History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 707: A Leaf Falls into the Imperial Ditch with the Wind 2
The Ministry of Personnel is equivalent to today's Organization Department, responsible for the appointment, removal, assessment and promotion of officials. The Pan San Si is equivalent to the Ministry of Finance. Wang Jipeng asked the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel to be the Pan San Si in order to bypass the middle link and facilitate bribery and selling of official positions.

However, Comrade Cai Shoumeng was upright and honest, and was unwilling to make the officialdom chaotic. He was severely criticized by Wang Jipeng and had no choice but to agree. However, a person's work efficiency is not only related to his work ability, but also to his work enthusiasm.

Wang Jipeng was still not satisfied with Cai Shoumeng, "A woman with bound feet!"

Afterwards, Wang Jipeng went into business himself, bypassing the Ministry of Personnel and the Three Departments, bypassing the incompetent Cai Shoumeng, and directly handed the blank letter of appointment to the imperial physician Chen Jiu, asking him to sell it on the street without a middleman to make a profit. He also instructed him not to care about the buyer's character, as long as he paid the money, because we only care about money, not people. Making money is a good business, not a bad thing.

In order to prevent the people from evading taxes and corvée labor, Wang Jipeng issued an edict: Anyone who falsely reports his age will be beaten on the back; anyone who fails to report his household registration will be sentenced to death; anyone who dares to escape will have his entire clan exterminated!

Later, another order was issued: all fruits, vegetables, beef, mutton, fish, meat, etc. must be taxed.

not enough.

Wang Jipeng also ordered the collection of "body tax", and anyone between the ages of 16 and 60 had to pay tax, which was similar to a "head tax".

not enough.

Wang Jipeng also ordered the collection of "resource tax", and all natural resources such as rivers, lakes, hills and mountains in the territory were taxed, and the tax was borne by the people living near the resources. The only thing missing was the "breathing tax". If the professor who proposed to collect 20 yuan per person per month for "air tax" some time ago was born in Min, he would definitely be appreciated by Wang Jipeng, and he might be able to become a prime minister, or at least a judge.

not enough.

Wang Jipeng first enclosed the land and then cultivated it carefully. After creating various pretexts, he made small moves in the collection process, namely the so-called "big dou in, small dou out". The specific operation was to falsely mark the capacity. To what extent? After the unification of the Song Dynasty, it was discovered that 5 dou in Fujian was actually 7 dou 3 liters. In other words, Wang Jipeng marked the container of 7 dou 3 liters as 5 dou. When the people needed to pay the tax of 5 dou of grain, they actually had to pay 7 dou 3 liters, which was 26% more!

【Respecting Buddhism and believing in Taoism】

After Wang Jipeng ascended the throne, he bestowed the title of "Tianshi" on the demon Taoist Chen Shouyuan and the title of "Zhengyi Xiansheng" on the demon Taoist Tan Zixiao.

A "master" said that he had discovered a white dragon, so he built the White Dragon Temple. Under the guidance of the "Heavenly Master" Chen Shouyuan, a Sanqing Hall was built in the imperial palace, and statues of Baohuang Emperor, Yuanshi Tianzun, and Taishang Laojun were cast. Thousands of kilograms of gold were consumed for these three statues alone, and precious spices such as borneol were burned 24 hours a day, because Chen Shouyuan said that this way one could obtain the "Great Elixir" and achieve immortality.

Under the guidance of Chen Shouyuan, Sanqing Temple was not only the production base of Dahuandan, but also became the highest authority of the Min Kingdom. All military and national affairs, no matter how big or small, had to be reported to Emperor Bao, which was actually a report to Chen Shouyuan, because only Chen Shouyuan could communicate with Emperor Bao and convey his will.

Wang Jipeng and his father Wang Yanjun maintained the consistent principle of treating all religions equally in dealing with religious issues. They would not neglect the cultivation of Buddhism because of their favoritism towards Taoism. After they ascended the throne, they both "ordained" tens of thousands of monks at one time.

For individuals, shaving one's head and becoming a monk is a form of religious freedom, which is nothing wrong with it. However, the impact of such large-scale monasticism on the country's finances is extremely adverse.

First, there is a lack of labor.

Secondly, there is a reduction in fiscal tax revenue.

Third, the imperial court would grant temples corresponding "temple fields". These "temple fields" were often fertile lands and enjoyed the privilege of being tax-free, further increasing the country's financial burden.

[A leaf falls into the imperial ditch with the wind] Wang Jipeng's perverse actions caused concern among upright ministers, such as his teacher Ye Qiao.

Before he ascended the throne, Wang Jipeng often sought advice from Ye Qiao, treated him with great respect and obeyed his advice. However, when he really sat on the throne and realized his ambition, he began to distance himself from Ye Qiao and discussed all matters, big and small, with "experts" such as Chen Shouyuan and Lin Xing.

One day, during a court meeting, Ye Qiao deliberately wore a Taoist robe and hurried past Wang Jipeng, pretending to leave. Wang Jipeng quickly sent someone to chase him back and sincerely apologized to him, saying that it had been a long time since he had consulted with him on military and national affairs. This was his fault, and he asked the teacher not to mind.

Ye Qiao bowed deeply and said that assisting Your Majesty is the duty of an old minister. However, since Your Majesty ascended the throne, I have been very derelict in my duty, resulting in Your Majesty's work being commendable. It seems that I am incompetent. Please agree to my resignation request!
You are willing to discuss with the Taoists, so I'm leaving.

Wang Jipeng hypocritically tried to keep him, gave him a lot of gold and silver, and said on the spot that the late emperor handed me over to you in the hope that you could correct my mistakes in time. If I did something wrong, you should point it out frankly. Why did you abandon me?
Since there is still hope, Ye Qiao should try to save him.

At that time, Wang Jipeng's original wife, Consort Yuan Li, was the daughter of former Prime Minister Li Min and was also Wang Jipeng's cousin (Li was Wang Yanjun's niece). However, since Wang Jipeng married Li Chunyan, he favored Li Chunyan and neglected Consort Yuan Li. After ascending the throne, he first named Li Chunyan as Consort Xian, and then directly named her Queen.

Although the ancient kings had three palaces and six courtyards with three thousand beauties, the saying of "three wives and four concubines" is not accurate. In the feudal period, "one husband and one wife" was also the norm. "Wife" usually refers to the wife of the first wife, who is usually the original wife. The position of the first wife is irreplaceable. If a queen is appointed, the principle of "first come, first served" is usually followed, and the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children is emphasized. There is a strict patriarchal system, which is a twin system of the primogeniture system.

Li Cunxu wanted to reverse the order of legitimate and illegitimate children and enthrone "the one who took out his father and plotted against Liu" as the queen, all under tremendous pressure from public opinion.

If the original wife unfortunately passed away, the remaining concubines might be promoted. But it was only "possible". Sometimes, the emperor had a deep relationship with his original wife and did not appoint another empress. For example, Zhu Wen, the first emperor of the Later Liang Dynasty, never appointed an empress in his life.

In addition, the background of the concubines was also an important assessment factor. The first concubine Li was the niece of the previous emperor, and her father Li Min was the prime minister, so she was a good match for Wang Jipeng. And what about Li Chunyan? She was the concubine of the previous emperor and a maid. Putting aside the incest, her background alone was only slightly better than that of a prostitute.

Wang Jipeng disregarded the patriarchal etiquette and moral public opinion, and insisted on his own way. He abandoned Concubine Li and let Concubine Li Chunyan take over and become the queen. He also built the Ziwei Palace for her. According to historical records, the civil engineering construction of Wang Jipeng's Ziwei Palace "was twice that of the Baohuang Palace."

Ye Qiao could not stand it any longer and said that Li was the niece of the late emperor and the first wife who was married in a formal ceremony. How could His Majesty be fickle and ignore her?
Wang Jipeng was very unhappy and ignored him.

Ye Qiao was unwilling to give in and continued to submit memorials to advise.

This time, Wang Jipeng was furious, and wrote in red ink at the end of his memorial:

"I have seen the purple streets in spring, and I couldn't help feeling sad when all the red flowers flew away.

"People are tired of the end of their beauty, a leaf falls into the imperial ditch with the wind."

The last sentence is very meaningful and has a double meaning. It must be said that Wang Jipeng is relatively cultured among the unjust and incompetent rulers.

Ye Qiao was dismissed from office and sent back to his hometown, where he lived until his death.

(End of this chapter)