Fang Congzhe is a member of the gentry class in the end, and he is very clear about the tax evasion of his own class.Therefore, driven by the reason that he had to cooperate with the emperor's reform and not care too much about the interests of his own class, he pointed out a major crux of the Ming Dynasty's financial problems, that is, the tax evasion of the gentry and large households.In this era, tax evasion is known as levy.Fang Congzhe's contribution is the problem of tax evasion.Zhu Youxiao also nodded after hearing what Fang Congzhe said: "It is urgent to recover the endowment!"
In Yuanfu's opinion, how should it be recovered?
”Fang Congzhe had already guessed that Zhu Youxiao would ask him these questions, so he had already made a draft, so he immediately replied: "Back to Your Majesty, in the opinion of the ministers, if you want to recover the levies, you naturally have to rely on the officials to collect them, and if you want the officials to collect them, you must put an end to lazy government and strictly grasp the rule of officials!"
The world's officials are corrupt, greedy and lazy are the biggest harms, and in this, lazy government is the most harmful, after all, there are corrupt people who may not do things, and those who are lazy will definitely not do things, even if the lazy government is honest, it will harm the country and the people!
Therefore, the minister believed that in order to clear the acres of land and collect the arrears of taxes, it was necessary to carry out strict inspections and implement the examination method, taking the new policy implemented by Zhang Wenzheng as a reference, and requiring officials at all levels to be diligent in political affairs. ”"The examination method must be carried out at the same time as the policy of recovering the levies of the acres of the fields, and the implementation of the examination method in the administration of officials, and the immediate clearing of the acres of the fields and the recovery of the levies in the money and taxes, a two-pronged approach."
Zhu Youxiao immediately replied."
However, Your Majesty, what the minister is worried about is that some officials will be afraid of the wealthy or deliberately flattering the wealthy, and they are forced by the court to urge them to owe taxes, so they extort from the common people, making the common people even more unsuccessful!
I'm afraid that there will be bigger problems when the time comes!
Therefore, in the opinion of the ministers, it is necessary to grasp the appointment of officials accurately, especially the governors who have military and political power, and they must use a group of capable ministers and officials who love the people and are capable of serving as governors, otherwise the original intention of the court is to collect tax arrears from large households, but instead it brutalizes the common people!
”Fang Congzhe had to remind Zhu Youxiao, as an old official, he knew very well what the consequences would be if he just blindly urged officials to make up for the tax arrears.Zhu Youxiao nodded after hearing this, he admitted that Fang Congzhe was an old man who was planning the country, and he was very thoughtful, so he said: "I also thought about this, whether the new policy is good or bad depends on how the officials below implement it, so I don't plan to let these civil officials chase the levies." ”Fang Congzhe glanced at Zhu Youxiao with some surprise.Didn't you plan to let these civil officials chase the levies?
Is it still a tax supervisor?"
Expecting a few capable officials to complete the new policy can only have a temporary effect, after all, there are not many capable officials and officials, and it is impossible to work in the local area all the time, there must be a new regulation system, I plan to set up a special yamen to be responsible for collecting taxes, find out who owes taxes and collect whose taxes, and make them have a certain commission income in tax inspection and taxation, but this yamen does not have the power to raise taxes, so if the yamen wants not to smash their own jobs, they must strictly investigate and strictly pursue the taxes!"
Zhu Youxiao said.His idea was to set up an independent tax department in the Ming Dynasty, collect taxes in a unified manner, and even better set up the most sophisticated tax army, so as to forcibly collect taxes by force without fear of the wealthy and big."
Specialized yamen?"
After hearing this, Fang Congzhe asked: "Your Majesty, the minister has the courage to ask, how should this yamen be set up, please make it clear to Your Majesty?"
”"The main body is the most elite and loyal court officials, but the Yamen Hall officials are composed of internal court officials, foreign court civil officials and military attachés, and supervise each other; elect a civil official as the governor to check the tax burden of the treasury, and elect a court chief to be the governor to check the tax burden of the treasury; elect a military attache to be responsible for directing the collection of taxes by officers and soldiers; Even when necessary, the tax was forcibly levied by raiding the house, and the yamen of my plan was called Xichang, which used to have a deterrent effect on the government and the opposition, and it was just used to collect the levies. ”Zhu Youxiao replied.Fang Congzhe was very shocked when he heard this, and he had to admit that the emperor was more reliable than relying solely on civil officials, because this method of having civil officials, military generals, and eunuchs responsible for collecting taxes together could not only supervise each other, but also have a clearer division of labor."
In this case, the governors and civil officials do not need to forcibly levy taxes on the common people in order to make up for the shortfall, and the West Factory cannot forcibly levy taxes on the common people in order to complete the task of paying taxes, because they do not have the right to raise taxes, and the governors and civil officials are only responsible for clearing the acres of land, if they cause large households with few fields and small households with many fields, then they are derelict in their duties, either corruption or negligence, then when the time comes, if the West Factory finds that it is not right when it is not done and is found out after being found out after being reported, don't blame me for being unkind to them!"
Zhu Youxiao showed a fierce look as he spoke."
Your Majesty!
The Ming Dynasty should indeed set up a special yamen to manage the taxation matter. ”Fang Congzhe replied."
Then let's draw up the decree, the West Factory has three court officials, the governor, and the admiral, all of which are positive and secondary, not subordinate to each other, and can be impeached and inspected by each other; The first governor first let Wang Yingjiao, the secretary of the household department, concurrently serve as the secretary of the household department, and he knew best how much tax arrears the Ming Dynasty had; The first chief steward let Li Yongzhen, the eunuch of the ceremonial eunuch, serve as the eunuch, who has rich experience in raiding and has just raided illegal Jin merchants; The first admiral used Qi Jin, this person was loyal and reliable, and he had just finished killing the Eastern captives in Liaodong, and his murderous spirit was flourishing, which was suitable for deterring those who did not pay taxes honestly. ”Zhu Youxiao commanded."
Yes!"
Fang Congzhe asked again: "Your Majesty, Qi Jin is a fierce general, is it a bit inappropriate to let him be the commander of Xichang, after all, this is a tax rather than a war?"
”"Taxation is more important and more difficult than conquest, this taxation has to be done with strong generals, I not only want to let the commander of the West Factory be a strong general, but all the people in the West Factory use the elite of the empire; What's more, when there is no war, the imperial court cannot support these border soldiers in vain, and they have to be allowed to collect taxes for the imperial court in addition to fighting for the imperial court, after all, they are collecting their own military rations; In addition to the urgent transfer of Qi Jin to return to Beijing with 3,000 Zhejiang soldiers, Zhao Shujiao, who was urgently promoted to the rank of Jiliao Counselor, led 2,000 border troops and Shanhaiguan General Man Gui led 2,000 border troops into Beijing to listen to the use, and then Qin Minping, who was recuperating from his wounds in the capital, and 1,000 white-pole soldiers who accompanied the Guards to train and Jinyi Wei selected 2,000 captains to come out, and the people who temporarily formed the West Factory together were called tax supervisors. ”Zhu Youxiao said.Fang Congzhe was stunned for a moment after hearing this, he didn't expect that His Majesty would directly use the most capable army of the Ming Dynasty to form the West Factory to collect taxes?
Is this going to tax or going to war?
And this scale adds up to tens of thousands of elite soldiers, one Qi Jin plus three generals, who would dare to resist taxes?
Fang Congzhe was a little worried that if he really levied taxes like this, it was estimated that he would ruin countless families and kill countless people."
It just so happens that these border soldiers know that it is not easy for the imperial court to pay them military salaries, and let them feel for themselves how difficult it is to collect taxes."
Zhu Youxiao said a word at this time, and then said: "Immediately draft the decree, the will to transfer troops to form the West Factory does not need to be sent to the political secretary, appear in the palace newspaper and the Huangming newspaper, first keep it secret, give these generals in the form of a secret order, and then secretly transfer troops back to Beijing." ”"Yes!"
Fang Congzhe and Liu Ruoyu immediately replied.Next, Fang Congzhe began to write the will to set up the West Factory and transfer troops to form the West Factory.…… Wang Yingjiao, the head of the household, didn't know that he had been booked by the emperor as the governor of Xichang, and he was in a hurry to come to the palace at this time, and was anxious to see Zhu Youxiao.Therefore, Zhu Youxiao announced that he met Wang Yingjiao in the political hall.As soon as Wang Yingjiao came to the political affairs hall, he immediately reported: "Your Majesty, the minister has just learned of the report of Xiao Jingao, the governor of Nanzhili, and Sun Chengzong, the governor of Susong, that this year's tax and grain tax in Nanzhili has reached about eighty percent of the tax and grain paid last year!"
In other words, this year, there is almost no tax grain in Nanzhili Province to enter Beijing!
This year's grain is obviously going to run out of luck!
”At this time, Wei Zhongxian also rushed over.Zhu Youxiao hurriedly asked Wei Zhongxian: "What's the matter?"
Let's just say it!
”"Back to the emperor, the slaves and maids came to report routinely, and the person in charge of investigating the prices in the east factory reported that the price of grain in the capital has risen sharply for fifteen consecutive days, all because the grain has not arrived in time."
Wei Zhongxian replied.Zhu Youxiao did ask Dongchang to routinely report on the price situation, especially the price of grain, so Wei Zhongxian would report it every day.Zhu Youxiao's face sank after hearing this, and he said in his heart: "What happened to the grain outage!"
”After speaking, Zhu Youxiao looked at Fang Congzhe and Wang Yingjiao in the political affairs hall, and asked first: "Do the two Aiqing have a good plan for this?"
”And Fang Congzhe also sighed in his heart, and said in his heart: "Sure enough, as soon as Your Majesty came to the throne, he ruled the country strictly, and was too strict with the Donglin Party supported by civil officials and scholars, especially the gentry in Jiangnan, and killed thousands of people just in the case of colluding with the eunuchs and embezzling the Mo army's salary, and it is not surprising that this grain shortage will happen." ”