Chapter 573: Light Taxes and Minimal Labor Burdens Harm the Poor; Rest for the People Causes Excessive Waste

Qi Qi Jiguang's fears soon came true: these court officials dared not attack Prince of Duke Fengguo Qi Qi Jiguang, so they turned their knives on Li Li Rusong.

When others accuse you of rebellion, you'd better have the power to rebel—then no one will dare accuse you; instead, everyone will flatter you, terrified you might truly rise up.

Li Li Chengliang and Li Li Rusong lacked the capacity to rebel; the An Lushan Rebellion proved that regional warlords had only one life cycle—once their mercenary troops were exhausted, they were finished.

Zhu Zhu Yijun selected several memorials, issued specific responses, and published them in the Official Gazette, allowing the entire empire to see the faces of these men.

For instance, Censor Feng Feng Mengzhen of Shaanxi Circuit analyzed Li Li Rusong's brutality through fengshui and birth charts, claiming Li Li Rusong's Bazi inherently made him violent, and since water is yin, military force is yin, and generals are even more yin, this year's floods in Huguang and along the southern Yangtze were caused by the court's deployment of elite troops to Baoding Prefecture.

Zhu Zhu Yijun annotated: Since you understand fengshui and Bazi so well, why not examine your own? See if your destiny holds the obstacle of frontier service? Transfer Feng Feng Mengzhen to Kaiping Prefecture under the Beixing Regional Military Commission to reclaim wasteland.

Take Zhou Zhou Liangyin as an example: anyone assigned to frontier reclamation serves a ten-year term; if they perform well, they may still have a chance; if not, they remain there forever.

Frontier service is not exile, for exile is rarely pardoned and excluded from general amnesties, while frontier service is labor on the border—if one truly excels, even a meteoric rise is possible.

But in all of Great Ming, only Zhou Zhou Liangyin had truly reformed; in another year and a half, the emperor's evaluation of him would end.

For example, Censor Li Zhi, using Li Li Rusong's suppression of the weizhai as pretext, claimed Li Li Rusong's dogs had grown horns and emitted strange lights—clear signs of rebellion! His Majesty must take note: Li Li Rusong and Li Li Chengliang are born rebels, even their dogs have rebel bones!

Zhu Zhu Yijun annotated: Within three days, bring the horned dog to Zhao Wenhua Hall; if none exists, the accuser shall suffer the same penalty, tripled, and be exiled to Java.

Li Zhi exhausted every effort to find a dog with horns, but failed—he found only a dog with unusually thick fur, and not even from Li Li Rusong's household; ultimately, he was exiled to Java.

This was an extremely brutal punishment, far harsher than bastinado—bastinado still allowed for eventual reinstatement due to reputation, but exile to Java meant never returning in this lifetime.

Yet the iron rule of "false accusation invites counter-punishment" stood firm; Li Zhi was ultimately exiled to Java.

For example, Censor Wu Yunzhen not only impeached Li Li Rusong for slaughtering civilians during the weizhai campaign, but also implicated Assistant Regional Commander Gu Zheng Chenggong, Huang Xiao, Mobile Corps Commander Yang Side, and Assistant Regional Commander Jiang Xianzong—all accused of colluding with Li Li Rusong to flaunt military power locally and terrify the realm, requesting the court recall troops to the capital and lay down arms.

Zhu Zhu Yijun annotated: These four men were all promoted by me from common soldiers, personally trained under Generals Yu and Qi; I have personally assessed their character—they are fit for heavy responsibility. Do you dare call them colluders, implying I, as head of the Martial Academy, am the ringleader of this gang?

Wu Yunzhen was so shamed by the rebuke he resigned; Zhu Zhu Yijun immediately approved, ordering the Ministry of Personnel and Ministry of Rites to rush his dismissal, stripping him of his official rank and scholarly credentials, and banishing him home—he was the best-off among them, for he did not falsely accuse: Li Li Rusong truly did flaunt his power and terrify the realm.

Nine-pound cannons bombarded for a day, the weizhai besieged for thirteen days—those weizhai lords, terrified, tore down their walls themselves; wasn't that terrifiying the realm?

"Feng Bao, go tell the farming students of Great Ming: study hard for the exams—if you pass, I grant you swift advancement!" Zhu Zhu Yijun, having finished today's memorials, rubbed his temples and shouted to Feng Bao: "If you fail, never call yourself a scholar again!"

"What kind of trash are these? There are far too many base Confucians in court!"

In Great Ming, talk of uncontrolled violence is a false problem—these scholar tricks made Zhu Zhu Yijun's head ache.

Zhu Zhu Yijun was the leader of the young and vigorous faction; these men dared impeach even common soldier-officers from the Martial Academy!

It was an insult to heaven!

"Your Majesty, Deputy Commander of the Capital Garrison Li Li Rusong has submitted a memorial." Feng Bao placed the cabinet's draft and the Directorate of Ceremonial's red-penned memorial before the emperor; Feng Bao had already read its contents—it was exceedingly bold.

"Oh?" Zhu Zhu Yijun picked up the memorial, read a few lines, and laughed.

Li Li Rusong was not unaware of court affairs; he anticipated these consecutive impeachments by censors. Since he dared act as he did, he had a response ready.

In this memorial, Li Li Rusong mentioned none of the court officials' attacks, yet every word was a rebuttal to them.

"Fascinating, fascinating—Li Li Rusong has finally learned to be indirect! And he chose the very method the Ming civil officials excel at: the art of dialectical evasion. Excellent, excellent, excellent!" Zhu Zhu Yijun held the memorial and said "excellent" three times.

Compared to the content of Li Li Rusong's memorial, Zhu Zhu Yijun was more delighted by Li Li Rusong's growth than by the court officials' attacks.

Li Li Rusong did not directly respond to the court's accusations; instead, he went indirect—his memorial's core boiled down to two words: raise taxes.

Distribution: five parts to the public, four to the people, one to the landlords.

That is, the state's straw tax at 50%, landlords' tenant rents at 10%, the remaining 40% retained by the people; all extra levies absorbed into land acreage—this was Wang Wang Chonggu's Equalized Land and Labor Reform.

"I once studied under Xu Wen, the Governor of Nagasaki; my talent is dull and I made no progress, often causing Xu Governor to sigh and rub his forehead. I asked him: why, with a tax rate of one in thirty, do the people still suffer displacement? Why do so many Han migrants from the interior flee to Liaodong? Xu Governor sat silent for a long time, unable to answer. I, foolish, only understood my childhood confusion upon reaching thirty—all because the state's taxes are too light." Zhu Zhu Yijun read the first paragraph of Li Li Rusong's memorial.

Great Ming's land tax was one in thirty—a noble benevolent policy—but despite such low taxation, the people still lived in dire hardship—why?

After observing Baoding Prefecture for a long time, Li Li Rusong finally saw the truth: it was because the state's taxes were too low!

"The Book of Han's Treatise on Food and Money states: 'The powerful oppress, seize land, and rent it out; nominally one in thirty, in reality five in ten.' How so? Since the Han, the state claimed one in thirty, yet locally, the rate was five in ten; nominally one in thirty, the people's burden unchanged; nominally one in thirty, the state weak; actually five in ten, the powerful strong; the poor laborers bore the same tax burden, the powerful grew strong, the state grew weak, the realm grew exhausted."

Zhu Zhu Yijun read another passage and pointed to the memorial: "Did you see? Li Li Rusong is quoting classics! Ha! If Xu Wen knew, his jaw would drop!"

Since Qin and Han, every dynasty's decline was accompanied by severe fiscal crisis: the court impoverished, the great clans wealthy beyond measure, until chaos erupted, warlords rose, and the people suffered.

Xu Wen's view of Li Li Rusong's reading was simply: "eyes shut," utterly hopeless—Xiong Xiong Tingbi, a rare talent in both civil and military affairs, was an extreme rarity; Li Li Rusong, possessing martial strength himself, grew even more averse to books; Xu Wen could not control him, and Li Li Rusong remained barely literate.

Now, Li Li Rusong had learned to quote classics. Primarily through the example of Qi Qi Jiguang and Yu Yu Dayou: Qi Qi Jiguang never put down his books, reading in leisure; Li Li Rusong gradually realized Qi Qi Jiguang's wisdom came not merely from innate talent but relentless study—a revelation that deeply moved him.

Without being urged, Li Li Rusong began reading himself. A scholar's transformation in three days warrants a new appraisal—now Li Li Rusong had learned the tricks of the base Confucians.

Quoting the Book of Han proved this phenomenon had existed since antiquity.

"The powerful grow stronger through consolidation, and consolidation makes them stronger; when the state taxes lightly, the powerful remain perpetually strong, worsening the calamity of consolidation!" As Zhu Zhu Yijun read, he found Li Li Rusong's argument had some merit.

In his memorial, Li Li Rusong approached the issue from supply-demand logic, examining it from two perspectives: top-down and bottom-up.

Top-down: the state collects little, the powerful collect much—thus the powerful will inevitably be stronger than the state; for the state to control the powerful is absurd.

Bottom-up: from supply-demand, the state's light tax allows landlords to lease land to more tenants; the basic logic of "if you won't work, someone else will" strengthens the landlords' bargaining power, while their retainers and servants grow stronger, establishing rigid personal dependency; landlords extract more from each plot, accelerating their wealth accumulation.

After stating his view, Li Li Rusong provided evidence.

Since Altan Khan's invasion of the capital region in Emperor Jiajing 29, Baoding Prefecture built weizhai for self-defense; since then, state tax revenue has declined yearly—local extortionate levies were seized by weizhai lords, whose land consolidation exceeded the total of the past 170 years, ultimately leading to the tragedy of "fattening people."

"Light taxes and minimal labor burdens harm the poor; rest for the people causes excessive waste." Zhu Zhu Yijun heard this view for the first time, yet he found Li Li Rusong's argument compelling.

Li Li Rusong's memorial outlined the phenomenon, the problem, its cause, and the solution: public five, people four, landlord one—that was his proposal.

Raise taxes: if the court dares to raise them decisively, the consolidation problem will be greatly alleviated.

"What is Master doing? He actually endorsed it in his draft!" Zhu Zhu Yijun frowned at Zhang Zhang Juzheng's draft note.

Feng Bao said firmly: "Master is deeply displeased with the base Confucians' attacks on martial strength. His displeasure means raising taxes strikes at the root—state finances grow fuller, land surveys and population censuses are complete, labor obligations merged into land acreage, taxes clarified; moreover, Master has long sought to implement the Single Whip Law—this is fiscal renewal."

"Raise taxes? Raise them again and again, and it still lands on the poor. No." Zhu Zhu Yijun stared at the memorial; even if Li Li Rusong's logic was sound, he could not lightly raise taxes—it merely burdened the poor laborers further.

"Your Majesty, Master also said: the taxes are not raised enough." Feng Bao ventured.

Tenant labor has limits; if the state takes 50% and the gentry take another 50%, exceeding the tenant's survival threshold, tenants naturally demand rent reduction—what if landlords refuse? The annihilation of the He family of Gaoyang is proof—that is the logic of taxes not raised enough.

This is why the 50% standard exists: when landlords cannot extract sufficient wealth from land, land's returns plummet, their desire to consolidate declines, and they turn toward handicraft workshops, enabling larger-scale production.

"Master also said: incorporate the Ever-Normal Granaries into performance evaluations, strictly cap grain prices, reduce grain profits—only then can grain circulate freely." Feng Bao further explained Zhang Zhang Juzheng's supplement to Li Li Rusong's memorial.

Ever-Normal Granaries existed since the Han, established to stabilize grain prices, store reserves for famine and disaster, and supply officials and people; incorporating their operation into the Performance Evaluation System kept prices low, reduced land's profitability, thereby curbing consolidation and promoting grain production.

This policy was based on Great Ming's reality: consolidation had nowhere left to go, merger had nowhere left to expand. When grain's profit fell, its exchange value plummeted, its use value became prominent, and land naturally flowed from the powerful to the small farmers—grain could finally reach people's stomachs.

"Master truly is a scholar: raise taxes, lower grain prices—two-pronged attack. If we do this, popular revolts will erupt." Zhu Zhu Yijun sneered, picked up his vermilion brush, and rejected both Li Li Rusong's memorial and Zhang Zhang Juzheng's opinion.

Li Li Rusong's memorial mentioned none of the court's attacks, yet every word struck back—he was digging at the roots of the powerful.

Land was the lifeblood of these powerful clans and gentry; Li Li Rusong was targeting the court officials' vital point.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng expressed his fury: enriching the state and strengthening the military was the core of his reforms; Li Li Rusong's attack was a provocation against the new policies.

These seemingly reasonable arguments were merely expressions of attitude, not genuine proposals for implementation.

Such a major matter, Zhang Zhang Juzheng reduced to a single draft note—he knew the emperor would reject it, so he proposed it thus; Zhang Zhang Juzheng had taught Zhu Zhu Yijun: if a policy appears perfect, it is dangerously flawed. Tax increases seem simple, direct, and beneficial in every way—that is precisely why they are dangerous.

What, then, is the cost of raising taxes?

Great Ming had a clear case: the Three Subsidies. The result of the Three Subsidies? Driving the people into rebellion—how then can you pacify rebels?

A strange cycle emerged: natural disasters and human calamities, internal unrest and external threats, imperial finances collapsed, barbarians rose from the wilds, bandits ravaged the realm, the court had no silver or grain to raise armies and secure the realm—so it imposed the Three Subsidies, driving good people onto Liang Shan, forcing them into banditry.

To pacify the realm, extra levies were imposed; extra levies drove people into banditry; the realm grew more chaotic, requiring even more levies—thus a vicious cycle was established.

The Liaodong Subsidy began in Emperor Wanli 46; the Suppression Subsidy in Emperor Chongzhen 10; when the subsidy was exhausted but rebels remained uncrushed, the Training Subsidy was added in Emperor Chongzhen 12. In Emperor Chongzhen 10 and 12, Yang Yang Sichang told the Emperor Chongzhen Emperor: "Adding only three or four cash per hundred mu merely tempers consolidation!"

Yang Yang Sichang's logic was the same: raise taxes to reduce consolidation.

All these ideas sounded excellent, the tax increases seemed small—but in Great Ming, once the Three Subsidies were imposed, every level of bureaucracy seized the chance to ride the wave and extort—secret additional levies numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

Thus, raising taxes was merely Zhang Zhang Juzheng's threat to the court officials—a mere scare tactic.

Great Ming's violence was now fully controlled by the emperor—a situation Zhang Zhang Juzheng most desired. Moreover, the emperor was diligent and could now wield his authority smoothly—this situation could not tolerate even the slightest disruption.

You attack strong troops, I stir up tax increases—mutual harm is the point.

Popular revolts strike first at the gentry and powerful clans; by the time it reaches the emperor, it is already a crisis of national collapse.

Zhang Zhang Juzheng's proposal quickly became known to court officials; they immediately fell silent—the attacks on Li Li Rusong vanished instantly, for all knew Zhang Zhang Juzheng always delivered on his threats—he would truly do it!

When they learned the emperor had rejected the memorial, court officials began praising the emperor's virtue.

Because the weizhai crisis had gradually subsided, a world where only the base Confucians were harmed had been achieved.

Lin Fu and Li Zhi, leaders of the liberal faction, were seen by many as having betrayed the banner of freedom—flattering the throne for personal gain; to them, freedom should not discuss class—freedom must deny class to be freedom.

Lin Fu and Li Zhi transformed from standard-bearers into traitors; though tragic, this limited-liberal faction grew larger—even Yao Yao Guangming, a decadent youth from a wealthy family relocated to the capital, became a follower, joining Lin Fu and Li Zhi on their journey to the steppes.

This astonished those in the capital who had waited to laugh at Lin Fu and Li Zhi.

Yao Yao Guangming, who had fought sea pirates while cultivating kelp and received a facial scar, had become a court joke; yet Yao Yao Guangming took no lesson—he joined the traitors, debating how power, money, and religion alienate humans—is this even a question worth debating?!

The absolute liberal faction denied contradiction theory and class analysis; in their view, no class existed—everyone was human; using class to confine people within rigid categories was not freedom at all.

Amid a chorus of abuse, Lin Fu and Li Zhi left the court and traveled to the steppes to study.

Zhu Zhu Yijun found Yao Yao Guangming's journey to the steppes perplexing; logically, a man of Yao Yao Guangming's privileged status should have championed absolute freedom—but Yao Yao Guangming practiced limited freedom, even personally taking up arms to support it.

The reason was simple: under feudal monarchy, class meant equality beneath oneself—all were subjects to be exploited; above oneself, hierarchy was rigid—all were exploiters of oneself.

Yao Yao Guangming's opulent family still depended on law and public morality to protect its interests.

Though Yao family, as representative of the powerful clans of Xitucheng, had clashed with Wang Qian for a time, the emperor never punished them, allowing them to fester until Yao Yao Guangming erred and was taken away by Ling Ling Yunyi.

The emperor was a man of integrity—he established rules and adhered to them; this was excellent news for Great Ming inside and out.

The people of the capital noticed this year's smog was less severe than last year's—no longer the suffocating, sunless gloom; though winds remained strong and dust thick, coal smoke still choked, the unbearable sensation of suffocation had vanished; with cotton masks, everything was tolerable.

The Academy of Investigation's journal quickly explained: due to the campaign against the steppes, the Embroidered Uniform Guard no longer burned the grasslands in autumn these past two years—that was why air quality improved so rapidly; for further improvement, wait for the vegetation of the capital region to recover, and the skies will clear.

Great Ming had only one hundred million people; the absolute number ensured that when overcutting ceased, vegetation recovered swiftly.

The Ministry of Revenue plunged into its annual frenzy: a full audit began.

From November through December, the Ministry's main task was auditing the Six Registers and One Ledger from every region; each audit revealed local submissions full of ingenious tricks—the Ministry would demand that any suspicious accounts submit their original ledgers to the capital before year's end.

Once the Ministry demanded original ledgers, it signaled trouble in that region—personnel changes were imminent; this was an unmistakable signal.

Some rejoiced, others mourned: while some wailed, accusing the court of oppression, others hosted endless banquets celebrating their windfall.

The man hosting the banquet was Wang Qian, the Wang Yushi overseeing the Yanxing Tower trade operations.

Wang Qian hosted the banquet for one simple reason: his shares in the Suiyuan Expressway, as the route from Beijing to Guihua opened, surged in value; his personal assets had grown from an initial investment of one million taels to 3.1 million taels.

If Wang Qian cleared all the tickets for the Suiyuan Express Route, his annual profit this year would exceed all of Wang Wang Chonggu's businesses combined, including dividends from ocean trade investments.

Wang Wang Chonggu was deeply anxious, always fearing his family's wealth had crossed the Emperor's execution threshold and would be cut down; meanwhile, Wang Qian hosted lavish banquets to celebrate, and in an era where one tael of silver could buy a hundred jin of pork, a profit exceeding two million taels was a classic tale of wealth.

Wang Qian's profit proved one thing: investment is not speculation; long-term investment yields more stable and greater returns than speculation.

In short-term speculation, gains are large but so are losses; after cycles of wins and losses, year-end accounting still shows losses, because the court levies a three-per-thousand tax on every transaction.

In the words of the eldest Wang Young Master himself: "The exchange house might make more profit than a dog, because a dog cannot understand rumors and does not panic at gossip."

Because of Wang the Eldest Young Master 's wealth legend, speculators increasingly demanded the court issue tickets for the Jing-Kai Express Route and the Tianjin-Mizhou Express Route; the Ministry of Revenue's response was: no issuance.

This was a clear boundary: express routes in the interior would never have tickets issued on the exchange; they were the court's exclusive monopoly, entirely controlled, and even the Suiyuan Express Route, though opened, granted no management rights—only a negligible ten percent dividend right.

This was clearly not free.

The Great Ming state was extremely conservative; interior express routes were absolutely monopolized, even if there was no money to repair them, they remained monopolized.

This left speculators deeply disappointed, yet also energized, because if the Great Ming Emperor sought glory and achievement, he would inevitably expand territory—and vast regions like the Western Regions and Liaodong might see new express route tickets issued! Though these places might not soar like the Suiyuan Express Route, they would at least yield stable returns.

While the court debated whether the state monopolized too much, the liberal faction's leader, Lin Fu and Li Zhi, led fifty scholars on a study tour across the grasslands, traveling from Xuanfu to Kaiping Wei. Kaiping Wei was extremely desolate, even lacking an express route; this journey posed a massive challenge for the fifty-two scholars.

After leaving Xuanfu, the land grew barren; the wind howled far more violently than in the interior, and beneath its mournful wail, the study group encountered their first challenge: bandits on horseback.

With whistles, shouts, and hoofbeats, the horse bandits appeared on the horizon, waving their curved blades toward the study group—then turned and fled at even greater speed, without even engaging in battle, leaving without a trace.

For these bandits, seeing not only the fifty-two scholars as fat lambs, but also the well-armed Embroidered Uniform Guards standing ready.

Two hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards, led by Captain Chen Mo, formed a circular defense with the fifty-two carts, revealing twelve nine-pound cannons mounted on flank war wagons; the bandits instantly realized they had kicked a iron plate—anyone slow to flee would be left behind.

As the bandits turned to flee, one hundred fifty Embroidered Uniform Guards surged out from between the carts, chasing after them.

Only at dusk did the one hundred fifty guards return; their leader, Chen Mo, held aloft a severed head—the bandit chief's—and on his saddle were seventeen bound captives.

Everyone was bloodstained—but all the blood was the enemy's.

"So now, do you still doubt that Lord Huang's dispatch of two hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards was excessive? Do you think it an overreaction?" Chen Mo tossed the bandit chief's head before Lin Fu, removed his helmet, and asked calmly.

"No! Lord Huang foresees all!" Lin Fu shouted immediately: "Chen Mo, you're finally back! Just now, outside the wagon circle, there were wolves—over a dozen!"

Chen Mo wiped sweat from his brow and laughed: "Why panic? I left fifty men behind. Do you think fifty Embroidered Uniform Guards can't handle a dozen wolves? Rest easy—you won't be harmed."

Without the Emperor's support, these bandits were no match for the distant beacon outposts; now, with the Emperor's full backing, generous funding, and superior firearms, cannons, and horses, these bandits had only one fate: to become corpses beneath the Embroidered Uniform Guards' blades.

Chen Mo was also avenging his comrades.