Zhu Youxiao sat comfortably on the dragon chair, watching the ministers fight one by one, and his heart blossomed. In the past, the ministers could only play the role of a rubber stamp with one voice, but now the ministers have different opinions, so he, the emperor, is the object of both parties.

A few people in the cabinet did not go into battle in person, Fang Congzhe's face was as usual, while Liu Yixiao and Han Yi watched the scene of the argument nervously, their own people said a powerful word, eager to high-five him, and the people from other factions put out a conclusive piece of evidence, but they glared angrily, just wanting him to swallow the words back.

Because of Li Sancai's reasons, the biggest reason for the Donglin Party is that the mining tax is no longer valid for the people, and the article that the emperor changed his father's policy as soon as he came to power was also easily resolved by Guan Yingzhen with the high trick of "returning the other way to the other", so now the Donglin people are tearfully accusing the evil deeds of the mining tax envoy, in order to make this proposal of resuming the mining tax unsuccessful.

Zhu Youxiao motioned to the clerical officer, who cleared his throat and shouted loudly: "The emperor has an order, the court is noisy, what kind of system is it." He should have practiced internal skills, and his dantian was angry, and his voice was loud, which shook the ears of the officials in front of him, and everyone reacted and hurriedly stood in order.

Zhu Youxiao said: "I see that you seem to have two different opinions, so let's choose two people to come out and tell me your reasons." ”

Zuo Guangdou came out first: "Your Majesty Shengming, back then, the mining tax supervisor often broke the house and destroyed the door, which made the lives miserable, and the people were not able to make a living. ”

Wu Liangsi waited for him to finish speaking, and also said: "The merchants of the world have benefited a lot, but they are not beneficial to the country. Now that the state is cramped, and there is a risk that the military salary in Liaodong will be cut off, so I ask Your Majesty to recollect the mining tax to help the country. ”

Zhu Youxiao was silent for a long time, and everyone held their breath and waited. I saw that the emperor was entangled, and said: "The two Aiqing are reasonable, they don't collect mining taxes, the state is insufficient, and the collection of mining taxes will disturb the people, which makes me very embarrassed, really embarrassed!" ”

At this time, the person who made the emperor no longer embarrassed appeared. Xu Guangqi, the head of the household, said: "Your Majesty is worried about the world, and the ministers can't solve the worries of the monarch's father, which is really a capital crime." Then he fell to his knees and prostrated himself.

All the ministers followed and kowtowed together, and even said, "The ministers are equal to the capital crime." ”

Zhu Youxiao said unhappily: "I don't want to hear your guilt, I want a way to get the best of both worlds, Xu Guangqi, you are the head of the household, if you can't find a good way, what's the use!" With that, he slapped heavily on the dragon chair.

Xu Guangqi continued: "I respect Your Majesty's decree. When the minister first arrived at the household department, he saw that Liaodong wanted silver, and the southwest also wanted silver, and there were disasters in various places to ask for silver, and my income was limited, and I gradually had the appearance of not being able to make ends meet. And the minister also saw the arrogance of the mining tax envoy and the miserable situation of the people. The dilemma is discussed by the ministers, and the mining tax cannot be restored. ”

As soon as this remark came out, the hall was full of surprise, everyone knew that Xu Guangqi was the confidant of today, the teacher of the palace, and the emperor wanted to restore the mining tax has been circulating among the ministers for a long time, but he would have the opposite opinion.

Everyone in Donglin was overjoyed, if even Xu Guangqi opposed the resumption of the mining tax, then the emperor would not be able to insist on his own views anyway. It's just that Yang Lian and Sun Chengzong looked as usual, knowing that things could never be so simple.

Zhu Youxiao was furious and stood up: "You said that it was a dilemma, and you said that the mining tax could not be restored, so it solved one difficulty, and the other difficulty?" Where did you let me get money to sweep away Liaodong, clarify the southwest, and rescue the people, you should be a good household secretary, a good one! ”

Xu Guangqi didn't panic and pleaded guilty, but continued: "Please Your Majesty to calm the wrath of thunder!" The minister said that the mining tax could not be restored, but he thought that another tax could be collected, called commercial tax, and this tax could no longer be collected by the central envoy to the internal treasury, but by the household department, and collected to the treasury, I wonder what Your Majesty thinks? ”

Fang Congzhe answered appropriately: "Your Majesty, Xu Shangshu's policy can not only collect taxes to solve the shortage of the national treasury, but also allow businessmen to donate money for the country, without the risk of disturbing the people, and the minister seconded it." ”

Zhu Youxiao sat down, his eyes turned to Liu Yixiao's direction, Liu Yixiao hurriedly said: "Xu Shangshu's strategy is really a wonderful strategy to solve the dilemma, the minister only has joy and admiration in his heart, and the minister also seconded it." ”

Han Yi also knew that there was no way to reverse the situation today, so he had to follow and say, "The minister seconded the proposal." ”

The bigwigs all expressed their attitudes, and of course the younger brothers only had to follow, so the voices of kowtow rose up, and the "ministers seconded the proposals" came and went, or some were reluctant, but at this time, they were all in the way.

Zhu Youxiao said: "Everyone, please get up!" ”

After everyone stood up, he continued: "Zhu Aiqing works hard for state affairs, but the income is often unable to support his family, I am deeply ashamed, after the household business tax is taken, I want to raise the national officials' salaries, this matter also has to bother the cabinet and various ministries to discuss it, in order to reassure the hearts of officials. ”

The Ming Dynasty officials' Yulu is very low, for example, a Zhengqipin official, like Yang Lian's are given to the matter, a year's Yulu is 90 stone rice, the Ming Dynasty is one stone is one hundred and twenty catties, one catty is equivalent to 590 grams, that is a total of 6,372 kilograms of rice, even if a person only eats half a kilogram a day, it can only be eaten by thirty-five people, and vegetables, can not eat rice, and these ninety stones are only theoretical values, and the actual ones are generally only fifty-four stones (sixty percent), The rest of the forty percent are actually cloth or even treasure money.

Later, when silver was used to fold rice, it became 12 stone rice a year, 27 taels of silver, and 360 banknotes, and the banknote method had long been bad, and the treasure banknote had no purchasing power at all. Therefore, Yang Lian's fortune is very embarrassing to only feed a few people in the family.

During the Hongwu period, Luo Furen, a bachelor of Hongwen Pavilion, lived a very honest life, because he had no money and couldn't afford to rent a house, so he could only live in a broken house in the suburbs. Unexpectedly, this migrant worker was shocked when he saw the emperor, knelt down and said, "The minister is Luo Furen!" This made Zhu Yuanzhang also feel embarrassed and surprised. However, this did not lead to an increase in official salaries.

The famous Mr. Hai Rui, when he was the magistrate of Chun'an, Zhejiang, was so poor that he had to rely on his own vegetables to support himself, and of course he was even more reluctant to eat meat. Once Hai Rui's mother celebrated her birthday, Hai Rui bought two catties of meat, and this news actually reached the ears of Governor Hu Zongxian.

Later generations believed that there were many corrupt officials in the Ming Dynasty, which had a lot to do with the low level of wealth. Zhu Youxiao was the last time he had a casual conversation with Xu Guangqi, and when he asked about him, he learned that the salary of officials was so low. Thinking that the public servants of later generations were corrupt one after another under the policy of high salaries and incorruptibility, and the officials of the Ming Dynasty were so low, it was entirely possible to play some means to supplement the family. Therefore, it was decided to raise the official salary by a large margin.