Chapter 81 Xichang is ordered to collect taxes and bring elite soldiers to the south of the Yangtze River to demand payment!
Zhao Nanxing did not seal the imperial decree, Zuo Guangdou and Gao Panlong were naturally full of evil spirits, and after that they questioned Zhao Nanxing: "Didn't Otsuka say that he would rather die than surrender?!"
Zhao Nanxing sighed: "I don't want to implicate the dukes because of my disobedience! Only when I defile myself can I prevent the dukes from going to prison for arguing about my disobedience! In addition, I can't bear the humiliation now, how can I correct it in the future?" Pros and cons? Don't be impulsive!"
In fact, as a member of the Donglin Party, Zhao Nanxing knows his Donglin Party very well.
He didn't believe that his colleagues in Donglin would really plead for him desperately, if he really sealed the imperial decree to pass the test.
So, in order to prevent the emperor from using Song Shixiang to overthrow him in order to implement the reform, he simply changed his mind and took the initiative to accept the will, so as to show the emperor that he supported the reform.
Of course, Zhao Nanxing also understands now that his scholar-bureaucrats can't force the emperor to surrender even if the grain supply is cut off, so it would undoubtedly be very unwise to confront the emperor.
Therefore, he chose to compromise.
Zuo Guangdou sneered, he naturally didn't believe Zhao Nanxing's words.
He hoped that Zhao Nanxing would directly confront the imperial power, which would intensify the conflict between the northern gentry and the imperial court. He, Gao Panlong and others would take this opportunity to instigate more northern and southern officials to oppose the reform.
But he didn't expect that Zhao Nanxing would choose to admit defeat.
Zuo Guangdou therefore sarcastically said: "Zai Otsuka really has the style of Li Chaling!"
As he spoke, Zuo Guangdou said to Gao Panlong, "Let's go!"
Gao Panlong saw that Zhao Nanxing didn't come in the way he had agreed before, and he was as disappointed as Zuo Guangdou. He snorted and left with Zuo Guangdou.
"Yi Zhi! Save it! You listen to the old man's explanation!"
Seeing this, Zhao Nanxing hastily called the two of them.
…
"Zhao Nanxing didn't seal the will to carry out the test?"
Strategy department.
Zhang Gui was also very surprised when he learned that Zhao Nanxing hadn't returned the imperial decree.
Wei Zhongxian nodded and said: "It is probably because he is afraid that Uncle Guo will beat him again."
Zhang Gui smiled lightly, and said: "It's good to be able to understand current affairs, but I think it's better for Song Shixiang to stay in the imperial prison."
"Does Uncle Guo say that Zhao Nanxing's return of the imperial decree is related to Song Shixiang?"
Yuan Keli asked at this moment.
"This possibility cannot be ruled out."
After Zhang Gui replied, he said: "Forget it, and leave him alone. After the implementation of the law, there will be reasons to dismiss officials who refuse to carry out the duties of Qingzhang's land and mu, and even exile and search their homes! Next, it should be Qingzhang. Acres of land and the collection of taxes."
Speaking, Zhang Gui looked at Yuan Keli, Chen Zizhuang, and Lu Xiangsheng: "I wonder if the three of you have discussed where to start to clear up the Zhang?"
Among them, Chen Zizhuang and Lu Xiangsheng are the new ministers of the Planning and Strategy Department decreed by the apocalypse.
Both of them are still officials of the young and strong faction, and they were promoted to the policy department to train young people for the implementation of the new policy in the future, so as to avoid the situation of the main ministers of the reform in the future.
After Zhang Gui asked, Yuan Keli replied first: "We think it is best to start Qingzhang in Nanzhili and Zhejiang. These two places account for the most taxes in Ming Dynasty. As long as the Qingzhang in these two places is successful, other places will follow. Qingzhang will not be a problem."
"It's very good to start with the difficult and then the easy!"
Because the Department of Policy and Policy is in the study on the left side of the Hall of Qinzheng, Tianqi often participates in listening to politics here, and after listening to what Yuan Keli said, he also said something.
"How about setting up a governor of Zhejiang Province to go south to take charge of Qing Zhang's affairs, and to be in charge of Qing Zhang's fields?"
"In addition, in order to recover the tax to the national treasury as soon as possible, it is better to entrust the tax collection to the minister's Xichang instead of to the civil servants represented by the governor and governor. Officials acted in violation of Yin, and expropriated and extorted money from the common people in the name of chasing down taxes! Moreover, this also allowed Xichang and civil officials to supervise each other. The phenomenon that the tax burden is much higher than that of the wealthy households is exposed, and if the West Factory collects a lot of money in addition to the regular tax in the name of loss, the governor and inspectors will also expose it.”
"What do you think?"
After hearing this, Tianqi asked Yuan Keli, Chen Zizhuang, and Lu Xiangsheng for their opinions.
Yuan Keli and others are not pedantic and clear streams who do not know how to adapt, otherwise they would not have joined the policy department because they supported the reform. Hearing what Zhang Gui said, Yuan Keli also said first:
"Returning to Your Majesty, I think this is very good. According to the ancestral system, the grain chiefs from all over the country should pay taxes and enter Beijing, bypassing the government to collect taxes. Now the representative of Xichang goes to the grain chiefs to collect taxes, which is also bypassing the government and echoing the ancestral system. It does not count as interfering with government affairs."
"That's right, Uncle Rao is the admiral of Xichang. Because he only collects taxes on behalf of His Majesty, it can't be regarded as foreign relatives interfering in local civil affairs."
Chen Zizhuang also replied.
Lu Xiangsheng said: "The most difficult reform of the state is that the Taizu did not want the government to directly participate in tax collection, but feared that corrupt officials would amass money to the people. Uncle Guo proposed to let Xichang go to collect taxes on behalf of His Majesty, which is a good solution to this problem. It not only violates the original intention of not wanting the government to directly participate in tax collection in the ancestral system, but also prevents the people from transporting taxes and food. Go to Beijing and go bankrupt."
"It can also reduce the chance for local officials to use food transportation to exploit the people!"
Apocalypse replied.
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Therefore, Tianqi ordered: "Everything is allowed! Your policy department will nominate a candidate for the governor of Zhejiang Province as soon as possible, and make an appointment according to the cabinet's decree. In addition, the decree is that Xichang will collect the world's taxes on my behalf. For those who do not pay taxes, you can kill them first and then play them. Do it cheap."
"Follow the order!"
Zhang Gui waited for a reply.
So far, the taxation system of the Ming Dynasty has undergone another change, and the taxes are collected directly by the emperor's Xichang.
The power of the policy making department is also quietly growing. Not only does it have the power to make policy, but it also has the power to elect governor-level officials in the frontier, which seems to have the function of the center.
Yuan Keli recommended Zhao Yan, governor of Shandong Province, who had just participated in the suppression of the White Lotus Rebellion led by Xu Hongru last year and made great contributions, as the governor of Zhejiang Province, responsible for the Qingzhang Tianmu in Zhejiang Province and Zhejiang Province.
Zhao Yan and Yuan Keli have a close personal relationship, and both are ministers advocating reform. In Yuan Keli's view, letting Zhao Yan, who is already familiar with local government affairs, go to Zhejiang to go to Qingzhang Tianmu is enough to ensure that Qingzhang Tianmu's government orders will be implemented.
Therefore, Zhao Yan was added as the Minister of the Ministry of War and the right deputy capital censor, the governor of Zhejiang and Zhizhi, and was ordered to go to Zhejiang and Zhizhi to clear Zhang Tianmu.
In fact, Apocalypse asked the Department of Policy and Policy to recommend candidates for the governor of Zhejiang Province to be in charge of Qingzhang Tianmu, in order to use Yuan Keli to use other ministers who supported the reform to implement his new policy.
Zhang Gui originally proposed to set up a policy department to allow some civil officials who supported the reform to enter the center. It was also for the purpose of allowing some scholar-officials who supported the reform to form a team to carry out the emperor's intention to reform Ming Dynasty.
However, what Zhang Gui is worried about now is that as many ministers who support the reform start to take power, will some villains who only want fame and fortune take the opportunity to mix into the official ranks of the reform faction in the name of supporting the reform, and then affect the new policy of the reform execution effect.
If Zhao Nanxing, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, is suddenly willing to follow the decree and implement the examination method, will he be this kind of person?
Zhang Gui therefore had to be vigilant about the internal reform of the Ming Dynasty, and continued to make preparations to directly abandon the civil government through Xichang and start anew.
Leaving aside the civil government, contracting tax collection by Xichang is only one of his steps.
Xichang has set up a tax police corps because of the order of the apocalypse to hand over the tax collection work to Xichang.
Sun Yingyuan served as the chief officer of the tax police corps.
In addition to an experience department responsible for accounting and cashier affairs, the corps has several thousand headquarters.
The soldiers and horses of the entire tax police corps can be regarded as the strongest army in the Ming Dynasty. Both the officers and the soldiers are all carefully selected strong generals. big.
As soon as the first month of the fifth year of the apocalypse passed, Zhang Gui took the newly organized tax police corps and Zhao Yan, the governor of Zhejiang Province, to the south of the Yangtze River.
(end of this chapter)