met free Chapter 1131 You two really dare to think, dare to say, and dare to do!
Chapter 1131 You two really dare to think, dare to say, and dare to do!
Empress Ma, accompanied by Yu'er and Lady Chang, along with a large group of concubines, princesses, noblewomen, and young ladies, strolled around the former imperial market. They bought whatever they liked and tried whatever food they enjoyed. The group was very happy.
However, Emperor Zhu was far from happy.
With a dark and sour face, Emperor Zhu looked at Yang Shaofeng and said, "Since you two have already discussed this beforehand, what conclusions have you reached?"
Yang Shaofeng chuckled twice, cupped his hands in greeting, and replied, "Naturally, we have reached some conclusions through discussion."
"Let's start with the tax issue."
"Taxes, you have to first distinguish between different types of taxes."
"It's not the luxury tax I mentioned before, nor is it a progressive tax. It's about distinguishing who gets paid to it—if all taxes are paid into the national treasury and then allocated from the national treasury to local governments, then there's nothing to say."
"But if a portion goes into the national treasury and a portion is retained by local governments, then it is necessary to distinguish which portion goes into the national treasury and which portion is retained by local governments."
Zhu Biao added, "Secondly, should the national treasury be managed by the Ministry of Revenue, or by a separate government department?"
"This raises the question of what exactly the powers of the Ministry of Revenue are, what the powers of the Ministry of Works are, and what the powers of the other ministries are."
"In contrast, there are issues concerning the ownership of land reclamation and military pay for the Grand General's Office, local military commanders, garrison commanders, and even the soldiers of the garrisons."
“This leads to oversight and legal matters outside the military and government, and even the trial of cases.”
"Specifically, at the local government level, we need to further examine whether different official positions have excessive power?"
"For example, does the power of the official county magistrate extend too much?"
"The saying 'a county magistrate who ruins his family and a prefect who exterminates his entire clan' seems to originate from this."
"If the trial of cases is removed from the hands of the county magistrate, then what is the purpose of the county magistrate's existence? What are their main powers and responsibilities?"
"..."
Zhu Biao kept talking, but Emperor Zhu couldn't help but glance at Li Shanchang.
Li Shanchang truly experienced what it meant to have cold hands and feet and to be filled with despair.
When he came to power, he acted like a scoundrel, insisting on making me, this old man, the chief minister, and even setting a ten-year agreement in advance.
His Highness the Crown Prince and his consort are even worse—what kind of things did you two come up with?
It was a revolution that could shake up the entire court and even the entire Ming Dynasty.
Success! The Ming Dynasty's rule will be secure forever.
If we fail, the new leader will have to lead us old brothers to start from scratch and rebuild the empire.
So, you two really dare to think, dare to say, and dare to do!
In contrast to Li Shanchang, Emperor Zhu fell into deep thought.
Li Shanchang viewed the issue from the perspective of the Grand Secretary, or rather, from the perspective of the Chancellor of the Central Secretariat.
Emperor Zhu, however, viewed the issue directly from the emperor's perspective.
It was precisely because of this different perspective, combined with the mess Yang Shaofeng had previously created, that Emperor Zhu was able to see the core of all the problems that Yang Shaofeng and Zhu Biao were talking about.
Taxes and rights.
Tax formulation, tax collection, tax use, and tax auditing.
The definition of power, the scope of power, the use of power, and the supervision of power.
Ultimately, almost all the changes and upheavals in every dynasty stemmed from issues of taxation and power.
Because the tax system is not strictly defined, the collection of taxes is not clear enough, the use of taxes is too chaotic, and there is almost no tax auditing, coupled with inadequate supervision of power, land consolidation, rampant corruption, and collusion between officials and businessmen have occurred.
Solving the problems of taxation and power can fundamentally curb land annexation, collusion between officials and businessmen, and the oppression of the people.
Simply issuing the "Hongwu Great Proclamation" and having the Embroidered Uniform Guard supervise all officials is a clumsy solution that only addresses the symptoms and not the root cause.
However, this meant that the reform of the imperial court would have to be drastically altered.
According to Biao'er and that scoundrel, the Dali Temple was to be restructured from one of the Three Judicial Offices, moving directly from the imperial court to the provincial administration commissioner, then to prefectures, counties, and even future township and town governments, to be specifically responsible for adjudicating cases, thus taking away the power of adjudication from the chief judge.
Similarly, the Censorate should also undergo further reforms, which should be extended to prefectures, counties, and even future township offices, taking over the power of supervision from the hands of the chief official.
This change essentially turned local officials into miniature versions of the Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet, granting them the power to oversee the vast majority of "ministries, supervisory commissions, temples, and academies," but prohibiting them from interfering in oversight and legal matters.
Similarly, the Ministry of War, the Grand Military Commission, and the local military commands and garrison commands also need to be reformed, and the powers and responsibilities among the various government departments need to be redefined.
Then, Emperor Zhu couldn't help but blink and scratch the back of his head.
This seems to be even more of a headache!
After a long silence, Emperor Zhu looked at Zhu Biao and said, "Biao, what you told your brother-in-law was too general and too much. You should organize your thoughts and put them into a memorial for us."
Zhu Biao suddenly understood what his brother-in-law meant by "being cunning and calculating but not quite understanding things."
If my unreliable father were even slightly sensible, he would have blamed everything on my brother-in-law!
Doesn't he ever consider who brought up all this messy, trivial stuff, and why they brought it up in the first place?
Why are you pushing all this messy, trivial stuff onto me?
It's not so much like asking a blind man for advice, but it's more like asking the wrong person!
Seeing that Lao Deng was starting to shift the blame, Heizhima Tangyuan's expression changed repeatedly, so Yang Shaofeng immediately tried to change the subject.
Yang Shaofeng pointed to a community school not far away and said with a smile, "Father-in-law, the community school of the capital is just ahead. Why don't you take a look?"
Emperor Zhu looked at his "good" son-in-law and then at his good eldest son, and immediately said with a smile, "Yes, let's go and take a look at the community school first."
As Guanzi said, "For a ten-year plan, nothing is better than planting trees; for a lifelong plan, nothing is better than cultivating people."
"The establishment of schools in communities is a matter of great importance to the stability and prosperity of our Ming Dynasty, and it cannot be ignored."
"..."
Emperor Zhu took the lead in fleeing under the pretext that "the best plan for one's life is to cultivate people," leaving Black Sesame Dumpling alone, bewildered in the wind.
When they arrived at the community school, Yang Shaofeng almost burst out laughing.
The reason he didn't laugh was because Yang Shaofeng found Emperor Zhu's big, dark face quite amusing—
Looking through the window, the schoolteacher was reading a book. A mischievous child had his head propped up on the back of the chair, his hands holding the book above his head, and his feet on the table. After a series of extreme maneuvers, the two front legs of the chair were lifted off the ground.
On either side of this table, two mischievous kids are playing the "Red Light, Green Light" game, staring at each other with wide eyes, neither willing to blink.
At a nearby table, a boy who looked rather refined was reading a book, but his right hand kept touching the kettle on the table.
Inside the house, several mischievous children were playing with pebbles in the open space.
Judging from the way these kids are behaving, it must be recess.
Yang Shaofeng said he completely understood, because he was just as mischievous as he was when he was a kid.
But Old Deng next to him couldn't do it.
Old Deng never went to school when he was a child.
These mischievous kids playing during recess is seen by Old Deng as a waste of time.