Chapter 217 is subject to additional commercial tax

Chongzhen is the emperor, which is quite a bit of a duck on the shelf. When he was young, Chongzhen did not receive an orthodox imperial education, and he himself did not want to be an emperor.

But Zhu Youxiao's death made Zhu Youzhen have to take on this responsibility. Zhu Youzhen is an ambitious person, since he is an emperor, he must be a good emperor and build the Ming Dynasty into a peaceful and prosperous era. He thought so, and he did so, for the sake of Liaodong and the northwest, he cut back on food and clothing, and he didn't even leave a penny of silver in his pocket.

Two years ago, I was full of spirit, thinking that as long as I worked hard, I would definitely be able to be the emperor. But now, Chongzhen is a little confused, he works so hard and cares so hard, but Daming has become even more stormy.

When the imperial brother was alive, on the surface, the imperial brother was not very diligent, but whenever there was a major disaster, the imperial court could always come up with disaster relief money, and even if there was, he could get enough money and food in time. But when I came to myself, I was obviously much more diligent than the royal brother, why couldn't I get the money?

The dignified Ming Dynasty, has it really reached the point where it can't come up with money? No, the Ming Dynasty had money, the grain of Shandong, the money of Jiangnan and Shanxi.

Chongzhen didn't know anything, at least he knew that the Ming Dynasty was rich and grainy. Chongzhen made up his mind that he would have to get money and food tomorrow no matter what, otherwise the disaster relief in Shaanxi would be empty words.

The next day, there was another emergency court meeting, and the civil and military gathered in the main hall, all of them with collapsed faces, looking worried about state affairs.

Seeing that no one made any suggestions, Chongzhen raised his voice and said: "Now that I am in the Ming Dynasty, I am worried about internal and external troubles, but the imperial court has no money and food to use. I thought about it for a long time last night and came up with a solution, you Aiqing might as well listen to it and see if it is feasible. ”

"I have learned that Jiangnan and Shanxi have developed commerce and trade, especially in the Jiangnan area, where rich merchants gather and have a lot of wealth, but they only need to pay a small amount of taxes every year. I feel that this point needs to be changed, and in order to cope with the current predicament, I might as well increase the commercial tax to one of ten, and raise the grain tax of the Shandong gentry. In this way, a batch of money and grain can be raised in a short period of time to solve the urgent needs of the imperial court. ”

Chongzhen came up with this idea, but it was not easy. Last night, I specially brought the imperial sister-in-law to talk about business taxes, and I felt that it was really feasible, so I took it to the court to discuss.

thought he was good, but what Chongzhen didn't expect was that as soon as these words came out, Qian Longxi and the others in front of him changed their faces greatly. However, Qian Longxi and the others did not speak, but the people standing behind couldn't wait to stand up.

Cui Wenguan, a member of the household department, shouted with a serious expression: "Your Majesty, this matter must not be done, this move will hurt the national body." ”

Chongzhen was a little confused, isn't it just to increase the commercial tax and grain tax, how can it hurt the national body? Being deducted with such a big hat, Chongzhen's face was naturally a little ugly, he frowned, and said with a displeased expression: "Cui Aiqing, what's really wrong?" ”

Everyone could hear that Chongzhen's tone was not good, but Cui Wenguan was not afraid at all, and replied with a stiff neck: "Dare to ask Your Majesty, who set the rules for thirty taxes and one?" ”

"Naturally, it's Emperor Taizu!"

"Then Your Majesty, do you know why Emperor Taizu set taxes like this back then? This is Emperor Taizu's praise for the people of insight in our dynasty, and now His Majesty wants to increase the commercial tax, is it against Emperor Taizu's original intention? If you don't abide by the ancestral system and change taxes without permission, it's not good for the country. Jiangnan, is the foundation of my Ming Dynasty, half of the tax money and grain from Jiangnan, if Jiangnan is a mess, my Ming will be forever peaceful, please think twice, Your Majesty has not forgotten the first emperor's years, Suzhou Yan Peiwei and others to resist taxes? Now the "Tombstone of Five People" is still in my ears! ”

After Cui Wenguan finished speaking, other officials such as officials stood up and echoed, and Chongzhen was a little difficult to ride a tiger.

Yan Peiwei resisted taxes, and there was a lot of trouble in Suzhou and Hangzhou at that time, and the reason why Chongzhen hated the eunuch party was also for this reason. Chongzhen felt that what Cui Wenguan said was not necessarily right, but he didn't know how to refute it.

The ancestral emperor plus the ancestral system is enough to give Chongzhen a headache, plus Suzhou's tax resistance. If the commercial tax is raised, Jiangnan really riots against taxes, so what should I do? Chongzhen didn't want the chaos in the northwest to be suppressed, and there was a big mess in Jiangnan.

"This doesn't work, that doesn't work, then you should tell me, what should I do now?" Chongzhen frowned tightly and looked at the Chinese Wu Qunchen of the hall.

At this time, an official from the household department stood up and proposed: "Your Majesty, Jiangnan is where the foundation of my Ming Dynasty is located, and it cannot be moved lightly, but Shanxi businessmen have been going to Mongolia for many years, and they have even colluded with Houjin to make a lot of money. At this moment, when it was time for them to contribute, the minister thought that Shaanxi businessmen made a lot of bad money, and they should levy more taxes, in addition, the Central Plains was rich and there was a surplus of grain, so they might as well increase the grain tax to solve the urgent needs of the imperial court. ”

Chongzhen is not the time to become an emperor now, and he can understand some things. In the past two years, the gentry in Jiangnan have not donated much, but the Jin merchants have continued to transfuse blood to the imperial court.

Later, Jin Shang went to Shaanxi for disaster relief, and under the banner of his Chongzhen, he earned a lot of face for him Chongzhen. Looking at all this, how can Chongzhen be embarrassed to levy more taxes on Jin merchants?

Chongzhen didn't want to, but the officials of the six cabinet ministries echoed in unison, and now Chongzhen was even more embarrassed.

A court meeting broke up unhappily, and Chongzhen's head was a little buzzing. Obviously, he wanted to make more money on the rich merchants in Jiangnan, but how did he finally become the tax of the Manchu Dynasty civil and military merchants to increase the Jin merchants? Chongzhen naturally couldn't agree to it, but with the leader and the support of most of the officials in the six ministries, this proposal couldn't be stopped. Back in Wenhua Palace, the more Chongzhen thought about it, the more he felt that he couldn't stand Tiemo.

To this day, Chongzhen also regrets his original move a little. Sweeping away the eunuchs and suppressing the Jin merchants is simply a stupid move.

But what happened, it was a foregone conclusion, and I couldn't make up for it if I wanted to. At this moment, Chongzhen felt that he was very aggrieved as an emperor, he couldn't do what he wanted to do, and what he didn't want to do happened in front of him one by one.

......

In the middle of September of the second year of Chongzhen, when the war in Shaanxi was in full swing, there was also a fire that burned to the north of Shanxi. An official document suddenly came from the imperial court, ordering officials in various parts of Shanxi to levy additional commercial and agricultural taxes on the local gentry, and the tax this autumn was twice as high as in previous years.

Now the entire land of Sanjin has exploded, why has the commercial tax tripled this year? If the imperial court treats everyone equally, it will be fine, but if you ask someone, the Jiangnan business tax will not change.

Oh, the tax of the richest Jiangnan merchants remains the same, but the Jin merchants whose lives are relatively difficult have to be doubled, why? I've seen a bully, haven't you seen a bully like this, bullying us, no one in the court?

At the same time, Tiemo also received Zhang Yan's letter.