Chapter 38: The Uncollectable Commercial Tax

By the time Hong Taiji dispatched Amin with troops to reinforce Liaoyang, Mao Wenlong and Liu Xingzuo had long since torched Liaoyang city, and the two of them, bringing along the Han people of Liaodong and the soldiers of Dongjiang Garrison, had already run back to Dongjiang!

When Hong Taiji received Amin's report, his fury redoubled — but at that very moment, the Chongzhen Emperor, who had led troops back from Xuanfu to the capital, was thoroughly delighted.

Ever since the time of the Chengzu Emperor, because the Crown Princes were all tutored by civil officials, the civil official system gradually came to dominate court politics.

Even when the Jiajing Emperor, the Zhengde Emperor, and others used the eunuch faction to counterbalance them, the problem was never truly resolved.

In Chongzhen's view, actually, across five thousand years, through every dynasty and every era, aside from the Qin and Han, none had ever avoided this problem.

In particular, the seeds of disaster had been planted as far back as the time when Emperor Xiaowu of Han honored Confucianism alone and dismissed the Hundred Schools of Thought.

But then, why was every founding emperor of every dynasty able to ignore the civil official system?

Because every founding emperor of every dynasty was an emperor on horseback.

Whether it was that old rogue Liu Bang, or Li the Second with his barbarian blood, or Zhao Kuangyin of the Northern Song — these men had all basically won the realm on horseback, their prestige within the army toweringly high, even to the point of being mythologized.

These founding emperors held military power in their hands and had no fear whatsoever of rebellion. For them, whether civil officials or ennobled aristocrats, so long as they themselves held the butcher's knife, the choice was simple: obey, or die.

Right now, Chongzhen very much wanted to raise the butcher's knife against those righteous gentlemen of the Donglin Faction who found the water a bit too cold. But that was just a thought.

Killing a few now and then was certainly no problem, but if he slaughtered them all, who would handle affairs for him? The Depot and the Guard and the eunuch faction, with no one left to check them?

The more he thought, the more his head ached, so Chongzhen simply stopped thinking. Today, he would just take his time on the court floor, wrangling with these lords and masters of officialdom.

But as soon as court was in session, the civil and military officials, led by Chief Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat Wen Tiren, offered their congratulations to the Chongzhen Emperor on personally leading the campaign and returning in great triumph.

After a round of the usual sycophantic flattery, Chongzhen spoke: "The Late Emperor abandoned Us and Our ministers and departed. Since We ascended the throne, the Jianzhou barbarians have struck at the passes and besieged the capital.

This is because Our virtue is meager, unable to make the barbarians of the four directions submit from afar. We shall observe a three-day fast and reflect upon Ourself."

As the saying goes, when the sovereign is troubled, it is the ministers' shame; when the sovereign is shamed, the ministers must die.

Whether or not they were merely putting on a show, the assembled ministers still went down on their knees with a great rustle, crying out in unison: "This is the fault of your ministers, not the doing of Your Majesty."

Chongzhen said: "Enough. This personal campaign has given Us much to ponder."

Hearing this, the hearts of the assembled ministers all trembled, and each thought to himself: here comes the real subject.

Eyeing the ministers below with cold detachment, Chongzhen continued: "Minister Wen, when the Great Ming was founded, how were the four classes of the common people established?"

Wen Tiren memorialized: "In reply to Your Majesty, when our dynasty was founded by the Hongwu Emperor, Grand Ancestor, the four classes were set down as scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants — scholars first, farmers next, with artisans and merchants last.

Military households were listed separately and not intermixed with the four classes."

Chongzhen nodded at this and said: "We have heard that those who shepherd the people must understand their sufferings. Unwise as We are, We deeply concur. We hold that the four classes ought to be equal from birth.

Yet in Xuanfu, wherever Our eyes fell, the poor had scarcely a stitch to cover their bodies, while the rich were draped head to toe in silks and satins.

There were also merchants — Fan Yongdou and seven others — who colluded in secret with the Jurchen barbarians and betrayed the dynasty. We abhor them to the depths of Our being.

Therefore, We desire to abolish this ancestral regulation, so that merchants may farm and study, and artisans may also engage in trade, farming, and study. What do Our ministers think?"

Immediately, a Censor leaped out to object: "Your Majesty, this is the established law of our ancestors — how can it be lightly altered?"

The disgust in Chongzhen's heart was beyond words. Damn it all — aren't you all the vested interests? And now you're going to spout ancestral regulations at me? Shouldn't you be crying out 'His Majesty is sagely wise'?

Chongzhen said: "We have heard that time is change, and change is continuity. We have also heard that when one reaches a dead end, one thinks of change.

Now the realm is in turmoil, and We wish to make slight changes to the ancestral laws and institutions. We hope Our ministers will have something to instruct Us."

Wen Tiren, living up to his name as the Wooden Puppet Chief Grand Secretary — always doing whatever the Emperor said — immediately stepped out of the ranks and memorialized: "Your Majesty is sagely wise. Your minister also believes the restrictions may be loosened.

Only, once they are loosened, if the common people lose all restraint, might it not breed even more chaos and disorder?"

Chongzhen said: "In that case, let this matter first be tried in Xuanfu. Order the Embroidered Uniform Guard to pay extra attention. If it works, let the people follow it. If it does not, let them understand why. This too is the Way of the Sage."

Then Chongzhen added: "We hold that merchants chasing profit is their very nature. But such conduct — without country, without sovereign — is something We can by no means tolerate. Therefore, We wish to re-impose the commercial tax. What do Our ministers think?"

The assembled ministers thought to themselves: So this is your real objective, isn't it? And to think you beat around the bush for so long!

At once, Second Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat Shi Fenglai stepped out of the ranks and memorialized: "Your minister memorializes Your Majesty: Your Majesty's re-imposition of the commercial tax is inherently a good measure to enrich the national treasury.

Only, at present, tax collection across the various regions is extremely chaotic. The local yamen collect it, the mining tax eunuchs also collect it. Then along the roads, each prefecture sets up checkpoints and collects yet again.

Under layer upon layer of extortion, goods that originally cost one mace of silver must in the end be sold for over one tael of silver just to turn a profit — otherwise, the merchant takes a loss.

It is precisely because of this that private smuggling runs rampant. If harsh measures are taken to stamp it out, the flow of goods among the people is blocked, and the common folk suffer. If it is left unchecked, then the dynasty has no commercial tax to collect.

For this reason, ever since the Jiajing Emperor, the dynasty has mostly appointed tax eunuchs to collect mining taxes, while the commercial tax has been, for all intents and purposes, uncollectable."

Chongzhen took one look — damn it, another one from the eunuch faction! He glanced again at the Donglin grandees: the old and wily ones all wore expressions of utter indifference, while a few young Censors seemed eager to try, wanting to step out and memorialize, yet each shrank back again.

Greatly disappointed but still unwilling to give up, Chongzhen asked: "If the tax system were clarified and the Embroidered Uniform Guard cooperated with local government offices to collect taxes jointly — what then?"

Shi Fenglai said: "Even so, it would still be impossible to stop local petty officials from manipulating things for their own gain.

If the local government offices collude with the Embroidered Uniform Guard, I fear Your Majesty's benevolent policy will become a policy that harms the people.

If a separate supervisory body is established, how do we prevent the supervisors from covering for one another?

Furthermore, the salaries in our dynasty, compared to those of the former Song, may be described as extremely low. Thus, it is unavoidable that officials at every level will dip their hands in."

After hearing this, Chongzhen felt a massive headache coming on. Have a single programmer solve corruption that hasn't been stopped in five thousand years? This wasn't like writing a piece of code where you could just add a monitoring process and be done with it.

The more he thought, the more his head ached, until the Chongzhen Emperor reached a state of utter helplessness.

Even though he had just personally led the campaign and his prestige, both military and civilian, was unrivaled for the moment, he still felt he had no way to get a grip on this commercial tax matter.

Even if he killed all the civil officials, what use would that be? Without civil officials to check them, would the Depot and the Guard run completely wild? In the end, he'd still end up hanging from that old crooked-neck tree.

Growing angrier the more he thought, Chongzhen addressed the assembled ministers: "Then do Our beloved ministers have any good solutions?

Collect the commercial tax, and corruption runs rampant. Don't collect it, and how much can you squeeze out of the common people? The dynasty's tax revenues worsen by the day. If the common people are truly driven to rise up in revolt and die, will you all still be able to stand in this court?"

The original version was 404'd. Revised and republished.

(End of Chapter)