Red Mansion: After being expelled from the family, I was granted the title of Marquis of Mobei

Chapter 112: Close up and start a big fight
The current cabinet actually consists of only three people: the chief minister Ke Zheng, and two deputy ministers, Xiao Qinyan and Lin Ruhai.

At this time in the hall, Emperor Yongping looked around at the three people calmly and said.

"My three beloved ministers, since the last grand court meeting, has the cabinet come up with any plans for implementing the new policy pilot program in the Divine Capital?"

Ke Zheng looked calm and composed and did not respond.

It's good enough that he doesn't cause trouble, so he naturally won't take the initiative to promote this matter.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Qinyan bowed and said.

"Your Majesty, after the last grand court meeting, I have considered the new policy again."

"Also, the lands of the four founding kings, including the Prince of Beijing, in the Divine Capital have been measured."

"In the Divine Capital alone, the Four Kings own over 200,000 mu of land. This is only a small portion of the land owned by the Four Kings. In their respective ancestral homes, the land holdings are even more astronomical."

"As for the royal princes, they don't have much land. The twenty-seven princes combined only own three hundred thousand acres."

"I have drawn up a starting point for land tax based on the rank and title of officials."

"Take a seventh-rank official as an example. If a seventh-rank official's family owns more than 200 mu of land, they will be subject to land tax and corvee labor."

"A sixth-rank official is entitled to 500 mu, a fifth-rank official 1,000 mu, and so on."

"In addition, land taxation will also be implemented in a tiered manner."

"For people who own less than 100 mu of land, the tax rate is still 20% to 1%."

"For land over 200 mu but less than 1,000 mu, the tax rate is 15%."

"For those exceeding one thousand acres but less than ten thousand acres, the tax rate will be one tenth."

"For those over 10,000 acres, all are subject to one of the five taxes."

When Ke Zheng heard this, he immediately lost his composure and quickly bowed before speaking.

"Your Majesty, I think Prime Minister Xiao is really going too far with his officials."

"It would be fine to cancel the preferential treatment, but why impose heavy taxes on officials? This is truly detrimental to the country's character."

Lin Ruhai smiled slightly after hearing this.

"Prime Minister Ke, you are being too serious."

"According to Prime Minister Xiao, officials are all entitled to tax-free land."

"Take a sixth-rank official as an example. Five hundred mu of land is tax-free, and the net annual grain harvest is one thousand dan. After deducting various expenses, we'll calculate it as five hundred dan."

"The current price of grain is about six coins of silver per dan. Five hundred dan of grain can be obtained by three hundred taels of silver."

"The salary of a sixth-rank official is only 150 taels of silver a year, so how can you say you are mistreating the people?"

"As for higher-ranking officials, it goes without saying that they can't even spend all the ice and carbon tributes. Who of them relies on land to make a living?"

Ke Zheng immediately retorted.

"Master Lin, your words are biased."

"I'm not against officials paying taxes, but shouldn't officials pay the same as ordinary people? Why are they still being forced to pay high taxes? How can this be justified?"

Lin Ruhai stared at Ke Zheng and said calmly.

"Prime Minister Ke, I'm so bold as to ask if you could share your resume."

Although Ke Zheng was a little confused, he still said.

"Why not? I was the top scholar in the imperial examination in the 13th year of the Tianshun reign. I have served as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy, prefect of Huangzhou, deputy censor of Zhejiang, censor of Jiangxi, and governor of Jiangxi."

"In the 31st year of the Tianshun reign, the Emperor Taishang promoted me to the position of Prime Minister."

Lin Ruhai nodded slightly and said.

"Prime Minister Ke's career can truly be described as a meteoric rise."

"It is precisely because of this that Prime Minister Ke has been away from the grassroots for too long. Perhaps he has no idea how difficult life is for ordinary people at the bottom."

"Prime Minister Ke is a veteran minister of two dynasties and the current Prime Minister. Yet, none of his current speeches are for the country or the people. Instead, he is obstructing the new policies at every turn. How can this be justified?"

After hearing this, Ke Zheng couldn't help but feel his blood boiling.

"Master Lin, what do you mean by this?"

Lin Ruhai said calmly.

"Prime Minister Ke's every word was about defending the officials, as if forcing them to pay taxes was like asking them to die."

"But in reality, asking officials to pay taxes won't have much of an impact on their lives. At most, it will just reduce the number of dishes per meal from ten to nine, that's all."

"But what about the common people at the bottom? Jiangnan is known as the land of fish and rice, a place of prosperity."

"However, due to land annexation, a family of five cultivated less than ten mu of land, so the annual harvest was calculated at twenty dan."

"The imperial court's land tax is one in twenty, but the court uses a tax-farming system. When it comes to the localities, after layers of additional taxes, they have to pay at least two to three stone of grain."

"The imperial court's disaster relief standard is three dou per month for adults and one dou and five liters per month for children."

"Let's use this standard. A family of five needs 13 dan of grain to survive and avoid starvation for a year."

"Besides food, does this family of five need clothes and salt? If anyone gets sick, does they need to see a doctor?"

"Besides, these 13 stone of food are really enough for them to eat."

"Prime Minister Ke, these are still self-employed farmers. If they were tenant farmers, their lives would be extremely difficult."

"Prime Minister Ke is the prime minister of the dynasty. He should help your majesty and keep the country stable."

"But Prime Minister Ke's remarks just now were all about speaking out in defense of the officials, without mentioning the plight of the common people at the bottom of society at all."

"Your Majesty's new policies are not intended for extravagant construction projects or militarism."

"Your Majesty truly wants to benefit the people, so that the common people can breathe a sigh of relief and have enough to eat."

"It's fine if other officials don't understand, but Prime Minister Ke, who sits in the cabinet and controls the government, can't even understand the emperor's heart and even obstructs him in every possible way. Prime Minister Ke, ask yourself, are you worthy of the official uniform you wear?"

"you you,"

Ke Zheng was so ashamed and angry after Lin Ruhai's direct and aggressive remarks that he pointed at Lin Ruhai and said "you" twice. He felt dizzy and then fainted.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Qinyan and Lin Ruhai immediately supported Ke Zheng, and Emperor Yongping then gave orders.

"Someone, take Prime Minister Ke to the Imperial Hospital."

"promise."

The guards then sent Ke Zheng away.

In fact, Ke Zheng was not a treacherous minister or a powerful official. On the contrary, Ke Zheng was an honest official with an excellent reputation.

Because he understood too well the benefits of Emperor Yongping's new policies, and was limited by the fact that he represented the interests of officials, he had no choice but to oppose the new policies.

Lin Ruhai's close attack made Ke Zheng feel ashamed and angry, but he had no face to refute, so he fainted from anger.

It has to be said that after his daughter found her lifelong home, Lin Ruhai, who was free from worries and working at full capacity, was incredibly strong.

As a veteran of two dynasties, Emperor Yongping had no good way to deal with Ke Zheng for the time being.

However, Lin Ruhai's eloquent speech made Ke Zheng so ashamed that he fainted and left the scene.

At this time, Emperor Yongping looked at Lin Ruhai with more and more appreciation. Good, good, this is the kind of person I want who can do hard work without any scruples.

Xiao Qinyan thought for a moment and then bowed and said.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Ke has left. What do you think about the new policy?"

Emperor Yongping said with a slight smile.

"Prime Minister Xiao has been very thoughtful. Let's start implementing the new policies in the Divine Capital immediately."

"If the new policy goes smoothly this year, it will be implemented nationwide within three years."

"What Lin Qing said makes a lot of sense. Now that our Great Zhou is powerful and fearsome, if the common people at the bottom are still suffering and unable to get enough food, how can we call it a peaceful and prosperous era?"

"I think Prime Minister Ke is not in good health. I don't think he will be able to recover for a while."

"During this period, Prime Minister Xiao will focus on the new policies, and Lin Qing will be responsible for handling cabinet affairs."

Hearing this, Xiao Qinyan felt a bitter feeling in his heart. This was the difference in treatment between the direct line and the side branches.

He himself took on the thankless new policy and let Lin Ruhai, who had just joined the cabinet, temporarily take over the responsibility of Prime Minister.

Oh, what a double standard.

Although he felt uncomfortable, Xiao Qinyan knew very well that he was forced to do this and did not volunteer.

He is definitely no match for Lin Ruhai, a minister who has always been doing hard work for His Majesty.

After Emperor Yongping gave his instructions on the new policy, Xiao Qinyan and Lin Ruhai left the Qianqing Palace and went back to their respective posts.

Emperor Yongping was in a good mood at this time and drank tea leisurely.

As for Ke Zheng, he woke up not long after arriving at the Imperial Hospital.

Although he was not seriously injured, he pretended to be extremely unwell and had someone send him back to the prime minister's residence.

Ke Zheng already had the idea of ​​retiring.

He was well aware that he had angered the emperor and that the implementation of the new policy was a foregone conclusion.

If I continue to stay in this phase, I will suffer disaster sooner or later.

After returning home, Ke Zheng wrote a memorial of resignation and retired to seclusion, and presented it to Emperor Yongping.

Ke Zheng's resignation soon caused an uproar.

Officials from Ke Zheng's faction went to the prime minister's residence one after another to visit, but Ke Zheng closed the door and refused to see anyone.

In the evening, at the residence of Prince Beijing, Prince Beijing and four other princes were discussing things together.

Prince Beijing looked at everyone and said.

"I think you three have received the news of Ke Zheng's resignation."

Prince Dongping and others nodded and said.

"I heard, Brother Shui, do you think Ke Zheng is really resigning or is he just pretending?"

Prince Beijing said after a moment of thought.

"Nine out of ten times, this is going to be real."

"This old man is very smart. He knows that the new policy must be implemented. If he continues to stay in this position, it will only be a matter of time before His Majesty angers him and he will be held accountable."

"But if he really leaves, the civil service will be leaderless, and it will be even more difficult to say whether they can resist the new policies."

Prince Xining said with an angry look on his face.

"This old guy ran away so easily. What should we do?"

"The land in Shendu is not a big deal. Our family only has tens of thousands of acres. But my hometown has the most land. Who doesn't have hundreds of thousands of acres of land?"

"It would be a sin to just hand over such a large sum of money like this."

"And they have to do corvée labor, which costs a lot of money."

Prince Nan'an sighed and said.

"So what if you don't want to? You all know that His Majesty has been displeased with us for a long time."

"If no one else steps forward at this time and we step forward to oppose His Majesty, that would be tantamount to seeking death."

Prince Xining was very dissatisfied after hearing this.

"So what should we do? Should we just watch and do nothing?"

"If we don't say anything about collecting land taxes and labor service today, then tomorrow we should collect business taxes."

"If this continues, sooner or later His Majesty will plunder our small fortune, and then the whole family will be left with nothing."

Prince Beijing waved his hand and said.

"Well, it's not that exaggerated. At a tax rate of one in twenty, plus corvée labor, each of our families would have to pay over 20,000 dan of grain a year. Adding to that the corvée labor, it would probably be tens of thousands of taels of silver a year."

"Although it's not a small amount, it's not a big deal either."

"Let's wait and see what happens."

"Even if we want to cause trouble, we can't do it now, and we can't do it openly."

At this time, some people did not know about the tiered tax system and felt that a 20% tax rate was acceptable.

Therefore, the Prince of Beijing calmed down the group with just a few words.

It can be predicted that once the tiered taxation policy is announced, there will inevitably be some turmoil.

After talking about the new policy, Prince Xining looked at Prince Beijing and said.

"Brother Shui, you called us here today, it shouldn't be just for this matter, right? Is there something else?"

Prince Beijing nodded and said with a smile.

"Of course. Everyone, do you have any thoughts on the Champion Marquis?"

Prince Nan'an said after a cold laugh.

"Marquis Guanjun, relying on Your Majesty's favor, is acting recklessly and doesn't take us seriously at all."

"In the matters concerning the Beijing Camp and the Ning and Rong Mansions, he has been more ruthless than ever before, not giving us even a shred of respect."

"If there's a suitable opportunity, I'll definitely get him no matter what."

Prince Beijing said with a chuckle.

"I think the four of us can still agree on this point."

"There is an opportunity right now. Do you want to listen to it?"

Prince Nan'an said with some hesitation.

"I'm afraid this won't be easy. Your Majesty trusts him so much, it would be very difficult to deal with him."

Prince Beijing said with a calm smile.

"Everything depends on human effort. We can give it a try. If it succeeds, that's great. If it doesn't, that's fine too. As long as we do it cleanly and don't bring disaster upon ourselves, that's all."

Prince Dongping said after a moment of thought.

"Brother Shui, please stop keeping me in suspense and tell me now."

Prince Beijing nodded, and then began to discuss with a few people.

Just when a group of people were planning to do something bad to Jia Jue, Jia Jue was chatting with Sheng Changbai in the Marquis of Guanjun's mansion.

Jia Jue looked at Sheng Changbai and said with a smile.

"Changbai, you're not on duty at the Hanlin Academy today, so why did you think of coming to the Marquis' Mansion?"

Sheng Changbai said after smiling slightly.

"I heard that Sixth Sister is pregnant, so I came here to visit her."

"My mother also asked me to bring a lot of nourishing things, and oh, the doll I begged for from the Tianhou Temple."

"This is something your mother specifically went to the Tianhou Temple to pray for your unborn child. It is incredibly effective."

Jia Jue nodded and said.

"Mother-in-law is so thoughtful. Once Minglan is pregnant, my husband and I will go back to her parents' home to visit her."

Sheng Changbai waved his hand and said.

"We're family, so why are we being so awkward?"

"By the way, there's something I want to ask you for help with."

Jia Jue said with a slight smile.

"It's rare for you to talk to me, so tell me what it is. As long as it's within my ability, I will definitely help you."

(End of this chapter)