Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 114: Officials go on strike and start killing again!
Fire consumption.

When local government offices collected taxes and silver, most of them were small pieces of silver, so they needed to be melted down and recast into silver ingots.

This process will remove impurities and other substances from the silver pieces, and will inevitably result in some weight loss.

In order to make up for this loss, an additional amount of money was collected on top of the original tax amount.

And this part of money is called fire consumption.

same.

When collecting grain, a portion of "sparrow and rat loss" would also be charged to make up for the losses during grain transportation and storage.

Such extra taxes and levies imposed on the people were collectively called huohao.

Moreover, the collected fire consumption money was not transported to the Ministry of Revenue for recording, but was stored in the local silver treasury to be used for the official expenses of officials of all ranks and the payment of allowances.

The original intention of the imperial court to set up huohao was to compensate the meager salaries of imperial officials.

Emperor Taizu Gao learned the lesson of the Song court's disastrous failure in maintaining integrity through high salaries, so he was particularly harsh on the salaries of officials in his own dynasty.

But it was precisely because of the court's kindness towards officials that it became a huge mountain weighing on the shoulders of the people.

Strictly speaking, the collected fire consumption was no longer subject to the supervision of the imperial court and local officials could dispose of it at will.

However, the local government offices had the power to levy fire consumption taxes based on local conditions, which resulted in the fire consumption taxes and grain collected by the local government offices exceeding the taxes and grain stipulated by the court, and even far exceeding the taxes and grain stipulated by the court.

According to the regulations of the imperial court, the people pay one tax in twenty.

But these bastards, in order to make money, simply doubled the taxes and fire consumption fees when collecting them. The more unscrupulous ones even doubled them several times.

The actual taxes borne by the people of the Ming Dynasty reached an astonishing rate of one in ten, or even one in five.

The emperor suddenly issued an edict that the fire consumption should be returned to the public, and all losses from taxes should be borne by the court. No one should levy or apportion additional taxes on the basis of the 20% tax rate. Zhang Juzheng's cabinet was shocked at once.

This will cut off the financial resources of officials all over the world!
Zhang Juzheng stood up and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, the officials of the Ming Dynasty have always been poor. They can barely make ends meet by controlling the huohao. If the huohao were to be returned to the public, I'm afraid countless officials would not be able to survive."

"Then you don't have to be an official."

As soon as Zhang Juzheng finished speaking, Zhu Houcong's holy voice rang out and echoed in the hall.

The sound of gold and jade echoed, and Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, and Li Chunfang suddenly froze there.

Zhu Houcong looked at the dazed Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Cabinet Elders, and said with a faint smile: "Since being an official is so difficult, in my opinion, don't force yourself. I don't mean to force you, Huang Jin."

"I'm here." Huang Jin responded immediately.

"Draft an imperial decree. All officials in the two capitals and thirteen provinces, regardless of rank, who are willing to resign and return home, will be returned without any attempt to retain them."

"The slaves obey the order."

Huang Jin hurried to do it.

Li Chunfang's throat rolled and he couldn't help swallowing his saliva, which was dry and painful.

This is scary.

If you cannot accept the meager salary of the court, then don't be an official. Find a reason to live a good life and live a good life.

Why doesn't the emperor play by the rules?

What does the emperor think of the officials' decades of hard study?
"There is no one more wise and intelligent than the Emperor!" Chen Yiqin bowed down in ecstasy.

Zhang, Gao and Li glared at them immediately.

traitor!

Traitor to the court!
Traitors among the officials!
"Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, and Li Chunfang." Zhu Houcong looked at them.

The three bowed, "I am here!"

Zhu Houcong said calmly: "I saw a riddle in a poem before, and I'm telling you. Please guess what the answer is." "I will listen to your words."

"There is a beauty in the North, peerless and independent. One glance from her could conquer a city, another glance could conquer a country."

Zhu Houcong looked at them deeply and said in a voice that was neither too loud nor too low, "Tell me, what is it?"

All smart people.

In a few breaths, Zhang, Gao, and Li guessed the answer. They didn't dare to say it, but they couldn't not answer it. Zhang Juzheng suppressed his fear and said, "I ask the emperor to give me paper and pen."

Zhu Houcong waved his sleeves, and the young eunuch hurriedly brought paper and pen. There was no desk in the hall, so they could only put the paper on the stool where the three of them had just sat.

Zhang, Gao and Li stood up, picked up the pen, bent down, and respectfully wrote the four characters "好自为之" on the rice paper. Then they held it up with both hands, gently blew dry the ink, and handed it to the young eunuch.

The young eunuch presented it to Zhu Houcong, who smiled and said, "What a learning! What a learning! Good! Good! Good!"

Zhang, Gao and Li stood there in a daze. It was not right to thank the emperor for his praise, nor was it right not to thank him for his praise.

God’s grace is unpredictable.

"Since there is nothing else, you can leave." Zhu Houcong stood up and walked towards the temple.

Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, and Li Chunfang looked at the emperor's back with a dazed look, and together with Chen Yiqin, they bowed and said, "I'll take my leave!"

Zhang Juzheng's cabinet left.

Huang Jin is back.

The imperial edict has been issued.

Huang Jin added incense to the incense burner and praised: "Mr. Chen, you are really a good minister."

In front of the emperor, in the hall, he was deeply impressed by Chen Yiqin's ability to fight against three opponents alone for the benefit of the people.

I used to think that there were no good officials in this world, but now it seems that not all of them are like that.

"Good Lord?"

Zhu Houcong glanced at him, nodded, and then shook his head, "About that."

Chen Yiqin's family.

To some extent, they have reached the level of an aristocratic family, and vaguely have even surpassed the realm of an aristocratic family.

The Chen family has been a family of farmers and scholars, but they mainly studied. They don't have much arable land, and the grain produced from the land is basically only enough for the family members to eat.

However, the Chen family has too many "reading materials", including books of ancient sages, letters of saints, calligraphy and paintings by celebrities, precious antiques and other extremely valuable things.

If you take out any one of them and sell it, it would be enough for everyone in the family to live for decades.

Therefore, what the Chen family pursued was not endless wealth, but eternity.

The power that is everlasting is the power; the power that is fickle makes people powerless.

Perhaps, the Chen family hoped that the Ming Dynasty would last for thousands of years more than the royal family. As long as the Ming Dynasty was stable, the Chen family, relying on their family foundation, would be able to hold high positions and ride fine horses from generation to generation.

This is the real reason why Chen Yiqin changed his usual behavior on the issue of farmers and refused to give in even if it meant offending his colleagues and even sacrificing his life.

The Chen family had long realized that those who had ever rebelled were all farmers, and no one else could turn the world upside down.

By stabilizing the farmers, the Ming Dynasty will be stabilized, and the Chen family will also be able to remain stable.

Chen Yiqin is doing things for his family, but he is also doing practical things for the people. Whether it is good or not, at least in the eyes of the people, he is a good minister.

"Your Majesty, the fire consumption will be returned to the public and announced to the world. What should we do if those officials neither resign nor cooperate and silently resist?" Huang Jin thought about the issue of returning the fire consumption to the public. If those officials were slow to work, the carriage of the Ming Dynasty would probably stop.

Zhu Houcong spoke in a cold tone, with murderous intent: "It is the same crime as disobeying the imperial decree, kill!"

(End of this chapter)