Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 135: Request to abolish the tax bureau? The draft is not approved!
"Grandfather! One day, I will chop off the little prince's head! Perhaps only in this way can we reproduce the bravery of the Duke of Ying's Mansion! Only then can we be worthy of being a military family!"

When offering sacrifices at the Zhang Clan Ancestral Hall, Zhang Lun still could not forget the little prince that Zhu Houzhao had mentioned many times in class. This left a great shock to the young Zhang Lun. He had always been a proud person, and the Ming Dynasty was a country that moved him and made him extremely proud. After all, this was the dynasty for which his ancestors had made great contributions.

And now, a man called the Little Prince has been challenging the Ming Dynasty repeatedly, which is tantamount to challenging Zhang Lun's dignity. This makes Zhang Lun feel strongly indignant, and he wishes he could kill the Little Prince immediately!
Duke Yingguo Zhang Mao looked at his extremely doted eldest grandson who was still able to persist in practicing martial arts in the snow and ice, and it seemed as if he saw his younger self.

Seeing that Zhang Lun had changed from a skinny girl who only knew how to fight cocks and ride horses to a muscular and ambitious man, he could not help but feel very relieved. He began to be even more grateful that His Majesty had sent his grandson to study at the Imperial University of Peking, otherwise there would not have been such a big change.

"The Zhang family has hope! The Ming Dynasty has hope! Your Majesty is wise!"

……

Zhu Houzhao was very successful in educating teachers and students at the Imperial University of Peking, which strengthened the national consciousness of a group of children of nobles and civil servants.

At the same time, he used the Loyalty Society to successfully brainwash the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Guards.

This day was the day for paying salaries. In order to promote the development of the commodity economy of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Houzhao had changed the rice salary of the Guards into silver salary.

Moreover, the salaries of the Imperial Guards would only be paid by the Royal Tax Bureau, that is, from Zhu Houzhao's private treasury.

The reason why Zhu Houzhao did this was naturally to truly control the Imperial Guards.

If a commander wants to truly own an army or make the army truly obey him, it is fundamentally because there are benefits to following you, and brainwashing education is nothing more than consolidation.

If Zhu Houzhao wanted to firmly control the command of the Imperial Guards, he had to raise this army himself, and the Ministry of Revenue or other chaebols could not directly intervene, otherwise this army would become an army serving other chaebols.

Historically, the reason why warlords emerged was because the army was no longer supported by the imperial court but by private officers.

Moreover, because Zhu Houzhao had just raided many large families, the Royal Tax Bureau's income was quite considerable. Even though he had increased the salaries of all officials and issued a lot of rewards, he still had a lot of food, cash and land left over.

Among them, gold and silver alone reached tens of millions of taels.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao increased the salary of the Imperial Guards on the basis of the discounted current rice salary, and even formulated a complete welfare system for those killed in battle, the disabled and their families, as well as a reward system for military merit for those who have made outstanding contributions.

At the same time, there are also punishment regulations, namely military law regulations, and a special military law department. The General Military Law Office of the Guards was established, and corresponding military law teams were set up in units above the company level to ensure that the Guards have strict discipline and clear rewards and punishments.

Of course, these only apply to the Imperial Guards. Even if Zhu Houzhao is the emperor, he cannot make such reforms to the entire Ming army.

"Lieutenant General of the Guards! You should understand that the reason why His Majesty allows you to continue to stay in the Imperial Guards and promotes you to Lieutenant General, commanding a brigade of soldiers, is not only because of your outstanding ability and outstanding military exploits, but also because you are a member of the Loyalty Society, which shows that you are extremely loyal to His Majesty! And since you are a member of the Loyalty Society, you must set a good example and must not withhold the military pay of your officers and soldiers, and must not secretly accept benefits. Do you understand? Otherwise, once discovered, you will be punished more severely than other lieutenant generals!"

When the commander-in-chief Xia Ming distributed the salaries of the brigades in his division, especially when he met a general who was a member of the Zhongjun Society, he would always give such instructions. At this time, the Wei Lieutenant General did the same. After being instructed by Xia Ming, the Wei Lieutenant General hurriedly said, "I understand!"

"Well, these boxes are your army's pay, issued by His Majesty. They have the seal of the Royal Tax Bureau and were just taken from the Royal Bank. Take them down. You must be loyal to His Majesty in the future. As a member of the Loyalty Society, you should do so even more. One day you will fight for His Majesty and expand territory for the Ming Dynasty!"

Xia Ming pointed to several boxes of silver and said.

"Yes! Conquer the world for your majesty! Expand the territory for the Ming Dynasty!"

As the lieutenant general said this, he hurriedly led his men to carry the pay down, and also carried out brainwashing and strengthening layer by layer in the way Xia Ming did. And because the pay of the Guards is now paid in full without discount and more than before, it is naturally easier to successfully brainwash officers and soldiers at all levels.

Under the dual baptism of money and spirit, coupled with the training of Qiu Yue, a famous general in the border town, the originally somewhat decadent guards seemed to have regained their vitality all of a sudden, as if they had a soul all of a sudden, and they were more energetic and vigorous during training.

When Zhu Houzhao and his important officials reviewed the Imperial Guards, the spirit shown by the Imperial Guards surprised everyone. Ma Wensheng, the chief minister of the cabinet who had also led troops, could not help but admire:
"I never thought that within a year, the former regiment camp and imperial guards would be so impressive."

Zhu Houzhao was also very satisfied with this and said, "The court treats these soldiers sincerely, so they are naturally willing to work hard. They will be the foundation and guarantee for us to reform the Ming Dynasty and create a peaceful and prosperous era."

Ma Wensheng and others quite agreed with this, and they all knew that with such an army in the capital, the central court would no longer have to worry about the local governments opposing the court even during major events.

However, the local officials at that time did not know that the court, especially their emperor, had a sufficiently loyal elite force. They were indeed using various means to resist the central court's political reforms and fight for their own interests.

For example, just as Zhu Houzhao finished reviewing the Imperial Guards, Jiao Fang, the Deputy Minister of the Cabinet, handed Zhu Houzhao a memorial from the Imperial Censor Song Kai: "Your Majesty, the gentry in Jiangnan are causing trouble again!"

When Zhu Houzhao heard Jiao Fang, who always disliked southern officials, especially those in the south of the Yangtze River, say this, he took the memorial and began to read it.

The content of the memorial was that the Inspector Song Kai requested the abolition of the tax bureaus in Dantu, Jintan, Zhenjiang Prefecture and Chongming County in Suzhou Prefecture, on the grounds that they should not compete with the people for profits and should cherish the people's money.

Zhu Houzhao knew that Zhenjiang was the gateway to Nanjing and an important transportation route to Southern Zhili, and its commerce had always been developed. The same was true for Chongming County of Suzhou Prefecture. They were all areas with developed commerce, and naturally brought a lot of commercial tax revenue to the Royal Tax Bureau. In theory, it would not harm the interests of self-sufficient farmers.

However, what Zhu Houzhao did not expect was that the inspectors sent by the court would use this as an excuse to not only fail to guarantee the tax source for the court, but also ask the court to abolish the tax bureau on behalf of the Jiangnan merchants.

"Sure enough, these local officials really need to be governed properly. They are eating salaries from the court, but they work for the merchants and gentry in Jiangnan. They are not allowed to make decisions! Moreover, we need to set up a tax bureau in Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture!"

Zhu Houzhao ordered.

The fourth update is here. The author is exhausted. I hope everyone will subscribe more and give the author more confidence so that this book can be published as soon as possible.

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(End of this chapter)