Zhu Yunxi looked over and saw that the person speaking was Han Kezhong.
"Then tell me why the world is like this!" Zhu Yunxi said with a smile.
"I'm slow to speak..." Han Kezhong was a little embarrassed and hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'll just talk about myself!"
"Well... a scholar may not be a member of the gentry, but a scholar who has achieved fame must be a gentry! I come from a poor family, and of course I am not a poor family that has nothing to eat!"
"I lost my father when I was young, but my family still has a few acres of thin farmland, raises large livestock, and has two tenant households. My mother weaves cloth and raises some poultry, and during the holidays, I can still eat some eggs, lard and white noodles!"
"When I was a boy, I asked my mother why she was studying, and my mother said it was to revitalize the family! Later I asked my husband why he was studying, and he said that there is a house of gold in the book!"
"I still remember that when I was seventeen years old, I went to the provincial capital to take the scholar examination. I had no travel expenses before I went there. My mother gave the family land to the clan leader in exchange for the money. After I passed the examination, the clan leader not only gave the land to my family, but also even gave it to my family.
I don’t need the money I borrowed back then!”
"Not only that, the clan also put a lot of heaven and earth in my name to use it for tax exemption. When I won the imperial examination, seven aunts and eight aunts came. When I won the imperial examination, I wanted to be the landowner of half the county.
They all beg for heaven to hang in the name of the Chen family!"
"Now that I have become an official, I have become a high-ranking official. Not only do I not pay grain or taxes, but when the government collects taxes and assigns corvees, they also bypass my hometown!"
"So I feel that the articles of saints are one thing, but the secular is another! And the secular is far more convincing than the articles of saints. Scholars all over the world remember the articles of saints because they have to take exams and advance to the next level.
As for the body, what the sage means is not important and I don’t want to know!”
"Back then, after I was admitted to the Juren Examination, I had the same question as the Emperor. I even went back to my hometown and asked the gentleman who told me that the book has its own golden house. Why did the teachings of Confucius and Mencius become the book that has its own golden house?
?”
Zhu Yunxi listened with great interest, "What did he say?"
"Sir, he said that when Confucius and Mencius said this, we in Zhongxia did not only respect Confucianism! If the two of them were to take part in the imperial examination and then become a master, they would definitely not be able to say it!"
"Hahahaha!" Zhu Yunxi laughed loudly, "That gentleman of yours is quite a wonderful person!"
"So whether it's scholars or officials, everyone in the world is for profit! The emperor's new policies are for their own benefit. They benefit and the people of the court suffer. This is not a matter of who is right or wrong, it is right.
It’s beneficial to anyone!”
"Well said!" Zhu Yunxi slapped his thigh, "Well said! I just want to seize the profits of the gentry, satisfy the people of the world, and enrich the treasury of the Ming Dynasty!"
Zhu Gaochi shook his head again, "I know that the emperor is working hard! But some things are really difficult. The life of officials is already poor, and my salary in Ming Dynasty has always been meager..."
Zhu Yunxi interrupted him directly, "Don't use this as an argument. Didn't I say that I would support Lian Yin?"
Zhu Gaochi was choked again and rolled his eyes fiercely.
He didn't say anything, but he cursed in his heart, "I knew you didn't have good intentions! You, a tough guy who doesn't even care about food, actually gave an official extra money for the first time, so you are waiting here!"
"Oh, you took away their tax-free rights and then gave them three melons and two dates. Your calculations are quite clever!"
"Zhu Gaochi can't be used for this matter!"
Zhu Yunxi also thought to himself, "Everything he said and thought was based on ensuring the stability of the empire. I can't say he is wrong, but he definitely lacks courage and courage! He also lacks foresight!"
"Actually, I think this matter may not be so difficult!" Suddenly, someone else spoke.
Everyone looked over and saw that the person speaking was Yan Zhenzhi, the censor of Zuodu.
"Come and listen!" Zhu Yunxi said.
"Everything has two sides!" Yan Zhenzhi said, "The so-called form and content! The emperor wants to implement the integration of officials and gentry, but in my opinion, it actually does not go so far as to damage their fundamentals!"
"If the emperor insists that they pay the same tax as the people in terms of food taxes, they will naturally not agree, and the emperor will use thunderous means. This is the formality!"
“But how to implement and implement it depends on the content!”
These words made everyone's eyes light up.
"I think the content is desirable and the form should be abandoned!" Yan Zhenzhi said again, "For land in the name of officials and scholars who are tax-free, it is not appropriate not to pay taxes and grain, nor is it appropriate to collect it by force. It would be better to impose a special tax!"
Zhu Yunxi pondered, frowned and said, "Speak more clearly!"
"They retain their right to be tax-free, but they must pay taxes to the court once a year!" Yan Zhenzhi said, "It would be too difficult to exempt them directly. So I thought that they should settle for the next best thing. In this way, the national treasury will increase by a large amount every year.
Block progress, step by step..."
"No!"
Zhu Yunxi didn't wait for him to finish, and interrupted him directly, "Reserve their rights and then increase the levy. Can they pay the full amount? Who can guarantee that you can? Besides, who can guarantee that what they pay to the court is
Didn’t they impose it directly on the people?”
"If I want to win the hearts of the people, what I want is equality between the officials and the people..." Zhu Yunxi looked at the ministers again, "I haven't done anything yet, and there are so many worries. Can I really do it to pay off?"
~~
The court meeting came to an end temporarily, not because the emperor said he was tired, but because he had military information from Yunnan to report.
The ministers retreated in twos and threes, with different expressions. But in everyone's eyes, there was deep worry.
It's not that they can't see the benefits of the New Deal, but they are worried about whether the empire can withstand the negative pressure brought about by the New Deal.
"No wonder the emperor had to wait until the Supreme Emperor passed away, took away all the rights of the vassal kings, and gained full military power before he said this! How difficult!"
Some people thought secretly.
Everyone shook their heads and returned to their respective yamen, sighing.
But the same thing is sorrow for some people, but it is an opportunity for others.
~~
"Gentleman!"
As soon as Xie Jin sat down in the office, someone came in from outside. He looked up and saw Li Zhigang, the Minister of Rites and Minister of Taichang Temple who had just joined Taichang Temple, coming from outside.
"Yixing! What's the matter?" Xie Jin felt a little disgusted with this person, but he still had a polite smile on his face.
"This is an article about the renovation of the late emperor's mausoleum, and it involves a few things that you, the Nanshufang bachelor, need to seal!" Li Zhigang said with a smile.
"The late emperor?" Xie Jin was stunned and opened it at random, "The Supreme Emperor..." After saying that, he understood.
The late emperor mentioned by Li Zhigang was not Emperor Taizu Gao, but Prince Gu Yiwen and Emperor Xiaokangxing whom the emperor respected.
"Did you just meet the emperor?" Li Zhigang asked seemingly smoothly.
Xie Jin didn't want to say it, but suddenly an idea came to his mind.
First of all, the emperor did not say that this matter was not allowed to be spread to outsiders. Furthermore, the emperor now needed someone to break the situation.
And this Li Zhigang is a man who only cares about his official title at the expense of his life!
Moreover, based on his understanding of Li Zhigang, even if Li Zhigang knew about it, he would never tell anyone about such a major event. Because the fewer people who know, the better it is for Li Zhigang.
"Don't say it!" Xie Jin pretended to be silent with a smile, but stopped talking.
"But the New Deal?" Li Zhigang said directly on the key point.
"Hey!" Jie Jin sighed, looked around and whispered, "Is that what happened?"
~~
Li Zhigang's eyes grew wider as he listened, and suddenly he grabbed Xie Jin's arm.
"What did the emperor say?" he asked urgently.
"The Emperor said that the gentry seemed to have maintained local stability, but they also harmed the interests of the country..."
"That's not what you said!" Li Zhigang said anxiously.
"Oh! The emperor said that the imperial power does not extend to the county..."
In an instant, Li Zhigang understood everything.
Anything that harms the country's interests and any tax-free privileges are all fake.
The essential core content of this new policy is that imperial power does not extend to counties.
Because the gentry class existed, the imperial power only stayed at the county level.
"You people are so stupid!" Li Zhigang secretly laughed in his heart.
~~
In Lezhizhai, Zhu Yunxi changed his calm and calm demeanor, looking at the memorial in his hand, his brows formed a "Sichuan" shape.