Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 157: Changes in public opinion, severe punishment of royal relatives!

Jinling City.

While Zhu Yunhuan was lecturing in the Prince's Office, the turmoil over commercial taxes in Jinling City was becoming increasingly intense.

After Zhu Gaoxu ordered the arrest and imprisonment of those royal relatives, their families did not back down but continued to make a fuss.

If men can’t do it, women will take over.

Then, the princess came.

All the ladies who were given titles by imperial decree came.

For a while, the taxation office was filled with cries and curses.

Zhu Gaoxu finally experienced the horror of a shrew making trouble in the streets!
The naughty kid had never seen such a scene before and was frightened for a moment.

But no matter what, he refused to give in.

You can cry as much as you want and you can make a fuss as much as you want.

You want me to release him? No way!

I am Bao Qingtian of the Ming Dynasty. I will uphold the dignity of the court's laws and will never show favoritism.

The more noise those people made, the more determined the naughty kid became.

What made him a little depressed was that even though these people had turned the Taxation Office upside down and everyone was in unrest, His Majesty had not issued any orders and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had not paid any attention to it, as if they were all unaware of the matter.

Even though the naughty kid sent people to report again and again, it was always like a drop in the ocean, with no response at all.

But since neither His Majesty nor His Royal Highness the Crown Prince have said that they are wrong, then they are not wrong and we must stick to it to the end.

What comforted him a little was that although His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not say anything about the shrewish royal relatives who were causing trouble in the government office, he did issue an order for the Commissioner of Taxation to form an army on his own to track down commercial taxes and arrest tax evaders.

This immediately gave great encouragement to the childish mind of the naughty boy.

Since he was a child, he dreamed of having an army of his own, leading them to charge into battle, kill the enemy and serve the country.

Although we cannot go to the front line to fight the Tartars now, we have troops to suppress and arrest traitors who dare not pay taxes, which can be regarded as satisfying the wishes of the naughty child a little.

Although the Jinyiwei are good, they cannot be borrowed all the time.

What's more, Jinyiwei commander Jiang Li seemed to be unable to withstand the pressure and was always nagging in his ear, which made Zhu Gaoxu very annoyed.

You still have to form your own army so that you can command it at will.

The naughty kid kept encouraging himself in his heart and strengthened his faith.

withstand!

No one can shake my determination to uphold the laws of the Ming Dynasty!

In order to prevent someone from secretly releasing the prince consort and other royal relatives, Zhu Gaoxu even brought a chair and sat in front of the prison gate himself, guarding it day and night.

"Sir, sir, someone else is coming!" A yamen runner ran over and called softly.

The naughty kid frowned and said, "No matter who comes to plead for mercy, I will not see them. The Ming Dynasty has its own laws. How can we bend the law at will? They evaded taxes and bribed court officials. They must be severely punished. You must reject them all."

He spoke righteously and his tone was decisive.

"She is not here to beg for mercy." The yamen runner said with a smile, "She said she is a reporter from the Ming Daily. She heard that you, sir, are not afraid of power and do not show favoritism, and have arrested a large number of royal relatives who evaded the imperial commercial taxes, so she came to interview you."

Zhu Gaoxu was stunned for a moment.

Naughty kids also read newspapers.

After all, as a royal descendant who has been studying since childhood, newspapers are much more interesting than the Four Books and Five Classics.

"Da Ming Daily" comes to interview me?
Is this my chance to become famous?

The naughty kid suddenly felt his blood boiling.

I want everyone in the world to know that I, Zhu Gaoxu, am the "Judge Bao" of the Ming Dynasty, and I protect the dignity of the Ming Dynasty's laws.

"Please!"

The naughty kid quickly straightened his clothes and sat up straight.

……

In the court, officials were also arguing with each other.

"The royal family should be treated with favor. It's just a small amount of commercial tax. The court cannot lose its dignity just to ask for money."

"Yes, in order to collect business taxes, so many people were killed before, and now they are arresting the royal family members. If this gets out, won't the people laugh at them?"

"In my opinion, the court should issue an order to refund the taxes that were forcibly levied on the royal family and grant them the privilege of being exempt from commercial taxes. This is the right way."

"That makes sense. The court can issue business licenses to exempt royal relatives, meritorious officials, and scholars with honors from business taxes."

"Yes, that's right!"

"Not only that, the tax commissioner disrupts the market, makes people uneasy, and destabilizes the government. He should be abolished."

……

Of course, there are also voices of opposition.

"The imperial court has always treated everyone equally in commercial taxation. The taxation department is only collecting taxes according to the law. Those people are so arrogant because they rely on their royal family. If they are not severely punished, where will the law of the country stand?"

"They are openly defying the imperial court, and should be killed as a warning to others."

"Paying taxes according to the law is a matter of course. In the past, local tax collectors did not strictly discipline and allowed tax evasion to happen, which was against the law. Your Highness the Crown Prince has vigorously rectified the situation and the tax commissioner has strictly held people accountable. Is that wrong?"

……

However, compared with those who attack the Commissioner of Taxation, there are far fewer officials who think that the Commissioner of Taxation has done nothing wrong.

The reason is, of course, vested interests.

Taking advantage of commercial tax loopholes and profiting from them is what many officials are doing.

They certainly cannot turn against themselves.

Even if an official is extremely honest, there may be people in his family who are engaged in business, and when collecting business taxes, they will use the name of a certain official as a family member.

The family power of this era is already complicated, and similar things have long been commonplace.

Similarly, these people would lobby officials through their wives, children, parents, and brothers to let them speak for their interests in the court.

As a result, the voices in the court supporting the increase of commercial taxes and severe crackdown on commercial tax evasion were naturally very small.

However, things soon changed.

The next day, the Ming Daily published an interview with Zhu Gaoxu, the director of the Taxation Commissioner, and comments on the reform of commercial taxes.

Public opinion began to ferment rapidly.

"These royal relatives, who have received the emperor's grace, actually dare to openly defy the court and refuse to pay commercial taxes. How can there be such despicable and shameless people in the world?"

"Yes, those people keep saying that we are unruly people and boast about their own high morals, but I have never paid less taxes to the court for so many years. What are they? They are so righteous, but they are so shameless in private?" "This is simply outrageous. The court should severely punish these people."

"The tax commissioner did a great job! He took back the power to collect taxes, so local officials could no longer protect them, and the ugly faces of those people were exposed."

"Yes, the way the tax commissioner collects taxes is so fair!"

"The comments in the Ming Daily are well written! If the royal family members do not set an example and instead wantonly ignore the laws of the country, why should the people obey the law and pay taxes?"

"The newspaper also said that if those people still refuse to admit their mistakes, their names will be made public!"

"It's better to make it public! Let us ordinary people see who are the shameless ones."

"The tax commissioner has put all those royal relatives in jail. That's a good job! It makes people happy!"

"Yes, I heard that the head of the Taxation Department is the son of the Prince of Yan. He is only twelve or thirteen years old, but he is young and promising, and he is impartial and just. He can be called the Bao Qingtian of our Ming Dynasty!"

……

There was a lot of discussion in the streets and alleys of Jinling City.

In stark contrast to the officials' reaction, the people all applauded the arrest of the royal relatives.

They were severely criticized for not paying commercial taxes and evading commercial taxes.

In a mansion in the city, an official returned home.

He prepared to write a memorial to the court, opposing the tax commissioner's strict collection of commercial taxes and requesting the court to release the royal relatives who had been arrested and imprisoned.

This was an appointment made with several colleagues and friends.

But I saw several servants in the house gathered together and talked quietly.

The official walked over and asked, "What are you all doing here? What happened?"

The servants quickly confessed their crimes. One of them said, "Master, we heard that the tax bureau has caught many royal relatives who evaded commercial taxes and bribed court officials. The people in the city are all talking about this."

"Everyone is scolding those people for being so shameless and shameless."

"As a royal relative, how can you escape the commercial taxes from the imperial court?"

"Isn't such behavior worse than even the lowest merchant?"

"The court should punish severely."

The official was shocked and asked quickly, "Where did you hear these things from? Don't spread them!"

The servants immediately lowered their heads. One of them bravely said, "Master, this matter has been published in the Ming Daily. I'm afraid that everyone in Jinling City knows about it now!"

"I heard that the Ming Daily might even publish the names of those people. Everyone is waiting to see what happens."

The official hurried into the study and picked up the Ming Daily on the table.

His family has always subscribed to the "Da Ming Daily", but today he left home too early and did not have time to read it.

When he flipped through it, his face changed drastically.

The newspaper reported on the changes the court had made to business taxes and how to ensure fairness and justice.

Another article is an interview with Zhu Gaoxu, director of the Taxation Department.

During the interview, Zhu Gaoxu severely denounced the behavior of royal relatives who did not pay commercial taxes and even openly went to the tax commissioner's office to make a scene.

He also stated that he would never succumb to pressure and would definitely uphold the dignity of the country's laws. If these people did not restrain themselves, their names would be announced to the world.

In addition, there is an editorial.

The article consists of thousands of words with sharp rhetoric, arguing that the royal family members' refusal to pay commercial taxes and their open resistance to taxation were undermining the roots of the Ming Dynasty court.

If we allow them to act so recklessly, people all over the world will follow suit and the dignity of the country's laws will be completely destroyed.

Only by enforcing the law impartially and without showing leniency to the royal family can we correct people's hearts and ensure the stability of the country.

Whoops!

After reading all the reports, the officials' breathing suddenly quickened a lot.

The Da Ming Daily is now a household name.

The content published in the daily newspaper will spread to every corner of Jinling City and even the entire Ming Dynasty within a day.

It goes without saying that once these reports and editorials appeared in the newspapers, public opinion would be in an uproar.

The reaction of the servants in the house is just the tip of the iceberg.

If I submit a memorial at this time, opposing the Commissioner of Taxation and the arrest of royal relatives who evaded taxes, I would probably be scolded by the people.

You can’t write it. You absolutely can’t write it!
Officials of this era still attach great importance to their reputation.

Bad things can be done secretly.

But in public, one must appear to be righteous.

Otherwise, your reputation will be ruined, you will be criticized by everyone and you will not be able to gain a foothold in the family.

Parents, wife and children cannot hold their heads up high.

Because in this era, it is not possible to live your own life behind closed doors, regardless of outside opinions, like in later generations.

In fact, even people from modern society, once they return to their rural villages, can immediately feel the invisible constraints of social opinion in small mountain villages.

Only when you are in a big city can you feel unrestrained and free.

Compared with this era, the power of public opinion constraints in rural areas in later generations can only be said to be dwarfed by the earth and is completely not worth mentioning.

Clan relations in this era were very complicated, and the suppression and restraint of people by surrounding public opinion were hundreds or thousands of times stronger than in rural areas in later generations.

The official sat at his desk, thinking it over again and again.

At this moment, public opinion is surging, and I should be the one who speaks out.

Not afraid of power, he wrote a letter to the court requesting severe punishment for the royal relatives who violated the law and refused to pay taxes and openly resisted taxes!

This will surely win the unanimous praise of the people.

The title of an honest official belongs to me!

As for my own business...everyone has to pay taxes anyway, and my business is not very big, so it's not too much of a loss if I pay it.

Now that you have established your reputation, are you still afraid that you won’t be able to reap the benefits in the future?
An agreement between colleagues and friends?
Do they still dare to write a memorial against the Commissioner of Taxation at this time?
If he really dares, then I will kill my own relatives for the sake of justice!

As soon as he thought of this, he picked up the pen and wrote a line.

"A letter stating that those royal relatives who resist taxation will be severely punished!"

……

(End of this chapter)