My uncle is Zhu Di

Chapter 192 Just Don’t Let Me Go
Xu Qin asked Zhu Di why he wanted to come over. Zhu Di knew that Xu Qin would be lazy and didn't want to take care of so many things.

But now he could only ask Xu Qin for advice, otherwise, things would be very troublesome, and he couldn't just watch those officials embezzle the money? Could he still let those civil officials cheat him like this?

Zhu Gaochi said, "Shakabao, we don't know what to do now. Think about it, if we propose high salaries to maintain integrity now, the treasury doesn't have that much money. Moreover, I don't think we can collect the money from the people. Moreover, even if we deal with those officials now, they will continue to be corrupt when new officials take office.

Therefore, we want to solve this problem fundamentally and not give those officials any chance to commit corruption. But we don’t have a good solution now, so we are here to ask you.”

Xu Qin sat there and smiled.

When Zhu Di saw Xu Qin like this, he had an idea and thought that this kid might have a way, but he might not say it easily.

"Shakyabao, let's put aside the previous things and talk about how I have treated you recently. You said you would not come to court, so you didn't come. You said who should be appointed as an official, and I agreed, right? As for the Trade Bureau, I will not take care of it at all. I have left it all to you. You have to solve this matter for me no matter what." Zhu Di sat there, looking at Xu Qin and said.

Xu Qin sat there still without saying anything. Zhu Gaochi looked at Zhu Di, then at Xu Qin.

Zhu Di continued, "So, from now on, as long as we are not in public, you can say whatever you want. Put aside the fact that I am the emperor. Before I became the emperor, I was also a military general. Military generals always keep their word. We men always keep our word. If you have any request, just raise it."

Xu Qin thought about it and realized that he also disliked those civil officials, but some things needed to be made clear.

Zhu Gaochi persuaded Xu Qin, saying, "Shajiabao, if you don't believe my father, how can you not believe me?"

"You bastard, how dare you talk like that?" Zhu Di became unhappy when he heard this and immediately cursed at Zhu Gaochi.

"Dad, can we persuade Sakyabao first? If it doesn't work, you can beat me up later." Zhu Gaochi looked at Zhu Di helplessly, and Zhu Di stared at Zhu Gaochi fiercely.

Xu Qin sighed and felt a headache. There must be a way, and it must be effective, but he didn't know how well they would execute it.

"Shakyabao, we are cousins. You know what kind of person I am, your cousin. I won't say much. My father would try to cheat you for no reason, but I won't do that." Zhu Gaochi said to Xu Qin.

"What?" Zhu Di became even more unhappy when he heard it, and waited for Zhu Gaochi.

"Hehe!" Xu Qin laughed when he saw Zhu Di like this.

Zhu Di pointed at Xu Qin and cursed, "You bastard, you are not a good person either. Did you tell the boss about our affairs? I tell you, if you did, you will see how I will deal with you."

"What's the matter?" Zhu Gaochi asked immediately.

"I didn't say that! Don't accuse me. I keep my mouth shut." Xu Qin immediately shook his head.

Zhu Gaochi looked at the two of them suspiciously.

"Hurry up and tell me. I know you have a way. What are you afraid of? Really, when did you become so timid?" Zhu Di urged Xu Qin.

"Hey, let me make it clear first. I can tell you the method, but you can't let me do it, and don't let anyone know that it was me who told you." Xu Qin said while looking at them with a smile.

When Zhu Di heard this, he nodded immediately.

"I swear, I don't believe it if you don't nod!" Xu Qin immediately shook his head when he saw Zhu Di nodded so easily.

"Hey, you bastard, you think I don't dare to hit you, right? Putting aside all my identities, I am your uncle. I can beat you with the identity of your uncle, and your father won't dare to object." Zhu Di got angry when he heard this, and pointed at Xu Qin and cursed.

"I guarantee it on behalf of my father." Zhu Gaochi immediately said, patting his chest.

"Actually, I just don't want to get involved in such things. I'm worried that after I tell you the method, you send people to carry it out, but it may not be carried out well. The civil officials below may not necessarily listen to you, and it will also infringe on the interests of those civil officials. So, Your Majesty, cousin, you should think it over carefully. It's easy for me to say it, and if I say it, you two will definitely be tempted and want to carry it out. But if it's not carried out well, it may cause unrest in the court. However, I believe that the people are very supportive. Moreover, there are also some civil officials who support it, especially those honest civil officials, who will definitely support it." Xu Qin sat there and said to Zhu Di.

Zhu Di slapped his thigh, pointed at Xu Qin and said, "You say!"

"No, can you please think about it for a moment?" Xu Qin persuaded Zhu Di when he saw that Zhu Di agreed so readily.

"Don't even think about it. If there's chaos, just fight again. I believe that the army is in my hands and they can't jump up." Zhu Di said very proudly.

Xu Qin nodded and said, "You know what, this matter can only be resolved by your Majesty. If it is resolved by the Crown Prince, it is unlikely. And your Majesty is probably the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty who can solve this problem. If the emperors in the future carry out the order, the whole country will be in chaos."

"Oh? Even the boss can't do it." Zhu Di asked in surprise.

"No, my cousin's control over the army is not as strong as yours, Your Majesty. We may need the support of the army this time. Of course, we may not need it, but the presence of the army is the greatest deterrent to those civil officials. We can do without it, but we must have it." Xu Qin nodded helplessly.

"Well, you are right. It is not necessary, but it is necessary. The boss's control over the army is indeed not strong." Zhu Di nodded and said. On the contrary, Prince of Han Zhu Gaoxu had been in Beijing, controlling the northern army of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, during the Jingnan Campaign, Zhu Gaoxu had been fighting in the front and had very good relations with those generals.

Zhu Gaochi was always in the back and had a good relationship with the civil officials. The army was a weak point for Zhu Gaochi.

"Well, Sakyabao, you'd better speak quickly. We both thought about it all night last night, but couldn't come up with a solution." Zhu Gaochi urged Xu Qin.

"Okay, let's talk about it. Let's talk about high salaries to maintain integrity. It's definitely not enough to just promote high salaries to maintain integrity. The Ming treasury does not have that much income. Moreover, even if there is so much income, those officials will still be corrupt when they go to the local areas. Then it needs to be combined with tax reform, exempting the male labor service and corvée service, and all the taxes are distributed according to the amount of farmland. People pay taxes according to how much farmland they have. Those who don't have land don't have to pay taxes. In this way, those who don't have land can come out to make a living and go to workshops to make a living. At the same time, the commercial tax also needs to be improved.

The commercial tax in our Ming Dynasty is one in thirty, which is too low. This will allow the workshop owners to have enough money. When they are rich, they will want to improve their status. They will either sponsor their family children to study and protect them when they become officials, or they will collude with the officials and give them money to ask them to provide protection.

That’s why the Weaving Bureau couldn’t get the goods before. Those merchants and officials were in collusion.

I have calculated that there will be two kinds of commercial taxes in the future. One is the tax on direct shipments from the workshop, which is 20% to 1%, and the other is the tax on shops, which is still 25% to 1%. If the workshop owner runs the shop himself, then he needs to pay a tax of 10% based on the shop's income.

I have inquired about it. The workshop owners in Ming Dynasty have a profit of about 20%. This is when they already pay 30% tax and 1% tax. Now that they are exempted from corvée and labor service, they have no problem paying 20% ​​tax and the same goes for shops. With the exemption from corvée and labor service, they are willing to pay a little more tax.

Besides, the policy of allocating land tax to each household was very welcome to ordinary people, as it greatly reduced their expenses. A laborer would go out for one or two months without any money and had to bring his own food. From now on, if the Ming Dynasty needed to do something, it would just be to hire someone to do the work. No matter how much money was charged per day in the market, the same would apply to the government hiring people.

In this way, all the money comes from the national treasury. If officials want to get their hands on it, they need to make arrangements from top to bottom. If a minister's annual salary reaches more than 30,000 taels, do you think those ministers will dare to get their hands on it at will? Of course, there will be some, but once they are found out, they will be punished severely. At the very least, their homes will be confiscated, men will be sent to the border, and women will be sent to the Jiaofangsi, or all of them will be killed. I believe that those civil officials will think it over carefully!
The annual salary here is several thousand to tens of thousands of taels, and life is already very good. Do you really have to take risks, embezzle that little bit of money, and commit suicide with your whole family?
At that time, a line will be drawn: if an official embezzles 1,000 taels, he will be put to death; if an official embezzles 5,000 taels, his property will be confiscated; if an official embezzles 10,000 taels, he will be executed.

The court has given you so much money that you can live very well, but you are not satisfied and are gambling with your family's lives. Don't blame your majesty." Xu Qin sat there and said.

Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi clenched their fists excitedly. Zhu Di saw Xu Qin stop and immediately urged him, "Keep talking, quickly!"

Xu Qin licked his lips and looked at Zhu Di.

"Cha cha cha, quick!" Zhu Di immediately understood and said to Zhu Gaochi.

Zhu Gaochi immediately brought the tea and handed it to Xu Qin. Xu Qin took it, took a big sip, and put down the teacup.

"Tell me about this issue of dividing the land tax into different taxes in detail." Zhu Di said excitedly, and Zhu Gaochi was so excited that his hands were shaking. If even Zhu Di understood the subtlety of it, how could Zhu Gaochi not understand it?

"Dad, can I take notes?" Zhu Gaochi said.

"Go get it quickly!" Zhu Di urged Zhu Gaochi. Zhu Gaochi immediately stood up and took out writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone from the table not far away. He poured in water and ground the ink himself. Xu Qin originally wanted to help Zhu Gaochi grind the ink, but Zhu Gaochi refused.

(End of this chapter)