Chapter 385 Parade
“Oppose the government to increase taxes!”
“Oppose the government’s destruction of the free business environment!”
"Wang Lin and Bi Keng step down!"
The streets in Wuchang were crowded with marchers, and He Xinyin and a group of members of the Free Literary Society were at the front.
Some Jin gentry also came out to help, and they beat up the tax collectors from the Huguang State Taxation Bureau.
He Xinyin was also very excited. Seeing that he had organized a huge team, he felt like he could control the entire world with just one hand.
The policemen of the Huguang Governor came out and formed a team holding glass shields to prevent these marchers from smashing street shops and rushing into government offices.
Wu Guozheng, a member of the student body who came to organize the parade with He Xinyin, immediately threw away his smelly shoes when he saw these police soldiers: "You are the hawks and dogs who are working for the tiger! Qiu Ba! The taxes we paid are not for you to deal with us." ! If you have the ability, come with us to deal with the government!”
A police soldier who received a stinky shoe could only endure his anger and continue to stand. After all, the superiors had issued strict orders not to use violence against these gentlemen. After all, these were representatives of the Huguang Jin gentry, and they were powerful both in the court and at the local level. Strong.
Wu Guozheng was even more proud when he saw that these police soldiers did not dare to take action. He also knew that they were students, graduates of higher education institutions, and children of civil servants. Unless he committed murder and set fire, these police soldiers would not dare to take action. How are you doing?
"If you don't get out of the way and don't let us attack the IRS, we will just wait!"
Wu Guozheng simply threatened him directly.
"Spit on them!"
"Spit on them!"
"Spit on them!"
……
Other members of the Free Literary Society also started making noises and encouraged Wu Guozheng to spit on these police soldiers.
After all, the police soldiers set up by the imperial court completely broke the power of local clans to independently handle criminal cases. The members of the free literary society, mainly from the gentry class, naturally hated these police soldiers. Now they naturally wish Wu Guozheng would spit on these police soldiers. Down.
Wu Guozheng was encouraged by these people and saw that the policemen really did not dare to touch him, so he actually rolled up his sleeves, walked over, and spat on a policeman's face.
This police soldier was affected by the Ming Dynasty's recruit system. Even during training, he had never been so humiliated by a training officer. He was also very angry. Just as he was about to take action, the corps commander beside him shouted in a low voice: "Jia Shan, don't be impulsive! They are the people! They are not allowed to violate the rules and attack the people without any reason! ”
"Understood!"
The policeman named Jia Shan could only reply, enduring his anger and continuing to stand upright in front of Wu Guozheng.
Seeing that Jia Shan did not take action, Wu Guozheng became even more proud and forgot about his fear. He really thought that a scholar like himself was superior in front of these people, so he continued to spit in the face of the corps commander: "Didn't you hear that? Open! Otherwise I will spit!”
"Get out of the way!"
"Get out of the way!" "Get out of the way!"
Other members of the Free Literary Society also shouted.
Only the shopkeeper of a shop facing the street couldn't stand it anymore and couldn't help shouting: "How long are you people going to march and block the street, and do you want us to do business? You have to pay for the loss!"
Bang!
The shopkeeper was punched on the spot.
A student wearing a t-shirt came over at this time and cursed at the shopkeeper: "Old guy! Do you know what we are doing? We are fighting for rights and freedom of taxation! Shut up!"
The shopkeeper covered his face and continued to speak. At this time, his accountant stopped him: "Shopkeeper, forget it! These are people we can't afford to offend. They are members of the Free Literary Society, and they are supported by gentry officials. , we are just small merchants, we are beaten by them and have no place to seek justice, don’t you see, even the government can’t do anything to them!”
"Yes, yes", the shopkeeper wanted to say more but in the end he just sighed.
……
It happened that on this day, Zhu Houzhao was going to enter Sichuan by water, and he was inspecting the southwest to return to the river and enter the city. He happened to stop by Wuchang.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao also witnessed a large number of soldiers and civilians pouring into the streets of Wuchang City for parades.
Zhu Houzhao also encountered many parades in his previous life. Generally speaking, Zhu Houzhao did not reject parades, nor was he afraid of people's parades. After all, only in such peaceful and prosperous times could people have the energy to parade. Otherwise, they would have revolted long ago. The armed struggle began.
But what Zhu Houzhao is really disappointed with is that the theme of these demonstrations is not fresh enough and is still about political demands for taxes.
Zhu Houzhao actually didn’t understand what the anti-monopoly tax had to do with these gentry and people. First of all, these gentry and people would not participate in monopolies and did not have the strength. Secondly, anti-monopoly should be in the interests of most people and would only harm big businessmen and gentry. interests.
This time, Zhu Houzhao and several large financial groups took the initiative to be levied anti-monopoly taxes by the court. Otherwise, the cabinet's strength alone would not be able to levy anti-monopoly taxes.
This is something that everyone in the Ming Dynasty should be happy about. After all, it shows that their Supreme Emperor Zhu Houzhao is not an egoist, and will still take the initiative to spit out some meat to help the national cause of the entire Ming Dynasty.
But it seems that the current people have automatically chosen to ignore this matter, and instead pay more attention to the imposition of anti-monopoly taxes here.
"The cabinet also wanted to increase the revenue of local governments. Seeing that the royal family and the big plutocrats who controlled the world's wealth were willing to be levied anti-monopoly taxes, they allowed local governments to levy local anti-monopoly taxes independently to increase local revenue. After all, today's agricultural taxes are has been exempted. To obtain revenue for construction areas, local governments can no longer rely on additional fire consumption taxes, but can only find it from these industrial and commercial taxes. Local monopoly giants There are many people with official and gentry backgrounds, noble backgrounds, and even overseas vassal kings! It is naturally difficult for ordinary merchants to become monopoly merchants, so Weichen did not understand why these common people would object, although the reason was that they did not agree with them. The people are competing for profits, but it is clear that these monopolistic merchants are competing for profits with the people, and the government is actually preventing these monopolistic merchants from competing for profits with the people! ”
Wang Lin, the governor of Huguang, looked at the scholars and people crowding the main streets of Wuchang City and reported the situation in Wuchang to Zhu Houzhao.
There are many people who can become officials in the Ming Dynasty, and even more people are waiting to become officials. Especially today, decades after the universal education, the probability of being promoted to governor is only one in 10,000. Therefore, the relationship between the government and the people is often at a loss. As an important evaluation criterion for local officials, the emergence of such a large-scale demonstration in Wuchang City is a big blow to Huguang Governor Wang Lin and Zuo Chief Envoy Bi Keng.
"Where is Bi Keng, the political envoy from the left?" Zhu Houzhao asked.
"I am admonishing these parading scholars on the street and explaining to them," Wang Lin replied.
"What's the use of explaining? Didn't you see what it says on the slogan, I want you and Bi Keng to resign?" Zhu Houzhao pointed to the slogan on the street and couldn't help but think again: "Officials in the Ming Dynasty never resign. When will it be these people’s turn to have the final say?”
(End of chapter)