Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 524 Dendrobium
Waving his hand, Li Jing smiled and said, "Don't be cautious, I just want to chat with you, and you can tell me if you have any difficulties."

Li Zhi hurriedly said: "The lower official is only a small county magistrate, if you have any difficulties, how dare you bother Lord Shoufu."

Li Jing shook his head and said: "You are wrong. The county magistrate is a very important position. The reason why the imperial court's decrees can be implemented throughout the country is because of you grassroots officials. If you work hard, the imperial court can operate normally. If you If the work is not effective, the court will have to stop. So, don't think that this position is humble."

"My lord's words are really wise and famous." Li Zhi said hurriedly.

Li Jing smiled: "It's not a matter of wisdom and famous words, it can only be said to be a little insight. Tell me, what difficulties do you think you have as a county magistrate, and what needs the court to help you solve."

Li Zhi hurriedly said: "There is no difficulty. Now both the salary and the treatment are much better than before. In the past, the salary of the junior official could only barely support the family. Now the imperial court has borne a lot of expenses. It has also improved a lot, and the life of the Xiaguan family is much better than before."

Li Jing smiled: "Now life is better than before, so there is no need to ignore the law for some small gains, isn't the loss outweighed by the gain?"

"What your lord said is true. To be honest, my lord, I have done some things for small profits before, and I always feel uneasy after doing them." Li Zhibao smiled.

Li Jing nodded and said with a smile: "You can confess in front of me that you used to be greedy for small profits and feel uneasy in your heart. It shows that you are an honest person, and it also shows that you really have the intention of repenting. If so, I will not punish you. , I won’t mention the previous mistakes, I hope you will take this as a warning in the future.”

"Thank you, sir." Li Zhi said hurriedly.

Li Jing shook his head, sighed lightly, and said, "Speaking of which, many of our officials are corrupt mainly because their salaries are too low, especially those of low-level officials. They can't even support their families. If you go too much, you will slowly become corrupt. That's why I want to increase the salaries and benefits of officials, and at the same time, the court will bear some of the expenses that officials previously had to pay personally.

In doing so, although it cannot completely solve the problem of official corruption, at least there will be no officials greedy for money to support their families.There is no reason to appease the corrupt officials caught at this time. "

"What your lord said is very true." A group of officials hurriedly said.

Li Jing waved his hand, and Su Rong said: "However, the imperial government's substantial increase in the salaries of grassroots officials will undoubtedly add a huge burden to the national treasury. With the previous taxation system, Ming's finances simply cannot afford the salaries and expenses of so many officials. Therefore, I just enacted a new tax system.

I know that the new tax system will harm the interests of many people, but for the sake of Daming, the new tax system is imperative.

In fact, you should be able to see that the new tax system is related to your own vital interests. If the country can collect taxes, you can pay your salaries. If the country cannot collect taxes, then increasing your salaries is just a dead letter. "

Seeing all the officials nodding, Li Jing continued: "But we can't ignore the lives of the people just because we want to collect taxes. If the people can't afford the taxes and are desperate, they will rebel. In recent years, several provinces in the north You must be very aware of the chaos. Although the chaos in these places has something to do with natural disasters, the endless levies and miscellaneous taxes and the inaction of local governments are also the main reasons."

Everyone nodded after hearing this.

Li Jing continued: "Our new tax system is definitely not designed to increase the burden on the common people, especially not to increase the burden on the common people who do not have much land.

The ratio of ten taxes to one seems not low. In fact, for the common people, the tax is actually reduced.Because after we have collected taxes, we will no longer apportion taxes and fees.

Moreover, we collect taxes after the season. Once a natural disaster causes a reduction in food production, we will adjust the tax rate accordingly or even exempt it.

In addition, due to different regions, the seasons of farming are also different. The north can only collect one season of grain a year, so we only collect grain tax once, and the south can collect two seasons of grain, so we collect taxes twice.

For ordinary people who don't have much land, I think that collecting taxes in this way can greatly reduce their burden.

But whether we can reduce the burden on the common people depends on our grassroots officials. I know that every time the grain harvest comes, the officials will change their ways to get more grain from the common people.It seems that there are many officials who will be kicked and kicked, right?Li Zhixian, will you know? "

Li Zhi hesitated for a while, and finally said in a low voice: "Yes."

Li Jing smiled: "You don't have to be embarrassed, I know many officials will do this."

(Note: When the common people hand in the grain, they must first put it into the dendrobium and then weigh it. The grain should be packed in the dendrobium in a pointed pile, so that part of it will exceed the wall of the dendrobium. When weighing, the officials will suddenly aim at it. When the dendrobium is kicked violently, the grain beyond the dendrobium wall will be scattered on the ground. When the common people go to pick up the fallen grain, the officials will not allow the common people to pick it up in the name of loss. The largest part is the loss during the so-called grain transportation process, and this part becomes the legal income of the officials. As for the common people, they can only send grain back home to make up for the kicked out grain.

Most of the officials in the Ming Dynasty knew how to kick the dendrobium with the tip of the tip. During the Ming Dynasty, many famous ministers such as Sanyang, Li Xian, Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng and others relied on the income from kicking the dendrobium with the tip of the tip to support their families. Small and private subordinates. )
Sighing lightly, Li Jing continued: "It's not easy for ordinary people to grow some food, so don't do such immoral things in the future."

"Yes!" Li Zhi replied.

Li Jing turned to look at everyone: "You are the same, now that your salaries have been greatly increased, don't use this method to exploit the common people anymore. I have set up the Civil Affairs Bureau in the north and other provinces, and I will set up related departments in the south soon." If the department receives complaints from the common people that an official enriches his private pockets by such despicable means as kicking the dendrobium, then this official should not be an official in the future."

"I will follow the teachings of adults." Everyone hurriedly said.

Li Jingjing nodded and continued: "Actually, it is impossible to support so many officials in Daming by relying on the common people to pay food alone, it has to rely on commercial taxes.

Why was the country prosperous during the Song Dynasty?Gein Nation values ​​business.

The Taizu of this dynasty paid more attention to agriculture than business, so that successive emperors did not pay much attention to commerce. In fact, we all know that the income from doing business is much higher than that from farming. However, the commercial tax set by the imperial court is simply ridiculously low. Taxes are negligible.I admire the old man Taizu very much, but Taizu is not right in everything, and we have to correct what is wrong.I think Taizu, the old man in the sky, will be very pleased to know that we have corrected his mistakes and made Daming strong. "

"What your lord said is very true." Everyone hurriedly said.

Li Jing smiled: "Quanzhou's commerce is well developed, especially overseas trade is even more profitable. You must pay close attention to the taxes and taxes in this area."

"I will obey your lord's order." Everyone said in unison.

Li Jing waved his hand: "I came to Fujian this time, one is to recruit Zheng Zhilong, and the other is to negotiate with the Dutch. If these two things are done, there will be a lot of money in the future."

"I wonder if my lord's trip will go smoothly?" Guo Fengrong asked suddenly.

Li Jing shook his head: "How can it be so easy, Zheng Zhilong said he needs to think about it."

"Your Excellency treats him so politely, he still has to think about it, he really doesn't know how to advance or retreat!" Guo Fengrong said.

Li Jing sighed lightly and said, "Twisted melons are not sweet. If I keep pressing hard, Zheng Zhilong will not be convinced after all, and troubles will inevitably happen in the future."

Speaking of which, Li Jing stood up: "Okay, I have to rush to Fuzhou as soon as possible. The banquet over there must have been prepared. I will toast everyone a glass of wine, and we are about to leave."

"My lord, Jinjiang is hundreds of miles away from Fuzhou. My lord will not be able to go back to Fuzhou today anyway. It is better to rest in Jinjiang for half a day, and it will not be too late to leave tomorrow." Li Zhi got up and said.

Li Jing smiled and said: "I appreciate your kindness, and I know everyone's thoughts. But there is something in the court, I have to go back to deal with it as soon as possible, and I can't stay in Fujian for too long. If you have the heart, you should work hard and wait for you to go to Beijing to report on your work." When you give me a satisfactory result, I am happier than anything else."

While speaking, Li Jing led everyone to the temporary shed next to the city gate, looked at the dishes on the table under the shed, Li Jing nodded lightly: "Not bad, very rich, but not extravagant, Very well, very much to my liking. Come and pour me some wine."

As soon as Li Jing finished speaking, a group of servants filled the wine jar and bowl to the brim.

Guo Fengrong held the wine bowl and offered it to Li Jingdao with both hands: "My lord came to Quanzhou, it is a blessing for the people of Quanzhou Hefu. I would like to present you a bowl of wine on behalf of the people of Quanzhou."

Li Jing took the wine bowl with a smile, raised his hand to everyone and said, "Thank you, Li Jing, for the kindness of the elders in Quanzhou, Li Jing respect everyone!"

After finishing speaking, Li Jing picked up the wine bowl and drank it down in one gulp, then lit the bottom of the bowl to everyone.

All the officials did not dare to be negligent, and hurriedly picked up the wine bowl and drank it down in one gulp.

Li Jing smiled: "I won't say too much, I hope everyone can remember what I just said, be a good official, and be a real parent officer. I hope everyone will encourage Li Jing together."

"I will keep in mind what your lord said." The officials hurriedly said.

Li Jing waved his hand: "When you come to Beijing to report on your work, I will treat you to a drink. Alright, I'm leaving."

"Hold on, my lord." Li Zhi said suddenly.

Li Jing turned around and looked at Li Zhi doubtfully, "What else?"

Li Zhi hurriedly said: "Your Excellency came and went in a hurry, the lower officials did not entertain you well, and I deeply regretted it. Your Excellency wanted to leave, but the lower officials did not dare to keep them, so they could only prepare some special products to express their affection."

Li Jing frowned when he heard this: "Special product? Is it really a special product?"

Li Zhi hurriedly said: "How dare I lie to your lord, it is indeed Jinjiang's specialty longan, also called longan."

As he spoke, he waved to the crowd behind him, and two people in the crowd came over with two baskets each.

……

Asking for a monthly ticket. This book has been written for a year, with more than 160 million words. I have been writing hard and rarely pay attention to the results. Now I ask all the brothers and sisters who are reading the book for the next monthly ticket. Thank you for your support all the time!

(End of this chapter)