First Minister of Ming Dynasty

First Minister Section 586

Yang Ji paused, and suddenly said in a low voice: "Sun Xiang, actually, I think it's fine if we don't move like a mountain. Hu Weiyong has already done it. After all, this is a matter of expropriating land taxes, and it is his authority. Once there is a big trouble , the one who suffers the most is him!"

Sun Yan blinked his eyes when he heard Hu Weiyong, and suddenly said: "Yang Shangshu, you take people to Chuzhou immediately, no matter what, you must take people into the capital and protect them properly."

Yang Ji was taken aback for a moment, he understood Sun Yan's plan, but if he did this, he would inevitably injure one thousand enemies and himself eight hundred, the gain outweighs the loss!

Sun Yan smiled slightly, "After all, my time in Beijing is not as long as theirs, so just do as I say, don't delay!"

Yang Ji didn't dare to hesitate, and immediately agreed to Sun Yan, and then he arranged twenty people to set off decisively and go straight to Chuzhou.

And at this very moment, a team of hundreds of people, escorting three tax officials, was also preparing to cross the river. They had been waiting by the river for two days.

No one dared to take them across the river.

"Bosses of the ship, we are not bad people. We are all the people of Fengyang Mansion. We are fellow countrymen of His Majesty! This year, there was a disaster, and the grain cannot be harvested. It stands to reason that the land tax should be reduced or not. In the end, the dog of the yamen Officials, forcing us to pay taxes, if we don’t pay, we will be arrested!”

"To be honest, when His Majesty ascended the throne, we had been to the capital. Your Majesty said that we can arrest corrupt officials and send them to Beijing! Please help us and send us across the river. , let us meet His Majesty and avenge the old man!"

These people didn't say a word, and the atmosphere was extremely dignified. If they helped them, wouldn't they be fighting against the Yamen?

The people at the head were so forced that they had no choice but knelt down on one knee and begged, "Who will fall on this kind of thing if it's not in order? Please help out for your own sake!"

Facing the begging, finally, a boat boss stood up, and someone pulled his sleeve, but he still shook it off.

"Let's go, I'll take you across the river... But it's a deal, my boat is small and can only hold twenty people."

The leader nodded again and again, "Yes, as much as you want, we will be grateful for your kindness!"

The boss of the boat took them to the pier, where more than a dozen common people from Fengyang came out and escorted the tax officials. Just as they were about to set off, three large boats suddenly blocked their way.

Another two hundred soldiers rushed over directly.

"Don't let one go, catch them all!"

Chapter 813 Old Zhu's Guarantee

Yang Ji escorted more than a hundred Fengyang folks across the Yangtze River and arrived at Yingtian City.

Before he could notify Sun Yan, a little fat man rushed over with a gold medal in his hand.

"Yang Shangshu, according to His Majesty's order, please come to the palace. Your Majesty wants to entertain everyone."

Yang Ji knew this kid, and it was Zhang Chengtian who came.

He didn't talk nonsense at all, he quickly handed over the person to Zhang Chengtian, and then bowed to leave.

But Zhang Chengtian said: "Yang Shangshu, you'd better go to Zhongshu Province and wait, there will probably be a decree."

Yang Ji hurriedly thanked him and left in a hurry.

Zhang Chengtian was chubby and young, so he didn't feel oppressed.

He smiled and said to the big guys: "Don't be afraid, our family's ancestral grave is buried in Fengyang, and we won't do things that provoke people to dig up our ancestral graves. Follow me."

Zhang Chengtian laughed, and brought these people to Zuoshunmen, and then entered the palace.

The legendary Dengwen drum did not sound.

Zhu Yuanzhang was waiting here in a uniform.

Seeing that Zhang Chengtian brought the people here, he immediately smiled, "Everyone, please sit down, relatives from home, there is no need to be polite. Sit down, sit down!"

This group of common people took courage and sat down.

Zhu Yuanzhang scanned around and saw the leader. Old Zhu thought about it carefully, and suddenly said, "Who are you from Liu Jizu?"

The leader hurriedly knelt down, "The young one is Liu Jizu's nephew, the young one pays homage to His Majesty!"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed loudly, "Look, we haven't forgotten the fate we met back then. Are we not confused?"

How could the common people dare to say that the emperor was confused, they all scrambled to praise Lao Zhu for being smart and wise.

Lao Zhu smiled again, "No matter what you say, we are all alone, with a pair of eyes and a pair of ears. Sometimes we can't hear or see clearly. Since we are fellow villagers, let's have a good chat and tell the story of the people you meet. Tell us everything."

Old Zhu smiled and said, "Tell the imperial dining room to prepare some dishes. Let's eat and chat with the villagers."

Not long after, someone brought food. This group of ordinary people had a hard journey, and when they were about to enter Beijing, they encountered danger again and were almost arrested.

He had been exhausted physically and mentally for a long time. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang treated the big guys with the etiquette of entertaining the folks. He was amiable, which made everyone relax a lot. They had a big appetite and ate happily.

Gradually, the big guy opened up and told Lao Zhu all his grievances.

Zhu Yuanzhang listened very carefully and never missed a word.

The predicament of Fengyang Mansion boils down to the issue of population and land.

When Lao Zhu first started his business, Haozhou and other places lost a lot of population due to wars, and at that time they could confiscate the powerful land and snatch it from the Mongolian nobles.

Therefore, when Haozhou and other places divided the fields, they were very generous. There were ration fields and normal tax fields.

These measures were called benevolent policies at the time and won the support of the common people. In a blink of an eye, it has been more than 20 years.

Over the past 20 years, some families have reproduced for two generations.

That is to say, the young boy back then is now a grandfather.

The population of the entire Fengyang Mansion expanded rapidly, not only returning to the heyday of the Yuan Dynasty, but even surpassing it by a large margin.

At that time, the people in Fengyang produced enough grain to eat, and even sold a lot of it in the market.

But now, apart from paying the land tax, the rest has to be used as rations. Even so, there are still some gaps. Some young people have left their homes to work in Fengyang and other places to make money and supplement their families.

The days of the big guys are far from what they used to be.

Isn't this the original national policy?

Obviously not!

More sons, more blessings, the common people are trying their best to give birth, so what can they do?

It's just that the ration fields left at the beginning were not enough, and many mulberry and hemp fields were also used to grow food.

When people can't fill their stomachs, nothing is as affordable as steamed buns.

Originally, Fengyang and other places had also reached a difficult time to maintain, but there were successive famines, and the grain production decreased greatly.

At this point, many people are going to starve.

Fortunately, the imperial court sent relief food several times, which can be regarded as barely overcoming the difficulties.

But there is no doubt that the people have nothing to accumulate.

This year is another disaster year. Some fields have no crops, and the disaster victims generally lost half of their crops.

Before the imperial court's disaster relief food was released, some officials even went to the localities to collect land taxes, and they were still collected according to the normal year, so there was no room for it.

The people exploded in an instant.

This is Fengyang, the place where Emperor Zhu's dragon prospered. We couldn't survive, so we fought hard.This is why hundreds of Fengyang people turned away tax collectors to Beijing.

This is where the subtlety lies. They escorted the tax collectors and crossed the prefecture and county, but no one obstructed them, including Fengyang Mansion.

When they reached the river bank, someone jumped out and wanted to take them down. By coincidence, Yang Ji arrived, saved him, and brought them into Yingtian smoothly.

Although it has been clarified after the process, it is hard to say who will be responsible for this responsibility.

Zhang Ximeng also arrived at the Zhongshu Province, his face sank like water, even if Sun Yan came to say hello, he didn't say anything, he could only snort coldly.

He went straight to the middle seat and sat down.

Then Zhang Ximeng said: "When encountering urgent government affairs, I, the Grand Master, can still come to Zhongshu Province to say a few words."

Everyone was startled, Zhang Ximeng did have this power, but the problem was that Zhang Ximeng had never used it in the past.After all, there is still the crown prince supervising the country, so it is not his turn to intervene.

But this time Zhang Ximeng broke the convention and came directly, and everyone felt an inexplicable pressure.

"Sun Shoufu, please tell me first, why did this happen?"

Sun Yan quickly bowed, "Returning to the grand master, according to my understanding, there are places to hide the disaster situation, and there are also problems of ineffective relief. But in the final analysis, it is the tax collectors who are responsible for collecting land taxes. I think the tax department is to blame for this matter!"

He was really rude, and directly stated that I was targeting Hu Weiyong.

This is actually a skill that Sun Yan has summed up for many years. In the face of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Ximeng, it is useless to play tricks.

Hu Weiyong would not let Sun Yan go if he had the chance, isn't it obvious!

Sure enough, Hu Weiyong stood up directly, first bowed to Zhang Ximeng, and then said: "Master, my lords, it should be my fault, and I will not shirk responsibility at all. But I also want to ask you to clarify the matter. Now The land tax has been transferred to the local revenue. Although the tax collectors who collect taxes are still under the management of the tax department, we can't command them at all, and now the local government has the final say!"

Sun Yan said bluntly: "Hu Shangshu, aren't you shirking responsibility?"

Hu Weiyong snorted coldly: "Sun Xiang, don't you understand? The tax reform mentioned above is to leave the land tax to the localities, and at the same time implement a new round of land equalization. In this way, the progressive land tax will be removed, and the common people will be relieved. Burden and stabilize local finance and taxation.”

Sun Yan nodded, "This is determined by His Majesty, and it is also recommended by us. Does Hu Shangshu have any opinions?"

Hu Weiyong sighed: "Sun Xiang, there is no problem with handing over the land tax to the local government. The local government is very willing. But they are not willing to let them redistribute the land evenly and re-assess the tax amount. If the local government delays, it will be the burden of the common people. But it has not been alleviated. It is another disaster year, and it will be strange if there is no civil uprising!"

Hu Weiyong was heartbroken, "Every time it is about fiscal and taxation reform, it affects the whole body, and the local government has never cooperated honestly. This time, it may be a good opportunity. All in all, how to rectify , It also depends on the meaning of the court."

After he said these words, Sun Yan was speechless for a moment, and he was speechless.

What Hu Weiyong said was indeed true.

If the land can be equalized again and the tax amount can be re-set, the situation of the common people will not be so difficult, and perhaps the troubles of today will not happen.

There is no doubt that Sun Yan, the chief assistant, cannot absolve himself of the blame.

Zhang Ximeng listened silently, and suddenly asked, "Why didn't the land be redistributed first, but the land tax was handed over to the local government first? How did you get this order?"

He stared at Hu Weiyong, and Hu Weiyong immediately said: "If you go back to the Grand Master, it was decided by the Zhongshu meeting, and Prime Minister Sun knew it."

Sun Yan lowered his head slightly, he did know about this, but it was not that simple back then.

"Teacher, redistributing the land is not a trivial matter. I am afraid that the local government will not cooperate. When discussing at that time, they also said that they must first let the local government see the benefits before they are willing to act. Therefore, I handed over the land tax first. them!"

"absurd!"

Zhang Ximeng slapped the table angrily, "Don't you know the virtues of local officials? They are eagles, and they hunt when they are hungry. Once they are full, they will just slack off and perfunctory!"

Hu Weiyong hurriedly bowed, "What the Grand Master taught me is that it was because I didn't think carefully at the beginning that the situation today... Grand Master, do you want to take the land tax back to the court?"

Zhang Ximeng remained calm and shook his head, "Aren't you joking about the country's credit by reneging on your promise? What's more, after taking it back, isn't it such a long time to do useless work?"

Hu Weiyong nodded hastily, "It's the lower officials who are confused, so I ask the Grand Master to forgive me."

Zhang Ximeng snorted slightly, then asked Sun Yan, "What do you think?"

Sun Yan was also extremely embarrassed at the moment. He wanted to give Hu Weiyong a fatal blow, but who would have thought that it would be a disadvantage for him to carry out reforms.

It's really a steal!

"Grand Master, I, I will give an order right now to let the local yamen implement Juntian immediately! Anyone who dares to prevaricate will be beheaded immediately!"

Zhang Ximeng ignored him, but stood up, flicked his sleeves, and left directly.

In the short confrontation, Hu Weiyong won cleanly and beautifully.

Zhang Ximeng came to Lao Zhu's side, and Zhu Yuanzhang had a good chat with the folks in Fengyang.

"We have already let the children go out to work hard. Our fourth son is amazing! Now that you have many children and grandchildren, it is not easy to eat and drink, so no one thought about going out to see?"

A commoner said helplessly: "Your Majesty, you said that we have encountered many difficulties from Fengyang to Yingtian. If we go outside again, will our lives be lost?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly taken aback, "Don't worry everyone, we will give you a proper explanation!"

At this moment, Zhang Ximeng rushed over...

Chapter 814 Master Zhang's Brilliant Move

"Sir, what conclusion do you have at the Zhongshu Province?" Zhu Yuanzhang said in a low voice.

Zhang Ximeng shook his head slightly, but at this moment, Lao Zhu was taken aback, and he couldn't help laughing: "Could it be that Mr. is so keen, you can't see the problem?"

Zhang Ximeng said helplessly: "The complexity of this matter is far from being obvious at a glance. My lord invited the villagers over for dinner, but didn't let them beat the Dengwen drum. I'm afraid I saw this step?"

Old Zhu frowned, Zhang Ximeng was really right, even hit the nail on the head.

If the Dengwen Drum is played, Zhu Yuanzhang will come to the conclusion that officials who commit crimes must be severely punished, and ordinary people will be rewarded if they do something right, and they will have to pay a price if they do something wrong. There is nothing to avoid.

And this is precisely the reason Zhang Ximeng informed Lao Zhu in advance after seeing the situation in the newspaper, and asked Lao Zhu to make a rational decision, and he did not act in a hurry.

"My lord, let's dismantle it. How many layers of conflict are hidden in this matter." Zhang Ximeng suggested.

Old Zhu nodded, "Sir, please tell me."

Zhang Ximeng said: "First of all, the first level, needless to say, is the contradiction between population and land, and flood and drought disasters after the population multiplies. Huaixi is the land where the lord Long Xing, the population multiplies extremely fast, and disasters are frequent. Compared with other areas , and even more violent three-pointers."