Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 136: The Response of the Gentry in Jiangnan

Jiao Fang quickly agreed, and immediately drafted Song Kai's memorial and handed it to Gu Dayong, the eunuch in charge of writing in the Imperial Household Department, for his approval.

Zhu Houzhao also personally watched the memorial being approved and sent out, and couldn't help but reveal a slight smile on his face.

Because in Zhu Houzhao's impression, in the so-called era of great peace, basically such memorials requesting tax exemptions and tax reductions, and even the abolition of purchasing eunuchs and tax bureaus, would be approved.

For example, in the 18th year of Hongzhi, when Liu Jian and Wang Yue were in charge of the Cabinet and the Imperial Household Department respectively, they agreed to the local request and exempted Suzhou Prefecture from taxes on the grounds that the flood disaster in Suzhou Prefecture caused too much damage to the people.

This was the first time since Zhu Houzhao became emperor that he rejected a petition from a local government requesting the abolition of the tax bureau, and he also wanted to set up another tax bureau.

Zhu Houzhao didn't know how the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River would accept this tax increase, which was known as the behavior of a foolish ruler.

But Zhu Houzhao himself knew that the increase in the tax bureau would definitely be beneficial to him as the emperor.

Because these tax bureaus collected commercial taxes and customs duties, and these taxes were the main source of income for the Royal Tax Bureau, and in the future they would also provide financial support for maintaining the Guards and developing industry and shipping.

Although Zhu Houzhao now has tens of millions of gold and silver, he does not want to spend too much of it. He also needs to keep it as a reserve to prepare for future financial reforms. Therefore, he needs to support more guards and can only rely on these commercial taxes and customs duties, which he must not reduce but must increase.

Zhu Houzhao also considered whether increasing commercial taxes and customs duties would affect the development of the Ming Dynasty's commodity economy.

Not to mention that the current commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty is very low, the merchants in the Ming Dynasty basically just buy land, build gardens, and buy slaves after making money. Some would even rather cast large silver ingots and bury them underground than expand the scale of production. This behavior does not help social development at all, and is even a hindrance!

In this case, if Zhu Houzhao did not levy more commercial taxes, these merchants would only turn most of their commercial profits into agricultural economy, or use them for enjoyment and squandering. It would be better to let Zhu Houzhao have these profits. At least he could expand the scale of production, increase employment, solve the survival pressure of a large number of landless farmers, and avoid the collapse of the dynasty due to land annexation.

When it comes to expanding the scale of production, Zhu Houzhao has not neglected the industrial and commercial development of the Ming Dynasty.

However, at this time, there was not much motivation for the development of industry and commerce in the Ming Dynasty, from the imperial court to the people. Even the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, the Shanxi merchants in the north, and the Huizhou merchants, all they pursued was to accumulate wealth in order to become larger bureaucratic landlords.

Therefore, the industrial and commercial development of the Ming Dynasty could only be managed by Emperor Zhu Houzhao himself.

It was for this reason that Zhu Houzhao established the Royal Bank from the very beginning in order to achieve the goal of controlling the Ming Dynasty's finances in the future. He used the Royal Tax Bureau to collect commercial taxes from all over the world to accumulate capital for himself. At the same time, he used the Royal Industrial Company as the center to transform capital into a driving force for industrial development, and the Imperial University of Peking served as a place for the discovery of theoretical knowledge and a reserve of talents for industrial development, as well as a think tank.

The Royal Bank used the money from the Royal Tax Bureau to lend money, so that more businesses could have the opportunity to expand their business, thus avoiding the concentration of commercial activities among bureaucrats and the powerful, and promoting more opportunities for the people to become wealthy.

The Royal Tax Bureau will still be able to more easily obtain part of the income from the powerful bureaucrats with high commercial profits, and lend it to the common people who lack funds through the Royal Bank, or directly invest it in public utilities, so as to achieve the purpose of robbing the rich to help the poor and ease class contradictions.

The Royal Industrial Company obtained funds through the Royal Bank and transformed the empire's wealth into tangible industrial products to benefit future generations and strengthen the dynasty.

The same is true for Imperial University of Peking, one creates industrial products, the other creates talents.

Unknowingly, Zhu Houzhao had begun to build his own capital empire.

Because he is the emperor, this capital is more like royal capital, but in fact it is similar to state-owned capital. After all, now he, Zhu Houzhao, is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and rules over everything in the Ming Dynasty.

But this capitalist empire is still in its early stages.

The Royal Bank's large loan channels were basically only for lending to the Ministry of Revenue, that is, the Ming Dynasty court. Its significance was to make the Ming Dynasty more flexible and convenient in tax collection and public utility expenditures. It no longer needed to wait for the money and grain from the south to arrive before it could provide disaster relief and repair the border wall.

In fact, the commercial tax revenue of the Royal Tax Bureau is still decreasing rather than increasing compared with the past. Officials and gentry from all over the Ming Dynasty are trying to find ways to get the court to reduce commercial taxes, and naturally they can forget about levying additional commercial taxes.

The Royal Industrial Company has not yet established a complete industrial system, and it is not even an industrial group company now. It is just a workshop consisting of several production workshops.

Moreover, Zhu Houzhao was not a qualified entrepreneur. He produced whatever he thought of without any rules or market guidance. If it were not for the support of glass and soap, two best-selling products that were of a kind of welfare for time travelers, the Royal Industrial Company would probably not have been able to achieve huge profits.

Not to mention the Imperial University of Peking, which currently has only about twenty students, and the total number of teachers and students in the entire school is less than thirty, and this is the result of the intervention of Emperor Zhu Houzhao's power.

The entire Royal Western Garden remained as quiet as before after the establishment of Imperial University, and was not as colorful as the university towns of later generations.

But a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and Zhu Houzhao is still working hard to build his capital empire.

At least he is still constantly bringing new surprises to the world. For example, now, Zhu Houzhao uses calcium sulfate and calcium carbonate and other substances in a certain proportion to make chalk, and at the same time, he has people paint the first blackboard with pine wood black paint.

Although this does not seem to have much impact on the social life of the Ming Dynasty, it can at least prevent Zhu Houzhao from having to hold charcoal pencils to give lectures to students at the Imperial University of Peking, and also make knowledge exchange and learning at the Imperial University of Peking more convenient.

The only truly new major project at this time was the agricultural research base that Zhu Houzhao ordered his engineers to build for the Imperial University of Peking.

Among them, the most eye-catching are the vast glass greenhouse and the ten acres of fertile land newly reclaimed in the Imperial University of Peking. These are the bases under the charge of Yan Song, the president of the Imperial University of Peking. He is now taking the corn brought from the south by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and starting to cultivate corn seedlings under the guidance of Zhu Houzhao.

Because of the glass shed, we had a greenhouse, so we didn't have to wait until the next spring to conduct agricultural research. We could still do it in the severe winter of the first year of Zhengde.

When Zhu Houzhao was watching Yan Song cultivating the first batch of corn seedlings, the memorial to reject the request of Southern Zhili Circuit Inspector Song Kai to abolish the tax bureaus of Zhenjiang Prefecture and Chongming County, Suzhou Prefecture also came back to Song Kai. After reading it, Song Kai could not help but get furious and threw the memorial on the table: "Instead of abolishing the tax bureau, you want to increase the tax bureau. This is no different from a tyrant who does not care about the people's money!"

After cursing inwardly, Song Kai drank a whole cup of tea in a depressed mood, thinking about how to explain to the gentry in Jiangnan. After all, he had already received their money and slept with the women they sent to him. Now the court suddenly rejected his proposal. Isn't it embarrassing?

"Go and call Master Yuan!"

In the end, Song Kai decided to tell these Jiangnan gentry the truth. After all, it was not him who refused.

Yuan Zhongan, a wealthy man from Southern Zhili, came to Song Kai and said, "Sir, may I ask what you want from me?"

"The imperial court has approved it," Song Kai handed the memorial to Yuan Zhong'an, who laughed after reading it. "It seems that the imperial court is really ruled by northerners now, and they don't want us southerners to survive. However, there is a way. I'll ask you to submit another memorial when the time comes!"

As Yuan Zhong'an spoke, he began to whisper in Song Kai's ear.

Song Kai was shocked when he heard this: "This is very dangerous. Once discovered, my life and property will be in danger!"

"What are you afraid of, sir? It was not you who did this, nor was it me. It was done by pirates. How can the court investigate it?" Yuan Zhong'an said with a smile.

"If I keep this a secret for you, what good will it do?"

Song Kai asked.

"From now on, half of the profits from going out to sea will be shared with you, 50,000 taels of silver per year!" Yuan Zhongan said with a smile.

Song Kai did not answer, but said: "I will go to Nanjing in three days, you can do it then."

"I understand!" Yuan Zhongan replied.

……

It happened to be raining heavily that night. Although it was only noon, the sky was as gloomy as night. Several eunuchs from the Taxation Bureau were dozing off against the wall, and the tax supervisor on duty was just about to go back to his room to sleep, but they saw a group of pirates with white cloth wrapped around their heads, bare feet and holding machetes rushing towards them from the river bank ahead!
The tax collector immediately shouted: "There are pirates! There are pirates!"

The soldiers of the Taxation Bureau were also frightened out of their wits, but they instinctively picked up their spears and rushed into the rain to defend the Taxation Bureau. However, these pirates were numerous and powerful, and it wasn't long before the soldiers of the Taxation Bureau were killed to pieces, and several eunuchs of the Taxation Bureau were chopped into meat paste!
The tax inspector was also beheaded on the spot!
No one from the entire Zhenjiang Prefecture Taxation Bureau survived!

At this time, the leader of the pirates came over, took off his veil, and greeted Yuan Zhongan: "Master Yuan! Kill them all!"

Yuan Zhongan nodded, and walked into the tax bureau. After ordering people to open the treasury of the tax bureau, he said, "Take 5,000 taels! Send 10,000 taels to Mr. Wen's house! In addition, send 10,000 taels to the inspector! The rest, distribute it. These are all taxes paid by everyone over the years, and it can be regarded as a refund."

And at this time.

At the Taxation Bureau in Chongming County, Suzhou Prefecture, hundreds of pirates stabbed the tax inspector's chest with their shining steel knives, and hundreds of taxation bureau personnel were slaughtered on the spot!
……

Song Kai, the imperial censor of Southern Zhili, soon submitted another memorial:
"Because bandits and pirates robbed the tax bureaus in Zhenjiang and Chongming County, Suzhou Prefecture, countless people were killed and injured. In order to avoid local unrest and to ensure the safety of the people, please abolish the tax bureaus in Zhenjiang and Chongming County, Suzhou Prefecture!"

Song Kai believed that the court should realize the power of the gentry in Jiangnan. If the court agrees, it will be fine. If it disagrees, it will only increase casualties! Moreover, you can't find any reason to punish them, because it was all done by bandits and pirates.

This is a big chapter of 100 words. Thank you Twilight Liusuo for the reward of starting coins. I will update another big chapter of words later. In the future, I will try to use big chapters so that the average subscription will look better.

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(End of this chapter)