Chapter 713: Xu Jie Villain
This is a game of political wisdom.
Yan Song was the chief assistant when he was over sixty years old, and he has been serving for more than ten years now. Even though he is senile, he is getting more and more powerful as he gets older. In the past six months since Xu Jie was beaten, Xu Jie has become more and more submissive, especially since he joined the cabinet. Xu Jie has never argued with him. Jie was rude to test, and Xu Jie was not angry. He also married his niece to Donglou as his concubine. This made Yan Song more and more relieved. All the beatings and movements directed at Xu Jie stopped. .
But despite this, Yan Song was still a little wary of Xu Jie.
The reason is simple.
Xia Yan was Xu Jie's teacher. They were both teachers and friends and had a close relationship. Xia Yan even recommended Xu Jie.
And Xia Yan was killed by himself and Lu Bing in a joint fight.
So, Yan Song took advantage of this opportunity of Emperor Jiajing's court meeting and tested Xu Jie again to see Xu Jie's reaction.
Xu Jie was as submissive as ever, and his answers were consistent with his own. This made Yan Song very satisfied, and he let go of his guard against Xu Jie.
What Xu Jie said made sense. The national treasury was empty. Why and how it was empty? No one had more say than the Ministry of Revenue, so everyone turned their attention to Sun Yingkui, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
Even Emperor Jiajing, who was sitting on the dragon throne with his eyes closed to rest, also opened his dragon eyes and his eyes fell on Sun Yingkui.
Faced with Xu Jie’s question, Sun Yingkui, who was in the center of the line of sight, was not surprised at all. He was calm and calm as he stepped forward and offered his hands to Emperor Jiajing who was sitting on the throne and the three elders in the hall. Take it from your sleeve When I came out, I listed the items of Taicang's income and expenditure, and started to talk about it with reason: "Your Majesty, and all the ministers, from the time I entered Kyoto to now, the total annual income of Taicang is 500 yuan after deducting regular taxes, additional taxes, and a surplus of salt. Except for more than ten thousand taels of silver, the others There are more than 4 million taels of miscellaneous taxes levied by local governments, of which more than 2 million taels are collected from Taicang this year. In addition to the 2.8 million taels in the previous year, there is an increase of more than 2.45 million taels. It will cost more than 8 million to repair the border and revitalize the economy. Two. Because the border situation is particularly bad, and the border expenses need to be increased to more than 6 million, it is true that Taicang is empty."
After Sun Yingkui finished speaking, there was a burst of discussion in the hall. It was obvious that the true situation of Taicang. Worse than everyone expected.
“The cost is so huge”
“The balance of payments deficit is so huge.”
"Taicang's income this year is only more than two million taels, and it is difficult to make ends meet."
Zhu Ping'an knew about the tax situation of the Ming Dynasty in modern times, but after hearing the more accurate situation from Sun Yingkui, he was even more shocked. .
Of course, Sun Yingkui is talking about the Taicang Bank, which stores silver. As for the collected grain, there are also granaries.
After listening to Sun Yingkui's reply, Emperor Jiajing on the Dragon Throne couldn't help but frowned. Taicang had spent so much money, which made the already suspicious Emperor Jiajing even more suspicious, suspecting that there had been an infringement. It was fake, but Emperor Jiajing didn't speak. He was good at maneuvering and just narrowed his eyes slightly and scanned the crowd.
"Taicang is my money bag of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ministry of Revenue is the steward of the money bag. Now that the money bag is deflated, does Sun Shangshu have any good ideas?" Yan Song glanced at the crowd and landed on Sun Yingkui, and asked slowly road.
"The official suggested that additional tax collection should be carried out. According to the tax situation in various places in the past, forget about the northern prefectures, Guangxi and Guizhou. The land in these places does not produce much grain. Other places can add more tax collection according to the land's richness and poverty, especially in the Jiangnan area. As the proverb goes, "If Taihu Lake is ripe, the world will have enough." These important grain-producing areas can be allocated more. According to Xianguan's preliminary estimate, this will provide more than 1.5 million taels of silver per year." Sun Yingkui replied with his hand.
Tax increase?
Hearing this, Zhu Ping'an frowned, and the influence on Sun Yingkui suddenly became bad.
Jiangnan is being ravaged by Japanese pirates, and you have to pay more taxes!
Originally, there were many Ming people among the Japanese pirates. If we impose additional taxes on Jiangnan, wouldn’t it force some farmers who can’t survive to take the risk and join the Japanese pirates?
Isn’t this the government forcing the people to rebel?
Do you still think that the Japanese pirates in Jiangnan are not chaotic enough? If you increase taxes and taxes in Jiangnan, aren't you adding fuel to the Japanese sentiment in Jiangnan?
I picked up the sesame seeds and lost the watermelon!
This is Zhu Ping'an's view on Sun Yingkui's suggestion. It seems that everyone is very discerning. Although Sun Yingkui is still as talented as before, his original high-spirited and bright character has long since disappeared, and he can only live in peace and drift with the crowd.
"Sun Shangshu said this, I forgive my officials for not agreeing with it." At this time, a censor stood up and said impassionedly.
Zhu Pingan could see the shortcomings of Sun Yingkui's suggestions and had the courage to stand up. Zhu Ping'an gave him a thumbs up in his heart.
However, the next second, Zhu Ping'an became confused, and the corners of his mouth were trembling.
"As the saying goes, you don't worry about the shortage but the inequality. The northern prefectures, Guangxi, and Guizhou do not impose additional taxes, while the south of the Yangtze River allocates as much tax as the Taihu Lake. How fair is this? The world will not criticize it. We will act in this way. Instead of sharing it equally, all the governments in the world will impose the same burden." The censor who stood up continued.
"Haha, if I remember correctly, Guo Yushi's family is from Taihu, Wudi, Jiangnan. Guo Yushi said I was unfair. I think what Guo Yushi said about equal sharing is false. For his hometown Is it true that the tax reduction is true?"
Sun Yingkui smiled slightly, and while defending himself, he mocked Guo Yushi.
"You are such a mouthful." Guo Yushi's face turned red.
Then the officials who were friends with both parties also stood up and spoke for them. For a while, everyone at the court held their own opinions and started arguing.
Hey.
After listening to it for a while, Zhu Ping'an felt speechless at the imperial court's quarrels. The officials quarreled more than modern Internet celebrities, and then they became too distracted and distracted.
Zhu Pingan is a non-staff observer of the court meeting. He is located very close to the side. If he is distracted, he will not be noticed at all if he is not paying special attention.
About two minutes later, Zhu Ping'an's distracted eyes fell on a pillar of the main hall not far away, and found a line of inscriptions on it. It had been a long time, and if you didn't look carefully, you wouldn't have noticed it.
Zhu Ping'an's eyesight is much better than that of ordinary people. He squinted his eyes slightly and saw clearly the inscription on the pillar: "Xu Jie, a villain, will never use it."
Zhu Pingan suddenly became energetic.
The font of this line is very similar to the font on the note that Emperor Jiajing passed to him. It is a little greener, but basically the same. Obviously, the inscription on this pillar is Jiajing. The emperor's handwriting when he was young.
The fonts are connected and fluctuate violently.
From the font, you can seem to see the scene when Emperor Jiajing was furious, writing furiously, and carving these eight characters. (End of this chapter)