Reborn as a tyrant in the Ming Dynasty

"Ha ha!"

Zhu Youxiao's laughter sounded in Dongnuan Pavilion, but this smile made all the cabinet ministers present nervous, well, except for one person.

Xiong Tingbi looked calm and stood there with his hands down. He could even clearly feel the emperor's gaze, but Xiong Tingbi didn't care.

Having been in the official circles of the Ming Dynasty for decades, and twice conducting military campaigns in Liaodong, Xiong Tingbi knew very well about certain tricks. When it comes to tax matters, if you don't have a complete plan and deployment, don't touch it easily!

This is completely different from rectifying the Beijing camp!

In the final analysis, no matter how many people are killed in order to rectify the capital camp, the biggest impact will be on the court. This trend will not spill over to the local area and will not have a substantial impact on the local area.

Even if there is any problem, it will only be limited to the confrontation and game in the temple!

But the tax policy is different. This will involve the whole world. If there is any imperfection, it will not only endanger local stability, but even aggravate local conflicts!

"This is the cabinet minister I want!"

Just when everyone was nervous, Zhu Youxiao pointed at Xiong Tingbi with a smile, "Dare to tell the truth and dare to express your ideas. If the previous cabinet could be like now, it would not only put Ming Dynasty in trouble!"

Ok?

Zhu Yanxi, Huang Liji and others all looked shocked when they heard this. They thought the emperor was going to reprimand Xiong Tingbi, but the fact was different from what they thought.

Confidence cannot be replenished in one go.

Looking at the performance of the ministers in front of him, Zhu Youxiao felt deep in his heart. Although he knew that those words he said at the beginning made each of these cabinet ministers let go of their psychological burdens and made up their minds to do something in their hearts. .

But this determination, to a certain extent, depends on the attitude of the Ming Emperor.

The Ming Dynasty's cabinet did not appear in a strong position for a long time. This also resulted in a status quo. Whenever there was some turmoil in the temple, the censors and officials on the imperial court would be the first to bear the brunt, under the banner of serving the country and the people. , impeachment of ministers assisting the cabinet, as long as public opinion is stirred up in the government, even the chief minister of the cabinet will be forced to resign under strong pressure...

This is not a good sign.

Not to mention.

Just mention that when Zhu Youxiao Yuji first came to the throne, Fang Congzhe, who was the chief minister of the cabinet at the time, was impeached by the censor of the Donglin Party, and was forced to resign from the Supreme Court. As a result, he was caught in the vortex of red pills. Regardless of this period, What happened, but the final situation was that Ye Xianggao entered the cabinet! !

This person is one of the elders of the Donglin Party.

Also starting from the fall of Fang Congzhe, the power of the Donglin Party in the government expanded rapidly, and the Qi, Chu, and Zhejiang Party and other factions were unable to compete with it, which in turn made the Donglin Party the dominant party in the government!

"I have thought of this problem a long time ago."

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao took out a file from the imperial case and handed it to Liu Ruoyu who was serving beside him, "Your Majesty, you can first take a look at the file I ordered my people to compile. After reading it, you will know the difference. How can I make up for it?"

Liu Ruoyu, who was holding the file, lowered his head and walked toward Xiong Tingbi and the others.

Seeing this, Xiong Tingbi reached out and took the file handed over by Liu Ruoyu.

When Zhu Yanxi, Huang Liji and other cabinet ministers saw this, they looked at me and I looked at you, with different expressions on their faces, but everyone also gathered around Xiong Tingbi.

"It's him?"

Xiong Tingbi didn't pay attention to the gathered colleagues. At this moment, he was completely attracted by the file in front of him, and was even shocked!

It was also when he saw this file that Xiong Tingbi understood that the emperor had made up his mind.

"Does Your Majesty want to rectify the Salt Law?"

Bi Ziyan, who only took a cursory glance at the file, immediately understood the emperor's thoughts. When his colleagues around him were shocked, Bi Ziyan raised his head and looked at the emperor.

"Yuan Shizhen was a Jinshi in the 1898 Reform in the 26th year of Wanli, and was first awarded the title of Magistrate of Linchuan County."

Zhu Youxiao leaned on the cushions and looked at Bi Ziyan and the others with a smile, "In the 45th year of Wanli, he served as the inspector of the Lianghuai Salt Law Road and implemented the Gang Law in Huainan and Yangzhou, replacing the original Kaizhong Law. .”

"The outline method divides the salt imports of each merchant into ten categories and compiles them into an outline book. Every year, one outline is used for accumulation of salt (that is, the salt is transported and sold based on the accumulated old leads), and the other nine categories are used for new leads (that is, directly by the merchants) Purchase, transport and sell salt from salt households). From then on, officials did not collect salt. All the rights to purchase and export sales belonged to merchants and became hereditary. They also recruited soldiers to form defense camps with Zaoding Company in the salt field. Each battalion had thirty people, and the camps were two or three miles apart. Catch the smuggling salt traffickers.”

"Since this method was implemented in the Huaihe River, in just four years, the total amount of border payments and payment to Taicang amounted to more than 4 million taels. My imperial grandfather sent me a commendation."

"However, it was the implementation of this law that made Yuan Shizhen offend many people. In the first year of Taichang, someone impeached Yuan Shizhen for allowing his son to take bribes, and Lianghuai salt merchants paid the stolen money on their behalf. There was an uproar in the government and the public for a while, and Yuan Shizhen was also involved in this He was laid off from his job and returned to his hometown."

Zhu Yanxi and Huang Liji's expressions became complicated.

Especially Li Qiyuan and Bi Ziyan, they know better than anyone how much trouble the imperial court will solve by replacing the Kaizhong method with the Gang method.

But this method involves too much!

"I was just thinking that during the four years when Yuan Shizhen was appointed as the inspector of Yanfa Road, Lianghuai was able to provide more than 4 million taels in aid and payment to Taicang."

Looking at the ministers with different expressions, Zhu Youxiao narrowed his eyes and said: "If the shelved outline law can be implemented in all the salt fields of the Ming Dynasty and a new salt law is used to control salt affairs, how much salt tax will the court receive every year? ? Can this salt tax input effectively solve the emptiness of the national treasury?"

"able!!"

Liu Hongxun, who had been silent all this time, now spoke up: "The Gangfa has been controversial since its inception, but the collection of salt taxes in Lianghuai is a real thing. If the imperial court can re-appoint Yuan Shizhen, let him take office like Dong Yingju Just like the Minister of Qian Law, I officially took up the post of Minister of Salt Law, and I believe that it is not difficult to relieve the treasury's difficulties!"

"Then have you thought about it."

Li Qiyuan frowned and said, "If the imperial court really wants to do this, what kind of turmoil will happen in various places? If this is fed back to the court, what kind of turmoil will happen in the middle of the court?"

Although Li Qiyuan was very optimistic about Yuan Shizhen's Outline, Li Qiyuan was also very clear about how many things caused trouble before and after the Outline was implemented in Lianghuai.

"Is it because of these things that we don't want to find ways to solve the problem?"

Wang Zaijin, who was standing nearby, asked rhetorically: "If the imperial court can really use Yuan Shizhen to implement the program throughout the country, it will not only be the preferential policies promulgated by your majesty to all the people, but also the abolition of the apportionment of Liao pay, the breeding of people and the never increase of taxes. If implemented effectively, the state treasury can even collect a lot more tax dollars every year, and these tax dollars can help the court solve many practical problems!"

"This matter involves too much."

Bi Ziyan frowned and said: "For the imperial court at the moment, stability is the most important thing. Not to mention that although Yuan Shizhen is idle in the countryside, no one can say how many people are still staring at Yuan Shizhen."

"I'm afraid that if Yuan Shizhen comes to Beijing to take office before the outline law is fully implemented, a storm will already arise, because there are too many tricks in the salt tax!"

Looking at the cabinet ministers arguing, Zhu Youxiao was not angry. On the contrary, he showed a look of relief. It was not terrible to have an quarrel. What was terrible was that there was no reaction.

There are quarrels, which means that the cabinet ministers really want to do something for the country.

Although Li Qiyuan and Bi Ziyan held opposing opinions, through their expressions, Zhu Youxiao was keenly aware that they actually admired Yuan Shizhen's principles, but they had too many things to consider. So they have to say something to cool down.

To cool down who?

Of course it is for him, the Ming Emperor!

In fact, in Zhu Youxiao's heart, it is a transitional tax reform policy to never increase taxes to increase the number of people and restart the program.

Because the above two policies have great limitations.

But for the current Ming Dynasty, it is not advisable to take too big steps. If you really take too big steps, you will easily get hurt.

Even the implementation of these two policies will not achieve results for several years.

This is the most difficult part of reform.

It is impossible to achieve immediate results.

But for Zhu Youxiao, what he has to do now is to use the cabinet team to gradually turn the taxes that are difficult to collect from the Ming Dynasty center into using some means to actually collect the taxes.

In the original timeline, the Ming Dynasty did not die at the hands of the rogues, let alone the built captives. The real reason for the overthrow of the Ming Dynasty was that the taxes could not be collected!

"If there's a problem, just solve it."

Under this situation, Zhu Youxiao said calmly: "If there is any trouble, I think it is not a decoration in the capital camp in the capital city!"

At this moment, the expressions of all the cabinet ministers changed.

Especially Xiong Tingbi and Yuan Keli, they also heard this sentence from the emperor and fully understood why the emperor decided to finalize the strategy against Liao in the first place.

In fact, the essence of the Liao strategy is not to deal with the Jianlu at all, but to get the court out of the whirlpool through this battle, and even to get a group of elites who can fight through this battle!

No wonder the emperor wanted to conquer the country in person.

Xiong Tingbi and Yuan Keli were thinking a lot. Looking at the emperor's firm eyes, they really saw the hope of the Ming Dynasty's resurgence, because the emperor really had ideas, instead of just doing whatever he thought of!