Chapter 298: Impeaching Your Majesty for Mistreating Meritorious Subjects

But one couldn't only see the benefits and not the drawbacks.

Everyone present also knew that this matter had both benefits and drawbacks.

For the civil officials, the benefit was simple—this was something that could increase revenue, and with more money in the treasury, the court could accomplish more. From another angle, with more money in the treasury, lining one's own pockets became much easier too.

But there were drawbacks as well, namely the matter of tax exemptions.

In the Great Ming, three categories of people could enjoy tax-exempt status. The first category was the imperial relatives—the princes enfeoffed across the realm and their descendants; the second was the meritorious nobles and their kin, whose manor lands were all tax-exempt; as for the third category, it was the scholars like themselves—or rather, the gentry bloc among the scholars.

Although the three categories had different scopes of tax exemption, what everyone had been doing over the years was roughly the same—seizing land and concealing land as much as possible.

After all, according to court regulations, taxes were not exempted without limit. Whether imperial relatives, meritorious nobles and their kin, or the gentry of various regions, tax-exempt land had a quota. To put it plainly, if your family had 100 mu of land, the quota was 10 mu exempt from tax, and the remaining 90 mu still had to be taxed.

But times had changed. Two hundred-odd years into the Great Ming, many rules had already been discarded. Take this rule, for instance—concealing land was something everyone routinely did. To put it plainly, none of our family's fields paid taxes.

Back when Zhang Juzheng carried out his reforms, he recompiled the fish-scale registers and audited the realm's land, sweeping out a good deal of concealed acreage, and that was how the Great Ming's revenue increased.

In Zhang Juzheng's reforms, this point was correct. Although the Single Whip Method had been exploited through loopholes, it still had some merit to it.

But so many years had passed since Zhang Juzheng's reforms, and Zhang Juzheng himself was already in the ground. Everything at court had long since changed, and it wasn't as if everyone had only just started dodging taxes yesterday.

Seizing the tax revenue of farmland, seizing the profits of mountains and mines, seizing the profits of salt—one could say these people had long since taken things to the extreme. To a certain degree, everyone was a community of shared interests.

Now, if manor land taxes were to be levied, and the meritorious nobles and their kin paid, and the imperial relatives paid too, then only the gentry bloc would be left. Wouldn't that be a bit conspicuous?

Civil officials had always shouted about loyalty to the sovereign and serving the state, their slogans always thundering to the heavens. When they spoke of meritorious nobles and their kin, they called them the nation's vermin; when they mentioned the various princes and imperial relatives, their mouths were full of contempt.

If this manor land taxation actually went through, what were the civil officials supposed to do?

Pay taxes and feel the sting, or not pay and be unable to stand tall.

The men below could play dumb, pretending to know nothing. But the officials at the center couldn't play dumb—if someone actually asked them about it at court, they wouldn't know what to say.

So Han Kuang and the other two just looked at Xu Guangqi without speaking.

Because Xu Guangqi had already stated his position—his attitude was very clear: he supported it. They also didn't believe Xu Guangqi couldn't see the landmine buried behind this matter.

After this period of working together, Han Kuang and the others had come to understand Xu Guangqi's character.

Xu Guangqi was a man of deep thought and strong ideas, but more often than not, he carried a spirit of selfless devotion. For the sake of the Great Ming, Xu Guangqi could cast aside many interests and did not fear damaging his reputation.

Your Majesty had shown him the favor of promotion and the favor of recognizing his talent, so Xu Guangqi often stood on Your Majesty's side. As long as Your Majesty did what was right, he held his position very firmly.

As it stood now, Xu Guangqi thought the same way, and his attitude was extremely clear-cut.

Xu Guangqi's attitude could, to a large extent, represent the attitude of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works, because those were entirely staffed with his people.

After saying this, Xu Guangqi did not stop. His gaze swept over Han Kuang and the others as he asked, "Do the several gentlemen have nothing they wish to say?"

The three men all remained silent.

In the end, Xu Guangqi's gaze settled on Han Kuang.

"Grand Secretary Han, do you think doing so is improper?" Xu Guangqi said slowly, a smile on his face as he picked up his teacup and took a light sip.

That statement was a killing blow to the heart.

Han Kuang was the Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat. With his position, he had to state his position—there was no way he could muddle through vaguely, so Xu Guangqi pressed step by step.

If Han Kuang dared to oppose, he would not only offend Your Majesty, but many among the civil officials would also be displeased with him.

Hearing Xu Guangqi's words, Han Kuang gnashed his teeth in hatred.

This was dragging him into the water!

Plainly forcing him to take the lead in stating his position.

Perhaps Xu Guangqi didn't even want Old Han to approve, so he could take the opportunity to pull him down.

Indeed—Xu Guangqi had been eyeing his position as Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat for quite some time now.

With no other choice, Han Kuang gritted his teeth and said, "This is a good thing!"

He continued with a sighing tone, "For Duke Chengguo to have such breadth of mind, he truly is a model for the meritorious nobles and their kin!"

Hearing this, the expressions on Huang Kezuan's and Sun Chengzong's faces turned somewhat strange.

Although they didn't know exactly what had happened, Sun Chengzong and the others didn't believe for a moment that Duke Chengguo would have such a patriotic stance—clearly he had been led around by Your Majesty.

After Han Kuang stated his position, his gaze fell on Sun Chengzong and Huang Kezuan. The meaning was obvious: I've already jumped into the water, you two shouldn't keep hiding.

Sun Chengzong didn't mind—this matter had little to do with him to begin with. Besides, for him, since someone had taken the lead, approving was fine too; after all, it was a good thing. If he had to be the one to stand up and push it, the pressure would be enormous.

Perhaps he wouldn't have chosen to do it himself, but following the crowd carried no pressure.

So Sun Chengzong said with a smile, "This is indeed a good thing. Have someone submit a routine memorial later, and give Duke Chengguo a proper commendation."

Hearing this, the expressions on the several men's faces became even more interesting.

Was this commending Duke Chengguo?

This was putting Duke Chengguo on the fire to roast!

They were afraid he wouldn't die!

But naturally, they wouldn't sympathize with Duke Chengguo, Zhu Chunchen. With Duke Chengguo hoisted up, no one would pay attention to them anymore.

Having Duke Chengguo on the fire was better than being on the fire oneself.

So the other men nodded as well and said with smiles, "Grand Secretary Sun's words are reasonable. We'll have someone submit a routine memorial later and give Duke Chengguo a proper commendation. At the same time, we'll ask Your Majesty to grant some rewards—such a fine minister not being heavily rewarded would be inexcusable."

Huang Kezuan also spoke up from the side, "On the Ministry of Justice's end, I'll have people make preparations, find some recent cases of meritorious nobles and their kin seizing farmland, and see if there are any old files to dig up as well."

The several men glanced at Huang Kezuan—eyes observing noses, noses observing mouths, mouths observing hearts—none of them spoke.

Clearly, when it came to treachery, this Minister of Justice took first place. The others approved of commending Duke Chengguo, while this man was already preparing to strike at the other meritorious nobles and their kin. One could say he was very, very far-sighted.

If those meritorious nobles and their kin played dumb, then this Lord Huang would make his move. You won't volunteer? Then let's settle accounts properly according to the Great Ming Code.

Once those accounts were settled, never mind paying taxes—your family's land might all be gone. Whether your titles survived would depend on how well your family behaved.

"Good, then let's do it that way!" Han Kuang stood up and said, "Pass the order down—tell the men below not to mess this up, and make sure they all understand how to proceed."

The other three men nodded, none of them speaking, and then each went off to their own business.

The Duke Chengguo mansion.

Zhu Chunchen sat in his chair—or rather, slumped in his chair—his face completely expressionless. The whole man looked both dejected and dispirited, as if he had no idea what to do at all.

The old steward stood to one side, his face full of worry.

Hesitating slightly, he stepped forward, and the old steward Zhang Fu said, "Your Grace, this is no way to go about things. You must think of a solution!"

The old steward naturally knew what had happened—it was already the talk of the town outside.

Hearing Zhang Fu's words, Zhu Chunchen raised his eyelids and glanced at him, then said in a tearful tone, "What solution is there left to think of now? This time it truly is a matter of life and death!"

Hearing Zhu Chunchen's words, the old steward was also at a loss.

The master of this household had done such a thing—it was tantamount to placing their entire family over a fire to be roasted.

Just as the old steward was about to say something, a household retainer suddenly ran in from outside.

The retainer came to the steward's side, whispered a few cautious words into his ear, and then respectfully withdrew.

"What has happened now?" Zhu Chunchen looked at the old steward and asked.

"The civil officials are impeaching Your Majesty," the old steward said with some hesitation.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Chunchen abruptly sat up from his chair, a look of delighted surprise on his face, and asked with some urgency in his tone, "Are they impeaching the matter of the estate land tax? Have they opposed it?"

"No, Your Grace," the old steward said with a mournful face, "they are impeaching Your Majesty for unfair rewards and punishments. They say that Your Grace has rendered great service to the state, with a spirit of sacrificing one's family for the nation's difficulties, and that Your Majesty's reward was somewhat too meager."

Upon hearing these words, Zhu Chunchen collapsed directly into his chair, his eyes nearly losing their focus.

The Duke of Ying's mansion.

The Duke of Ying, Zhang Weixian, was sitting in a chair drinking tea. This foremost figure of the Ming military—one could call him the very anchor of the Great Ming—was now advanced in years.

His beard was somewhat white, but his complexion was ruddy, and the man as a whole was still quite spirited.

Zhang Weixian sat in his chair, unhurriedly sipping his tea, with no anxious expression on his face.

For Zhang Weixian, this was nothing more than a minor scene. As one who had lived through the Three Great Cases, Zhang Weixian simply did not take the matter before him to heart.

As the one who commanded the Capital Camps and was the pillar figure of the guard station faction in the military, the Duke of Ying, Zhang Weixian, held a position that simply could not be shaken. So he was in no hurry at all, carrying himself with the air of one sitting securely at the fishing platform.

Just at this moment, a middle-aged man came running in from outside.

He came straight to Zhang Weixian's presence and said breathlessly, "Father, you were absolutely right! Those civil officials have stirred up a commotion, impeaching Your Majesty for mistreating those with merit!"