amaotonovel Chapter 597: Did they come specifically to cause me trouble?
Chapter 597: Did they come specifically to cause me trouble?
The essence of the salt and iron monopolies was taxation.
Moreover, there are mandatory tax collection measures that "take from the surplus to make up for the deficiency".
How many kilograms of salt can an ordinary person consume in a year?
How many kilograms of iron can an ordinary person use in a lifetime?
Can a family of five consume more salt in a year than hundreds of people consume in a month?
Can the amount of iron used by a family of five in their lifetime match the amount used by hundreds of people in their lifetime?
Ordinary people consume less salt and use less iron, so the salt and iron taxes taken by the imperial court are naturally less.
The gentry and powerful families consumed more salt and used more iron, so the salt and iron taxes taken by the imperial court were naturally greater.
At this point, we must also mention tax expenditures.
Besides the funds allocated to the border troops, the money was also used for internal purposes such as disaster relief, water conservancy projects, maintaining the normal operation of the imperial court and government, and maintaining local stability.
No matter how well the border troops defended the borders, the gentry and powerful families still enjoyed the same treatment as ordinary people.
For example, the construction of water conservancy projects is a great thing for ordinary people, allowing their families to survive, but for the gentry and powerful families, it is only icing on the cake.
In this way, they are essentially paying higher taxes than ordinary people, but only enjoying the same treatment.
Can the gentry and powerful families find peace of mind?
Therefore, the idea of competing with the people for profit is a ridiculous and false proposition.
Even from the perspective of the gentry and powerful clans, expelling all the millions of ordinary people from the commoner status would still be a joke of "competing with the people for profit."
Give the simplest example.
Everyone knows that Emperor Chongzhen was poor, but how many people know that more than 80% of the world's silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty during the Wanli era, and in less than fifty years until the end of the Ming Dynasty, this silver mysteriously disappeared?
Of course, it cannot be said that they have disappeared without a trace.
After all, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't afford to pay, while Gou Chengzi, after entering the capital, forcibly produced 70 million taels of silver.
Another rather absurd claim is that the Ming Dynasty's industrial output accounted for more than 60% of the world's total. The Ming army not only possessed the world's most advanced military structure, the world's strongest industrial capacity, and the world's largest resource reserves, but it was also the world's technological pinnacle and the world's largest exporter of firearms.
(Those interested can look up the Chinese biographies written by missionaries, but only those before the Qing Dynasty. For the part after the Qing Dynasty, the authenticity can be found in scholar Li Liang's paper "The 'Omitted' Eclipses: Missionaries' Selective Deletion of Eclipse Records During the Chongzhen Calendar Reform".)
Then, in this supposedly mighty Ming Dynasty, the emperor died of poverty, and a large number of people starved to death.
Those powerful clans who shouted "the court should not compete with the people for profit" discovered, after joyfully welcoming the holy emperor, that something was wrong. The Tartars who came this time were not the same as the Mongols during the Yuan Dynasty. The Mongols valued "not competing with the people for profit" and even delegated the power of taxation to powerful clans.
And this new group of Tartars came armed with butcher knives!
The honest aristocratic clans and powerful families, who had been taught a lesson by the executioner's blade, no longer cried out for "competing with the people for profit."
Therefore, there has never been any competition for profit with the people; it was merely a farce orchestrated by local powerful clans who wanted to seize control of tax collection and discourse.
These people will remain the same even hundreds of years from now.
For example, someone might jump out and criticize the bank's pawnshop mentality, but what happens then?
Three billion yuan can leverage a two trillion yuan financial lending market.
Who cares how much damage this thing will cause to the country and its people after it explodes?
Surely no one really thinks that without the three major oil companies, ordinary people across the country will be able to use cheaper oil?
Surely no one really thinks that without the State Grid, ordinary people will be able to use cheaper electricity?
Surely no one really thinks that capital would lay power lines in remote, impoverished mountain villages?
Surely no one really thinks that capital will keep train ticket prices from rising for decades?
Let me emphasize this point again.
The emperor's private treasury was called the Imperial Treasury, while the country's money was called the National Treasury. The Imperial Treasury was the portion specifically for the emperor's expenses, while the National Treasury was used for disaster relief, road construction, bridge building, water conservancy projects, border defense, and maintaining the normal operation of the court and government.
When the national treasury is short of funds, the ministers in the court will usually plead poverty with the emperor, asking him to transfer money from the imperial treasury to the national treasury.
If the imperial treasury doesn't have enough money, then the emperor will just have to find a way to make do, since the national treasury is empty anyway.
If you can get the money, spend it, and maybe even contribute some to the national treasury.
If you can't manage it, the old crooked tree on Coal Hill behind you is beckoning you, dear~
Thinking of the edict that read, "Let the rebels tear my body apart, but do not harm a single commoner," Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but sneer again.
I am not that fool Chongzhen; I have plenty of strength and means.
Since you dare to jump out and accuse me of competing with the people for profit, then I'll show you what it means to flip the table!
Yang Shaofeng glanced at the many civil and military officials, then bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "Your Majesty, I have a question. Why don't we summon all those upright gentlemen who submitted memorials criticizing me to the capital, so that they can gather together and brainstorm solutions?"
Emperor Zhu clicked his tongue with a dark expression and said, "The imperial treasury is empty, and there is a lack of supplies for defense. If the soldiers guarding the border are left to suffer from hunger and cold, how will we provide for them?"
"You bastard, stop giving us all this nonsense."
“We’ve already sent Xia Yu to investigate them, and we’ll jail them one by one and deal with them.”
Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback.
No.
Since you, old Deng, have already decided to punish those officials, why are you still showing me the memorials?
Are you here specifically to cause me trouble?
Ah.
Yang Shaofeng sneered inwardly and bowed to Emperor Zhu, saying, "Your Majesty, I think that although these people are not good people, they are right about one thing."
Confucius said: “Those who govern a state or a family are not worried about poverty but about inequality; they are not worried about scarcity but about instability.”
"The taxes collected by the state should naturally come from the people and be used for the people."
"However, throughout history, much of what was taken from the people was actually used for the benefit of the people."
"Shang Yang erected a wooden pole at the south gate, which enabled Qin to become the strongest of the six states."
"Emperor Gaozu of Han established three laws, which laid the foundation for the Han Dynasty's four-hundred-year reign."
"Your Majesty has spoken of expelling the barbarians, restoring China, establishing order and discipline, and saving the people."
"I wish to hear of Your Majesty's wisdom in upholding the law."
As Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, the Qianqing Palace fell silent once again, with only the Emperor Zhu's angry panting remaining.
That bastard!
What the hell did we do to deserve such a scoundrel of a son-in-law!
Look at what he said! Is that something a human being should say?!
Do you wish to hear of our clear principles and discipline?
Pull it down!
That bastard is upset because of that little scumbag incident, so he deliberately came to make things difficult for us!
but……
Emperor Zhu laughed again for no apparent reason.
We've gone through all this trouble, isn't this what we're after?!
Emperor Zhu chuckled and looked at Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, and other civil and military officials, saying, "Since this scoundrel insists on hearing about our principles of governance, let's hold a grand court assembly tomorrow and discuss the way of being an official."