I'm a big dick

Chapter 158 The Policy of "Because of Grain"

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Back at Qianqing Palace, Zhu Youxiao found that Zhang Yuer and Xiaobai were not there.The palace people reported that it was the concubine Liang who sent someone to invite her to meet the white lady and her cat.

Cat meet? !He's not a human being, let alone a friend, so why meet him?
Zhu Youxiao felt that Concubine Wang Liang was playing tricks, but she didn't care too much and asked the palace servants to prepare meals.He didn't eat well at the banquet given in the Hall of Martial Arts.

Just as he was about to start eating, he saw Zhang Yu'er coming back with Xiao Bai in his arms, with a weird expression on his face.

"My servant has seen the emperor." Zhang Yu'er knelt down to salute, and the white lady in her arms couldn't help but jump on the table.

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said, "Look at Xiaobai's anxious look, he doesn't seem to have eaten!"

Zhang Yu'er laughed, got up and came to the table, skillfully brought a small plate, and began to serve with vegetables according to Madam Bai's instructions.

"Concubine Liang didn't let you eat?" Zhu Youxiao asked casually as he began to eat.

Zhang Yuer pursed the corners of her lips and said: "I was going to stay for dinner, but Lady Bai was not happy, so she beat Concubine Liang's cat to run wild, and climbed up a tree and dared not come down. Taking advantage of the chaos, the servant So I hurriedly hugged Lady Bai and slipped away."

ah? !Zhu Youxiao was a little taken aback.Wang Liangfei's cat was of the same breed as Xiaobai, and it was also white, but it was a male cat, which he had seen before.

Looking at the chubby Xiaobai, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help laughing and said, "Unexpectedly, Xiaobai is still a fighting cat. But, can this fat person climb trees?"

Xiaobai looked at Zhu Youxiao proudly, lowered his head, and ate sweetly.

Zhu Youxiao shrugged his shoulders, not as knowledgeable as cats.

It's just that Xiaobai has been a little weird these days, and Zhu Youxiao also has some inexplicable feelings in his heart.It's like, like we're about to part.

………………

Xu Hongru's rebellion was suppressed for only about a month.However, several counties were corrupted, and tens of thousands were killed and injured, and the losses were not insignificant.

It's just that, for people far away from turmoil, sorrow and suffering are just talk after dinner.Without physical feeling, there is no real pain.

The two prefectures of Su and Song are not only the main tax collectors of Ming Dynasty, but also the hardest hit areas for the landlords and gentry to default on taxes.

The so-called "big households and people who gossip with towels and boots are not willing to pay for food, even if they pay for it, it is not free, and there is no increase in consumption, and they are not willing to transport it far."

Moreover, Su and Song prefectures had a developed commodity economy and powerful businessmen.By bribing subordinate officials, merchants and gentry were able to control local power and control local government.

By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, landlords, gentry, merchants, and even bureaucrats were no longer strictly distinguished. They developed across borders and intertwined with each other, and it was common to have multiple identities.

It is precisely because of such a complicated situation that the gentry and businessmen in the south of the Yangtze River have nothing to fear.Without him, a powerful spokesperson has been cultivated in the court; in the local area, officials are controlled to fulfill their treachery.

As early as the Jiajing period, some local political power had been monopolized by businessmen, and local government officials had to obey orders to some extent.

The fight between Zou Wang, the richest man in Wuxi, and Gu Kexue, the Minister of Rites at that time, fully proved the existence of this situation.

The cause of the incident was that Zou Wang's old mother passed away, and the funeral was arranged wantonly. Too many people came, not only the streets were congested, but the old house of the Gu family was also demolished!
Old Gu is self-reliant on his high position, you are so bold as a businessman, why don't you deal with it!So, he asked the prefect of Wuxi to throw Zou Wang into prison!

As soon as Zou Wang was arrested and imprisoned, all the shops within ten miles of Wuxi City went on strike, using this as a threat to demand Zou Wang's release.

The prefect of Wuxi had no choice but to tell Gu Shangshu, stating that if this matter develops like this, the court will definitely punish him, so he can only release Zou Wang first.Gu Shangshu was not angry, so he could only swallow his anger first.

But the matter was not over yet, all the shopkeepers in Wuxi refused to sell anything to Gu Shangshu and his family.There are even harassment by rogues and threats of writing books.

Gu Shangshu was frightened, and hurriedly asked the magistrate to send yamen servants to protect him.But the servants who asked for sick leave stayed at home, and those who asked for personal leave made up reasons, but no one came.

Looking back on this, my lord understands that this place is his home field, and it is useless for him to be an official.In the end, Gu Shangshu could only leave Wuxi sadly with his family.

Judging from Zou Wang's defeat of Gu Shangshu, the ancestor's conclusion that "a strong dragon cannot overwhelm a local snake" is indeed very reasonable.

In such a political environment, no matter how good the government's policy is, it will be greatly discounted, or even deliberately misinterpreted and implemented.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao started to take advantage of the aftermath of Wen Xiangjiao's rebellion.However, the evil gentry in the Su and Song prefectures are still ignorant, dreaming of maintaining the status quo and continuing to spend extravagantly.

The pirated copy of "Da Ming Forum" was thrown on the table, and Li Zitong, a wealthy and landowner in Jiading County, Suzhou Prefecture, pouted with disdain.

Picking up the tea bowl and taking a sip, he sneered and said to the butler, "The imperial court is poor and crazy. Wouldn't it be a dream to launch the 'Grain for Grain' policy?"

The housekeeper stroked the mouse and Hu flattered him, "Whoever he is, we have certain rules. No matter what his policies are, they won't work in Jiading County."

The so-called food policy is to impose additional taxes on the rich.

The specific implementation method is: no additional tax will be levied on farmers who pay less than five taels of tax; while rich households who pay more than five taels of tax will be levied different degrees of grain tax according to the amount of property.

This was not Zhu Youxiao's first initiative, but it was called the two good strategies for saving the country in the late Ming Dynasty together with "Qingtun payment", which was implemented briefly during Chongzhen.

When Lu Xiangsheng was the governor of Xuanda, he was one of the advocates and implementers, and he received good results.

Although the original "food for food" policy touched the interests of the officials and gentry, after all, the officials can still use their power to evade, so the resistance is not too great.

But under the clamor of Yang Sichang and other ministers, Chongzhen's brain was kicked by the donkey again. "Because of food" has become "equal loss", that is, regardless of whether you are poor or rich, all of them will be taxed together.

As a result, the people who were already on the verge of life and death had no way out. They could only choose to follow the rebellion, which made the peasant uprising power soar, no matter how hard it was to contain it.

Now, Zhu Youxiao picked it up again, ready to carry it through to the end.Of course, it's just to let the local government get ready.

But in the eyes of rich gentry and landlords such as Li Zitong, the additional tax could not fall on themselves at all.

How much taxes to pay and how to determine the list of exempt and additional taxes are not the final say of the local government.As for the relationship between the local government and them, it's just a matter of writing.

(End of this chapter)