allonlinenovel Chapter 254 Lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own foot
Chapter 254 Lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own foot
Zhu Biao is lame.
It wasn't a physical disability, but rather a cognitive one that had been misled by Magistrate Yang.
To be honest, Magistrate Yang was quite ruthless. After all, Zhu Biao was only a fourteen-year-old boy. But after instilling a lot of ideas in Zhu Biao that "the people will not rebel if they live well," Magistrate Yang was still not satisfied and also fed Zhu Biao several tons of motivational platitudes.
From "Heaven will entrust great responsibilities to this person" to "If you can't lead a team, you'll only work yourself to death," even the nonsense about "reading a certain person" and "thinking about a certain person" was given to Zhu Biao by Magistrate Yang after being repackaged.
Simply put, Magistrate Yang had Zhu Biao taste the chicken soup he had already drunk to check its saltiness.
The results were obvious and the achievements were remarkable.
Having neither been poisoned by certain books or popular online content, nor been exposed to short videos, nor endured the harsh realities of the 996 work culture, the current Ming Dynasty's Executive Vice Emperor, still a blank slate, became brimming with confidence after drinking over a dozen bowls of inspirational platitudes. He vowed to lead the Ming Dynasty to greater prosperity and to ensure a better life for its people.
"Divide the land."
"Then the people were relocated."
Zhu Biao spoke passionately and confidently to Magistrate Yang: "When I return to the capital, I will immediately issue an edict to encourage the people to cultivate the land, limiting each adult male to 15 mu of land for food and 2 mu of land for vegetables."
"As for land exceeding fifteen mu, we will follow the progressive tax system that we have already agreed upon. As long as the people dare to cultivate it, I will let them cultivate it."
"If those scholars and gentry really don't want so much land anymore, then the local government should step in to redeem it."
"It's a pity that there aren't many scholars and gentry here, and the common people don't own much land either. Otherwise, we should have tried it out in Ningyang County first before expanding it further."
"As for commercial taxes, I've just figured it out. For commodities like grain that are related to people's livelihoods, the tax rate can be lower, but for things like rouge and face powder that are not related to people's livelihoods, the tax rate can be higher."
"The court doesn't employ officials in the Ministry of Revenue to be idle and incompetent. When I get back, I'll have them come up with a complete and reliable tax system. We'll try it out in Ningyang County first, and if it works well, we'll roll it out nationwide."
"In addition, I would like to abolish the distinction between farmers, artisans, scholars, and merchants, and classify them all as farmers. However, the household registration issue is too complicated, so I will try it out in Ningyang County first."
"..."
Looking at the impassioned Vice Emperor Zhu, Magistrate Yang was momentarily at a loss as to whether he was too stupid or his cheap brother-in-law was too wicked.
Maybe this guy was spoiled by his father from a young age, so he doesn't treat officials like human beings, just like his father, that old tyrant.
I would like to ask, what does it mean to first try it in Ningyang County and then promote it on a full scale if the results are good?
So, out of more than a thousand prefectures and counties in the Ming Dynasty, you two only focused on Ningyang County, and only dared to cause trouble for a mere sixth-rank official like me?
This feeling of having shot himself in the foot made Magistrate Yang very unhappy.
Displeased, Magistrate Yang was determined not to let his impassioned and spittle-flecked brother-in-law have an easy time.
At the very least, we need to dampen his enthusiasm a bit, otherwise, if he gets too excited and actually uses his father's imperial seal to write an edict after returning to the capital, it will be troublesome.
"Your Highness, governing a large country is as easy as cooking a small fish."
Magistrate Yang smiled and shook his head, interrupting Zhu Biao's idea of "first trying it out in Ningyang County".
"Your humble servant submitted his memorials early on regarding the excessive preferential treatment of scholars, the progressive tax system, the classified tax system, and the royal land system. The court had already heard the news, and the gentry and scholars throughout the country had also learned of it. The people of Jiangnan may have also received the news."
Smiling, Magistrate Yang pointed in the direction of the Confucian Temple and continued, "People like Wu Yanhu, Chen Mo, and Lü Peng, as well as those twenty-six students, didn't they all decide to study and become officials after learning about these things?"
"However, His Majesty has not issued a clear decree, nor has the Secretariat issued any official document. Has Your Highness considered why?"
Zhu Biao was slightly taken aback, and replied, "Because it involves not only local gentry and scholars, but also local and imperial officials, and all the nobles in the court."
"Even with the full support of Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen, this kind of thing cannot be implemented immediately after discussion; it must be done with utmost caution."
“In particular, the ‘Wangtian System’ involved gentry, scholars, merchants, and common people throughout the country. Some benefited while others suffered losses. Unfortunately, those who suffered losses could not stop the court from implementing the ‘Public Field System.’ Naturally, they would hope that the court would implement it as soon as possible, because only by rushing to implement it could mistakes be made in the rush, and only then would they have the opportunity to profit from the chaos.”
At this point, Zhu Biao couldn't help but sigh again and said, "I understand these principles, but seeing how well my brother-in-law has managed Ningyang County, I can't help but feel a little anxious."
Magistrate Yang chuckled and said, "Your Highness has misunderstood. It's not that I've governed Ningyang County so well, but rather that many factors have combined to make Ningyang County appear very prosperous."
"For example, without the cattle, horses, chickens and ducks bestowed by His Majesty and His Highness, and without the cattle and horses sent by Minister Xu and Minister Chang, the people of Ningyang County would not be able to raise pigs or chickens and ducks. If they were to rely on Ningyang County's own breeding farm and pig farm, it would probably take many years before they could slowly expand their operations."
"If it weren't for the tools and agricultural implements bestowed by His Majesty and His Highness, the severe drought in the first year of Hongwu would have left the entire county with no harvest. If His Majesty, His Highness, and the court hadn't allocated relief grain early on, the people of Ningyang County might have had to flee their homes, and there would have been no question of prosperity or decline."
"In my humble opinion, Your Majesty's reason for placing Ningyang County under the direct jurisdiction of the Central Secretariat is probably to allow Ningyang County to become prosperous first, and then use Ningyang County as a base to drive the surrounding prefectures and counties to become prosperous as well."
"Therefore, I have recently been thinking about whether to sell a batch of chicks from the chicken farm to the surrounding prefectures and counties, and whether to discuss with the surrounding prefectures and counties to let them also learn to cultivate greenhouse vegetables."
"However, these matters involve Ningyang County and the surrounding prefectures and counties, as well as the people of Ningyang County and the surrounding prefectures and counties. Therefore, I have been pondering this matter rather than implementing it immediately."
"Your Highness wants the people to live a good life as soon as possible and to become rich. This is a blessing for all people under heaven, but we must not be too hasty."
Hearing this, Zhu Biao couldn't help but nod, "Brother-in-law is right, I'll remember that."