Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1413, hard bar

On the stage, Zuo Long, the political envoy of Northern Zhili, broke out in a cold sweat. Off the stage, many officials from all parts of the Ming Dynasty were also deep in thought.

It stands to reason that Zuo Long's report card should be very good, but now it seems that in front of Liu Jin, a heavenly official, Zuo Long's performance is obviously very average, and it can even be said to be very bad.

"In the future, more schools, private schools, etc. will be planned and built, and more medical centers will be built."

"The reconstruction of Tianjin's old city has been unable to be implemented mainly because the original old city is difficult to demolish."

"In the future, I will focus on governance of public security and sanitation issues in the city, crack down on gang forces and evil forces, and add more sanitation workers."

Zuo Long replied with sweat on his forehead.

Undoubtedly, his answer did not satisfy Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin and others. You obviously have no plan, and you haven't really done much.

Perhaps, the only thing he has done is to build a lot of roads in Beizhili, which is a good job.

"Go back and think about it carefully, and plan carefully. Beizhili is a place in Beijing, and the current results can be achieved because of the rapid and rapid development of Beijing and Tianjin. As the governor of Beizhili As a political envoy, the only political achievement is in building bridges and paving roads."

Emperor Hongzhi put away his smile and said.

"Yes, Your Majesty~"

Zuo Long wiped the sweat from his forehead, this is really bad.

At first, I thought that the data I had listed were pretty good, and maybe I could be promoted one step further, but now it seems that it is hard to say whether I can keep the position of chief minister of Beizhili.

Beizhili is very fat here, far from being comparable to other places, and it is close to the emperor. Although it is not a Beijing official, it is almost the same as a Beijing official.

If you make achievements, you can easily get promoted.

"Please ask Feng Shiyong, the chief envoy of Southern Zhili, to take up the aforementioned post~"

Seeing Zuo Long go down, Liu Jin continued to read the list.

The status of Nanzhili and Beizhili is similar, and they are also the two most important provinces of Ming Dynasty. Nanzhili mainly includes Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shanghai in later generations. It can be said that it is the most affluent area in Ming Dynasty. The land of fish and rice, Jiangnan The land, that is, these areas.

"Thanks to His Majesty's grace, I am honored to serve as the chief envoy of Nanzhili... In the past three years, the people of Nanzhili live and work in peace and contentment, all businesses are prosperous, and Wufu people are healthy..."

Feng Shiyong is an old man in his sixties. He is a typical traditional official style, completely different from Zuo Long, the governor of Beizhili.

His debriefing was more like a gorgeous article praising the virtues and prosperity of the prosperous age. Throughout the article, there is no data at all. You have no idea how many newborns are born in Nanzhili a year, and how much tax is collected in a year. Silver, how many roads, bridges, etc. were built.

Listening, listening, Emperor Hongzhi couldn't help frowning. What he dislikes to hear the most now is these fake rhetoric, such as prosperous times, such as Haiqing River Banquet.

These are all imaginary, how did your prosperous world come to be?

In Liu Jin's words, it is necessary to use data, such as how many people have been added, how much tax money has been paid, how many roads and railways have been built, how much income ordinary people can earn a month, how high the consumption level is, and so on.

Only through these can we reflect whether it is a prosperous age?
It's not that what you officials and lords say, maybe in the eyes of these traditional officials, there is no famine, the common people can eat their stomachs, and there are no foreign enemies.

"Master Feng, how much did the population of Nanzhili increase last year?"

Liu Jin directly interrupted Feng Shiyong's recitation of the beautiful rhetoric he had written and asked.

"Nanzhili is so big, how do I know how many people have grown in Nanzhili in a year, and there is no census."

Feng Shiyong looked at Liu Jin. To be honest, he was a little unhappy with Liu Jin.

I'm already in my sixties, but I'm just a political envoy. You're in your thirties and you're already a secretary of the Ministry of Officials. It's almost the same if we change positions, so he doesn't have the respect for Liu Jin that subordinates treat their superiors.

"How much tax was collected in Nanzhili last year, and how much has it increased from the previous year?"

Liu Jin continued to ask.

"The collection of taxes is a matter of the tax office. Just ask the tax office. As for the growth, I don't know. In my opinion, this tax collection is to seek the people's fat and anointment. The ancient kings, all dynasties, and all sages, In the prosperous dynasties, the tax was light and the tax was light, and the more taxes were collected, the more the people were squeezed."

Not only did Feng Shiyong not know how much tax money was collected last year, he even refuted Liu Jin's original tax policy on the spot, opposing Liu Jin's idea of ​​including taxation in the official assessment.

"Master Feng, as the chief envoy of Nanzhili, you don't know anything about the situation in Nanzhili, and you completely ignore the court's repeated orders. How did you become the chief envoy?"

Liu Jin's face was serious, and he asked questions in front of everyone without hesitation.

"I, Feng Shiyong, don't need you to teach me as an official~"

"I am a clean and honest official, with a clean sleeve. When I am the governor of Nanzhili, I have always persuaded the people to cultivate, cultivate with the people, do not disturb the people, and lightly corvee and pay less. This is the way of being an official that has been pursued since ancient times."

"Nanzhili is prosperous, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and all businesses are prosperous. Isn't this the result of my pastoral care?"

Feng Shiyong was getting old, and Liu Jin, who was in his early thirties, scolded him in front of the emperor and everyone, his beard fluttered in anger, and he asked Liu Jin very forcefully.

"Nanzhili is prosperous, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and all businesses are prosperous?"

"What evidence do you have for that?"

"How prosperous is this prosperity? How much has the population increased? How much has the income of ordinary people increased?"

"And why do you say that Nanzhili's work is all due to you?"

"South Zhili has been a rich place since ancient times, and it is also the richest place in Ming Dynasty. However, in recent years, the development of South Zhili has been much slower than that of North Zhili. Half of that in North Zhili, in terms of average wages."

"Northern Zhili's side has exceeded five taels of silver, while Nan Zhili's side has only four taels of silver a month, which is completely surpassed by Beizhili."

"In addition, the Northern Zhili side has already implemented the county-county link, and the Southern Zhili side has not yet realized the prefectural link, right?"

Liu Jin smiled, and took out several data to refute Feng Shiyong one after another, leaving Feng Shiyong speechless all of a sudden, not knowing how to reply.

Because he is indeed the style and representative of the old school officials, typical of the old school officials.

Of course, this is also related to the situation in the Jiangnan area. The development of capitalism and colonialism in the Jiangnan area is a step slower than that in the Beijing-Tianjin area. At the same time, a large number of traditional big families, big gentry, and big businessmen also hinder the development of capitalism and colonialism. main driving force.

The most direct manifestation of this is that on the Jiangnan side, tax collection is the most difficult.

Even if there is a tax office to collect taxes by force, it is far less easy in Jiangnan than in other places, so that there are often incidents of besieging the tax office and beating tax officials.

The conservative forces in the Jiangnan area are very strong.

From old officials like Feng Shiyong to businessmen and gentry in the Jiangnan area, what they like most is the old days, especially when it comes to taxation, and they like the old days when they don't have to pay taxes.

In the past, the richest salt merchants in the world were all very rich, but after a year, they didn't need to pay any tax at all. In a wealthy county, they only paid more than one hundred taels of silver a year.

As for the officials, they also like the old days, the wind and snow, the small life is so comfortable, and those businessmen and gentry will continue to send money over. In three years, the magistrate has [-] snowflakes, which is what he said.

But it’s different now, the tax office collects taxes by force, the gentry and businessmen in Jiangnan have a hard time, they have to pay taxes, and they earn less, Xiao Jing naturally gives less to officials, and the income of officials is less , There are too many things to do, and various assessments are required, of course, I don't like it the most.

"Master Feng, Nanzhili is one of the most important provinces in our Ming Dynasty. At the same time, it is located in a prosperous place in the south of the Yangtze River, and has the Yangtze River estuary. It’s all not belonging to Beizhili, and even surpassing Beizhili.”

"However, as the chief envoy of Nanzhili, you not only do nothing, but you even openly oppose the policies formulated by the imperial court here. You don't know what to ask, and you try to use some gorgeous rhetoric to deal with your duties."

"Being an official is not for the welfare of the people, you might as well go home and grow sweet potatoes!"

Liu Jin looked at Feng Shiyong and criticized him mercilessly. Such an official is of no use to the common people. Perhaps the only good thing is to tell him that he is not a corrupt official, at least not in Nanzhili. This is where people's wealth is searched and greedy.

"You, you, Huang Kou'er, I am a dignified Jinshi of the Chenghua Dynasty, and whether I become an official or not is up to you."

Hearing Liu Jin's words, Feng Shiyong was so angry that he was half dead, and pointed at Liu Jin on the spot.

When everyone saw it, they immediately regained their energy. This good debriefing meeting suddenly became like this. Many officials were waiting to see Liu Jin look bad. After all, there are many officials who think the same as Feng Shiyong.

There are too many, too many officials who feel that Liu Jin is messing around, and the assessment system is all tormenting people.
What are you doing with these things, and this taxation, what good is it for us to have more taxes?If there are more taxes, the merchants will not give everyone more Xiao Jing. With that little salary alone, everyone will drink the northwest wind.

It's all right now, someone finally stood up and confronted Liu Jin, what will you do with Liu Jin?
(End of this chapter)