Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 186: The method of breaking windows, officials and gentry pay taxes!
It comes down to it.

It was the fault of the Ming Dynasty officials' pursuit of progress.

If you don’t take it and I don’t take it, how can the Censorate take it?
Although there were three inspections in parallel, namely the Ministry of Personnel's inspection in Beijing, the Censorate's inspection, and the Jinyiwei's performance evaluation, the trend of "personnel" in the Ming Dynasty was only slightly curbed.

Bribery and corruption do exist, but they have become more obscure and tortuous.

Chen Yiqin once heard of a story about how Li Wei, the left minister of the Ministry of Public Security, accepted gifts.
Let those who want to bribe come to the Li family to offer betrothal gifts!
Li Wei has a daughter who is ugly and has not yet married, even though she is over 20 years old.

Anyone who wants to bribe Li Wei and pursue advancement must offer him a generous salary and gifts.

Progressive people often choose to break off the engagement after achieving their goals.

Although the Tongzhengsi was not as good as the six ministries of Li, Revenue, Rites, War, Justice, and Works, the Tongzhengsi Envoy was also one of the Nine Ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

After the fall of the Yan Party, the Tongzhengsi also suffered a great loss and its main power was stripped away. However, as the second in command of the Tongzhengsi and a candidate for the Nine Ministers, if he suffered a broken engagement without a proper explanation, I am afraid no one would be able to accept it.

Since it was a broken engagement, it was natural for the betrothal gifts to be left behind.

In this way, a bribery and corruption was completed.

Then is there no one who is seeking progress and would not regret the engagement and is really willing to marry the daughter of the Li family?
Lord Li had no choice but to close the gate of his mansion, lock the front and back yards, and release the dogs to block the road.

It’s a deal!

No regrets!

It can be sent to the bridal chamber that night!

The next day, all the betrothal gifts will be returned, along with a huge dowry!

Chen Yiqin didn't know how ugly the daughter of the Li family was. Anyway, Lord Li had already promised his daughter to more than 10 men, and it caused a lot of trouble in the city, but she still hadn't been married off.

Even if someone wants to marry her desperately, he will refuse to enter the bridal chamber.

In short.

The Ministry of Personnel, the Censorate, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard had all been watching the Li family's way of accepting bribes, but they were never able to catch anyone.

If the party who wishes to break off the engagement leaves behind the betrothal gift, even the imperial court cannot force them to take it back.

Those who wanted to make progress did so, and Lord Li also made a lot of money. Perhaps the only one who was hurt was the girl from the Li family.

One woman having dozens of men would never be a good reputation in any dynasty.

Therefore, the officials of the Ming Dynasty were not poor, but what was poor was "personnel".

Any promotion in rank cannot be achieved with just a few hundred taels of silver. If you are not greedy or take advantage of others, even if you are promoted from the ninth rank to the ninth rank, you need to accumulate money for ten years without eating or drinking.

But human hearts can’t wait that long.

Gao Gong nodded and said, "That's easy."

When he first took on the responsibility of running the government-run businesses, he was really worried that the court officials would starve to death and there would be no way out.

But according to what Chen Yiqin said, the salary alone is enough to support the livelihood of the whole family, which proves that officials will not starve to death.

Furthermore, the imperial court had various restrictions on officials, but there were never many restrictions on their families, for example, restrictions on labor.

An ordinary farmer's family of five, regardless of gender, age or status, can all work in the fields, facing the loess and tilling the soil.

Ordinary people are human beings, and the families of officials are also human beings. What ordinary people can do, the families of officials can also do.

The Ming Dynasty did not need so many officials, their wives, and their sons.

Li Chunfang's heart tightened, and he asked, "What does the second prime minister mean?"

"Horse herding, tea, and salt industries are all run by the government!" Gao Gong said in a calm voice.

"If we do this, I'm afraid we will be opposed by officials all over the world."

"It is said in The Art of War: 'If you seek the best, you will only get the middle; if you seek the middle, you will get the worst; if you seek the worst, you will surely fail.' Yan Yu of the late Song Dynasty also mentioned in his Canglang Poetry Talk that 'If you learn the best, you will only get the middle; if you learn the middle, you will get the worst.'" Gao Gong talked about the art of war and said with confidence: "Now that the court wants to achieve the goal of official management of various industries, it must propose a court system that is even more difficult for officials to accept.

Horse breeding and people's livelihood are the dirty secrets that officials in the two capitals and thirteen provinces dare not speak of, and the cabinet cannot bring them to the table just like that.

As Yi Fu said, the only overt preferential treatment given to officials and scholars in the imperial court nowadays is tax exemption.

Then let's start with this preferential treatment. The cabinet will submit a petition to the emperor, asking that from now on, officials and gentry will pay taxes together."

Speaking of it.

Li Chunfang almost fainted.

Ever since Zhang Juzheng started the sinister practice of returning the land donated by the people before becoming an official, the amount of land owned by officials in the Ming Dynasty was basically controlled at around 80 acres.

If there were no taxes on these eighty acres of land, the court officials could earn an additional one hundred taels of silver a year.

Once officials and gentry pay taxes together, the court officials will lose half of their one hundred taels of silver.

The court officials dared not speak out about the silver that was secretly amassed, but they regarded the silver that was in the open as a stud on their waists and would risk their lives if it touched even a cent.

This proposal in the memorial is countless times bolder than those proposed by various government-run enterprises.

"The next phase..."

Li Chunfang subconsciously wanted to object, but Gao Gong smiled and lowered his hand, saying, "Zi Shi, you are anxious again.

I just said that this is just a means to force court officials to agree to the government-run operations of various industries.

After submitting the memorial and causing shock to the imperial court, the cabinet would find an opportunity to spread the rumor about the government-run businesses in various industries, hinting that the officials in the court agreed with the government-run businesses in various industries, and then the cabinet would withdraw the memorial.

The court officials must have understood what was big and what was small. Once they agreed to the government-run business of all industries, the request for officials and gentry to pay taxes together was treated as if it had never happened.

Seeking the best and getting the middle is nothing more than this.”

In his opinion.

That's all the art of war is about.

In other words, he didn't want to be a general. Otherwise, what would the point of Hu Zongxian, Qi Jiguang, and Yu Dayou be?

Li Chunfang felt relieved and closed her mouth.

However, Hu Zongxian always felt that something was wrong, as if he had forgotten something, just like when he was speaking, the words were on the tip of his tongue but he didn't know what to say.

Weird!

Seeing the excitement of the Second Prime Minister, Hu Zongxian simply stopped thinking about it. After all, this was the first thing the Second Prime Minister wanted to do after temporarily taking charge of the cabinet. Raising objections would always be embarrassing.

Gao Gong wrote a memorial and asked Liu Tai, the secretary of the cabinet, to present it to the Yuxi Palace.

But just as Hu Zongxian shook his head, his eyes collided with Chen Yiqin's, which were filled with excitement and anticipation for fun, and his body couldn't help but shudder.

Finally I remembered what I had forgotten!

His Majesty’s thoughts!
The Second Prime Minister was thinking about getting the upper hand, but he completely forgot about the issue of the common tax payment by officials and gentry. What would the emperor think if he reported it to the emperor?
Over the years, the emperor has become less and less concerned about the lives of officials. For the sake of the people, officials are the ones who can be sacrificed.

It is very likely that the joint tax payment by officials and gentry to the Emperor will be approved by the Emperor before it causes an uproar in the court and the country!
Apparently Chen Yiqin knew early on the appeal of the emperor having officials and gentry pay taxes together, but he deliberately did not mention it for the sake of the Ming Dynasty's long-term prosperity.

Shortly after.

Liu Tai returns.

Brought back the emperor's will.

Looking at the two bright red words "照准" written by the emperor in red ink on the memorial, Gao Gong stopped smiling.

(End of this chapter)