Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 185 The Taxation Commissioner is stuck in a deadlock! Solution!
Zhu Yunhuan's expression changed slightly, but he didn't say anything and listened quietly to what Yang Shiqi said.

"At the beginning, both the government and the opposition supported the increase in business taxes. One reason was that they were influenced by public opinion, so they did not dare to oppose it openly."

"The second reason is that in the eyes of many officials, the people targeted by the increased commercial tax at that time were only the royal family members."

"Many officials' families do not run businesses, and it does not affect their interests."

“But the situation now has changed a lot.”

"The little prince is naughty and playful, but he is very smart and capable of doing things."

"During this period of time, the branches of the Ming Dynasty's Taxation Department have rapidly expanded to the prefectures and counties below."

"As a result, there were complaints from all over the country."

"From the officials in the court to the local gentry, there are many opponents."

"The young prince adopted a high-pressure policy and arrested many people."

"But local governments are unwilling to cooperate, and it is difficult to continue implementing it."

Yang Shiqi explained the situation in detail.

Local protectionism is still prevalent even in highly developed societies of later generations.

However, later generations were able to suppress it by relying on perfect management, developed social networks, and effective rule of law.

But this era is completely different.

To do business, you need the support of power.

A stranger with no background goes to a strange place or county where he is unfamiliar with the place to do business. Even if he can make money, he will most likely not be able to keep the business going and may even lose his life.

Because he was not simply doing business, but needed to deal with local hooligans, government officials, local clans, and envious and jealous colleagues...

Without any power, even beggars will be bullied deliberately.

Therefore, those who can continue their business are not honest people, but have their own abilities to stand on their own.

They either form gangs, set up guilds, establish rules, rely on each other, and protect each other.

Either they are local gentry, or they have clan support, or they have government background...

Or maybe he himself is a ruthless character, good at dealing with people, has his own power, and can handle relationships with all parties.

In short, anyone who can do business in this era is not easy to mess with!

In the past, commercial taxes were collected by local governments, relying on local yamen runners.

These people are able to control the situation, know the ins and outs, and know how to act.

As for the corruption, collusion, and not collecting taxes after receiving tribute money, there is no need to elaborate on it.

But now the tax commissioner doesn’t do those things, everything is done in accordance with the law.

To the complicated local forces and local tyrants and evil gentry, the Commissioner of Taxation is tantamount to overturning the table.

At first I thought I could just grit my teeth, endure it and wait for the storm to pass, and everything would be fine.

I didn't expect that the tax commissioner would really take root and stay forever.

They could no longer hold back and began to use various methods to deal with the Tax Commissioner!

On the other hand, because the Commissioner of Taxation was directly under the imperial court, the dispatched tax collectors were not under the jurisdiction of local governments, and the local governments could not get a share of the taxes they collected.

On the contrary, the issue of taxation caused a lot of trouble for local officials and caused many incidents.

Of course, the local government disliked the Commissioner of Taxation very much.

Many places even deliberately set up checkpoints for various reasons. Not only did they refuse to cooperate with the Commissioner of Taxation, but they also used various overt and covert tactics to make things difficult for the Commissioner of Taxation's tax collectors.

Not to mention the clerks whose interests were harmed.

"On February 16, cloth merchants in Jiaxing Prefecture clashed with tax collectors from the Department of Taxation, resulting in a fight that left three people dead and six seriously injured."

"On February 18, tax collectors were attacked by unknown persons in Suzhou Prefecture. Six people died on the spot and two were seriously injured. The murderer has not yet been found."

"On the fourth day of March, the new office of the Commissioner of Taxation in Nanchang Prefecture was destroyed by arson."

"On the seventh day of April, a fight broke out between tax collectors from the Department of Taxation and constables from the Qinghe County Office, resulting in the death of one tax collector and three serious injuries."

……

"Over the past few months, there have been more than 1,000 conflicts involving the tax commissioner alone, resulting in 123 deaths and 217 serious injuries."

"Local officials impeached the tax commissioner for his rampant and lawless behavior, and petitioned the court to remove him from office, totaling more than 2,000."

"This is just the current statistics. I'm afraid there are more conflicts and more memorials that have not yet been reported."

"Nowadays, the imperial court receives dozens of memorials from the tax commissioner every day."

"In some places, tax collectors from the tax bureau did not even dare to go out to collect taxes for fear of being poisoned."

After hearing what he said, Zhu Yunhuan couldn't help but be shocked.

As the saying goes: Cutting off someone's wealth is like killing one's parents.

Sure enough!
The Commissioner of Taxation offended the royal family, the government, the local clerks, the gentry, and all kinds of restless businessmen.

It can be said that throughout the Ming Dynasty, basically all the forces that could be offended were offended by the Commissioner of Taxation.

The only one who supported the Commissioner of Taxation was the Crown Prince Zhu Yunhu.

And the most honest and flattering people at the bottom of society.

He is not in the country during this period.

The kind-hearted people at the bottom of society will not say anything, they will just watch silently like an audience.

A few restless people among them would try to do some business or trade.

And most of these people will oppose the Commissioner of Taxation.

The real enemy is the whole world!
After thinking for a moment, Zhu Yunhuan asked: "Zhu Gaoxu and Jiang Lin's Jinyiwei are helpless in this regard and have not taken any measures?"

Yang Shiqi shook his head slightly: "Jiang Li reported to Your Majesty several months ago that the Jinyiwei had a heavy workload and was short of manpower."

"Tax collection and tax inspection by the tax bureau is not the job of the Jinyiwei."

"When the tax commissioner was newly appointed, the Jinyiwei was called in to help."

"Now that the Department of Taxation is on the right track, the Royal Guards should hand over their powers to the Department of Taxation."

"Your Majesty has approved this."

"As for the young prince!" Yang Shiqi's tone changed slightly, and he said, "Thanks to the young prince's ability, he has formed an army according to the wishes of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"If not, I'm afraid the collection of commercial taxes would have been stopped long ago."

"But the territory of the Ming Dynasty is vast, and the tax bureau has to collect taxes, so the troops are extremely dispersed. There may be a few people or dozens of people in one place."

"If it does not involve personal interests, these troops are enough to deter others."

"But if they are asked to collect taxes, they will be stretched to their limits."

Zhu Yunhuan was stunned.

What Yang Shiqi said is true.

It is impossible for the Commissioner of Taxation to station a large number of troops in one place. Even if he has a few troops, they will not be many.

"The tax commissioner can send a letter to ask the garrison troops for assistance."

"But the generals at all levels of the garrison often use others to do business."

“The taxation by the tax commissioner also affects their interests.”

"Naturally, they won't be too cooperative and will try every possible way to shirk responsibility."

"Not to mention the local government offices."

"The tax commissioner is now under siege from all sides."

"Many forces are targeting the Tax Commissioner. I am afraid that this will lead to greater disasters. I hope Your Highness will think twice."

Zhu Yunhuan frowned slightly and asked, "Then in your opinion, how should we deal with it?"

Yang Shiqi has always been prudent in his work. Since he came to bring up this matter, he must have thought of a response strategy first.

"The difficulties faced by the Commissioner of Taxation are enormous, but if we look at them carefully, we will find that the most critical one is the lack of support from local government offices."

"The forces in various places are complicated and intricate, and only local officials can stabilize them."

"I propose that the tax bureau only set up branch offices in each province to inspect and supervise tax matters. The tax collectors in prefectures and counties should be abolished, and the tax collection should still be done by local government offices."

"Those local officials will naturally have ways to deal with profiteers."

"Although they will gain some benefits from this and cause the imperial court to lose some taxes, it should still be within the acceptable range."

“The many conflicts that arise from this can all be easily resolved.”

Zhu Yunhuan immediately understood the meaning of Yang Shiqi's words.

Since ancient times, imperial power has not extended below the county level.

Even when collecting taxes on land, the tax-farming system was adopted.

The government only needs to find local gentry, and then the local gentry will be responsible for collecting taxes.

In this way, the conflict is shifted.

The same applies to commercial taxes.

The clerks can make money from collecting taxes, and they also have ways to deal with various forces.

This way everyone is happy.

But will the clerks and local gentry collect taxes fairly and justly?

will not!

They will pass on the taxes that should have been borne by themselves to ordinary people.

The government has always turned a blind eye to this.

As long as you collect all the taxes you should pay and don't cause any major trouble, we'll just ignore it.

The same principle applies if commercial taxes are collected by local governments.

The clerks did have ways to complete the task of collecting taxes.

But they will never tax you fairly.

Needless to say, there is corruption involved.

As for contradictions and conflicts, there are not necessarily few of them.

It’s just that the clerks would collude with powerful gentry to suppress all conflicts, making the situation appear harmonious and stable on the surface.

But for society, it is a kind of reverse elimination.

Taxes will be transferred through various methods, and those honest people who abide by the law will ultimately bear everything!
If Zhu Yunhu was just an official receiving a salary from the court, he would think this was fine.

Just complete your work tasks.

There is no need to delve into other things.

But he is not.

He is the grandson of the Ming Dynasty and the future emperor.

Adopting Yang Shiqi's method did not actually solve any problem.

It just puts more taxes on people who shouldn't pay taxes.

Maybe those people are really honest and they cannot defeat the gentry and clerks.

They will endure, and always endure.

Therefore, the world is at peace.

But the patience of an honest person has a limit.

One day, they will be unable to endure it anymore.

Then it erupted with the force of a landslide or tsunami.

At that time, it was a change of dynasty!
The Ming Dynasty was newly established, so its life span should not be so short.

But if the commercial tax of 30 million taels of silver per year were really imposed on honest and kind people, it would be hard to say what would happen.

Zhu Yunhuan did not reject it immediately, but looked at Yao Guangxiao and said, "Old monk, what do you think?"

"I don't think so! In the past, the commercial tax was only one million taels a year, which was not a big deal. It's fine."

"Nowadays, the commercial tax is as high as 30 million taels a year. If the power to collect commercial taxes is further decentralized, it will be like allowing clerks to oppress the people and allowing the gentry to cause trouble to the local area."

Yao Guangxiao clearly expressed his opposition: "Once this precedent is set, it will cause endless harm!"

"But in the past, commercial taxes were always collected by local government offices." Yang Shiqi said, "Now we are just following the old system."

"Besides, the tax accounts that needed to be cleared have been cleared. The tax commissioner has also made plans on how to collect taxes."

"The tax commissioner will set up branch offices in each province to conduct inspections and supervision. If they find any illegal activities by local government officials, they will be severely punished."

"This will not only restore the authority of the tax commissioner, but also reduce a lot of conflicts."

"Why not?"

"Besides."

Yang Shiqi sighed, "The current situation of the Commissioner of Taxation is extremely difficult. If it were not for this, there would be no good solution."

Yao Guangxiao shook his head and said with a smile: "If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has not returned, there is nothing we can do."

"But now that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has returned with a great victory, there is a solution."

Yang Shiqi asked: "How?"

Yao Guangxiao looked at Zhu Yunhuan and slowly uttered two words: "Army!"

……

(End of this chapter)