readx(); Zhu Youzhen asked the courtiers to publish it on the front page of the "Beijing Times" on the same day, entitled "The Chaos of Suning's Enlistment". Please search ()! The fastest updated article is not signed, but as a local child, it tells the various shortcomings of Suning County, Hejian Prefecture, Beizhili, in the collection of land taxes and the distribution of forced labor. The main points include the following:

One vote. Similar to the donation of Huangzhuang, there is also a large number of donation phenomena in the civil fields of Suning County. However, the object of their sacrifice was not the imperial village, but the gentry who did not need to pay food. Wei Zhongxian is a native of Suning County, as the saying goes, "one person gets the Tao and the chicken and the dog ascends to heaven", and his clansmen, such as his nephew Wei Liangqing, bought land in Suning County after his career.

Wei Liangqing was awarded the title of Duke of Ning at that time, and according to the regulations, of course, the fields under his name did not need to pay grain. The problem is that many landlords in Suning County colluded with Wei Liangqing to put their land under Wei Liangqing's name in the name of "donation", so that they did not have to hand over the land endowment, and only needed to give Wei Liangqing some benefits. As a result, they were all happy, but the court was damaged. After Wei Zhongxian fell and Wei Liangqing lost power, these landlords colluded with the local government to take out the land that was "surrendered" and put it in the name of other official gentry, and still continued to evade taxes.

2. Lying about the disaster. Because the imperial court has regulations, due to natural disasters to reduce production and no harvest, you can be exempted from the field tax. The local landlords colluded with the government to report disasters almost every year, and no disasters were reported as disasters, and small disasters were reported as major disasters. The imperial court was negligent in inspecting, so it was fooled like this every year, and I don't know how much of the land endowment that should be paid is missing.

Three grains and long get power. The government is suspicious of the trouble of requisitioning grain, but in order to cope with the task of requisitioning grain and to reflect its political achievements, it often "subcontracts" the right to requisition grain to certain large households, and such large households are called "grain chiefs." When the time comes to collect grain in summer and autumn, these grain chiefs hand over a fixed amount of land taxes, and the government will complete the task, and then the grain chiefs will urge the peasant households to collect them from house to house. There are many drawbacks in this, and the grain chief often takes advantage of the fact that the peasant households are not familiar with the laws of the imperial court to arbitrarily levy taxes, and if the peasant households dare to "resist the levy", they will be sent to the government for punishment, resulting in unspeakable misery for the peasant households.

Four drenched spikes kick the huh. After the common people piled up, the officials deliberately kicked a few feet on the grain pile, and the overflowing grain was not allowed to be swept back by the grain payers, nor was it counted as the number of grain paid, saying that it was to make up for the loss in the process of grain transportation, but in fact it was privately divided by local officials. Although the amount was not large, it had a very bad impression on the people and seriously tarnished the image of the court and the government.

Five silver coins at a discount. The field endowment is divided into two items: grain and silver, among which when the silver is levied, because the common people rarely use silver with higher value, but settle with copper coins with lower value, but when the field is paid, it must be exchanged for silver. The official exchange price is one tael of silver for one thousand copper coins, but in fact, the folk silver is cheap and expensive, and one tael of silver can only be exchanged for six or seven hundred copper coins. The officials forced the common people to exchange the silver at the official price, and then exchanged the silver at the market price, and for every one or two pieces of silver, they could get a profit of three or four hundred wen, and these profits were all filled by them.

The ground is not not cool, and the enemy is not the best of the day

Sixth, indiscriminate collection of fire consumption. According to the regulations, the tax silver collected by the government must be re-smelted into 50 taels of gold and silver, and there will be some loss in the process, which is called "fire consumption". In the name of this, the government levied additional "fire consumption" silver from the people, and the proportion of the levy was not limited, but it was certainly much larger than the actual loss, and the extra part also went into the pockets of private individuals.

The courtiers actually knew in their hearts that these shortcomings were not unique to Suning County, but were the same all over the country. Although these things are not on the table, they are the "rules" of officialdom that everyone is familiar with, and whoever is a magistrate plays like this, otherwise how can there be a saying of "three years of Qing Governor's Mansion, 100,000 snowflakes of silver"? Now that the "Beijing Times" has been poked out, and the emperor has grabbed it, how can these ministers be embarrassed? Especially Suning Zhixian is still a Donglin Party, if the emperor takes advantage of this reason to carry out a blow to the Donglin Party, how can it be done?

Therefore, the courtiers spoke one after another, and one remark was represented by Li Biao, believing that Tian Fu was extremely important and was in charge of the imperial court, and that this child's remarks belonged to "arguing about the government in vain", and there was a suspicion of falsely accusing the government, and he should be severely punished. The publication of this kind of article in the "Beijing Times" must also be investigated and dealt with. "Beijing Times" was originally created by Concubine Yuan, and they didn't know it, but they couldn't control it so much at this time.

Another remark is represented by Qian Longxi, who believes that even if what the child said is true, it is still a "bad accumulation", and it has been like this for one or two hundred years, and it is difficult to change it lightly. If we are in a hurry to get rid of the accumulated evils, it will directly affect the collection of land endowments, and on the contrary, it will lead to greater financial difficulties for the imperial court. In Qian Longxi's words, this is called "governing a big country if you cook a small fresh", which can only be changed slowly, and it is not appropriate to make a big move.

The enemy of the Far Enemy Patrol Zhanyang Secret Office

When the ministers were speechless, Zhu Youzhen slowly spoke: "Li Biao thinks that this article is suspected of false accusations, and I want to investigate it, and I also agree with it." If the result of the investigation is untrue, it is a false accusation, and it should be punished severely, as should the newspaper that published it. But what if what is found to be true? ”

Li Biao had no choice but to reply: "If it is true, there is a court law, and it should be punished according to the law." The ministers immediately consulted with the household department and other yamen, and sent personnel to Suning to investigate in detail. ”

"Very well, I'm waiting for the results." Zhu Youzhen replied coldly, and then turned to Qian Longxi and said, "Qian Longxi, you said 'governing a big country is like cooking small fresh', what is the meaning of this statement?" ”

Qian Longxi hurriedly said: "This sentence comes from the Tao Te Ching, which is a metaphor for governing the country with cooking. For example, if you fry a small fish, it is most forbidden to stir-fry it vigorously over a fierce fire, if it is, it will be broken and burnt. The same is true of governing the country, the old precedents may have accumulated drawbacks, but they are still used today, and there must be a reason; The sudden change is just like a fire stir-frying, and the people can't bear to be disturbed, so ..."

"I like to eat fish." Zhu Youzhen suddenly interrupted Qian Longxi and said with a sneer, "What kind of fish do you think Daming is now?" Is it a small fresh fish that has just been caught up in the river, or is it already about to be blown up? ”

"This..."Qian Longxi saw sweat on his forehead when he boarded, and secretly wondered if Zhu Youzhen's greeting was sharp: The current imperial court can be said to be on fire everywhere and smoking, and it is burnt out, isn't it about to be blown up?

"It's almost paste, don't stir-fry it, do you have to make it really mushy?" Zhu Youzhen snorted coldly and said, "If you cook a small fresh country, it doesn't mean that you don't have to worry about putting the fish in the pot, you have to fry it when it's time to fry it." If there is any such malpractice in the newspaper, I must resolutely get rid of it. I want me to stir up such a fierce stir-up, whether the people are unbearable, or is there someone else.

"In addition, if you have to use cooking as a metaphor for governing the country, your cooks not only stir-fry on a high fire, but also have to turn the pot upside down. Cauldron or Xiaoxian, which is more similar to a big country? I should be 'governing a big country like turning a pot upside down'! ”

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