The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 413: Emperor Guangzhong is very easy to talk to

Any political system must be compatible with the current political environment and production relations.

The system of Chinese and foreign dynasties created by Mo Zibu actually appeared very early.

It originated in the period of Emperor Wu of Han. At that time, Emperor Wu of Han wanted to concentrate the national strength to fight against the Huns, so he designed this political system to concentrate power around the emperor.

After Emperor Wu of Han established it, this system has been entangled in the political system of the two Han dynasties. Its advantages and disadvantages are obvious.

This system is actually only suitable for a short period of time for a powerful ruler, because it gives the decision-making power to the Central Court, and the Outer Court is completely a tool. Over time, there will be no Central or Outer Court, only the Central Court.

After all, politics can be compromised, but power can never be compromised.

Liang Guozhi looked at Mo Zibu. The old fox naturally knew the danger of this thing. He looked at Mo Zibu and said:
"Your Majesty, since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the system of internal and external courts, although it enabled him to mobilize the entire nation's strength to fight against the Xiongnu, after his death, the power of the internal and external court ministers was excessively expanded.

The fact that Huo Guang, a minister, was able to depose and enthrone emperors was a manifestation of his greatest harm.

By the middle and late period of the Later Han Dynasty, the internal and external court systems became entangled with imperial power, and the situation of external relatives and eunuchs ruling each other emerged.

Their power expanded further, the outer court had no ability to resist, and the emperor became a complete puppet swayed by both sides.

Your Majesty, please take a closer look at these drawbacks!"

"I know this, so I can make certain concessions. For example, the officials of the Civil Service Office can be directly selected from the Imperial Academy. After they have been trained by my side, they can be sent out."

Mo Zibu chuckled. His original intention was not to completely imitate the Chinese and foreign dynasties of Emperor Wu of Han. Just as Liang Guozhi said, this thing did have great drawbacks.

So Mo Zibu has a lot of patches to apply, but that depends on whether these gentry in Jiangnan are worthy of him to apply the patches.

Liang Guozhi glanced at Mo Zibu's chest with a complicated expression. He really couldn't understand this Emperor Guangzhong. "This old minister is dull and ignorant. Please explain clearly, Your Majesty."

"Today's world is no longer the same as it was in the past. The Second Warring States Period has arrived. Closing our doors will only make things worse. We must expand outwards, to expand our living space and occupy a larger territory for future generations.

All of this requires countless muskets, cannons, and warships.

Therefore, the future will be dominated by coal and iron. Whoever has more coal and iron will dominate. Unfortunately, most officials in the court seem to have not yet understood this."

Liang Guozhi began to understand a little. This person really had the same idea as Emperor Wu of Han.

The difference is that Emperor Wu of Han wanted to seize power to fight the Huns with all his strength, while Mo Guangzhong wanted to seize power to break the old model and start a great colonial era for the entire nation.

To accomplish such a major task, power naturally had to be concentrated. Whoever supported the emperor would receive the greatest favor and power.

Liang Guozhi suddenly thought, no wonder the emperor appointed his sworn brother and brother-in-law, Marquis of Yinchuan, as the chief minister.

One reason was to ensure that both parties could cooperate tacitly, and the other was to use Li Xianwen's status to ensure that the Outer Court would still have considerable power after the establishment of the Central Court.

It seems that Marquis Yinchuan will stay in the position of Prime Minister for many years. Liang Guozhi couldn't help but shudder.

This is not an easy job. If you are not careful, you will end up being the rat in the bellows and being bullied from both sides.

He was only slightly better than the Marquis of Yinchuan, because when implementing these policies, there were definitely many aspects that harmed the interests of other gentry.

If someone else were to become the Left Cardinal of Luantai, he would definitely not really take action to solve the problem due to the entanglements of various parties. Only an old man like Liang Guozhi, who is on his deathbed and has a stain on his reputation, is willing to make an effort for the wealth and prosperity of future generations.

Liang Guozhi thought about it and wanted to say something else when the eunuch came to report that the brothers Qian Daxin and Qian Dazhao wanted to see him.

After the Qian brothers came in to pay their respects, Qian Daxin hesitated for a moment before saying to Mo Zibu, "Your Majesty, I beg you to postpone the discussion on the unified taxation system for officials and gentry."

Please note that this is not implementation, but the discussion will be postponed.

Mo Zibu certainly knew the reason. Officials and gentry all paid taxes and served as officials. In fact, the Qing Dynasty had already completed the first half, that is, paying taxes as a whole, by relying on its butcher knife.

In the current Qing Dynasty, the silver tax for adult men was distributed among the land areas. Both officials and gentry had to pay the tax long ago. The only thing they did was to manipulate the classification of upper, middle and lower-level fields and conceal the actual number of land areas.

Now the only thing left is to serve as one.

But this thing is not easy to deal with. Unlike people in later generations who have no impression of corvee labor, the government projects at that time were not a profitable business. Instead, they were extremely scary. The amount of exemption silver that individuals had to pay every year was not small.

Back then, Emperor Yongzheng allowed Tian Wenjing to conduct a trial in Henan for a period of time, but it caused such a huge disturbance that even Emperor Yongzheng could not handle it.

The reason for this is related to the Qing Dynasty's official avoidance system.

Throughout Chinese dynasties, the official recusation system has been implemented, which means that officials cannot serve in their local area.

In the Qing Dynasty, in order to suppress the power of the Han people, officials were not allowed to serve in their local area, and were not allowed to serve within 500 miles of their hometown, even if they were across provinces.

Moreover, this place of origin not only refers to the current address, but also the ancestral place of origin.

This has indeed greatly reduced the incidence of collusion at the local level, but the disadvantages are even greater.

However, this system means that when officials from other places take office, they will be unable to carry out their work because they are unfamiliar with the situation, have different customs, and cannot speak the language.

Moreover, officials are replaced every two to three years or even every one or two years. Officials don’t even know their own future, so they will regard being an official as an opportunity to make money.

Governance? I'll manage it, get my share of the money, and walk away.

Therefore, during the Qing Dynasty, the governance capabilities of local officials were unprecedentedly poor. For most local officials, building a bridge was considered a great political achievement.

At the same time, this also leads to the fact that if the official's family does not have a strong clan to protect them locally, they may even become the fat sheep of the local area.

Anyway, if there is an official in your family, he will basically not come back unless he is dismissed or retired. I am not afraid of you at all.

Therefore, after the implementation of the unified service system, it was much more convenient for local clerks to ask for huge amounts of exemption silver from the common people than to ask for it from the officials' families.

The former has little profit, and being forced to sell children has a huge impact. The latter looks glamorous, but unless you are a top local tycoon, you have little resistance and are completely a fat sheep.

This was why this policy was completely unimplementable. Even with a knife at their throats, officials would never agree. Anyone who tried to implement this would inevitably face universal opposition. Qian Daxin offered this same analysis for Mo Zibu, and his words were heartfelt. He was genuinely worried that Mo Zibu, hailing from Southeast Asia, wouldn't be aware of the ferocity of this group of officials.

Mo Zibu pretended to be enlightened, "So that's how it is! This is another piece of evidence of the Tartars' oppression of the Han people!"

Evidence? Qian Daxin blinked his dry eyes. What kind of evidence is this? It was never officially implemented at all. It was directly abolished when Qianlong ascended the throne!
"I imagine you all studied hard for decades to finally get an official position, but you didn't realize that once you take office, you won't be able to see your parents, your wife and children will not be reunited, and you can never return to your hometown unless you resign or die. How can this be possible?"

So that’s what you meant. Then we won’t be sleepy anymore!

Qian Daxin, who was a little confused just now, showed a little light on his face. As long as he was an official, there was no one who didn't want to abolish the strict system of serving as an official in a different place.

"What does Your Majesty mean?" As the matter was of great importance, Qian Daxin no longer held himself back and asked with some anticipation.

"I intend to abolish this system!" Mo Zibu said very firmly.

Qian Daxin was dumbfounded, and even an old fox like Liang Guozhi couldn't remain calm.

But they didn't say anything, because this was too much of a benefit for the officials, which made them unsure for a moment whether Mo Zibu came here to fish.

This is really not fishing, because for Mo Zibu, if he wants to promote modern industry, he can't do it alone. He needs a large number of grassroots officials to cooperate with him.

If this crappy system is not abolished, you will have a group of scholars from Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan coming to Jiangnan to serve as officials, those from Jiangnan going to Shaanxi and Gansu, those from Shaanxi and Gansu going to Guangdong, and those from Guangdong going to Shandong.

What kind of industrialization are they promoting? They can't even speak the language. Even if they are willing to follow the court's policies, they are completely in the dark once they leave the county government and can't accomplish anything.

As for the danger that officials being too close to their hometowns can easily lead to collusion among local forces, leading to the formation of separatist aristocratic families, do you think there will be no collusion if they serve as officials in other places?
Not at all. On the contrary, it makes it easier for local officials to collude with local powerful families, which is even more harmful.

What this policy can actually prevent the most is officials forming local power, and then surrounding these officials to form a large independent-leaning force that controls the local area.

For example, the wealthy families in the Wei and Jin dynasties not only monopolized land, but also monopolized official positions.

But things are different for Mo Zibu. A new era is about to begin. The banner of nationalism has been raised, and economic activities will become more closely linked.

Nationalism determines that in countries where the dominant ethnic group has an absolute advantage, the possibility of independence within the ethnic group is greatly reduced.

The close connection between economic activities beyond a township, a county, and even a prefecture has greatly reduced the possibility and threat of relying solely on land to isolate this area and become a local tyrant.

"I made a brief visit and found that after the land tax was distributed, the burden on the people was somewhat alleviated, but that was just a little bit. The various miscellaneous taxes collected by the county and prefecture governments still fell on the people.

In the government offices, clerks and local wealthy people colluded with each other, and the court officials were completely powerless, so that the benevolent policies still harmed people in various places.

After much deliberation, I have decided that the only option is to abolish the old system and restrict only local officials to serving in their own counties, while relaxing all other restrictions."

At this time, in order to maintain the grassroots government offices and for the masters to share the profits, a large number of miscellaneous taxes must be levied. Compared with these, the regular taxes are completely insignificant.

This part of fees, which was three or four times, or even five or six times higher than the regular tax, was basically swallowed up by local clerks in collusion with wealthy families. The county magistrate could only get a small portion, and the court did not get any at all.

Qian Daxin and Liang Guozhi looked at each other and understood what the emperor meant.

The unified service system will be implemented, but the amount of money per person will be greatly reduced. At least for officials and households, it will not cause any pain and there is nothing to resist.

At the same time, yamen clerks colluded with local tyrants to squeeze this part of the local people's income in the name of the court, which would become legitimate income and be included in the land tax.

At that time, the imperial court will take the lion's share, and the officials and clerks will take the smaller share, and the local wealthy people will be kicked out.

Finally, the land must be checked and no one can try to hide it.

"In fact, if you look into it carefully, this will be beneficial to you gentry in the south of the Yangtze River." Mo Zibu began to reason.

"If the clerks and powerful officials were allowed to embezzle this money, the people would have to bear a huge burden of taxes, while the court would not benefit.

And it's not just Jiangnan that's doing this, it's the same in other provinces. The imperial court doesn't pay as much attention to them as it does in Jiangnan, and doesn't control them as strictly. The amount of imperial taxes they embezzle will only be more.

As a result, the imperial court had insufficient tax revenue and could only continue to exploit Jiangnan. Just like in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Jiangnan bore enormous financial and grain pressure, but the Ming Dynasty was still unable to maintain itself.

And if the gentry of Jiangnan can support me in getting this done, then the taxes paid by other provinces will definitely be raised, and the court will have enough money and will not further pin all its hopes on the gentry of Jiangnan.

Moreover, the benefits I give you are visible. If you don't want your descendants to work hard to pass the imperial examination and never be able to return home for the rest of their lives, then support me more."

This is also the reason why Mo Zibu has to move against the gentry in Jiangnan now that he has no power at all.

Because it is obvious that Jiangnan has such a great advantage in the imperial examinations, the future Dayu will definitely have many officials from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Anhui and Jiangxi.

If he wanted to collect this money, he had to deal with them first and let the Jiangnan gentry stand on Mo Zibu's side. In the future, he could use the Jiangnan gentry to deal with other parts of the country.

This created a situation where officials fought against officials and gentry dealt with gentry.

"Your Majesty, how much do you want to increase the land tax?" Liang Guozhi asked in a low voice.

"Twenty-five percent!" Mo Zibu was still very ruthless. Twenty-five percent was already four taxes and one percent, while the official tax of the Qing Dynasty was only about 7% on average.

"It's too high!" Liang Guozhi shook his head. The people didn't really care if the land tax was raised to 25%, because their burden would be lighter after they stopped paying miscellaneous taxes to the government. But the officials couldn't accept it because it was too high.

"Then call together all the ministers and the gentry of Jiangnan for a discussion, following the model I used in the Nanyang Republican Parliament."

Mo Zibu's bottom line is to get at least 10%, preferably 15%, so that he will have enough finances to support future development.

“Everything can be negotiated, but once it’s agreed upon, everyone must abide by it.

As the Emperor, I am still willing to discuss matters with my subjects. As long as you don't break the rules, I won't break the rules."

Mo Zibu said with a smile, "Also, I have abolished the Thirteen Hongs in Guangzhou. In future foreign trade activities, Songjiang and Ningbo will be opened as ports. Whoever can obtain the special foreign trade seal from me will also be considered."

Although Mo Zibu liberalized trade, it was certainly impossible for him to completely implement the Hayek model, so this was also a place that could lure the gentry of Jiangnan.

(End of this chapter)