As soon as Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youzhen appeared, the dignitaries of the various systems of the military affairs of the inner court and the outer court were busy closing their mouths at the moment, and neatly bowed to Zhu Youzhen: "The ministers have seen Your Majesty!" ”

"You Aiqing don't have to be formal, this is not a place for the court to discuss politics, nor is it a time for sacrificial celebrations, you don't have to be too strict about the etiquette, I call you to gather in this Ming School of Administration today, the reason is not for anything else, but for an extremely important matter related to the long-term stability of the Ming Dynasty.

I'm sure you've almost guessed that this matter was decided a few years ago, but now that it is going to be put into practice, I want to hear your ministers' opinions again. ”

As soon as Zhu Youzhen said this, he asked Wang Chengen to preach his body.

Only then did the ministers get up and follow Zhu Youzhen into the main hall of the Daming School of Administration-Rongyang Hall, and Zhu Youzhen interjected a sentence at an inopportune time:

"This used to be the mansion of Zhang Shenyan, the secretary of the Shili Department of Dongge University, and this was once the main hall of his family to worship his ancestors, but it's a pity that this person committed a serious crime of rebellion and became a traitorous minister, and I had to raid his house!"

The ministers were silent and didn't know how to answer, but they also knew that His Majesty was using Zhang Shenyan to warn them.

To be honest, Zhu Youzhen is the emperor, but at this moment, many officials are still unfamiliar faces to him, but fortunately, he doesn't have to say hello one by one.

Zhu Youzhen walked into the main hall and sat in the first place, and then let Fan Jingwen, the first assistant of the cabinet, and Huang Degong, the head of the Yasukuni Gong, sit on his left and right, and the rest of the officials also sat down.

Since it is in the Daming School of Administration, it is natural that there is no need to be too strict about the distinction between monarchs and ministers, and Zhu Youzhen has no intention of reflecting the distinction between monarchs and ministers by kneeling or standing.

Many officials are also meeting the Ming Emperor Zhu Youzhen for the first time, and they don't know where to put their hands when they sit down at this moment, so they can only learn from the people next to them.

Li Yan is also one of them, and he didn't expect that he would one day be able to witness the face of the Ming Emperor, and he could capture a movement of Zhu Youzhen's inexperience.

Zhu Youzhen was also accustomed to the feeling of being stared at by a group of gentlemen, without the slightest sense of restraint, he calmly picked up a tea before the rain, took half a sip, and waited until the tea sank to the bottom, and then opened his mouth when he put the teacup:

"Some time ago, the two wars were fought very fiercely, and they fought very well, thwarting the plan of Jiannu to go south to destroy the Ming in one fell swoop.

As soon as Zhu Youzhen said this, the officials of the Guards system all smiled slightly, and a sense of pride and honor arose, but other officials also bowed their heads in agreement, and it was also a happy thing for them to be able to keep half of the southern country.

"I will naturally be stingy with rewards, but now I want to talk about not the issue of rewards, but the issue of the imperial court's collection of commercial tax tariffs and personal income tax, as for what these taxes are and how to collect them, the household department and Guangming Daily have already explained it, and I don't need to say much here."

Zhu Youzhen directly mentioned the issue of new tax collection directly to the point, and the officials present did not show any more smiles this time, and they all became serious; In particular, some officials whose family backgrounds are wealthy businessmen are looking at Zhu Youzhen with even more burning eyes at this moment.

The ministers all knew that this matter would come sooner or later, and no one dared to oppose it at this time, but there were indeed many people who resisted this in their hearts.

According to the tax collection data set by the imperial court, many official and merchant families will have to pay taxes ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands or even millions of silver dollars a year, which is several times heavier than the previous 30 taxes, and the key to the problem is that this breaks the privilege of tax exemption for scholars, so that ordinary merchants will no longer be dedicated to the door of scholars, which is indeed a great loss for many scholars.

In addition, as soon as tariffs were imposed, many wealthy merchants in Jiangnan and the southeast coast lost the huge profits they made through sea trade without paying taxes. A large amount of wealth will flow into the imperial treasury.

Zhu Youzhen looked at these and was silent one by one, knowing that they were unwilling but did not dare to refute.

He couldn't help but smile slightly: "I know that many of you are reluctant, but I can tell you why I did this, why the Ming Guards were able to defeat the Manchu Iron Cavalry, all by money, each soldier spends 30 to 50 silver dollars a year, and the officers naturally need more, a total of more than 3 million silver dollars a year for military salaries, which is equivalent to more than 2 million taels of silver before, plus the addition of ordnance manufacturing, logistics supply, casualty compensation, etc., the military expenditure must be more than 5 million silver dollars a year, Where does all this money come from?

Many of you present have been governors or have seen the miserable conditions of the people on the way south, and even the officials in Nanjing should have seen the displaced people outside the city, and they should all know what is the situation of the people of my Ming Dynasty, if I ask them, I am afraid that there will be another Li Zicheng, Zhang Zicheng, and Wang Zicheng! ”

"Therefore, I can only ask you, ask for rich businessmen, maybe some of you will ask, these rich businessmen, eunuchs and squires are not ordinary people, I admit that you are too.

But I want to ask, when the Qing army went south, if the Ming Dynasty was really gone, was it true that only the people suffered, and you would not be suffering?

The living conditions of the Han people under the rule of the Qing court in the north must have been known through various channels, and if you don't know, you can take a look at the report of Guanghua Daily some time ago.

In the Qing court, whether you are an official gentry, a giant businessman or a common man, the fertile land was occupied, the property was confiscated by the banner people, the hair was shaved and dressed, and the capital was moved.

But you think that after you surrender to the Qing Dynasty, you can sit high above the temple and hold power like now, and you can't be admired by thousands of people. ”

Zhu Youzhen asked Huang Degong as he spoke, and Huang Degong couldn't help arguing: "Back to Your Majesty, Weichen would rather die than recognize Manchuria Jiannu as his master!" ”

"I know your loyalty, and I also know that since you are still standing in the court, you must still be my minister of the Ming Dynasty.

But whether it is a merchant or a farmer, or a farmer who is ruled, they are all an indispensable part of my Ming Dynasty, and they are all obliged to do their part for the Ming Dynasty, and they also have the right to enjoy the protection of the Ming Dynasty and the grace of me, but we can't only let the cultivators bear the taxes of the court, but only let the officials and wealthy businessmen enjoy the favor of the court, and more people will rise up in such a court.

I believe that many of you understand this truth, and even you will say that the merchants are also paying taxes, but you should know how much taxes the merchants pay, Dongchang confiscated a property of the Jin merchant Fan in Nanjing last year, and there were more than 3 million taels of silver, but he only paid 10,000 to the inner court before, according to the previous rules, he didn't pay enough! The ratio is less than 300 to 1! ”

Zhu Youzhen said word by word, and the officials below listened word by word, officials from different backgrounds have their own different views, and officials with different consciousnesses also have their own different views, but whether they are moved by Zhu Youzhen's words or not, at this moment, they have no way to refute the facts Zhu Youzhen said.

Zhu Youzhen is now just asking them to make a statement, expressing their willingness to earnestly implement the imperial court's tax reform policy, if they are unwilling, Zhu Youzhen can be replaced.