard work.

He couldn't help but think of an incident. Zhu Yuanzhang cultivated land in the palace and went to work in the fields when he had free time.

It can be seen from the calluses on his hands that his work is not just a show, but a real effort.

After bandaging the wound, he stood quietly aside and said nothing.

There is no need for a heavy hammer to play the drum, and even Zhu Yuanzhang, even Zhu Yuanzhang, can guess what is behind it.

Talking too much can easily lead to anger.

After a while, Zhu Yuanzhang finally said: "Now that you have seen the consequences, do you have a way to solve it?"

(End of this chapter)