Fang Yuan's attention made Xi Benzhen a new student's warmth, since Fang Yuan ignored his previous suspicions, and even entrusted him with a heavy task again, Xi Benzhen also went down the ladder and agreed to Fang Yuan's appointment.

He assigned a heavy burden to Xi Benzhen, and his eyes fell on Wang Bingjian, who had not spoken for a long time. Although Wang Bingjian didn't speak, he knew the dissatisfaction in his heart from his ugly face.

Fang Yuan's implementation of the system of separating officials and businessmen in the special economic zones is to cut off the gray income that officials rely on unspoken rules. If the merchants are truthfully paying taxes, how can the officials of the government generate income? How can the high consumption of the officials be maintained by those meager sums alone?

What's more, Fang Yuan proposed a plan to exchange fertile land for business licenses, and Wang Bingjian knew at first sight that he wanted to return a large amount of land to the regent palace and suppress the annexation.

The suppression of annexation was related to the livelihood of the people, and Wang Bingjian supported it with both hands out of his heart, but the land rent rented by the regent prince's palace to the tenants was only 30 percent, which was far lower than the land rent of other landlords of more than 5 or 60 percent.

In this way, Fang Yuan is not only suppressing mergers, but actually suppressing high land rents. This policy inevitably aroused the opposition of a large number of land-owning officials, large and small gentry.

The most important thing is that Wang Bingjian himself is already famous and has silver, but as the head of the cabinet and the secretary of the ministry, he should be the head of the hundred officials. If such a plan to cut off the wealth of officials and squires is passed, it is estimated that there will be no fewer officials who poke him in the backbone and scold him behind his back.

There was a sudden silence between the two, and the atmosphere became more and more awkward.

Fang Yuan took a sip of tea, and leisurely looked at the brightly lit peach garden outside the boat, "Elder Wangge, what do you think but it doesn't hurt to say it, I never make a word, and if you listen to it, you will know it!" ”

Wang Bingjian straightened the brocade clothes and said solemnly, "Regent, I have three questions, and I want to ask the regent to solve my doubts. ”

He didn't wait for Fang Yuan to speak, and continued, "First, the regent has purchased a large amount of land through the lottery in the palace before, after all, it is not a public measure, and I have nothing to say. Now the regent wants to openly confiscate the land in the form of a law, but in fact, he wants to curb the high rent, right? ”

Now that Wang Bingjian had seen through it, Fang Yuan shrugged his shoulders indifferently and nodded with a smile.

Wang Bingjian asked, "Regent, lowering the land rent will inevitably damage the interests of officials and squires, and it will cause a shock in the officialdom!" ”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Elder Wang Ge, I really can't understand that lowering the land rent is just to harm the interests of the squire, how can it also damage the interests of the officials?!" If any official dares to come to the cabinet and shout in front of me, I must first find out where his land came from! ”

Wang Bingjian is a stopper, officials are corrupt, and the annexation of land has been carried out in secret for two or three hundred years, and the collusion between officials and gentry is also the norm in all dynasties, Fang Yuan is deliberately pretending to be stupid when he says this.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Fang Yuan said coldly, "The land of these officials is not from the right background, and they even colluded with the squires to monopolize the land resources and greedily eat away at the tenants' grease. Now if they want to eat less of the tenants' ointment, they will be wronged?! It's going to kill them?! ”

"Smack!"

Fang Yuan slapped the table heavily and said sharply, "If they think that the land rent is low, they will not be able to live anymore, and they will be taken advantage of by the tenants. Spit out all the land to me, and go to be a tenant, taking advantage of it! ”

He got up and pointed at Wang Bingjian and said, "Elder Wang, you have hinted to me many times that you want me to follow the example of the imperial court in the capital and posthumously recognize the land and property obtained by those officials who have embezzled it. Okay, I'll give Wang Ge Lao a face today, and also give those officials a chance. ”

"Officials at all levels have been given half a year to declare to the royal government the amount of land they own, and promised to reduce the land rent to 30 percent, and I am not to blame for the source of these lands, whether they are black, white or gray. If you do not come to the palace to declare for more than half a year, if you find out that there is corruption or land annexation in the future, you will resume the corruption and peeling of Emperor Taizu, and the system of continuous sitting! ”

"Don't try to hide it, after half a year, I will announce it to the public, but if the land rents more than 30% of the land, the tenants can go to Jinyiwei's petition mailbox to report. Whether it is an official, a wealthy merchant, or a squire, they must provide a title deed to explain the origin of the land. If you can't explain it, you will be confiscated! ”

This kind of land annexation has been going on for hundreds of years, and most of the land in the name of an official is not necessarily embezzled by the current official, but may also be the wealth accumulated by the official's ancestors over hundreds of years of corruption. If this kind of case is to be investigated, it is estimated that it will not be a big case until the Zhu Yuanzhang period.

Since it was all a bad debt, Fang Yuancheng did not admit it, and it was impossible to pursue it, so it was better to admit that the source of these lands was legitimate, in exchange for these officials to reduce the land rent, and find a way to live and make a living for those tenants who were overwhelmed.

As long as the rent of the official land of the royal palace and the land under the name of the officials is reduced, the land of those squires will inevitably be reduced, otherwise the tenants will naturally know the trade-off and go to the land with lower rent to cultivate.

Fang Yuan's stern tone could not be refuted, but he must have promised that as long as the officials declared the land and reduced the land rent, the source of the previous land would be written off, and he would no longer care about it, and it could be regarded as selling Wang Bingjian a face.

Wang Bingjian wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and continued, "Yes, yes, second, if the government and businessmen are separated, the government cannot interfere with the behavior of businessmen, then the previous officials, the ...... of officials"

He was hesitant, but the following words were inconvenient to speak.

Fang Yuan took it for him and said, "The income from the unspoken rules of officials before is all gone, isn't it!" Elder Wang Ge thinks that he can't explain to those officials, right? ”

What Wang Bingjian wanted to say was said by him, and he nodded again and again, "Yes, yes." ”

Fang Yuan said in a deep voice, "This is very simple, the officials stipulated by Emperor Taizu before were too few, when I was a hundred households, I only had three or four taels of silver a month, and I really couldn't make ends meet." So be it! Starting next year, the salaries of all officials will be increased by three times according to their ranks, which should be enough! ”

Officials, especially those with a little real power, obviously do not have a source of income, and even if they increase tenfold, they will not be able to make up for the losses of those officials.

Wang Bingjian said tentatively, "Regent, in fact, Gaoxin may not be able to maintain integrity, and it should not be too tightly bound to officials." We want to implement the new policy, but the regent is too eager to implement it, and it will not be achieved quickly! ”

Fang Yuan looked at him and smiled and said, "Elder Wang Ge, who said that I raised the official salary to support the honest in order to have a high salary?" High salaries can only raise pigs, not cheap! I offered a high salary in order to attract more talented literati who had graduated from the imperial examination and Jiangnan University Hall to enter the bureaucracy. The high salary is to compete for talents with the various businessmen of the business association, understand?! ”

"As for those officials, if they think that they can't be corrupt and their salaries are too small, they can resign and go into business, that's also a way out! Don't be bound by the meager salary, you must have the courage to fight in the business sea, maybe there will be another Shen Wansan?! ”

Fang Yuan wanted to implement these measures when he first came to Jiangnan, but at that time he had not yet gained a firm foothold in Jiangnan and could not turn against the entire bureaucratic system. Now that he has gained a firm foothold, he has won over the military, and there is a group of businessmen standing behind him, and he no longer has to worry about the face of those officials.

Do what you want, and leave if you don't!

He sneered coldly, and Chen Yuanyuan, who was listening, couldn't help but laugh.

Wang Bingjian's face was as ugly as it was, and Fang Yuan also knew that his words were too heavy, so he changed his face to a pleasant face, and said comfortingly, "Elder Wang Ge, the officials of the government should also eat a lot of Tianfu's piece!" So be it! Elder Wang Ge brought a message to the officials of the government for me, and I promised them again that I would not touch a piece of the fat they had levied on the fields. But, don't touch me with the fat of business tax. If Tian Fu can't satisfy their appetite and wants to take a bite in the business tax, it will make me mad! ”

Fang Yuan finally made a promise in favor of the officials, that is, to continue to recognize the government officials' private pockets in the expropriation of land endowments. It has even tripled the income of officials, which ensures that the interests of most officials have not been damaged, but have been improved.

As for the few officials involved in the mining industry, the officials involved in the liquor industry were indeed cut off from their financial routes and suffered heavy losses. But as long as the entire officialdom doesn't come out together to make trouble with the regent palace and cabinet, a few officials can't set off any big storms.

This is also Fang Yuan's move to divide the officialdom and stabilize the officialdom. Wang Bingjian also had to admire Fang Yuan's methods, and even claimed to be.