Prodigal Son of the Ming Dynasty

  Chapter 1634 Be lenient to the people

  Emperor Hongzhi's expression became meaningful.

  He is not a sovereign emperor.

   But this is the inheritance of the ancestors.

  Emperor Hongzhi said: "In this matter, Xiao Banban also thought that Wei Guogong was rebellious? If he was rebellious, why did he come to Beijing in a hurry? It doesn't make sense."

Xiao Jing immediately said: "Your Majesty... slaves don't dare to speak nonsense, but Wei Guogong's mansion has made great achievements in the south of the Yangtze River. If it is said that he rebelled, slaves would not dare to believe it, but... How could this matter be groundless? It is hard for slaves to say. "

  Xiao Jing felt that he was walking a tightrope, he didn't want to offend Duke Wei's mansion!

  The mansion that has lasted for more than a hundred years is intricately rooted, and is related to almost all the princes.

   At this time, if you dare to make trouble on such an important matter, people are definitely not vegetarians.

Emperor Hongzhi nodded, sighed and said: "I also thought that this might just be a non-existent thing. The Xu family shared weal and woe with my Ming Dynasty, and it will never be the case. This impeachment memorial will not be released for the time being, and the ministers are not required to Discussion, tomorrow, I can only ask Liu Qing and others in private, but the factory guard is in the south of the Yangtze River, but we have to cheer up, we can't visit openly, we need to investigate secretly."

  Xiao Jing hurriedly said: "I understand."

  Emperor Hongzhi looked tired and said, "The prince is still thinking about the calculation?"

"yes."

   "He." Emperor Hongzhi smiled: "I don't know what he figured out, and I don't understand it, but my son is naturally extremely smart... Besides, with Jifan watching, I feel relieved."

Even though he said so, what Emperor Hongzhi was thinking was that now it was suspected that the Duke of Wei's mansion was rebelling against him. Even if it was just in case, the old department of Wei Guogong's mansion was enough to cause the court to burn out. Because of this, Emperor Hongzhi had to be cautious.

   After all, the prince is the future heir, so he has no sense of danger. If he is not around, it is unknown whether the prince can control the world.

  …

  Cabinet…

  These days, the world is peaceful, especially after the rent-free land of the Qianzhuang, the cabinet has actually noticed that the things that made them worry about it before have become easier.

  In the past, grain collection was the most troublesome problem, but now, the problems caused by grain collection have all been solved.

  The biggest problem with the imperial court's collection of grain is actually loss.

  This loss is extremely astonishing, and it often takes a hundred catties to collect, and half of them are finally put into storage, which is considered lucky.

And in order to **** the remaining rations from ordinary people, the local tax collectors and the Baochang Jiachang who work for the government need a lot of manpower every time they go to the countryside to collect food. As a result, this not only brought great trouble to the court, but also added a great burden to ordinary people.

  Now the land is rent-free. This land is not the common people's, but it belongs to the common people.

  The common people have enough land to cultivate, enough to feed a family, and even have a certain amount of surplus food, so they are not serious about paying the imperial food. Therefore, as long as you go to the countryside to collect collections, you will often not have too much trouble.

   On the other hand, the land rent-free is linked to the payment of the imperial grain. If the imperial grain is not paid, the land will be taken back the next year.

  Therefore, the common people are very enthusiastic about paying grain.

That Fang Jifan instructed his disciples to set up grain depots in various townships. These grain depots are small in scale and recruit a few people, and then people will naturally come to pay the grain. Obviously, most of the areas where grain is paid are in the south of the Yangtze River. In other places, money can be used to pay taxes on behalf of grain, and south of the Yangtze River is a water town. To the treasury, and then transported by water, escorted to Beijing.

Li Dongyang, who concurrently served as Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was particularly enthusiastic about this. He memorized the names of seven or eight people. Therefore, when the first batch of grain was escorted into the warehouse, Li Dongyang immediately praised these people.

"Liu Gong, I'm afraid this new grain tax law will be rolled out." Li Dongyang found Liu Jian, and said happily: "Liu Gong knows that in the past, grain was put into storage at the end of the year, but now... It's still early, but this year, four prefectures and nine counties have sent the first batch of food and taxes to Beijing."

  Liu Jian stroked his beard, and he didn't care much about the affairs of the household department. After all, he had too many things to take care of. Besides, this was Li Dongyang's responsibility, and Liu Jian would not interfere.

   "Oh, it's so early this year?" Liu Jian's words also showed surprise.

  Li Dongyang was in an unusually happy mood, and said with a smile, "Yes, not only is it early, but also this batch of escorted food, guess what is the reported loss?"

  Liu Jian smiled. He seldom saw Li Dongyang cheating. This was a happy event, so he boldly guessed: "It can't be 40%?"

  40% loss is an extremely low number. What Liu Jian remembers most clearly is that when Emperor Wen was here, only Nanyang Mansion broke this record in the ninth year of Yongle, and it became a good story for a while.

  Li Dongyang smiled and shook his head: "Guess again."

  How could he be in a bad mood? The responsibilities of the household department are nothing more than two, one is to pay, and the other is to receive. And "receipt" is divided into "money" and "grain". Money is actually easy to handle, and it is easy to collect, but the grain is different, which is the most troublesome. However, this grain is an artifact to stabilize the country, and it is scattered all over the capital. If the nearby large granaries are not full of food, it will shake the foundation of the country. Therefore, for the household department, the income of collecting grain is far less than the commercial tax, but it is the top priority. If this problem can be solved, the household department will be able to It can reduce the burden by half.

  Liu Jian is an old man, he doesn't like to play guessing games, so he smiled: "Quickly tell me."

   "Twenty percent, the loss is only 20%..."

   "What?" Liu Jian looked shocked.

Li Dongyang nodded his head and said: "It's 20%. This bank is rent-free. It seems that it has suffered a loss, but in fact, after the people get the land, they don't need to pay grain to the gentry. With surplus grain, they hope Continuing to continue rent-free, the enthusiasm for collecting grain is extremely high, and there is no need to send people to the countryside to collect it. You only need to sit in the granary and wait for the scale to be weighed, and then go through the grain road to collect. Liu Gong, several disciples of Fang Jifan, yes, These prefects and county magistrates are promoting this matter in Jiangnan. I heard that it is Liu Wenshan who is leading this matter behind the scenes. The way is still there, it is precisely because of this kind of law that parents and officials do a good job in dealing with the aftermath, so there will be no disadvantages."

...

  He couldn't help saying: "The way of economy, what kind of way of economy?"

  As the chief assistant of the cabinet, he naturally thinks far-reaching.

   "Be lenient to the people!"

Li Dongyang continued: "The so-called doctor's provincial punishment is thin, and everyone is lenient. That is to say, the collection of taxes is the same. In the past, they thought about how to collect taxes, but they were thinking about how to let the common people To be able to eat enough, to have a surplus of food, and at the same time, how to ensure that the people can be rich? Only when this one is solved, the problem of taxation can be solved. In the past, because it was related to the country, the parents and officials have always collected taxes. Fu, as the top priority, because it is related to their black hats. But these people, doing the opposite, are ruling the land, hiring captains in the field, establishing farms, trying to find ways to promote good seeds, Going to the countryside to teach the common people how to grow grain more reasonably, to know the condition of their land, and even...to set up a disaster prevention mechanism, to know the irrigation situation personally, and some people, to find ways to build reservoirs, store water at ordinary times, and then use it when the water is needed. Diversion of water for irrigation... Solve these problems, then other things will be solved..."

  Liu Jian kept nodding his head, and subconsciously began to reflect on it. Based on what Li Dongyang said, it seemed very reasonable. Speaking of the principle, everyone understands it, and it may not be easy to do these things.

Li Dongyang continued: "In fact, if these problems are solved, then the economic situation of the people can be roughly controlled. They have set up granaries in the countryside, and the people are willing to deposit the grain in person to pay the grain. Hey... This Liu Wenshan is always breaking the rules, he is really a genius, and those disciples are willing to do things, all of them are talents."

  Liu Jian smiled and nodded.

  This is actually… understandable.

  Ordinary parent officials, even if they make a little merit, most of them may not be appreciated by anyone.

But these newly learned disciples are different. Even if they are only a parent official in the local area, after all, there are people in the capital to take care of them. They only need to follow Liu Wenshan's economic way, do it with all their strength, and get results. Don't worry about your future.

  Thus, these people are simply a clean stream, they never go to camp, and they don't bother to deal with their superiors in the local area.

  However, they always dare to venture and fight hard, and the achievements of each of them are reported, and they often amaze the princes in Beijing.

Li Dongyang couldn't help but sighed at this time: "This method can be implemented. We need to invite a few people to Beijing, to the Ministry of Household Affairs. I need to talk with them in detail, and then draw up a new regulation. There is no time for delay. Mr. Liu thinks How?"

  After hearing so much, Liu Jian understood the benefits of this enough, so he didn't object, and even cheered up and said: "Come on, this matter, the old man is here to issue an official document, and it happens that the old man also wants to see them."

  ...

   There will be three changes these days, and the chapters of the previous few days will be added. I'm a little busy around the Mid-Autumn Festival, so sorry.

  (end of this chapter)