Without money, what is the point of being a traitor?

Chapter 662 The Strategy of the Interplay of Yin and Yang, Reality and Illusion, Positive and Negative, and the Creation of Obscurity and Illusion

Upon hearing this, Wang Chang felt as if the sky had fallen.

He earnestly advised, "Chief, reform is not that simple."

"An attack on a group of censors would absolutely not make the court decide to carry out a major reshuffle in Shandong. On the contrary, the more uncertain the situation, the more the court needs stability in Shandong."

"If we can't even break through the first barrier, what else can we talk about?"

Pei Yuanzheng was about to tell Wang Chang about the follow-up plans when he heard that Bi Zhen had also arrived.

Pei Yuan said, "Perfect timing, Bi Zhen is here. He is the eunuch in charge of Shandong. Let him hear whether it will work out or not."

When Bi Zhen arrived and saw Wang Chang there, he smiled and said to him, "You haven't been feeling well these past few days, have you?"

Wang Chang understood Bi Zhen's meaning and nodded with a wry smile.

Bi Zhen then looked at Pei Yuan, saying with a mixture of joy and resentment, "The commander has important matters to attend to, so he doesn't need to consider our family. We are from the palace, so if anything goes wrong, no one will dare to blame me."

"After I left Shandong, I actually became somewhat conspicuous."

Faced with his underlings' suspicions that he was the mastermind, Pei Yuan became somewhat angry and retorted, "Are you so sure that I was the one who did the things in Shandong?"

Bi Zhen chuckled.

"Alright, alright," Pei Yuan said, no longer dwelling on it. He reminded Bi Zhen, "There's still a lot to come, and it involves a vassal king. We're like-minded people, and I can't just stand by and watch you take such a risk."

Pei Yuan called Wang Chang away out of a desire to protect him, but calling Bi Zhen away was indeed a deliberate act of kindness.

Because Bi Zhen was an exceptionally grateful eunuch.

Previously, the reason why Bi Zhen was able to stand on Pei Yuan's side without hesitation was because Pei Yuan killed Zhang Yong and gave him Zhang Yong's head to avenge Liu Jin.

Although Bi Zhen said back then that his life would belong to Pei Yuan, there was still a barrier between them.

Pei Yuan would try to win over Bi Zhen whenever he had the chance.

Bi Zhen, the eunuch in charge of the town, seems to have a superior status, but there is a certain situation that can suddenly drag him into a quagmire.

That is, it involves a vassal king.

The princes were members of the Zhu family, and thus the masters of these eunuchs.

Whenever a regional prince gets into trouble, the first people in charge are these garrison eunuchs, and Bi Zhen has to rush there to deal with it immediately.

However, if one handles the affairs of one's master's household as a servant, any mistake could easily lead to repercussions.

When Yang Yiqing launched his general offensive against Liu Jin two years ago, wasn't the trigger for this rebellion the one initiated by Zhu Zhifan, the Prince of Anhua, who used Liu Jin's thorough investigation of military farms as a pretext for a mutiny?

Using the name of a vassal king to launch a group purchase is incredibly effective.

Upon hearing that it might involve a vassal king, Bi Zhen stopped chuckling and asked with a surprised expression, "A vassal king?"

Wang Chang, who was standing nearby, was already worried, and when he heard that the follow-up plan also involved the vassal kings, he became even more uneasy.

Pei Yuan cleared his throat, about to tell the two his next plan.

Seeing this, Wang Chang quickly took advantage of Pei Yuan's skill animation and said to Bi Zhen, "He wants to change the law."

Those four simple words transformed Bi Zhen from a cheerful person into one filled with terror.

Pei Yuan turned to look at Wang Chang, a question mark popping into his mind.

No, you?

Before Pei Yuan could rebuke Wang Chang, Bi Zhen hurriedly said, "No, Commander! Throughout history, few reformers have met a good end. Why should we invite such bad luck?"

"Look at what happened to Liu Jin when he helped His Majesty with the reforms."

Seeing that Pei Yuan remained unmoved, Bi Zhen earnestly advised again, "The commander's power is still weak. Even if he wants to achieve something, he should proceed slowly and carefully."

Pei Yuan's expression changed.

It wasn't that Pei Yuan was persuaded by Bi Zhen, but rather that he thought of something important.

When he tried to persuade Commander Han not to get involved in the Ming Dynasty's paper money, he talked to her about the ideal of making the Ming Dynasty great again. But such an ideal was obviously not convincing to someone like Bi Zhen.

Therefore, the argument Pei Yuan prepared for Bi Zhen was based on self-interest.

Pei Yuan was also touched when Bi Zhen mentioned that he was still inexperienced.

So, does the benefit that applies to Bi Zhen also apply to others?
Perhaps I can bring more people on board and play on a bigger scale.

Pei Yuan's thoughts raced quickly, and he immediately changed his mind, saying to Bi Zhen, "Never mind, since you oppose my reforms, then I won't reform them."

Seeing that Pei Yuan listened to his advice so readily, Wang Chang, who had always been loyal to him, was somewhat hurt by Pei Yuan's words.

Even though he was usually unassuming and didn't fight for anything, he felt a bit upset at this moment. He even wanted to shout, "Why can't the law be reformed?"

"Change it!"

Bi Zhen, however, did not think Pei Yuan was such an easily swayed person, and waited for Pei Yuan's subsequent statement.

Pei Yuan looked around, glanced at Xiao Ying who had just heard about the reform, and then said, "You come over here too."

Xiao Ying was reluctant to move, but seeing that the three of them were looking at him, he had no choice but to move over rather unwillingly.

Seeing that everyone had gathered around, Pei Yuan invited them to sit down at the stone table in the courtyard.

Then he had someone bring him a pot of wine and sent his men far away.

The three of them looked at Pei Yuan, all somewhat confused about what he was up to.

When it came to drinking, they didn't ask for a glass.

Pei Yuan picked up the wine pot, poured some wine on the stone table, and then used his finger to dip into the wine to draw a Taoist yin-yang symbol on the stone table.

The three looked at each other, completely bewildered.

Then Pei Yuan said to them, "Just now, after listening to what the three of you said, I suddenly had an epiphany and completely integrated my plan."

“I call it the ‘Mixed Primordial Yin-Yang, Interchange of Reality and Illusion, Harmony of Opposites, Birth of Obscurity and Light, Illusion and Truth’ strategy. Once this strategy is implemented, it will not be difficult to bring peace to the world.” The three men glanced at the wine and beverage patterns on the table, then at Pei Yuan, and all put their hands on their sleeves.

Pei Yuan ignored the three men's stares, which were as if he were a madman.

I'm organizing my thoughts.

"This commander intends to split his plan into two parts, one illusory and one real, both illusory and real."

Pei Yuan glanced at Bi Zhen and said to him, "You arrived late and may not know what the Single Whip Law is. I've already told Prince Wang about it, so let him explain it to you and I'll see if his understanding is correct."

Although Wang Chang opposed Pei Yuan's reform proposals, he could not refuse this arrangement.

So he could only give Bi Zhen a general idea of ​​what Wang Qiong was trying to perfect with the Single Whip Technique.

After hearing Wang Chang's words, Bi Zhen immediately spoke frankly to Pei Yuan, "Commander, I'm afraid Wang Qiong's method is a bit far-fetched. He's a high-ranking official who has never served in local government, so how would he know anything about practical matters?"

"Does the commander know why the land taxes paid by the people are often several times the amount due?"

"That's because the tax collectors could use various reasons, such as transportation costs and losses along the way, and the plumpness and moisture content of the grains, to double the taxes collected from the people."

"Taking Shandong as an example, according to the imperial court's collection policy, the tax for each mu of farmland should be three sheng, three he, and five shao of grain. However, in actual collection, this figure often reached more than one dou, or even close to two dou."

"But what about the people's harvest? Even the best fields, after a season of ordinary farming, yield less than a bushel. Summer wheat and autumn millet, after a year of hard work, yield less than two bushels."

"Has that commander considered that once all taxes are converted into currency, replacing grain and cloth, how would those who share the profits several times over be willing to accept it?"

Pei Yuan was somewhat surprised, "How come Eunuch Bi is so knowledgeable about local affairs?"

Bi Zhen wasn't embarrassed at all and said frankly, "Otherwise, where do you think the money others gave me came from?"

Pei Yuan understood; no wonder this guy knew so much about it.

It turns out he was one of those who profited from it.

Bi Zhen has always been greedy for money, so he is very clear about how he acquired his wealth.

Bi Zhen continued, "Leaving aside those who suffer losses, there is another problem. The common people do not engage in commerce and have grain but no money. If taxes are to be collected in currency, the common people will be forced to sell their grain to merchants at low prices during the harvest in order to cope with the tax collectors' pressure."

"When the next year comes and food is scarce, if something unexpected happens to the family, they will have to buy more food when it is expensive."

“In this way, the merchants will make a huge profit, and even without the exploitation of officials, the common people will be skinned alive. When the officials come to exploit them again, they will scrape off their flesh and blood. Although we don’t know how they will exploit us after we pay with money, there will definitely be some.”

Pei Yuan understood somewhat. Just now, Wang Chang only told Bi Zhen about the idea of ​​using currency instead of goods to pay taxes in the Single Whip Law, without going into details, and he didn't even mention the Great Ming Treasure Note.

Bi Zhen thought that copper coins and silver were to be used as substitutes.

In fact, this was also the method used by Zhang Juzheng in history with his Single Whip Law.

At that time, merchants who made a lot of money by selling high-quality goods such as silk and porcelain were not only complacent but also somewhat puzzled.

How come there's so much silver...? It's impossible to earn it all!
No matter how hard they tried to sell their goods, silver was still being transported to the Ming Dynasty ship after ship.

The merchants looked at the silver in their hands and almost began to doubt their existence.

How the hell am I supposed to spend this money?

As the value of silver was slowly declining and could even plummet at any moment, a proposal called "Single Whip Law," put forward by Gui E decades ago, came into their view.

Since commercial liquidity can no longer support the value of silver, it can still reap the benefits from the hard work of farmers.

The farmers have to suffer a bit, but the price of silver can't fall...

So those ships carrying silver to the Ming Dynasty ended up costing the lives of many farmers who had never seen the sea in their entire lives.

Thinking of his past life, Pei Yuan took a deep breath.

This is why he was determined to seize this opportunity of the banknotes' rebound.

Whether or not this last chance to redeem the Ming Dynasty from its doomed fate can be seized depends on the success of his "Mixed Yin-Yang, Mutual Transformation of Reality and Illusion, Harmony of Diminishment and Brilliance, Illusion and Truth" strategy.

Seeing that the information from all sides was almost synchronized, Pei Yuan said to Bi Zhen, "Just now, the Prince told you about the Single Whip Law, but he didn't mention another thing to you. That is, the currency that the Single Whip Law is anchored to is not silver or copper coins, but the Great Ming Treasure Note."

Bi Zhen was taken aback upon hearing this, "The Great Ming Treasure Note?"

Pei Yuan said decisively, "That's right, it's the Great Ming Treasure Note."

"You just mentioned that officials would use money to their advantage and exploit the people. One of the ways they exploit this is during the harvest season when there is more grain than money, and the people are eager to pay their taxes. As a result, the grain becomes scarce and the price increases, and officials and gentry can take the opportunity to drive down the price of grain from the people and exploit them."

"However, the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes are different. They are issued by the imperial court and there is no shortage of them. They can be exchanged for the people at a fixed rate, which completely avoids the situation where officials, gentry and merchants take advantage of the shortage of silver to exploit the people."

"Another way they exploited the people was by taking advantage of the difference in the purity of silver and copper coins and demanding that the people pay extra based on the value of the currency. However, the paper money was printed by the Ministry of Revenue, and its value depended on the number printed on it, without any distinction in purity."

"Another way to exploit the people is to use the pretext of silver melting to levy a fire loss tax on them. But paper money has the same regulations and is easy to transport, so there is no worry about fire loss at all."

"If land taxes are paid in Ming Dynasty paper money, the amount payable by the people is clear and easy to calculate. The imperial court also supplies a sufficient amount of paper money, which can be used to purchase grain at a fixed and clear price. Officials will have almost no room to levy additional taxes, and the wealth that gentry and common people can retain will increase many times over. Isn't this an excellent method?"

Upon hearing this, Bi Zhen shook his head repeatedly, "That's impossible! It's not a matter of whether or not the loopholes can be plugged. The imperial court governs the local areas not just by relying on one or two local officials, but also by requiring a large number of clerks. The money to support these clerks is allocated from these extra incomes. Without money to support these clerks, the country will descend into chaos."

Wang Chang, who knew a little more, seemed to be thinking about it. If we follow Pei Yuan's three-tiered power theory and use the Single Whip Law to bind the Ming Dynasty Treasure Notes, wouldn't that achieve the goal of benefiting the gentry and the common people?
If this goal can be achieved, then how should we address the problem of the massive bureaucracy?

As Wang Chang was pondering this, Pei Yuan indeed mentioned the same point.

He drew a triangle on the stone table with wine, and then said to everyone, "Of the taxes collected by the imperial court, less than half can actually be used; most of them are intercepted by the local governments."

As Pei Yuan spoke, he drew a horizontal line on the triangle with his hand, dividing it into upper and lower parts.

The upper part has a very small area, while the lower part has a large area.

Pei Yuan pointed to two places, indicating that these were the imperial court and the local government.

Then Pei Yuan asked the three of them, "What do you think is the best way to divide these?"

None of the three spoke upon hearing this; how much the imperial court could take was entirely up to the local authorities.

What a place gives you is truly yours.

The money the local authorities didn't give you isn't even on the books, so how are you going to distribute it?
Even if the local areas were raking in profits, as long as they reported a famine, they could legitimately embezzle the taxes that should have gone to the imperial court. As for what they actually got for themselves, there was no accurate figure at all.

(End of this chapter)