Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 231 The new Jiajing’s vision is not just to be the leader of the revival!

After Zhu Houcong issued this decree, Mao Ji was stunned.

He really didn't expect the emperor to issue such an order.

He had to admit that the emperor's decree was truly powerful!

If the gentry owed taxes, they would be stripped of their official titles and honors that they had worked so hard for throughout their lives.

"Didn't I say that if we want to successfully resist foreign aggression, we must first cultivate harmony within the country, ensure that the ruler and his subjects are united, and that the government is in good order and the people are harmonious."

"But now the gentry owes taxes, which is clearly because they are dissatisfied with the new policy, and they need you, as the emperor, to appease them. But you continue to confront them head-on. When they owe taxes, you deprive them of their titles and rank, and you add fuel to the fire."

"How can this never end? How can there be political stability and social harmony?"

"Isn't this forcing the local tyrants to change the dynasty as soon as possible, rather than letting the Portuguese rule the world?"

"Your Majesty, you should understand that the powerful families in the world do not care whether the royal family that sits on the throne is Han or Yi. They only care about who is kind to them."

"Didn't you expose all the ugliness of the Northern Kong Clan? So, you should understand! Besides, you are not a foolish ruler, so you should understand the truth behind this!"

Although Mao Ji was complaining in his heart, he remained silent for a long time before he replied with one word: "Yes!"

He really didn't dare to disobey the emperor's will.

After all, Jiang Sheng’s fate is there.

The emperor also kept a close eye on the inner court and the harem.

"Your Majesty, this can certainly have a deterrent effect, but our ultimate goal is to collect the autumn grain and maintain political stability and harmony. Continuing to confront the gentry and the rich and powerful will not be conducive to our goal of resisting foreign aggression and implementing new policies for official administration."

Yang Yiqing also expressed his own views at this time.

Mao Ji nodded and said, "Your Majesty, I think so too. We want the ruler and his subjects to be united and the people to be harmonious, not the superiors and subordinates to be hostile to each other!"

Zhu Houcong was not unaware of the principle of pacifying the country before resisting foreign aggression, but he knew more clearly that the landlord class was a group of insects that would pounce on anyone if they were given the nose.

He wanted the ruler and his subjects to be united, the government to be stable and the people to be harmonious, but he also had to use an iron fist first and then reap the sweet rewards later.

What's more, in Zhu Houcong's view, paying taxes is the basic awareness of all the people of the Ming Dynasty, and it is also one of the basic rules that he, the emperor, requires people all over the world to abide by.

Again.

It was not that Zhu Houcong was unwilling to give concessions to the gentry and wealthy, nor was it that he was unwilling to see them get rich.

He would even welcome it if the gentry in the world took advantage of their strong assets to borrow low-interest loans from Xingming Bank and then made profits by doing business and building factories.

He would even welcome it if the gentry used their greater knowledge and information resources to improve corresponding new technologies and make profits.

However, the rules cannot be broken, especially the rules on taxation, which are the basic condition for the stability of his throne.

Zhu Houcong laughed and said, "There must be rules. We can't let them do whatever they want with taxes! If the gentry don't cooperate, they should be regarded as not having the country in their hearts, so what is the point of receiving the country's grace? If the officials don't cooperate, they should be regarded as not having the court in their hearts, and they should be removed and replaced! When they are all replaced with those who have the court in their hearts, and only the bureaucrats and gentry who have the country in their hearts are left, then we can truly have a smooth government, and then we can promote harmony among the people through grace."

"Since Your Majesty has said so, I would like to expand the number of students in the Ming Dynasty School of Practical Politics."

"High officials can be promoted to junior officials to fill the positions, but junior officials must be promoted immediately with the ability to handle practical affairs. Otherwise, after a large-scale withdrawal, the new officials should be able to quickly familiarize themselves with local government affairs, coordinate, coordinate, judge, write documents, and even be familiar with taxation, money laws, and customs and human nature, so as not to delay the court's overall strategy."

Yang Yiqing replied.

Zhu Houcong said: "Of course! Elder Yang has made preparations for a rainy day, I am very pleased!"

"I don't deserve it!"

"You deserve it."

Zhu Houcong smiled slightly.

……

……

Let’s talk.

After Mao Ji and Yang Yiqing left the Qianqing Palace, they were still frowning about this matter.

Mao Ji couldn't help but ask first: "Why didn't you continue to persuade him just now, but instead gave His Majesty a countermeasure?
"Because your majesty is not wrong. The rules cannot be broken."

"This is also the reason why Your Majesty wants to revive the status of military households. The problem with our dynasty right now is that there are no people who are truly willing to protect the monarch's power in the local area and share the same fate with the country."

"It would be good to remove some of the gentry's honors and titles, so that more military personnel can be trained to serve as officials, and even be granted hereditary positions through the new policy, so that they can compete with the powerful gentry in the world and establish the government!"

Yang Yiqing said.

Mao Ji couldn't help but smile bitterly after hearing this: "But how can this be so easy to achieve!"

"For the gentry of the world, it's fine to have distinctions between the noble and the humble below them, but if there are nobles above them who can suppress them on behalf of their kings and fathers, they will never accept that!"

"Besides, you should also understand that the reason why the country has reached the point where only one in ten military households remain is because the country's financial resources are limited and cannot support so many powerful people! After all, even the royal family cannot guarantee sufficient salaries, let alone military households!"

"Your Majesty is right. So, I don't know where your Majesty's confidence in doing this comes from."

"The benefits of the world are indeed limited, as Sima Guang said, unless the people are made to suffer more, or if the foreigners occupying China are the dominant race, they can use the future of the entire race to force the people of the same race to guard against the Han gentry!"

"But your majesty is a Han Chinese. If he wants to cultivate his own party, he must give him enough benefits!"

Yang Yiqing smiled bitterly when he said this: "So, if the Han Dynasty is ruled by a foreign race, it will be easier for the gentry and powerful people in the world to control it!"

Mao Ji suddenly became serious and said, "Sir, stop talking! If you keep saying this, it seems as if the one who can replace the country in the future will be a foreigner!"

"Then let Your Majesty give it a try!"

Yang Yiqing also suddenly said something seriously and looked at Mao Ji.

Mao Ji fell into deep thought. "Your Majesty is such a wise emperor, he can certainly see this!"

"And it should be for this reason that Your Majesty wants to see if you can increase the benefits of the world from overseas to maintain the country's destiny."

"To be precise, Your Majesty is no longer working hard to maintain the destiny of the country, but to maintain the destiny of the entire Han Dynasty!"

"Everyone in the world underestimates your majesty! They all think that your majesty only cares about the country and people of the Ming Dynasty, but in fact, your majesty cares about the future of the entire Han family!"

"If you only look at your majesty from the perspective of the decline of a family, you won't understand why your majesty is so diligent in politics and seeking change. But if you look at it from the perspective of the decline of the Han Dynasty, you will understand your majesty's good intentions!"

At this time, Yang Yiqing was already talking to Mao Ji, half sighing and half explaining why he wanted His Majesty to give it a try.

Mao Ji also understood at this time, and said with a smile: "It seems that your majesty is a wise ruler who is concerned about the country! Then we can only obey your orders. If it succeeds, it will make the Ming Dynasty far surpass the ancient emperors of the Han and Tang dynasties; if it fails, your majesty should be at ease to be a ruler who maintains the status quo."

"Perhaps he will be completely desperate! He will not even be a king who can maintain the status quo, and will just be like many other disheartened people in the world, seeking only his own happiness."

Yang Yiqing replied.

"No way!"

"I hope not!"

As they were talking, the two of them returned to the cabinet, and then, according to Zhu Houcong's oral order, they drafted an edict that if the gentry in the world did not pay all their arrears before the end of the summer tax collection this year, their official titles would be stripped.

For a moment, there was an uproar in the government and the public!

Many officials in the court who dared to remonstrate with the emperor thus submitted memorials saying that this was too harsh on the gentry and requested that those who did not pay enough taxes be exempted instead.

Naturally, the cabinet did not approve the draft imperial edict.

On the other hand, in Huguang, local officials such as Deng Mo and Huang Wensheng were very surprised when they learned of this decree.

Let’s talk.

Because the King of Liao Zhu Zhige was arrested, many gentry in Huguang submitted petitions to the emperor, providing evidence that the death of Governor Xiao Cong was caused by the King of Liao Zhu Zhige's attempt to rebel. After that, Zhu Houcong ended the crackdown in Huguang and restored the normal judicial system.

That is, criminal cases still have to be finally judged by the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple, and the life and death of those who collude with others can only be decided by the emperor in principle, so as to prevent local officials from excessively punishing local people by taking advantage of severe crackdowns, thereby exacerbating the atmosphere of terror, and at the same time prevent patrol officers and soldiers from turning from slayers of dragons into evil dragons.

However, this made Deng Mo, Huang Wensheng and other local officials in Huguang more daring to default on the autumn grain in order to express their dissatisfaction with the court's crackdown on the temple economy in Huguang and the establishment of officials to observe customs and regulate secular life.

However, what Deng Mo, Huang Wensheng and other local officials from Huguang did not expect was that although the court had ended the crackdown and would not allow local officials to punish tax defaulters with death penalty in the name of crackdown to achieve the purpose of collecting taxes, it issued a stern warning to the gentry that they would be stripped of their official titles if they did not pay taxes.

"Didn't the ministers in the cabinet dissuade him?"

Huang Wensheng couldn't help but ask this question.

Deng Mo said: "There is no way, they are all the same as the Xian Temple, they have all become paper ministers!"

Huang Wensheng gritted his teeth and said, "I don't believe it. I have been in the Imperial Academy before. I don't believe they are so cowardly that they dare not even give advice. Besides, although the emperor is strong, he is not a tyrannical ruler."

"Perhaps the emperor and the ruling party are deliberately intimidating us in order to promote the new policy as soon as possible. The honest people will naturally hand over the autumn grain, which will ensure that more autumn grain can be harvested, so as not to affect the promotion of the new policy."

"The new policy of the imperial court is to spend money and grain, so naturally we have to collect as much as possible, and for this we have to resort to some means of intimidation and threats."

"We can test the waters and deliberately continue to delay paying the taxes to see how the situation develops. We can even deliberately pay most of the tax grain and only owe a bushel of grain to see if the court will really fire a Hanlin for a bushel of grain! And then see if the people in power are really that mean!"

Deng Mo analyzed and proposed at the same time.

Huang Wensheng nodded: "That makes sense!"

As a result, Huang Wensheng actually paid only one dou of tax grain, and chose to provoke the authorities in the same way as Ye Fang'ai, the top scholar in the Qing Dynasty's case, who deliberately owed only one penny.

Let’s talk.

The gentry indeed lacked enthusiasm for paying taxes.

Some people even delay payment whenever possible and have no so-called tax awareness.

In an era of family rule, so-called loyalty to the emperor and patriotism are essentially just lip service.

In fact, it is more in their interest to default on taxes and force the government to shift the taxes that they should bear onto the common people.

This was because as the gentry owed more and more taxes, the government would not dare to levy taxes on them, and would impose more and more taxes that should have been borne by the gentry on the common people.

This would intensify the pressure on common people to sell their land and pay taxes, and even force them to sell their land at low prices, allowing the gentry to take the opportunity to annex their land or accept more donations from common people who want to avoid heavy taxes.

To sum up, tax arrears facilitate the annexation of gentry.

Therefore, asking them to actively pay taxes is forcing them to fight against their own desires and prevent them from actively engaging in mergers.

of course.

It's not just the gentry. Everyone would want to pay as little money as possible to the government. They would want to escape if possible or owe money if possible.

Trying every possible means to evade taxes has been a problem that has existed since ancient times. Because of their superior status, the gentry have more influence in both the government and the people, and are naturally more daring.

Zhu Houcong's decree to strip officials of their official titles for failing to pay taxes did not scare all the gentry. There were even many people like Deng Mo and Huang Wensheng who thought that the court was just trying to scare them. It even aroused rebelliousness among many gentry, who felt that the court should not be so harsh, and so they deliberately continued to default on taxes.

They firmly believed that if the imperial court wanted to maintain its rule, it could not do without local nobles like them, and they would not really pursue them strictly just because of the underpayment of autumn grain.

In their view, this is no longer the early days of the country. The gap between the rich and the poor has long widened due to land annexation, and the educational gap between the common people and the gentry has also widened. The court's abolition of official titles is tantamount to refusing to cooperate with them to maintain local stability.

As a result, many local governors submitted memorials saying that this decree was too harsh on the gentry and would be detrimental to peace in the country.

"Your Majesty, the governor of Shandong, Zhou Jifeng, the governor of Jiangxi, Sheng Yingqi, the governor of Sichuan, Su Tingguang, and the inspector of Shaanxi, Yu Maojian, have all submitted memorials saying that the punishment for urging the gentry to pay taxes is excessive and is not a plan for long-term peace and stability!"

On that day, Mao Ji reported to Zhu Houcong that the relevant local governors opposed this decree.

(End of this chapter)