Next.

The courtiers were still waiting outside the noon gate for the court meeting to begin, and Zhu Linmiao was already outside the Wenhua Palace, looking at a thick booklet, which was the details of the personal assets of the officials secretly checked by Jinyiwei when he was engaged in the land acquisition of Huangzhuang before.

After that incident, Zheng Guangying specially ordered a Nanzhen Qianhu to continue to collect information in this area, and the current information has become more detailed, and even many new science and technology scholars who have not been given official positions have been checked.

Zhu Linmiao had roughly flipped through it last night, and was holding a bamboo pen at this time, occasionally smiling and nodding.

"Yao Qisheng, his family has 62 acres of land, but he invested 5,500 taels of silver in the iron yard and glass factory in the stock exchange. It's a good 'seedling'. ”

He then drew a hook in front of Yao Qisheng's name.

"Ma Lin, ninety acres of land, invested seven thousand taels of silver in the shipyard...... Li Tianchun, 30 acres of land, has a cotton cloth mill at home, and has an annual income of 2,000 taels...... Well, it's not bad. ”

Zhu Linmiao also drew hooks for these people.

"Eh, Qian Chengzhi, the new science and technology jinshi?" He suddenly found an interesting person, and saw that the materials of Jinyiwei were impressively written: Sell 100 acres of land and an old mansion, and all the silver obtained will be invested in the wooden track and the ocean caravan.

"Plastic!" Zhu Linmiao immediately decided, "It's him!" ”

Then he ticked out Huang Zongxi, Zeng Jian, Xu Erlu, Song Yingxing, Fang Yizhi, Li Guangchun, and many officers of the Long Wei Army and the Broken Camp in that booklet.

The common trait of them is that they have less land at home, but they invest heavily in the stock exchange or have a workshop under their own name. It can be regarded as the "pioneer" of the emerging bourgeoisie of the Ming Dynasty.

These people were receptive to new ideas and had flexible minds, and the series of measures implemented by Zhu Linmiao after taking power were also in their interests, and they were staunch supporters of the industrialization of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Linmiao plans to use them as a breakthrough to start implementing this "tax reform" that will shake the entire government and the opposition.

Of course, there are also many big landowners, such as Huang Jingfang, Lin Zunbin, He Kai and even Yang Tinglin, whose names are crossed by him. These people have hundreds of acres of land in their names, and the taxation of the gentry has touched them the most, and it is estimated that they will be strongly repelled by them, but they must prepare in advance.

When the drums outside the hall sounded, it was time for the court meeting, and the courtiers walked into the Wenhua Hall in an orderly manner and knelt down to pay respects.

Today's most urgent thing is that the imperial court wants to prepare for the Northern Expedition and requisition the people, and Zhu Linmiao naturally said this first.

The courtiers unanimously agreed with this, after all, no one dared to mess around in the righteousness of recovering the territory, and the emperor of the current dynasty has been invincible in recent years, so there is no reason not to support it.

In addition to the specific deployment of the military department, which needs to be discussed at the meeting of the General Staff Division, there is still a lot of work that needs to be coordinated by other departments.

Zhu Linmiao first asked Yang Tinglin to publish the regulations agreed upon by the important ministers yesterday, such as the scope, requirements, and regulations of the household department to levy and distribute the people, the purchase and transportation of grain and rice, and so on.

Then he explained the plans he had made last night one by one, "The Propaganda Department, in the territory of Nanzhi, fully promote the great cause of the Northern Expedition, mobilize the people to go to the local government to sign up, and participate in the transportation of grain and grass. Remember to emphasize that all those who serve in labor can pay an extra tael of silver every month. ”

Hong Si hurriedly went out of class and handed over his hand: "Minister, the order." But I was very surprised in my heart that the people were requisitioned and paid back the wages! You know, in the Ming Dynasty, conscription was compulsory, and it usually took up to three months. The imperial court actually wants to pay 400,000 taels more for this!

Zhu Linmiao pointed to Song Yingxing again, "The Ministry of Industry will cooperate with the engineer battalion of the Longwei Army to build a pontoon bridge on the river north of Dantu in the near future. In addition, sand, asphalt, and wood must be prepared in advance, so that the roads around Yangzhou can be repaired in the future. ”

"Minister, Commander."

"Ministry of Rites, as soon as possible to Macao, Manila and other places to contact the Yi people, discuss the purchase of grain and rice, beware of the shortage of food for disaster relief......"

"...... of the Criminal Department"

After the deployment of the affairs was completed, all the officials thought that today's court meeting would end here, but unexpectedly, Zhu Linmiao continued: "By the way, there is one more matter. ”

He raised his eyes and swept around the court, "Now is the critical period of the Northern Expedition, and a large number of people have been harmed by the Jianjiao, and a large amount of silver is needed for war and disaster relief, and this treasury is already unable to make ends meet."

"I hope that all of you can uphold the righteousness and do your best for the Ming Society."

It's not going to ask people to donate money, is it? The courtiers all thought the same thing, and for a while no one squeaked.

Seeing this, Zhu Linmiao smiled extremely kindly, "Ah, don't worry, everyone, it's not that you want everyone to donate silver, there is no such rule." ”

The ministers were about to breathe a sigh of relief, but they heard him say again: "But everyone has been in debt to the court for a long time, of course, the previous accounts are settled, but it is not appropriate to continue to be like this in the future, after all, the country is also difficult." ”

Zhu Linmiao checked the laws of the Ming Dynasty and the decrees of the emperors on taxation overnight yesterday, and did not find any mention that the gentry could be completely exempt from taxes.

There are clear regulations only to say that after the scholar has obtained the meritorious name, the quota of fields under his name does not need to pay grain, and those who exceed the quota still have to pay taxes as usual. The quota is about 2,000 acres for Jinshi, 400 acres for lifters, and 80 acres for Xiucai.

The reason for the formation of today's situation is that it all started from the time of the Chongzhen Dynasty, when the officials were in arrears of taxes and silver.

At that time, the country was in turmoil, and at first some officials were inadvertently in arrears, but it was difficult for the household department to collect money because of the loss of face. Later, many people found out, oops, it turns out that you can still "operate" like this, so why do you have to pay taxes honestly?

As a result, some people began to maliciously default, and the scope of involvement became larger and larger, and the household department was unable to collect it - there were too many people who were offended, and even the household department itself was in arrears.

After a long time, tax arrears became a common practice, and whoever still paid taxes became a fool in the eyes of everyone. Eventually, the "old lai" behavior gradually developed into the privilege of the gentry, and gradually became fixed.

From beginning to end, the imperial court has not explicitly stipulated that anyone other than the clan can completely not pay taxes!

Therefore, as soon as Zhu Linmiao came up, he said that "no more taxes can be owed in the future", but he did not mention the amount of reduction and exemption for the time being.

There was a dead silence in the middle of the court.

After a while, the criminal department was the first to stand up, and said in "righteous words": "Your Majesty, the emperor of the ministers, the scholars do not pay food, it has been a practice for many years, and this sudden change may make various places unstable......

Immediately, several people echoed at the same time, "Your Majesty, this matter is too wide, and it is better to take it slowly." ”

"Your Majesty, the household department has not accepted this case for many years, even if it is to be collected, I am afraid it will be difficult to ...... for a while."

"That's right, count the acres of land, re-measure the time-consuming labor, and now it's important to drive the captives, and it's not appropriate to make a big move."

There are also people who are righteous and awe-inspiring: "The country is in difficulty, the courtiers should be loyal, and the ministers are willing to donate 700 taels of silver to help the Northern Expedition!" ”

"Yes, the minister also donated five hundred taels!"

"The official family is poor, donate three hundred taels!"

Suddenly, the sound of silver donations in the court rang out, drowning out Zhu Linmiao's proposal for "tax reform".