Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 249 Is this the good official I am, who only holds the position but does nothing?
Liu Yizhi, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, was a Jinshi in the sixth year of the Hongzhi reign. That year, Jiao Fang was the chief executive officer of the Ministry of Rites examination, and Liu Yizhi was considered a student of Jiao Fang.

During these six years, Jiao Fang took good care of him. It took him six years to move to the Ministry of Households. He was in his prime and successful in middle age.

At the end of the year, Jiao Fang summoned him to his mansion as a guest, which made Liu Yizhi flattered.

All these low-level central officials knew about Jiao Fang's power. As a veteran of three dynasties, a teacher in the Eastern Palace, a junior minister of the Taichang Temple and a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy, how could the head of the Ministry of Revenue not feel flattered to receive an invitation from Jiao Fang?

Shuntian Express has the support of the imperial court. It is obviously unrealistic for Jiao Fang to ask Liu Yizhi to take direct action against Chen Ce. Without a reasonable and tenable excuse, Liu Yizhi does not dare to face the owner of Shuntian Express openly.

But we also have to give face to Jiao Fang, so Chen Ce was summoned to the Ministry of Revenue today.

Liu Yizhi was sitting at his desk, flipping through the account books and tax books in his hands. Chen Ce was left standing in front of him. It seemed as if Director Liu didn't see Chen Ce and he was busy with his own things.

Since the other party didn't say anything, Chen Ce could only stand there helplessly.

After an unknown amount of time, Liu Yizhi took a sip of tea and said calmly, "Since Shuntian Express opened, you have not paid the city tax for a year. You are underpaid by more than 2,000 taels in your account. In addition to the penalty interest, you need to pay more than 5,000 taels."

There was an air of superiority in his words, and a sense of authority that brooked no room for questioning.

"I called you here today to inform you of the need to pay the back taxes, and to discuss another matter with you."

"Last year, Shandong and Henan suffered from floods and droughts, resulting in tens of thousands of refugees. You have many express delivery outlets in the prefectures of Ming Dynasty. I need you to take care of these tens of thousands of refugees for the court."

The express delivery industry needs a large number of porters and laborers. If Chen Ce could probably handle thousands of them, hiring them would not be a problem. However, Shuntian Express certainly could not handle tens of thousands of people. Forcing them to hire this group of people would be tantamount to providing refugees to the court for free.

He is not doing charity but doing business, how can he do this at a loss?
Chen Ce frowned slightly.

"What? Is there a problem?"

Liu Yizhi, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, asked indifferently.

Chen Ce said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "Your Excellency, I will explain the first point first."

"I would like to ask, what is the commercial tax?"

Liu Yizhi said angrily: "I am not discussing this with you, just do it."

Chen Ce shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, I can't do that."

"The Great Ming commercial tax regulations impose taxes on goods traded in the market and on stalls in the market."

Liu Yizhi snorted, "That's true, but you didn't pay the tax for the courier."

Chen Ce said: "There are various sub-taxes under this general tax, such as collapsed house tax, stall tax, wine and vinegar tax, dam crossing tax, gate tax, boat tax, etc."

"Your Excellency is also holding our account books at this time. You may wish to check whether we have paid taxes during road transportation, such as dam crossing tax, gate tax, and ship tax."

“If all these have been paid, is it a double tax if the business tax is increased?”

The head of the Ministry of Revenue obviously did not do his job well. He even brought up such a stupid issue as overlapping taxation. What kind of mixed group of officials are running the Ministry of Revenue?

Does this have any business capabilities?

Outside the duty room of the Ministry of Revenue, Qin Hong wiped the sweat off his forehead. Emperor Hongzhi looked livid. He stared at Qin Hong coldly and said in a low voice, "Mr. Qin, you are a really good official in the Ministry of Revenue. You actually let an ordinary citizen teach him how to pay taxes."

"Where should I put my face?"

A dignified central government official of the imperial court is no different from an illiterate. Not only does he fail to do his job well, he even doesn't understand that the basic total tax and the distributed tax cannot be increased in duplicate. Now he is being taught by a private businessman. Isn't this just occupying a position and doing nothing?
Qin Hong hurriedly apologized to Emperor Hongzhi, gritting his teeth and wishing he could skin the head of the Ministry of Revenue. How could he, the Minister of Revenue, get in touch with such a low-ranking official? How could he know that there was such a scoundrel in the Ministry of Revenue!
The two of them had been standing outside the Ministry of Revenue's office for a while, listening to the conversation inside.

Liu Yizhi glanced at Chen Ce indifferently and said, "Of course I know this, but your express delivery business is a new business, and the Ministry of Revenue has done tax planning with your express delivery business."

Chen Ce asked in return: "Has the Ministry of Revenue issued any official document? No one has informed me of this matter."

Liu Yizhi said: "Isn't this official notifying you now?"

Chen Ce smiled and said, "Okay, I can pay the five thousand taels fine. It's not a lot of money."

Converted into later generations, it is only about three million. Chen Ce didn't have the confidence to say such things before, but it is different now.

"However, this incident also serves as a reminder to all merchants in the Ming Dynasty that the imperial court changes its orders every day, so they should be cautious when paying taxes in the future."

"The same goes for all the people. Today we can collect a land tax, and tomorrow we can collect a breathing tax, a land occupation tax, a water tax, a food tax..."

"Your Excellency should not be afraid of me spreading rumors... Oh, you are the head of the Ministry of Revenue, right? I don't know your name, but since you have such great authority, I would like to publicize you."

Liu Yizhi slammed the document on the table and said in a stern voice, "You are so bold and unruly! Are you threatening me?"

Chen Ce said calmly: "Yeah, weren't you the one who threatened me first?"

"You forced tens of thousands of refugees into my express delivery business. How about this? I'll give you all the Shuntian Express and all the necks of the people in the world. You can just slaughter them directly. Why do you have to go through all the unnecessary procedures?"

"When bandits rob people, they still have to say some high-sounding words. Your Excellency is not even willing to be hypocritical? Just rob people directly?"

"How dare you! You make me so angry!" Liu Yizhi's face turned red, and his whole body was shaking after hearing Chen Ce's words!

Not only Liu Yizhi, the head of the Ministry of Revenue, who was sitting in the duty room, but also Emperor Hongzhi, who was standing outside with a grim face, was irritated by Chen Ce!
"outrageous!"

Emperor Hongzhi didn't know whether he was talking about the head of the Ministry of Revenue or Chen Ce, but Minister Qin felt that he was probably making a veiled criticism of someone else.

"What's his name?"

Qin Hong hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, this is Liu Yizhi, the head of the Ministry of Revenue."

Emperor Hongzhi said coldly: "Let him attend the small court meeting tomorrow."

After leaving behind a few words, Emperor Hongzhi turned away angrily.

Qin Hong hurried to see Emperor Hongzhi off. Emperor Hongzhi waved his sleeves and said, "No need to follow me. You can check the Ministry of Revenue carefully to see how many such people there are!"

"The state supports officials, and I pay them high salaries to keep them honest. If all the officials I support are good-for-nothings who oppress the people, the Ming Dynasty will be destroyed sooner or later!"

"Go back!"

Qin Hong felt a burning pain on his face, as if he had been slapped hard several times.

With a gloomy face, he said angrily: "Let Minister Wang Yan go to the guard house to see me!"

"Tell Liu Yizhi to die for me! Die now!" This was just an angry remark. He certainly didn't have the power to do so. "Why don't you release the others?! Hasn't Lord Liu embarrassed the Ministry of Revenue enough?!"

(End of this chapter)