Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 554

Although the Qingluan Guard is now very powerful, this sharp blade is still under Meng Jun's control. Moreover, if Meng Jun wants to reform, the Qingluan Guard will be an indispensable force in his hands. Therefore, Meng Jun has never thought of abolishing the Qingluan Guard.

However, as Meng Bian was placed under house arrest, many civil officials were very happy. Many people speculated whether the emperor was dissatisfied with the Qingluan Guard and was preparing to disband the Qingluan Guard, so that the sword hanging over the heads of officials day and night would completely disappear.

During this period, many officials discussed privately. Liu Xunchun was so excited that he immediately wrote a memorial in his study, saying: "I, Liu Xunchun, bow my head and pray to the heaven. I think that in the past, when wars broke out and the world was in chaos, the Qingluan Guard came into being and served the country, suppressing evil and upholding justice. It is indeed a great achievement. However, now the world has changed, the sea is peaceful and the rivers are clear, the people are happy and the country is peaceful.

The Book of Changes says that a gentleman hides his talents to himself and waits for the right time to act. If he holds on to these talents for too long, he may become arrogant and become a breeding ground for harm.

Therefore, in my humble opinion, the Qingluan Guards can be disbanded at an appropriate time to relieve the people's disturbances and show that the holy dynasty governs the country with virtue, which will make the people happier and prolong the country's prosperity. The world will all know that your majesty is benevolent and virtuous, so why do you need to keep the Tiger Guards on standby all the time...?”

Meng Jun read Liu Xunchun's memorial and threw it aside. Meng Jun was too lazy to pay attention to this blockhead. However, when Liu Xunchun saw that the emperor did not refute it, he mistakenly thought that the emperor was considering whether to abolish the Qingluan Guard.

For a moment, Liu Xunchun became even more excited. He contacted close friends everywhere and prepared to submit a petition together. However, all these actions were detected by Qingluan Guard. The Qingluan Guard was deeply dissatisfied with Liu Xunchun, but they could do nothing about him because Liu Xunchun was really honest. No matter how the Qingluan Guard investigated, they could not find any corruption in him.

………………

It is now the fourth year of Zhaowu. The shadow of war has completely left the Central Plains. The people have not experienced war for several years. Even the war to conquer Burma seems to be no different from before the war for ordinary people.

This was also because the war against Burma only mobilized 40,000 troops from the border areas, and the conquest was very short, so quick that the war was over before the people could even react.

The country was at peace and the people lived and worked in peace. In the past few years, bandits and robbers in various places had gradually become rare. Even in Shaanxi, which was once home to many robbers in the early Ming Dynasty, they gradually disappeared under Lin Shiqi's encirclement and suppression.

The policy of salt and iron monopoly has gradually shown results. Meng Jun is already preparing for the next reform, which is obviously a tough nut to crack, that is, to distribute the tax according to the amount of land, and to make officials and gentry serve and pay taxes together.

In short, the tax rate is based on the amount of land, which means that those who have more land will pay more taxes, those who have less land will pay less taxes, and those who have no land will pay no taxes.

The fact that officials and gentry served as one and paid taxes as one directly hit the court's ruling power. For example, in the early Ming Dynasty, taxes were collected only from the common people, with the exception of officials and gentry. The common people also had to serve the court, that is, military service and corvee labor, while officials and gentry belonged to the ruling class and did not have to serve or pay taxes.

Officials and gentry all served and paid taxes together, which meant that they also had to pay taxes and serve, but Meng Jun decided that everyone could be allowed to use silver to buy in order to avoid military service and corvee labor.

For Meng Jun, this reform meant directly targeting the big landlords. Since it touched upon the interests of officials and gentry, its implementation was bound to be fraught with difficulties.

As the founding monarch, it was easier for Meng Jun to lead reforms than for later monarchs. If Meng Jun did not carry out reforms, then unless a wise and capable monarch appeared in later generations, the reforms would never be implemented.

But now Meng Jun is the emperor, he can't personally step in and say that he wants to implement the tax system based on the amount of land. Therefore, after secret discussions between Meng Jun and important officials such as Yang En, Li Weitai, and Wu Jinkun, Meng Jun felt relieved.

Although Yang En was hesitant, thinking that this change would inevitably cause unrest in the court and great resistance, he still supported Meng Jun's decision in the end, saying: "If Your Majesty wants to change, I am willing to sacrifice my life for him."

Li Weita, as the Minister of Revenue, strongly supported this. Wu Jinkun was the pioneer of the salt and iron monopoly and supported the emperor's decision. When the reform path was just decided, Meng Jun had secret discussions with Wu Jinkun. Wu Jinkun knew that this day would come sooner or later, so he had already prepared himself in his heart.

At the court meeting the next day, many civil officials were ready to submit a joint petition to request the emperor to abolish the Qingluan Guard. However, just as these people were about to step out, they were preempted by one person, and what this person said caused an uproar in the court.

This person was Li Weitai. After he stepped out of the line, he bowed to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, I have a memorial to report!"

Meng Jun nodded and said in a steady tone, "You can talk about it."

Li Weitai stood up straight and said in a high voice: "Your Majesty, the taxes collected in the past dynasties may be called population tax, population tax, or population money. The names may be different, but in fact they can all be classified as population tax, which also leads to inequality in taxes. Some people have a huge fortune and thousands of acres of good land, while others are penniless and have no place to live, but they all pay the same taxes. Therefore, I request to reform the tax system and include the population tax in the land tax. If you have no land, you don't have to pay taxes, and if you have a lot of land, you pay more taxes!"

As soon as these words were spoken, many people's heads buzzed. Compared with such a major event, dismissing the Qingluan Guard seemed to be a trivial matter. Many people who had been prepared to impeach the Qingluan Guard together were now silent. Everyone was wondering whether this proposal had the support of the emperor.

Liu Xunchun, a scholar at the Imperial Academy, stepped out immediately and said, "Your Majesty, this is absolutely not allowed!"

Liu Xunchun's face flushed, and he said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, the tax system has not changed for a thousand years. If you change it rashly now, the world will be uneasy and the gentry will be panic. The world has finally settled down, and the people have just gotten used to the current system. You must not change it lightly!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Jinkun stood up and said in a cold tone: "In the early Ming Dynasty, the wealthy princes and officials occupied a large amount of land, concealed the amount of land, and took advantage of the tax exemption to conduct a large-scale tax investigation. As a result, the finances collapsed, the treasury was empty, the army was short of money, and the officials were short of salaries. It can be seen that the tax policy has reached a point where it must be changed!"

Then another minister stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the court now has sufficient taxes. Is it too early to change the taxation system?"

Hearing this, Yang En, the chief civil official of the Qian Dynasty, said: "When the treasury is empty, it may be too late for reform!"

The suggestions made by Yang En, Li Weita, and Wu Jinkun, the founding civil officials, all expressed their agreement with the tax reform. For a time, many officials did not dare to refute them.

This is also because the Qian Dynasty was established not long ago and was not a dynasty that had been established for a hundred years. Although the power of the gentry was strong, they were still scattered at this time and could not have a strong influence on the court.