Chapter 639 Chapter 638 The Storm Rises Again
"If Xu Jie wants to die, it's up to him."
Wei Guangde spoke calmly.
"Um?"
When Chen Yiqin heard what Wei Guangde said, he looked at him in surprise, as if asking how to say this.
"Gao Suqing was forced out of office. Who doesn't know that Xu Chieffu was behind this matter? Now he forces Gao Suqing away and takes action against Guo Zhifu. What will Your Majesty think?"
Wei Guangde raised the corner of his mouth, and a sneer appeared on his face, "Our Majesty is indeed soft-tempered, but he knows who is good to him.
It can be said that Xu Shoufu's affair with Gao Suqing was caused by Gao Suqing's initiative. This Guo Zhifu had never provoked him on his own initiative. If he killed everyone like this, would Your Majesty have no idea in his mind? "
"That makes sense. I've completely forgotten about this."
Chen Yiqin nodded when he heard this, and said with some annoyance: "Before, my vision was limited to the pavilion, but I have forgotten about today."
"Yeah, now, how many people still have this day in their hearts, hum?"
Yin Shizhen whispered without hiding anything.
After defeating Gao Gong, Xu Jie's reputation is now at its peak in both the government and the public. After all, he is a minister who has been with the emperor for ten years. If he is told to do it, he will do it. All the officials now respect and fear Xu Jie.
If it were the end of the dynasty, there would be a chance for such a person to exist and even cause big things. But now that the Ming Dynasty is as stable as Mount Tai, how could such an official be allowed to exist?
No matter how easy-tongued the emperor is, he will never tolerate a chief minister who can challenge his power. It can be said that Xu Jie has now made a mark in Emperor Longqing's heart.
As long as he did not leave the court, the emperor would be thinking about how to weaken his power and weaken his influence all day long.
"Guo Zhifu is not like Gao Suqing, who offends people everywhere. He has always been very popular as an official. If Xu Jie really instigates someone to get him, the direction of public opinion will change again."
Wei Guangde just smiled and said.
"Why?"
Yin Shizhen asked in confusion.
"The officials in the court attacked him because he was on Gao Gong's side. They were actually targeting Gao Gong, not Guo Zhifu. If they really forced him away, it would seem that Xu Shoufu had no tolerance for others, and What’s the difference between Gao Suqing?”
Wei Guangde replied.
"Yes, yes, yes."
Yin Shizhen nodded and said happily.
"Shan Loi, you'd better hand over the knife over there as soon as possible, so that His Majesty can vent his anger, and at the same time suppress Xu Jie's arrogance."
Immediately, Yin Shizhen continued.
"By the way, there is something else going on in the cabinet today, and I will tell you about it, just in case any colleagues ask about it and you still don't know."
Before Wei Guangde answered, Chen Yiqin suddenly spoke again.
"What's the matter?"
Wei Guangde asked curiously, and Yin Shizhen also listened attentively.
"Today's cabinet meeting was originally about opening up the sea, but in the end, Ge Shangshu of the Ministry of Revenue took out another copy of his memorandum and submitted it to the cabinet, requesting to suspend the implementation of the 'One Whip Law'. As a result, there was an argument with Zhang Shuda A heated argument."
Later generations' contributions to Zhang Juzheng were mainly concentrated in the implementation of a series of reform measures during his more than ten years as the chief minister of the cabinet.
In terms of finance, the land was cleared and the "one whip method" was implemented. All taxes and labor were paid in silver. "Taicang millet can be used for ten years, and Zhou Temple has accumulated gold to more than 4 million";
Militaryly, Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang and other famous generals were appointed to the north of the town, and Ling Yunyi, Yin Zhengmao and others were used to quell the southwest rebellion;
In the administration of officials, a comprehensive examination of names and facts is implemented, and officials at all levels are evaluated using the "examination method". "Although they are thousands of miles away, they will be implemented day and night", and the political system is solemn.
However, what Wei Guangde remembers is that the implementation of the "One Whip Method" and the "Examination Method" offended many bureaucrats, so in the end the Zhang family did not fare well.
Therefore, before Wei Guangde became an official, he was surprised when he discovered that the Ming Dynasty implemented the "one whip method" for tax collection in some places. After learning more about it, he realized that "implementation" was the focus of the "one whip method".
The essence of the "One Whip Method" is to merge taxes and levies, merging land taxes and various types of corvee and levying them together, and at the same time, spreading part of the burden of the labor into the land.
In the past, corvées were done based on households and dings, and instead they were apportioned according to the number of dings and fields. Except for the government's need to collect rice and wheat, the tax burdens were all converted into two taels of silver. Farmers and various households that could afford to do the servitude could pay for the servitude. The government hired people to undertake the tasks; the collection of taxes and levies was handled directly by local officials. The original "people's collection and people's liberation" system in which taxes and levies were collected and relieved through grain chiefs and li chiefs was abolished and changed to the "official collection and official relief" system.
In the ninth year of Jiajing, Liang Cai, the Minister of Household Affairs, put forward a plan to eliminate the drawbacks of tax and labor based on Gui E's memorial on "compilation and examination of corvee": "Together, the ten grains of grain and grains of each li will be consolidated in one li, and the grains of each li will be consolidated in one state and one county. The dingliang of each state and county is under one government, and the dingliang of each prefecture is under the chief secretary.
The Chief Secretary will assign corvées to each province's dings of grain. In addition to the number of privileges and exemptions, each grain will be compiled into a certain amount of silver, and each ding will be reviewed and approved.
In the 10th year of Jiajing's reign, Fu Hanchen, the censor, called this method of "generalizing the grain of a province and assigning corvees to the same province" as the "One Weaving Method", which later became the "One Whip Method".
The early implementation was first implemented in Nanzhili and Zhejiang provinces with heavy taxes and levies, followed by Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi. However, at this time, it was only limited to certain prefectures, prefectures, and counties, and was not generally implemented.
Since the reform of taxes and servitude affected the economic interests of the officials, gentry and landlords, there was great resistance and progress was slow in the beginning.
In fact, the imperial court has been encouraging local governments to adopt the "one whip method" to collect taxes and servitude. After all, after implementation, taxes will increase significantly and the burden on the people will be significantly reduced.
The increase and decrease actually meant that the interests of officials, gentry and landlords were damaged, and they had to pay more taxes than before.
In fact, if you look carefully at the places where this law was implemented, you will find that most of them were concentrated in the south. Very few provinces in the north of the Ming Dynasty implemented this law. The reason for this was naturally that the power of officials, gentry and landlords was too strong, and it was difficult for local officials to implement it smoothly.
"In the cabinet, Minister Ge listed the actual situation in northern Zhili and Shandong. The land was empty and the people were poor. The number of migrants increased day by day, and the officials made reforms in a disorderly manner, imposed too heavy taxes, and levied taxes unevenly.
The new law did not consider the level of households, but only the number of fields, causing the people to abandon their land to avoid taxes. South of the Yellow River and east and west of Taihang Mountain, the land was barren and the people were unable to pay the regular taxes, so how could they be subject to heavy taxes?"
Chen Yiqin just frowned and described what happened today, but did not reveal his position.
In fact, this is not surprising. As a cabinet minister, his statement was of great importance and would not be easily revealed.
"Shandong did have several prefectures implementing the 'One Whip Law', and there were indeed some civil unrest, but the local authorities handled it properly and it wasn't a big deal."
Yin Shizhen was from Shandong, and naturally knew some news from his correspondence with his family.
"Does Minister Ge mean to restore the system of the early days of the country?"
Wei Guangde asked.
Chen Yiqin nodded, "Shangshu Ge said that when the country first collected taxes and grain, the Ministry of Revenue set the names of warehouses and the value of the number of stones. The common people paid according to the warehouses, and the amount of money owed was clear. This method was very convenient.
In recent years, it has been set as the "One Whip Law", regardless of the warehouse, not the number of stones, but only the amount of silver per mu, which has caused officials to collude with each other to increase or decrease the amount of taxes, resulting in a lot of problems.
The old rules should be restored, and the "One Whip Law" and other laws should be stopped to make the tax amount even and convenient for collection."
"Most of Jiangxi has implemented this law, and there are not many disadvantages."
Wei Guangde just spoke lightly. Wei Guangde didn't know much about the situation of Yin Shizeng's family. When it comes to Shandong, Yin Shizeng naturally has more say.
If he directly opposed Ge Shouli's words, Wei Guangde didn't know whether he would offend Yin Shizeng.
However, Wei Guangde knew in his heart that although the "One Whip Law" was not implemented in the Ming Dynasty, it was eventually implemented in the subsequent dynasties, which also shows that this law should not be bad.
Existence is reasonable. Since it has been implemented for two consecutive dynasties, it must have something outstanding.
"Is Jiangxi still using the 'One Whip Law' now?"
Yin Shizhen asked back, and Wei Guangde was speechless for a moment.
Speaking of the "One Whip Law", the Ming Dynasty court, from the emperor to the officials, highly praised this law, because the tax and service system formulated in the early Ming Dynasty was extremely complicated. The separate collection of taxes and service could easily lead to local tyrants deceiving the people and causing unequal showdowns.
Moreover, the "One Whip Law" also conforms to Zhu Yuanzhang's legislative intention: the law should be revised to be concise and clear, so that the people can understand it at a glance, and avoid some corrupt officials taking advantage of the loopholes in the law to deceive the people.
However, when it came to the local area, because of the reason that the southern tangerines are not as good as the northern tangerines, there is indeed a phenomenon of not adapting to the local climate.
The "One Whip Law" originated in Jiangnan, so it was implemented on a larger scale in the Jiangnan region. However, due to the changes in local officials, the implementation was also intermittent, because although the court advocated it, it did not forcefully require its implementation.
So when Yin Shizhen asked Wei Guangde about the current situation in Jiangxi, Wei Guangde really couldn't answer.
Wei Guangde also thought about the "One Whip Law", but he felt that many of the problems were unsolvable, so he didn't have a clear position to choose to support or oppose.
The main reason is that although this law simplifies the types of taxes, it will not essentially reduce the impact of heavy taxes on the people. It's just that because most of the taxes are spread on the land, the people have no land or little land, so they will pay less tax silver.
But don't forget that the heavy taxes criticized by the people are also collected in the "One Whip Law". The taxes are mixed together, which makes it easier for local officials to add private goods.
Moreover, it is known that the most difficult bone to chew in the land reform of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty was "fire consumption", which almost shook the foundation of the dynasty.
As for the problem of fire consumption, in fact, the Ming Dynasty has not yet realized it. The fundamental reason is that the "One Whip Law" has not been fully promoted. Many problems are actually not detected by trial implementation in various places.
Fire consumption is the so-called "fire consumption" generated during the silver smelting process due to the tax law's requirement to pay silver.
The actual fire consumption of smelting broken silver is an average of one to two cents per tael, or one or two percent, but the actual fire consumption collected is often much higher, reaching two to three cents per tael, and sometimes even more.
As a result, fire consumption has become a clever means of local accumulation and a heavy burden on taxpayers.
As for the methods of exploiting and squeezing the people, such as "expensive silver and cheap grain" that local officials and businessmen collude to come up with, there are even more bizarre methods.
Wei Guangde still remembers a text in the Chinese class before, which talks about the people in Jiangnan carrying rice to the town to sell after the grain harvest, and calculating how much they can have left after paying taxes and rents based on the grain prices in previous years.
While he was still fantasizing about buying something, news came that grain prices had fallen sharply due to the harvest. In the end, after paying taxes and rents, there was not much money left, which seemed to be not much different from previous years.
Wei Guangde was very impressed by all these.
All we can say is that everything has two sides, and it is hard to say good or bad, right or wrong.
As for why Wei Guangde was not as keen on studying this method as Zhang Juzheng, it was mainly because of this.
The Ming Empire does not have much silver, and the decree to open the sea has not been issued. The Ming Empire is far from becoming a silver empire. If the "One Whip Law" is promoted, the price of silver will soar to an unknown extent, and the people will be even more miserable. Do they have to collect a large amount of copper coins and then transport them to the capital?
I am afraid that the local economy will be dead by then, and the people will still have the most copper coins.
At the current silver price, one tael of silver can be exchanged for 900 to 1,000 good coins, while inferior coins are 1,200 or even more.
If all localities collect taxes in silver, the silver price may rise by half, and this part of the loss will only be charged to the people by local officials.
Therefore, it is not bad for various parts of the country to implement the "One Whip Law" from time to time for two years. At least during that period, the burden on the people can be reduced, so that the local areas can be stable for two years.
This is the result of Wei Guangde's careful consideration, so he does not intend to stand on either side.
Sure enough, the next morning, the news spread in the Ministry of Personnel. Not only was there a proposal to open the sea, but also a memorial from the Minister of Revenue Ge Shouli on the suspension of the "One Whip Law".
In addition, Wei Guangde also confirmed the news that there were indeed people colluding in private, and it seemed that they were pointing the finger at Guo Pu.
Wei Guangde actually didn't care about this matter, because he thought Xu Jie would not be so short-sighted and fail to see the consequences of expelling Guo Pu. Even if he didn't notice it for a while, someone would remind him soon.
He just asked Lu Bu to keep an eye on the news from the cabinet to see when Emperor Longqing would approve and issue the order to open the sea.
Finally, in the afternoon, Lu Bu entered the duty room and whispered to him the news he had just heard. Near noon, the Imperial Household Department had sent the proposal approved by the emperor and stamped back to the cabinet, so that the cabinet could draft the order.
Open the sea.
Although issuing an order is far from the real opening of the sea, at least it is a good start.
The decree to open the sea represents the court's approval of this matter. Next, the cabinet and the local government of Fujian will discuss the specific details of opening the sea, plan the details, and officially implement it after completion.
Wei Guangde estimated that it would take at least half a year to complete these and establish a commercial port.
Perhaps, at the end of the first year of Longqing, the first merchant ship can go to sea and the government can receive the first tax silver.
Just as Wei Guangde was studying the list of Kedao censors and looking for Xu Dang, the censor who impressed Emperor Longqing, an impeachment storm against Guo Pu finally blew up.
Wei Guangde did not expect that in just two days, the Qianqing Palace, which had just calmed down, was once again flooded with impeachment memorials.
In the duty room of the Ministry of Personnel, Wei Guangde put down the list of censors in his hand and looked at the slips copied by Lu Bu. It was the memorial of the censor impeaching Guo Pu and the reply of Emperor Longqing.
Just like Gao Gong before, Emperor Longqing rejected all the memorials impeaching Guo Pu and reprimanded those who were alarmist.
However, his tone was still soft, and it seemed that he had not learned a lesson from Gao Gong's incident and responded with a tougher attitude or kept it in the court. (End of this chapter)