Shi Kefa was slapped in the face by the emperor and felt extremely ashamed. He wanted to defend himself, but found that what the emperor said was really the truth, which made him embarrassed.
However, he had learned to be shameless after all. After a slight adjustment, he continued to speak: "Your Majesty, it is true to say that tens of thousands of canal workers need to eat, but it is too harsh to say that canal merchants rely on transporting private grain for personal gain. Number of canal routes
Thousands of miles away, it is difficult to maintain only relying on the funds of the imperial court. Although the merchants transporting private grain to subsidize the deficit is suspected of selfishness, it is beneficial to state affairs. This is for the convenience of the government and the people, and it is not purely for personal gain."
"Xiancheng, have you ever calculated how much subsidy is given to the canal roads by the canal merchants who transport private goods? This will make it easier for me and the princes of the imperial court to make a balance. The country relies on the canal roads to transport more than 300 grains a year.
Ten thousand shi, in order to bring these 3 million shi of grain to Beijing, nearly 150 shi would have to be spent on fire. This does not include the cost of raising Cao Ding and officials. So how much did Cao merchants subsidize Cao Road, and where did the subsidy go?
, Xiancheng, you have to let the court know about this." If you put it plainly, it will be easy to handle. If we settle the accounts carefully, it will become clear.
"This, Your Majesty! The water affairs are so complex that it is difficult for me to express my feelings for the time being. However, I do know a little bit about the subsidies that the water merchants provide for the water roads. They mainly make up for the labor and ship repairs."
"It's good that you know a little bit about it. You, Shi Xiancheng, were evaluated by the officials in the court as a good official. However, you can only explain the job responsibilities that you are in charge of with a little knowledge. All wise ministers in the country do things like this.
Is he careless? I am confused, why do many careless ministers have such good reputations? Qian Qianyi, who was deprived of his official position due to fraud in the examination room, seems to still have a good reputation today, right? What are these reputations?
Did someone do it?"
There was silence, and everyone in the court meeting was shocked by the emperor's sudden anger. His Majesty seemed to be well prepared today, and Shi Kefa was afraid that he was going to be in big trouble.
"The Customs Department submitted to me a report on the price of grain shipped to Tianjin by sea last year. After reading it, I was shocked. After calculating, the price of grain transported by sea was only 30% higher than the cost of official grain shipped by sea to Tongzhou.
.What is this concept? The concept is that even if the court uses money to buy private grain directly from the sea route, it will not be much more than taking the canal route. Can you tell me, how do the canal merchants rely on transporting private grain to subsidize the court?
Is grain coming in by sea so cheap? The data announced by the emperor made many ministers dumbfounded. According to this data, what is the use of water transportation? The court spent so much money transporting grain in a year, in the end it would be better to use money directly from
Sea merchants buy grain from their hands.
"Your Majesty, please argue for the canal route! The cost of water transport is huge, but it is greater than that of sea transport. However, the canal route is safe, and the sea is very rough, so accidents are easy to happen. The imperial court can ensure that grain enters the capital by using the canal route. The merchants of the canal industry are indeed
We have to rely on transporting private grain to keep the waterway open. Tens of thousands of people and Caoding people along the Kuang Canal make a living on this. We must not abandon the canal service just because it is cheaper to transport grain by sea. I will bear the responsibility for my careless work! But
For the sake of the great political agenda of the country, I also ask Your Majesty not to think about abolishing water transportation. The abolition of the post station back then caused a lot of disasters, and the water transportation will involve even more, so we must not act rashly."
Shi Kefa almost cried when he said this. He was frightened by what the emperor said. It was originally a memorial to protect interests, but it ended up like this. The emperor directly and fundamentally denied the value of the road.
If you play this way, if one thing goes wrong, the entire water transport may be scrapped.
"Xiancheng, do you know everything? But you are pretending to be ignorant to me and the princes in the court! You know the seriousness of the incident, but you come to deceive the court and me. This is an ulterior motive. In terms of whereabouts,
It is not an exaggeration to take away your official position. However, since you still have some conscience, I will ask you to repent and continue to supervise water transportation."
"I kowtow to express my gratitude to Long En, and thank Your Majesty for allowing me to repent of my sins."
"Now let's officially talk about water transportation. The reason why Xiancheng wants to petition to abolish the Customs Department is that a large amount of people's food is transported by sea, which affects the profits of businessmen who make profits through water transportation. He is speaking for profiteers who eat the carrion of the Ming Dynasty.
Generally speaking, it is necessary to abolish the canal road, and even the whole country will benefit from it. But from the actual situation on the canal line, the prosperity and waste of the canal transportation is related to the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people. If the canal road is abolished, they will stop. If there is only the canal
I have long wanted to abolish water transportation for the Shang Dynasty and the stupid officials who were corrupting the people by taking advantage of water transportation. However, I cannot let go of the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people. Do you have any way to maintain the great profits of the imperial court and maintain this country at the same time?
The livelihood of tens of thousands of people?”
Zhou Yanru listened to the conversation between the emperor and Shi Kefa for a long time, and by the end he was sweating like rain. It was heartbreaking to kill people. His Majesty finally said that Shi Kefa was speaking for profiteers who relied on the canal route. This was to punish Shi Kefa to death. It was better to remove him.
His official position was still ruthless. If he had known that he had said these words in the end, Shi Kefa should have mentioned his resignation earlier. Now that he has been scolded, he can no longer serve as an official, and his entire career has been ruined.
"Your Majesty, is there any way to achieve both ends of the world? I'm so stupid that I'm afraid I can't think of any comprehensive way." Seeing other people talking about him, Zhou Yanru quickly spoke up and took over the topic. Today Shi Kefa has been forced to come up.
At the end of the road, he was afraid that some unreasonable people would come out to seek death, so it was better to leave the power of speech to the emperor.
"Let's do it! The Cao Road will remain as it is for the time being, and the people who make a living by transporting official grain will be fine. As for the abolition of the Customs Department, we will not discuss it for the time being this year. We will think of a safe solution when the court is free.
Law."
Maintain the status quo! After working on it for a long time, we finally found a way to reconcile the situation. Today's meeting was lonely. The officials were puzzled by the purpose of the emperor's troubles.
Just when they were confused, Zhu Youjian finally opened his mouth and showed his sword. "This is the meeting of the imperial court that made me understand a truth. It is a big mistake to believe what you and other officials said! The imperial dynasty has been raising scholars for nearly three hundred years, but it has not raised a lot of people.
There is a group of traitors who use the name of gentlemen to speak for profiteers. They have no regard for the common people and the country. How can it continue like this? It seems that it is impossible without reform. Without reform, all the benefits of the world will be taken away by you. How can the people live?
?What does the imperial court use to resist foreign invaders? Will the generals of the country survive? I have decided that from today onwards, we will exempt the students from the preferential treatment! Starting from this year, Beizhili will abolish the three rates and change it to the unified tax system for the students and the people, and the officials and gentry will pay the grain together. The army and farmland will be eliminated.
In addition, everyone who has cultivated land, from me to the people, will collect taxes and levies. This strategy will be implemented throughout the country within three to five years!"
There was thunder on the ground. As soon as Zhu Youjian said his words, all the officials were stunned. They were discussing water transportation, but why did they suddenly turn to the unified taxation of the people?
This is a unified tax for the people. In this way, what is the difference between us officials, meritorious students and ordinary people? Is it that we are allowed to live on the salary from the court. How can we maintain the huge government in this way?
How can you raise a concubine and raise servants for your family's interests? What's the point of becoming an official after studying for fame?
People often say that the salary of officials in the Ming Dynasty was too low. Compared with later generations, the salary of officials is actually not low. The reason for the low salary is that their living requirements are high. They raise clan members, slaves, and concubines, which is a huge family.
It depends on one person to support it, and no amount of salary is enough.