Chapter 512

Although the tax and tax are both levied on the people, but the purpose is different, the word Fu is composed of the word "bei" and "wu", that is, the meaning of currency used in war. In ancient China, taxes were first levied on land products and industry and commerce. It is used for general state expenses. As recorded in the Hanshu Criminal Law Chronicle: "There are taxes and taxes, taxes are sufficient for food, and foot soldiers are endowed with soldiers." national implementation".

The Qing Dynasty first restored the old system before the reform of the Ming Dynasty, continued to increase the Ding tax, and then made a "never increase", but with a big face, this was regarded as a kind of imperial grace!

This is the same as the supermarket first raising prices and then discounting it. Of course, the so-called "imperial grace" can only be compared with the barbaric policies of massacres, confiscation, and land enclosure in the early Qing Dynasty in the past hundred years.

I will never increase the tax in the Qing Dynasty, but I do not promise to never raise taxes, in fact, it is just the left hand to the right hand, covering people's eyes and ears, Qian Mu's "Outline of National History" said: "Since Kangxi 50 years later, never add taxes." The Qing court kept the reputation of 'never giving more', and the donation cases were one after another, which was tantamount to indulging in dozens of hungry tigers and jackals among the people, and the harm was even more serious than that of adding endowments. ”

Cheng Shijie's promise never to collect taxes is actually very simple, the military expenses generated by the imperial court's use of foreign troops will not be apportioned among the people, but because the Ming Dynasty is currently enjoying the war dividends of foreign expansion.

With Cheng Shijie's "Cheng will never enjoy the endowment!" "This holy decree was promulgated, and Emperor Chongzhen was even more heartbroken, no matter how capable the descendants of the Zhu family were, they could no longer regain the lost country from the Cheng family.

The subjects and gentry of the world, even the landlords and gentry who were no longer satisfied with Cheng Shijie, shouted long live Cheng Shijie.

Although the gentry had the privilege of tax exemption, they did not have the right to be exempted, and the state used troops and levy three salaries, and the gentry could not escape either, but they just paid more and paid less.

The people were also very satisfied with Cheng Shijie's arrangement, and shouted long live Shengming.

In the Taimiao, the Emperor Hongwu and the Emperor Yongle ...... Until the Ming Xizong, fifteen pieces of spiritual seats stood silently, witnessing the birth and glory of the Ming Dynasty, witnessing the rapid decline of the Ming Dynasty's national fortunes, witnessing the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, and also witnessing the successive emperors of the Ming Dynasty seem to have stood out of the mausoleum, silently looking at the descendants who showed their fatigue early due to overwork, and silently staring at the splendid rivers and mountains that they had worked hard to govern.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at Taimiao and wept bitterly.

Cheng Shijie not only feasted the ministers, but also feasted the people of Gyeonggi, and the people of Gyeonggi were also lucky, more than 2.4 million people, as well as the people who came to watch the ceremony, there were more than 3 million people, who enjoyed the feast of Cheng Shijie, the new king.

Cheng Shijie asked people to prepare a big gift to the people of Gyeonggi and the people who came to participate in the enthronement ceremony, regardless of age, regardless of gender, old and young, to distribute a bag of rice, 20 catties, 10 catties of mutton and pork, 10 catties of fish, and 1 catty of wine.

More than 3 million people, only more than 60 million catties of grain were distributed, for Cheng Shijie, it was nothing more than transporting a few more ships from Luzon or Nanyang, and the same was true for meat, if it was in the Chongzhen Dynasty, even if he had money, he couldn't buy so many things.

However, now Daming has no shortage of food, let alone alcohol, and as for meat, it only consumes a small part of Gyeonggi, which was unimaginable before.

Cheng Shijie remembers very clearly that the first time he participated in the banquet of Emperor Chongzhen, the dishes at the banquet were only a little more sumptuous than home-cooked dishes, and even meat was rare, which disappointed the foodie who made up his mind to support the wall and came out of the wall, and he thought that there was a full banquet for the Manchu and Han people.

In contrast, Cheng Shijie's banquet for the ministers and representatives of the people was very rich, only more than 2,000 sheep were prepared, and the sumptuous dishes were served on large plates, and the wine brewed from potatoes was put on the table without money, and the aroma of vegetables and wine was mixed in one place, which made people salivate.

After tossing for so long at the enthronement ceremony, they were also hungry, so they sat down, picked up the dishes and chopsticks, and began to eat and drink. In particular, representatives of the military, they finally got what they wanted.

Cheng Shijie officially ascended the throne, they can be regarded as putting their hanging hearts into their stomachs, if Cheng Shijie does not ascend the throne again, they will launch a military admonition, after all, no one wants to have a sharp sword hanging over their heads.

Just because they are Cheng Shijie's soldiers and eat Cheng Shijie's grain, no one who becomes an emperor will not let them go easily.

Cheng Shijie first came to the side of the military representative, he held a wine glass and said: "Soldiers, over the years, everyone has been coarse and hungry, starving, standing side by side, helping each other in the same boat, opening up the situation, I thank you for your trust in me over the years, everyone has worked hard!" I can't give you much, especially privileges, I can't give any of you, today is the day I become emperor, everyone drink as much as you want, make fun of it, come, I toast everyone! ”

Thousands of generals and officials in the army snapped up from their seats like springs that had been pressed to the limit, raised their wine glasses, and shouted in unison: "Congratulations to Your Majesty!" ”

The wild voice, the sturdy posture, and the uniform movements startled the Wenchen who were drinking, and muttered in a small voice: "These Qiu Ba are not simple!" ”

"Be cautious, beware of misfortune coming out of your mouth!"

In the Dingxin Dynasty, it is not like in the Chongzhen Dynasty, even if it is the imperial historian, it cannot be sprayed indiscriminately, and there must be conclusive evidence for anyone and everything impeached, and the tradition of the imperial history has become a thing of the past.

In particular, the status of soldiers is already very high, if they dare to call soldiers with insulting words and words, the consequences are quite serious, as long as they are heard, a sentence of Qiu Ba is enough to make them lose their official hats at the lightest, and at the worst they will be assigned to Zhanzhou.

Cheng Shijie is also a very righteous person, in today's special day, he naturally can't forget the soldiers around him, in addition to the more than 1,200 and 500 soldier representatives and more than 600 officers who came to attend the imperial banquet, other soldiers in the barracks have also been allocated rich food.

Just like this time, the people of Gyeonggi are equally rewarded for the soldiers and their families of the whole army, and this standard is doubled, 50 catties of high-quality rice, 20 catties of mutton and pork, fish and meat, and wine are also enough.

Compared with the original army of the Ming Dynasty, the Royal Army and Royal Navy officers and men of the Ming Dynasty are all professional soldiers, and they only have two things, fighting and preparing for war.

Even if they came to the banquet, their waists were very straight, they sat down like a bayonet, stood up like a javelin, their eyes were sharp, and they were extremely energetic.

Now the Ming army no longer adopts the hereditary system, and there is an obvious number of years of discharge, all the soldiers and officers in the register, the age is not too old, they are not infected with all kinds of bad habits, strict military discipline has become their code of conduct, every move, every word and deed, there are rules to follow, never dare to violate the slightest.

At the banquet of Wenchen, the ministers of the DPRK and China talked to Cheng Shijie endlessly, and there was always a hint of compliment between the words, and this kind of half-hidden dialogue made Cheng Shijie very unhappy.

Cheng Shijie noticed that Chongzhen, compared with other last emperors in previous dynasties, Cheng Shijie did not give Emperor Chongzhen an insulting title, such as why Zhao Kuangyin gave Li Yu, the queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty, a disobedient marquis, Jin Guo named Song Huizong as the Duke of Dude, etc., now Emperor Chongzhen has no title, and no other identity.

In terms of age, Emperor Chongzhen is actually much younger than Cheng Shijie, Emperor Chongzhen is five years younger than Cheng Shijie, but now it seems that Emperor Chongzhen has grown a trace of white hair, full of vicissitudes of life, and tired, while Cheng Shijie is full of red light, nominally in his forties, in fact, younger than people in their thirties.

In Cheng Shijie's opinion, Emperor Chongzhen is also pitiful, with such a mess and such a group of undisciplined ministers, he can be regarded as miserable.

"Grass people, see Your Majesty!"

Cheng Shijie looked at Chongzhen and said, "We are friends, you don't have to be so polite!" ”

In fact, if you think about it seriously, although the dragon chair has infinite magic, it is not as beautiful as people think, and after sitting on it, I found that what I wanted was not this emperor. For example, Song Huizong, Song Qinzong father and son, these two goods are actually top calligraphers and writers, whose calligraphy and literary cultivation are enough to make them famous in history, but for various reasons they ascended the throne and became emperors, and then they were very unlucky to meet Jingkang, and ended up with a tragic end of "sitting in the well and watching the sky".

Ming Wuzong Zhu Houzhao has endless whimsical ideas, if he is allowed to be a performance artist, he must have amazing achievements, but he became the emperor, leaving behind the absurd, favored and treacherous infamy, it is simply the emperor's negative teaching material.

A little closer, Zhu Youxiao, this thing has extraordinary craftsmanship and creativity, he is a genius carpenter, a genius designer, but God has to make him the emperor...... For him and for Daming, it was a tragedy.

And Chongzhen, according to Cheng Shijie's observation for so many years, although he is very diligent and studious, and knows how to draw inferences, but he vaguely knows how to be an emperor, but he does not have the posture of an emperor. Emperor Chongzhen's start was too bad, unless he was a prince who had been cultivated as an emperor a long time ago, he couldn't change the situation of the Ming Dynasty at all.

On the contrary, after Cheng Jialong's efforts in the past few years, Cheng Jialong was replaced by Emperor Chongzhen, and Cheng Jialong would definitely not be fooled like Chongzhen.

"I'm very happy to see you. You enjoy the life of a commoner, you can, but you have to remember that your surname is Zhu, your origin and this surname are destined to you, your children, your grandchildren, you can't be a real commoner for several generations, so you have to work hard to let everyone in the world know that Zhu Youzhen is not bad, understand? ”

In this world, I'm afraid only Cheng Shijie can talk to Chongzhen like this.

Chongzhen was stunned on the spot, but Queen Zhou hurriedly said: "Thank you, Your Majesty!" ”

Emperor Chongzhen looked at Cheng Shijie and said, "You want to keep me as a catfish?" ”

"Sure enough, he was a man who had been an emperor, smart!"

Cheng Shijie didn't kill Chongzhen, nor did he think about killing Chongzhen to prevent future troubles, he looked at Cheng Jialong not far away and said: "I have been the emperor for a few years, and when I have enough, let him be, he may do a good job after becoming the emperor, but it doesn't mean that he can always be so diligent and love the people, someone must put pressure on him, if he doesn't do well...... I'll replace you with that. ”

Chongzhen was stunned for a long time and smiled bitterly: "I feel more and more that this emperor is right......!" ”

As Cheng Shijie said that he would replace Cheng Jialong with Chongzhen at any time, Chongzhen obviously felt that there were countless unkind eyes on his body, and there was no doubt that if Cheng Shijie hadn't protected him, he would definitely have died very miserably.

Cheng Shijie held the enthronement ceremony, and the fifth year of Dingxin began.

Dingxin five years is a very bad year, until the spring ploughing, the whole north has not rained, all kinds of pests are more and more fierce, in the original time and space of history, Li Xin took refuge in Li Zicheng, to Li Zicheng advice, at the same time Niu Jinxing to Li Zicheng recommended Song to the policy, Li Zicheng began to break out rapidly.

In contrast, in this year, the whole Ming Dynasty was very peaceful, Shanxi, Beizhili, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu five provinces and 19 provinces and more than 200 counties were affected by drought and insect pests.

However, because they are now subjects of the Dingxin Dynasty, taking advantage of the dry weather and the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River to cut off, Cheng Shijie ordered the cabinet to organize the people of the five provinces to make every effort to repair the Yellow River.

Dredging rivers and repairing dikes.

Despite the drought and the fact that 20 to 30 million people were affected, there was no incident of starvation to death, and the people's lives were not greatly affected by the method of cash-for-work.

The rice and wheat eaten in the north of the Ming Dynasty mainly came from the Mughal Empire, and the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Ming Dynasty launched a new round of attacks on the banks of the Ganges River in February on the grounds of attacking the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty.

The people simply can't eat enough food in their homes.

As the only Ming vassal state in Europe, the Republic of Venice learned that the Ming suzerainty was suffering from a drought, and they purchased more than 3 million stone of grain from the European colonial authorities and shipped it to the capital.

It wasn't until June that Sun Zhilan, the prime minister of the Ming Cabinet, finally breathed a sigh of relief: "With these nearly 40 million stone grains, Daming can finally tide over the difficulties!" ”

Cheng Shijie said lightly: "I told you a long time ago, your worries are superfluous, this world is very big, the Ming Dynasty has more than two million troops, the world's most advanced artillery and warships, and the whole world is the granary of the Ming Dynasty!" ”

Sun Zhili just picked up a report, this is the report of Shen Qidong, director of the Xinming Management Committee, after learning that the Ming Dynasty was affected, the Xinming side organized hundreds of people to mobilize grain and buy grain from the natives, providing no less than four million stone of grain.

Sun Zhili sighed: "Your Majesty has seen thousands of miles, but the minister is far away!" ”

Cheng Shijie said: "I just got the news that King Charles I of Great Britain is in trouble, and this is an opportunity for the Ming Dynasty to intervene in Europa!" ”

(End of chapter)