My Ming Dynasty, I have the final say

Chapter 171 Today is a big chapter

When Zhou Yingqiu, Bi Ziyan, Yuan Shizhen, and Dong Yingju were waiting in the cabinet hall.

Cabinet, inside Han Xu's squad room.

What is in front of him is the draft imperial edict sent from the palace.

Looking at this imperial edict, cold sweat broke out on Han Xu's forehead. He was holding a wolf-brush pen in his hand. Although he had already had enough ink, he was still unable to write.

The restructuring of Shuntian Mansion and the addition of new official positions sounds like a good thing.

Han Xu has already written this part.

But in the end, the content about tax evasion made Han Xu's heart skip a beat.

"Isn't this just a warning order?"

If this imperial edict continues, all the civil and military officials in the dynasty will be scolded bloody by those rich families.

Since the official tax exemptions were introduced during the Hongzhi period, who wouldn’t want to think about tax evasion?

In order to evade taxes, which of the ordinary people would not donate their own land to the name of a big family?

"Mr. Ge, Zhou Shangshu is urging me again."

His hands were shaking and he was unable to write, but the Secretary of the Cabinet came to urge him again.

"understood."

With a deep sigh, Han Xu felt his heart skip a beat and started writing.

After a cup of tea, Han Xu sent the imperial edict to Xiyuan for printing.

The moment Zhou Yingqiu and the others left the cabinet with the imperial edict, news about the court's new policy spread throughout Shuntian Mansion.

New government offices, new tax policies, and a new "prefect" of Shuntian Prefecture were added.

And, the most terrifying “tax evasion penalty system.”

After Feng and Gu were beheaded alive, the third uncle was killed in one day, and corrupt officials were found out every day and then beheaded at Caishikou.

No one in Shuntian Prefecture dared to doubt the emperor's determination to fight against corruption. Nowadays, people are in panic and officials are struggling to make a living.

"Zhou Yingqiu is a traitor!"

"Bi Ziyan is nothing."

"And that Yuan Shizhen, who hangs out with businessmen all day long, what can he come up with?"

Everyone was filled with righteous indignation, all of which were the imperial court's dissatisfaction with the new policy implemented in Shuntian Mansion.

The emperor would not dare to scold, even in his own home.

After several months of rectification, the current Jinyiwei cannot be said to be of great use, but at least it has turned around.

Although the civil service system has already begun to infiltrate the Jinyiwei, for example, emperors of all dynasties often favored the children of officials to join the Jinyiwei.

However, because of the inherent contempt of civil servants for factory guards, these officials' children often have crooked buttocks after joining the Imperial Guard.

For example, Tian Ergeng was the grandson of Tian Le, Minister of War during the Wanli period.

Logically speaking, this person should be inclined to be a civil servant, right?

But the fact is just the opposite. Among the current Jinyi guards, the one who is most ruthless to civil servants is Tian Ergen.

Now among the leaders of the Imperial Guard in the capital, Xu Xianchun and Tian Ergeng jointly praise Xu Yingtianhu.

Xu Xianchun, the grandson of the princess and the emperor's personal commander and commander of the Imperial Guard, mainly frightened the people in the court.

Tian Ergeng's reputation intimidated the officials in the capital, or their families.

They were all local foxes in the capital. Tian Ergen knew quite clearly where the rumors on the streets came from.

Because of his purge campaign in the capital, many officials now go to work on foot or on horseback.

The family members were all captured, and there was no place to redeem them. There was no one to carry the sedan chair.

In just three days, Zhu Youxiao received more than two hundred memorials on his desk opposing the New Deal.

Zhu Youxiao briefly read through these memorials and then approved them all.

Then, a new imperial edict stipulating the format of memorials was sent to the Ministry of Rites. Along with it, a bunch of standard texts were sent, requiring the Ministry of Rites to make it clear to the world.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were seven types of official documents presented to the emperor by ministers, including memorials, inscriptions, unveilings, notes, duplications, unveilings, and translations.

Two new official document formats have been added.

Sun Ruyou felt that the emperor was addicted to making rules for his ministers.

The first type is called an impeachment memorial. As the name suggests, it is an impeachment memorial.

Any impeachment of an official must be precise, and the reasons for impeachment must be written clearly, as well as the time, place, person, cause, process and result of the incident.

The second type is called an exhortation. As the name suggests, it is a memorial to admonish the emperor.

For a matter, the six elements of problem, cause, result, impact, example, and solution must be written in paragraphs A, B, C, and D.

For these two kinds of memorials with stipulated contents, if they are not complied with, the Secretary of General Affairs does not need to send them to the cabinet, and the Secretary of Rites and Supervisors does not need to send them to the emperor's desk.

The emperor is clearly telling everyone in the world not to use specious reasons to mess with me.

It was obvious that the emperor was determined to change the law.

Three days later, Yuan Shizhen entered Xiyuan with a piece of paper and presented it to the emperor.

Playing with the paper in his hand, Zhu Youxiao felt a little emotional.

The industry of Ming Dynasty was very developed, especially papermaking.

The four paper-producing areas of the Ming Dynasty were Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Nanzhili. Among them, Guangxin Prefecture in Jiangxi was the largest. There were [-] types of paper supplied to the Secretary of Ceremony alone, such as Lianqizhi, Guanyin Three million pieces of paper, jade-block paper, Xuande paper, memorial paper, etc. must be offered at one time.

The piece of paper in Zhu Youxiao's hand now is a collation paper, and its name comes from the Ming Dynasty's half-seal collation system.

In layman's terms, the two halves of the document are put together, and the half seal, or seam seal, font size, base book and collation paper are compared to prove that this thing is genuine.

After watching for a long time, Zhu Youxiao raised his head and looked at Yuan Shizhen.

"You mean, in addition to changing the land deed, you also need to change the household title and identity certificate?"

"Your Majesty, the yellow book and the fish scale book used by the Ming Dynasty today were made by Zhang Taiyue during his political reform in the past."

After cupping his hands, Yuan Shizhen explained his thoughts.

"According to Your Majesty's method of calculating the population, the number of acres of land and household registrations concealed by the people is so large that the Fish Scale Register and the Yellow Register can no longer be used."

"The imperial court's tax revenue has dropped sharply. If we don't clear out the land, re-create the fish scale register, organize the population, and re-create the yellow register, it will be difficult to increase the tax revenue this year no matter how strict the order is. Therefore, it is urgent."

"The imperial court wants to establish new township officials and increase the number of county officials. This system is suitable for the implementation of the examination law. The responsibilities are assigned to the people and the best officials are selected."

"Ah."

Hearing Yuan Shizhen's words, Zhu Youxiao nodded in agreement.

Zhang Juzheng's examination method was in line with this implementation.

Lowering his head and playing with the paper in his hand, Zhu Youxiao suddenly had a new idea.

For a whole cup of tea, Yuan Shizhen sat on the cloth mound, looking at the emperor who didn't know what he was doing on it.

Picking up a knife and pen, he sketched and cut on the paper, and the prototype of a future household registration book appeared in his hands.

Name, gender, household registration, date of birth, and home address.

In addition, at the bottom of each page, there are eight small squares with the Dingkou tax written on them.

Pick up a seal that is only the size of your little finger from your side, apply ink pad, paste the cut out small seal paper on another piece of paper, and seal it with the seal.

After taking away the small paper and looking at the rice paper on the table, Zhu Youxiao nodded with satisfaction and turned to the little eunuch.

"Go to Wang Mo and ask him to send people to Jiangxi and invite some papermakers who specialize in making Kanhe paper to come to Beijing and open factories to make this kind of paper."

"The servants lead the order."

Hearing this, the little eunuch didn't know what the emperor wanted to do, but he still followed the order.

"Please come forward, dear."

After waving to Yuan Shizhen and gesturing him to come to the Long Bookcase, Zhu Youxiao showed him what he had made over a cup of tea.

"What do you think of doing this?"

"The first page is for the head of the household, usually the male."

"Page two, for my wife."

"From now on, it will be the heirs."

"What if it's concubinage?" Hearing the emperor's explanation, Yuan Shizhen asked, stroking his beard.

"What does the Ming Law stipulate about concubinage?"

"this."

Hearing this, Yuan Shizhen's eyes flickered.

"Only when you are forty years old and have no children can you take a concubine."

"How many side rooms and concubines does Yuan Aiqing have?"

Seeing Yuan Shizhen's hesitation, Zhu Youxiao leaned back and asked with a smile.

"Return to your majesty, my lord."

Although he was a little embarrassed to be asked this question by the emperor, Yuan Shizhen still answered honestly.

"My wife is still here, and I have a concubine and two concubines."

There is no way to lie about this, Jin Yiwei will find out once he investigates.

"Humph."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao snorted coldly.

In the land of China, except for the multiple queen system introduced by the Qing Emperor, there has always been monogamy, or more recently, monogamy and multiple concubines.

There are no two days in the sky and no two masters in the country. How can there be two queens in the harem?

The regulations on concubinage were set by Zhu Yuanzhang and were implemented very well during Taizu, Chengzu, and even the Zhengtong years.

But since Hongzhi, that good Chinese man, came to power, the issue of concubinage for officials and wealthy businessmen has been liberalized.

"After you go back, pay a fine of one hundred taels of silver to the Ministry of Household Affairs."

"I thank your Majesty for your kindness."

After hearing the emperor's words, Yuan Shizhen breathed a sigh of relief and quickly cupped his hands.

"This is included in the new law."

After waving his hand, Zhu Youxiao looked at Yuan Shizhen and said.

"When cleaning up the population, you should pay attention to this. Anyone who is not forty years old and has no children and takes a concubine will be fined fifty taels of silver for each person. For each additional person, an additional fifty taels will be added."

"Those who still dare to take concubines after cleaning up are guilty of the same crime as tax evasion."

"The minister obeys the order."

Hearing this, Yuan Shizhen quickly bowed and agreed, but then he raised another question.

"What if his family has no money to punish?"

"No silver to punish?"

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao sneered.

"Sending Xishan to dig coal, I specially asked Xishan to set up a new camp, called the labor camp, which is a place specifically for the labor reform of these criminal judges.

"They will be paid according to their work, and when they have saved enough, they will be released again."

"I understand."

Shrinking his neck, Yuan Shizhen nodded hurriedly.

Good guy, let’s carry out labor reform for officials, or scholars.

What did the emperor think? This is too unethical.

"I digress. Just now you said you wanted to recreate the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Book."

Reaching out and rubbing his shoulders, Zhu Youxiao brought the topic back.

"There are eight spaces left at the bottom of each page. After the Dingkou tax is paid, the township official will seal it here with the Dingkou book as a voucher. Every eight years, a new copy will be used, and the old copy will be handed over to the court."

"Your Majesty's wisdom."

Listening to the emperor's new idea for the household registration system, Yuan Shizhen praised it.

“In this way, it will be clear at a glance whether there is tax evasion or not.”

"I think that the land policy can also be implemented in this way."

"Tell me."

Seeing that Yuan Shizhen had an idea, Zhu Youxiao motioned for him to continue.

"Private land deeds also leave a place for sealing, which complements the local fish scale book. Every eight years, it can be replaced to prevent unruly people from evading taxes."

As he said this, Yuan Shizhen added something in his mind.

The private sector can also charge a production fee.

"Ah."

After hearing Yuan Shizhen's script, Zhu Youxiao just nodded and added in his mind.

The Ming Dynasty has a long history of people suing officials. When Jinyiwei develops to all provinces, if there is a grandson below who dares to collect more taxes, this will be evidence for people to sue officials.

This is equivalent to a tax bill, which is the key point of future tax reform. All tax collection must be printed.

After another exchange between the emperor and Yuan Shizhen about their own hidden agendas, Yuan Shizhen left with satisfaction.

Although the emperor focused his main energy on military training, he paid great attention to government affairs, especially his own reforms.

And his level of intelligence is comparable to that of a talented person.

With the imperial edict for withdrawing money written by the eunuch, Yuan Shizhen wandered all the way to Duzhisi.

"With the cost of ten thousand taels of silver, you plan to buy pens, ink, paper and inkstones?"

In the class room, looking at the drafted imperial edict stamped with the emperor's seal, Bi Ziyan opened his mouth and looked at Yuan Shizhen in front of him.

"This is not just pen, ink, paper and inkstone, but also used in the new method."

After hearing what Bi Ziyan said, Yuan Shizhen quickly explained.

"The imperial court wants to replace household registration papers, land deeds, yellow books, and fish scale books, using special Kanhe paper, and they will be replaced every eight years."

"His Majesty has sent people to Jiangxi to hire special papermakers to come to the capital to make paper. This is only temporary."

"It won't cost ten thousand taels."

Hearing this, Bi Ziyan was still a little reluctant to part with the money.

Although the new law is implemented, you and I support it.

But Bi Zi said that he was now in charge of the court's expenses and wished he could break a copper plate into two flowers.

"When the new law of Shuntian Mansion comes into effect, won't the money come?"

With that said, Yuan Shizhen told Bi Ziyan about the emperor's relationship between household subsidies and tax collection.

"Since it is the emperor's wish, fine."

After listening for a while, Bi Ziyan accepted Yuan Shizhen's note as a backup, then picked up a pen and started writing a note to get money.

After the branch office split its powers from the household department.

The Ministry of Household Affairs is responsible for collecting money and then handing it over to the state.

The Duzhisi is responsible for spending money and distributing the money from the national funds to various ministries.

"It just so happens that Baoquan Bureau gave me an extra ten thousand silver coins per day this month. I won't give you any more silver. It's all silver coins."

He took out his official seal and put a seam seal on the note, then cut it out. Bi Ziyan handed the note to Yuan Shizhendao.

"Thank you Mr. Bi."

Hearing this, Yuan Shizhen quickly bowed his hands to Bi Ziyan and thanked him.

What Bi Ziyan means is, I will give you silver coins, and you can find a way among the people to see if you can find a businessman who wants more silver coins and exchange for more silver to use back.

Since the imperial court introduced silver coins, this routine has become popular in various yamen in the capital.

Whether private or government, they all play this.

Nowadays, the imperial court is not having a good time. If they can get more money, they will also cross the sea and show their magical powers.

Each yamen has its own small treasury. Taking advantage of the fact that there are not many silver coins on the market, if you can use the large quantities of silver coins in the yamen to exchange for more silver, the people above will not say anything.

As long as it's not an open robbery or a forced purchase or sale, that's fine.

(End of this chapter)