In the face of Fang Yuan's naked threat, the gun was in Fang Yuan's hands, and the three cabinet members who could only play with the pen were helpless.

Xi Benzhen said with a sad face, "Governor Fang, we can discuss with those literati again!" However, the Governor's Office must promise to the whole of Jiangnan in the form of an official document that private property is inviolable, that the crime is guilty, and that the family property belongs to the family. In the future, we will put an end to the big plagiarism similar to Guangdong and Shaoxing in Jiangnan! ”

Fang Yuan was pressing step by step, and the only way for the three cabinet members to deal with it was to try to protect the vested interests of the existing officials, squires, wealthy businessmen, and literati. As for the expected future returns, we can only compromise with Fang Yuan. If Zuo Liangyu, Li Zicheng and others come here, it is estimated that they will be more ruthless than Fang Yuan, and they will not even be able to keep the silver and women.

Before Fang Yuan could feed the candy that had been halved by Tian Fu, the three members of the cabinet were soft. The captured literati immediately surrendered and relented before they were even tortured, and the process went very smoothly, which was really beyond his expectations.

Alas! The so-called Xiucai rebellion, which failed in three years, really overestimated them. Historically, soldiers, slaves, and even monks and beggars have all had emperors who have attained positive results, but no literati can achieve positive results alone, which is the reason.

Fang Yuan said unhurriedly, "Three, if the privileges of the literati in the south of the Yangtze River are abolished at one time, I am afraid it will cause turmoil. I suggest that it be implemented in batches in the areas of Nanzhili and Zhejiang. ”

This is also the method of boiling frogs in warm water. If the interests of the literati in Jiangnan were hastily moved, and they all got up and made trouble with Fang Yuan, then Jiangnan would not be in chaos? It is better to implement it one by one, and the areas that have not implemented it still have illusions, and there will be many fewer people who will oppose it.

The three members of the cabinet glanced at each other, and Xi Benzhen said, "Governor Fang's suggestion is very good, and Nanzhili is an important place in the south of the Yangtze River. It is too hasty to implement it in Nanzhili first, and it is better to implement it in Zhejiang first. ”

Mao Bijiang also said, "Zhejiang is a major tax-paying province under its jurisdiction, and I don't think it is appropriate to implement it first, so let's implement it in Fujian first!" ”

Wang Bingjian also came out and said, "Guangdong can also do it, anyway, the officialdom in Guangdong has been cleaned up, and the reconstruction has not yet been completed." ”

Wang Bingjian and the three of them are all from Jiangnan, and since they are canceled in batches, they must want to cancel Fujian and Guangdong first, and then it will be the turn of Nanzhili and Zhejiang. If it causes an uproar in Fujian and Guangdong, whether it will continue to be implemented in Zhejiang will be another matter.

Their little abacus, Fang Yuan knew it as soon as he heard it, and said coldly, "Why don't you just implement it in the Taiwan Mansion!" ”

He got up suddenly, slapped the table heavily, and said sharply, "Elder Wangge, the head of the Xi family, and the prince Mao, your cabinet is not the cabinet of Zhezhi, but the cabinet of the whole world. The government affairs of Zhejiang are under your control, and Fujian and Guangdong will not belong to you? Our goal is to dominate the world, not to live in the south of the Yangtze River, can you take a long-term view?! ”

The three members of the cabinet were drunk by him, and they knew that their previous words were too selfish, and they were embarrassed and ashamed.

Xi Benzhen asked briskly, "Where does Governor Fang want to try it out first?" ”

The place where the literati gather is the Zhezhi area, among which the literati in the south of Zhili are the most prosperous, if you don't gnaw on the south of Zhili, it is better not to gnaw.

Fang Yuan made such a big move, of course, he wanted to take down the hardest bone to gnaw first, and said in a deep voice, "If Nan Zhili doesn't set an example first, there will be gossip in other provinces." If the southern Zhili is successfully implemented, there is no reason for other provinces to make trouble again. ”

As soon as the three of them heard it, they knew that Fang Yuan wanted to implement it in Nanzhili first, which was also expected. In other words, if they want to implement it, they will also implement it in Nanzhili first, but they don't say it.

Fang Yuan knew that this action was too big, and it could almost be said that it had offended the entire literati privileged class, as well as a group of squires and wealthy businessmen who were attached to the literati class. If it is just a simple use of a big stick, under extreme high pressure, the gang may give in. But it seems to be calm, but in fact, there is an undercurrent surging behind the scenes.

Therefore, in order to subdue these people, big sticks are necessary, and there must be a lot of carrots.

Fang Yuan sat back in his chair, took a sip of tea, and then said, "This reform will definitely bring losses to many people, so I will also think of a way to make up for the losses a little." ”

The three of them were stunned, looking at him together, not knowing what else he could give.

Fang Yuan said unhurriedly, "Starting from next year's autumn harvest, all the state capitals that cancel the privileges of literati will be charged by half. Jiangsu will receive 80 catties of land per mu, which will be reduced to 40 catties in the future. Fujian and Guangdong have 40 catties of land per mu, and it will be 20 catties in the future. ”

Half the field endowment?

The three members of the cabinet could hardly believe their ears, the weight of the fields in the Zhezhi region has been like this since ancient times. Other regions bear about 10% of the yield per mu, while the Zhejiang region bears about 20% of the yield per mu. Although Zhezhi is the granary of the world, it has become the first fat sheep targeted by the imperial court. Whether it is the Tang and Song dynasties, or the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the weight of taxation is absolutely the best in the world.

The large and small landlords and wealthy businessmen in Zhejiang have long been dissatisfied with this harsh policy of the previous dynasties, so they will try their best to evade taxes.

One of the most important methods is to fool the imperial court into implementing the privilege of the literati class to limit the number of acres of land and not accept the land endowment, and then relying on the advantage of Zhejiang directly dominating the imperial examination room for most of the world, it has cultivated a large number of jinshi and juren who do not need to pay taxes, and then transferred all their own fields to the names of these jinshi and juren, so that they can avoid taxes within the scope of the policy.

If Fang Yuan was willing to give up half of the land endowment, it would be a complete loosening of the shackles that had been pressing on the Zhezhi region for hundreds of years, and this great gift would be enough to offset the losses caused by the abolition of literati privileges.

Xi Benzhen's family has at least 100,000 mu of fertile land, and he is more concerned about this policy of reducing taxes, so he sighed deeply and asked again, "Governor Fang, aren't you joking?" Do you really want to halve the world's land endowment? Is it halved temporarily, or permanently? ”

Fang Yuan said slowly, "Since the literati privilege has been permanently abolished, Tian Fu is naturally permanently halved!" The purpose of collecting the commercial tax and the municipal tax is not to accumulate wealth, but to carry out the reform of fiscal revenue and shift the burden of land tax to the municipal tax and commercial tax. In this way, when the people have food to eat, they will be able to keep their duties and achieve long-term peace and stability in the world. ”

Only then did everyone know that Fang Yuan's abolition of the privileges of the literati was not intended to impose heavy taxes, but rather to reduce taxes, which was a veritable benevolent government.

Xi Benzhen sighed, bowed deeply to Fang Yuan, and bowed his hand, "Governor Fang, I have offended a lot before, I will make amends to you!" ”

Fang Yuan helped him up, and Zhengrong said, "But there is an additional condition for reducing the tax, the yield per mu of land is deducted from the field tax, and the maximum land rent is only fifty percent." This is a red line that must not be crossed. If anyone crosses the red line, then I can only send someone to the door to confiscate the land. ”

Fang Yuan strictly set the proportion of land rent at 50 percent, which not only ensured that the private property of these vested interests would not be violated, but also strictly controlled the situation in which the squires and landlords took advantage of their power to control the land and collected 70 percent or 80 percent of the land endowment from the tenants and carried out cruel exploitation.

Wang Bingjian and Xi Benzhen nodded in unison when they heard this.

The rent of Wucheng Tian is indeed within a reasonable range that both landlords and tenants can afford, and tenants can save some surplus money in addition to supporting their families. If the proportion of land rent is even higher, reaching 60 percent, the tenants may face a shortage of food for one or two months, and they will have to use more land to make up for the lack of food rations. If it reaches seventy percent, it will no longer be able to make a living by farming alone, and can only rely on borrowing to survive.

Mao Bijiang suddenly asked, "If the literati have no privileges, who is still willing to go to the imperial examination if the literati from a poor family are still willing to take the imperial examination?" If you block the passage from the lower layer to the upper layer, it will still be unstable! ”

Fang Yuan said lightly, "Since the imperial examination is not beneficial, then don't take the imperial examination and go to Jiangnan University to study!" After graduation, you can also get ahead. Before, there was only one way to get out of the class; In the future, all roads will lead to success! ”

This is also the big drawback of Fang Yuan taking the opportunity to rectify the world's readers to read the scriptures and drag the poems. Since there is no privilege to lift people after the exam, if you can't be an official, it is really better to learn a craft in a down-to-earth manner, and you can make a fortune even more.

Dragging poems and reading scriptures will not promote the development of productive forces. Only by diverting a large number of people to study science and engage in scientific research can we truly build an industrialized Ming Empire.

Mao Bijiang was speechless, Fang Yuan confirmed to the three of them again, "Are there any questions?" ”

Seeing that none of the three raised objections, Fang Yuan continued, "The six hundred literati will be taken back and imprisoned first, and the cabinet will immediately vote, and the Governor's Mansion will approve the red, and announce it to the world on a certain day!" ”