Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 532 Juren and Youmian

Han Yu's statement on the broad quota for the provincial examination quickly caused a sensation after it was spread.

As the first powerful prime minister during the Chongzhen reign, many people expected Han Yu to make big moves after taking office.

Han Yu did not disappoint them. He first made public the list of treason cases and encouraged people all over the world to actively report them.

Then the number of places for the provincial examinations was expanded, and it was implemented in conjunction with the tax-sharing system.

This made many people think that Han Yu was a man of courage, especially praised by the scholars, who were mostly students.

Just as Zhu Youjian had expected when he recruited Zhang Pu, the current public opinion in the Ming Dynasty was controlled by the numerous students who were quick to accept new things.

Their fame in the world may not be as loud as Liu Zongzhou, Qian Qianyi and others, but their large number makes their voice in the newspapers very loud.

As long as they reach a consensus, it can be said to be the public opinion of scholars.

And what is the biggest demand of these students?

Of course you should take the Jinshi and Juren examinations!
After the emperor expanded the number of Jinshi candidates and admitted 800 people in the previous exam, these students knew that it was impossible to further expand the number of Jinshi candidates, so they turned their attention to Juren candidates.

The broad quota for the provincial examination undoubtedly met their demands, and they enthusiastically supported it.

The newly appointed Minister of Rites Cheng Jiming, under the combined pressure of the Prime Minister above and public opinion below, had to express his support for the broad quota for the provincial examinations.

And bring this issue to the court for discussion.

At the regular court session on August 26, Zhu Youjian looked at the issue of the number of quotas for the provincial examinations raised by the Ministry of Rites and said:
"Do you all agree with the idea of ​​expanding the number of candidates for the provincial examination?"

All the ministers spoke out in support, and most of them agreed with this matter.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites had not been arguing about whether to expand the quota or not, but how to expand the quota, and whether it was limited to clarifying the laws and calculations?

Many officials in the Ministry of Rites did not think highly of these two subjects. What they hoped more was to expand the number of candidates for the original Jinshi degree.

Especially according to what Han Yu said, after the addition of the Ming Fa and Ming Shu subjects to the provincial examination, according to the taxes paid to the court, they can reach 60% of the original quota of the provincial examination. This adds up to 120%, which exceeds the original number of juren.

This made the officials of the Ministry of Rites feel very inappropriate, and they suggested increasing the number of candidates for the Jinshi imperial examination.

Some people also suggested that the Mingjing and Mingshu subjects should also be included in the provincial examinations to share these quotas.

In short, the suggestions were very confusing and Cheng Jiming was unable to make a decision, so he brought them to the court for discussion.

Zhu Youjian listened to the words of the court officials and roughly understood their demands.

However, he did not easily give up on this matter that he had secretly promoted.

Instead, he looked solemn and said to his ministers:

"The broad quota for the provincial examination is a good thing, and I should have supported it."

"But the current situation makes it impossible for me to support this matter."

"Bi Qing, please tell me, how much tax exemption can a juren receive now?"

When Bi Ziyan heard this, he knew that things were bad and understood the crux of the matter.

He met the emperor's gaze and said with gritted teeth:

"According to the Regulations on Exemptions and Privileges formulated in the 24th year of Jiajing, instructors, students, candidates, and students are each exempted from two shi of grain and two ding of men."

"The number of exemptions for Juren and Shengyuan is the same."

"In the 14th year of the Wanli reign, the land was exempted, but they only exempted 40 mu." Zhu Youjian looked more serious when he heard this, staring at Bi Ziyan and said:

“Is it really the same?”

"I heard there is a saying of 'Golden Juren'. Why is a Juren so precious?"

"Why do I often hear about people making contributions to the Juren and falsely borrowing land, but never hear about making contributions to the Shengyuan?"

No minister stood up to answer this question, but everyone knew that it was because the Juren had the power to become officials, and they were part of the bureaucratic class.

Therefore, the juren were taken care of, they accepted donations, and there were no officials to strictly monitor them.

Students were quite different, their status was far inferior to that of Juren, and there were too many of them to take care of them.

Therefore, when the news of the broad quota for the provincial examination came out, the students expressed their support one after another. They all wanted to become juren and become part of the gentry.

Zhu Youjian seized on this mentality and began to take action against the preferential exemption regulations:

"This is the preferential exemption regulation in the 14th year of Wanli, but are they being implemented in all places?"

"In the 38th year of the Wanli reign, the governor of Jiangnan, Xu Minshi, decided that the gentry in Suzhou and Songjiang had too much land and property, and that they should be subject to the same labor service as ordinary people. He also increased the exemption for the gentry by ten times according to the existing exemption regulations."

"The first-rank officials in Beijing are exempted from 10,000 mu of land, and the exemption for the following ranks is gradually reduced. The eighth-rank officials are exempted from 2,700 mu of land; the exemption for officials outside the capital is half; the exemption for retired officials is 60% of their rank; the exemption for non-official Jinshi is up to 3,350 mu, and the exemption for non-official Juren is 1,200 mu; the exemption for students and supervisors is 80 mu."

"Even though it couldn't be enforced, Shen Shixing threatened to go north on his own, openly opposing the tenfold increase in the penalty."

"Can anyone tell me how many acres of land he actually exempted?"

No one among the officials answered, especially the ministers, who all cowered in fear because they were the first to be exempted.

However, others could pretend not to hear it, but Han Yu could not. As the Prime Minister who promoted this matter, he could only stand up and say:
"The exemptions are for menial tasks. We can't let retired university scholars like Mr. Shen do menial tasks in the government office like ordinary people."

"Mr. Shen spoke in anger at the time, but he was eventually dissuaded."

Zhu Youjian said calmly:
"They are still not satisfied with the exemption of 10,000 acres. How much land does the Shen family have?"

"I have previously set a tax on production. If the area exceeds 100 acres, an additional tax will be imposed. If the area exceeds 1,000 acres, all production will be levied."

"Let Jiangnan Governor Cao Wenheng investigate how much land the Shen family has and how much land tax they should pay."

"If it is not collected properly, I will hold the governor of Jiangnan and the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue accountable."

The ministers were now even more frightened, realizing that the emperor was serious about this.

The property tax previously set by the imperial court was actually implemented by the emperor through the establishment of parliament.

It even caused a riot in the west of Beijing, leading to the emperor declaring martial law in the capital.

Later, during the period of martial law, the property tax was implemented in Shuntian Prefecture. Civil officials targeted the nobles and investigated their land.

Apart from the nobility land and manor land stipulated by the emperor, the nobles were now unable to accept contributions. Therefore, Shuntian Prefecture's tax collection this year was also very smooth.

However, outside of Shuntian Prefecture, it was not vigorously implemented. Except for the southern part of Northern Zhili, which was under the jurisdiction of Baoding Governor Lu Xiangsheng, few local officials collected property taxes.

In addition, the emperor had granted hereditary titles and Liaodong land certificates to his ministers in order to appease them. This year, they were replaced with titles of nobility, allowing them to establish fiefdoms overseas.

All the ministers thought that the matter was over, but they didn't expect that there would be a follow-up now.

The emperor not only had to collect taxes on property, but also had to strictly investigate exemptions.

(End of this chapter)