Chapter Seventy-Six: The Snake Strikes Seven Inches Down

Hiding wealth from the people is a phrase that civil officials often hang on their lips, and at the same time, there is also a sentence called not competing with the people, which has always been the statement of civil officials against the emperor's tax increase. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info It seems that once the emperor levies taxes, the people of the world will not live.

But they did not object to the increase, because it was not added to the officials, but to the people.

The Ming Dynasty is not so much hiding wealth from the people as it is hiding wealth from officials, and two-thirds of the wealth in the world is in the hands of officials. The remaining third was in the hands of big businessmen and big landowners, and most of these merchants were scholars.

In other words, they are the breeding ground for officials and the cornerstone of the corporals of the world.

Once the commercial tax or mining tax is increased, it is competing with them for profit, who dares to make a move?

There is only one reason for this, and that is a very remarkable policy formulated by the founding Taizu, that is, scholars do not pay taxes. This item raised the scholars of the entire Ming Dynasty and made them the root cause of cholera.

The original intention of this policy was to encourage people to read more, which was regarded as a state investment in education, but it turned into a speculative business.

The people gave the ownership of the land to the scholars, evaded the national taxes, and then rented the land from the scholars, and the rent was much lower than the tax money of the state, so that the accumulation of generations made the state receive less and less taxes.

The commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty is also low, it is thirty taxes and one, such a low commercial tax, plus the collusion of officials and businessmen. In the process of transportation, many businessmen directly play the official brand, and the road is unimpeded, and they do not have to pay a single tax.

The court has no money, the emperor has no money, so it doesn't matter what he says, he can't mobilize his own army, and he can't pay the officials. Unable to provide disaster relief, unable to control floods, unable to repair bridges and pave roads, such emperors and people will read well?

Emperor Chongzhen has long figured this out, if he wants to change the fate of the Ming Dynasty, the only thing is to cut the scholars.

This knife must not only be opened, but also opened ruthlessly, cleanly, and without the slightest hesitation.

Wen Zhenmeng saw that Emperor Chongzhen did not let go of himself at all, so he had to speak: "Your Majesty, the tax revenue of the Ming Kingdom cannot come up, there are many reasons, natural disasters are frequent, wars are frequent, and officials in various places are seriously corrupt. ”

That's Emperor Taizu's decree, who dares to propose a change? Let the scholars pay taxes, and the person who says this sentence will probably be sprayed to death.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at Wen Zhenmeng, a flash of disappointment flashed in his eyes, and he sat back on the dragon chair and rubbed his forehead. No wonder there are so many emperors in the Ming Dynasty, they trust eunuchs, not these so-called loyal courtiers.

Even a courtier like Wen Zhenmeng is loyal and upright and dares to stand up for the people, but when he encounters this kind of thing, he still inevitably retreats.

Emperor Chongzhen can preside over the reform, but someone must charge into battle, Emperor Chongzhen is not ready to use factory guards to do this, in that case, the name is not right, the resistance will be greater, only scholars to promote.

Winning over a group of scholars and suppressing a group of scholars is the best way, but Emperor Chongzhen didn't expect to be frustrated at the beginning.

"Wen Aiqing, I met you in the city that day, listened to your generous speech, and made my heart warm for the country and the people. Above the court, looking at it, most of them are people who do nothing, form parties for personal gain, fish and flesh the people, and there are not many people who serve the country and the people. ”

"There are wild boar skins in the east of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, there are Tartars in the north, the domestic party is the same and different, and local man-made disasters are continuous." Emperor Chongzhen looked at Wen Zhenmeng and said in a rather lost tone: "The Ming Dynasty Mansion is about to fall, I originally thought that Aiqing was a good talent in the Ming Dynasty, and he could help the building to fall and turn the tide in the future." Speaking of this, Emperor Chongzhen didn't speak, just waved his hand gently: "Go down!" ”

Wen Zhenmeng's body was shocked, listening to Emperor Chongzhen's words, his heart was quite sour, and his body shook involuntarily.

The emperor actually values himself so much? Turning the tide in the past, helping the building to fall, the emperor actually commented on himself like this? Wen Zhenmeng felt that his body was trembling, and he felt very aggrieved in his heart, and that feeling of resentment made him feel very useless.

Wen Zhenmeng, who was ashamed, couldn't help but clench his fists, and at this time he couldn't help but think of the portrait hanging in his home, the portrait of his ancestor Wen Tianxiang.

Who has not died in life since ancient times, and left Dan to take care of his sweat!

Wen Zhenmeng's face turned red, turned around and knelt on the ground, and said loudly: "The minister is ashamed of his trust in the emperor, and he has the prestige of the ancestors. ”

Emperor Chongzhen kept staring at Wen Zhenmeng, and he was also nervous in his heart, for fear that his method of agitation would be useless.

Now it seems that it is still very useful, Wen Zhenmeng himself is very upright, and with the education of the Wen family in the past dynasties, many things have been carved into the bones. The reason why Emperor Chongzhen chose Wen Zhenmeng was actually for this reason.

It's not scary to be stereotypical, and it's not scary to know how to be flexible, but as long as you do things, it's the best.

Emperor Chongzhen sometimes wants to have a person like Hai Rui under his command, although he speaks ugly, he dares to stand up to the emperor head-on, but such a person, as the vanguard of reform, is definitely very suitable, and it will definitely disgust many people.

The key problem is that there is no place for his character to be attacked, and according to Confucian etiquette, Hai Jui is a saint.

Although Emperor Chongzhen did not agree with many of Hai Rui's practices, this prevented Emperor Chongzhen from using him to do things.

Whether it is collecting taxes or clearing the land, Hai Rui is the most suitable person, give him the title of Qincha, the land of Qingzhang in one province after another, responsible for taxes, I believe it will make many people complain, but Emperor Chongzhen will definitely wake up with a smile when he dreams.

Emperor Chongzhen hurriedly got down from the dragon chair, stretched out his hand to help Wen Zhenmeng up from the ground, and said with a laugh: "Okay, very good, I didn't see the wrong person, I have the demeanor of your ancestor Wen Tianxiang." The vicissitudes of the sea show the true character of the hero, Aiqing rest assured, I will always stand behind you. You are not wrong, and I am not Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty! ”

Wrong? Hearing Wen Zhenmeng say that he was wrong, even if Wen Zhenmeng was prepared, he was shocked in his heart, the emperor was determined to reform. Looking at it like this, it seems that it is still a big innovation, and a new deal has been introduced, even more powerful than Zhang Juzheng's new deal.

Wen Zhenmeng is obviously no stranger to Chao Cuo, he is a famous minister of the Han Dynasty and a figure who will go down in history.

There are many ideas of Chao Cuo, but the most famous is his "Cutting Feudal Policy", depriving the princes of their political privileges to consolidate centralized power, harming the interests of the princes, the princes of the Seven Kingdoms led by Liu Bi, the king of Wu, in the name of "please punish Chao Cuo, to the side of the Qing monarch", raised troops to rebel, Emperor Jing listened to Yuan An's plan, and beheaded Chao Wrong in Dongshi.