Dongge University Bachelor, Guan Shouzhen, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, was very depressed. The Supervisor State asked him to lead the Ministry of Revenue to conduct an inventory of the land and the population, compile a scale book, and prepare for the summer grain harvest in August when the officials and gentry would pay grain and taxes together. I don’t know what the Supervisor State thought. Yes, can you do this casually?
Reducing taxes for those with meritorious status was one of Taizu's methods to win over scholars, but Taizu only exempted menial labor, and regular taxes and land taxes were unavoidable. Of course, land taxes in the Ming Dynasty were not high, about 70% to 80%, and miscellaneous taxes were It is twice as big as the land tax. Two hundred years have passed, and some scholars have become more and more shameless. They don't even pay the land tax. No, they don't pay it, they default on it. Some owe it for seventy years, and some owe it for eighty years. There are also people who owe more than a hundred years, which is commonplace. The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were unwilling to be serious with scholars. The reason is very simple. Scholars are very talkative, which offends them. If someone touches their upper lip, it will become a problem. You are a fool. If the supervisor wants to collect taxes from scholars, isn't he afraid of bad reputation?
However, the Jianguo is still good to mud-legged people. In previous years, the land tax plus the handymen added up to three-fourths of ten; but according to the Jianguo's collection method, the combined land tax and handymen only collected two-tenths, which was more than 10% less. Moreover, the Supervisory State also changed corvee service to hired labor and stipulated that landlords could only collect two-tenths of the maximum land rent. The mud-legged people should be able to have a good year this year. But the Supervisory State does not understand! Our Ming Dynasty is a world of scholars, not mud-legged people. The world of children. Guan Shouzhen feels that Jian Guo’s butt seems to be sitting in the wrong position.
Although Guan Shouzhen felt that the supervisor's idea of collecting taxes was wrong, he had no intention of persuading the supervisor to straighten his butt. He also had his own considerations. Now that there are only two bachelors in the cabinet, himself and Sun Jinding, who will be the Yuan Fu? At this time, I can't go against the supervisor. Not only do I have to collect taxes from scholars, I also have to collect them seriously. Guan Shouzhen thought.
When he thought of Sun Jinding, Guan Shouyu became angry: What kind of ability does this boy have? He only flatters the prison country! Bah! Villain!
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Sun Jinding, the bachelor of Dongge University and the Minister of Rites, was very happy.
Since the Supervisor State eliminated redundant officials and merged Taichang Temple, Guanglu Temple, Honglu Temple, Xingren Department, Jiaofang Department, Monk Records Department, and Daolu Department into the Ministry of Rites, his power has become much greater. He is not only in charge of sacrifices , etiquette, banquets, and also in charge of diplomacy and religion. Jian Guo also asked himself to plan this year's imperial examination with Xia Wanyan, the Jiujiu of the Imperial Academy. This is a great trust!
When he thought of the imperial examination, Sun Jinding couldn't sit still. Who among scholars doesn't want to be filled with peaches and plums all over the world? He must ask the supervisory government to get a chief examiner during the examination! Originally, the county examination and the government examination were not formal imperial examinations, and were administered by various prefectures and counties. It would be enough to take the exam yourself, but Grand Scholar Sun refused to do it. In order to pay close attention to the quality of education and improve his political performance, Grand Scholar Sun petitioned the Imperial Guard and sent a large number of officials from the Ministry of Etiquette. He also asked Xia Wanyan to send some doctors to the Imperial Academy. Teaching assistants and the like go to various places to check the situation of county and government examinations. Now there are only two bachelors in the cabinet, myself and Guan Shouzhen. Who will be the Yuanfu? I have to work harder!
When he thought of Guan Shouzhen, Sun Jinding became angry: What kind of ability does this boy have? He only flatters the prison country! Bah! Villain!
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In the early morning of May 10th, Yuan Mingzhang, the prefect of Pingle, got up early and went to Pingle County to inspect the county examination situation. If something is good at the top, it will be worse at the bottom. The supervisor of the country attaches great importance to the imperial examination, so Lord Yuan naturally has to follow suit.
When I came to Gongyuan of Pingle County, I saw the magistrate of Pingle County. He was instructing three classes of government officials to arrange the examination room in an orderly manner. But the strange thing was that there were not many candidates taking the examination. Huh? What is going on? All the children are here. Where did it go?
"Sir, this is bad! Those scholars gathered in the Confucian Temple to cause trouble, and even wrote an article scolding you!"
The origin of the matter is not in the imperial examination, but in the officials and gentry paying the ration together; nor in the official and gentry paying the ration together, but in the prefect Yuan’s stomach being too big.
Originally, the summer tax standard set by Zhu Hengjia was 2/10, which was not heavy. Just pay the food as one person. Scholars pinched their noses and accepted it. But Mr. Yuan didn’t do it. Who didn’t know that Mr. Yuan had dozens of wives and concubines? The expenses are high, if you don’t take the opportunity to make some money, no, if you don’t take the opportunity to be loyal to the country, then won’t your position as prefect be in vain?
So Mr. Yuan ordered that these gentry should not only pay this year's summer grain, but also make up for the land tax owed to the court. You scholars are too abominable. Taizu treated you favorably and exempted you from miscellaneous taxes, but Taizu never said that he would exempt you from regular taxes! You actually didn’t even pay the land tax, you owe it. I am a kind man, and I will not pursue the tax arrears for a long time. The calculation was made two hundred years ago. Yes, let go of what happened a hundred years ago. Let’s do this. Starting from 60 years ago, your grandfather’s father’s generation will pay the land tax owed to the court to me. If you don’t pay it, hum! Look at it. If your butt is hard, my dick is still hard.
The scholars in Pingle Prefecture were already dissatisfied with the government and gentry paying taxes together, but Mr. Yuan added fuel to the fire by asking them to pay back the taxes they owed sixty years ago, quit working, and unite to make trouble. The rich scholars in the world are one family. , they knew that the Jianguo attached great importance to the imperial examination, but they chose to make trouble on the day of the county examination. Except for a few poor boys whose families had little property, they were stupidly waving their pens to take the examination in the Gongyuan. The others unanimously stopped taking the examination and went to the Confucius Temple to cry in front of the memorial tablet of Confucius. The Holy Master.
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When Yuan Mingzhang came to the Confucian Temple, he saw a group of scholars kneeling in front of the tablet of the most holy teacher, crying with tears.
He asked his subordinates to read the "Weeping Temple Essay", and saw that the "Weeping Temple Essay" wrote: "On the tenth day of the fifth lunar month in the 19th year of Chongzhen, Yuan Mingzhang, a member of Ping Le Sheng, was so audacious that he deceived the world and destroyed his ancestors, openly breaking the rules that had existed for thousands of years. Rules, regardless of the benevolent government of the Holy Dynasty, collaborating with Cao Cao, levying taxes excessively, stealing from rats' nests, stealing and selling public grains. The crimes are outrageous, and the public sentiment is boiling. Those who study, eat the country's local spirit, and should follow the four dimensions and eight virtues as their etiquette. .Unexpectedly, there were beasts in clothes, like Yuan Mingzhang and his generation. The students were ashamed and the master was disgraced, so he went to the Confucian Temple to cry...".
When Yuan Mingzhang read this article, he flew into a rage! You bastards, you actually dare to accuse me of being corrupt. There is no one in the hundreds of miles around who doesn’t know that I am an upright official, a great upright official! Don’t look at the fact that Mr. Yuan has met with the Supervisory State. The old, six-department Shangguan was gentle and obedient, more obedient than a dog, but in this three-acre area of Pingle Mansion, Mr. Yuan was a wolf. If you dared to scold a wolf, the wolf would naturally bite you. So, Mr. Yuan asked his men to The government officials dispersed the troublemaking scholars and arrested the thirteen leaders. In the name of sabotaging the imperial examination and refusing to pay national taxes, they applied to Guangxi Governor Zheng Feng overnight to have the thirteen people beheaded in public display.
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Since Zheng Feng was appointed governor of Guangxi by Zhu Hengjia, he has been working hard to promote the implementation of the "Ming Dingguo Shi Zhao" in Guangxi. After seeing the official document sent by Yuan Mingzhang, he did not dare to neglect and hurriedly reported the situation to Zhu Hengjia.
After hearing Zheng Feng's report, Zhu Hengjia was furious: "This Yuan Mingzhang is hateful! I just asked him to collect this year's taxes. When did he ask him to collect the previous taxes? He is making money in the name of taxation!" Damn! Hateful! Killable!"
Zheng Feng was calm and calm: "Although Yuan Mingzhang is hateful in supervising the country, you must be on his side in this matter, otherwise the official and gentry's payment of food will become a piece of paper."
Zhu Hengjia understood: Yes! Although Yuan Mingzhang is hateful, this group of scholars are not good birds either. On the surface, they are scolding Yuan Mingzhang for corruption, but in essence they are fighting against the officials and the gentry. If he lets go of these few A troublemaker is equivalent to sending a wrong signal to various places, and it is a joke for officials and gentry to pay food together.
"Zheng Qing, how should Yi Qing handle this matter?"
"I think that the Supervisory State should behead the thirteen troublemakers in the name of sabotaging the imperial examination, and set an example to the public; at the same time, I should write that only taxes for this year will be levied in various places, and that the previous taxes in arrears will be invalidated and no more payments will be made. I also denounced Yuan Mingzhang for excessive taxes." ."
Zhu Hengjia was a little resentful: "Are we just going to let this corrupt official Yuan Mingzhang go?"
Zheng Feng smiled slightly: "Have you ever seen farmers raising pigs in prison?"
"Oh, what does Zheng Qing mean by this?"
"Farmers raise pigs and always wait until the pigs are fattened before killing them. I think corrupt officials are just like pigs. The supervisory government will first let them be corrupt for a period of time, and when they are fattened, they will send people to punish them. Once they are there, they can be killed. Corrupt officials make the people angry; secondly, they can collect the assets of corrupt officials to fill the national treasury. For you, corrupt officials are your gods of wealth. They are not scary, but cute!"
When Zhu Hengjia heard this, he burst into laughter: "Zheng Qing, Zheng Qing, I thought I was already a bad enough person, but I didn't expect that Qing was even ten times more treacherous and a hundred times worse than Gu!"
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The supervisor of the country issued an order: the thirteen scholars who caused the trouble were sentenced to death; he also ordered all localities to waive previous tax arrears and only collect this year's summer tax; he also scolded Yuan Mingzhang for not following his instructions and collecting the arrears indiscriminately.
The scholars in the Ming Dynasty were the most spineless, and the scholars in the Ming Dynasty were the least spineless. Once the thirteen bloody heads were chopped off, the scholars would hold their noses and accept the food obediently with the mud-legged people.