jdhmnovel Chapter 289 I'll show you what it means to be completely unaffected by any of the three!
Chapter 289 I'll show you what it means to be completely unaffected by any of the three!
Li Shanchang's words just now revealed at least two pieces of information.
The first statement, "Your Majesty has this intention, and I agree, but it has not yet been discussed in court," reveals that Li Shanchang is in league with Zhu Chongba, while Liu Bowen is likely not, and there will definitely be differing opinions in the court.
The second statement, "The Semu, Kipchak, Hui, and Quanzhou Pu clans may not be included," reveals that the Semu, Kipchak, Hui, and Quanzhou Pu clans will definitely not be classified as farmers, but the Mongols may be classified as farmers.
Moreover, there is a third piece of information hidden in these words: You, Yang, are in cahoots with Emperor Zhu, so you are also in cahoots with me, Li Shanchang. Now that I have told you all these things, shouldn't you, surnamed Yang, make a statement?
Just as Magistrate Yang was pondering this in his heart, Li Shanchang continued, "Actually, I have already discussed this with the higher-ups. The most difficult problem at the moment is how to get the people of Jiangnan to migrate to the north."
At this point, Li Shanchang sighed softly again and looked at Magistrate Yang, saying, "Does Your Excellency know why the people of Jiangnan are not willing to migrate to the north?"
Yang Shaofeng paused slightly and asked, "Are you worried about different lifestyles and unwilling to leave your hometown?"
Li Shanchang nodded slightly, then shook his head and said, "This is only one reason. The more important reason is the memorials submitted by the Prince Consort earlier."
Yang Shaofeng pointed to himself and asked, "Because of your subordinate?"
Li Shanchang nodded again and said directly, "Because of the progressive tax rate and the royal land system."
"According to what the prince consort wrote, land was allocated based on the number of people, and taxes were collected based on the amount of land."
"But what if a household has dozens of male members? If a household has fifteen male members, that's two hundred and twenty-five mu, and these two hundred and twenty-five mu of land are still subject to the lowest tax rate."
"If that's the case, nothing will change for the aristocratic class, and the patriarchal clan system will still prevail over the law of the land."
"Therefore, I discussed with the superior that the progressive tax rate and the royal land system should not only be based on the number of people, but also on the number of households. If a household has more than 100 mu of land, then the progressive tax system will be implemented."
"After the news spread, many gentry in Jiangnan are now preparing to divide their families, or want to transfer their extra land to other people's names, while many common people do not want to have too much land in their names."
Li Shanchang smiled bitterly, "The Prince Consort may not know this yet, but inexplicably, nearly one million households and nearly five million people have appeared in Jiangnan."
“Once the progressive tax system and the royal land system are perfected and officially implemented, I’m afraid these people will all be able to get land—in that case, why would they be willing to migrate north?”
As Li Shanchang finished speaking, Magistrate Yang was completely stunned.
So, it turns out this trouble was caused by me?
Kelakun'er, you old dummy, Zhu Chongba is the emperor, and you, Li Shanchang, are the prime minister. Clearly, these are all the faults of you, the emperor and your minister, yet you old dummy are trying to shift the blame onto me.
Pshaw!
I'll show you what it means to be "untouchable by three things"!
Having made up his mind, Magistrate Yang said with a smile, "So that Lord Li may know, my original intention in writing those memorials was to ask Ningyang County to try it out. I never expected it to cause such a big commotion."
Li Shanchang was so angry that his teeth itched, and he even wanted to grab Magistrate Yang and ask him: "Can't you, Yang the Madman, be a decent human being?"
Yes, those memorials you wrote did indeed contain the phrase "please implement this on a trial basis in Ningyang County," and both the Office of Transmission and the Palace have archives on them. No one can wrong you about this.
But you fucking have no idea what these things you're proposing mean to the Ming Dynasty.
Can't you think about this properly? If the things you brought up weren't so far-reaching, why would Emperor Zhu have kept withholding your memorials and refusing to respond?
Now that I'm all ready to have a frank and open talk with you, you, Yang the Madman, are just shifting the blame back onto me! You're utterly inhuman!
After cursing Magistrate Yang in his mind for a long time, Li Shanchang finally said with a forced smile, "We can talk about the progressive tax rate and the royal land system later. Right now, the most important thing is how to persuade the people to migrate to the north."
Magistrate Yang felt a sudden tightness in his chest.
This wasn't the first time Li Shanchang had mentioned relocating people to the north.
In other words, Emperor Zhu and Li Shanchang genuinely wanted to relocate large numbers of people from Jiangnan to the north.
Then the problem is coming.
Since Emperor Zhu had already established his capital in Nanjing, why was he so focused on relocating people to the north?
Has this old Deng already noticed that something is wrong with the gentry of Jiangnan?
Or has he already had other ideas?
After a long silence, Magistrate Yang finally spoke, saying, "I am but a lowly magistrate with a narrow perspective and limited knowledge. I can only offer my opinion on the question posed by Lord Li from my own point of view. If there is anything wrong with my answer, I hope Lord Li will forgive me."
Upon hearing what Magistrate Yang said, Li Shanchang immediately perked up.
Magistrate Yang continued, "As the saying goes, 'All the world's hustle and bustle is for profit.' If there is profit to be made, the people will naturally be willing to move to the north. If there is no profit to be made, the people will naturally not be willing to move."
Li Shanchang nodded and said, "The Prince Consort is right. However, the North is sparsely populated now. Besides land, what benefits are there to attract people to move there?"
Magistrate Yang was slightly taken aback, and for a moment he didn't know whether Li Shanchang was deliberately putting on an act or he really didn't know what benefits the North had that could attract the people.
In Yang Daxian’s view, there were too many places in the north that could attract people to migrate, and it would not be difficult to implement household registration reform and salt administration reform in Jiangnan.
After a moment's thought, Magistrate Yang said, "If we rely solely on land, it's impossible to attract the people of Jiangnan to voluntarily move to the north. After all, as Lord Li just mentioned, with the news of the progressive tax rate and the royal land system spreading, many gentry in Jiangnan are now willing to release their land."
"However, if we first try to unify household registration in Ningyang County or Shandong and promote primary schools, it may attract people to migrate voluntarily. And it's not just ordinary people, after all, there are not only civilian households in Jiangnan, but also artisan households, military households and many other different types of households."
To put it bluntly, the goal was to show the people of Jiangnan the benefits of the relocation, such as receiving land, being free from the limitations of their household registration and being able to do other things, and giving their children the opportunity to study and take the imperial examinations.
If a single benefit isn't attractive enough, then add a few more.