Chapter 442: The Ancestor's Dharma Meeting is Terrible!
Chapter 442 The ancestral method will kill you!
Seeing Lu He, Chen Fang and other officials even called Taizu, and even said that the Ming Dynasty was about to perish, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but look gloomy after hearing this.
You must know that Zhu Houzhao was thinking about how to use Kaihai's interests to compensate these officials and gentry as much as possible, but he did not expect that none of these people were willing to sacrifice their own interests for the sake of Ming Dynasty.
Thinking that the acres of land owned by each of these officials and gentry far exceeded the number of tax-free acres set by Emperor Taizu, but these officials enjoyed the tax-free treatment as a matter of course, but they never thought about it.
But in fact, they have been lying on Daming's body to suck blood.
What is the current ownership situation of the land in Ming Dynasty? If Zhu Houzhao hadn't seen some of the data that Li Huan had previously collected through Jinyiwei's investigation, to be honest, Zhu Houzhao really didn't expect that the situation in Ming Dynasty would be really precarious.
Although what Li Huan presented to him was only the land in Gyeonggi Province investigated by Jin Yiwei, and the status of land ownership in some surrounding state capitals may not be representative of the entire world, but one or two things can be seen from it.
From the data presented to him by Li Huan, Zhu Houzhao could clearly see that in these state capitals, almost half of the acres belonged to officials, gentry, scholars and royal families who had tax-free privileges.
These people controlled about half of the acres in the prefectures and counties, but they enjoyed the tax-free privileges granted to them by the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, the most important thing is that according to the rules set by Taizu, Emperor Taizu treated the scholars very favorably.
Anyone who has a reputation can enjoy some tax-free privileges. However, Emperor Taizu is not stupid. There is still a certain limit on the tax-free acres of land that a person with a reputation can have.
However, according to the data presented by Li Huan, it seems that the amount of tax-free acres stipulated by Emperor Taizu was ignored by these scholars.
No matter how many acres of land you own, they all enjoy tax-free privileges.
Obviously these people owned a large number of acres that exceeded the tax-free limit, but they did not pay any taxes to the court, so that the taxes that the court could collect were getting less and less.
If this situation continues for a long time, as a large number of acres of land are annexed by these powerful gentry, if the court wants to maintain a certain amount of taxes, then the officials at the bottom will inevitably pass on a large amount of taxes to those who own the acres.
On civilians.
Even Zhu Houzhao could imagine the consequences of this. In the end, it would be nothing more than the government forcing the people to rebel, the world being in chaos and even the change of dynasty.
It can be said that after knowing this, Zhu Houzhao agreed from the bottom of his heart that Li Huan proposed that officials and gentry should receive food from one body.
Even including the royal clan, Zhu Houzhao had made up his mind and must enforce it, even if it caused opposition from the clans all over the world.
Because Zhu Houzhao knew very well that if the Ming Dynasty did not make changes, I am afraid that it would have perished like all previous dynasties in less than a hundred years.
The sounds of Lu He, Chen Fang and others hearing that the Ming Dynasty was about to die were all in his ears, and Zhu Houzhao's face became increasingly ugly.
These people keep shouting that the Ming Dynasty will perish. Don't they mean that the emperor is the king of subjugation?
Just when Zhu Houzhao couldn't suppress the anger in his heart and wanted to get angry, he saw Li Huan shouting in a deep voice: "How dare you, are you cursing your majesty as the king of subjugation?"
Li Huan's shout sounded like thunder in the ears of Lu He, Chen Fang and others, making everyone stunned.
However, a few people quickly reacted. Seeing that Li Huan actually accused them of cursing the emperor, the group of people who had gritted their teeth in hatred towards Li Huan who proposed the policy of integrating officials and gentry to receive food suddenly seemed to have found someone to vent their anger on.
generally.
Chen Fang's eyes were red, and she pointed at Li Huan and shouted: "Well, Li Huan, you are such a traitor that you actually deceived Your Majesty. Even Emperor Taizu in the past gave preferential treatment to the scholars and clans of the world, and promised them tax exemption.
You want to share the world with the world's gentry to ensure that our Ming Dynasty will last forever. You actually want to violate the ancestral precepts of Taizu and impose taxes on the world's gentry and clans. Do you want to destroy the foundation of our Ming Dynasty?
"
Lu He pointed at Li Huan and cursed angrily: "Bitch thief, aren't you afraid that Taizu has a spirit in heaven?"
All of a sudden, one official after another pointed at Li Huan and shouted curses, as if Li Huan had offended the public. Even Zhang Lun, Zhu Fu and others couldn't help but feel sorry for Li Huan when they saw this situation.
Break into a cold sweat.
Under the fierce public sentiment, Li Huan was surrounded by hundreds of officials. Thousands of people pointed out that among these people, Li Huan was the sinner of the Ming Dynasty. If he did not cut him into pieces and annihilate the nine tribes, it would be the emperor's ignorance.
"Hahaha!"
Suddenly Li Huan burst out laughing.
The people who were surrounding Li Huan and scolding him were stunned when they saw Li Huan suddenly burst into laughter. They couldn't figure out for a moment what was going on with Li Huan. Could it be that he was crazy because he was being scolded by them?
Is it a success?
But Li Huan laughed and pointed at the crowd and said with disdain: "You keep talking about the ancestral precepts of Emperor Taizu, so now Li will tell you what the ancestral precepts of Emperor Taizu are."
While speaking, Li Huan stared at the crowd with cold eyes and said: "Emperor Taizu indeed treated the world's scholars favorably and gave tax-free privileges to those with meritorious status. But don't forget, everyone enjoys it.
The tax-free privilege is only for a certain area of land. If it is exceeded, taxes will still have to be paid."
Many people's expressions changed when they heard this.
Naturally, they know this better than anyone else, but when the lower-level officials collect taxes, no one will actually implement it according to Taizu's decree.
It can be said that any land owned by a distinguished gentry is exempt from taxes regardless of the number of acres. As for the so-called land quota, they have subconsciously forgotten it.
Now that Li Huan mentioned it, some officials naturally reacted.
Before these officials could speak, Li Huan looked at the crowd with a sneer and said: "The real intention of Emperor Taizu is to treat the world's scholars preferentially. It can be said that he has given you more preferential treatment, but how did you do it?
Taking advantage of Emperor Taizu's preferential treatment towards you and ignoring the imperial decrees, is this how you repay Emperor Taizu's great kindness?"
For a moment, all the officials were speechless when facing Li Huan's questioning, because everything Li Huan said was true.
They used Emperor Taizu's ancestral methods to attack the Emperor and Li Huan. Now Li Huan also used Emperor Taizu's ancestral methods to question them.
Faced with Li Huan's questioning, no one dared to stand up and say that they had no regrets.
Seeing the reaction of everyone in his eyes, Li Huan said again: "Emperor Taizu also said that anyone who embezzles more than sixty taels of silver will be killed immediately! If the people find corrupt officials, they can be directly arrested and sent to the capital for questioning. If you dare
Anyone who obstructs it will be punished with death and will be implicated in the nine tribes "."
Everyone's expressions changed drastically after hearing Li Huan's words. They all knew very well how Emperor Taizu treated corrupt officials a hundred years ago.
But within a hundred years, whenever the Emperor Taizu's attitude towards corrupt officials was mentioned, even thinking about it would make them tremble with fear and shiver all over.
According to the historical records of Taizu's dynasty, during the 31 years of Emperor Taizu's reign, as many as hundreds of thousands of officials were killed by Emperor Taizu because of corruption. In this way, thousands of officials were killed almost every year.
Officials have lost their lives because of corruption.
So much so that during the Hongwu Dynasty, many officials had to explain their family members' funeral arrangements and many other things before going to court every time. This shows the Hongwu Emperor's attitude towards corrupt officials.
Not to mention other things, let’s just say that in the 19th year of Hongwu, a total of 364 Jinshi and Supervisors were appointed. One year later, 6 of these people were killed, sentenced to death, and 358 were exiled. None of them was spared, and the entire army was wiped out.
.
Although it is said that the salary given to officials in the Ming Dynasty was too low, on the other hand it can also be seen how strict the laws stipulated by Taizu were.
If we follow the laws of our ancestors, then I am afraid that none of the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty present will be able to escape the fate of being skinned and Ling Chi.
Although nearly a hundred years have passed since the Hongwu Dynasty, all the officials present could not help but feel palpitated when they saw this, even if they were reading history books.
Li Huan actually took Emperor Hongwu's treatment of corrupt officials as an ancestral law, which immediately confused all the officials.
A series of eyes subconsciously looked at the emperor. Could it be that the emperor wanted to reproduce the decree of Emperor Taizu in the past?
But when their eyes fell on the emperor, they saw that the emperor's face was as gloomy as water, and his eyes even flashed with murderous intent. Immediately, many officials were frightened and trembled. They instinctively lowered their heads and did not even dare to look back.
Look up to see the emperor.
The huge square suddenly fell into silence. No one shouted out the ancestral method, and no one dared to curse Li Huan.
No one can guarantee whether the emperor will really treat them the same way Emperor Taizu treated corrupt officials. Maybe the emperor will not take down all of them, but he will select some of them who are the most ruthless against the emperor.
If they were used as a target to scare the monkeys, wouldn't they die unjustly?
According to the ancestral law, embezzling sixty taels is a capital offense. Little did they know that what they embezzled was sixty taels. It can be said that if you catch them, you will be sure.
With Li Huan, the murderous god in charge of the Imperial Guard, standing by, who can guarantee that he will not be targeted by Li Huan?
Zhu Houzhao took a deep breath, glanced at Yang Tinghe, Liu Yu, Wang Yangming and other officials, and slowly said: "The method that Li Qing mentioned that the officials and gentry should pay the grain as one, is left to the cabinet for discussion, and the world will be established tomorrow. Immediately
Execution.”
After saying this, Zhu Houzhao said coldly: "Among the ministers, who agrees and who opposes?"
Li Huan, standing aside, looked over the crowd with his eyes, as sharp as an eagle, as if he wanted to see everyone's reactions in his eyes.
The people kneeling on the ground listened to the emperor's cold words full of murderous intent, and felt Li Huan's gaze like a gleam on his back. You looked at me, I looked at you, but no one dared to move.
After more than a dozen breaths, no one from the officials objected. Zhu Houzhao stood up suddenly, waved his long sleeves and said decisively: "Okay, since no one in the ministers' family objects, then this matter is settled."
"Retreat!"
As Qiu Ju's sharp voice echoed in the large square in front of the Qianqing Palace, hundreds of officials knelt on the ground and respectfully sent the emperor's chariot away.
Li Huan, Zhang Lun, and Wang Yangming also left.
After Li Huan and others left, the officials who had been kneeling stood up from the ground one by one as if they had just woken up from a dream.
Seeing the Emperor Luanjia disappearing into the distance, some officials finally couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty favors and trusts Li Huan, so what happened today is what happened. Your Majesty is so stupid..."
"Be careful what you say!"
Even though some officials reminded the official who had a face full of anger and dissatisfaction and made blunt remarks like an emperor.
The official also reacted and subconsciously looked at the people around him, looking scared.
If this was brought to the emperor, if the emperor arrested him and treated him as a model, wouldn't it be too unworthy to lose his life just because of a moment of rhetoric?
Fortunately, the officials were still immersed in the scene where they were suppressed by the emperor and Li Huan's so-called ancestral methods and did not dare to move. Not many people noticed the official's complaints. Otherwise, it would really have happened. I'm not sure if any officials are thinking of using each other as a way to advance.
As the officials came to their senses, many people gradually subconsciously looked at Yang Tinghe, Liu Yu and other important ministers.
An official couldn't help but said to Yang Tinghe, Liu Yu and the others: "Masters, it's just a matter of sharing the same land. We all can tolerate it and fulfill your Majesty's wishes. But now Li Huan is trying to ignore the rule of our ancestors." If you really want to implement the law that the officials and gentry should be paid in one package, if it is really allowed to be implemented, then what difference will there be between us officials and gentry and those ordinary people?"
"This Ming Dynasty is your Majesty's Ming Dynasty, and it is also the Ming Dynasty of the people of the world. We absolutely cannot allow Li Huan, a treacherous minister, to deceive Your Majesty and bring harm to the world."
"Mr. Ge, you must find a way to stop such ridiculous things from happening!"
"Yes, if we allow the traitor Li Huan to cause trouble in the world, then how can we have the face to meet the people of the world and the countrymen and elders?"
Officials one after another stood up to vent their fears and dissatisfaction to Yang Tinghe, Liu Yu and others.
The fierce power of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Huan's reputation as the God of Killing temporarily suppressed everyone, but when these people came to their senses, they were naturally unwilling to let Li Huan and the emperor get their wish.
They felt a twinge of pain when they thought about the tax payment system that would have to be paid to the tens of thousands of acres of land under their respective names.
They have always taken advantage of the Ming Dynasty, and now suddenly one day they are asked to bleed and cut their flesh to feed the Ming Dynasty. How can they accept this!
Yang Tinghe, who was surrounded by a group of officials, sighed slowly and said to the officials: "Don't worry, everyone, I will advise your majesty, and I will never sit back and watch someone disrupt our country, the Ming Dynasty."
Liu Yu and other important ministers on the side also made assurances to the officials with solemn expressions.
Yang Tinghe glanced at everyone and said, "Let's all disperse. Even if His Majesty gives permission, the imperial court's decree cannot be issued so quickly. We still have a chance to advise His Majesty."