In this winter month near the end of the year, three pieces of news once again detonated the capital, or to be precise, the entire Ming Empire.
The Burmese king who was enthroned by the Ming Dynasty went to Beijing for pilgrimage and made it clear that he would lead all the soldiers and civilians to surrender.
The Annan envoy committed suicide in fear of guilt in the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Long Yan of Yongchang was furious and sent an envoy to Annan to raise an army to investigate the crime.
Moreover, there are rumors that an edict was sent directly to the commander-in-chief of Guangxi and the commander-in-chief of Yunnan. The emperor asked the sons of the Ming Dynasty to go for a walk on the border and show Annan the heroes of the Ming Dynasty.
lion.
In addition, it is said that the envoy to Annan this time is a little-known official, only seventh grade, his name is Jin Youzi...
These two pieces of news made people on the streets talk about them endlessly after dinner, because they were both things that greatly enhanced the country's prestige.
A land of benevolence and righteousness sounds good to the people, but for the common people, there is no way to enjoy beating people with open arms.
But the officials' concerns are not at the same level as the people's. They are more concerned about the last item.
The emperor's imperial edict was made known to the world, canceling the system of grain levy by the grain chief that had been implemented in the Ming Dynasty for more than 30 years, and replaced it with the government directly levying grain.
Behind this message, there are dozens of additional explanations that are extremely detailed.
For example, the local field registers and the land deeds in the hands of farmers must be updated every three years, and the field registers must be checked every three years. They must be reported to the Ministry of Household Affairs in a timely manner so that the account books of the Ministry of Household Accounts and the local accounts are consistent.
The annual field tax and imperial grain in various places are collected by the inspection censors and grain road yamen officials in each place.
If people are treated unfairly when paying grain and taxes, they can go directly to the Inspector's Office to file a complaint. If the Inspector does not accept the complaint, they will be punished for corruption!
The officialdom lost its voice for a while!
The emperor's intention was already clear. After depriving the officials and gentry of their tax-free and food-free privileges, he would also completely deprive the officials and gentry of their right to speak in the countryside.
In the imperial edict, it was clearly stated that local governments were required to recommend virtuous people to serve as township leaders, and to establish units and township offices below the county level.
The head of the township can be a local person, but his deputy is a student with excellent academic performance drawn from various states and even the Imperial College.
It is euphemistically called experience training, and a term lasts for two years. If the student has the courage to take on the responsibility at the local level, he will be recorded as a member of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and will be included in future official career evaluations.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see what exactly these health workers who were transferred from across prefectures and even across provinces went to the local county offices to do.
Supervision!
Supervision!
Supervision!
Some officials in the capital originally wanted to write to the emperor, telling the emperor that the grain chief system was an ancestral family law and could not be changed easily.
But he suddenly discovered that the officials involved in the official warehouse fraud case at the Pichang Temple had not yet dried the human skin they had peeled off.
Moreover, now that things have happened, there is no leading figure in Qingliu, and there is no backbone at all. Even if they want to speak for their fellow villagers and elders, their words are ignored.
Besides, they also don’t dare to...
Because the emperor really dares to kill people, and he also wants to punish him.
~~
Hangzhou official office, where Li Zhigang's temporary imperial envoy traveled.
A brazier was lit in the room, a grate was set over the charcoal fire, potatoes were roasting on the iron grate, and a boiling copper kettle hung next to it to make scented tea.
I don’t know when, this way of eating became a status symbol in the official circles of the Ming Dynasty.
Li Zhigang was wrapped in a mink coat and deliberately kept a distance from the charcoal basin.
The dozen or so officials sitting next to the brazier were all sweating profusely, either from the heat or from something else.
These people are the prefects of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changshu, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Shaoxing and other places.
A sizzle!
Water overflowed from the boiling copper kettle and dripped onto the charcoal fire, creating bursts of white smoke.
The surrounding officials were startled, their shoulders trembling slightly.
Li Zhigang glanced at them sideways, and pursed his lips slightly at the Chang Sui beside him.
The latter stepped forward, picked up a piece of baked potato, and placed it on the exquisite tea tray in front of Li Zhigang.
“Have you promoted this in your local area?”
Li Zhigang exhaled hot air from his mouth and said while eating bite after bite.
"Reporting to the Imperial Envoy!" Songjiang Magistrate is the parent of Li Zhigang's hometown, so he dared to speak boldly, "Songjiang is a land that produces cotton cloth, and food is always low. Although this product is also promoted, the people don't like it!"
"People still like more rice!" Huzhou magistrate also said, "I heard that the growth in Jiangxi and Fujian is quite... gratifying!"
"Ha!" Li Zhigang smiled faintly, "You people are rich in these places. Naturally, rich people don't like these things that can only satisfy their hunger! Because apart from eating, they can't be converted into money!"
Immediately, the surrounding prefects immediately shut up and did not dare to say anything more.
This imperial envoy, who was from the Jiangnan clan, is now known as King Li in officialdom.
Looking at him along the way, not to mention the northern provinces, how many people died in Yangzhou alone? So when he came to Hangzhou, the prefects from all over the country came to him, fearing that he would be punished for the crime of disrespect if he was too late.
Moreover, behind all the recent decrees of the imperial court, there is the shadow of this imperial envoy. At the very least, it was him who discovered the shortcomings of the place, which made the central government furious.
"Hiss..." Li Zhigang sucked in the air-conditioning as if he was burned, and then looked at a dozen sweating prefects and smiled slightly, "Why is it so hot?"
"It's not hot to wait, sir!"
"It's not hot, then what are the water drops hanging on your foreheads?" Li Zhigang smiled again, then wiped his mouth, and suddenly his expression changed, "Since it's cold, adults, put away the brazier and open the windows!"
"yes!"
The next second, the brazier in the house was immediately taken away.
Then several windows were all pushed open.
Suddenly, the cold wind blew outside, and these officials immediately felt what it was like to be in a world of ice and fire.
"The cold in the south of the Yangtze River is so cold! The cold won't kill you, but it can follow you like a shadow!" Li Zhigang wrapped his mink fur cloak tightly around his body and said slowly.
Gradually, the beads of sweat on the foreheads of the officials disappeared, and their lips turned a little white instead.
Those who have reached the position of prefect have spent many years in the official career. These officials are no longer young. They were aroused by the cold wind and suddenly couldn't stand it.
"The local field registers are not consistent with the household registers in the hands of this imperial envoy!" Li Zhigang said softly with his eyes closed.
"This..." Li Yujia, the prefect of Suzhou, said first, "Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy does not know that it is common for local fields to change hands and be resold, so there is a slight discrepancy between the local field registers and the records of the Ministry of Household Affairs...
"
"Only a small amount?" Li Zhigang sneered, "Your land register in Suzhou Prefecture is 30% less than the fields recorded in the Yellow Book of the Ministry of Household Affairs!"
Li Yujia stood up quickly, "I really don't know this official. He took office last year. When he took office, the land register in Suzhou was like this..." After saying that, he paused and said, "Suzhou is a state tax."
The first government office, compared to the imperial envoy, you also know that the local relationships are intricate and difficult to sort out... Moreover, last year's Huaibei disaster caused additional grain and tax increases to be allocated to Suzhou, and I haven't had time to sort them out since I took office.
Past field records..."
"Yeah, don't be nervous, sit down! Sit down!"
Li Zhigang smiled gently and said, "Before I came here, I also inquired about the Li Mansion." As he said that, he stroked his beard and said with a smile, "The money and food in one Suzhou mansion is equivalent to that of a province in the north, so naturally it matters a lot.
major!"
"Since the Li family took office, there has never been any mistakes in money and food, and I heard that the number of criminal cases has dropped by 40% compared to previous years."
"I am ashamed of myself!" Li Yujia felt a little more at ease.
But within seconds, Li Zhigang's words changed.
"But I don't understand that since the field register of Suzhou Prefecture does not match the yellow register of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the taxes paid should be very small!"
"Why is it that even though we don't have that much land, the taxes we pay are exactly the same as those in the yellow book of the Ministry of Household Affairs?"