back to ancient times to be emperor

Chapter 662
Although Xu Chongguang is the chief assistant of the cabinet, which is equivalent to the status of the previous minister, but even the minister dare not challenge the "basic rights" of being an official. What can he do?
In fact, if the government and the gentry paid the food together, the treasury in previous years would not be so "thrifty".At that time, it was the period when redundant officials were the most powerful. In addition, there were a lot of salaries. Some postal officials had no official positions, so they had to buy fields with money and silver, and hire people to cultivate them, so as to collect some rent.Because it is an official, this land naturally does not have to pay taxes.The tenant farmers only need to pay the rent, and there is no need to pay an additional agricultural tax, and the income is higher. Some tenants who have no land and no land are also willing to work for them.

The tenants were happy, and so were the officials, but it was a pain for the court.There are more and more officials in the imperial court, and the salary expenditure is also increasing.As a result, fertile land gradually fell into the hands of these officials and became "tax-free land", and the national treasury naturally became more and more tight, which almost became an endless loop.

In a good year, the national coffers can get by by tightening their belts; but in a bad year, it will be miserable.Take the Yellow River breach two years ago as an example. The treasury allocated millions of guan in one go, and then fell into a predicament.So what to do?We can only start with the resources possessed by the imperial court. What resources are possessed by the imperial court, and what are the most coveted resources?Naturally, it is an official position. Through the way of accepting Su, some people who desire to be an official can become a small official.Of course, this is also a last resort.

These people themselves are not big or small landlords. Once they become officials, they don't have to pay taxes on their land.In this way, this endless loop is even more serious.If Xu Chongguang knew the history of another time and space, he would definitely know that this situation is exactly the same as that of the Ming Dynasty.The difference is that officials in Dashun have more salaries, while officials in Daming have less salaries, and the salt tax in Daming is equivalent to nothing.Fortunately, the Ming court did not spend much, and it could still maintain one or two.But Dashun is different. The treasury expenditure far exceeds the income, and the fiscal deficit is very serious. If there is no other way, it can only sell the official title...

Fortunately, Lu Chengqi brought down Taishi Yang by virtue of this incident, and after he took power in person, he started the business tax, and he finally recovered.But the little emperor was not in charge of the family and didn't know that firewood and rice were expensive, so he suddenly set the agricultural tax at ten draws.With such a low agricultural tax, no matter how much commercial tax is, what can it do?

Xu Chongguang is a stubborn old man. In his eyes, only farming is the foundation of national stability.All merchants disturb the social order and should be killed!There is a folk proverb, "Cars, boats, shops, feet, and teeth should be killed if they are innocent."Boats are the same as cars, and they often serve you some sliced ​​noodles in the middle of the river.The shop refers to the waiter of the shop, who belongs to people who follow the trend.Foot refers to the foot shop, that is, a small roadside shop. Maybe a pack of anesthetics will upset you, rob you of money, and make human meat buns.Ya refers to Yaxing, also known as Yaji, human traffickers, and matchmakers all belong to this category.These people may get rich overnight, or they may go bankrupt overnight. They only value profit and ignore morality, which makes people and gods angry. Naturally, they deserve to be killed.And these people belong to "businessmen". For Xu Chongguang, of course, the fewer these people, the better.It's a pity that now Dashun has embarked on a "wrong road", relying too much on business, Xu Chongguang believes that this will destroy the country and the dynasty!

Thinking of this, the little old man became restless, took out a memorial, dipped it in ink, and began to write.Xu Chongguang himself is talented and learned, and he was also the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. This pen is as if he has a spirit, and he can't stop for a while.

He wrote it happily, but it's a pity that he missed the topic.Lu Chengqi asked him to develop Jiangnan, but he arranged businessmen, didn't he ruin his own job?
Xu Chongguang can be the chief assistant of the cabinet, so naturally he will not be so short-sighted.It's a pity that he doesn't vomit quickly, and he has to do it all at once to express his anger.Without him, as the chief assistant of the cabinet, he couldn't even realize his own ambitions. Xu Chongguang was really ashamed to see others.It stands to reason that Xu Chongguang's ambition is also very simple. It is nothing more than peace in the world, no war outside, no traitors inside, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and someone will take care of life, old age, sickness and death... Not only him, as long as he is an aspiring official, the Datong society in his heart, Mostly so.

It's just that Lu Chengqi has 1000 years more knowledge than them, and knows that this so-called Datong society is impossible.Among other things, Mencius's article "Born in sorrow and died in peace" is a good explanation of this truth.The Chinese like fighting too much. If there is no hostile country, just fight in your own nest, and there is no way to talk about peace in the world.Even if it is Taiping, it is just a whitewashed Taiping, just like Xuanhe Nian (Song Huizong) in the Northern Song Dynasty.There is no war outside, and it is impossible to talk about it. The Central Plains has always been the land that the grassland people long for. Since the Huns, how many nomads have wanted to conquer the Central Plains?The current Khitan is also sharpening their knives, but the Liao Kingdom has just experienced the rebellion of the emperor's uncle Yelu Chongyuan, and its vitality has been severely damaged. In addition, Shi Wei and Jurchen rebelled, so they have no time to look south for a while.

Xu Chongguang didn't think so much, he wrote this memorial just to express his political views.Maybe the blind cat met a dead mouse, and the little emperor was bewitched by him, so he agreed.In this way, the status of the landlord class was stabilized, and the merchants were suppressed again...

"Ugh!"

Xu Chongguang looked at the candle that was about to burn out, knowing that this was just his own wishful thinking.If the little emperor was so easy to bewitch, he would have said so routinely that the little emperor didn't know where to go. "That's all, let's write about Jiangnan..."

Putting this memorial aside, Xu Chongguang slowly organized his thoughts and wrote a "feasibility plan" for the development of Jiangnan into a memorial.Of course, all the writing is based on what is said. This is because Lu Chengqi's "cultural" level is not high, so he dare not quote classics.If the first emperor had been replaced, Xu Chongguang would have quoted extensively from many sources, demonstrated a great deal, and then came to a conclusion-that is what he wanted to do.

Xu Chongguang already had a draft for this memorial, but he had to write it more rigorously, and he couldn't speed it up. He was not as free-spirited as the last memorial.Working slowly and carefully, by the time he finished writing this memorial, he had already changed two candles, and the night had already reached the third watch.

After checking it carefully again, he felt that there was no major problem, so Xu Chongguang put it down carefully.

He picked up the candle on the table and lit the lantern, and then he blew out the half-burned candle, ready to go to rest.

At this time, it is different from the later generations, and I don’t sleep until the third watch, which can be regarded as an all-nighter.Because it was less than three hours away from Mao.Tomorrow is still a regular court, and as the chief assistant of the cabinet, he must attend.

Being an official is not easy!
Xu Chongguang shook the lantern and slowly disappeared into the night.At this time, the feeling of autumn was strong, and Xu Chongguang couldn't help tightening his clothes...

(End of this chapter)