Chapter 144: The country is strong but the people are weak

"The kingdom enriches the people, dominates the country and the country and the country are rich, and the only remaining country and the government and the country are rich, which is called overflowing and leaking, so there is no way to save the troubles."

"Emperor Wen of Sui gathered the grain of the world in various warehouses, and the Tang Dynasty ate it. In the past, the Song Dynasty gathered the wealth of the world in Bianjing, and the gold was used. Your Majesty must observe it."

When Zhu Qizhen heard this, he felt anger in his heart and said, "You think I am the king of the country."

Xiang Zhong said: "I dare not. Your Majesty should be at the end of Xuande. The country is in a rough state, and external troubles are rampant. The nine sides are enemies. Maoerzhuang is defeated and lost 100,000 troops. Your Majesty inherits the career of his father and ancestors and boosts the morale of the world. After more than ten years, he chases the wa and stabs the lower house, and makes the Borgejin family dance in front of the palace. It is beyond the reach of the ancient wise kings."

"However, the times change, and the stars change, and this is the moment, and that is the moment."

"At the beginning of Zhengtong, he earned more than 30 million stones a year, and the silver was less than ten million. The ward collapsed and had a power to make ends meet. Your Majesty re-established the system of money and grain, and ordered the army to travel thousands of miles, but the people were not short of money and food. The road was built for tens of thousands of miles, but the people were not tired. But now, what is the use of gold and silver for your Majesty? What is the use of money and food?"

"The country is more, the people are less, the country is richer, and the people are poor."

Zhu Qizhen sneered and said, "Sir, why are you a commoner? Do you want to be a scholar? Why don't you say that the country and scholars share the world? I have treated the scholars and officials badly."

Xiang Zhong knelt down on the ground and said, "Your Majesty wants to punish me for this crime. I am imprisoned and punished. I will be punished without any resentment. But before this, please listen to me."

Zhu Qizhen sneered in his heart and said to himself: "Am I the kind of person who kills ministers?" Zhu Qizhen generally wants to maintain the face of the king and his ministers.

Or political tradition.

After all, if the court wants to fight for political views, and the private hatred mixed with official affairs can easily turn into party struggles.

Therefore, even if Zhu Qizhen gets angry, he will not kill the minister with words.

At most, he was just sick.

The emperor said that if you are sick, you will have to go home to raise your illness for the rest of your life.

Xiang Zhong said: "Your Majesty once said that if you collect taxes, you would rather lose the rich than the villain than the villain, you would rather lose the Jiangnan than the northwest. Because the poor people are weak and there are slight twists and turns, you will be displaced. If the people in the northwest are weak, and if there is a slight burden, the people will be dispersed."

"However, the court needs money to raise soldiers and people needs money to raise money. There were many things that had to be collected before. Now the court is rich, so adjustments should be made."

"If you should be exempted, you should be exempted; if you should be relieved, you should be eliminated."

After hearing this, Zhu Qizhen felt that he was a little too sensitive.

It turns out that what Xiang Zhong said was this, rather than pleading for the scholars and officials.

Zhu Qizhen actually knew that in this round of tax collection, Zhu Qizhen used many means to try his best not to allow the lower-class people to bear the tax.

The literati and officials who really suffered heavy losses in Zhuqi Town's tax policies were the literati.

Because they are the only ones who have money.

Zhu Qizhen still shook his head and said, "Your idea is good, but the court cannot do it. The gentleman often knows that if there is anything good in the court, who will it fall into?"

Even if the subsidies for poor households in later countries often fall into the hands of poor households, let alone. In this era, Zhu Qizhen dares to guarantee that even if he has any policies that benefit the poor, he will be taken away by some non-poor people.

Xiang Zhong said: "Not doing it is difficult to do it, and it is two different things. I am worried that the superiors will consume something, so the subordinates will follow it. Over the years, Your Majesty has repeatedly collected taxes, and local officials have gathered more and more ministers."

"This situation cannot continue. The court has been able to provide disaster relief in recent years, but there is a reason why refugees live a day."

Zhu Qizhen frowned slightly and had to admit that what Xiang Zhong said was a fact.

In recent years, many policies in Zhuqi Town have not been able to stop the emergence of refugees.

Before Zhu Qizhen, these refugees were classified as natural disasters. After all, the Ming Dynasty was one of the eras with the most natural disasters. Disaster relief was required almost every year.

And every natural disaster will lead to refugees.

Zhu Qizhen began to migrate disaster victims to the Northeast region very early, although the scale is not too large.

But if it is just a natural disaster, can so many refugees be caused?

Zhu Qizhen couldn't help but ask himself in his heart.

However, Zhu Qizhen's heart had many stereotypes about the Ming Dynasty, but he did not dare to change the existing policies easily.

For example, in the Ming Dynasty, many tax quotas were not high, so there were officials who only charged one quarter of tariffs, and the rest were released and allowed to travel by the people to make a name for themselves.

However, the death of Ming Dynasty was due to financial hunger and thirst.

Zhu Qizhen is not worried about now.

With the foundation he left behind, the Ming Dynasty's prodigal court has been spending its fortune for decades or even hundreds of years.

But worry about the future.

Xiang Zhong's back was also wet with sweat at this moment.

After all, before a strong monarch, it is a matter of resistance and direct advice that requires great courage.

However, Xiang Zhong's idea has been a long time.

Since he has become the leader of all officials and holds the power of the world, he must make his own voice.

This is not inconsistent with his desire to get the position of prime minister.

Bureaucrats want to gain power but are just greedy for power, while politicians get power but want to make a difference. If they cannot do something, this power is a torture for politicians.

That's what Xiang Zhong is like.

Zhu Qizhen treated the Grand Secretary well.

Although there are also some harsh things, they are all inferior to those of the face. Generally speaking, in the eyes of many ministers, the current emperor is somewhat similar to Emperor Renzong when dealing with ministers.

Emperor Taizong actually never took civil officials seriously. If it is useful, it is useful. If it is useless, it will be thrown into the imperial prison.

Although Emperor Xuanzong also cooperated with Confucian ministers, he was essentially a little alienated from Confucian ministers.

Today, although Cao Nai and other auxiliary ministers have been denounced, generally speaking, as long as he becomes a grandson, the emperor will leave a decent part of his decent position.

At this moment, when Xiang Zhong saw Zhu Qizhen in deep thought, he immediately struck while the iron was hot and said, "Your Majesty, I don't want to change my course at once, otherwise I will directly oppose the commercial tax."

"I have been a civilian official and know that many taxes are actually bloody. What I mean is that taxes levied before, such as salt taxes and customs duties, were rough. As long as the silver was collected, I didn't care how the money came about. Now some taxes that hurt the people too much and harm the people too deeply can be reduced one by one."

"I do not recommend directly reducing taxes, nor do I recommend withdrawing money and grain. Many taxes can be adjusted based on this principle."

Zhu Qizhen pondered for a moment, sighed and said, "You are the chief minister. You should do it according to your wishes. As long as the cabinet is approved, I will not make things difficult for you. It's just that the business tax is of great importance, and I am a little worried."

Xiang Zhong asked the string sound and knew the meaning of elegance, and immediately said, "What Your Majesty said is very true. As the chief assistant, I came to handle the adjustment of taxes, and the implementation of commercial taxes, because the dedicated person is responsible, I think Qiu Jun is good."

Zhu Qizhen nodded and said, "Okay."

Xiang Zhong was very tactful and immediately made an exchange with Zhu Qizhen. The commercial taxation promotion was to Qiu Jun to do such a major event. What Xiang Zhong did was to adjust the taxes of the Ming Dynasty.

It can be said that the former is easy to establish achievements, but the latter is not easy to achieve results.

However, Xiang Zhong's words also touched Zhu Qizhen.

After Zhu Qizhen ascended the throne, he swept away strong enemies outside and reformed the rules inside. Speaking of which, the Ming Dynasty today is definitely considered to be a prosperous country, and its national strength is even much stronger than that of Taizu.

If we continue according to this idea, what Zhu Qizhen has to do is to have more money, more elite soldiers, and more territory.

But how are the people doing?

Zhu Qizhen no longer had an impression.

I don’t know if there is any other adobe house where the Empress Dowager said that the family had no pants, and I don’t know if there is any other adobe house where centipedes fell from the roof.

Even Zhu Qizhen's always firm belief was somewhat shaken.

He is determined to join the Age of Discovery and dominate the world. Is this really a good thing for the people?

However, Zhu Qizhen soon held this idea down.

People can succeed, but they cannot start with worrying about it.

His path is absolutely correct.

However, he still prepared Xiang Zhong's power as the prime minister. Zhu Qizhen respected some of his opinions. He was even happy to ask the prime minister to propose some policies.

Because he also knew that his descendants could not put forward many political ideas like him. They would not give power to the prime minister, so that the prime minister had more room for his own life. If something went wrong, the prime minister would also bear it.
Chapter completed!