The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 316 Great Thoughts
The civil servant group had no special reaction to the changes in Dali Temple.

As Chen Jingke said, the underlying ideological logic of the judiciary remains unchanged. No matter how many people change, Dali Temple will still be the Confucian Dali Temple.

Why did the civil service group not oppose it when the imperial court wanted to establish judicial independence, but instead viewed it as an expansion of its own power?
The reason is here.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was a little disappointed, he was reminded by Chen Jingke in advance and did not mess around anymore.

It is not easy to separate the household department.

The next step is to focus on implementing step-by-step tax collection.

If you want to implement the new law, you still cannot do without the implementation of grassroots officials.

After all, we still have to rely on Confucian officials.

If it had been any other emperor, after being beaten with a stick, he would have given the Confucians a sweet date, hoping that they would support the New Deal.

But Zhu Yuanzhang didn't, and his method was always the same.

If one stick is not enough, then two more sticks and three sticks...

Either you carry out my orders, or I beat you to death and replace you with someone else.

Therefore, under his explicit instruction, Jiang Yu took out a pile of confessions, and more than 300 officials at all levels were confessed.

Zhu Yuanzhang ordered dozens of these models to be sent to prison.

Then tell the remaining people to work hard to implement the New Deal, otherwise they will go to jail.

Facts have proved that when faced with a butcher's knife, not many people can stick to their guns.

Especially if they are caught by the tail, they will be nailed to the pillar of shame even if they die.

They could only reluctantly join the ranks of implementing the New Deal.

Do you think this is over?
No, Zhu Yuanzhang let the wind go again.

These people who were newly captured and imprisoned were also recruited...

There is a word called guilty conscience, so more people betrayed their origins.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang did not place all his hopes on Confucian officials.

The reserve system that has been established has also begun to function.

Through temporary military training, the message of the New Deal was conveyed to the grassroots.

He also encouraged people to report gentry landlords who concealed their land conditions.

The Tax Inspection Department also took action and sent a tax list to every landowner with more than a thousand acres of land.

The court has enacted a new tax law and this is the tax you need to pay next year.

We are afraid that you are unaware of the new policies and would violate the law by failing to pay, so we would like to give you a friendly reminder.

Friendly reminder.

Not a threat at all.

Please abide by national tax laws and pay taxes on time.

Your most loyal partner, Daming Tax Audit Department.

Although the Tax Inspection Department was established only a short time ago, its reputation is already as bad as that of Jinyiwei.

And they are more proactive than Jin Yiwei.

The Jin Yiwei obey orders, and they will only go out when the emperor issues orders.

The tax audit department is different. They work for their own pockets.

The imperial court stipulated that 70% of the recovered taxes should be turned over to the state treasury, 10% should be used as office funds, and the remaining 20% ​​should go to the investigators.

That's a full 20%.

Even Lao Zhu, who was the emperor, felt distressed and wanted to regret it, let alone the officials below.

In the face of such huge benefits, one can imagine how motivated they are.

And his acting style is very wild, so much so that he doesn't even recognize his relatives, even his own father can send him in.

Anyone whose family property meets the supervision standards of the Tax Inspection Department is afraid of being called upon.

Although it has affected the development of business to a certain extent.

But the tax revenue they created for the court and the administrative cost savings far outweighed the negative impact.

Although Lao Zhu felt sorry for the 20% tax, he also believed that the money was well spent.

At this time, you can imagine how nervous the gentry and landowners were when they suddenly received the tax list from the Tax Inspection Department.

Some people who know about the stepped tax collection are already thinking about how to deal with it.

Those who didn’t know about the New Deal took the initiative to inquire about relevant information.

After understanding the specific situation, I naturally felt unwilling to do so.

But when I think about that tax list...

In short, a situation that no one expected occurred.

A month later, the work of promoting the New Deal was officially completed.

Rough statistics show that the Tax Audit Department is the most efficient, far exceeding the sum of the other departments.

And under their shock, a large number of small and medium-sized landowners took the initiative to split up their own land.

They are not dividing it into less than 1,000 acres, but less than 500 acres.

Because according to the new tax law, land tax must be paid normally within 500 acres.

Progressive taxes begin to be calculated for properties exceeding 500 acres, and taxes for properties exceeding 1,000 acres are so high that you lose money.

For most people, they are unwilling to pay progressive taxes.

"There is another reason. Ordinary landowners are actually not very knowledgeable. They don't have much understanding of the far-reaching impact of the New Deal."

"For them, when they give land to their sons, the meat rots in their own pot."

"For the sons of landowners, who had no inheritance rights before, and now can be allocated a share of land, they are naturally very happy."

"Even if their parents don't allocate land to them, they will take the initiative to report it."

"Those who really resist the New Deal are the families of officials who have been here for generations."

"They have higher political aspirations and are very aware of how much progressive tax affects them."

"And what we really want to attack is this group."

After listening to Chen Jingke's analysis, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally knew what to do:

"We will let the Jin Yiwei keep an eye on these official families. If you dare to obstruct the New Deal, don't blame me for being rude."

These words are full of blood.

The last time Zhao Mao's case was used to crack down on local big business was five or six years ago.

The pigs have also been fattened and are ready to be slaughtered.

While Lao Zhu was sharpening his sword, news came from the border one after another.

The King of Jin successfully captured Hexi, and the King of Yan defeated the Naierbuhua and Jiezu tribes.

There is no established Mongolian power in Monan anymore.

After receiving the news, Lao Zhu cheered excitedly.

Both sons did not disappoint him.

"Publish the battle report and let everyone in the world know that the Ming Dynasty is as stable as Mount Tai."

With the court's deliberate publicity, the battle report spread quickly.

With the development of enlightenment work, the people have established a certain sense of identity with Ming Dynasty.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty was victorious, and they were naturally happy together.

The bureaucracy is panicking.

The stronger the court, the greater the danger that they would oppose the New Deal.

Especially, this time the army was led by two princes.

When the two princes return with their troops, I'm afraid the emperor's methods will become even tougher.

When I think of these, the already fragile psychological defense line is quickly broken.

Many gentry landowners chose to divide their land.

Their betrayal also accelerated internal divisions, with more and more people choosing to surrender.

The remaining die-hards are no longer able to stop the general trend.

However, dividing the land cannot be completed in a day or two.

Even if everyone is united, it will take at least half a year, not to mention that there are still people who are resisting and holding back.

Zhu Yuanzhang's plan is to complete this task when the summer tax is collected next year.

"Hehe... For those who haven't completed the split before the tax collection starts next summer, we will let them know what tiered tax collection is."

"Thinking about it this way, we actually hope they won't split up." Regarding his bad taste, everyone pretended not to see it.

They are all so busy, who has time to make trouble with him?

Chen Jingke himself was too busy to keep his feet on the ground.

In addition to participating in the formulation of various policies, he also needs to reorganize his own reform plan.

In his previous life, he was just an ordinary doctor. After traveling through time, he managed to gain a foothold by relying on his advanced knowledge.

Then by supplementing my knowledge, I was finally able to cope with various current affairs.

But he still has no mature ideas about how to create an era.

At first, he thought that he could succeed by carrying out institutional changes, developing productivity, building factories, and engaging in industrialization.

As he learned more about politics, he realized that he was too naive.

Building a new era is far from being as simple as he thought.

Then he was confused.

He knew there was a problem with his changes, but he didn't know what the problem was.

It wasn't until the failure of judicial independence that he suddenly understood.

His revolution lacked the most important thing, ideas.

Why does judicial independence fail?

Because the current moral standards are established by Confucianism, and laws are formulated based on moral standards.

To put it bluntly, the underlying logic for the country's operation at this time is provided by Confucianism.

Unless this changes, the judiciary will never be independent.

As for using industrialization to force Confucian reform, this plan is also difficult to realize.

Industrialization is not as simple as building a factory.

From the previous life until the 21st century, there were still many countries that stayed outside the threshold of industrialization, which is the best proof.

Industrialization requires corresponding ideological guidance to complete.

If industrialization is compared to a computer, the factory is the computer hardware and the idea is the software.

Industrialization without ideas is like a computer without software, a piece of electronic waste.

Expecting a piece of electronic waste to drive Confucian progress feels a bit like seeking fish from a tree.

In the same way, a great era needs a great idea to drive it.

Otherwise, people and government will often die.

Only a group armed with ideas can operate spontaneously and not change due to people.

Only great ideas can build a great empire.

Otherwise, his so-called imperial era will never be realized.

At most, we can retravel the British colonial path.

After understanding this, he finally knew what to do next.

No, to be precise, he finally touched the threshold.

But what the road behind the door looks like and how to take it, I still don’t have a clue yet.

To put it bluntly, he didn't know how to construct that great idea.

Now he is thinking about this problem.

The sun's ideas are naturally great, but they are not suitable for this era.

If copied directly, the consequences would be devastating.

To construct great ideas that fit the times, one must first understand the times.

At the same time, we must study the thoughts of various schools of thought in order to draw nutrients from them.

However, he has an advantage that no one else has, that is, as a time traveler, he can see problems beyond the era.

What's more, he already has a great idea in his mind for reference.

Easier to find the right path.

But it is only easier than others. It is very difficult to really achieve this step.

In addition, Li Shanchang often came to him to discuss the 'rule of law'.

Ever since he heard the concept of rule of law, Li Shanchang seemed to have seen a new door, with countless new ideas emerging every day.

In his opinion, the person who best understands his thoughts is naturally Chen Jingke.

Therefore, whenever I have new inspiration, I will come to him to discuss it.

Chen Jingke is also happy to see this situation. It is difficult for him to improve his thoughts on the rule of law.

In other words, he simply didn't have that time.

Li Shanchang is the master of Legalist thought in this era. If he can perfect the concept of rule of law based on Legalist thought.

That would be great.

Why must we use Legalist thought to improve the concept of the rule of law?
Very simple, respect ancient customs.

It is difficult for people to accept new ideas that appear out of thin air.

It will be completely different if we innovate on the ideas of our predecessors.

As for the reason why Li Shanchang is keen on this matter, it is naturally related to the Three Immortals.

Make meritorious deeds and establish words.

He accomplished the meritorious service, which was the first meritorious service of the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

Establishing virtue... He is self-aware, and he will never have anything to do with virtue in this life.

Then only Liyan is left.

He didn't have that opportunity before. Although he had studied Legalist thought deeply, he was not able to innovate.

Chen Jingke's words "rule of law" awakened him.

There is no need to comprehensively analyze Legalist thought, as long as a breakthrough is made in a certain aspect, it is the same.

Based on the principle that "rewards must be punished, supplemented by rituals", the rule of law was developed, which was opposed to the Confucian rule of man.

Then arm the judicial system with the idea of ​​'rule of law' and make the entire judicial system become its disciples.

Didn’t you complete your promise?

Of course, he knew very well that he had taken advantage of Chen Jingke, and he was embarrassed to do so at first.

Chen Jingke conveyed his intention to him through Queen Ma.

Although I proposed the idea of ​​the rule of law, there is no restriction on the idea and everyone has the right to improve it.

Just admit that I am the originator of this concept.

The implication is that I am the founder and you are the perfecter.

Li Shanchang naturally understood this truth and admired Chen Jingke's magnanimity from the bottom of his heart.

When he discussed inspiration with Chen Jingke, it wasn't just for communication.

Another reason is to increase Chen Jingke's participation.

In this way, he can tell the outside world that this new idea was perfected by the two of us.

If Chen Jingke has that kind of ambition, I can't be a villain.

That's what he thinks.

For Chen Jingke, communicating with Li Shanchang also greatly increased his understanding of Legalist thought.

It was of great help to him in constructing the 'great idea' in his mind.

While Chen Jingke was busy, another piece of information came from the border.

King Jin and King Yan are about to return in triumph and arrive in Luoyang around August.

In order to welcome the return of his two sons and to demonstrate the Ming Dynasty's martial virtues, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Ministry of Rites to formulate a high-standard welcome ceremony.

Not only that, he also ordered people to renovate Luoyang Palace.

The new palace complex that had only been occupied for a few years was about to be renovated, which naturally met the opposition of the ministers.

But Lao Zhu insisted on going his own way and had to renovate.

We are so frugal on weekdays, but what’s wrong with occasionally being extravagant?
Even Empress Ma came forward and said that she could satisfy the emperor's small request.

The ministers reluctantly agreed.

Only a few people knew that his real purpose of renovating Luoyang Palace was to prepare for Zhu Biao's ascension to the throne.

Just as the ministers were preparing for the triumphal return of the two princes, Zhou Wang Zhu Ju entered Luoyang City in a low-key manner.

(End of this chapter)