eldest son of Ming dynasty

After entering the end of February, leading officials from various places began to enter the palace one after another.

Similar to the situation in Shandong and Yingtian, a large number of upright and capable officials such as Fei Hong, the governor of Sichuan, Peng Ze, the governor of Henan, Fengxi, the governor of Fujian, Wang Qiong, the governor of Zhejiang, and Gu Renyi, the governor of Shuntian, took charge of the local affairs.

The political environment in various places has been purified to a certain extent, and the tendency of frequent vicious incidents has been curbed. The key is that at least there is no "chaos" in land and water conservancy.

No one is bothering the people, this is more important than anything else.

The emperor sitting in the central government did not allocate additional taxes to the whole country. Not only that, because of the opening of the sea, the financial situation of the central government was greatly improved, and it would also provide subsidies to some provinces that encountered disasters. In addition, for those obvious cases of land occupation, The court also increased the punishment.

It should be said that, except for some special provinces, other places have ushered in a rare and peaceful era of peace and prosperity.

However, behind the scenes of peace and prosperity, the main officials of most provinces have remained untouched.

By the fifth year of Zhengde, Fei Hong had been in charge of Sichuan for five years. Peng Ze, the governor of Henan, had been in power for three years. If Wang Qiong, the governor of Zhejiang, was included in his previous appointment as chief envoy in Zhejiang, it would have been almost six years.

Zhu Houzhao's initial idea was to keep the personnel stable and give them enough time to stabilize the place.

However, as time went on, the thought of mobilization kept lingering in his heart, and it got stronger every year. By this year, it was basically the time to have to move. If it continues, some people will plow deeply in the place, and there will actually be some problems. not good.

Wang Qiong, the governor of Zhejiang, used to have personal contacts with Liu Jin. This guy was very capable in government affairs, so there was no need to pity him, but he had to be careful when using him.

So at least this person, he does not intend to continue to stay in Zhejiang.

Wang Qiong is over fifty, the same age as Yang Tinghe. Historically, the two people were not at odds with each other. If Yang Tinghe was a clean slate who came up from the Hanlin Academy, then Wang Qiong was a doer who worked his way up through the ranks.

Also because his experience was too complex, Wang Qiong was inevitably tainted with officialdom habits.But on the other hand, Zhejiang is full of vitality in his hands.

"... Since ancient times, there have been two types of taxes in the past dynasties, one is land-based land banknotes, and the other is population-based tax banks. For this reason, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the movement of people has been controlled by roads. . However, Wei Chen believes that the road guidance system can be applied in all inland provinces, but it is not applicable in Zhejiang, especially in recent years."

Zhu Houzhao listened to him while reading his memorial from the beginning.

The emperor, who was always a kind minister, did not let Wang Qiong stand up, so he kept bowing his head and kneeling to play.

"Is it because of the opening of the sea?"

Wang Qiong handed over his hand, "Your Majesty is wise, it is precisely because of the opening of the sea. After the opening of the sea, sea trade quickly emerged in Huzhou, Ningbo, Jiaxing and other places in Zhejiang. People gathered for profit, and doing business did not require the hard work of serving the fields, and even once the business was opened, , it is said that there will be no danger in a few months, so the commerce in various prefectures in Zhejiang is booming. And the flow of people and goods that commerce depends on must be connected to all places. In this way, the connection between land and population is broken."

Zhu Houzhao frowned.

What Wang Qiong is talking about is already a relatively profound aspect of feudal social economy, such as land tax and head tax. The knowledge contained in them is enough to support countless modern history professors.

In fact, in ancient times, agriculture must be the first priority and business first. An important factor is the stability of tax collection, which is fundamentally for the stability of national finances.

Because people are always running around, head taxation is particularly troublesome. For example, if your land is in Jiaxing, but the people are in Hangzhou, then the land tax should be collected in Jiaxing, right?What about the poll tax?Who collects it?
Hangzhou?How does the Hangzhou government determine that it only charges your head tax but not your land tax in Hangzhou?If you want to prove that taxes have been paid on your land in Jiaxing, you have to check with the Jiaxing government. How is this possible?
And it’s easy to verify by one person, but what if the streets are like this?
The reality is that with the administrative capabilities of ancient officials, it was impossible to distinguish all of these clearly.Even the fish scale atlas created by Zhu Yuanzhang could not be updated every ten years, let alone such a complicated thing.

And even if it is clearly distinguished, the tax collection efficiency will be greatly reduced, and then it will inevitably lead to a reduction in national taxes. If it spreads to the whole country, the finance will collapse within decades.

Therefore, it is simple for people and land to be in the same place.

Many social policies are due to the economic policies behind them. It is actually a bit superficial to use the simple reason that rulers are bad.

If we look at it from a longer perspective, after the reform of the two tax laws in the mid-Tang Dynasty, China's tax economy has been following two major trends.

One is the transformation of taxation from physical to monetary, that is, changing the previous taxation system of collecting grain, collecting cloth, and collecting cotton to collecting unified currency.

The second is to combine the two taxes into one, that is, to combine the land tax and the head tax into one tax.The so-called sharing the land into the land means adding the land tax (the head tax) into the land.

The fundamental reason for these two trends is land annexation.Because the land was annexed and landless people fled, the tax revenue from these people disappeared. However, the court would not easily forgive officials who could not collect taxes. Then local officials could only increase taxes from the remaining people. This was It will cause more people to flee.

But our ancestors were not stupid, and they all saw this shortcoming.Therefore, the Tang Dynasty had the reform of the Two Tax Laws, the Song Dynasty had Wang Anshi's Reform, the Ming Dynasty had the One Whip Law, and the Qing Dynasty had the tax law.

These tax law reforms are essentially changes carried out by the central government in order to save the country's finances and reduce the burden on the people after the tax system gradually collapsed.

Now that Wang Qiong mentioned this issue to Zhu Houzhao, it should be that he has indeed seen that after Zhejiang opened to the sea, the current tax system is no longer applicable.

That's why Zhu Houzhao used him. Although he has some bureaucratic habits, Wang Qiong has his own abilities.

"Well..." the emperor said in a long nasal voice, "This is a problem. Do you think it should be solved now?"

Zhu Houzhao had some doubts. After the economic situation changed, the tax system must be changed accordingly. However, in just a few years, Zhejiang could not change very much, so he had some doubts about the change immediately.

However, when Wang Qiong heard what the emperor said, she felt a little excited in her heart.

Before entering the palace, he visited Fengxi, the governor of Fujian.

Fujian and Zhejiang are similar.

Moreover, Fengxi was born as an attendant of the emperor.

So he wanted to have a look.

In fact, this question he asked the emperor was risky. Apart from other things, the road guide system was established by Emperor Taizu. To put it more importantly, it was the ancestral system.

Now that the emperor has not immediately vetoed it, it means there is something going on.

A new law is proposed, once it suits the emperor's appetite, it will be terrible.

Many people have proven this statement.

"Wei Chen thinks it should be resolved in time." Wang Qiong's voice echoed in the hall.

"Why?"

"Because His Majesty insists on opening up the sea, and the court also insists on opening up the sea, even the people along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian have tasted the benefits of opening up the sea. In this case, Zhejiang's tax revenue will be increasingly lost over time. If it is not solved now, it will inevitably happen in the future becomes a more prominent issue.”

Zhu Houzhao thought for a moment, then nodded, "Then how do you think you want to solve it?"

Since Wang Qiong proposed it, he already had a plan in mind. He said: "Wei Chen believes that in view of the actual people's conditions in Zhejiang, the current plan is to unify various tax types, include merchants, and pay taxes uniformly."

Zhu Houzhao continued to ask: "How to unify?"

"Based on the land, people can move it, but the land cannot. Whoever the land belongs to, the court will collect taxes from him."

"After commerce flourishes, merchants' assets are not reflected in land, but in various shops and workshops. What should we do?"

"Similarly, shops and workshops will not be moved and can still be taxed."

Well, in fact, what Wang Qiong saw were many problems that could be seen in the middle of the dynasty, and the method he proposed was roughly similar to the method of whipping and dividing the land.

However, a few hundred years ago, his concept was still very rough, so it had some merit.

"Where's the land of the Jin gentry?"

Wang Qiong was stunned, not expecting the emperor to ask this, "Your Majesty, Jin gentry are exempt from taxes. This is the tradition of this dynasty."

Then there's no need to talk about it,

According to his method, people who are still paying taxes should pay more. They could escape the poll tax in the past, but now they have to pay it.

But if the gentry still enjoy preferential treatment, ordinary people will eventually have to pay more taxes.

This approach makes sense from the government's perspective. After all, why don't you pay the poll tax that you should pay?

However, it is meaningless to implement it as a policy.Because you are taxing the poor in this society. If you attack lightly, you will lose money, but if you attack harshly, you will lose your life. How interesting is that?
Therefore, I agree with Wang Qiong's approach. He will definitely be able to increase taxes, but incomplete tax reform is useless. Zhu Houzhao does not need this stuff.

Of course, this is not Wang Qiong's fault.

The privileges and exemptions given to the gentry are indeed limitations of the times that ordinary people cannot overcome.

The emperor came down from above and said: "The tax system is a big issue. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the foundation of the country. I think that the government should not obstruct the flow of people in Zhejiang. You also said that business itself requires people and goods. They are all generalists. In fact, there are certain banknote checkpoints in various places now. I think these banknote checkpoints are not needed. The tax money in a year is only more than 50 taels, so what is the use of them?"

Wang Qiong did not dare to say this, "Your Majesty, since the cash register does not collect many taels, it must not be a heavy burden on the merchants."

Zhu Houzhao shook his head and smiled. Most emperors who grew up in the palace would be fooled by this sentence.

The establishment of the banknote checkpoint did not bring much benefit to the court, but it gave the local government an excuse to collect taxes. The national treasury received more than 50 taels every year, but did they really only collect more than 50 taels?

If this is really the case, then try to cancel them all and ensure that a group of people will rise up to oppose it.

His meaningful smile made Wang Qiong's scalp numb.As if the emperor had seen through it, he was a little scared. If this was the case, life would indeed not be simple...

Zhu Houzhao actually understood him and was too lazy to argue with him, "Dehua."

"Chen is here!"

"How about you go to the inland and serve as a shepherd for me for a few more years? You have been to provinces near the sea and provinces not near the sea. In this way, you may be able to see more clearly the advantages and disadvantages of the tax system. You, my king and my ministers Let’s meet, and then, how about we continue today’s topic?”

Well... Wang Qiong was a little surprised.

He has been active these days and wants to come to the Central Committee.

But the emperor had already spoken, so he couldn't refuse, "My lord, I will obey your Majesty's will! It's just that Zhejiang's tax system is out of date. I hope your Majesty can adjudicate it as soon as possible!"

In fact, Zhejiang's business has just started driven by sea trade. The so-called anachronism is nothing more than the tax system that cannot keep up, which allows a group of people to evade taxes.

Of course, this needs to be changed, but it is still inappropriate at the moment when the military settlements are being cleaned up. Furthermore, if it needs to be changed, it must be changed together with the preferential treatment and exemption for the gentry, but that is even more inappropriate now.

So Zhu Houzhao just nodded, "I will consider it carefully."

Having said that, Zhejiang has experienced such changes due to the influence of maritime trade, which makes the selection of the new governor extremely critical. If it cannot cope with it or responds indiscriminately, disrupting the overall situation, or even destroying maritime trade, then the impact will be too great. .The emperor looked out and felt a little dazed. In fact, Yan Song was very good, but it was a pity that he went to Guizhou.It’s not easy to find such an obedient, smart, and capable traitor...

Looking back, he suddenly found Wang Qiong still kneeling.

"Get back on your feet, Dehua."

"Yes, thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Come with me for a walk outside." He said and walked out.

Wang Qiong bent over and followed behind.

After leaving the Qianqing Palace, the emperor only asked You Zhi to follow him from a distance, and no one else was there.

This is a relatively special arrangement, but the emperor said it was unintentional, "In the first year of Zhengde, I ordered many gentry in Zhejiang to be exempted from their honorary titles, and many clan members were also arrested. Now there should be many in Hangzhou, Jiaxing and other places who were Are these people honest in private?"

Wang Qiong looked to the left and right, but there was no one there. Only a few father-in-laws were following him from a distance. They still lowered their heads and did not dare to move. He rolled his eyes and probably knew the emperor's 'special attitude' towards this matter.

"Honestly. Your Majesty doesn't know something. People from Zhejiang are timid."

The corners of Zhu Houzhao's mouth twitched. Damn it, he was from Zhejiang in his previous life.

He was very dissatisfied with what he said. He put his hands on his hips and said, "Tell me, why are Zhejiang people so timid? What's the basis for this?"

Even if Wang Qiong broke his head, he still couldn't imagine that there was another soul hidden in the emperor's body. He also said with a smile: "Actually, it's not that he is degrading the people of Zhejiang. It is said that poor mountains and bad waters bring out unruly people. Zhejiang is adjacent to the south of the Yangtze River and is a land of good mountains and good waters. , when the people look at Wanyuan, they will naturally appear weak and timid."

"Are you from Shanxi good?"

Wang Qiong immediately flattered him, "I said something wrong. Please don't blame me. In short, I pay close attention to the affairs of the gentry for your Majesty. I'm afraid that a bunch of people who can't think of anything will cause trouble. Don't let me get hurt by that time." This head.”

After that incident, Wang Qiong helped the emperor handle several cases.

It's just that this kind of case is less upright, so it's almost never mentioned openly.

This kind of thing is only suitable for Wang Qiong.

"...Furthermore, Your Majesty is unintentional. Many scholars in Zhejiang have no hope of becoming officials, so they have no choice but to engage in business. They are literate, knowledgeable, and smart. Many of them have made a lot of money in sea trade. .

This literati had money but could not be an official. He was bored all day long, so he had new pursuits beyond elegant entertainment.It's a pity that your Majesty can't see it in person, Zhejiang is much more lively than in previous years. "

"This is all your credit, I will remember it." Zhu Houzhao felt happy, "Thousands of troops are easy to get, but one general is hard to find. I have always attached great importance to the selection and appointment of local officials, and I will not let go if I choose one. So, you guys A group of people have been in the place for a long time. But I can't be too selfish. As an official, who wants to be an official in one place and always be an official of the same size? So I said that you are not allowed to be in Zhejiang, not because you are not doing well. , if you don’t do well, I will always leave Zhejiang to you? But Wang Qiong cannot just be a governor of Zhejiang for the rest of his life."

These words carry a lot of weight.

Wang Qiong lifted up his official robe and kowtowed directly, regardless of the cold on the ground, "I am from a poor family, and I am extremely lucky to be promoted by Your Majesty. Not to mention a governor, even a magistrate, I will be willing to manage the people for Your Majesty." !”

"You can say that, and I feel relieved. However, Zhejiang is peaceful in all directions, and you are no longer needed. I will give you the crown prince Shaobao, and allow you to choose an inland province of your own, except Shanxi."

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty!" What Wang Qiong cares about is the title of Prince Shaobao, which is not easy to earn.

As for the exception of Shanxi, it is because of the rule set by Zhu Yuanzhang that "people from the north are from the south and people from the south are from the north".

Of course, in fact, this rule later changed to only restrict people from serving as officials in their own province.

In fact, in Zhu Houzhao's view, honest officials can also return to their own provinces.

But Wang Qiong, forget it.

If you send him to Shanxi, you have to keep an eye on him all day long, which is tiring.

Moreover, many of his relatives and friends are also in Shanxi. Isn't this a deliberate attempt to test human nature?

Wang Qiong himself can also understand that the imperial court has these particularities in appointing and removing officials, and it is good that he can choose by himself.

"My lord, I would like to go to Shaanxi."

"Shaanxi, why?"

"Your Majesty, the next generation of saintly kings, once said that he would restore the homeland of the Han and Tang Dynasties!"

This sentence touched Zhu Houzhao's heart.

Further west from Shaanxi is the direction of future military deployment.

In this sense, it is indeed good to have a well-rounded Wang Qiong.

What's even more valuable is that he can understand this.

"Shaanxi... there is one thing that is very important."

"Your Majesty refers to Ma Zheng."

"Well, after several years of recovery, there are sixteen official horse farms in Shaanxi. Although these are directly managed by Taipu Temple, local officials have direct contact with them after all. You have to keep an eye on these horse farms for me."

"Your Majesty, you can rest assured when a humble minister handles your affairs."

"it is good."

Despite some of his habits, Zhu Houzhao still admired him very much.

In real history, Wang Qiong also served as the governor of the three sides.

But this guy has been in many positions. He has been a doctor in charge of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs, managed rivers, and managed finances.He has been involved in politics, envoy, and censor.Later, he rose to high positions and also served as Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Officials, and the Ministry of War.

It was during his tenure as Minister of War that he promoted and re-employed Wang Yangming.

In fact, this person is very powerful. The reason why he is not rated highly is that he has some problems with his moral character... He is good at making friends with powerful people, whether they are nobles or eunuchs. Whoever is popular in front of the emperor will be the one he befriends, and he will use some bad methods to gain power. struggle.

Such people just want power and success in their personal career.So just gradually satisfy him.

This kind of person with desires and weaknesses is actually easy to deal with.

After a few more words, Wang Qiong said goodbye and left.

Looking at his back, Zhu Houzhao called You Zhi over.

The old eunuch trotted, "Your Majesty?"

"Give you a chance to knock him for a sum of money. No matter how much you knock, you will get [-]% and I will get [-]%. Is this deal a good deal? Do you want to do it or not?"

You Zhi's reaction was getting faster and faster now. He immediately said: "How dare I do business with His Majesty, let alone take [-]%. As long as I knock it, it will all belong to Your Majesty."

"You can speak. But once Chrysostom opens his mouth, there is no reason to take it back. I will give you [-]% as a reward."

"Hey, that servant would like to thank His Majesty for the reward!"

You Zhi pricked up his ears and prepared to listen carefully.

Zhu Houzhao touched his chin and smiled heartily, "Wang Dehua is good at everything, but he is not clean. Just wait, within three days, he will definitely find a way to invite you as a guest. As for you, shirk him first. A few times, and then agree..."

"Your Majesty!" You Zhi was shocked, "I dare not break the taboo and make friends with foreign ministers. This is something I have never thought about."

"Tsk. Don't interrupt me. I want you to go. What are you afraid of? You promise him then. During the banquet, you tell him that when Liu Jin was dismissed, he confessed some things that were related to him. Besides, it’s still hidden from me, I don’t know yet.”

"Your Majesty said this, I dare not hide it from Your Majesty."

Zhu Houzhao found it interesting, "That's what it says."

"But if you tell me this without any evidence, will he believe it?"

"Liu Jin received 2000 taels of silver from him." The emperor said directly, "It was also 2000 taels in the first year of Zhengde, 5000 taels in March of the second year, 5000 taels in March of the third year, and two 5000 taels last year. At this time They are all correct, and he thinks no one knows except Liu Jin, so how can he not believe it?"

You Zhi was really convinced. Why did the emperor have all kinds of damaging tricks? Wang Qiong was scared to death.

"This Wang Qiong...is much richer than the servants. The servants dare not take so much money."

Zhu Houzhao snorted secretly, "You can take it with confidence. There are many wealthy businessmen in Zhejiang. He has been in Zhejiang for so many years. He doesn't have a net worth of 50, but he still needs 30. I just think that he can do things reasonably well, and he is a foreign minister after all. , the foreign ministers are not as close as the inner ministers."

Anyway, he didn't expect that if he became the emperor, the Ming Dynasty would be full of upright officials.Especially in Zhejiang, a place where wealthy businessmen gather, it shouldn't be too normal for a governor who has been a governor for five years to collect some money.

The kind of people who don't accept any money at all are completely unreasonable and in fact they can't handle things in Zhejiang.

"This slave understands His Majesty's thoughts. Then I will go and scare him on Your Majesty's behalf!"

Zhu Houzhao narrowed his eyes, thinking more or less deeply, "There is no point in simply scaring him, and people like him can't be scared, but even if he understands, he has to pretend to be confused and send money in! "

"Your Majesty is wise!"

"In the future, he will talk to you in private, and you can handle the things you send." Zhu Houzhao instructed.

You Zhixin said, you have kept all those things about Liu Jin in your heart, how dare I have any evil thoughts, "I understand that no matter what he says or what he sends, he must tell His Majesty. I will only take what Your Majesty asked me to take."

"Well, you are still reasonable." Zhu Houzhao turned and left, leaving his last words, "Let him feel that he has a good relationship with the eunuch who is the ceremonial supervisor."

You Zhi waited until the emperor left before getting up.
I thought to myself, the emperor is still thinking deeply.

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Persistence is victory!Recently, the subscription was written back a little bit abruptly by me. If it continues like this, 300 million is nothing.