Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 385 Parade
"Oppose the government's imposition of additional taxes!"

"Oppose the government's destruction of the free business environment!"

"Wang Lin and Bi Keng step down!"

The streets of Wuchang were crowded with marchers, and He Xinyin, with a group of members of the Freedom Literary Society, was walking at the front.

Some gentry also came out to lend their support, and they captured the tax collectors from the Huguang State Taxation Bureau and beat them up.

He Xinyin was also very excited. Looking at the huge team he had organized, he felt as if he could control the entire world with ease.

The police soldiers of the Huguang Governor came out, holding glass shields and forming a team to prevent the demonstrators from smashing up street shops and rushing into government offices.

Wu Guozheng, a student who organized the parade with He Xinyin, threw his stinky shoes at the policemen as soon as he saw them. "You are accomplices of the tiger! Soldiers! We don't pay taxes for you to deal with us! If you have the guts, come with us to deal with the government!"

A police soldier who was hit by a smelly shoe could only hold his anger and continue standing. After all, his superiors had issued a strict order not to use force against these scholars. After all, these were representatives of the gentry of Huguang and were powerful both in the court and in the local areas.

Seeing that these policemen did not dare to take action, Wu Guozheng became even more proud. He also knew that he was a student, a graduate of a higher school, and the son of a civil servant. Unless he committed murder or arson, these policemen would not dare to do anything to him.

"If you don't get out of the way and let us attack the IRS, we will spit on you!"

Wu Guozheng simply launched a direct threat.

"Spit on them!"

"Spit on them!"

"Spit on them!"

……

Other members of the Free Writers Society also started to make a fuss, encouraging Wu Guozheng to spit at the police soldiers.

After all, the police soldiers set up by the court completely destroyed the power of local clans to independently handle criminal cases. The members of the Free Literary Society, who were mainly from the gentry class, naturally hated these police soldiers. Now they naturally wished that Wu Guozheng would spit at these police soldiers.

Wu Guozheng was instigated by these people, and seeing that the police soldiers really didn't dare to touch him, he really rolled up his sleeves, walked over, and spat in the face of a police soldier.

The police soldier was influenced by the Ming Dynasty's recruit system. Even during training, he had never been humiliated like this by the training officer. He was very angry and was about to take action. The sergeant beside him hurriedly shouted in a low voice: "Jia Shan, don't be impulsive! They are civilians! You must not violate discipline and take action against civilians without reason! Do you understand!"

"understand!"

The police soldier named Jia Shan had no choice but to reply, and continued to stand straight in front of Wu Guozheng while suppressing his anger.

Seeing that Jia Shan did not make a move, Wu Guozheng became even more proud and forgot to be afraid. He really thought that a scholar like him was superior to these people, so he continued to spit in the face of the sergeant: "Didn't you hear me? Get out of the way! Otherwise, I will spit on you!"

"Step aside!"

“Get out of the way!” “Get out of the way!”

Other members of the Free Writers Society also started shouting.

Only the owner of a shop on the street couldn't stand it anymore and shouted, "How long are you guys going to march and block the street? Do you still want us to do business? Pay for the losses!"

boom!
The shopkeeper was punched on the spot.

At this time, a student in a long shirt came over and yelled at the shopkeeper, "Old man! Do you know what we are doing? We are fighting for our rights and freedom from taxes! Shut up!"

The shopkeeper covered his face and wanted to say more, but his accountant stopped him and said, "Shopkeeper, forget it! These are people we can't afford to offend. They are members of the Freedom Society and are backed by officials. We are just small merchants. If they beat us up, we have nowhere to seek justice. Don't you see that even the government can't do anything to them?"

"Yes, yes," the shopkeeper wanted to say more but in the end he just sighed.

……

It happened that on this day, Zhu Houzhao was preparing to enter Sichuan by water, and by the way, he was inspecting the southwest's policy of converting native peoples into officials and entering the city. He happened to stop by Wuchang for a rest.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao also witnessed the situation of a large number of scholars and civilians pouring into the streets of Wuchang City to march.

Zhu Houzhao had encountered many parades in his previous life. Generally speaking, Zhu Houzhao was not opposed to parades, nor was he afraid of the people's parades. After all, only in such a peaceful and prosperous time would the people have the energy to parade. Otherwise, they would have risen up and started an armed struggle long ago.

But what really disappointed Zhu Houzhao was that the themes of these parades were not fresh enough and were still political demands about taxation.

Zhu Houzhao actually didn't understand what the anti-monopoly tax had to do with these scholars and common people. First of all, these scholars and common people would not participate in monopoly and did not have the strength to do so. Secondly, anti-monopoly should be in the interests of the majority of people and would only harm the interests of big businessmen and gentry.

This time, it was Zhu Houzhao and several large financial groups who voluntarily agreed to be subject to anti-monopoly taxes by the court. Otherwise, the cabinet alone would not have been able to levy the anti-monopoly tax.

This is something that should make everyone in the Ming Dynasty happy. After all, this shows that their retired emperor Zhu Houzhao is not an egoist and will still take the initiative to give up some meat to help the national cause of the entire Ming Dynasty.

But it seems that the people now automatically choose to ignore this matter, and instead pay more attention to the issue of levying anti-monopoly taxes in this area.

"The cabinet also wants to increase the income of local governments. Seeing that the royal family and the big tycoons who control the world's wealth are willing to be levied anti-monopoly taxes, it allows local governments to levy local anti-monopoly taxes to increase local income. After all, the agricultural tax has been exempted in the world now. If local governments want to obtain income for local construction, they can no longer rely on fire consumption and levy taxes, but can only find it from these industrial and commercial taxes. There are many local monopoly giants, some with official backgrounds, some with noble backgrounds, and some with overseas vassal backgrounds! It is naturally difficult for ordinary merchants to become monopoly merchants, so I don’t understand why these people are opposed. Although the reason is not to compete with the people for profits, it is clear that these monopoly merchants are competing with the people for profits, and the government is actually preventing these monopoly merchants from competing with the people for profits!"

Wang Lin, the governor of Huguang, looked at the people crowding the main streets of Wuchang City and reported the situation in Wuchang to Zhu Houzhao.

There were many people who could become officials in the Ming Dynasty, and even more people waiting to become officials. Especially today, decades after universal education, the probability of being promoted to governor is only one in ten thousand. Therefore, the relationship between officials and the people is often used as an important assessment criterion for local officials. The occurrence of such a large-scale parade in Wuchang City is a big blow to Huguang Governor Wang Lin and Left Provincial Administrator Bi Keng.

"Where is the Left Governor Bi Keng?" Zhu Houzhao asked.

"I am advising these scholars on the street and explaining things to them," Wang Lin replied.

"What's the point of explaining? Didn't you see what's written on the slogan? You and Bi Keng are asked to resign." Zhu Houzhao pointed at the slogans on the street and thought again, "When will it be the turn of these people to decide whether the officials of the Ming Dynasty resign or not?"

(End of this chapter)