Daming: I am the Crown Prince

Chapter 109 Change starts now

Zhu Yunhuan believed that his fourth uncle would definitely not have any messy thoughts. Even if he did, he would only dare to think about it in the deepest part of his heart and would not dare to reveal it at all, let alone do anything.

But he still wanted to get Monk Daoyan over, not because he believed that the so-called Monk Daoyan was planning to give King Yan a white hat.

The simple reason is that this black-robed prime minister and evil monk has left too much of a mark in history. This man is not a useless military advisor like Huang Zicheng. This man can be regarded as a strategist, so of course he must be removed.

I had thought before that maybe after a few years I would be able to ask for someone with a legitimate reason, but now it can be considered as a legitimate reason.

Zhu Di's expression kept changing, and after a long while he said, "I obey your order."

At that time, Zhu Di selected eminent monks to serve the princes and chant sutras for the late Empress Ma. Monk Daoyan was selected and followed Prince of Yan Zhu Di to Beiping to be the abbot of Daqingshou Temple.

Now Zhu Yunhuan directly asked the kings to pray for the emperor, and those monks must be sent back. Even though he had a detailed discussion with Monk Daoyan, Zhu Di knew that he had no initiative in this matter.

It was true that he was reluctant and unhappy, but as a vassal king, he really couldn't refuse.

Old Zhu also smiled and said, "You bastard, you didn't allow me to curse myself before, but now you're making a bigger fuss. I'm afraid that the civil and military officials will believe it now, and they may even start preparing for my death."

After hearing this, Zhu Di realized that he had no choice and Monk Daoyan must be sent back.

For reasons of both reason and public interest, he now needs to send Monk Daoyan back to Yingtian Prefecture. Born in the royal family, he should be more open-minded about some things.

When his sons came back for the pilgrimage, Zhu was naturally quite happy. Some of his sons could see through it, but some could not.

But this is nothing to Lao Zhu, as he has now begun to further stimulate his acting skills.

It seemed that he was not as active as before in attending court, and his responses to many government affairs were not as timely as before, as if he was really old and weak and lacking energy.

The Crown Prince Zhu Yunhuan was busy making gunpowder, supervising the construction of large ships at the Longjiang Shipyard, and so on.

While he was busy disciplining the nobles, he did not neglect the control of the Beijing army.

"Yun Hu, look at this." In Wuying Hall, Old Zhu pointed at the memorial and said, "It looks like he is asking for my approval, but this person has evil intentions. If I give in, should the taxes of the prefectures below be reduced?"

Zhu Yunhuan nodded and said, "Although we should provide relief when disaster strikes, we cannot let the prefectures and cities handle this matter. Regardless of whether the disaster is true or false, once we let them handle this, the prefectures and cities will be able to make their own decisions in the future."

"That's right. We'd rather wait a few days than send out the money and grain." Old Zhu said helplessly, "We also know that if there is a disaster, the people will have a hard time making a living. But we can't really believe these officials, even if they are kind-hearted and love the people!"

Zhu Yunhuan also agreed with this point. In the final analysis, it was fine to give local governments some autonomy. However, there were some bottom lines that could not be touched, otherwise the officials below would have too much power, which was not a good thing.

Old Zhu then pulled out a memorial and said, "Look here. There was a disaster two years ago, and they are still reporting it. The emperor is far away, and he can report a small disaster as a catastrophic disaster. We promised to provide 10,000 dan of grain for disaster relief, but he can withhold it for half a month without distributing it."

Zhu Yunhu was also aware of the fraud and so on of some officials.

"So I'm happy that you use the Jinyiwei." Old Zhu said seriously, "When you become the emperor in the future, you must have good ears and eyes, so that you won't be deceived by those officials. Think about Hu Hai, who lived in the deep palace for a long time and thought that the world was peaceful!"

Zhu Yunhuan smiled and nodded, but still said, "I am also planning the Jinyiwei matter. They have too much power. Although my grandfather suppressed some of them before, they have great power when they are used. I am thinking of splitting them up. I am going to set up a Zhenfu Division."

In the past, when Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to handle a major case, he often did not go through the Ministry of Justice, but directly handed it over to the Jinyiwei Zhenfu Division. The Zhenfu Division was powerful for a time and arbitrarily perverted the law, so much so that in the 20th year of Hongwu, the emperor issued an edict to "burn all the guards' torture instruments and send the prisoners to the Ministry of Justice for trial."

The Northern Pacification Office was actually newly established during Zhu Di's reign, and was specifically responsible for managing the imperial prison.

Old Zhu thought about it carefully and said, "That's right. In the past few years, the Jinyiwei was hated by the people, and we also think that these minions have become a bit too powerful."

"In addition to checking and balancing the Jinyiwei, I still want to separate some things." Zhu Yunhuan said, "Now the Jinyiwei also has the responsibility of spying on foreign military intelligence, which is not good. I want to build a Northern Pacification Division, firstly to check and balance the Jinyiwei, and secondly to collect military intelligence."

Old Zhu did not object and said, "If you are willing to do this, then go ahead and do it. But remember, since it is to check and balance the Imperial Guard, your Northern Pacification Office should not be managed by the Imperial Guard. If they want to spy on military intelligence, the Five Military Governor's Office can know some things, but it should not be managed by the Five Military Governor's Office."

Zhu Yunxun said directly, "Of course, it's better for my grandfather to manage the Northern Pacification Office." Old Zhu smiled and refused, "The Northern Pacification Office is similar to the Jinyiwei, and it will naturally be managed by the emperor himself in the future. I am too old to manage it now, so you can take charge of it while you plan to build the Northern Pacification Office."

Zhu Yunhuan agreed without hesitation, "That's fine. But if I do that, the Jinyiwei will criticize me. Those civil and military officials will definitely be complaining in their hearts."

One Jinyiwei is enough to make them nervous, and now the Crown Prince wants to set up a Northern Pacification Division. Isn't this another Jinyiwei?
Working under such a crown prince, one would definitely feel pressured and very uncomfortable.

"You can complain all you want, but it's not their turn to take care of this matter." Old Zhu said domineeringly, "If they really let it be, they would wish you would rule the country without any hesitation. They think you are a clay Buddha."

This is true. An emperor who constantly delegates power is a good emperor in the eyes of some civil and military officials.

But now it seems that they will definitely not get what they want, because Zhu Yuanzhang is not that kind of person, and Zhu Yunhuan is not that kind of "benevolent".

"Grandfather, I'm thinking about the Ministry of Revenue right now. We also need to collect some taxes." Zhu Yunhuan said, "We need to think of a way to deal with the taxation issue."

Lao Zhu immediately glared and refused directly, "No!"

"Grandfather!" Zhu Yunhuan was also anxious. He knew that in history, the main reason for the fall of the Ming Dynasty was the lack of tax revenue. "Grandfather, I'm not thinking of collecting taxes from the people. Now is the time to recuperate. But the current tax system will definitely allow those with ulterior motives to take advantage of loopholes."

The Ming Dynasty today continues to follow the Two Tax System, with the amount assessed based on the geographical location of the south and north. The system of rent, labor and tax, which mainly collected grains, cloth and other physical goods, has been changed to a system of collecting mainly cash, with taxes collected twice a year, in summer and autumn.

Although the places are different, there are some differences.

But in general, the south has to bear taxes twice a year for rice that is harvested twice a year.

Land tax was the main source of revenue for the country. Salt administration was the second largest source of revenue. The rest were: speculation tariffs, commercial taxes, shipping taxes, door stall taxes, wine and vinegar taxes, real estate deed taxes, mining silver, and fishery taxes.

Zhu Yunhuan hurriedly said to Old Zhu, "Grandfather, the downfall of all dynasties was mostly due to land annexation. In the 14th year of Hongwu, the court compiled the Fish Scale Book, and the people were less than 60 million. In the early years, they rewarded meritorious officials and treated scholars leniently, exempting them from many land taxes. This is not good!"

When Zhu Yuanzhang bestowed titles on his meritorious officials, he naturally also rewarded the princes, meritorious officials, and nobles with a lot of land. These lands were recorded in the land policy, and they enjoyed the privilege of being exempt from taxes and labor service.

Moreover, officials in the imperial court also enjoyed certain privileges. They could be exempted from a certain amount of labor service according to their respective official ranks. A first-rank official could be exempted from 10,000 acres of tax-free land, and the number of exempted lands decreased accordingly. Even the lowest-ranking student could be exempted from 80 acres of tax. Although the law only stipulated exemption from labor service, the labor service law of the Ming Dynasty was based on civilians being the subjects of labor and the land used to govern labor service.

Both fields and people can be subject to conscription. By obtaining "exemption grain" from "exemption land", it leaves a loophole for tax evasion under the guise of exemption.

The current land tax in the Ming Dynasty is only about two to three liters per mu, which is the same as that in the Yuan Dynasty, and even lighter than that in the Song Dynasty.

However, there are still some miscellaneous taxes, and some people who are interested have also understood that the basis of land tax in the Ming Dynasty is population and land. If there is land, there is rent, and if there is land, there is labor service.

Zhu Yunhuan continued, "If it were me, I would sell my land to the landlords and rent the land from them. If I exempt the taxes, the landlords will have more land. If things work, these lands will also be tax-free. By then, the rich and powerful will own more and more land, and the taxes collected by the court will be less and less. If the taxes are really less, the court will come up with all kinds of excuses to legally collect taxes. The heavier the taxes, the more people will tend to sell their land to the rich and powerful!"

Zhu Yunhuan was worried and said, "Grandfather, if this continues, what will happen?"

Old Zhu slammed the table angrily, "How dare they!"

"Why not?" Zhu Yunhuan said, "People die for money and birds die for food. Many nobles and landlords do the same thing now! Even Ouyang Lun has accumulated a lot of land, some of which are taxed. Besides, the people who have surrendered to the army don't need to be registered and don't need to pay taxes!"

This was the case in the middle and late Ming Dynasty in history. The imperial court was unable to collect taxes, but the landlords and wealthy were extremely wealthy.

If they dared to raise taxes, they would shout that they were taking profits from the people. If they wanted to survey the land, countless ministers who were concerned about the country and the people would try their best to stop them.

Lao Zhu thought about it carefully and said, "Let's discuss it later!"

Zhu Yunhuan had no choice. As a commoner who rose to become the founding emperor, Zhu Yunhuan never lacked confidence. So Zhu Yunhuan wrote down the "Record of Ancestors' Instructions" and established a law for eternity, believing that as long as his descendants followed the instructions, they would be able to keep the country and be good emperors.

However, policies that are appropriate now may not be appropriate even decades from now, let alone one or two hundred years from now.

Besides, Zhu Yunhuan still wanted to complain about some of the policies set by Zhu Yuanzhang. So the change should start from now!
(End of this chapter)