met free Chapter 1145 Damn it, that money should have been ours!
Chapter 1145 Damn it, that money should have been ours!
As Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, the court fell into a deathly silence once again.
Sitting on the dragon throne, Emperor Zhu blinked like a little boy, his bewildered eyes containing three parts clarity, three parts foolishness, three parts realization, and a trace of grievance.
Yang Siyi was speechless.
Strictly speaking, the tax levied by calculation and the tax levied by mouth cannot be classified as tax, but rather as a type of tax.
Pay attention:
Taxes refer to a mandatory fee levied by the imperial court on the people and businesses to maintain the normal operation of the entire country.
Originally, "fu" referred to land tax, an agricultural tax levied based on land area or yield. Later, it was extended to other areas, such as military service and corvée labor, which were also included in "fu".
Besides the difference in definition, the two also differ in their uses and functions.
The main purpose of taxes is for government spending on administration, military affairs, infrastructure construction, and public services.
The main uses of the levy were for the country's military expenditures, court consumption, and some infrastructure construction.
This is why it is said that ancient emperors were sometimes rich and sometimes poor—the more taxes they collected, the more money they could use in the emperor's private treasury; the less taxes they collected, the less money they could use in the emperor's private treasury.
For example, during the Han Dynasty, the poll tax of 20 coins per person and the tribute fee of 63 coins per person were allocated to the imperial family. During the Song and Ming Dynasties, a fixed amount of one million strings of "golden flower silver" was allocated to the imperial treasury every year.
What's rather amusing is that the management of the imperial treasury during the Song and Ming dynasties always exhibited a "blurred view of public and private affairs." In other words, the money in the imperial treasury nominally belonged to the emperor, but the emperor would often take money from the imperial treasury to use for military expenses or disaster relief. It wasn't until the Hongwu Emperor and Chen Hongli's family that a regulation was officially issued, namely, "the court must pay interest on loans from the imperial treasury."
Of course, these messy and trivial matters have nothing to do with Old Deng for the time being.
What really had to do with Deng was that he would frequently issue edicts to exempt people from punishment.
Pay attention again:
The exemptions applied not only to taxes but also to corvée labor.
As one of the most important famine relief measures in Chinese history, it has been divided into disaster relief and imperial relief since ancient times. Imperial relief refers to the exemption of taxes in normal years with favorable weather to show the emperor's great benevolence, while disaster relief is the exemption in abnormal years with natural disasters so that people can get through the disaster years.
For example, Qian Long, who called himself "Perfect Old Dog," was praised by his followers for one of his achievements: he exempted the country from taxes five times when he was emperor.
As a notorious tyrant known for "steaming goose to kill Xu Da" and "bombarding the celebration tower," Lao Deng granted a total of 153 pardons from the start of his rebellion until the 31st year of the Hongwu reign, including 80 pardons by grace and 73 pardons by disaster.
What's even more absurd is that, starting from the first year of the Hongwu reign, except for the Jiangnan region, the Ming Dynasty never officially collected land taxes, and the regular corvée labor was also exempted. It wasn't until the eighth year of the Hongwu reign that the collection of land taxes began to be gradually restored, and corvée labor was not gradually reinstated until the fifteenth year of the Hongwu reign.
(If you're interested, you can find a copy of the Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty and look for the words "蠲免" (juānmiǎn).)
In other words, the poll tax accounted for approximately zero of the Ming Dynasty's national treasury, and Yang Siyi's concern about "where the money would come from" was a completely unfounded false proposition.
Or to put it more bluntly, Yang Siyi's concern about "where the money will come from" essentially stemmed from his worry about how much less land tax and poll tax he would collect in the future, his concern about not being able to legally and legitimately levy corvée labor, and his fear that these costs would be passed on to the national treasury.
Yang Shaofeng's rebuttal to Yang Siyi completely exposed a fact that no one was willing to admit or accept: all the officials in the court were waiting for the day when they could officially collect taxes and levy corvée labor.
Seeing Yang Siyi speechless, Yang Shaofeng suddenly sneered and said, "I have another question for Minister Yang—long before the equal land distribution system was implemented, the emperor repeatedly issued edicts to exempt land from rent, but have those powerful families, gentry, local strongmen, and wealthy merchants who own thousands of acres of fertile land ever reduced their rent by even a single penny? Has the livelihood of the common people improved?"
Sitting on the dragon throne, Old Deng suddenly felt very aggrieved. So, he had just exempted the common people from land tax and poll tax, and those powerful families, officials, gentry, and wealthy merchants had already pocketed the money?
So when we issue edicts to exempt people from taxes and corvée labor all the time, does it actually benefit the people, or does it just give those scoundrels another opportunity to make money?
Damn it, that money was originally ours!
We can refuse to accept it, and we can give this money to the people, but that is not a reason for you to take the opportunity to exploit the people!
The more the Emperor Zhu thought about it, the angrier he became. Suddenly, his face darkened, he snorted coldly, and looked at Yang Siyi, saying, "Does Minister Yang have any further questions about abolishing the poll tax, the poll tax, and corvée labor?"
Yang Siyi's heart trembled, and he quickly bowed and clasped his hands, saying, "Your Majesty, I have no problem."
Emperor Zhu then gave a soft hum and said, "It's getting late, let's call it a day and adjourn the court."
Just as the officials in the hall breathed a sigh of relief, Emperor Zhu looked at Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen and said, "By the way, Mr. Shanchang and Mr. Qingtian, please stay for a while. After we have dinner, we can discuss the reform of the cabinet."
Li Shanchang almost cursed out loud – Is there any possibility that no one in the entire Ming Dynasty court would want to eat with you, Emperor Zhu?
Chang Heizi will have a meal with you, and he'll give you his daughter in exchange for that black sesame dumpling from Old Zhu's family.
Xu Da will have a meal with you, and his eldest sister will be given to your fourth son.
Leaving aside Deng Yu and the others, even I, Li Shanchang, was forced into the position of Grand Secretary and made to serve like a slave by you, the Emperor Zhu, just because I ate a meal with you!
Li Shanchang suppressed the urge to curse and agreed along with Liu Bowen, who was equally unwilling. Emperor Zhu then looked at Yang Shaofeng and said, "By the way, you stay too. Later, you and Biao'er go to pay your respects to your mother-in-law first, and then come to Qianning Palace to find us and have a cup of tea and a meal with Mr. Shanchang and Mr. Qingtian."
This time it was Yang Shaofeng's turn to curse—going to court is work, and after court is life. You, Zhu Bapi, are clearly trying to take up my rest time after get off work!
Yang Shaofeng reluctantly agreed, and then followed Heizhi Tangyuan out of the main hall, heading towards Kunning Palace together.
After walking a short distance, Yang Shaofeng stopped, turned his head and looked at the black sesame dumplings, saying, "Why does something feel off?"
Black Sesame Dumpling chuckled dryly twice and said, "Isn't brother-in-law overthinking things?"
Before Yang Shaofeng could speak, Black Sesame Dumpling interjected, "I saw it all clearly in the court just now. My brother-in-law was furiously confronting the officials and debating with the scholars. He was truly like Zhuge Liang. I admire him greatly."