Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 317: Mobilizing the Power of the Grassroots

Seeing that Zhang Cong was now more actively promoting the imposition of heavy taxes on the mining industry, Zhu Houzhao knew that his goal had been achieved.

But that doesn’t mean Zhu Houzhao wasn’t really worried about unrest arising from this.

Before this, Zhu Houzhao had already published an article in the Huangming newspaper and distributed it throughout the country, explaining the heavy mining taxes levied within the Great Wall by Zhang Cong, who was in charge of it. He also mentioned Xia Yan's responsibility for reducing or exempting mining taxes outside the Great Wall, and clearly informed the people of it. He also asked the scholars to give more positive guidance to the people.

But with little success.

Even the court officials who knew this could use other reasons to oppose this matter. There were even some unofficial newspapers that bluntly stated that the Huang Ming Bao was Zhang Cong's accomplice and was deceiving the people.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao also asked the Jinyiwei to find several behind-the-scenes writers who published such newspapers, and invited them to the imperial prison for tea.

But it still couldn't stop this phenomenon. It was already difficult to determine the winner between the court and the public intellectuals in the battle for public opinion. At a time when the interests of the gentry and the people were already undermined, these public intellectuals became even more arrogant.

But no matter what, good results have been achieved, and the effects have become more and more obvious as time goes by, especially at the grassroots level.

Because not all people were mining, although there were bloody conflicts between miners and tax collectors, in fact, the ones who suffered the most and were most upset by the heavy taxation of the mining industry were the powerful gentry.

The common people still had great trust in the imperial court and great respect for Zhu Houzhao. After all, Zhu Houzhao exempted the whole country from corvée labor, reduced taxes on official fields to the level of private fields, abolished the road permit system, and gave the common people great freedom.

These policies are all of great benefit to the people, and any one of them can enable Zhu Houzhao to gain great support from the people.

Moreover, it is now easier for Zhu Houzhao to mobilize the people.

Because the Ming Dynasty court is no longer the same as it used to be, with very loose management of grassroots organizations below the county level. Now the Ming Dynasty court has direct control over the township level, and even village heads are required to be appointed by the government.

Moreover, the officials Zhu Houzhao sent to manage these grassroots levels were all retired soldiers or students who had joined the Loyal Emperor Society in the Imperial Guards or higher schools. Most of these people were from poor families, had a high degree of admiration for Zhu Houzhao, understood the grassroots peasants and could motivate them well, had a certain knowledge base to manage them, and had better personal ideals and moral character, and had stronger nationalism and statism.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao has issued an edict to the governors of all provinces, requiring local officials to encourage grassroots officials to actively guide local people to support the court in opening mines outside the Great Wall or to pay mining taxes to protect the environment and feng shui within the empire and compensate for the losses of royal minerals.

The grassroots officials were members of the Zhongjun Society and had received brainwashing education. At the same time, their own interests were consistent with those of the court. After all, many of them had military titles and received very generous salaries after retiring from the army. They were not prone to corruption and were afraid of having their military titles taken away for not working hard for the court. Therefore, they were very active in their work, and the students were naturally also very active in seeking promotion.

at this time.

Huang Kui, the head of Chahe Township under Cangzhou, brought his subordinate officials to the mining area where a villager named Jiang was mining:

"Brother Jiang, why are you still running this mine? Coal is hard to mine in this area. The third son of the He family lost his life because of this, and you also lost a lot of money in compensation. But all in all, you don't make a few silver dollars a year. If the court collects heavy taxes, you will make even less money from this coal mine. If you really want to open a mine, you can go outside the Great Wall. The mining tax there is very low and the mines are easy to mine. There is an open-pit coal mine in the west of Dongsheng City where I used to be stationed!"

"Captain Huang, I also know that it is easy to mine outside the Great Wall because the taxes are light, but this means leaving home, buying land, building houses, hiring people to mine, and finding a market, all of which require money. And I don't know if the roads in Dongsheng City are good for transporting coal! The emperor is so rich, why does he still guard the mines and not let us mine? Even if he wants to collect taxes, why does he have to collect such heavy taxes?"

The villager surnamed Jiang began to complain as he spoke.

Huang Lichang stood up, sighed, and said earnestly: "Brother Jiang, I call you brother because you are older than me, but you just slandered the emperor. To be honest, I look down on you and am very angry. You know whether the current emperor is good or not. You are exempted from corvée labor and the land tax is reduced. Otherwise, how can you afford to open a mine now?
Besides, according to the teachings of the sages, the minerals buried underground were bestowed upon the emperor by heaven and are the property of the dragon. So if you mine too much, the dragon will get angry and earthquakes will occur. Who is the dragon? The emperor is the dragon, so these minerals belong to the emperor. If the emperor allows you to mine, it is a gift from the emperor, and if the emperor does not allow you to mine, that is also right!
The court is collecting heavy taxes now because it is worried that you are mining too hard and damaging the dragon veins, ruining the feng shui, and destroying the environment. Do you know what the environment is? Look at the sky around your mining area. It is gray all year round. People living around you cough every day. Do you know that you are committing a sin? If the emperor collects more taxes to alleviate your sins, what's wrong with that?"

After Huang said this, the villager surnamed Jiang had no way to refute and laughed embarrassedly: "Huang, don't be angry, I was just talking casually. I also know that the emperor is a good emperor, and the court has its own considerations. But the difficulties I just mentioned also exist. You are the head of the village, so tell me how to solve them. Didn't you say that officials should solve problems for the people? I haven't seen them solve them."

"I told you to read more newspapers, read more books and go to the county more often, but you didn't believe me. Why didn't the court solve the problem you mentioned? Not to mention leaving your hometown, the court said that you can do business and settle outside the Great Wall without changing your household registration. The implication is that you can come back at any time, and your children can come back at any time.
If you don't have money to go outside the Great Wall, the imperial court has ordered banks at all levels to provide low-interest loans or even interest-free loans, and you can directly borrow three times the amount of your existing property. With your level, it is not a problem to borrow 200,000 or 300,000 silver dollars. If you go to Mobei to open a mine, you won't have to pay any interest on the 230,000 silver dollars for three years, it's equivalent to giving it to you for free!

As for the transportation problem, you don't have to worry. I've been stationed in Dongsheng City. Every county in that area has cement roads, just like Cangzhou! It's no problem to transport it directly from Dongsheng City to the capital!"

After hearing what Huang said, the villagers surnamed Jiang became excited: "Huang, is what you said true? Don't lie to me!"

"Why would I lie to you? I saw it with my own eyes! If I hadn't broken my leg fighting the Tartars, I would have borrowed money to open a mine outside the Great Wall," said Huang, the village chief. Then he asked with a smile, "Are you going to close this mine?"

"Seal!" The villager named Jiang nodded hurriedly.

Huang Lichang also nodded and said, "That's good, but you have to do a good job of persuading the miners you hired. It's best to bring them along. The court also has subsidies and preferential policies for those of you who bring miners with you to the border areas."

"You don't have to tell me. I will definitely persuade them to go with me. After all, I am used to it and they trust me. We are all from the same village. But some of them who are unwilling to leave their hometown will stay. I don't know if they will blame me," said the villager named Jiang with some concern.

"Don't worry about that. I will help you with the work. For those who really don't want to leave, I will help introduce them to new jobs. The court is also considering them, but their income will definitely not be as high as those who follow you to the outside of the Great Wall."

When Huang Lichang said this, the villager surnamed Jiang nodded hurriedly: "Thank you very much, I will prepare to apply for a loan now!"

There were many grassroots officials like Huang Lizhang who worked carefully to guide the people to respond to the court's policies. It was precisely because of this that Zhang Cong's policy of levying heavy taxes within the pass, which he led at the central level, did not arouse too much popular unrest.

but.

It does not mean that all grassroots officials will have an easy time implementing the policies of the central court. They will also encounter resistance and fierce opposition from local forces.

It is said that the above words will lead to the people running around for a long time, no matter whether it is a good policy or a bad policy.

Zhang Cong manipulated the overall situation in the cabinet in accordance with Zhu Houzhao's will. Once an urgent order was sent down to the local level, the local grassroots officials had to work hard to complete the tasks assigned by above.

at this time.

Fang Changding, the head of the village in Jianning, Fujian, finally won over a wealthy mining family to mine outside the Great Wall. However, when he tried to persuade Qian Jiansheng to pay the mining tax or close the mine and go mining outside the Great Wall, he encountered obstacles.

"Sixth uncle, the village head Fang Changding is here again. Do you want to see him or not?" Qian Jianshu, a member of the Qian family, asked Qian Jiansheng.

Qian Jiansheng slammed the table angrily, "This is really an insult to civility! I am a disciple of Confucius and Mencius after all, how can it be the turn of a mere warrior to manage us? Don't think that he is now a village head or a Zuo Shuzhang. He is just a warrior at best! Since ancient times, all wise and virtuous dynasties have respected culture. How can I, Qian, listen to the criticism of a warrior! Give the order to close the door and not see him!"

At this time, someone else came running over and said, "Mr. Qian, the head of the room has brought people from the IRS directly to your mine!"

After hearing this, Qian Jiansheng immediately stood up and said, "What! What does his roommate want to do by hiring a Shanxi guy? Who allowed him to bring people to look for my mine?"

"Sixth Uncle, what do you think we should do about this? Should we rush over there immediately?" Qian Jianshu asked.

"Why should we rush there? Are you going to ask his head of the family, a warrior, to do ideological work for me? I, your sixth uncle, cannot stand that insult. When will it be the turn of Confucius and Mencius' disciples to be taught a lesson by a warrior like him? Besides, even if I go to see him, he will force our Qian family to pay taxes or close the mines. I won't go!" Qian Jiansheng waved his hand.

Qian Jianshu asked: "What should we do? Once the IRS finds our mine, they will forcibly close it!"

"Ride my horse, take my petition and this glass mirror token, and go to the Wuyi Mountain bandits, one mile west of Xiyuan Township, Kuangshang, and ask them to get rid of this gang, or at least kill Fang Changding. If you let me see Fang Changding's head, I will give you 5,000 silver dollars!"

Qian Jiansheng took out the token as he spoke. Qian Jianshu was horrified, wondering how come his sixth uncle, a student of the Imperial Academy, had contact with bandits. However, he could not care less and rode to Xiyuan Township.

Before the village head Fang Changding took the people from the State Taxation Bureau to the mining area opened by Qian Jiansheng, he had visited Qian Jiansheng's residence once, but was still turned away. He had no choice but to take the people from the State Taxation Bureau to the mining area opened by Qian Jiansheng first.

However, just as Fang Changding led the people from the State Taxation Bureau into Wuyi Mountain, three or four sharp arrows suddenly flew out from the woods and shot Fang Changding to the ground.

As the number of tax collectors from the State Taxation Bureau was relatively small, at most a dozen people, while there were four to five hundred bandits who showed up one after another, and as the area was the Wuyi Mountain area, they were all killed as well.

When Qian Jiansheng saw Fang Changding's head, he just smiled coldly and ordered, "Burn it! Throw it five miles away. Don't let this warrior tarnish the reputation of my Qian family!"

Thanks to the book friend for the reward of 100 pound of sugar and 20161230152558683 starting coins. Thank you to the book friend 2000 for the reward of starting coins.

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(End of this chapter)