Chapter 310: Open the door and force taxes!
Wang Shouren naturally knew that the imposition of inheritance tax would be difficult for wealthy families to accept. After all, he himself was also a wealthy family. At first, when Xiong Ban proposed the imposition of inheritance tax, he also found it difficult to accept it. However, he thought that Jiangnan is not as rich as other places nowadays. If there is no inheritance tax, the descendants of the chaebol will be able to continue to become chaebols by getting something for nothing.
Although it is understandable for people to inherit the inheritance of their fathers, allowing a large amount of wealth to only be concentrated in the hands of a few people is naturally not conducive to the long-term stability of the country.
Moreover, as there are more wealthy people in Jiangnan, cases involving inheritance will definitely increase. The court cannot administer justice for free, and judicial services must be paid. Otherwise, who will be willing to meddle in your family's business.
"I also thought about this with them. It is indeed unacceptable for wealthy families to give part of their property to the court for free. However, I believe that there will be times when they need to let the court decide how to distribute their inheritance for them. The court can first establish an inheritance law and inheritance tax system, but it will not impose strict regulations. Property inherited or transferred privately will not be recognized or protected by the court. If you want the court to be fair, you must naturally follow the court system and pay inheritance tax to the court. I believe that there are weak families in the clan who want to inherit their own inheritance. If your rights are protected by the court, you will be willing to pay inheritance tax.”
Wang Shouren put forward his own opinion. As a wealthy man, he was naturally used to the fights between powerful clans for the division of family property. He knew that the court really needed to increase the government's intervention in this aspect to avoid conflicts between powerful clans due to interests. And rupture leads to family discord, and family discord makes it difficult for the country to live in harmony.
Zhu Houzhao was naturally willing to levy inheritance tax. Now that he saw Wang Shouren also taking the initiative to ask the court to enact inheritance laws and levy inheritance tax, he had no objection and just nodded:
"In this case, you will be responsible for drafting the draft inheritance law these days. I will issue it to the world after deliberation and approval. In addition, I will order the Jiangnan State Taxation Bureau to add inheritance tax collection regulations."
"Obey!"
Wang Shouren began to draft the inheritance law. Naturally, it was not drafted by him personally, but by the cabinet secretary under the jurisdiction of the cabinet bachelor.
In fact, Ming Dynasty does not yet have a clear legislative body.
Although the outline of the Constitution stipulates that legislative power lies in the hands of the emperor, Zhu Houzhao could not draft the bill himself. Under normal circumstances, he still let the cabinet draft it. This way he could also let the cabinet block the bullet for him, but people outside still thought it was the cabinet. The emperor did not know about these things.
The cabinet is now both the center of internal affairs and Zhu Houzhao's secretariat, which means that the cabinet still has great power.
Wang Shouren is now fully capable of presiding over the entire Jiangnan system reform for Zhu Houzhao.
Soon the inheritance bill was finalized and published in the official press.
The ruling class of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the powerful gentry, did react strongly to the emergence of inheritance laws.
"Since ancient times, members of the same family have been taboo about dividing the family. As for the so-called inheritance law, it only follows Confucian etiquette and establishes direct descendants! It does not care about the division of private family property. Now the court stipulates inheritance by decree. In order to avoid uneven distribution of wealth within the clan! ”
But what Zhu Houzhao didn't expect was that, like Wang Shouren, the powerful gentry still supported the inheritance bill when it came out. It was indeed more fair to decide that it would be managed by the court. After all, the inheritance bill was also drafted by a bureaucrat like Wang Shouren, so naturally it was not This will make the owner of a wealthy family unable to accept the order of inheritance prescribed by the government from an ethical point of view.
However, when the inheritance tax came out, the powerful gentry could not accept it. Although it was hard to say on the surface that the court would benefit from passing on their property to their heirs, they thought so in their hearts. Therefore, they all He didn't take the court's inheritance tax seriously, he just felt that he didn't need to rely on the court to pass on his family property to his heirs.
What really made Jiangnan's powerful gentry unacceptable were other new policies on taxation.
The new tax policy of Jiangnan State Taxation Bureau caused an uproar as soon as it was published in the official newspapers.
First of all, the officials in the background were the powerful gentry of Jiangnan, and they all slapped the table angrily.
Wei Shangchen, the right judge of Dali Temple in Nanjing, said angrily: "In the prosperous times, the dynasty imposed excessive taxes and extortion. How is this a benevolent government that cares for the people! The day before yesterday, His Majesty summoned officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs and Household Affairs, as well as the governors of Nanzhili and Zhejiang. The court discussed the tax policy, but they didn’t expect that instead of imposing tax exemptions, they increased taxes. Didn’t any of the officials in charge of the world’s money laws care about the people’s poverty? ”
Wei Shangchen's family is a large Huizhou businessman. According to the original tax policy, taxes were levied based on the number of fields under the household registration name. However, his family's household registration is in Huizhou. Huizhou's Tian Shao was permanently exempted from the world's corvee because of Zhu Houzhao, so the people's enthusiasm for donation was not high. Therefore, the number of fields under his household registration name is not large. If he follows the original tax payment method, he only needs to pay a small amount of land tax.
(After checking, in real history, the gentry of the Ming Dynasty were not exempt from tax, but were exempted from corvee and a certain amount of tax-free land, so here, Wei Shangchen still had to pay taxes)
But now, the two northern officials, Cong Lan and Xiong Fen, who are familiar with the actual situation in Jiangnan and know that there are many overseas Chinese doing business in Jiangnan, have not asked the Jiangnan State Taxation Bureau to collect taxes based on household registration. A business tax is levied, and these businesses, shops, and workshops are also required to register with the industrial and commercial departments of the corresponding prefectures and counties.
In this way, even if Wei Shang's household registration is in Huizhou and his family and industry live in Jiangnan, he still needs to pay more business taxes than before.
Wei Shangchen could not accept it, so he wrote a memorial to dissuade the implementation of the new tax policy.
However, Wei Shangchen's memorial was not submitted to the imperial court because Zhu Houzhao had now reformed the administrative procedures and clarified the specific division of labor. Officials of Dali Temple belonged to the judicial system and were not qualified to comment on tax affairs.
Here, Bai Xiang, an official of the General Affairs Department, put Wei Shangchen's memorial in the column that collects memorials from Dali Temple officials. After receiving the memorial, the Dali Temple officials, in order to protect Wei Shangchen, did not include Wei Shangchen's criticism of the imperial tax policy. The matter was reported to the imperial court, and he was dismissed. He was also approved as not being in charge of the government if he was not in his position.
After receiving this memorial, Wei Shangchen did not thank the officials of Dali Temple. Instead, he resented the officials of Dali Temple. He said that his arrogance and criticizing the memorial on behalf of the emperor was a crime of treason and injustice. He also scolded the imperial court for being incomprehensible.
But in fact, Wei Shangchen and other officials who had been in Nanjing for a long time did not understand the current rules of the court.
Of course, most officials still know this rule.
Wang Yongshi, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, knew the current rules of the court at this time, but because of his knowledge, Wang Yongshi became even more dissatisfied with the current system of the court.
In his view, although the imperial court now clearly divides government affairs, it also blocks speech and severely limits the power of scholar-bureaucrats. This makes him nostalgic for the past, when everyone could submit memorials regardless of official position. In front of the emperor, if you criticize a certain government policy, although it will inevitably anger your majesty and be severely punished by the imperial staff, at least you can gain a clear name and let the imperial court know your opinions.
But now, Wang Yongshi had to admit that the court's way of speech was seriously blocked.
Although speech is free and you can say whatever you want, it is difficult for the written content to affect the emperor and the government unless it is your own business.
It is difficult for scholar-bureaucrats to point out the affairs of the world.
Now, as soon as the tax reform was notified, Wang Yongshi's feeling became even stronger, so he couldn't help but said angrily: "Before the new tax policy was issued, neither the senior officials nor the Qingliu ministers knew the details. , let alone participate, if this continues, how can the emperor listen and understand! This time, Wang will die to ask your majesty to open up his voice and not let the powerful ministers harm the country."
In Wang Yongshi's view, this increase in taxes must have been done by officials from the Cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs. After all, the policies were set by them. If they were not willing, His Majesty would not be able to implement the policies, just like the previous policies. .
Wang Yongshi even believed that the imperial court system had now made it impossible for officials to interfere in the affairs of other yamen, and that the major headquarters of Dali Temple, the Ministry of Punishment, and the Guards Army had the power to vote. It must have been the work of powerful ministers who wanted to divide His Majesty's power.
Therefore, Wang Yongshi knelt outside the Mochou Lake Palace and begged to meet the emperor. He wanted to denounce the ambitions of the powerful ministers and their actions that harmed the country.
When Zhu Houzhao saw Wang Yongshi kneeling outside, he admired his courage and even admired his simplicity, but he did not like Wang Yongshi's stupidity. Yes, he thought Wang Yongshi was stupid and criticized the court because of the tax reform. The current system is obviously sitting on its own class.
"Let him kneel!"
Naturally, Zhu Houzhao would not see this Wang Yongshi. When he saw him, it would be equivalent to breaking his own rules. It is not that he cannot see him, but that he cannot see him because of matters related to taxation and the government system. That would only encourage the arrogance of other officials.
Of course, Zhu Houzhao will not punish Wang Yongshi now. First, Wang Yongshi is rebelling against the powerful officials who did not oppose him. Second, Wang Yongshi's current behavior is not illegal according to the law, just like the citizens of later generations kneeling to see the market. Just like the secretary of the committee, as a "senior city official", I can't beat out the "citizen" Wang Yongshi who wants to see me, otherwise I will only lose the hearts of the people.
Zhu Houzhao knew that as the emperor, the best way now was to hide behind the scenes forever, letting the people in the world mistakenly think that he was unaware or not involved, or even mistakenly thought that he was being manipulated by powerful officials.
Listening to the eunuchs' reports about Wang Yongshi and other officials' criticism of cabinet officials such as Wang Shouren and Hu Bu, Zhu Houzhao also wanted to laugh and felt a little sorry for them, but at the same time, he had to admit that when he was in the civil service group, When hierarchy and power are checked and balanced, it becomes difficult for the civil servant group to unite with itself as the emperor, and instead they start fighting among themselves.
In the past, any official could criticize the government, so that high officials had no power and small officials had no fear. Therefore, all civil servants could interfere with the emperor. But now, the power of high officials is balanced. Small officials are controlled by big officials, and small officials can only fight against big officials. Officials, and high officials fight with each other, but as the emperor, he can sit firmly on the throne and control the overall situation.
Of course, Zhu Houzhao also knew that he still needed to be careful about party conflicts.
Turning back to the topic, now is not the time when the conflict between the parties is too serious, and Zhu Houzhao has not focused on it. When he saw Wang Yongshi still kneeling outside, he couldn't help but sigh secretly, thinking that the officials of the Hanlin Academy were still too much. He's free. If he's really busy, if he just kneels outside for a while, his colleagues will have to do a lot more work. I'm afraid no one will blame him.
Wang Yongshi's method of kneeling to see the emperor did not work. The day after he fainted and was carried back, Xu Gao, a lecturer at the Nanjing Hanlin Academy, as Wang Yongshi's superior, directly ranked Wang Yongshi's evaluation as the worst. The reason was Wang Yongshi did not do his job well, and even organized an internal meeting of the Hanlin Academy to criticize Wang Yongshi, which made Wang Yongshi half angry.
There are also officials who sympathize with Wang Yongshi, and they all praise Wang Yongshi for his uprightness. For example, the supervisory censor Chen Bao admires Wang Yongshi very much, and even went to Shangshu to rectify Wang Yongshi's name, but it was useless. The censor can only impeach and file cases now, without rewards or making someone famous. The right to decide whether Wang Yong is excellent or not is in the hands of his boss.
No matter whether they wrote memorials or knelt outside the palace, they could not achieve the purpose of blocking the new tax policy. Officials who opposed the new tax policy had the last resort, which was to argue directly with the cabinet and Ministry of Revenue officials, or even scold them directly.
"Wang Butang, as an important minister of the imperial court and the Minister of Nanhu, why do you allow such a tax policy? This is exorbitant taxation!" Meng Feng, the Minister of the Ministry of Punishment of Nanjing, asked Wang Chengyu, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue of Nanjing. Wang Chengyu himself felt that he was aggrieved. Originally, he had indeed blocked the tax reform at the court meeting, but had no choice but to agree to it in the end. He even tried his best to protect the interests of the Jiangnan gentry, but now he is still being criticized.
then.
Wang Chengyu was disheartened and resigned.
After Zhu Houzhao persuaded him to stay, Wang Chengyu made his words clear and did not stop him anymore. He also knew that Wang Chengyu did not have the courage to fight with the gentry of his own class, and he was indeed not suitable to stay in the position of Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing.
After Wang Chengyu resigned from the position of Minister of Household Affairs in Nanjing, most bureaucrats and gentry who did not know the inside story regarded it as a victory for them to resist the new tax policy through public opinion. For them, even if they could not change the implementation of the new tax policy, they could overthrow a dominant figure. The emergence of powerful officials under the new tax policy is also a comfort.
But what these Jiangnan bureaucrats and gentry don't know is that they are forcing away a person who speaks for their own class, and they are reducing their own right to speak.
Of course, there are also bureaucrats and gentry in Jiangnan who are wiser and feel sorry for Wang Chengyu.
anyway.
The implementation of the new tax policy is a certainty, and no one can stop it at this moment. For the bureaucrats and gentry, they can only rely on ordinary people to resist, and they can take the opportunity to use public opinion pressure to ask the court to withdraw the decision.
Bureaucrats and gentry are essentially cowardly. The richer they are, the more they fear death.
When the dynasty still had ruling power, they basically opposed it verbally, but in action they did not dare to confront the imperial court. There were only a few scholar-bureaucrats who dared to resist the imperial court, but the people who really dared to resist were the common people. The common people are indeed willing to do anything for their own survival interests, but they are also easily deceived by the scholar-bureaucrats and used as guns.
at this time.
Jiangnan State Taxation Bureau began tax collection work.
Nanjing is naturally the first to be affected.
When the tax inspector from the Jiangnan State Administration of Taxation came to the first weaving workshop outside Nanjing, hundreds of weavers holding sticks stopped the tax inspector.
Tu Jin, who was appointed as the Chief Tax Supervisor of Hongwumen in Yingtian Prefecture, was dumbfounded for a moment when he saw this scene and had to shout: "Countrymen, what are you doing? Do you want to obstruct the imperial court's tax collection?!"
"My lord, we should not obstruct the imperial decree, but the new tax policy is to levy personal income tax, which is really taking too much benefit from the people. These villagers can only earn one yuan a month. If they pay more taxes, how can they support their families! Sir, you are also a citizen of the imperial court, and you should understand that people's livelihood is so difficult! How can you help a tyrant to abuse the people!"
At this time, a member of the staff stood up and said a few words.
Seeing this, Tu Jin couldn't help but ask: "Who are you?"
"Tian Shuxiang is a student of the county school! He is also the owner of this weaving mill," Tian Shuxiang replied.
After Tu Jin found out, he didn't ask any more questions and just shouted loudly: "Fellow villagers, you must have misunderstandings about the new tax policy. As for personal income tax, the court's new tax policy stipulates that only those with a monthly income of more than ten silver dollars only need to pay The tax rate is one for five hundred. You have too little monthly income, so naturally you don’t have to pay tax!”
The weavers present were a little horrified when they heard what Tu Jin said. One of the weavers even asked with some uncertainty: "Is it true? But we heard from Mr. Tian that as long as you earn silver dollars, no matter how much, You have to take 30%!”
"It's true!"
Tu Jin nodded.
The weavers became quiet because of this, and one of them said: "Then this matter has nothing to do with us."
Only then did Tu Jin hold up his gun and asked in a cold voice: "So, do you still dare to stop the imperial court from collecting taxes now?"
at the same time.
The tax servants under Tu Jin also armed themselves with guns.
This was specifically requested by Zhu Houzhao. Although the IRS belongs to the central household department, its employees are all retired officers and soldiers drawn from the army, and they are allowed to possess advanced weapons and equipment inferior to main battle weapons.
After all, Zhu Houzhao also knew that if he wanted to collect taxes from these wealthy families, it would not work without the backbone of the army loyal to the court and without hard weapons. Who knows how many slaves these wealthy families raised and how many firearms they hid secretly.
Because they did not need to pay taxes, and seeing that the tax collectors of the Internal Revenue Service were well-armed, the weavers also consciously stepped aside.
Only Tian Shuxiang, the owner of the weaving workshop, and the senior shopkeepers and shareholders he hired were still standing in front of Tu Jin and other IRS tax collectors.
Tian Shuxiang was a little shocked and puzzled, thinking how could this be possible! How could this be! How come the officials of the imperial court are so thieves that they actually exempt ordinary craftsmen from taxes! This, this makes us call on ordinary weavers to resist taxes!
"My boss, this is a powerful move by the court. It can be said to be draining the firepower. As a result, we have no support. It is difficult for only a few shareholders and shopkeepers to resist the court's taxation." Wang Tingzhao, the deputy owner of the weaving workshop, could not help but whisper to Tian Shuxiang.
Seeing this, Tian Shu could only sigh: "Bring me the account books. I have also paid your personal income tax for you. I will deduct it from your salary when the time comes. No objection."
Several shopkeepers and shareholders nodded, knowing that although they were workshop shareholders and big shopkeepers, they could not resist the imperial court without the union of the weavers, and they were reluctant to lose the profits from the weaving mill.
Next, Tu Jin also successfully collected taxes. He had graduated from a military academy, and before graduating from the military academy, he had studied arithmetic in a senior school and held a financial position in the army. Otherwise, he would not have been transferred to the Internal Revenue Service. , Therefore, he can also figure out how much tax to collect, and he will not let businessmen like Tian Shuxiang be deceived.
From the very beginning when the imperial court determined the new tax collection plan, it differentiated between low-income ordinary people and high-income powerful gentry. Low-income people were exempted from taxes or even subsidies, while high-income people increased taxes. This directly prevented the two from uniting and made the court's The difficulty of taxation has been greatly reduced. At least there is no need to worry about the lower class people revolting due to taxation.
Of course, this does not mean that tax collection will be smooth sailing.
During the tax collection process, the tax collectors of the IRS also encountered many tough problems.
Cui Yuan, the Marquis of Jingshan, was the first tough nut that the IRS encountered. When Xu Pengju, the Duke of Wei in Yingtian Prefecture, paid all the taxes due to timidity, Cui Yuan still refused to pay the taxes because he was a meritorious official. They immediately closed the door and left Ma Yinglong, the tax inspector from the National Taxation Bureau, and others outside the house to hang out all night.
"Master Marquis, I heard that even the Duke of Wei paid taxes. If the property in our name does not pay taxes, will your Majesty blame him?" At this time, Cui Yuan's wife Lunshi couldn't help but asked Cui Yuan with some worry.
"What are you afraid of? Xu Pengju, that eggless guy, has really disgraced the King of Zhongshan. He is also a founding hero after all. He, the Emperor of the Zhu family, cannot deny us, our kin, just because he has secured the world! We laid such a foundation for them. Hua Jiangshan, not to mention the anger of the civil servants, is just trying to make some money to become a rich man, and he still wants to tax us! If I were Xu Pengju, I would just kick the tax out of the house! "< br>
Cui Yuan couldn't help but say something.
"Sir, be careful. Your Majesty is in Nanjing right now. Be careful not to let people in Xichang hear." Lunshi hurriedly advised.
"I know, speaking of it, it must not be His Majesty's original intention to change the tax policy to what it is now. I'm afraid it's another trick of these civil servants who want to make money from us nobles, just because they see us. Now that you have no military power, you are easy to bully!”
Cui Yuan said and added: "Anyway, I, Cui Yuan, will never pay this tax! Go ahead, if anyone from the IRS dares to collect it, you will call me out!"
As Cui Yuanzheng spoke, his butler ran over: "Master Marquis, it's not good, the IRS has sent artillery!"
"What!" Cui Yuan was shocked. He didn't expect that the people from the IRS would actually use artillery to collect taxes.
Ma Yinglong did adjust the artillery here, but there was nothing he could do. After all, it was a Hou Mansion. Although the gate was not made of iron, it was still very strong, so he had no choice but to adjust the artillery.
Boom!
Ma Yinglong directly blasted away the Jingshan Houhou Mansion!
Then, Ma Yinglong ordered: "Search the Jingshan Marquis Mansion immediately. 12 o'clock in the day has passed, and the compulsory taxation mode has officially entered! Those who resist the tax, regardless of their status, will be shot to death!"
As Ma Yinglong said that, he saw several wealthy slaves rushing over, so he directly threw a grenade at them, killing several wealthy slaves on the spot!
When Zhu Houzhao asked the Internal Revenue Service to appoint new tax inspectors, he followed Wang Shouren's suggestion and not only selected retired officers and soldiers, but also selected retired officers and soldiers from the north. Ma Yinglong was also from the north, so even if he came to the Marquis Mansion to collect taxes, he was from the artillery department. He dared to directly use the cannon to blast!
(End of chapter)