Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 308: Jiangnan Tax Reform
Of course, Zhu Houzhao's reform could not immediately transform the Ming Dynasty's administration in Southern Zhili and Zhejiang into an efficient and reasonable administrative system.

This is just the beginning and it will take a lot of work.

However, all these tasks were handled by Wang Shouren.

Wang Shouren was actually quite depressed inside, because he actually wanted to be a saint who had understood the truth of life and wanted to continue to carry forward the psychology that he had summarized, but the court used him to deal with the reform of military and political affairs.

However, he did not want to resign because he could not let go of this country.

The emperor's words were enough to break the old minister's back.

This is a common phenomenon in the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty.

There is no way, Emperor Zhu Houzhao loves to make trouble and reform.

You must never talk to the emperor about following the ancestral system. If you do, you will be sent to serve as an official in the new territory of the Ming Dynasty, and you won't even be able to resign and return home.

This also led to many middle and lower-level officials who were eager to make progress to curry favor with the emperor and often cite various bad policies to suggest reforms to the court.

Reform and innovation became the mainstream thinking during the Zhengde period.

At least we cannot say openly that following established precedents is a good thing.

The same is true for the current pilot reforms of the political systems in Nanzhili and Zhejiang.

Officials are becoming more and more aware of the character of the current emperor Zhu Houzhao. They know that His Majesty is an uneasy person. They know that the emperor must want to change something when he comes to Jiangnan, and the emperor will not be happy if he does not change.

Although the Nanjing officials who had not been silenced were still loyal to Emperor Zhu Houzhao, they all had some complaints in their hearts. They wondered if the emperor could stop looking for trouble. The world was not in chaos, there were no bandits rebelling, and no princes plotting rebellion. Couldn't the emperor just take a few more beauties in Mochou Lake? Why did he have to change the system, causing these officials to work overtime to learn and improve the reform plan.

"Your Majesty, the officials below have complaints about the reforms you proposed this time. It's not that the reforms are wrong, but they think that the Ming Dynasty is now peaceful and prosperous, and there is no need to go to great lengths!"

Fujun of the Western Factory reported the reaction of the officials to Zhu Houzhao, who could not help laughing after hearing it. He quickly summoned Wang Shouren and asked him, "Do you ministers think I am too noisy? Tell me the truth!"

"I dare not deceive your majesty, but I have this proposal. Since the implementation of the examination system, the officials of the Ming Dynasty have been much more tired than before. Now your majesty wants to reform the system in Jiangnan and increase the number of government offices and officials. It can be regarded as a major move, which will make the officials even more exhausted. Therefore, I have this proposal. However, I think that as a court official, you should have a heart to bring peace to the country. If you really want to be idle, you can resign and be an idle cloud and wild crane. Since you are in power and govern the people, you must work hard and be willing to do so!"

Wang Shouren said.

"You're right! Do they really think I like to make a fuss? No, I'd rather live my life as a monk, but is that possible? I didn't care about state affairs for a while, and indulged in sensual pleasures every day, but I was still assassinated! If you are in a position and don't do your job, it's also a crime!"

Zhu Houzhao patted Wang Shouren on the shoulder as he spoke: "I know that you, Wang Shouren, also want to be a saint who comprehends life, but now I have arranged for you to do some military and political reforms. But since you still want to be a cabinet minister and the center of the world, you must be willing to devote yourself to it."

"I understand," Wang Shouren replied, and then said, "I also told the officials below me the same thing, but there are inevitably some people who are lazy in their work."

"They can resign. The Ming court does not support idlers," Zhu Houzhao said. Wang Shouren couldn't help but smile. He thought that His Majesty was quite direct, but who among the officials would be willing to resign? Resigning means no privileges and no money. However, Wang Shouren believed that although officials were unwilling to resign, their complaints would surely grow, because everyone wanted good treatment, high income and less workload.

Yu Gui, a Langzhong of the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel's Selection Division, was very depressed at this time. Over the years, as a Langzhong of the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel's Selection Division, he had been enjoying a leisurely and happy job with extra income. But now the court wanted to add various types of officials from Nanzhili and Zhejiang Province to the prefectures and counties, and everything from the statistics of officials to be recruited to their assessment and appointment had to be completed by him, a Langzhong of the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel's Selection Division. Naturally, he was very depressed.

Therefore, Yu Gui could not help but say to his colleagues in the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, and other government offices in Nanjing: "Everyone, the court is changing laws every day, and everyone is thinking about changing laws, but you and I know that these are all actions to please the emperor. The official duties are heavy, and there is a strict assessment system. It is better to resign."

"What Doctor Yu said is very true. It is better to resign!" Chen Guang, the Imperial Censor, also spoke up.

As a result, other officials also responded and expressed their intention to resign.

But on the next day, Zhu Houzhao received a memorial from Chen Guang, an imperial censor, impeaching Yu Gui and other officials for their negligence in their duties. They were dissatisfied with the court's frequent reforms and increased burdens, and intended to unite with other officials to resign in order to prevent the court from reforming and eliminating malpractices.

Wang Shouren, who was stationed in Jiangnan to handle daily affairs for Zhu Houzhao, was very busy and had no time to delve into these trivial matters. He only proposed to order Yu Gui and others to retire, and promoted Chen Guang to be the Langzhong of the Wenxuan Division, so that he could continue to participate in the reform.

When Yu Gui saw that Chen Guang was promoted to the position of Langzhong of the Ministry of Personnel, while he was ordered to retire, he was furious: "Chen Guang, you villain, you agreed to resign together!"

"Please forgive me, Brother Kejian. My family is poor and I will not be able to make a living if I resign. The salary of an official in the court is very generous now, so I dare not resign lightly. As for impeaching Brother Kejian and others, I am just fulfilling my duty as a foolish brother!"

After Chen Guang said this, Yu Gui was so angry that he vomited blood. He couldn't bear to leave the officialdom in such a huff, so he hurriedly asked to see Wang Shouren and request to be reinstated.

……

Zhu Houzhao was not surprised by the phenomenon of Yu Gui and Chen Guang. He could also guess that as long as the Ming court continued to reform, the workload of officials would increase, and some officials who were complacent, adhered to traditions, or were content with pleasure would resign. Zhu Houzhao did not mind officials resigning because there were many scholars in the Ming Dynasty who could and wanted to be officials.

In Zhu Houzhao's view, since officials can resign if they find it tiring, universities and colleges are full of scholars who are willing to work hard and can earn a good income and social status. He can recruit as many people as the number of people who resign.

Of course, most officials are still unwilling to resign, and at most they just complain.

Zhu Houzhao was not afraid of the complaints from these officials. He believed that their complaints would not cause much trouble. Moreover, he expanded the number of officials. Many low-level officials and students from new-style schools were added to the official system, which led to a surge in the number of officials in the entire Southern Zhili and Zhejiang. These new officials were very active and grateful to Zhu Houzhao for giving them the opportunity to become officials.

In addition, Zhu Houzhao also revised the performance evaluation system and added promotion rules, indicating that from then on, officials of the Ming Dynasty would have the opportunity to become officials in the court, become ministers, or even be granted titles of nobility. He also required ministers to have experience in politics at the grassroots level, especially in prefectures and counties. This made new officials very motivated to work hard and they all hoped that they would be able to become ministers in the future.

Of course, what these new officials did not know was that there were tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people who entered the Ming bureaucracy with him, and basically not many people could be promoted from a ninth-rank official to a first-rank official.

In any case, it was positive that Zhu Houzhao asked officials such as Wang Shouren to do so.

For example, at this time, Nanzhili had a Department of Commerce, which was specifically responsible for managing Nanzhili's commerce, and a Department of Agriculture, which was specifically responsible for managing Nanzhili's agriculture. The depth and breadth of administrative management were obviously greater than before.

In the past, the Ming government could only play a relatively small role and had a small number of officials, which led to an environment in which local and clan forces could resist the court. But now, even the health issues of the people will be handled by special government offices.

Some newly emerged towns were also set up as new counties and government offices were established, so that these towns were no longer without government management.

This also led to a large increase in the number of officials and an increase in the court's financial expenditure. However, Zhu Houzhao was not worried about this, as the increase in the number of officials and the resulting increase in public servants' salary expenditures were also the result of increased investment in public services.

If we want to improve and comprehensively manage public affairs in Jiangnan, it is inevitable to increase investment in public services.

As for the future, it goes without saying whether these officials will take the initiative to request an increase in commercial tax collection in order to protect their own income and treatment.

Of course, with the large increase in the number of officials, and taking into account the issue of administrative efficiency, changes also took place in the distribution of power. Local officials of the fourth rank and below in Nanzhili and Zhejiang provinces were selected by the provincial committees. The selection method was to establish a provincial party committee and a provincial standing committee. The provincial prefects and officials of various halls of the provincial organs, namely the councilors, and the provincial councilors, governors, provincial governors, and provincial inspectors formed the standing committee, which selected officials of the fourth rank and above, and then they were appointed by the Organization Department.

The power to appoint middle and lower-level officials was originally in the hands of the Ministry of Personnel, which directly appointed middle and lower-level officials.

The middle and lower-level officials in Nanzhili and Zhejiang were directly under the responsibility of the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel.

Now, what Zhu Houzhao and Wang Shouren did was tantamount to depriving the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel of this power, or to be more precise, depriving the Nanjing Wenxuansi Langzhong of this right.

This is not surprising, as the political operations of the Ming Dynasty were often controlled by these minor officials below the fourth rank.

Officials such as Jieshizhong, Yushi, Libu Wenxuansi and Bingbu Wuxuansi were all small officials with great power, and of course they were prone to becoming corrupt officials. Now, Zhu Houzhao and Wang Shouren gave this power directly to the local governments, naturally trying to prevent these small officials from becoming corrupt officials in the system, and also to prevent these small officials in Beijing from making random appointments without knowing the actual situation in the local areas.

Allowing local chief officials to participate in the selection is considered as an internal election among officials, which is the same as the imperial court's recommendation model. This way, officials who are as reasonable and balanced as possible can be selected, and it can also prevent a Langzhong from manipulating the entire world by controlling the appointment of officials throughout the world, or even leading the entire civil service group to confront the emperor.

If it is changed to the current state, even if there are still officials who control personnel appointments and dismissals and want to manipulate the political situation, they can only control one province.

Of course, nominally all officials in the world were appointed and dismissed by the emperor.

However, this is impossible in reality. Due to geographical factors and limited personal energy, Zhu Houzhao had to delegate power, and how to delegate power needed to be considered. Now it is naturally more scientific to keep power in the hands of one person.

But this also indirectly increases local autonomy.

However, Zhu Houzhao had read Qian Mu's "Gains and Losses in Ancient Chinese Politics". He remembered that according to Qian Mu's point of view, increasing local autonomy to a certain extent would be beneficial to people's livelihood. Ancient China was a process of continuous centralization of power by the central government and continuous shrinkage of local autonomy, which made ancient China increasingly introverted and conservative and ignored local people's livelihood.

For example, in the Han and Tang dynasties, local governors had great power, almost the same as that of princes. In the Song Dynasty, the central government sent special commissioners to be in charge of local affairs. In the Ming Dynasty today, the governors and inspectors are the Beijing officials who manage the local areas, and they have gradually changed from temporary dispatch to long-term local garrisons. Not to mention the Qing Dynasty, there was even a governor-general above the governor.

Zhu Houzhao didn't know whether increasing local autonomy was good or bad, but he could only give it a try in Southern Zhili and Zhejiang.

After all, the political economy of Nanzhili and Zhejiang is quite special, and the people are highly educated. Perhaps they really need a certain degree of autonomy to make some more reasonable, open and even advanced policies. Perhaps some modern policies issued by the central court may not be applicable to the whole country and may even lead to chaos, but it would be better for Nanzhili and Zhejiang to implement them themselves.

For example, Wu Wendi began to implement a tax system in Nanzhili that only taxed in silver dollars. This system was in line with the interests of the people in Nanzhili. After all, the people in Nanzhili did not farm much, but mainly worked and did business. It was also convenient to exchange silver dollars, so they were naturally more suitable to pay silver dollars rather than grain.

Right now, life is really comfortable for the people in the south of the Yangtze River. They no longer have to worry about bullies when doing business, and new officials are also working hard on their own. Moreover, due to the influence of the imperial court's assessment system, some local officials will give special treatment to merchants and handicraftsmen in policies for the sake of political achievements, which makes the personal income of the people rise rapidly.

The population of Nanjing, Suzhou, Songjiang, Ningbo and Hangzhou increased by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands. Villas, gardens and even high-end residential areas began to appear one after another. The pace of urbanization was getting faster and faster. The annual trade volume of a small town exceeded one million silver dollars. An ordinary civilian could earn thousands of silver dollars a day by selling goods in Songjiang.

However, the people became wealthy, while the imperial court was still in a state of loss.

An increasing proportion of the national income from maritime trade and colonial plunder was invested in maintaining the municipal expenses of Jiangnan, which caused great dissatisfaction among governors and governors-general in other places and even officials in Beijing.

Even local officials in Nanzhili and Zhejiang could not stand it. They had to squeeze money out of the central court to build a road, while local tycoons could spend millions of dollars for a courtesan in one night.

Establishing a new taxation system in Jiangnan was the most important and final step for Zhu Houzhao to reform the Jiangnan system while in Nanjing, and it was also what many officials in the court wanted to do.

There is no way. The officials of the imperial court cannot work for free without getting paid. From a certain perspective, the imperial court is the bandit group that rules this place. If you want the bandits to protect your safety and not take it directly from you, you have to pay protection fees.

If the imperial court does not establish a tax system to collect legal protection fees, officials can only collect them through unspoken rules, which will breed corruption, the most typical of which is rent-seeking.

In fact, such signs had already begun to appear in the third year of Zhu Houzhao's stay in Nanjing. Some new officials who had entered the officialdom began to feel unbalanced when they saw that merchants and common people had become rich one after another. They began to seek benefits from the merchant groups, and began to use their power for their own personal gain. Some even resorted to outright plunder.

"Nowadays, most of Nanzhili and Zhejiang are engaged in business and industry, but the taxation is still based on the land tax. The tax rate is one in thirty. According to the grain price, one in thirty silver dollars of profit is taken. But now, even ordinary people can earn thousands of silver dollars in profit from business. This tax policy is extremely unreasonable!"

At this time, Wang Shouren presented the phenomenon he discovered in Nanzhili in the court.

But at this time, Wang Chengyu, the Minister of Finance of Nanjing, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I think what Lord Wang said is wrong. The annual taxes of Nanzhili and Zhejiang have always been the heaviest. The taxes of other provinces are less than half of those of Nanzhili and Zhejiang. The court should exempt them to save the people's strength. How can we increase the taxes? It is absolutely unacceptable!"

"How many acres of land are there in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, how many acres of land are there in other provinces, how many households are there in Nanzhili and Zhejiang, how many households are there in other provinces, doesn't Wang Butang know clearly? It is normal for Nanzhili and Zhejiang to have higher annual taxes than other provinces, and it is abnormal for them to have lower taxes than other provinces!"

Wang Shouren couldn't help but retort. He himself was a Zhejiang native, but he was also a shareholder of the imperial bank. Naturally, he knew whether the current policy would benefit the imperial court or the local gentry in Zhejiang. But because of this, he now had to increase the burden on the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang for the sake of national interests, so that the imperial court would have more financial resources to build the poor areas in the northwest and southwest.

"Your Majesty, I believe that light taxes and levies are the benevolent government of the court, and the prosperity of the people is also a blessing for the court. The court should govern the country with frugality, so why should it deprive the people of their benefits!"

Zhang Jin, the left vice-minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, did not propose to increase taxes either, but what he said seemed to make sense. Tax reduction and exemption are good policies in themselves, and there has never been talk of increasing taxes in a prosperous dynasty.

"But this year's audit found that the annual tax revenues of all provinces in the country did not offset their expenditures, and there were six provinces that were eating up the next year's grain, namely Yunnan, Guizhou, the newly added Gansu, South Zhili, and Zhejiang.
Yunnan, Guizhou and Gansu have always been poor, so it is normal for them to have more expenditure than income. Originally, Yunnan and Guizhou relied on the annual tax from Sichuan for their supplies, and Gansu also relied on the government's appropriations.

However, Nanzhili and Zhejiang have also begun to spend more than they earn in the past two years, and even suffered a deficit of tens of millions of silver dollars! Nanzhili and Zhejiang now have a maritime trade income of no less than 10 billion silver dollars. I dare to ask why Nanzhili and Zhejiang are still losing money! They need help from the imperial court, Huguang, Guangdong, and Shandong!"

Cong Lan, the first Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue of the Audit Office of the Ming Dynasty, led the audit work of the Ming Dynasty and began to be fully responsible for the management and control of the state-owned assets of the Ming Dynasty. But it was also because of this that he discovered the financial burden brought about by the institutional reform in Jiangnan, forcing him to rush to Nanjing to help Wang Shouren urge Emperor Zhu Houzhao to reform the tax policy in Jiangnan.

As a Shandong native, he didn't want the people of Shandong to use the money they used to buy sweet potatoes to pay Jiangnan officials for admission to brothels.

"Your Majesty, the court has income from mining taxes in the north and maritime trade in the south, as well as the benefits of new overseas territories. Not to mention that Nanzhili and Zhejiang are running out of money, even if the provinces within the Great Wall are running out of money, it will not harm the court's operation. In the past, the two Song dynasties were able to support many times more officials than the Ming dynasty today with the profits from maritime trade. Today, the Ming dynasty's maritime trade profits are even greater than those of the two Song dynasties, and the country is already several times richer than the two Song dynasties. Why bother about the fact that Nanzhili and Zhejiang are running out of money? The people of other provinces don't have to envy the wealth of the people of Nanzhili and Zhejiang. The court has abolished the road permit system. If they want to make money, they can come to Nanzhili and Zhejiang!"

At this time, Jie Yi Guan, the official in charge of the Nanjing Household Department, also spoke up.

But Zhu Houzhao just wanted to laugh after hearing what Xie Yiguan said. He had to admit that what Xie Yiguan said was either stupid or bad.

It is true that the imperial court is now plundering a lot of wealth from foreign countries, but it cannot just enrich Nanzhili and Zhejiang. Wouldn't that exacerbate the income gap between the north and the south and increase the gap between the rich and the poor? The statement "People from other provinces don't have to be jealous. If they want to make a fortune, they can come to Nanzhili and Zhejiang" is also ridiculous. How can outsiders be the same as locals?

Cong Lan was obviously so angry that her face turned red. "Mr. Jie, what you said is simply selfish. You ignore the overall situation. The world is not limited to Nanzhili and Zhejiang. The money of the court needs to be used to support the army and provide disaster relief. How can it benefit only Nanzhili! The people of Nanzhili and Zhejiang are already rich enough to eat meat of six kinds of livestock every day and live in two-story buildings, but the people of the northwest still live in earthen kilns, and the people of the southwest still live in caves! They eat coarse grains and sweet potatoes! The people of the southeast are already so rich, but the people of the southwest and northwest can't even get enough food and clothing. How can you favor the southeast and neglect the northwest and southwest!"

"Your Majesty, what Minister Cong said makes sense. Since he is unwilling to let the court's benefits benefit the people of Jiangnan, why not stop providing subsidies to Nanzhili and Zhejiang? Why bother to impose taxes on the people and take away their benefits? Most of the officials in Jiangnan are recommended by the court and elected by the local governments. They are all selfless officials who work for the welfare of the people. They are all clean and honest, and they don't care about money!"

Yu Cai, the left vice minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Personnel, also said something at this time.

"I think what Minister Yu said is very true. Nanzhili and Zhejiang can no longer accept aid from the court!" Wan Chao, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, also said.

"What do you think, Wu Wendi, the Governor of Southern Zhili, and Huang Zhong, the Governor of Zhejiang? You are in charge of these two provinces and should know best," Zhu Houzhao asked.

Huang Zhong glanced at Nanjing Minister of Finance Wang Chengyu. He knew that his position was related to Wang Butang, and the opinions of the Jiangnan tycoons behind Wang Butang must be the same as his. However, as the governor of Zhejiang, he could not show his political purpose too obviously. After all, he could not offend the cabinet minister Wang Shouren and Cong Butang, who was in charge of the audit of the court's state-owned assets.

So, Huang Zhong said, "You can give it a try!"

All of a sudden, the entire court fell into silence!
Wang Shouren and Cong Lan were so angry that they wanted to tear Huang Zhong to pieces!
Wang Chengyu and others pursed their lips, revealing some pride.

"If that's the case, then let Nanzhili and Zhejiang bear their own profits and losses," Zhu Houzhao asked tentatively, but at this time, Wu Wendi stood up and said, "No! Your Majesty, I think that those who advise Nanzhili and Zhejiang not to change their tax policies and not to receive financial assistance from the court should be executed immediately! ! Those who strongly oppose the court's change of tax policies may be doing something for the people of their hometowns, but those who advise against this policy are evil officials who do not seek the welfare of the people of the two provinces! They have no country or people in their hearts!"

Yu Cai, Wan Chao, and Huang Zhong were all a little frightened when they heard Wu Wendi say this, and they quickly prostrated themselves on the ground: "Your Majesty, we are definitely not the bad officials that Governor Wu said we are!"

Zhu Houzhao just smiled faintly and asked Wu Wendi: "In your opinion, should the tax policy be changed?"

"It should be changed! If it is not changed, it will only force officials to become bandits. The colleagues in the court may not be afraid of the harm of officials and gentry, but once the court governs Jiangnan with morality, it will only make the laws of Jiangnan meaningless, and the court's efforts to eliminate evil and punish evil will be in vain!"

After Wu Wendi said this, Wang Chengyu, Zhang Jin and others became very angry, thinking that Wu Wendi, a native of Huguang, was really talking without any concern.

(End of this chapter)