Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 409

"Small rats, big rats, I don't eat my millet..."

"You people are just greedy..."

In a Jinyiwei hundred-household office in Xiangyang County, Xiangyang Prefecture, Huguang, Lu Wenzhao threw the documents in his hand under the hall, and lying under the hall were two Jinyiwei officials who had been beaten to death.

It was dark in the yamen, Lu Xiu walked into the hall, glanced at the two people who had been beaten so badly, and then bowed to Lu Wenzhao in the hall:
"Commander, all the family property has been copied out, and the mansion, fields and shops are cashed in. The total discount is about [-] taels."

"Den-"

Lu Wenzhao put down the blood-stained gavel, got up and walked down the hall with his hands behind his back, squinting at the two of them and said:
"120 seven people, nearly 4 taels of silver, you are quite greedy..."

After finishing speaking, he looked forward with both eyes, walked away, and reminded when he missed Lu Xiu:
"Distributed to Nanzhou..."

"I'm under orders." Lu Xiu smiled contemptuously, looked at the two people on the ground, turned around and followed Lu Wenzhao out of the yamen of the Hundred Households.

After the two walked out of the Yamen and got into the carriage, Shen Lian and Lu Xian rushed back shortly after.

In this narrow alley, the two got into the carriage one after the other, and then Jin Yiwei, who was in charge of driving, shook the reins and drove the carriage away.

The two got into the car, bowed in front of Lu Wenzhao and said:

"Xiangyang County Government, Yumajian, and Huangdian have all investigated and found that 290 people were involved in the case. These people have been officials for nine years, reselling more than 6 shi of rice and wheat from the official warehouse, and overcharging more than 3 taels of taxes from the common people."

"Issuing the criminal evidence to the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Punishment..." Lu Wenzhao said unhurriedly, and at this time the carriage also pulled out of Minxiang and walked out of the city.

Their next target was other counties in Xiangyang Prefecture. When the carriage drove out of Xiangyang County, what was revealed was a scene of a construction site in full swing.

Stopping in front of the construction site, the four of Lu Wenzhao got out of the carriage, and then there was a Jin Yiwei leading a horse at the base of the city wall.

The four of them rested on the spot for a while, and then they saw more than a dozen Jin Yiwei riding from the city one after another.

It seemed that people hadn't arrived yet, so Lu Wenzhao looked at the busy construction site next to him, looked at the peasants who were wearing straw hats and working bare-chested in the hot summer, and said:

"How many hungry people did Huguang recruit as husbands?"

"57 people, I just don't know if there are so many." Shen Lian looked at the construction site and shook his head.

Looking at the appearance of the two, Lu Xiu couldn't help saying:
"This disaster relief has been going on for three years. These corrupt officials know better than us where they can be corrupted and where they can eat money. They reported 57 yuan, maybe only 40 yuan."

"These days, the disaster victims have become a tool for them to make money." Lu Xian also chimed in, and the words of the three of them were particularly harsh in Lu Wenzhao's ears.

He knew how much pressure Sun Chuanting had been under these years.

He, Lu Wenzhao, only supervised Jinyiwei, Huangdian, Yumajian, and checked the money of corrupt officials from all over the country, but he was reminded and impeached again and again by some people.

God knows what Sun Chuanting suffered when he investigated the case and dealt with others again.

"I inspected so many provinces, arrested more than 4 people, and exiled nearly 40 people. sentencing."

"All right……"

Lu Xian was dissatisfied and continued to vent his emotions. Lu Wenzhao could only stop him, and then turned his attention to the victims and said:

"It's up to them to check whether the item is handed in. If they don't check it, His Highness will check it. We don't need to worry about that."

"Let's go..."

After finishing speaking, Lu Wenzhao turned around and walked to the side of the horse, and got on the horse in one go.

Before Jin Yiwei could finish gathering, he set off first with more than thirty riders.

Under the dust, only the peasants working under the sun are telling the injustice of the world, and the hammer in their hands is also smashing the stubborn hard soil...

"Since the beginning of the new year, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has investigated and punished 700 local officials, including 32 officials of the fifth rank and above at the chief secretary level, 320 officials of the seventh rank and above at the county level, and the rest are eighth and ninth rank. official."

"The Ministry of Punishment seized more than 72 houses and mansions, more than 72 acres of land, more than 32 shops, more than [-] taels of gold, silver and jewelry, and more than [-] stones of rice and wheat..."

"When the local officials were cleared up, the local people applauded and applauded. In fact..."

"okay!"

In the Changchun Hall of King Qi's Palace in Dading Palace in Yanshan County, Cheng De respectfully replied, but Zhu Youjian stopped him before he could finish speaking.

Zhu Youjian was eating, and he who called to stop rinsed his mouth with tribute tea afterwards, while Cheng De stood upright, but his eyes were on his nose and heart, quietly waiting for Zhu Youjian's instructions.

"How many officials were involved in the case reported by Jinyiwei?"

Putting down the tribute tea, spit out the tea for gargling in the copper basin in the hand of the maid next to him, Zhu Youjian wiped his mouth before looking at the food on the table, and spoke to Cheng De without turning his head.

But before Chengde could answer, Zhu Youjian said again:
"If I remember correctly, there are only four officials of the third rank, seventeen of the fourth rank, 69 of the fifth rank, and two hundred of the sixth rank..."

Zhu Youjian reported the rank and number of officials involved in the case reported by Lu Wenzhao one by one. Chengde listened quietly during the process, and finally Zhu Youjian said:
"These people are 430 people in total, right? How come there are only 700 people here at the Metropolitan Procuratorate?"

"Is it you who want to protect? Or are the people below protecting each other?"

Zhu Youjian's words were spoken, but Chengde was not flustered or anxious, but bowed and saluted calmly, and then replied calmly:
"Students have no protection. As for why there are only so few people, it is because the inspectors in some places have not investigated the case clearly. The Metropolitan Procuratorate cannot let any corrupt official go, but it cannot slander any official..."

Chengde's words are neither humble nor overbearing, and there seems to be nothing wrong with them on the surface, but there is something in the words that he wants to express.

He answered Zhu Youjian as a "student", and said that he did not protect him, but he avoided Zhu Youjian's question of "officials and officials protect each other".

The meaning is obvious, he is telling Zhu Youjian that he is serious about handling the case, but it is hard to say whether the people below take it seriously, and the phenomenon of mutual protection between officials and officials also exists.

These are three points, and the fourth point is what he said that the local inspector censor has not investigated the case clearly.

He was wrong on this point, because the local governor had already reported the case, which meant that the local officials were fine, and Jin Yiwei had made a mistake.

Of the more than 400 corrupt officials, only 700 were found out, and the remaining 700 are fine. Who would believe this?

This kind of situation can only be protected by officials and officials. Chengde said that the reported cases have not been investigated clearly, which means that he does not approve of the inspector censor who investigates these cases, and he will continue to investigate.

In general, Cheng De did not cause Zhu Youjian any trouble, but took all the responsibilities and pressure on his shoulders.

These words are very pleasant, even if Zhu Youjian heard it, he couldn't help but put away his temper, calmly said:
"The Metropolitan Procuratorate is currently under the management of you. Sometimes the Metropolitan Procuratorate not only needs to conduct external investigations, but also needs to conduct self-inspections."

"What should I do..."

"Students are clear in their hearts." Cheng De rushed to answer, and Zhu Youjian felt more satisfied when he saw this, so he could only ask:
"The two thousand and 700 people who have already been convicted, how did the Ministry of Criminal Justice decide the sentence? How much was the house raided?"

Facing the question, Cheng De replied respectfully:

"Seven of the 120 people who committed serious crimes were beheaded, and all the remaining officials and more than 6000 family members involved were sent to Nanzhou."

"As for the results of the house raids, the Ministry of Justice reported that there were more than 130 taels of gold, more than 30 taels of silver, 260 taels of silver for various mansions, shops and antique calligraphy and paintings, more than 97 million stones of rice and wheat, and [-] taels of land. More than ten thousand mu."

"The Ministry of Punishment has ordered people to escort gold, silver, antiques, calligraphy and paintings to the north. The rice and wheat are stored in the local official warehouse. The fields are temporarily handed over to the former tenants for farming, and the mansion and shops are handed over to the tooth shop of the Yumajian for sale."

Cheng De revealed everything that the Ministry of Punishment had done. Zhu You was very satisfied after the hearing, and asked by the way:
"What do you think of Zhou Yanru's position?"

"Zhou Shangshu behaved in an orderly manner and handled the case decently. The students thought there was nothing wrong with it." Cheng De didn't resent Zhou Yanru and others for stealing his credit, at least he didn't show that in front of Zhu Youjian.

Looking at his mature behavior, Zhu Youjian couldn't help but nodded in his heart, but he said with a blow:
"Xu Guangqi, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, completed his governance of the Yellow River six days ago, and asked the imperial court to resign."

"Long Live approved his appointment, Gu is going to let Wen Tiren become Minister of the Ministry of Industry, what do you think?"

Xu Guangqi proposed to retire, which meant that another member of the Donglin Party was about to withdraw from the court, but this time no one blamed Xu Guangqi.

After all, although Xu Guangqi was a minister of the Ministry of Industry before, he was on the front line, and he was already sixty-eight years old, and it was true that he had reached his old age, so it was not inappropriate to become an official.

The problem is that after Xu Guangqi became an official, the position of Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry was vacated.

Zhu Youjian asked Bi Ziyan to manage the position of Minister of Industry before, but after he couldn't take care of it, Zhu Youjian asked Zhou Yanru to take care of it.

It's just that the Ministry of Criminal Justice has a lot of things to do now, and with Xu Guangqi's official appointment, Daming also needs a Minister of the Ministry of Industry who will be in the court for a long time.

This person, Wen Tiren is undoubtedly very suitable, and Zhu Youjian asked Chengde not to add salt to his wounds, but to see the attitude of the other party.

However, Chengde's attitude did not disappoint Zhu Youjian.

Facing the news of his opponent's promotion and salary increase, Cheng Deping replied flatly:

"The students are not familiar with Wen Hanlin, but if His Highness thinks Wen Hanlin is good, then Wen Hanlin should be fine."

"Hmm..." Zhu Youjian responded. At this time, he probably felt that Chengde could be entrusted to him, so he said:
"You are not allowed to enter the sixth department because the time has not come, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate really needs someone to take care of it."

"Since the second year of Tianqi, the Guo Dynasty has not set up the left and right capital censors and deputy capital censors of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, but only the Zuoqian capital censor."

"At present, it seems that you are very suitable for the position of Zuodu Censor, but the Metropolitan Procuratorate also needs to make changes. From now on, the Left and Right Censors and Deputy Capital Envoys will be abolished."

After all, Zhu Youjian looked at Chengde and said slowly:

"In the future, there will only be one imperial censor in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and you will be appointed as the second rank for the time being."

"The censors of the Zuo and Youqian capitals are assistants and promoted to the third rank. The supervisory censors of the two capitals and the nineteen provinces are the fifth rank, and the inspection censors are the sixth rank. The number of people has expanded to 100. The yamen officials of the courtyard should be promoted by half a rank."

"Students take orders!" Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Cheng De didn't show any anger, but bowed deeply to express his return.

Zhu Youjian's move simplified the system of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, but at the same time increased the number of grassroots inspectors, increasing the number of grassroots inspectors and censors, which made inspections much easier.

"Are you still in touch with Kim Hyun?"

Zhu Youjian suddenly mentioned Jin Xuan, and Chengde nodded naturally.

"I want to mention him as Yingzhou's inspector, what do you think?"

Zhu Youjian changed his name, and when Chengde heard the words, he said without concealment: "If Boyu is the inspector of Yingzhou, it will definitely help the imperial court to govern Yingzhou."

After Chengde finished speaking, Zhu Youjian didn't speak for a long time.

It wasn't until the ladies in the palace removed all the food that Zhu Youjian waved his hand: "You step back."

"Yes..." Hearing this, Cheng De took a few steps back before turning around and leaving.

It was not long after he left that Wang Chengen came out from the side hall, bowed to salute and said at the same time:

"Your Highness, the stolen money of the [-] officials reported by Lu Wenzhao is far more than the amount reported by the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Why do you, Your Highness..."

Three points full of words, Wang Chengen didn't go on, and Zhu Youjian didn't say anything to Chengde.

The reason why he didn't tell Chengde was because he didn't think it was necessary.

Since the officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Punishment stole it, let them steal it. Anyway, sooner or later they will return their money with interest.

"Remember what I said to you before?" Zhu Youjian looked at Wang Chengen and said slowly:
"Shuo rats are beaten every year, and they can't be beaten every year. Corrupt officials are killed, and they can't be killed..."

"It's been less than a year since Sun Chuanting inspected Guangdong. This time when Lu Wenzhao and the others went, they arrested more than a hundred corrupt officials."

"What does this mean? People's hearts are unpredictable. If people are arrested according to the court's standards, then ninety-nine percent of the officials in my Ming Dynasty will be imprisoned."

"If all the officials are arrested, who will govern the people?"

The words are not rough, Zhu Youjian told Wang Chengen the truth straightforwardly, but Wang Chengen said after hearing this:

"Then why not relax for a while and let Lu Wenzhao and the others come back?"

"This won't work..." Zhu Youjian got up and walked towards the side hall, followed by Wang Chengen, and Zhu Youjian said as he walked:

"Lu Wenzhao led people to investigate below. This will make some people feel anxious. With this feeling, no matter how much they exploit the people, they will be scruples about Jinyiwei and dare not be as before."

"The inspections still have to be investigated, and people have to be arrested, but the intensity has to be well controlled."

"How many officials were elected by the imperial court last year? How many people can read and write?"

"In just four months this year, Lu Wenzhao has arrested more than 4 people in the Yuma Prison and charged more than 5000 officials."

"If you calculate it, wouldn't he involve 12 employees of the Imperial Horse Supervisor and more than 6000 officials a year?"

"Tell Lu Wenzhao, except for those who have done too much, write down the rest temporarily, and settle the score later in the autumn..."

Zhu Youjian walked behind the desk, sat down and began to process the memorial.

Although safari is interesting, there must always be a degree. He, Zhu Youjian, is not a son of a rich family, and the Ming Dynasty was not as prosperous as it appeared on the surface.

If he is lazy for a day, the people will have to suffer for a day, and the officials will be unscrupulous for a day.

Day after day, if he is lazy every day, then the Great Ming Dynasty will not be far away from disintegration.

"Your Highness, this speed..."

Wang Chengen couldn't grasp the "speed" that Zhu Youjian said. He was afraid that he would make a mistake, so he could only bite the bullet and ask.

To this, Zhu Youjian replied without hesitation: "It is said that the magistrate will be cleared for three years, and one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver."

"I didn't have so many prefects in the Ming Dynasty, but I had a lot of money. Let Lu Wenzhao directly arrest and handle the case according to the salary of more than five years of corruption. If it does not exceed, write it down and deal with it later."

The five-year salary, which Zhu You verified is very high for the common people, but very low for the officials.

For example, those sub-ninth-rank yamen servants in the capital, their annual salary is only nine taels of silver, and the "fees" they steal are as many as dozens of coins every day.

Calculated with five years of income, they only have a career life of two or three years.

This group of low-level yamen servants can be changed at any time, but it is not easy to find officials who can manage a province, a prefecture, or a county, and it still has to be handled at discretion.

Not to mention the interior of the country, Huanglong, who is leading troops to confront the Mughal general Mirza, is an example.

Huanglong currently has three official positions, one of which is scattered, and the total annual salary is only more than 9000 taels of silver. In a big battle, he casually "rewarded" himself with the post-war share, which is enough for Jin Yiwei to confiscate his home and exile him.

But, will Zhu Youjian exile Huanglong?Of course not.

Even if there is someone who can replace Huang Long in the future, Zhu Youjian has to keep Huang Long, because he is the backup one.

Unless Daming can get rid of people like Huang Long in batches, Zhu Youjian will just turn a blind eye.

Of course, this is about the administration of officials. If Huanglong is involved in something that shouldn't be involved, then even if Zhu Youjian is reluctant, he will have to punish him severely.

"Take what you should, don't take what you shouldn't..."

When Zhu Youjian said this, he took a special look at Wang Chengen, and Wang Chengen also quickly lowered his head.

Although Wang Chengen is dull, he is still a human being after all. He controls the official farms, salt farms, tea farms, and wine farms with tens of millions of taels of water in his hands. How could he not make profits for himself?

Since the four years of the apocalypse, the voices above the temple have basically been uttered by Zhu Youjian.

Having been in power for nearly seven years, Zhu Youjian has also been erased bit by bit, and he is no longer so dazed in the face of anti-corruption.

Anti-corruption has become a means of restraining officials, as if a sword is hanging over their heads.

When the sword will fall, it is up to Zhu Youjian to decide.

He no longer pursues the integrity of all officials, but only hopes that the group of corrupt officials can leave enough money for the people when they steal and steal, and stop making "extra taxation" moths like the civil uprising in northern Shaanxi.

Even if they don't do anything, but just pay taxes on time, then Zhu Youjian and the common people can praise them.

After the civil uprising in northern Shaanxi, it is generally a matter of official governance.

As for the issue of feudal taxation, no matter how the court imposes taxes on the gentry, the gentry can always find a way to pass it on to the people at the bottom.

Zhu Youjian has long been aware of the problem of feudal taxation, so he has been advocating the exemption of miscellaneous items, the reduction of land taxes, the investigation of officials, and the nationalization of bulk commodities.

He is sure that the imperial court's policy is beneficial to the people, but there are serious problems in the implementation of the policy.

Whether the policy can really benefit the people requires self-examination and implementation of officials.

In the final analysis, the people at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty are still farmers who account for less than [-]% of the country's population. Huinong has a policy, which is to continuously reduce land taxes until they are eliminated.

On this basis, it is also necessary to simplify those complicated taxes.

Although Daming has now canceled more than a dozen miscellaneous items by Zhu Youjian, there are still more than [-] types of miscellaneous items that exist.

The severe drought is subsiding, and these three years are a good opportunity for Zhu Youjian to take action against Jianlu, allowing the vassal king to gain a foothold in South Asia, while reducing the burden on the people.

If this opportunity is missed, we can only wait until 14 years later.

Miscellaneous items are actually commercial taxes, which are collectively referred to as commercial taxes because the items are too complicated.

The commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty was divided into residential tax and passing tax. The residential tax included official store money, collapsed house money, market money, door stall money, land tax, tooth tax, wine tax, vinegar tax, slaughter tax, and oil tax. , tea tax and more than [-] kinds.

As for the second item of taxation, it is subdivided into more than ten types of taxes, such as banknote tariffs, gate taxes, levies, and Huai'an four taxes.

Now ten years after Tianqi, after Zhu Youjian raised the status of the five divisions, the business tax of Ming Dynasty is now divided into seven major taxes, including residence tax, excrement tax, wine tax, tea tax, salt tax, mining tax, and city ship tax. Tax.

Taxes are complicated and require the use of many subordinate staff to collect them. Now that Ming Dynasty is all officials, they all need to be paid. Naturally, it is impossible to create another 300 to [-] million officials to collect taxes.

There are too many taxes, the people are confused about paying, and the imperial court is confused about collecting. Only the people in the middle and grassroots who are responsible for collecting taxes make a lot of money.

From this point of view, Zhu Youjian would rather charge less than simplify business taxes.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian took out a memorial and wrote while talking:
"The decree was sent to Bi Ziyan to list the residential tax and overtax in the commercial tax, and then list the annual tax money of the individual tax."

"After listing, send the document to Dading Palace immediately, and only want to read it with Long Live, and cancel some unnecessary tax systems."

"Your servant takes orders..." Wang Chengen responded, and then walked out of the hall.

At the same time he walked out, Zhu Youjian simply wrote down the three items of "market tax, gate stall tax, and city merchant tax".

He wants to be exempt from taxes, but also to be taxed.

Peasants are already suffering and cannot continue to suffer. In this way, they can only suffer more.

The business tax in Ming Dynasty was very low, mainly because Zhu Yuanzhang issued many policies to protect small businessmen in order to protect business in the early Ming Dynasty.

As for why he did this, he mainly learned from the Yuan Dynasty’s taxation on small merchants. Small merchants couldn’t afford it and turned to rely on big merchants. In the end, big merchants squeezed small merchants and monopolized the market.

Now Zhu Youxiao also needs to learn a lesson, but the lesson he has to learn is the lesson of the Ming Dynasty's excessive protection of small businessmen.

Zhu Yuanzhang came up with a commercial tax system with no tax for less than 60 taels, and thirty tax one for more than 60 taels. During the Wanli period, the thirty tax one was changed to fifty tax one.

Taxes were insufficient in the first place, but they made changes like this, and finally the business tax was a mess. Daming could only continue to live on the land tax, and no matter how hard it was for farmers.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian canceled the lower limit of 60 taels of silver, and combined the store tax and gate stall tax into a city merchant tax for collection.

The store tax requires a business license issued by the government, and a business license is required to transport goods in and out of the city. After that, the tax collectors of the Ministry of Households calculate the profit according to the quantity of goods and the local price, and take [-]% of the profit as the store tax.

As for the gate stall tax, fixed stalls are planned in each county. According to the number of stalls, the same number of "stall licenses" can be sold every year, and the price of stall licenses is set by Zhu Youjian to be between [-] yuan and [-] taels.

According to the township of Shangwan County in Daming, with a population of 3000 to 30 million, even if one stall and one store serve hundreds of people, there can still be 30 million shops and [-] million door stalls.

Right now, Ming's city merchant tax is only collected in Beizhili, Nanzhili and a small number of big cities, which has already collected millions of taels of tax.

Now that the scale of the city business tax is wider and more reasonable, the tax that can be collected will naturally be more.

However, the tax category has been formulated, but people still need to collect it...

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian took out a memorandum from the desk, and the memorandum only had two words on the surface...

"Yanshan"

(End of this chapter)