This is what a man should do. No matter what happens, he will frame me. Xiao Shishi first entered the palace and did not understand many rules and etiquette.

These red tape are really a headache. If you really have to live according to the rules of the palace at all times, then life will be extremely boring.

Fortunately, as the Crown Princess, no one dared to provoke Xiao Shishi. Although this Crown Princess is young and gentle, the current crown prince is not very kind. Once it makes the Crown Prince angry, it will be in trouble.

Empress Yi'an was favored by him, and Emperor Chongzhen and Empress Zhou were also very satisfied with this daughter-in-law. Their biggest wish now is that Xiao Shishi can give birth to a son as soon as possible and continue the incense for the Ming Dynasty.

The newlyweds are like a floating cloud. Happy times always pass too quickly, and in the blink of an eye, more than a month has passed.

However, the relationship between the couple is still as close as possible. But Zhu Cilang knew that he could not always sink into a gentle country. There were many things waiting for him, such as tax reform.

Do you still need reform? Haven’t it been reformed before?

Different, scholars, royal relatives, and dignitaries did not have quotas to perform labor service or pay taxes.

It was one of the few ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty who supported the entire imperial system. At the most chaotic time, it was even a town with tens of thousands of people. Only one or two thousand people had to pay heavy taxes, and the rest tried every means to avoid taxes.

For example, the Ming Dynasty stipulated that officials could be exempted from taxes and service, so a large number of people transferred their land to the names of officials, so that tax avoidance can be achieved reasonably, as long as the officials want lower than corrupt officials, officials will also help families and local gentry to modify the tax list and distribute the taxes of these people to other people, which has increased the burden on this part of the civilians.

In fact, the taxes in the Ming Dynasty were extremely low, and rules were set during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang. In contrast, the salaries of officials were also very low.

This will create a phenomenon that officials with power cannot live with a meager salary, so that even the family can't afford to be afraid of. The most prominent example is the honest official Hai Rui. Hai Rui is clean and his wife has to do some knitting to supplement the family's income. Hai Rui had to open a vegetable garden in the backyard of the yamen to make a living.

An honest official like Hai Rui is rare in a century. Most officials are ordinary people. It is fake to say they are not moved when facing the money.

It is an indisputable fact that low wages have long been corrupt. All of these require reforms, which are things that Zhu Cilang wants to do but has never been able to finish.

In fact, there were surcharges in all dynasties. The court collected taxes from the people through local governments, but the court only cared about its own income and gave the local government a very low share of the tax. It could only acquiesce to local governments to increase taxes in various names. The amount of tax increases was very flexible. This mainly depends on the "conscience" of the county magistrate, but once the county magistrate tasted the sweetness, they basically couldn't stop, so there was a saying that "three years of Qing magistrate, one hundred thousand snowflakes were silver."

How bad was the Ming Dynasty? It was so bad that Zhu Cilang thought that the country should have been destroyed. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang's later royal family reached one million. The salaries of these royal family were raised by taxes. The princes of the Ming Dynasty did not have to work and could still get money from their children's birth. So they tried their best to have children, which added a heavy burden to the taxes in the country. The taxes in many counties were not enough to support these princes. But these princes were not satisfied, and they embezzled fertile land, killed tenants, despised the law, and harmed the local area.

Therefore, although the tax rate of the Ming Dynasty was extremely low, the people of the Ming Dynasty were not happy and went bankrupt one after another. We always say that the Song Dynasty was weak, and the Song Dynasty was indeed not strong in military strength.

However, the economy of the Song Dynasty was enough to be proud of the entire China for 5,000 years. The economic and living standards of the Song Dynasty were very high, so they used currency to collect taxes. However, the Ming Dynasty restored the physical taxation, which means that the government collected food.

It can be said that in the Ming Dynasty, not only did not make any progress, but instead retreated. Because it was required to transport grain to the government warehouse, the freight in ancient times was probably more expensive than grain, and the actual tax rate doubled. The government only changed what was beneficial to the rulers, but not what was not beneficial to the people.

Minister Yu Qian once wrote a memorial saying that the freight costs of the people of Shanxi transported to Datong, Xuanfu and other places every year have increased by six or seven times. The most exaggerated Jiangnan is the rice in the capital of the capital. When it was established in Nanjing, it was supplied by the Jiangnan area. After the capital was moved to Beijing, it was still supplied and transported by the people of Jiangnan. The food transported was not enough for those who transported the grain. When the people worked hard to transport the grain to the location, they were told that the grain was unqualified, which involved another problem.

The bribery problem in taxation is more terrible than transportation. The government will find faults, such as being too wet, sand, unqualified quality, etc., so that the people can transport them home for new food. However, the people have traveled hundreds or thousands of miles and it is impossible to travel back and forth again, so they simply bribed him. In fact, the wages of officials in the Ming Dynasty were very low, so they might rely on these bribes to support them. Only two or three of the food that the people paid were able to reach the national treasury.

A dynasty like this is a miracle that it will not perish the country.

After pacifying the domestic bandits, Zhu Cilang prepared for reforms. This matter was absolutely impossible without the consent of Emperor Chongzhen.

So, Zhu Cilang took advantage of Emperor Chongzhen's busyness to go to Qianqing Palace.

Why take advantage of his busyness? Because the machine of Emperor Chongzhen seems to be always busy. Everyone has different hobbies and preferences. Some are greedy for beauty and some are obsessed with rights. Some are intended to live forever, while others desire youth forever.

Some like musical instruments, some like fishing, some like astronomy, and some are obsessed with elixirs.

Emperor Chongzhen was the 195th emperor. He was pure and had few desires and was far away from women. His biggest hobby was government affairs.

Yes, diligence is an extremely boring thing to others. But Emperor Chongzhen enjoys it. He feels that the imperial pen in his hand has the ability to master the universe.

Memories from all over the country flew like snowflakes, some were strange stories from all over the country, some were major cases from all over the country, some were suggestions to the court, and some were ordinary and irrelevant garbage memories.

This is the same as the spam we often receive. For example, the most bizarre letter from the Jiangxi governor: Long live your life, how are you doing? How are you eating well?

Emperor Chongzhen was not tired of it: I am very good, don’t worry about it.

The next month, the Jiangxi governor sent another memorial: Long live the emperor, I want to go to the capital to see you.

Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to reply: Local governments are the priority, I am fine, so I don’t have to come to the capital.

Another month later, the Jiangxi governor sent another memorial: "Yei Sheng, there is a kind of Nanfeng tangerine under my rule, which tastes wonderful. I want to give it to Yei Sheng to try it."

Emperor Chongzhen had no choice but to reply again: No, Jiangxi tribute has also been presented, and I have tasted it.
Chapter completed!