I'm really not doing business

Chapter 760: Yuanfu Imperial Teacher, Can't Watch
Feng Bao sometimes feels helpless.

The Royal Academy of Sciences has made great technological progress, bringing good luck to His Majesty. It has come up with a confusing formula. Feng Bao and Shen Li didn't understand it either. It said that the more conditions that support a certain phenomenon occur, the greater the possibility of the phenomenon. It made their scalps tingle when they heard it.

But Your Majesty simply applied the mathematical formula, which was like a heavenly book, to the tax collection. Now, not to mention Shen Li, even the eunuch who had only read for a few days knew what this formula meant.

I can only say that Your Majesty is truly gifted when it comes to making money, and he does everything he can to do it!

Like emperor, like subordinates. Zhang Hong immediately noticed the problem. The Ming Dynasty was developing rapidly. The most frequently appearing words in various case files were screened. However, the statistical samples here could not form a real guide for the current situation because the time period was too long. Therefore, Zhang Hong proposed to select three years of case files for screening.

The emperor understood that the "conditions" would be screened every three years, and the end result was that the tax inspectors would be more accurate and professional.

"Well, not bad." Zhu Yijun leaned back in his chair and said contentedly that the Tax Inspection Office had finally grown into what he wanted it to be, and the tax system reform of the Ming Dynasty had finally taken an extremely important step.

Feng Bao whispered, "Your Majesty, the powerful and powerful will probably curse you. Mathematical formulas and the like should be applied to increasing horsepower, miniaturization, weight reduction, and materials science. You can't just use them for tax collection."

"The cabinet also has some complaints about this matter."

Feng Bao expressed his own opinions and those of the cabinet very cautiously. Just as Zhu Zaiyu said, the emperor of the Celestial Empire was always haggling over every penny of silver. If it was a bit too much, everything would become a huge trouble if it was overdone.

No matter what, the powerful and wealthy are also your Majesty's subjects.

"Feng Banban, I don't like silver. You see, the treasury has accumulated 30 million silver. When I spent it on the construction of the Kailong Chidao, did I blink?" Zhu Yijun was in a very good mood. He looked at Feng Bao very seriously and said, "I just like power. Since the Jiajing period, the Ming Dynasty has always wanted to be great again."

"But if you don't have money, you don't have power."

Zhu Yijun picked up the first label and said, "The first label of these seven labels is Qianqing. In the 1,700 files, the word Qianqing appeared 1,400 times, and the number of times it appeared in the files of the past three years has decreased."

"I don't use any tricks. Will these powerful people who own the means of production be willing to pay taxes? No, even if a thousand Tiqi have been sent to the county, they still won't be willing."

"Your Majesty is wise." Feng Bao was silent for a moment, and felt that His Majesty was right.

"What will replace it? Maritime trade." Zhu Yijun picked up the second label and said solemnly, "I originally thought that the new bourgeoisie created since Wanli opened the sea, as the vested interests, would be willing to pay taxes to ensure the continuation of the sea-opening policy. Politics is based on bribery. Without the navy, there will be no stable business environment."

"But the facts are completely contrary to my expectations. The emerging bourgeoisie is also evading taxes."

As an emperor, Zhu Yijun felt betrayed. For an emperor, betrayal cannot be tolerated and he must find a way to deal with it!

Feng Bao looked at the second label, sighed and said, "That's right. After sorting out the case files, Mr. Lian was silent for a long time. Logically speaking, shouldn't the emerging bourgeoisie be more willing to pay taxes? In the end, they evaded the largest amount of money."

"Your Majesty, I am stupid."

If you only look at the files of the past three years, you will find that maritime trade has become the hardest hit area for tax evasion, with the highest number of occurrences and the largest amount of tax evasion. According to the estimation of the Grand Tutor, if the Ming Dynasty could figure out the customs issue, it could even directly drastically reduce or even cancel agriculture-related taxes to stimulate agricultural production.

Feng Bao really didn’t understand!

It is obvious that your Majesty's full opening of the seas has enabled the maritime merchants on the southeast coast to make so much money, but they have been evading taxes even on the 6% tax in the past. I'm afraid they will evade taxes again with this tax increase.

Zhu Yijun sat up straight and said, "In the first volume, class, and the second volume, distribution, Mr. Zhu believed that the contradictions between classes can be reconciled. As long as the distribution is done well, the class contradictions can be adjusted."

"Is it really so? Since the Wanli Reform, practice has told us that it is indeed so. I, my companions, sir, the cabinet, ministers, and foreign officials have used countless means to make better distributions, which seem to have adjusted the contradictions between the various classes so that everyone would not destroy each other in the conflict."

"I have done a good job, and even fewer people are criticizing me."

"But have you noticed what we were distributing in the past? In distributing the increments, the comrades who accompanied the Wanli Reform used their best efforts to ensure the fairness of the distribution. In fact, they were always distributing the increments, not the stock."

"Let me give you a simple example, returning the land. How difficult is it to implement the return of land? For fourteen years, we only dared to return the land in Songjiang Prefecture. Returning the land in Zhejiang was still a punishment from me. The only places that could do the return of land were the government offices where the five Maritime Customs Offices were located, because other places did not have the conditions."

"What conditions are required? The land can no longer provide a surplus of sufficient value and has become a dispensable means of production. Only then can it be redistributed to poor laborers, who can cultivate the land to support the development of factory handicrafts."

"Is it possible to make money from farming? If farming could make money, farmers wouldn't be farming anymore."

This is not mathematics but the basic logic of politics. Feng Bao knows nothing about mathematics but he is very proficient in government affairs. Your Majesty is talking about reality. The Wanli Reform made the Ming Dynasty great again, but it seems to be a lie because even a wise man like Your Majesty is very sensitive about the distribution of stocks.

"The stock cannot be distributed." Feng Bao understood what His Majesty said. He sighed and said, "The newly cooked rice can be given to the poor and coolies. The idea of ​​distributing the stock is as ridiculous as expecting a cat to cut off a piece of its own meat and feed it to a mouse."

The cat has already eaten the rice and turned it into meat. Could it be that the cat bites off a piece of its own meat to give to the mouse? This is not a fantasy!
The ruling class controls the political power, the army, technology, the means of production, and the laws. It is unrealistic for the ruled class to ask the ruling class to cut off its own flesh and blood to redistribute the stock. This is impossible within any political framework without violent struggle.

Zhu Yijun continued, "This is why you object to the third volume."

"After the third volume on struggles appeared, when discussing struggles, we were surprised to find that our previous belief that the contradictions between classes could be adjusted was a fundamental mistake. Struggles cannot be transferred according to people's will, are irreconcilable, and cannot even be covered up through development."

"For two reasons."

"Because the incremental development, even if we as the ruling class try our best to distribute it fairly, it is still impossible to be absolutely fair. In addition, absolute fairness is often the greatest unfairness. Some people contribute more and some contribute less. If those who contribute less get the same as those who contribute more, then no one will be willing to contribute."

"History has repeatedly told us that no group, including the country, can continue to thrive and bring about an increase that can meet the needs of distribution. In fact, the incremental distribution itself has a huge gap and can only meet the needs of some people."

The third natural inference that Zhang Juzheng strongly opposed was the inference that the Ming Dynasty would inevitably perish. What Zhu Yijun said was the principle logic. The only way to distribute increments, the unfairness of distributing increments, the cyclical restrictions on development, etc., all caused irreconcilable contradictions and struggles between classes, which ultimately destroyed each other and were reborn in the ruins.

As a traditional Confucian scholar, Zhang Juzheng believed that the fundamental reason for the cyclical nature of dynasties was the concentration and distribution of land. However, when he saw the third inference, he saw the greatest horror: land was not the root cause, but the struggle for interests between classes was.

The dynastic cycle is irreversible and is a historical inevitability, and this is the most desperate part.

"Your Majesty, why don't you take back the third volume and burn it..." Feng Bao said sincerely. The third volume made people feel a little desperate. Since the end is inevitable, what's the point of Your Majesty's efforts? Readers can only see despair from the third volume.

"Look at you, you're anxious again." Zhu Yijun shook his body and said, "Since the contradictions and struggles cannot be reconciled or covered up, we should face them head-on. If the increase is not enough, we should find ways to increase it by plundering, expanding territory, occupying land, minerals, ports, and water sources."

"I am not afraid of being called an executioner."

"If that's still not enough, use violence to distribute and resolve conflicts. If conflicts cannot be reconciled, use violence to resolve them! Choose the majority and abandon the minority."

"The more you avoid it, the sooner the day of the earth-shattering collapse will come. The more you face it, the later it will come."

Zhu Yijun's answer seemed to be irrelevant, but it actually fully explained Feng Bao's question: why the emerging bourgeoisie became the class that evaded taxes the most and was the most serious in tax evasion? Because they wanted to expand their economic advantages, improve their social status, and gain a higher political position.

The more efficient and professional tax inspection by the Tax Inspection Office is the emperor's violence.

A total of seven labels with the highest frequency of appearance were sent by the emperor to the Northern Pacification Tax Inspection Office.

Soon, Bei Ya conducted a pilot project based on these seven labels. Within three days, it accurately located three tax evaders with huge amounts of tax evasion, and audited a total of 123,000 silver coins in taxes.

Among these three companies, one was a first-time offender, one was a repeat offender, and one owed taxes unintentionally because they did not buy the Twelve Zodiac Tax Invoices, and some accounts have not yet been settled.

This battle at the Northern Ya Taxation Office frightened all the powerful and wealthy people in the Northern Ya. They all ran to the Household Department of Shuntian Prefecture. Even if they had paid the taxes, they were willing to let the tax inspectors audit them again to prevent mistakes. The tax invoice quota of the Northern Pacification Office's Taxation Office had been sold out, so they could only request the Ministry of Revenue to replenish it.

The Taxation Bureau has only two rights to exempt people from death: the first time you pay the tax, the second time you have to pay a fine, and the third time your property will be confiscated! This is also the principle of your majesty. You can't do it twice, but you can't do it three times. You didn't do it on purpose the first time or the second time, but you said you weren't plotting treason the third time?
The Tax Inspection Office won't talk to you about benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness. They'll confiscate your property and even chop an earthworm in half.

The contradiction is irreconcilable and violence is the only way to resolve it. Once the contradiction is allowed to spread and overflow, it will cause severe social unrest.

Zhu Yijun had a strong sense of political responsibility. He would not let go of any blame that was his. He collected taxes openly and violently, and never tried to hide it despite opposition from the cabinet. He could be scolded, but he could not refuse to pay.

Taxation is the source of investment in national defense, education, technological progress, basic public construction, and major projects, and is the main means of redistribution in the country.

In the Wenyuan Pavilion, the four cabinet ministers Zhang Juzheng, Wang Chonggu, Shen Li and Wang Guoguang finally finished dealing with today's miscellaneous affairs, affixed the floating tickets, and sent them to the Silijian.

"That old man Wan, he carries a cage and walks his bird all day long. He seems to be enjoying a leisurely life. I am older than him, and I am still working here!" Wang Chonggu said indignantly. Wan Shihe retired and his life became leisurely. He had a senior medical officer accompanying him and his body became healthier. He either went to Qianmen Tower to listen to opera or walked his bird. Wang Chonggu was really envious of him.

"Wang Ci Fu, seventy years old is the right age to make breakthroughs!"

"Lord Wan seems to be in good spirits now, but that's just because he has put aside his chores and doesn't have to work so hard. If he really goes back to the cabinet, he will fall ill within a few days. Lord Wan is not as strong as Wang Ci Fu." Shen Li said with a smile.

Wang Chonggu was a Jinshi, but he was also a Jinshi who could hold a sword, killed Japanese pirates, and killed northern barbarians. He was in good health and used the Seven-Star Ring Sword very well. Zhang Juzheng said hesitantly, "Your Majesty, is this Li Kaifang formula a little too hasty?"

"This is the law established by our ancestors." Shen Li said calmly.

Shen Li is now the top ruling class of the Ming Dynasty. Even if he does not commit corruption or abuse of power, his status as a cabinet minister can benefit his descendants. For example, there are three oil presses and seven bookstores in Shen Li's hometown. No matter how bold the local government is, they dare not take over their family.

Wang Guoguang's mouth twitched, and he said dully: "Master Shen, the laws established by our ancestors cannot be spoken nonsense."

Shen Li is even better at ancestral laws than Wan Shihe. He used the Guo Huan case to solve the legal issues of the Tax Inspection Office right from the start, giving those lowly Confucian scholars a severe blow in the heart. Can this still be the ancestral laws?
Shen Li took out a record and said, "This is the 61st volume of the Records of Emperor Xuanzong. On the 5th day of the first month of the 5th year of Xuande, the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate impeached the emperor. The officials of the Provincial Administration Office, the Censorate, and the Fuzhou government offices were absent from their posts and owed more than 80 million shi of tax and grain. There were tens of thousands of unfinished official business. Now they have all come to the court. Please hand them over to the judicial department for punishment."

"The emperor was furious and said: I used to be too strict with my subordinates, and they might make mistakes, so I always tried to forgive them. But now I have become lazy and slack. Isn't this too much forgiveness?"

"Eighty million koku of unpaid taxes!"

Wang Guoguang suddenly became alert and asked in disbelief, "How much? How much do you owe?!"

"Eighty million dan." Shen Li handed over the record and said in amazement, "In the first year of Hongxi, Emperor Renzong waived the previous arrears of taxes. This is the arrears accumulated from the first year of Xuande to the fifth year of Xuande, eighty million dan!"

Wang Guoguang sucked in a breath of cold air, and the weather in Daming Xiaoglacier was relieved a little. August 15th was still the Mid-Autumn Festival, but Wang Guoguang had already started to tremble. He immediately said loudly: "Tax inspection, tax inspection must be carried out! Tax inspection must be carried out by all means! Inspection is not allowed!"

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All the unpaid taxes during the Yongle period were forgiven by Emperor Renzong in the first year of Hongxi, and Emperor Renzong lived up to his name "Ren".

Shen Li continued, "Looking back, in the fifth year of Xuande, the tax collection began. Emperor Xuanzong demanded that the 80 million shi must be fully recovered, affecting the thirteen government offices, and tens of thousands of officials were dismissed."

Emperor Xuanzong was not merciful. His uncle, Zhu Gaoxu, the Prince of Han, who had made great contributions in the Jingnan Rebellion, was executed along with his entire family, along with his staff and three clans.

Although the Veritable Records were vague and did not explain how the taxes were collected, in the end the deficit of 80 million shi was mostly recovered. Only the beheading of the prefects of Suzhou and Songjiang prefectures was recorded in the Veritable Records.

Wang Guoguang looked at it for a long time, and then he said after seeing the result: "In March of the eighth year of Xuande, the emperor said: The tax collection has a quota, but the people actually pay it. Only 50% to 60% of the people are in office every year. It is just a name of heavy taxation, but there is no actual payment. This is a warning."

From the fifth year of the Xuande reign to March of the eighth year of the Xuande reign, the three-year-long unsolved case finally came to an end. The storm of debt collection during these three years did not leave much record in history books, but one can imagine how big the storm was.

Emperor Xuanzong concluded by saying: Taxation is just in name only. The people all paid the taxes, but in reality only five or six out of ten were kept in the government offices. It was just a false reputation of extortion, but nothing was actually done. People in later generations should take this as a warning and not do such stupid things again.

Of course, later on even the tax base shrank, and by the Hongzhi period, even the land for tax collection was cut in half.

Shen Li said very accurately: "Your Majesty is already very merciful. It is to train tax inspectors with strong professional qualities. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong. On the contrary, I think Your Majesty is wise. What do you think, Yuan Fu?"

"Let me see." Zhang Juzheng took the record and flipped through it for a long time before putting it down and saying, "Then there is no need to report the tax inspection. Your Majesty's decision is a good one."

"I just feel that the Wanli Reform has been going on for fourteen years, and the national treasury is sufficient. There is no need to be so stingy. After all, it is the Celestial Empire. Your Majesty is so stingy, and it is my fault."

It is somewhat shameful for an emperor to try every possible means to get small amounts of silver. Your Majesty is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, supreme, and it is somewhat unbecoming to compete with silver. If this continues, the Ming emperor's greed for money will become an international joke.

But after all, it is more embarrassing and undignified to owe 80 million shi in taxes and be unable to do anything about it, and it is more likely to become an international joke.

Because in March of the eighth year of Xuande, Emperor Xuanzong issued an edict to forgive more than 20 million shi of unpaid taxes. Emperor Xuanzong fought with his ministers for three years and only recovered 60 million. The rest could not be recovered, so he just got away with it.

Judging from the results, Emperor Xuanzong lost because the Ming Dynasty later found it increasingly difficult to collect taxes.

"The struggle volume says: Any struggle is a life-and-death struggle. Any compromise based on the fantasy of satisfying everyone's needs is digging one's own grave," Shen Li added.

Don't have any unrealistic fantasies about compromise. The struggle volume expresses the determination to fight. On the core issues, no concessions should be made. Compromise cannot bring tolerance for the country, but only shame and loss.

If we want to talk about the laws established by our ancestors, we cannot just talk about the laws established by our ancestors, we must also talk about the present. This is the difference between Shen Li and Wan Shihe. Your Majesty, the third volume published by Zhu Zhongxing is very instructive.

Wang Chonggu coughed lightly and said, "Mr. Shen, the cabinet should not mention the contents of the third volume in the future. If you want to use it, just use it. Don't tell anyone. The Imperial Tutor cannot read the third volume."

Zhang Juzheng really disliked the third volume of struggle. He always felt that it was the volume of national destruction. As a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, he did not want to see it, even in theory.

"Okay." Shen Li smiled and didn't care much. After a long time, Shen Li also understood Zhang Juzheng's temper. As long as he didn't oppose the Wanli Reform, he would not be an enemy.

Not all opponents are enemies, which is very important, because becoming an enemy of Zhang Juzheng is a misfortune, which is a fact that has been proven time and again. Zhang Juzheng allowed the existence of opponents. Whatever they said and did made sense, they could be opposed.

For example, when Hai Rui was improving the Tax Inspection Office system, he opposed Zhang Juzheng's distrust of the Censorate and his meddling in its affairs.

Shen Li said solemnly, "Recently, I took over the compilation of the overseas countries' chronicles. The new volume I compiled is about Venice. Venice, the lighthouse on the sea, fought a naval war with the Ottomans for nearly a hundred years. In the fifth year of Longqing, it lost all its overseas territories, including its largest overseas territory, Cyprus, which fell into the hands of the Ottomans. Only Venice itself was left."

"I have encountered a rather thorny problem. Venice has only 12.4 people. In contrast, the population of Jimo County in Shandong, which is close to the sea in Ming Dynasty, reached last year, which is almost four times that of Venice."

"The problem I encountered is the issue of scale. As for the countries in the West, their size is only about the size of a small county in the Ming Dynasty. Can they really be called countries? When compiling the history of overseas countries, do we really have to compile them as countries?"

"The second question is, the Venetian merchants were repeatedly mentioned by the sailors and merchants of the West. How did they have such a great impact with a population of 100,000?"

This is the problem Shen Li encountered. He was a little confused. With a population of more than 100,000, it was really not worthy for the Ming Dynasty to compile a special volume of national history for him. Compiling a county history would be enough. But what was very counterintuitive was that Venice's status and influence in the West far exceeded its scale.

Wang Chonggu smiled and said, "I can actually answer the second question. The bureaus that collected points on the Wulong Highway and Suiyuan Highway have received a lot of criticism, but they still have to collect points because the highway did not fall from the sky. They have to organize engineering corps, build government factories, burn cement, build bridges and roads, and have geomancers do feng shui. It takes a lot of money, so they have to collect points to recover these costs."

"Even so, building a Chi Road is a huge investment."

"As for the sea route, it's something that was provided by heaven. You just need to understand the hydrology and you can set off. Venice, despite its tiny size, has created an influence far beyond its size because it is a port city and was gifted by heaven."

"The construction and operation costs of the port are almost zero due to the huge volume of shipping."

Shen Li immediately took out a pen and wrote it down quickly. He thought for a long time before saying, "Thank you, Wang Cifu, for your advice. It means that whoever occupies the ocean can develop rapidly at low cost."

"This also explains why Russia was so diametrically opposed to the Baltic states and the Ottoman Empire. The Baltic states and the Ottoman Empire blocked Russia's maritime trade routes. This was a life-and-death survival conflict."

Zhang Juzheng thought for a while and said, "Think about it. After the sea is opened, if Songjiang Prefecture blocks the Yangtze River estuary and prevents goods along the Yangtze River from entering the sea, and sets up customs, I'm afraid merchants from all over the country will bring their servants to attack."

Wang Chonggu said with a smile on his face: "The navy should be the first to arrive. The Ming Dynasty is a chessboard, different from the West. Songjiang Prefecture dared to do this, it is a blatant rebellion."

Shen Li continued writing furiously: "Then the first question has an answer. It is worthwhile to use a volume of national history to study what happened to them. Such a tiny country can become an important part of the West. This is of reference significance to the Ming Dynasty."

"At the very least, it can further prove the importance of sea power."

Working in the Ministry of Rites is like chanting a sutra. After a while, you have to mention again what you have said before. The past of Venice, a tiny country, proves that any sea port is extremely valuable. No matter how small it is or how few people there are, it is part of sea power.

"I also have a problem with the compilation of the tax law." Wang Chonggu looked around before speaking: "Do royal family members have to pay taxes? This question is really important."

"Your Majesty's imperial estates have to pay taxes! Why shouldn't members of the royal family pay taxes?" Wang Guoguang said immediately. The question was very important and must have a clear answer.

The royal family of the Ming Dynasty does not pay taxes. This is a law passed down from ancestors and is also one of the drawbacks of the shrinking tax base of the Ming Dynasty. Even Ling Yunyi, the god of killing, had to invite these royal family members to the capital first when he went to Henan to conduct land survey.

Now that the Ming Dynasty is compiling the tax law, this originally one-sided problem has become a double-edged sword.

It turns out that he was just stubborn. The royal family did not pay taxes, which caused the tax base to continue to decline. Now he is asking the royal family to pay taxes, which goes against the ancestral laws. If he does not ask the royal family to pay taxes, then wouldn't the royal family be above the imperial power?

"Okay, we let the royal family pay taxes, and they must abide by the tax laws. What about the laws of the Ming Dynasty? We can't abide by the tax laws and not the laws of the Ming Dynasty." Wang Chonggu asked immediately. Letting the royal family pay taxes is not only a problem of ancestral laws, but also a problem of Ming Dynasty laws.

In practice, it is difficult to make a prince commit the same crime as a commoner. As the Grand Justice, Wang Chonggu never pursued such an unrealistic thing.

"The imperial farm has been actively reporting taxes since the second year of the Wanli period. I think it is better for the imperial farm to stop reporting taxes." Wang Chonggu thought that it was better to take a step back. It is better to be single-minded than to block both ends. Let the tax base be sluggish, and the Ming Dynasty has always been like this.

You can't really punish the royal family and clan members!

(End of this chapter)