People live in the Ming Dynasty, evil spirits are soaring into the sky

Chapter 437 Only scholars have many thoughts

Guo Feixue didn't care at all about what happened on the street.

She now truly feels that her current status has undergone a drastic change.

Not only as the saint of the White Lotus Sect, she needs to be careful about her words and actions.

Because many ordinary people will see the White Lotus Sect and will be willing to join in to save all sentient beings.

More importantly, we must let ordinary people see the high quality represented by our words and deeds as members of the Duke's Mansion.

So after she came to Ningbo, she especially heard what Princess Ning'an said to her.

Now her status is different for the people of Ningbo City.

In particular, the impact of what she had done in Wenzhou Prefecture was extremely high, far beyond her own imagination.

To a certain extent, it has even become the common people's impression of the entire White Lotus Sect.

The common people now all know that the White Lotus Sect is the image of the saint woman who saves people from suffering.

People in the southeast are especially convinced of this.

So in order to consolidate this image, she must maintain it.

We must also let the people know that this image of ours will be maintained.

She could no longer act like an innocent little girl like before, being free and saying whatever she wanted, so she had to be serious.

The biggest surprise about his image was his personal maid, who had been following him since he was in the White Lotus Sect and whom he had always treated like a sister.

And now, this personal maid was still a little surprised at Guo Feixue's performance today.

Because before, Guo Feixue always showed the image of a lively and cute little girl, but today it was different.

But she shows the image of a domineering strong woman.

This is completely different from the young lady they knew before.

So I asked in surprise: "Miss, you were so domineering just now, not like your usual self at all."

Another maid who came from the Duke's Mansion also said, "Yes, Miss Guo, you are usually very polite to us when you are in the mansion, and you don't speak so harshly.

But what you said to that scholar today really made us feel different. However, you behaved very well. What that scholar said was really infuriating. "

When the personal maid talked about this, she felt very resentful.

The Duke they saw in the mansion was decisive in killing people, and for the people of the world, who wouldn't applaud what he did?
Who wouldn't think that what their Lordship did was very good? Only those with bad intentions would secretly hate what their Lordship did.

Because those people's interests were harmed by the Duke's reforms, they would not have any gratitude towards the Duke in their hearts.

I can only hope that the Duke dies sooner.

Therefore, the two personal maids were also very disgusted with what the scholar had just said.

The personal maid said, "Logically speaking, the common people and scholars in the southeast should be able to feel it most directly.

After our Duke goes to the southeast, he will get rid of all the big landlords and wealthy people here. Wouldn't their lives be better?

But the scholar just now seemed to be indignant. "

Another maid also felt strange, "Yes, I heard that many people are grateful to our Duke and feel that he has done a great thing.

It is possible for them to no longer have to suffer the bullying of the big landlords and tycoons and live like human beings, but it is different for scholars. "

The two maids started chattering in the carriage, but Guo Feixue did not speak first.

Instead, we need to listen to what they really want to say, especially about the recognition of the domineering aura that the people around them have just displayed.

It made her feel that she was one step closer to success.

When she heard the two maids talking about why the scholar had shown such resentment just now, Guo Feixue actually had some ideas of her own.

Especially after he had been with Chen Han for so long, and after accumulating experience with Sophia during the time he and she had been running Daming Engineering College together.

It can be seen that scholars may not necessarily agree with Chen Han’s reforms.

So after hearing the discussion between the two personal maids, she began to speak, "This is normal. Not every scholar is reasonable, even though they are full of so-called knowledge.

But their knowledge is not necessarily for the benefit of the common people; it is for the purpose of currying favor with the superiors and for their own future.

After hearing this, the two maids immediately asked, "Miss, are you saying that our Duke's reforms have undermined their interests?

This is not right. They are also ordinary people. Ordinary people are living better, so can their lives be even better?
Once the corrupt officials have been dealt with, they can concentrate on their studies. Even though the Duke's reforms mean that some scholars may not be able to become officials immediately after passing the imperial examination as before, there are now many craftsmen.

But they don’t hate our Duke so much, are they sick?”

At this point the two maids became very angry.

Their support for Chen Han is not only because the treatment in Chen Han’s mansion is very good.

It's not just because of Guo Feixue now, they don't treat these little maids as harshly as ordinary landlords.

Instead, he allowed these little maids to study and learn calligraphy in the school set up in the mansion.

The more important reason is that they have received letters from their families.

My parents all said that with the reforms of the Duke, more and more officials have begun to restrain their behavior.

There are no corrupt officials, and no one discriminates against big businesses in the market.

Without the pressure of taxes, life is getting better and better.

Driven by these good days, people are now increasingly accepting of reforms.

Especially the common people don’t care who will be the emperor.

They only care about who can make their lives better and better.

Now that the Duke is able to do this, why not support him?
Guo Feixue explained: "In fact, these scholars are not necessarily the same as ordinary people. First of all, even if they passed the Tongshi and got the title of Xiucai.

Not only does the government provide them with a certain amount of subsidies every month, they also receive certain care in official circles.

For example, they don’t need to kneel when they are in court, or when they see the carriage of a government official, etc. This is different from ordinary people.”

Although the maids had never been officials or passed the imperial examinations, they knew very well that if the common people did not kneel down before the county magistrate, the officials would come up with water and fire sticks and beat them.

But I didn't expect that just because I passed the exam, I didn't need to kneel down to see these officials. This seemed to be really different from ordinary people. Then Guo Feixue explained, "This is of course not the biggest benefit. It's just for face. Another big benefit is that even if you only pass the exam, you can still be exempted from taxes."

The two maids' families were both farmers, but they knew very well that farming was more than just paying the so-called head tax and land tax.

There are more miscellaneous taxes, corvée labor, and brushes, paper, ink, etc. used by government offices, which are actually all paid by the common people and are invisible.

Even some cunning officials came up with the idea of ​​creating taxes out of thin air.

For example, you have to go to his house to help him with housework.

Serving tea, water, chamber pots, etc. to his concubine.

These are all invisible taxes, and they can all be counted as part of the taxes.

But I didn't expect that just being a scholar could save me so much.

The two maids were extremely surprised, "No wonder so many scholars work so hard to study and take exams, it turns out there are so many benefits.

If I knew there were so many benefits, I would be willing to study and take the exam.”

"That's right. Even though the family is very poor, they still want to support a scholar.

At first I always thought they were thinking that having a scholar in the family would bring honor to the family, but I didn't expect there were such profound secrets.

Miss, if you hadn't told us this today, we really wouldn't have known it.

No wonder those scholars say that they can’t put down their books even in the cold winter. With so many benefits, anyone can do it.”

Then Guo Feixue added, "This is just the apparent benefit, there are others."

The two maids opened their eyes and mouths wide, "This is just the apparent benefit, my God, the court is too good to scholars.

Why can't we be nicer to ordinary people? This is so unfair."

As two maids who came from ordinary families, they felt indignant when they heard that scholars could get so many benefits after passing the imperial examination.

Because they think, why can't we be nicer to the people? This is really infuriating.

Guo Feixue said, “Because there are so many benefits, there are so many scholars.

Because of the privilege of tax exemption, these scholars will not only exempt their families from various miscellaneous taxes.

Rich landowners have countless fields and have to pay a lot of taxes. Can they renew them?
Unwilling to accept this, they registered their land under the names of those scholars.

Because scholars had tax-exempt privileges, large landowners could also achieve tax exemption by registering their land under their names.

Correspondingly, the scholars could take a portion of the taxes exempted by the landlords as their own remuneration.

This is the same as doing business, but the scholars are using their reputation to make a business without any capital.”

The two little maids were stunned when they heard this. They never thought that this was the way the world worked.

What made scholars different from ordinary people was their privileges and the cooperative relationship between them and the landlords.

No wonder so many big landlords came to visit the scholar’s ​​house in the village.

In the past, they and their families were naive and believed that the reason the big landlords came to visit them was that after passing the examinations to become a scholar, a juren, and a jinshi, they would be able to become officials.

Curying favor with these officials in advance may be beneficial to them in the future.

But I didn't expect that they were actually going there to discuss business.

After seeing the shocked expressions of the two maids, he said again: "Now you know why these scholars regard our Duke as a scourge.

Although the reforms of Grandpa Guogong have provided more opportunities for some scholars.

For example, when it comes to doing business, they are quick-witted and know more than ordinary people, so they can do business well.

However, more scholars, because they focus on books, are less aware of the outside world than ordinary people.

It is said that scholars are not even strong enough to tie a chicken, and some scholars even consider themselves noble and are unwilling to have too much contact with the so-called money-related stuff.

Therefore, without the income from the big landlords registering the land in their names, many scholars' families immediately fell into poverty.

So they were very resentful in their hearts, resentful that our Duke had ruined their business for no reason.

They resented the Duke for making their lives miserable for no reason."

The two little maids finally understood why those scholars hated their own Duke so much.

It turns out that the reason is all here.

What these people resented was that the Duke treated everyone equally after his reforms.

Now taxes are not collected based on head taxes, but directly based on the amount of land, which will make it impossible to hide these lands.

Those scholars were not stupid. Before, scholars’ achievements were indeed tax-exempt, but what was exempted was the head tax.

Nowadays, it is collected directly according to land tax.

If the big landlords still registered a large amount of land in their names, wouldn't they have to pay the taxes for the big landlords? They are not stupid.

Guo Feixue also sighed, "So now you know why our Duke is also working very hard.

Not everyone sincerely supports the Duke's reforms. Even among the people, there are many people who are hostile to our Duke's reforms.

They are determined to make the Duke's reforms fail, and they are determined to return to the previous status quo.

What they wanted to do was to exploit the people even more after the reform failed.

They are already very different from ordinary people.

They have even long since left the category of ordinary people.

They feel that they are superior to others, so they must enjoy the offerings from the people. "

Speaking of this, Guo Feixue's eyes slowly became moist.

He had been staying in the southeast and the capital before, and had never come down to the people to return.

I didn't know that ordinary scholars in the society had such strong opinions about their men's reforms.

If she hadn't known this, how could she know Chen Han's hard work...

(End of this chapter)