Chapter 916 Ji Zijuan Storm
"Master Qi, do you want to ask about Ziying's affairs in Yongping?" Fan Jingwen laughed, making Qi Yongtai feel uncomfortable. It seems that the trouble Ziying caused in Yongping Mansion is still there. No matter how small, Fan Jingwen knew it.
"Well, I have received a lot of news from Hejian, saying that the Yongping government treated the gentry harshly and abused them. The new comrades ignored the status quo and pursued the sword without regard to the objective facts. They pressed hard and caused an uproar among the gentry... "
Qi Yongtai's words made Fan Jingwen couldn't help but laugh, "Master Qi, do you believe these words?"
"I don't believe it." Qi Yongtai said sternly: "But at least it shows that Ziying's work style is too harsh. It's only been a few months? How come he has offended the entire Yongping Mansion gentry? He doesn't understand that his strategy of opening up the sea has already made people angry. The scholars in the Beidi are all dissatisfied. We just went to Yongping Mansion and caused such a big disturbance. Do we really want to attract the attention of thousands of people?"
"Master Qi, Ziying's work is sometimes a bit radical, but this time the students think there is no problem. What does such a big disturbance mean? It means that Ziying is really doing things. If you only hear praise from the local gentry, then I think Ziying It's okay if Ying doesn't go to Yongping Mansion." Fan Jingwen said seriously.
"Oh?" Qi Yongtai was really curious. Fan Jingwen was from Wuqiao, Hejian Prefecture, and he actually helped Feng Ziying speak. This was not just a matter of classmate friendship, there must have been some good reasons. Otherwise, I won't be able to open the way here, "Tell me the reason."
“Master Qi must know better than the students what the situation in Yongping Mansion has been like in the past few years. However, when Ziying was going to Yongping Mansion, the students were also very curious, so they made a special effort to learn about it.”
Fan Jingwen got a letter from Feng Ziying in advance to introduce the situation, so he naturally understood Feng Ziying's intention. This guy had long expected that Master Qi would ask him to find out the situation, but he just didn't understand why Feng Ziying didn't write to Qi Yongtai first, but now he must replace Feng Ziying Make a distinction.
"There are a lot of taxes owed, and students have also learned about the specific amount. Yongping Prefecture ranks behind the Beizhi Prefectures in terms of summer taxes, autumn grain taxes, and commercial taxes among the Beizhi Prefectures, and is only better than Shunde Prefecture. , Baoan and Yanqing prefectures. It is said that this was the result of two successive magistrates being deprived of their official positions from the 12th year of Yuanxi to the 18th year of Yuanxi. But even so, from the 22nd year of Yuanxi, Yongping Prefecture began to transport border The state's summer and autumn grain and commercial taxes all showed a downward trend. In the worst year, it was said that less than 30% was shipped, and the rest was retained..."
The Great Zhou Dynasty followed the Ming system, and the land tax was divided into summer tax and autumn grain, including wheat, rice, horse grass, human ding silk, agricultural mulberry silk and household salt banknotes. Because there was no reform by Zhang Juzheng in the previous life, the old system was still followed. It's very complicated and inconvenient.
The second one is commercial tax, which is divided into “forbidden question” and “market-closing levy” that combine tax with price.
The Great Zhou Dynasty was slightly better than the previous dynasty. The prohibition system was limited to salt and silk tea from the border areas. Later, even silk tea was changed to a quota system. The only thing the court was really allowed to monopolize was salt, but the salt tax was transferred to the salt envoys of each capital. The yamen and local branch offices are responsible for this and have nothing to do with local governments.
The customs tax is actually the "customs tax" and "market tax". In short, it is a goods toll tax and a commodity transaction tax. A batch of goods must collect a toll duty from south to north and then sell it. Transaction tax is also payable.
The former Mingguan City's levy was 1 in 30, which is 3.3%. Dazhou continued to follow this trend, which means that not passing a checkpoint meant that the price and cost increased by 3.3%, and the real The transaction tax is nothing. Think about how much it will cost if a batch of goods goes from Jiangnan to Yongping via the canal, and how much you can save if it is shipped by sea. How tempting is it?
These land taxes and commercial taxes must first be determined in amount, and then the transportation and retention ratios. Once determined, they basically remain unchanged.
"The students don't know whether the reserved quantity is falsely reported. The students think it is, otherwise it would be difficult to explain that after the imperial court has significantly reduced the quotas for summer and autumn grain and commercial taxes, they still have difficulty completing the starting quantity, so they can only use Floods and droughts, civil unrest, military disasters and other reasons were used in exchange for the court’s consent to increase the retention ratio, but this resulted in the court’s inferior judgment on the annual assessment of Yongping Prefecture officials and the three-year Beijing inspection...”
Fan Jingwen’s words made Qi Yongtai frown.
This statement directly states that the current situation of Yongping Prefecture is so bad that it has a lot to do with the local gentry and wealthy households.
But what Fan Jingwen said is the same, which prefecture and county can collect all the land tax and commercial tax by relying on the government alone, instead of relying on the joint cooperation of the local gentry and large households?
The government provides convenience and care, while the wealthy gentry cooperates with the local government to complete taxes, ensure local security, and promote officials. This is a benign operating model.
But this Yongping Prefecture official was dismissed from his post, or the evaluation of the capital and the police were all average, and the final outcome was to be demoted or to become an official. But the big gentry in your place are full of fat, then this is unruly.
If you are a weak official with no background, I am afraid that he will tolerate it and wait for a few years to find some connections and change positions and leave. But if you meet a strong, capable and not afraid of trouble, then I am afraid that he will not admit defeat so easily and leave. .
“Mengzhang, are you overgeneralizing a little bit?”
"Master Qi, is this actually the case? We all know which of these big gentry families is good at it? Students have learned that Yongping Prefecture has been the prefect of the past three times. The current prefect, Zhu Zhiren, has been in office for almost six years. He has been evaluated every year. The last time I was in Beijing, I was almost demoted. I don’t know who I found a connection with. The previous colleague was directly appointed to the official position. The reason is not clear, but it is nothing more than that..."
Qi Yongtai was a little strange. Even if Fan Jingwen was interested in this, it would be impossible for him to understand it in such detail. "Mengzhang, how do you know?"
“Ziying and I talked about it in our letters.” Fan Jingwen didn’t hide anything.
Qi Yongtai had a straight face, "Oh, did Ziying say that?"
"Master Qi, there is no need for Ziying to lie on these issues, and he also said that his duty as a colleague is to clean up the Qing army, and then to clean up public security. His concubines were robbed on the way to Yongping, and they almost became It’s a big joke that the family members of a co-prefect of the government were kidnapped by bandits. If his father hadn’t arranged for a few guards, I’m afraid the imperial court would have been really embarrassed..."
Fan Jingwen’s words made Qi Yongtai take a breath.
If that is really the case, I am afraid that someone from Yongping Prefecture to the Ministry of Punishment to the Metropolitan Procuratorate will be responsible for this.
The public security is so bad near the capital. Do the officials in the capital know nothing about it?
Qi Yongtai actually didn't know the specific content of the feedback from all parties. He just subconsciously felt that Feng Ziying's policies in Yongping Mansion were too radical, which would lead to a backlash from the gentry, so he wanted to remind Feng Ziying.
As the leader of the northern gentry, he will of course care about the attitudes and views of his basic gentry. However, it is not necessarily true that he will be easily swayed by the public opinion of these gentry. It is not just a few ordinary people who can become the leader of the northern gentry. The gentry can influence it.
He needs to understand what the real situation is.
"It seems like Mengzhang, you know what Ziying did in Yongping, but what kind of things can't be handled in a gentler way? Do you have to make such a fuss all at once?" Qi Yongtai asked.
"Master Qi, as far as I know, what Ziying did did not exceed the scope of his authority as a fellow magistrate, and he also received the support of the prefect Zhu Zhiren. Master Qi shouldn't not know Zhu Zhiren, right? Such an old cunning man can support him Ziying, it shows that what you did is definitely necessary."
Fan Jingwen talks eloquently.
"It's just cleaning up the hidden households of the military households and checking the hidden fields of the garrison. It's just that the gentry in Yongping Mansion are too greedy and eat too much and don't want to vomit it out. In the past, I encountered officials who were either muddle-headed or working together, so That’s why it’s like this. Now it’s Ziying’s turn to carry out serious investigation and verification, so she bombed the camp, complained about injustice, criticized and launched attacks..."
Qi Yongtai actually saw some clues. News from all sides said that Feng Ziying was cruel and harsh and made things difficult for the gentry. However, when it came to the specific policy strategies that violated the laws and regulations, no one mentioned them. Instead, they just emphasized Difficulties with objective reality.
It is obvious that Feng Ziying acted in accordance with the law and touched the interests of these people. It would be fine if Yongping Mansion was really peaceful. However, Yongping Mansion has been ranked low in the capital inspection for many years in a row. The biggest problem is that the more tax debts it owes. .
Obviously this has a lot to do with these local gentry. I am afraid it is not just as simple as military households and garrison hidden fields. Maybe Feng Ziying is worried that Feng Ziying will follow the clues and find out some other deeper problems.
"Also, Master Qi probably doesn't know the reason why Ziying is so eager to clean up military households. Ziying is worried that the Chahar people may invade the south in September and October, and it is very likely that they will choose Yongping to break through. , then Ji Town in the north of Yongping will be difficult to maintain, and we will definitely have to protect Shuntian and abandon Yongping, then..."
Qi Yongtai was shocked by Fan Jingwen's words.
The division of labor in the current cabinet of the Great Zhou Dynasty is not very clear. Except for Ye Xianggao, who is in charge of the overall affairs as the first assistant, Fang Congzhe, the second assistant, is mainly responsible for the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Industry, and is responsible for the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites and the Department of Pingren. Li Tingji is responsible for the Ministry of Punishment and the Ministry of Capital Affairs. The Procuratorate, the Sixth Section, and the General Affairs Department, but in fact, the Procuratorate and the Sixth Section can only be said to be mainly coordinated, and Li Sancai has officially resigned from the position of Minister of the Ministry of Works, and has turned to be responsible for the affairs of the Ministry of War and the Fifth Military Governor's Office, and assists The second assistant, Fang Congzhe, was responsible for the affairs of the Household Department and the Work Department.
Qi Yongtai also heard that the cabinet discussed the possible border invasion by the Chahar people, but there was no conclusion. However, Fan Jingwen was so sure. Did Feng Ziying have any special channels to know?
(End of this chapter)