After entering the end of February, the chief political officials from all over the country began to enter the palace one after another.

Similar to the situation in Shandong and Yingtian, a large number of honest and capable officials, such as Fei Hong, the governor of Sichuan, Peng Ze, the governor of Henan, Feng Xi, the governor of Fujian, Wang Qiong, the governor of Zhejiang, and Gu Renyi, the governor of Shuntian, presided over the locality.

The political environment in various localities has been purified to a certain extent, and the momentum of frequent vicious incidents has been curbed.

No one tosses the common people, this is more important than anything else.

The emperor who sat in the central government did not pay additional taxes to the whole country, and not only that, because of the opening of the sea, the central government's financial situation was greatly improved, and it would also give back to some provinces that had encountered disasters, in addition to the obvious land grabbing cases, the imperial court also increased the punishment.

It should be said that except for some special provinces, other places have ushered in a rare and peaceful period of peace and prosperity.

However, behind the peaceful and prosperous times, the main officials of most provinces have not moved so far.

In the fifth year of Zhengde, Fei Hong has been in charge of Sichuan for five years, and the short one is Peng Ze, the governor of Henan, who has also been in charge for three years, and Wang Qiong, the governor of Zhejiang, if he counts his previous political envoy in Zhejiang, it will be almost six years.

Zhu's original idea was to keep the personnel stable so that they had enough time to stabilize the place.

However, as time goes on, the mind of mobilization has been lingering in his heart, and it is stronger than a year, and it has basically reached the time to move this year.

Zhejiang Governor Wang Qiong originally had private contacts with Liu Jin, this guy has a very strong ability to govern, don't be a pity, use it, but use it carefully.

So at least this person, he doesn't plan to continue to let him stay in Zhejiang.

Wang Qiong is over fifty years old, the same age as Yang Tinghe, and the two are not very harmonious in history.

is also because the experience is too complicated, Wang Qiong is inevitably contaminated with some officialdom habits. But on the other hand, Zhejiang is full of vitality in his hands.

“…… Since ancient times, there have been no more than two kinds of taxes in all dynasties, one is land-based silver, and the other is people-based silver. For this reason, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the flow of people has been controlled by road. However, Weichen thinks that the system of road introduction is still acceptable in inland provinces, but Zhejiang, but it is not applicable, especially in recent years. ”

Zhu Houzhao listened to him while looking at his recital from the beginning.

The emperor, who has always been a good minister, did not let Wang Qiong get up, so he kept bowing his head and kneeling.

"Is it because of the opening of the sea?"

Wang Qiong arched his hand, "Your Majesty Shengming, it is precisely because of the opening of the sea." After the opening of the sea, the sea trade in Huzhou, Ningbo, Jiaxing and other places in Zhejiang rose rapidly, the people gathered for profit, and there was no hard work in business, and even once opened, it was said that there was no danger for several months, so the business of Zhejiang provinces flourished. As for the people who depend on commerce, the flow of people and goods must be connected to various places, so that the connection between land and population will be severed. ”

Zhu Houzhao frowned.

What Wang Qiong said is already a relatively profound aspect of the feudal social economy, land tax and poll tax, which are enough to feed countless modern history professors.

In fact, in ancient times, agriculture must be the foundation and commerce as the end, and an important factor was for the stability of tax collection, which was fundamentally for the stability of the state's finances.

For example, your land is in Jiaxing, but you are in Hangzhou, so the land tax should be collected in Jiaxing, right? What about the poll tax? Who collects?

Hangzhou receive? How does the Hangzhou government define that Hangzhou only collects your poll tax and not your land tax? If you want to confirm that your land has been taxed in Jiaxing, then you have to go to the Jiaxing government to verify, how is this possible?

And it's okay for a person to verify, what if the streets are like this?

The reality is that with the administrative ability of officials in ancient times, it is impossible to distinguish all these things clearly. It's that Zhu Yuanzhang's fish scale atlas is updated once every ten years, and it can't be done well, let alone such a complicated thing.

And even if the distinction is clear, the efficiency of tax collection will be greatly reduced, and then it will inevitably lead to a reduction in national taxes, and if it spreads to the whole country, the fiscal will collapse within a few decades.

Therefore, it is easy to say that people and land are in one place.

A lot of social policies are because of the economic policies behind them, and the reason that the simple rulers are bad is actually a bit superficial.

If we look at it from a longer perspective, after the reform of the two tax laws in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, there have been two major trends in China's tax economy.

The first is the transformation of taxation from physical to monetization, that is, the previous tax system of collecting grain, cloth, and cotton has been changed to a unified collection of currency.

The second is the integration of the two taxes, that is, the land tax and the poll tax are combined into one tax. The so-called apportionment into the mu is to merge the Ding Yin (poll tax) into the land.

The root cause of these two trends is because of land annexation. Because of the annexation of land, the landless people fled, so that the taxes of these people disappeared, but the imperial court will not easily forgive the officials who cannot collect taxes, so the magistrates can only increase taxes on the remaining people, which will lead to more people fleeing.

But our ancestors were not stupid, and they all saw this kind of drawback. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty had two tax law reforms, the Song Dynasty had Wang Anshi's reform, the Ming Dynasty had a whip law, and the Qing Dynasty had a division into the mu.

These tax reforms are essentially changes made by the central government in order to save the country's finances and reduce the burden on the people after the gradual collapse of the tax system.

Now that Wang Qiong mentioned this issue to Zhu Houzhao, it should be that he really saw that after Zhejiang opened the sea, the current tax system was no longer applicable.

That's why Zhu Houzhao used him, although there are some bureaucratic habits, Wang Qiong's own ability is there.

"Well......" the Emperor said in a long, nasal voice, "that's a problem, do you think it should be solved now?" ”

Zhu Houzhao has some doubts, after the economic form changes, the tax system must be changed, but it has only been a few years, where can Zhejiang change, so he has some doubts about the immediate change.

However, when Wang Qiong heard the emperor say this, she was still a little excited in her heart.

Before entering the palace, he went to visit Feng Xi, the governor of Fujian.

Fujian and Zhejiang have similarities.

And Feng Xi was born as the emperor's attendant.

So he wanted to get a sniff.

In fact, this question he asked the emperor was risky, not to mention it, the road introduction system was set by Emperor Taizu back then, and to put it more seriously, it was the ancestral system.

Now the emperor did not immediately veto, which means that there is a drama.

A new law was proposed, and once the appetite of the emperor was satisfied, it would be terrible.

Many people have proved this statement.

"Wechen thought it should be resolved in time." Wang Qiong's voice echoed in the hall.

"Why?"

"Because His Majesty insists on opening the sea, and the court also insists on opening the sea, even the people along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian have also tasted the sweetness of opening the sea. If it is not solved now, it will inevitably become a more prominent problem in the future. ”

Zhu Houzhao thought for a moment, then nodded, "Then how do you think it's going to be solved?" ”

Since Wang Qiong proposed, he already had a draft in his heart, he said: "Weichen thinks that in view of the actual people's feelings in Zhejiang, the plan for now is to unify various taxes, include merchants, and pay taxes in a unified manner. ”

Zhu Houzhao continued to ask: "How to unify?" ”

"On the basis of the land, people can move, but the land cannot be moved. To whom the land belongs, the court collects taxes from whomever the land belongs. ”

"What should we do when commerce flourishes, and the assets of the merchants are not reflected in the land, but in the shops and workshops of all kinds?"

"In the same way, shops and workshops will not be moved, and they can be taxed the same."

Well, in fact, what Wang Qiong saw was a lot of problems that could be seen in the middle of the dynasty, and the proposed methods were roughly similar to a whip method and a dilution into the mu.

However, hundreds of years earlier, his concept was still very rough, and it had its merits.

"Where's the gentry land?"

Wang Qiong was stunned for a moment, but she didn't expect the emperor to ask, "Your Majesty, the gentry are exempt from taxation, which is the tradition of this dynasty." ”

Then there is no need to talk about it,

According to his method, it is necessary to make those who still pay taxes pay more, and those who used to be able to escape the poll tax must now also pay it.

But if the gentry were still exempt, it would eventually require the common people to pay more taxes.

This practice has some truth from the government's point of view, after all, why don't you pay the poll tax?

However, it is meaningless to really implement it as a policy. Because you are taxing the poor in this society, how interesting can you be if you start lightly and have no money, and if you start with a heavy hand, you will lose your life?

So agreeing with Wang Qiong's approach, he will definitely be able to increase taxes, but incomplete tax reform is a chicken rib, and Zhu Houzhao doesn't need this thing.

Of course, this is not Wang Qiong's fault.

The preferential treatment of the gentry is indeed a limitation of the times that is difficult for ordinary people to overcome.

The emperor stepped down from above and said, "The tax system is a big issue, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the foundation of the country. I think that the government should not obstruct the flow of people in Zhejiang, and you also said that business itself requires people and goods to be successful. In fact, there are now certain banknotes in various places, and I don't think they are needed, and the tax is only more than 500,000 taels a year, so what is the use of it? ”

Wang Qiong didn't dare to say this, "Your Majesty, since there are not many cashiers collected at the banknote, the burden on the merchant must not be heavy. ”

Zhu Houzhao shook his head and smiled, the ordinary emperor who grew up in the deep palace was fooled by this sentence.

The setting of the banknote customs did not bring much benefit to the imperial court, but it gave the local government an excuse to collect taxes, and the annual treasury received more than 500,000 taels, but did they really only collect more than 500,000 taels?

If that's the case, then try to revoke it all, and make sure that a bunch of people will rise up against it.

His meaningful smile made Wang Qiong's scalp a little numb. As if the emperor had seen through it, he was a little scared in his heart, if this was the case, the Son of Heaven was indeed not simple......

Zhu Houzhao actually understands him, and he is too lazy to bother with him, "Dehua." ”

"The minister is here!"

"You're going to the interior for a few more years, right? You've been to both seaside provinces and non-seaside provinces, so you may be able to see the pros and cons of the tax system more clearly. How about you and I meet as a king, and then we will continue today's topic? ”

Forehead...... Wang Qiong was a little surprised.

He has been active for the past few days, and he wants to come to the central government.

It's just that the emperor has already spoken, and it is difficult for him to refuse, "Minister, the minister will obey His Majesty's will!" It's just that Zhejiang's tax system is out of date, and I hope that Your Majesty can make a judgment as soon as possible! ”

In fact, Zhejiang's business has just started driven by sea trade, and the so-called inappropriateness is nothing more than that the tax system cannot keep up, resulting in a group of people who can evade taxes.

Of course, this has to be changed, but at the moment when the military cantonment is cleaned up, it is still inappropriate, and if it is changed, it must be changed together with the gentry preferential exemption, but it is even more unsuitable for now.

So Zhu Houzhao just nodded, "I'll think about it." ”

Having said that, Zhejiang was affected by the sea trade and this kind of change, which led to the new governor candidates become extremely critical, if you can't deal with it or deal with it indiscriminately, mess up the overall situation, and even destroy the sea trade, then the impact is too great.

The emperor looked outside and was a little stunned, in fact, Yan Song was very good, but it was a pity that he went to Guizhou. It's really not easy to find this kind of obedient, smart, and capable traitor......

Looking back, he suddenly found that Wang Qiong was still kneeling.

"Calm down, Dehua."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Take me for a walk outside." As he spoke, he went out.

Wang Qiong bent over and followed behind.

After leaving the Qianqing Palace, the emperor only let You Ji follow from afar, and the rest were gone.

This is a special arrangement, but the emperor has no intention, "In the first year of Zhengde, I ordered to exempt many gentry from Zhejiang, and many clan children were arrested. ”

Wang Qiong looked left and right, there was no one, just a few fathers-in-law followed from a distance, still with his head down and did not dare to move, his eyes rolled, probably knowing the emperor's 'special attitude' towards this matter.

"Honestly. Your Majesty doesn't know anything, Zhejiang people, timid people. ”

The corners of Zhu Houzhao's mouth twitched, damn, he was from Zhejiang in his previous life.

He was very unconvinced by this, and crossed his waist sideways, "Tell me, why are Zhejiang people timid?" What is the basis? ”

Wang Qiong even broke his head and couldn't imagine that the emperor had another soul hidden in his body, and said with a smile: "In fact, it is not to depreciate the people of Zhejiang, the so-called poor mountains and bad waters come out of the people, Zhejiang is adjacent to the south of the Yangtze River, it is a land of good mountains and rivers, and the people look graceful, so they naturally look weak and timid." ”

"You Shanxi people are good?"

Wang Qiong immediately patted her ass, "The minister said the wrong thing, please don't blame Your Majesty." In short, the affairs of the gentry, the minister is watching closely for His Majesty, for fear that a bunch of people can't think of something to make trouble, and don't affect the minister's head when the time comes. ”

After that incident, Wang Qiong helped the emperor handle several cases.

It's just that this kind of case is less upright and bright, so it is almost never mentioned on the surface.

This kind of thing is only suitable for Wang Qiong.

“…… Moreover, His Majesty is also unintentionally inserted into the willows and willows, many scholars in Zhejiang see that there is no hope of being an official, so they have to do business, they are literate and hyphenated, have broad knowledge, and their brains are also bright, and many people have earned a lot of silver in the sea trade.

This literati has money but can't be an official, and he is bored all day long, so he has a new pursuit on top of elegant entertainment. It's a pity that Your Majesty can't see it with your own eyes, Zhejiang is much more lively than in previous years. ”

"It's all your work, I remember." Zhu Houzhao was in a happy mood, "A thousand troops are easy to obtain, but a general is hard to find, I have always attached importance to the selection and appointment of local officials, and I am reluctant to let go if I choose one." So, you've been in the place for a long time. But I can't be too selfish, being an official, who wants to be an official in only one place and always be the same big official? So I don't let you be in Zhejiang, it's not because you don't do well, you don't do well, I will always hand over Zhejiang to you? But Wang Qiong can't just be a governor of Zhejiang for the rest of his life. ”

This is not a light weight.

Wang Qiong lifted his official robe and ignored the cold on the ground, and kowtowed directly, "The minister was born poor, and it is a blessing to be able to get His Majesty's Jane, not to mention a governor, that is, a county, and the minister will be willing to govern the people for His Majesty!" ”

"I feel relieved that you can say that. However, Zhejiang is peaceful in all directions, and you are not needed anymore, I will give you the prince Shaobao, and allow you to pick an inland province by yourself, oh, except for Shanxi. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" What Wang Qiong cares about is the title of Prince Shaobao, this thing is not easy to earn.

As for the addition of Shanxi, it is because of Zhu Yuanzhang's rule of 'northerners and southern officials, southerners and northern officials'.

Of course, in practice, this rule was later changed to only restrict non-officials from the province.

In fact, in Zhu Houzhao's view, honest officials can also return to the province.

But Wang Qiong, forget it.

Send him to Shanxi, you have to stare at him all day long, tired.

And a group of his relatives and friends are also in Shanxi, isn't this deliberately testing human nature?

Wang Qiong himself can also understand that the appointment and dismissal of officials in the imperial court itself has these particularities, and it is not bad to let him choose by himself.

"Minister, the minister is willing to go to Shaanxi."

"Shaanxi, why?"

"Your Majesty, a generation of holy monarchs, once said that he would restore the homeland of the Han and Tang Dynasties!"

This sentence went to Zhu Houzhao's heart.

Further west of Shaanxi is the direction in which troops will be used in the future.

In this sense, it is really good to put an eight-sided exquisite Wang Qiong.

What's even more commendable is that he can understand this.

"Shaanxi...... One thing is important. ”

"Your Majesty means Ma Zheng."

"Well, after a few years of recovery, there are sixteen official horse farms in Shaanxi, although these are directly under the management of the Taifu Temple, but after all, the magistrates can have direct contact, and you have to give me a good look at these horse farms."

"Weichen is doing things, Your Majesty can rest assured."

"Okay."

Ignoring some of his habits, Zhu Houzhao still admires him very much.

In real history, Wang Qiong also served as a trilateral governor.

However, this guy has been a lot of people, he has been the head of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households, and he has managed rivers and money. He has participated in politics, made political envoys, and served as all imperial historians. Later, he went to a high position, and he also served as a secretary of the household department, the official department, and the military department.

It was during his tenure as secretary of the military department that Wang Yangming was promoted and reused.

In fact, this person is very powerful, and the reason why he is not highly evaluated is because he has some problems with his morality...... He is good at making friends with powerful people, whether it is a nobleman or a eunuch, who is popular in front of the emperor, who he befriends with, and will use some worse methods to fight for power.

Such a person is nothing more than power, and he wants to succeed in his career. So gradually satisfy him.

This kind of person with desires and weaknesses is actually easy to deal with.

After a few more words, Wang Qiong said goodbye and left.

Looking at his back, Zhu Houzhao beckoned You Ji over.

The old eunuch trotted briskly, "Your Majesty? ”

"Give him a chance, knock him a sum of money. How much you knock, you take 30%, I take 70%. Is this a cost-effective deal, do it or not? ”

You Di is now reacting faster and faster, and he immediately said: "How dare the slave and maid do business with Your Majesty, let alone take thirty percent, as long as you knock it, it will be Your Majesty's." ”

"Count you to talk. However, as soon as Chrysostom is opened, there is no reason to take it back, so I will give you 30%, which should be rewarded to you. ”

"Eh, that slave thank Your Majesty for the reward!"

Yuji pricked up his ears, ready to listen carefully.

Zhu Houzhao touched his chin and smiled heartily, "Wang Dehua is a person, everything is good, but it is not clean." Wait, in less than three days, he will definitely find a way to invite you as a guest. As for you, push him off a few times, and then agree......"

"Your Majesty!" You Ji was shocked, "The slave and maid don't dare to make taboos and make friends with foreign ministers, this is something that the slave and maid have never thought of." ”

"Tsk. Don't interrupt me, I want you to go, what are you afraid of? When the time comes, you will promise him, and you will tell him during the banquet that when Liu Jin fell off the horse, he explained some things that were related to him. In addition, I still hide it from me, and I don't know yet. ”

"Your Majesty said this, the slave and maid dare not hide it from Your Majesty."

Zhu Houzhao found it interesting, "That's how it is." ”

"But the slave has no evidence, will he believe it?"

"Liu Jin received two thousand taels of silver from him." The emperor said directly, "In the first year of Zhengde, it was also two thousand taels, five thousand taels in March of the second year, five thousand taels in March of the third year, and two five thousand taels last year." This point in time is right, and he thinks that no one knows except Liu Jin, how can he not believe it? ”

You Ji is really convinced, how can the emperor have any bad moves, so Wang Qiong can't be scared half to death.

"This Wang Qiong...... Much richer than a slave. Slaves and maids dare not take so much silver. ”

Zhu Houzhao snorted secretly, "You can take it at ease." Zhejiang, there are many rich businessmen, he has been in Zhejiang for so many years, his net worth is not 500,000, but he also has 300,000, I just see that he is quite effective, and he is a foreign minister after all, a foreign minister, not as close as a minister. ”

Anyway, he didn't expect him to be the emperor, so he made Daming a clean official everywhere. Especially in a place like Zhejiang, where wealthy businessmen gather, it is not too normal to collect some silver after a five-year governor.

For the kind of person who doesn't charge any money, he is completely unsympathetic, and in fact, he can't do anything in Zhejiang.

"Your Majesty's thoughts, the slave and maid understand. The slave and maid will go and scare him on His Majesty's behalf! ”

Zhu Houzhao's eyes narrowed, and he thought about it more deeply, "There is no point in simply scaring him, and people like him can't be scared, but he just understands, and he has to pretend to be confused and send the silver in!" ”

"Your Majesty is wise!"

"In the future, he will talk to you in private, and you can do the things you send." Zhu Hou instructed him.

You Jixin said, you have all those things about Liu Jin in your heart, and I dare to do anything crooked, "The slave understands that no matter what he says or what he sends, he must tell His Majesty." Your Majesty asked the slave and maid to take it, and the slave and maid took it. ”

"Well, you're still sensible." Zhu Houzhao turned around and left, leaving the last sentence, "Let him feel that he has a good relationship with the eunuch of the palm seal of the celebrant eunuch." ”

You Zhi waited until the emperor had left before getting up.

I thought in my heart, Son of Heaven, I still have a deep heart.

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Persistence is victory! Recently, the subscription was written back by me, and if it goes on like this, three million is nothing.