A white rainbow passed through the sun.
Such strange phenomena have existed since ancient times.
Its essence is an astronomical phenomenon in Feng Shui, which refers to a long white rainbow appearing in the sky and passing through the sun.
In ancient times, this indicated that there would be extraordinary changes in the world.
Because the sun symbolizes the emperor.
And the sun was penetrated by a white rainbow.
So this is another ominous sign, indicating that the emperor may be in some dangerous situation...
After the vision occurred.
Yingtian Prefecture.
Everyone looked up at the sky.
No matter whether it was the common people on the street, the Buddhists and Taoists, or the officials in the imperial court, everyone was shocked by this strange sight!
"Why did such a strange phenomenon suddenly occur?"
"what happened?"
"Is this... a white rainbow piercing the sun?"
"Something big is going to happen."
"this……"
"Did His Majesty get assassinated? This? "
In the palace, patrolling soldiers were stunned when they saw this scene. Under the command of the captain, everyone rushed into the hall where Su Che was.
In the hall, Zhan Hui, Zheng Shiyuan and Han Yi were still immersed in Su Che's words just now. They hadn't even reacted yet. After seeing the soldiers entering the hall, they were subconsciously stunned. Did His Majesty want to execute them?
Before they could react, all the soldiers knelt on one knee in unison.
The leading captain immediately said respectfully: "Your Majesty, there is a strange phenomenon outside, a white rainbow piercing the sun, and we are worried about your safety, so we came here immediately!!"
Directly above.
Su Che glanced at the people below and then looked outside. He could feel many strange phenomena outside. Everything changed because of his words.
In this world of immortals and demons, it is normal to have such changes and reactions. This is definitely not normal weather, but a real phenomenon of heaven and earth.
but.
It is precisely this kind of reaction that proves that Su Che's decision is really effective.
This not only did not make Su Che afraid, but made him very excited and expectant.
"What a beautiful rainbow piercing the sun."
Su Che narrowed his eyes and said softly, "It's just tax reform and financial reform , but it caused such a big change?"
Historically.
After the Empty Seal Case occurred, because it involved countless people, strange phenomena occurred in various places. When the news reached the capital, Old Zhu also had some concerns and temporarily stopped his butcher knife.
Originally, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to take a long-term view, so he issued an edict seeking advice and asking people all over the world how to deal with this matter.
At this time, Zheng Shili wrote a letter to the emperor to give advice.
And this brother Zheng Shili is Zheng Shiyuan who is in the hall right now.
Zheng Shili put forward four points of view with righteous words, one of which was even a threat to Zhu Yuanzhang.
This directly angered Old Zhu. Zheng Shiyuan, who was originally implicated, had already been released from prison, but after this incident happened, he was arrested again and directly exiled.
Old Zhu has a bad temper, so naturally he couldn't tolerate being provoked like this.
So what if there are star mutation phenomena?
The same is true for Su Che.
He had already made up his mind, there was no way he would change his decision just because of a small vision in heaven and earth!
Su Che glanced at the guards and said calmly, "Retreat, it's just a small anomaly, it's nothing at all."
After hearing this, the captain quickly responded, and then all the soldiers stood up and left the hall.
Su Che looked at the three people again and continued, "It seems that God also approves of our reforms, otherwise there would not be such a reaction."
"This matter is not your responsibility, but you can make a note of it. We will announce it at the court meeting tomorrow."
The three of them looked at each other and could only respond in agreement.
Time soon arrived for the next day's court meeting.
Su Che announced the new policy.
Since the transportation of spiritual rice will result in losses and it has become a common practice to print empty account books, we will start to collect treasure notes from now on to replace taxes.
Such a decision can be said to have fundamentally solved the problem.
If it is to be converted into things like spirit stones, spirit gold, and spirit silver, then losses will inevitably occur again.
This is the so-called "fire consumption".
This fire consumption is not a small problem.
At the beginning, fire consumption may not be a big deal.
But over time, the fire consumption will increase and become more and more exaggerated, and it will become a complete chaos.
Officials would ask the people for compensation for the fire losses, which would greatly increase the burden on the people and make their lives increasingly difficult.
After the officials asked the people for compensation for the fire consumption losses, they would also report the fire consumption losses to the court. They took advantage of both ends and became very fat. It was said that a magistrate could earn 100,000 silver coins in three years, one of which was the income from fire consumption silver.
This problem also occurred in the Qing Dynasty, which succeeded the Ming Dynasty, because the Qing Dynasty inherited the Ming system.
After careful consideration, Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty came up with a method to balance the fire consumption and national fiscal expenditure: the fire consumption would be returned to the public.
This measure can be simply understood as: using the increased fire consumption silver collected from various places as office expenses for local governments.
It can also be understood that the money originally hidden privately in various places was put on the surface as money for maintaining integrity.
To put it bluntly.
Ordinary people still have to pay more, but this extra money will be made public and legalized.
From a certain perspective, this is the only solution.
Because the secret collection was changed to open collection, and the random collection was changed to collection according to the prescribed rate, it did slightly reduce the burden on the people and prevented corruption among local county officials.
This is a compromise.
But Su Che could not do such an immoral thing as turning the money that was originally embezzled into legal income, and he was even more disdainful of doing it.
He has a better idea.
Replacing the original tax with the collection of treasure notes can directly solve the problem of empty printing and the problem of fire consumption, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
In the court.
Su Che briefly introduced his reform policy.
First of all, from now on, all treasure notes will be collected.
Both land tax and corvée were combined into treasure notes for collection, which was equivalent to abolishing corvée. Ordinary people no longer had to pay corvée to the court.
They could pay treasure notes to the court instead of performing corvee labor.
By collecting treasure notes, the imperial court was able to hire labor to perform corvee labor.
This will significantly increase the market value and recognition of Baochao.
Once this policy is implemented, the credit level of the Baochao will be much different from that of the previous ones, and there will no longer be any talk of continuous depreciation.
Before this, Zhu Yuanzhang only cared about printing the Baochao and never cared about the problem of inflation, let alone the credit of the Baochao.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was well-versed in ancient and modern times and his cultural level was not low, his knowledge of the financial industry was obviously insufficient.
Su Che's decision at this moment can directly put the treasure notes into circulation, and the purchasing power of the currency will also increase.
Once the currency circulates and is widely recognized by the market, the Ming Dynasty's financial system will become extremely healthy.
As long as the financial system becomes healthy, Su Che will be able to flood the market with money and will no longer worry about lack of money.
They all complement each other.
You can only gain if you give.
Once Baochao is widely recognized, the private economy will also be stimulated.
It kills two birds with one stone.
Secondly , various types of labor service, including Class A labor service, corvee labor, miscellaneous labor, and forced labor, were merged into one, compiled into one item, and collected together with the summer and autumn taxes of land tax.
Next, part of the labor will be spread over the fields!
This is the core part of the Single Whip System. As long as the labor service is spread over the land, it can, to a certain extent, be beneficial to tax fairness and reduce the burden on ordinary civilians.
The "tax distribution based on land area" policy implemented by the Qing Dynasty later originated from here.
The Single Whip System simplified the tax collection procedures and collected taxes in cash based on land and population, but did not abolish the poll tax.
The system of equalizing the land tax abolished the head tax and only levied tax based on the amount of land.
The two are essentially the same.
Su Che did not directly distribute the tax on each acre of land, but first distributed "part of the labor service on each acre of land". After all, one must take one step at a time, eat one bite at a time, and policies must be implemented slowly, and one cannot be too hasty.
Finally, all that needs to be done is to consolidate taxes and simplify the process.
Both corvée labor and land tax were combined into one tax amount, and then all taxes were paid together.
This achieves the goal of simplifying the tax process and consolidating tax items.
When Su Che finished talking about the policy, someone immediately fell to his knees and cried out in pain, "No, Your Majesty, this policy will hurt the country and the people. In recent years, banknotes have become less and less valuable. The value of banknotes in different places is different, but the taxes are exactly the same. This will cause chaos!"
"Moreover, using treasure notes to collect taxes is unprecedented in history. This method will cause endless troubles! The people's hearts will definitely change! "
"Your Majesty, please think twice, please think twice!"
The Baochao originated in the Yuan Dynasty.
However, the Yuan Dynasty's Baochao was based on silver and could be exchanged for silver. It was not a currency in the strict sense, but a "silver note".
But the Ming Dynasty’s Baochao was different. There was no silver standard at all. It was simply a replacement for currency.
This also means that once it is printed on a large scale, it will cause inflation and become less and less valuable.
In the history that Su Che knew.
In the seventh year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the establishment of the Baochao Tizhusi as the agency for issuing and producing paper money. After some preparation, in the second year, he "ordered the Secretariat to make Ming Baochao and ordered it to be circulated among the people."
The Great Ming Treasure Note is made of mulberry straw, "one foot high, six inches wide, green in color, with dragon-patterned floral borders on the outside", with the words "Great Ming Tongxing Treasure Note" written on it, and eight seal characters on both sides, "Great Ming Treasure Note, circulated throughout the world", with several strings of copper coins painted in the middle.
When it was first issued, the value of one guan of money was 1,000 copper coins. It was calculated based on the amount of money the guan was worth, and it did not depreciate.
But by the 23rd year of Hongwu, one string of Baochao could only be exchanged for 250 copper coins, and thereafter it was only 160 copper coins.
By the time of Zhu Di's Yongle reign, Baochao became less and less valuable. Even if the imperial court issued an edict to enforce the use of Baochao, anyone who refused to use it would be punished, and even their entire family would be exiled!
Even so, the imperial court's order could not prevent the decline and complete devaluation of Baochao, which became waste paper.
Economic laws cannot be controlled by administrative orders!
Later, during the reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, "one string of banknotes was not worth one penny."
When it was first issued, the treasure note was worth 1,000 yuan, but by this period, it was not even worth a penny.
Even if the banknotes fell to the ground, passers-by would not even look at them.
The imperial court had no choice but to lift the ban on silver, and Baochao became history.
In Su Che's Ming Dynasty of immortals and demons, treasure notes correspond to spiritual stones, spiritual silver, and spiritual gold, and the depreciation is even more severe.
At this moment, it has only been seven or eight years since the Baochao was issued, and the value of the Baochao is less than half of its original value.
Under such circumstances, Su Che's attempt to save the Ming Dynasty's treasure notes was naturally fraught with difficulties.
And this new reform policy will also affect many people's cakes! !
Su Che glanced at the minister kneeling below, and the man’s name immediately appeared in his mind - Fang Keqin!
Because this person once served as the prefect of Jining, he was also called Fang Jining.
His reputation may not be very big.
But his son is very famous.
His son was a great Confucian scholar of the Ming Dynasty - Fang Xiaoru, the guy who was executed by Zhu Di along with his entire clan.
At this moment, Fang Keqin was considered a famous wise minister, but the fact that he stood up to oppose at this moment was very intriguing.
"Drag him out and kill him." Su Che said calmly.
As soon as these words were spoken, the guards immediately dragged Fang Keqin out.
Fang Keqin's eyes widened, and he was stunned for a moment, and he even forgot to cry out for justice! He never dreamed that he would be executed directly for just giving advice. This was totally unreasonable!
Not only him, but all the courtiers in the court were stunned. How could they kill someone directly? They just gave him some advice, but they dragged him out and killed him. This behavior was too brutal and unreasonable!
Even if it was the Hongwu Emperor, he would have to stop it. If innocent people were killed indiscriminately like this, everyone would be in danger.
All the ministers knelt down and begged Su Che to think twice. He couldn't kill people without knowing the truth, especially those loyal and patriotic ministers. He couldn't be treated so roughly!
Su Che waved his hand.
The guards who were dragging Fang Keqin out of the court suddenly stopped.
Su Che glanced at the ministers and said calmly: "If you want me to give you a reason, then I will give you a reason."
"I'm sure many people already know that we recently got a copy of the Empty Seal Account Book. Many of you should also know what this is. It's an old abuse of the previous dynasty!"
"I never thought that you guys with thick eyebrows and big eyes would collude and unite to deceive the emperor."
"The empty account books made it easier for you to do things, and also opened the door for corruption. We didn't intend to continue to investigate the past, but to find a way to solve this problem. As a result, Fang Keqin jumped out and said that it was absolutely not allowed, saying that this was a policy that would hurt the country and the people, and would lose the support of the people."
"I would like to ask you and Fang Keqin, when you say the people's will, are they the people at the bottom of society or the officials who eat their fill?"
"We came here to solve this matter, but this loyal and patriotic Fang Keqin jumped out like this. Do you really think we don't care about the empty seal?"
As soon as these words came out, all the ministers in the court couldn't help but feel their scalps tingling. Even Fang Keqin was completely stunned. He had never heard of those rumors before!
Soon, an imperial censor came forward to impeach Fang Keqin for corruption and bribery, and the case was left unsolved!
After these words were spoken, Fang Keqin's face became even uglier.
He was originally killed for giving advice, but he still left behind a reputation as an honest official, which was even widely spread among scholars. He was truly upright and incorruptible, and his death was worthy!
But now he has been impeached for corruption, and it is related to the matter of the empty seal, which shows that he stood up to advise because of the matter of the empty seal.
This directly turned him from an honest official into a corrupt and bribe-taking villain!
For an upright official like Fang Keqin, whose ancestors had been Confucian scholars for three generations, this was the most unacceptable thing!
but.
He knew very well that if the censor stood up at this moment, there might be evidence of his corruption and bribery!
This is the most desperate!
He had no way to refute it.
Because he really embezzled money!