Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 143: Collecting Taxes in arrears and killing the gentry
After Zhu Houzhao returned to Nanjing, he immediately summoned Qiu Yue and pointed to an imperial edict, saying, "This is an imperial edict drafted by the Cabinet and approved by the Imperial Household Department. Now you, Qiu Yue, will lead the First Division of the Imperial Guards to be responsible for the defense of Nanjing and military affairs in Nanzhili. You should understand why I asked you to do this. It is to prevent trouble before it happens. My safety depends on you!"

On the way here, Qiu Yue had been persuaded by Ma Wensheng, the former Minister of War, and knew that Zhu Houzhao had suddenly made him take charge of Nanjing's military affairs in order to use force against the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. He then bowed and said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured! I will protect your Majesty and the others!"

Zhu Houzhao nodded, and asked Qiu Yue to leave with the imperial edict. He then said to the Prime Minister Ma Wensheng, the Chief of Ceremonies Liu Jin, the Minister of Personnel Wang Shu, and the Governor of Nanzhili Wang Yangming:
"All of you are just like me, and we are all people who are determined to reform the Ming Dynasty. Now that we have come to this point, the new policy cannot be stopped because of the resistance of the gentry of the entire Southern Zhili! We cannot be soft-handed! We must be tough! Besides, it's not that we haven't given them due respect. Ma Wensheng, do you still have any objections now?"

Ma Wensheng was from Henan and had many students and former officials. He was considered a representative of the gentry class in the central region of the Ming Dynasty, so Zhu Houzhao asked him first.

"Your Majesty, now that things have come to this, I will submit to your judgment!"

Although Ma Wensheng knew that the existence of tax arrears was a common phenomenon in the local area, he was also aware that if this phenomenon was not resolved, the court's finances would become increasingly exhausted. Henan had always been affected by the Yellow River. If the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River were unwilling to pay half a stone of grain to the court, it would not be a good thing for both Henan and the court.

"Where is Wang Shu?" Zhu Houzhao asked Wang Shu.

Wang Shu was from Shaanxi and was considered a representative of the northern gentry. When Zhu Houzhao asked him, Wang Shu immediately replied: "The benefits of the world are only focused on the south of the Yangtze River. If the south of the Yangtze River is not willing to accede to the benefits of the world, who will be willing to be the shield of the south of the Yangtze River in the future? I have no objection!"

Zhu Houzhao looked at Liu Jin.

Liu Jin smiled awkwardly and said, "The eunuchs are the emperor's people. All the twenty-four government offices of the Ming Dynasty are the emperor's people. We will do whatever the emperor tells us to do."

Finally, Wang Yangming, a descendant of a prominent family in Zhejiang, also expressed his opinion: "I am willing to be your Majesty's hawk and dog!"

"Very good! It's not that I don't treat the gentry well, but that the gentry don't respect me. Now the cabinet has drafted an edict, and the Imperial Household Department has approved it. The Jiangnan National Taxation Bureau will be established immediately, under the Ministry of Revenue, and temporarily supervised by the governor. The Juesheng Guard will be changed to the Jiangnan National Taxation Bureau's Tax Police Brigade, and they will obey the governor's orders. From now on, the land tax in Nanzhili will be collected uniformly by the Jiangnan National Taxation Bureau, and the officials of various prefectures, counties and districts will cooperate in the collection!"

Zhu Houzhao issued such an edict first for a simple reason. He wanted to establish a special tax bureau and tax army in Nanzhili, which would be responsible for tax collection in Nanzhili in order to ensure the court's tax revenue in Jiangnan. The reason for using the Juesheng Guard was naturally because this army was composed of deaf-mute people and was easier to control.

Then, Zhu Houzhao said: "Those who owe more than 500 dan of tax in Nanzhili since the first year of Zhengde will be stripped of their meritorious service if they have any. If they have any official title, they will be demoted to commoners and will never be employed again! In addition, they will be prohibited from participating in the imperial examinations within three generations! Since they are unwilling to pay taxes to the court, the court does not need to support them!"

Zhu Houzhao's intention was very clear. Since there were many gentry in the Jiangnan region, and each of them claimed to represent the will of the people, he would now demote these gentry who owed taxes to common people.

At this time, Wang Yangming could not help but remind him: "Your Majesty, the new champion Lu Nan also owes 512 shi of tax!"

"Dismiss all of them from their posts! Demote them to commoners!"

Zhu Houzhao ordered.

"Yes!" Wang Yangming replied.

……

Soon, the cabinet's edicts were drafted, and the Imperial Household Department immediately approved them.

Su Ming, the former Nanjing Guanglu Temple Minister, was demoted to a commoner and will never be employed again. He will not be allowed to take office within three generations!
Mu Yan, the former Langzhong of the Department of Rites, was demoted to a commoner and will never be employed again. He will not be allowed to take any official position within three generations!

Lin Linkai, the former governor of Yueyang Prefecture, was demoted to a commoner and will never be employed again. His descendants will not be allowed to take the imperial examinations within three generations!
Juren Guo Yangchen was stripped of his honors!
Juren Lan Shen was stripped of his honors!

Student Ji Shuinong was stripped of his official title!
……

These were all drafted by the Cabinet and approved by the Imperial Household Department, following the formal procedures. And because the privileges of the gentry in Jiangnan were abolished at the beginning, the local officials and Wang Yangming began to collect the arrears without any scruples. According to Wang Yangming's allocation, the smaller arrears were collected by the local officials, while the larger arrears were collected by him, the governor, and the people from the National Tax Bureau.

Therefore, Wang Yangming personally led his men to Nanjing Guanglu Temple Minister Su Ming. Upon seeing this, Su Ming yelled, "Wang Shouren, what do you want to do!"

"Su Ming! You have now been demoted to a commoner. This is the order from above. Please read carefully! The 7,600 dan of taxes you owe to the court will be recovered by the Jiangnan National Taxation Bureau! This is the notice! Please read carefully!"

After Wang Yangming said this, he waved his hand and asked the people from the IRS to go in and copy.

Su Ming immediately ordered the Hao Nu to resist, and the commander of the Juesheng Guard, Yang Mao, killed the three of them on the spot!
Su Ming was shocked when he saw this, and pointed at Wang Yangming and shouted again: "You! You!"

"Your Majesty has issued an order that anyone who obstructs the IRS from collecting taxes will be killed without mercy! Su Ming, don't force me!"

Wang Yangming walked in and shouted, "According to the imperial decree, confiscate three times the amount, no more and no less!"

But Su Ming suddenly ran in front of Yang Mao and other tax policemen and shouted, "I don't believe the court is willing to kill me for a few thousand dan of money and grain. Wang Yangming, unless you step over my dead body today, don't even think about raiding my house!"

Wang Yangming did not say anything, but gave a wink to Yang Mao. Yang Mao understood and killed Su Ming on the spot!

At the same time, actions to recover unpaid taxes were also initiated in other areas of Southern Zhili.

According to Zhu Houzhao, if these local officials failed to collect the illegally collected treasures, they would be dismissed from their posts or even punished in this major plan, so these local officials did not dare to be vague.

At this time, Pan Duan, the magistrate of Wu County, Suzhou, ordered the yamen runners to take the six students who owed more than 500 dan of taxes to the county government: "The court has issued an order that the taxes you owe must be paid immediately. Since the three-month deadline has passed and you are stubborn, you must pay three times the amount! You must send your family members to pay as soon as possible, otherwise I will not be polite!"

"Sir! How can we, the students, have so much money and food? We are all students of the imperial court, can't you forgive us?"

One of the more wealthy students started crying.

Magistrate Pan was not polite: "You are all the local wealthy families, why can't you afford to pay? Don't quibble! Since you are unwilling to pay, I will beat you with 20 sticks first! If you still refuse to pay, I will beat you with 40 sticks! If you still refuse to pay, I will beat you to death!"

After saying this, County Magistrate Pan shouted directly: "Beat him!"

"Wait! Sir, we are all students, scholars with honors. You have no right to beat us!" a student shouted.

"You refused to pay taxes, and the court has stripped you of your honor!" Magistrate Pan continued to shout, "Beat them!"

As a result, these students were pinned to the ground and beaten until they screamed in pain.

However, it was unexpected that these students who were stripped of their titles could not withstand the beating and three of them were beaten to death on the spot.

Seeing this, Magistrate Pan had no choice but to stop beating the gentry to force them to pay taxes. Instead, he personally led people to search their homes. As a result, because some people resisted paying taxes, Magistrate Pan had to kill three gentry!
All of a sudden, the entire Suzhou Prefecture was in an uproar over this incident!
Thanks to the book friend "Dala Xiaoraccoon" for the 1000 starting coins reward. Thank you to the book friend "Super Blood Scholar" for the 100 starting coins reward.

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(End of this chapter)