I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 57 Chat in the Capital ([-])

"A penny? Fourth Master Yuan is really generous, and his family has a solid foundation. It seems that I have no chance to see it."

When a tea guest heard Mr. Yuan mentioning the price of the "Beijing News", he couldn't help but exclaimed and sneered coldly.

You know, nowadays one tael of silver is equal to 1000 cents. One tael of silver is equivalent to one hundred cents. The price of a pound of pork is about 20 cents. The price of rice is 2.5 cents per pound. One tael of silver can buy 5 pounds of pork. 40 Kilograms of rice.Therefore, it is already very luxurious for Fourth Master Yuan to buy a copy of "Beijing News" for one penny.

Unexpectedly, Fourth Master Yuan looked dismissive when he heard this.

"What do you know? After hearing this, many dignitaries sent people to queue up to buy. This can help them understand the latest government affairs of the imperial court."

"Don't talk about this first. Why don't you tell us first? Let us also hear what the court is doing now."

As soon as the tea guest finished speaking, another older man with a scabby appearance immediately continued:
"What else can I do? It's just that the new emperor has ascended the throne, and there will be a wedding ceremony. I also heard from my wife's distant cousin that the emperor is so awesome now. As soon as he came up, he surrounded the residence of Zheng Guotai, the brother of Concubine Zheng, and ransacked the house. They all copied as much as 100 million taels."

"Don't talk nonsense. What kind of house was confiscated? You just paid the stolen money and you are fine."

A young tea patron next to him immediately corrected him.The old man with a scarred face showed displeasure, annoyed that he interrupted him, and then continued.

"It's all the same. This Holy Emperor is really ruthless. He just took the throne and attacked Zheng Guotai's family. Concubine Zheng is not dead, right? It is estimated that Prince Fu's invitation book will soon arrive in the capital."

His words immediately sparked chatter among the people around him.Some people say that the emperor should do this, regardless of how Concubine Zheng bullied Guangzong and the emperor; others say that she went too far at the beginning. After all, she is a relative of the emperor. Zheng Guotai's son Zheng Yangxing's hair turned all white overnight. ; Others say that the new emperor did this not for revenge, but to combat corruption. Not only did he deal with Zheng Guotai's family, he also arrested several corrupt eunuchs in the palace.

When the teahouse owner saw this, he was extremely panicked. If these words were reported to the government by someone who was interested and accused of slandering the government, and the tea guest could just walk away, then he would be in trouble.So he quickly winked at Huang Dong.

Huang Dong also understood and immediately said loudly:

"Masters! Masters! What you are talking about is last month's news, which is already out of date. And Fourth Master Yuan has the latest government affairs in his hands. Rather than discussing them in vain, it is better to listen to what he has to say."

Fourth Master Yuan also felt that his face was dull at this time. He felt distressed when he bought a copy of "Beijing News" for only one coin.I just heard about it on the way today, so I thought about buying it and taking it to the teahouse to show off to everyone.

But he didn't expect that everyone would start talking among themselves after refuting his words, which made him very embarrassed. Seeing Huang Dong like this, he didn't want to talk anymore.So he threw the newspaper away and said:

"You guys can read it if you want, but I don't want to. There's no point in buying it and reading it for free."

When Huang Dong saw that he was angry, he knew in his heart that he had to let him go.

"That's right, you went through all the trouble to buy it back, but there's no reason for you to read it. Let me make my own decision today. Your tea break is free today. I'll just treat it as a thank you from the shop."

"That won't work. I have to add another pot of Yuqian Longjing."

Huang Dong looked at the shopkeeper. After receiving the shopkeeper's approval, he smiled and said
"No problem, thank you Fourth Master!"

After hearing this, Fourth Master Yuan was also satisfied and handed him the Beijing News. After Huang Dong took it, he said loudly:

"Dear gentlemen, I know a few words, so I will take the liberty to read it to you today. If there is anything I read wrong, please forgive me." After hearing this, everyone became quiet and wanted to hear this "Beijing News" What exactly was said?

Under the special instructions of Zhu Youxiao, this supplementary volume of the Di newspaper is straightforward, easy to understand, and relatively easy to read.

The first article in the book was the edict written by Zhu Youxiao asking for the book. Huang Dong read it briefly and cleared his throat.

"Since I came to the throne, the imperial court has been running low on expenses. The Ministry of Household Affairs has asked for internal funds many times, and I have repeatedly made advances worth millions of taels. In the past, there was nothing I could do about it... I have no way of turning stone into gold. We do not want to add more land to the people, so we want to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. We specially request that on October [-]th, we will issue an edict to the cabinet ministers and the six ministries, and specifically order the officials of the sixth rank and above in the capital to write letters to discuss matters and discuss national policies."

When Huang Dong said this, everyone present knew what was going on.

"No wonder my daughter-in-law's cousin from far away said that many officials have been discussing and submitting letters together in recent days. I bet this is what happened."

"We can't add more land tax. It has already been increased by [-]% in just three years. Our village in the capital city just suffered a disaster this year. If we add another year, we will lose everything."

"Master Wu, you are really joking. The official tax is only a few dollars. If your brother is not working as an errand in Shuntian Mansion every year, who doesn't know that you are in his name, and you don't have to pay any money every year,"

In the Ming Dynasty, there was actually a preferential and exemption policy for officials and gentry, but it was not as we thought that officials in the Ming Dynasty or those with a distinguished family background were exempt from paying taxes.In the Ming Dynasty, the only people who did not pay taxes were Huangzhuang, Wangzhuang, Noble Zhuangtian, etc.

Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, there was no so-called tax exemption for officials and gentry, and land taxes and official servants were never exempted.

The only so-called preferential exemptions for officials and gentry were exempted from all kinds of fixed-amount taxes and servitude. Especially after the implementation of the One-whip Law, the servitude had to be exchanged for silver, which was a serious burden for many people.

However, each level of officials has a quota of preferential exemptions. A maximum of 30 people can be exempted from first-grade officials. However, after Wanli's neglect of government, no one took care of it, resulting in an increasing number of people and quotas.Therefore, many people now rely on officials, which is called dedication, in exchange for the power of not having to pay labor fees.

"Don't talk nonsense. It's not just me. I'm doing this now. The government won't investigate anyway. It's been like this for more than ten years."

The man called Master Wu became anxious instantly.Everyone was not upset after hearing this. Indeed, it is normal to donate money now. Who is willing to pay more to the government? It is not caused by the strong wind.

"Why is this Holy Emperor so short of money? When Emperor Shenzong was in power, he had very little internal money and was always borrowing money from the treasury. After more than ten years, he must have saved a lot of money for the emperor."

As soon as these words came out, another person answered.

"No matter how rich you are, it is still the emperor's money. I heard that when the previous emperor was still alive, he used his internal funds to give 400 million taels to the court for urgent needs within one month. When the new emperor ascended the throne, he gave millions more taels. This is considered gold and silver. No mountain can bear such flowers."

As soon as these words came out, everyone nodded.

However, compared to the emperor's edict, everyone is more concerned about what methods the court will adopt to open the source of revenue. After all, no matter how open the source of revenue, there is no escape from the word "extra tax". However, now that we can't add additional acres of land, we can only add additional levies to other areas. .

So they all went to Huangdong to continue reading.

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(End of this chapter)