Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 654 The Confused Emperor of Ming Dynasty
After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he paid special attention to the reactions of rich businessmen such as Yang Mingshen and Yingtian Governor Bai Yunzhen.

Yang Mingshen was a little disappointed, but he didn't express anything. It seems that the government's tax increase made him acceptable, so he would not force the emperor Zhu Youjian to express his position immediately.

But Bai Yunzhen, the governor of Yingtian, seemed to be somewhat complacent, and gave Yang Mingshen and other wealthy businessmen a provocative look.

Zhu Youjian smiled slightly, he could guess that Bai Yunzhen would think that he was supporting their government.

After all, merchants are a relatively despised group among the common people, and it is only natural for the government to force wealthy merchants to pay more taxes during disaster relief and water conservancy construction. benevolent rule.

Bai Yunzhen, governor of Yingtian, really looked down on rich businessmen like Yang Mingshen from the bottom of her heart.

As a traditional Confucian official, in his mind, wealthy businessmen like Yang Mingshen are the lowest-ranking common people, and Yang Mingshen should not be qualified to appear in the scene where he is with His Majesty.

Now Yang Mingshen and other wealthy businessmen directly accused him of raising taxes in front of Zhu Youjian, and even asked His Majesty to regain the imperial power and let the cabinet return power to the monarch.

Bai Yunzhen, governor of Yingtian, felt that Yang Mingshen and others were treasonous and immoral.

As a lowly businessman, he dared to criticize himself in front of His Majesty, and even pointed fingers at such big politics as the imperial cabinet and monarchy.

In the eyes of Yingtian governor Bai Yunzhen, this is a challenge to his authority, as well as the authority of the cabinet and even the entire Ming court.

"If His Majesty hadn't been here, I would have already ordered you to be taken down and punished. How could I allow you to be arrogant here! However, you only have the title of Viscount and the second-rank official position. I really think that I have a close relationship with Your Majesty. I dare not treat you, it is a joke!"

Bai Yunzhen, governor of Yingtian, thought so in her heart.

But Bai Yunzhen, the governor of Yingtian, was also very worried that His Majesty would be deceived by rich businessmen and really want to do what Emperor Taizu killed officials to protect the people, so he didn't want Zhu Youjian to stay with these rich businessmen for too long, so he had to He hurriedly advised:

"Since your Majesty's southern tour is intended to inspect the civil affairs, I have the courage to ask your majesty to move to the governor's office, and your majesty will report to your majesty in detail."

"No need, read the yellow book and deal with the economy. That's what the inspector of the Metropolitan Procuratorate does. I don't have that much free time. When the chief minister of the cabinet comes, you can show him again. I'm here for the southern tour. You don’t have to follow me just to look around, you are the governor of Yingtian, not my servant.”

Zhu Youjian naturally knew Governor Yingtian Bai Yunzhen's thoughts, but now he deliberately kept a distance from the entire bureaucratic group, so he was not willing to get too close to Governor Yingtian.

The same is true for wealthy businessman Yang Mingshen and other capital groups, and he will not be too willing to stand up for them. He doesn't know if Daming's capital group has reached the point of resisting the entire bureaucratic group.

As the emperor, Zhu Youjian is still the master of the country in essence. He uses his royal capital to control the most powerful army in the empire, but in fact he has continued to repeat the mistakes of previous generations of emperors, letting the bureaucracy act on his behalf. executive and judicial powers.

The resulting phenomenon is that the bureaucratic group still controls the ruling power of the empire and continues to play the role of managing society.

But as long as people have power and are not restricted, they will expand their interests and reduce their pressure in different ways, and these bureaucrats are the same, they will naturally try their best to exploit the interests of business people.

With the rise of Huangzhuang and the promulgation of the anti-slavery law and the implementation of policies such as the ban on corvee and the sharing of land into acres, it is difficult for bureaucrats to exploit enough benefits from farmers.

Therefore, they can only claim benefits from the business class, that is, individuals and businessmen.

This has increased the contradiction between the bureaucratic group and the capital group.

At the same time, these bureaucratic teams will continue to grow because of power rent-seeking. Just as in the past, more and more servants were sent to the countryside in a yamen to urge peasants, and more and more people found ways to serve as servants. There are also more and more taxes.

Although Zhu Youjian did not directly manage the administration, he also learned through the investigation of Dongchang that the taxpayers in Yingtianfu County now have reached 100 people, but there are less than [-] officials who belong to the official establishment and have salaries.

Zhu Youjian didn't know how these ten-fold taxpayers survived, and how much profit the business class would give to support them.

But Zhu Youjian knew that this would undoubtedly be the same as the development of the dynasty in the later stage, with the increase of court officials and privileged servants and even scholars, it would inevitably lead to the expansion of the group that exploited the people. The bureaucratic group will also grow stronger and stronger, eventually leading to the bankruptcy of the entire business class, and rebelling like the common people.

However, Zhu Youjian does not know whether the results of these business class rebellions will be different from those of the peasants.

As the emperor, Zhu Youjian is very confused now. Logically speaking, he should support the cabinet and the entire bureaucratic group represented by the cabinet, because he has to rely on this bureaucratic group to exercise his imperial power and maintain his rule.

But he himself is also worried that this bureaucratic group will destroy the stability he has established, and will arouse people's resistance because of excessive exploitation.

As for the capital group, he also hopes that they can grow stronger, and hope that they can completely change the economic model of the small farmers in Ming Dynasty, but he is also worried that they are too profit-seeking, leaving the Ming Empire in a state of discord, and even disregarding laws and the public because of their greed. Morality.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian hoped that they could be restrained by the law and the government, forcing them not to exploit workers too much.

Zhu Youjian walked out of the magnificent bank hall and sat down in a teahouse by the lake in casual clothes. The decoration of the whole teahouse looked very literary, and the glazed windows and white marble walls showed the extraordinary here.

A handsome girl in a newly made woolen jacket walked up to Zhu Youjian: "Sir, what tea do you want?"

Zhu Youjian ordered something casually, and then looked around. On the beautifully carved mahogany chairs, there were all well-dressed young men and women sitting on them, and they all had confident smiles, but they did not forget to say goodbye to their boss. The complaints of the current situation.

"It's noon now. All the employees who come here to drink tea are employees of several major banks. They are all first-class citizens. At worst, they have graduated from colleges and universities."

Although Yang Mingshen was the governor of the Daming Central Bank, he still followed him. Obviously he was unwilling to easily let go of the opportunity to express his political intentions in front of Zhu Youjian.

After Zhu Youjian heard what he said, he did indeed see the sign on the door that read "No entry for non-first-class citizens".

"How do you distinguish first-class citizens from second- and third-class citizens?"

Zhu Youjian asked casually.

"It stands to reason that citizens of Ming Dynasty now use identity certificates, and if they make fake ones, they will be punished with severe punishments such as tattooing, etc., but the lower officials have issued an order that only first-class citizens are allowed to wear colored clothes in Yingtian territory, your majesty Jinpao, they will let you in naturally, otherwise you will be blocked outside."

The person who came in to speak was Bai Yunzhen, governor of Yingtian, who was obviously unwilling to give up the opportunity to get close to Zhu Youjian.

(End of this chapter)