My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 208 Chongzhen: It feels so good not to have to be the scapegoat!
Besides, the ministers in the cabinet and the six ministers are all smart people.

If Chongzhen had just been assassinated and then announced the equalization of land tax and the payment of taxes by all gentry, these old guys would definitely have immediately realized that there was a conspiracy behind all this.

Instead of letting them speculate wildly in suspicion and causing uncontrollable things, it is better to confront them directly.

Anyway, at this point, it is impossible for them to stay out of it even if they want to.

After all, the assassination of Chongzhen has become an established fact. If we really want to investigate, which of these people can escape responsibility?

Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang turned to look at Chongzhen and said seriously:

"Father, in my opinion, we should inform Xue Guoguan and other loyal ministers about this matter and ask them to cooperate with us."

"Think about it, they're already old. If they continue to be so frightened, they might really be scared to death."

"The situation in the Ming Dynasty is very complicated right now. We need people right now, and we can't do without them. If anything happens to them, the situation will be very difficult."

"Besides, they are all smart people. I'm afraid this kind of thing can't be hidden from them for too long. They will find out sooner or later."

"Furthermore, we can use the name of the cabinet to implement the equalization of land tax and the unified taxation of gentry. This way, others will not suspect that all this is our plan."

After hearing this, Chongzhen frowned at first, but soon relaxed because he also felt that what Zhu Cilang said made sense.

If he had just been assassinated and then immediately announced that the land tax would be equalized and all gentry would have to pay taxes, his intention would be too obvious.

By then, I will really lose face.

So, Chongzhen nodded slightly and said:

"In that case, summon them to the palace."

Not long after, Fang Zhenghua, who was ordered to announce the imperial edict, hurried to the palace gate.

When everyone saw him coming, they seemed to see a glimmer of hope, and immediately began to ask questions, their voices filled with anxiety and worry:

"Eunuch Fang, has His Majesty woken up?"

"How is His Majesty now?"

"Have you had the imperial physician examine it? What did the imperial physician say?"

However, Fang Zhenghua's expression was stern, unmoved by the crowd's emotions. He simply stretched out his voice and said in a rather cold tone:
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has decreed that Chief Minister Xue Guoguan, Minister of War Li Banghua, Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu, and Duke of England Zhang Zhiji be summoned to the palace for an audience."

When the people whose names were called heard this, they hurriedly stood up from the ground and followed Fang Zhenghua into the palace in a hurry.

Along the way, some people asked what had happened to Chongzhen, but Fang Zhenghua kept his lips tightly closed and remained silent.

Seeing this, everyone stopped asking questions and just quickened their pace, feeling even more uneasy.

According to common sense, outsiders are not allowed to enter the harem directly, but the situation is special at this time and it concerns the safety of the emperor, so no one cares about these rules.

In order to avoid suspicion, Queen Zhou had already gone to other palaces to comfort the imperial concubines who were also panicked.

Several people came to the door of the bedroom, took a deep breath, tried to calm their extremely nervous mood, and then slowly walked in.

However, the next second, they were stunned by the scene before them.

At this moment, Chongzhen was sitting at the table safely and at ease, with a cup of tea in his hand, as if the assassination that had just happened was just an insignificant matter.

But his arm was wrapped in thick bandages.

This scene made everyone look confused, mainly because Chongzhen's reaction was too calm, which was completely unlike the state he should be in after his arm was shot through.

They were stunned for a long moment before they came to their senses and quickly knelt down to salute, their voices trembling slightly.

"I pay my respects to Your Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

"I respectfully wish His Majesty the best of health and a long life to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Chongzhen nodded slightly and said calmly:

"Everyone, please stand up."

The few of them then hurriedly stood up, but their faces and minds were still full of doubts.

At this moment, Zhu Cilang took a few steps forward with a serious expression, his eyes swept over everyone's faces one by one, and then he said:
"Everyone, what I am about to tell you concerns the highest state secrets. If you dare to disclose it to others without the permission of this palace and His Majesty, you will face the calamity of having your property confiscated and your clan exterminated."

"Did you understand?"

When they heard this, their faces suddenly changed color with fear and their bodies began to tremble uncontrollably.

But then they all responded with a bow:
"I understand, Your Highness, please rest assured."

Are you kidding? It’s already this time, what else can I do but agree?

Then, Chongzhen slowly said:

"Everyone, let me tell you the truth. There was no assassination at all. The so-called assassination was nothing more than a carefully planned play by me and the Crown Prince."

what?
As soon as Chongzhen said this, Xue Guoguan and others were all filled with disbelief. They raised their heads and looked at Chongzhen and Zhu Cilang in shock, as if they had heard a fairy tale.

They saw it clearly before. Someone was clearly trying to assassinate Chongzhen. How come Chongzhen made it a drama in his words?
Soon, the Duke of Ying was the first to react. He pointed at Chongzhen's arm with a trembling hand and stammered:

"But Your Majesty, you were indeed injured. I saw it with my own eyes. The arrow really did pierce your arm."

"How else do you explain the injury on your arm?"

"If this is a play, it can't be like this, right?"

When Chongzhen heard this, he smiled and patted his arms, explaining with a relaxed look:

"I accidentally injure myself a couple of days ago. It's just a cut, nothing serious."

"As for the scene you saw earlier, it was nothing more than a clever mechanism."

"If you don't believe me, I'll show you!"

As he spoke, Chongzhen wanted to remove the gauze on his arm to show the wound to everyone, but he was quickly stopped by the Duke of Ying.

The Duke of England said hastily:
"Your Majesty, there is no need for this. I trust you."

The Duke of England saw it clearly. Although Chongzhen's arm was wrapped in gauze, he had no problem with basic movements and did not look like he was seriously injured at all.

If his arm was really pierced, it would be impossible for him to be so relaxed.

This is enough to prove that what Chongzhen said was true!

The previous assassination was actually just a show!

But what is it for?
At the same time, the other three veteran ministers present also understood everything.

Xue Guoguan's eyes were red and he almost cried.

He suddenly took a step forward, knelt down in front of Chongzhen with a plop, and said with a choked voice:
"Your Majesty, why do you act this way? Why take such a risk when you can't discuss it with us?"

"You know, I was almost scared to death at that time!"

Chongzhen looked at Xue Guoguan in front of him, and suddenly felt touched. He quickly reached out to help him up, sighed and said:
"Don't you understand why I am like this?"

After hearing this, Xue Guoguan couldn't help but sigh in his heart, because he already understood that the reason why Chongzhen acted like this must be related to the issue of taxation.

Sure enough, Chongzhen continued:

"I have long heard about the tax evasion by the Ming Dynasty's gentry, but I never imagined they were so greedy. This year, they only paid a mere five million dan of summer tax!"

"In their eyes, am I so easy to bully and fool?"

Li Banghua was impatient. Although he was in charge of the Ministry of War and shouldn't have interfered in the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue, he couldn't help it at this moment. He stepped forward and said loudly:

"Your Majesty, the vast majority of the gentry in this world are greedy, only knowing how to suck the blood of the Ming Dynasty. If we don't discipline them, the Ming Dynasty will be completely devoured by them."

After hearing this, Chongzhen looked at Li Banghua with satisfaction, nodded and said:

"My dear minister, you are absolutely right. This is what I will tell you next. I intend to use this 'assassination' incident to eliminate in one fell swoop those gentry who are trying to undermine the foundation of the Ming Dynasty."

After hearing this, the faces of the people present instantly became strange.

Because they knew in their hearts that the "solution" Chongzhen mentioned was not as simple as punishment, and there might be a large-scale rectification campaign hidden behind it.

Otherwise, they would never have gone to so much trouble to stage such an "assassination" scene.

Did Chongzhen intend to massacre all the gentry in the world?
If this is true, the commotion will be too big, and the entire court and even the world will be shocked.

What I am saying here is that, in a sense, these officials and nobles essentially belong to the category of gentry.

Could it be that Chongzhen also wanted to kill them?
Just as everyone was lost in thought, Zhu Cilang had already noticed their concerns and immediately added:

"Rest assured, everyone. The so-called 'solution' does not mean slaughtering them all. After all, the number of gentry and officials involved in this incident is simply too large. Simply killing them will not solve this problem."

"Besides that, I already know that you have to pay back the land tax, so as long as you take the initiative to pay the land tax, all previous crimes will be forgiven!"

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this, but Zhu Cilang continued:

"However, for those who are unwilling to pay the back taxes and still choose to resist the tax, I will not let them go!"

"Anyone who continues to resist taxes, regardless of merit, whether commoner or noble, will be executed! All property will be confiscated! The male members of their families will be exiled, and the female members will be imprisoned in the Jiaofang Bureau!"

"Anyone who incites the people to resist taxes and smears the imperial court will have their entire clan exterminated and all their property confiscated!"

"Moreover, none of the above crimes require trial or review. As long as the evidence is solid, they will be executed immediately!"

"If this crime isn't enough, add the charge of regicide!"

"In short, I want them to pay back all the taxes they owe to the Ming Dynasty!"

When the people present heard this, they were instantly frightened and broke out in cold sweats.

During this time in the late Ming Dynasty, every year there would be gentry in the south resisting and evading taxes. The most famous of these was the "Five Tombstones" during the Tianqi period!

Although history books describe these five people as very tragic, according to various studies and interpretations by people in later generations, it was discovered that this matter was not that simple at all.

To put it bluntly, these five people were killed because they resisted taxes.

This just happened to be in line with the collective interests of the southern gentry, so the status of these five people was constantly elevated, until they finally became the so-called "anti-tax heroes"!
The then Emperor Tianqi was at a loss as to what to do about this situation, and the tax payment issue was left unresolved.
It is naturally impossible for Chongzhen to do something that his brother couldn't do!
In other words, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the emperors were completely powerless against the southern gentry.

After all, the emperor's ultimate means of dealing with the gentry was just to kill a few people. Compared with the gentry's huge interest groups, this had no impact at all.

Instead, they can use the emperor's murder to discredit the emperor, saying that the emperor will do anything to collect taxes and does not care about the lives of the common people!

Ordinary emperors really have no way to deal with them!

But it was obvious that these tricks were useless against the prince in front of him.

Because this prince is so cruel!

Zhu Cilang didn't care what these people were thinking and continued:

"After they have paid the land taxes they owed to the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court will conduct a nationwide land inventory and remeasure the land, and then vigorously promote the policy of equalizing land tax and requiring officials and gentry to pay taxes together."

The tax rate is distributed according to the amount of land, and officials and gentry all pay taxes together?
When Xue Guoguan and others heard this, they were immediately confused, obviously not knowing what this meant.

In desperation, Zhu Cilang had to start from the beginning and explained in detail the specific meaning and operation of the land-based tax system and the unified tax payment by officials and gentry.

After he finished his narration, everyone present stared at him as if he were a monster, their eyes full of shock.

Because they really didn't expect that this young prince could come up with such a brilliant plan!

In fact, Zhu Cilang originally wanted to implement the equal-field system, which is to limit the amount of land owned by each person to prevent the emergence of groups like gentry in the Ming Dynasty.

But he finally gave up this plan temporarily.

This is because he knows very well that food should be eaten bite by bite; swallowing it all in one breath can easily lead to choking.

As far as the current situation in the Ming Dynasty is concerned, the most urgent task is to implement the land-based tax system and the unified tax payment for all gentry. As for the rest, we can only talk about it later.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty's fish scale atlas actually had a similar function of restricting land annexation and could serve as the basis for further reforms in the future.

At this moment, Ni Yuanlu, the Minister of Revenue, was the first to come back to his senses. He slapped his thigh, his eyes gleaming with excitement as he exclaimed in praise:

"A brilliant idea, a brilliant idea!"

"If this policy can be successfully implemented, the taxation problem of our Ming Dynasty will no longer be a worry."

"According to my estimation, we will be able to collect at least 30 million dan of grain every year. Adding other taxes, the total tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty will reach more than 60 million taels of silver each year!"

"It's twice as much as the tax collection during Taizu's time!"

"Hahahahahaha."

At the end of his words, Ni Yuanlu suddenly couldn't help but burst into laughter, completely disregarding the crime of being disrespectful in front of the king!

There's no way, he's just too excited!

Ever since he became the Minister of Finance of the Ming Dynasty, he has been worried about money every year. He has watched helplessly as the Ming Dynasty's treasury has been running out of money year after year, and even unable to pay the officials' salaries and military pay.

Until now, the prince suddenly came up with a plan, which could at least get 30 million shi of land tax every year, plus commercial tax, which means at least 60 million taels of silver can be earned every year!

As the Minister of Revenue, how could he not be happy?
With so much money, I can’t spend it all!

Xue Guoguan and others nearby also understood this in an instant, and they all showed excitement.

I couldn't help but sigh in my heart:

This strategy is indeed a stroke of genius. From the early preparations to the subsequent execution, it is comprehensive and impeccable.

If this policy is truly implemented, the Ming Dynasty can remain stable for at least another two hundred years!
But Xue Guoguan quickly reacted, stepped forward and pulled Ni Yuanlu's sleeve, saying:

"Master Ni, please don't lose your composure in front of the king!"

Only then did Ni Yuanlu realize that he seemed to be a little too excited, and he immediately knelt down to apologize.

But before he could kneel down, Zhu Cilang hurried forward and helped him up.

"Master Ni, there's no need to be like this. We're not in the imperial court right now, so there's no need to go through so much formalities!"

Zhu Cilang still had great respect for the old minister in front of him.

After all, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the country was in turmoil, there were only a few ministers who were willing to devote themselves to the Ming Dynasty, and Ni Yuanlu was one of them.

At this moment, Xue Guo hurriedly bowed and said:
"Your Highness, this is a brilliant plan. I am convinced and will do my utmost to implement it."

Seeing that Xue Guoguan, the cabinet chief, had expressed his opinion, the other three also hurriedly bowed and said:

"Your Highness is wise and wise, and we are willing to do our best to promote this matter!"

After saying this, the Duke of England finally felt completely relaxed.

You should know that before coming here, Duke Ying had already made plans for the worst, and even thought that he could not escape the blame and would be buried with Chongzhen.

Now that he knows that everything was just Chongzhen's plan, what could make him happier than this?

As for paying taxes, does that matter?

You have to know that he has already paid all the taxes he owed. Besides, the prince just said that as long as the taxes are paid voluntarily, all matters in between will not be investigated. What does he have to worry about?
But suddenly at this moment, the Duke of England seemed to be struck by lightning, and suddenly thought of a key question.

Then he bowed slightly and asked respectfully:
"May I ask, Your Majesty, Your Highness, do the lands of the vassal kings also need to pay taxes?"

As soon as these words were spoken, it was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, instantly causing ripples in everyone's hearts. Xue Guoguan and others looked sideways at Chongzhen and Zhu Cilang, their eyes full of curiosity and expectation.

Chongzhen didn't know how to answer for a moment, because he had never considered the affairs of the vassal kings before.

But it was obvious that Zhu Cilang had already anticipated this kind of thing.

He first showed a confident smile, and then said slowly:

"Of course, the princes have to pay taxes. And from now on, not only the princes' fields will need to pay taxes, but also the royal estates and military farms."

"In the future of the Ming Dynasty, all farmland must pay taxes!"

Some people may think that the fiefs of Ming Dynasty princes were exempt from taxes, but in fact this perception is totally wrong.

Because the fiefs of the princes of the Ming Dynasty were essentially official land, and official land also needed to pay taxes, but the tax amount was slightly lower than that of ordinary land.

The same is true for the military fields of military households.

After receiving Zhu Cilang's clear answer, the Duke of Ying suddenly realized what was going on and hurriedly bowed and said:
"I know."

When Xue Guoguan and others heard this, they felt a surge of emotion in their hearts.

They were well aware that for a long time, there had been many special features in the taxation of princes, imperial estates, and military farms, and these taxes were much more difficult to collect than those of the gentry.

After all, you can kill the gentry if they resist taxes, but you can't kill the princes and military households if they resist taxes, right?
But now Zhu Cilang has made it clear that he wants to include all of these into a unified tax system. It seems that the court is really serious about tax reform this time.

Then, Zhu Cilang's expression straightened and he spoke again:

"Also, when the emperor goes to court tomorrow, father will first announce that all gentry across the country will have to pay back taxes. Then, in the name of the cabinet, he will read out the national policy of equalizing the land tax and requiring all gentry to pay taxes together."

"But you can't tell anyone else that this was my idea. Just say it was the result of a discussion between the cabinet and a few others."

When the people present heard this, a bitter smile appeared on their faces.

Because they know clearly what it means to do so.

It is obvious that they became the "scapegoats" of Chongzhen and Zhu Cilang.

After all, although it is a national policy that is beneficial to the country to distribute the tax according to the amount of land and require all gentry to pay taxes together, it will undoubtedly offend all the gentry.

However, now that things have come to this, what objections can they have?

Therefore, everyone could only bow and respond:

"I obey your orders!"

At the same time, Chongzhen on the side just felt a sense of comfort.

It feels so good not to have to be the scapegoat!
In this way, the people who proposed the important national policy of equalizing the land tax and requiring all gentry to pay taxes together naturally became the cabinet headed by Xue Guoguan, the Minister of War Li Banghua, the Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu and the Duke of Yingguo.

In any case, at this point, the atmosphere in the palace has completely eased.

The previous anxiety on everyone's face was replaced by a look of relief.

Because they were all ministers who sincerely hoped that the Ming Dynasty would prosper, and they knew that if such a policy could be implemented smoothly, it would at least ensure the stability of the Ming Dynasty for two hundred years.

And their descendants will prosper along with the Ming Dynasty.

Suddenly at this moment, Li Xinyuan, who had gone to the Imperial Hospital to get medicine, hurried back. The young eunuch behind him was holding a tray in his hand, and a broken arrow was lying quietly in the tray.

The blood on the arrow head had turned black, and it was obvious that the arrow was coated with poison.

When everyone saw this scene, they were shocked again, and then they all looked at Chongzhen and Zhu Cilang at the same time, their eyes full of confusion.

Didn’t they say the previous assassination was fake?

What's going on here?

Seeing this, Zhu Cilang smiled awkwardly, then explained:

"Don't misunderstand me. This is just a prop used for acting. I just want to make this matter seem more serious so that I can better carry out my next plan."

After hearing this, everyone fell silent, and they all had a new understanding of the young prince's deep thoughts.

Based on what the prince had done before, if he ascends the throne in the future, these people will probably not have an easy life.

However, considering their age, they probably won't be able to see that day.

After all, they are all old and don't have much time left.

Thinking of this, everyone even felt secretly relieved, thinking that it was a blessing not to have to work under this prince.

Just like this, Zhu Cilang, the crown prince, was actually "disdained" by these loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty!

(End of this chapter)