Harry Potter Morning Light

Chapter 2146 Flower Controversy (54)
After the American War, the United States was born, and with it came a huge war debt.

Louis XVI adopted the method of increasing taxes to fill the deficit caused by the war, but the ships from New England returned home with goods such as pepper and silk.

Free competition can improve production efficiency, so the merchant ships from the two New England cities give people the feeling that they come from two countries. Can be self-sufficient.

During the reign of Emperor Wanli, there were three large-scale wars: the northwestern and southwestern frontiers of the Ming Dynasty, and the Korean War.

These three wars played a big role in consolidating China’s territory and maintaining the dominant position of the Ming Dynasty in East Asia. However, Nick believed that the consumption of these wars was also huge, and Wanli would also face the problem of war deficit after the war.

The easiest way is to print banknotes, but the banknotes at that time were not trusted by the market.The next step is to expand foreign trade.The Ming Dynasty implemented the sea ban policy, but it was loose and tight. The Jiajing Dynasty had the strictest sea ban, and it was relaxed in the Wanli period, even though Japanese pirates were still rampant at that time.The third is taxation. Emperor Wanli sent eunuchs to collect mining taxes, which is called a tyranny of the people. Not only Yang Rong, but also mine envoys in other places caused civil uprisings. Therefore, the court was divided into those who supported the collection of mining taxes and opposed the collection. Mining tax, and even some eunuchs are on the side of opposing the mining tax.

There are many people who don't like these intersex people, but many of them are poor people.However, the financial situation at that time was difficult to cut taxes as the censor said, or to suspend taxes as Chen Yongbin said.

In the 30th year of Wanli, just after the crown prince's wedding, the emperor fell ill. The illness came so suddenly that the Wanli emperor began to think wildly, thinking that he would die soon, so he gathered the ministers together, wrote the will, and Arranged for the minister of Tuogu.

After all this was arranged, Wanli mentioned the matter of mining tax: from now on, it can be stopped together with Jiangnan weaving and Jiangxi pottery. And the officials who were demoted will also be restored to their original posts, and will be made up for the officials in the matter and the censor.

It is undeniable that in addition to military expenditures, the extravagance and waste of the emperor's private life also caused financial burdens, such as his alchemy and palace and Taoist temples.

But four hours later, the situation changed dramatically. Because Emperor Wanli recovered from his illness, he regretted issuing such a will and planned to take it back.

"One word from a gentleman is hard to follow", and the emperor "has no jokes", and the edicts are rarely changed. It is said that after receiving the news that the emperor wanted to get back the edicts, the eunuchs who were in charge of ceremonies risked their lives to persuade them. He was almost slashed with a knife by the emperor recovering from a serious illness.

The ministers at that time planned to create "established facts" and promulgate the edict, and only needed the eunuchs to delay the emperor for a while.

There are two ways of edicts: handwriting and printing. Handwritten edicts are called "transcription yellow", while block-printed edicts are called "tuohuang".Both handwriting and printing took time, but the eunuch did not withstand the pressure of the emperor after all.Although Emperor Wanli had not been in court for 30 years, he was not an emperor who did not think about making progress. No matter how powerful the eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty were at that time, they did not dare to hold the emperor hostage like the ten permanent attendants of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

In the end, Emperor Wanli chose to implement most of the edicts, but no longer mentioned the matter of stopping the mining tax.In the early days of Emperor Wanli's ascension to the throne, the government was handled by his mother and the chief assistant of the cabinet, Zhang Juzheng. After Zhang Juzheng implemented the "one-whip law", the taxation of the Ming Dynasty was mainly converted to silver in kind and corvee. It was precisely because of the large amount of silver income that the At the beginning of the Wanli Dynasty, there was a short-term prosperity.

A whip law has passed the head of the village, and the county magistrate is directly responsible for collecting taxes. This is not only a tax reform, but also a social structural reform.Originally, the role of county-level administrative officials was of an auxiliary nature. They mainly supervised whether the Lijia in the jurisdiction was fulfilling its obligations smoothly.Lijia internally implements a rotation system. Other than that, it is similar to the work of the lord. It is responsible for promulgating state decrees, resolving internal disputes in Lijia, maintaining the order of "rituals", organizing labor obligations, dredging waterways, building dams, resting cultivated land and other activities. , to ensure the production base.

After the implementation of the One Whip Law, not only did the residents convert their taxes into silver and hand them over to the county magistrate, but from the perspective of the common people, the county magistrate had the responsibility to protect his own life and various undertakings. Difficulties, the responsibility should be borne by the county magistrate.In order to complete their term of office smoothly and without major mistakes, county officials need to take the lead in preparing the production base, that is, dredging waterways, building dams, resting cultivated land and other activities that were originally in charge of by the village head.

After the importance of county-level administration in society increases, the existence of people who give advice to county administration and represent various interests in the region becomes more important.Many local officials are not familiar with the local situation after they arrive, and they need people who are familiar with the situation. These people act as middlemen between the local society and the county administration. These local elites are called squires.

The gentry could not enforce the national law, but it was the center of the patriarchal system. Through the patriarchal system and patriarchal order, the gentry exercised autonomy to a certain extent.The country gentry is often composed of a group of people who have social influence in the countryside, such as those who have not been appointed by the imperial examination, those who have fallen into the ranks, relatively well-educated small and medium-sized landlords, retired officials, and clan elders.

This phenomenon naturally brewed with the disintegration of the household system and the beginning of social changes. County officials need squires to manage the county, and squires also need county officials to support some of their actions. Therefore, local societies have emerged to win over local officials. Case.

The Qing Dynasty followed a whip method of the Ming Dynasty and made some reforms, so the social phenomenon produced in the Ming Dynasty also continued to the Qing Dynasty.

After the death of Wanli, most of the contents of Yiyi whip method and Zhang Juzheng's reform were abolished until the Qing Dynasty reactivated it.Not all the taxes collected were silver, but also [-]% copper, but the problem of "fire consumption" was still serious, so that Emperor Yongzheng issued an order of "returning fire consumption to the public".

Perhaps because of the difficulty of his accession to the throne, starting from Emperor Yongzheng, the imperial edicts of the Qing emperors were placed behind the upright and bright plaque of the Qianqing Palace. Check with the emperor's secret collection of edicts, and after confirming the same, announce the heir to the throne.

At the same time, Yongzheng implemented policies such as "one gentry, one errand, one pays food", which greatly filled the treasury and left a solid family fortune for Emperor Qianlong.

The story about "Yongzheng's Last Edict" was published in a Russian magazine in 1770. For some reason, Queen Catherine was offended and the magazine was suspended. Legend has it that the two emperors had a good relationship.

In fact, on Mazu's birthday, "The Peony Pavilion" performed in the Admiral's Mansion was once banned, as well as Wang Shizhen's "Ming Feng Ji", Hong Sheng's "The West Chamber", Kong Shangren's "Peach Blossom Fan" and so on.Emperor Qianlong believed that it was not a romantic affair between a gifted scholar and a beautiful woman, but a plot full of flirting and flirting between men and women, which was enough to inspire bad thoughts and poison the hearts of underage audiences, so it should be banned.

"puff!"

Georgiana was drinking. She had been studying for so long, and her mouth was already dry. The plot that Bonaparte read made her almost spit out the wine.

He pretended not to see it and continued reading.

But the royal family seems not to be afraid of pollution. This kind of drama is still being performed, but of course the content has been purified. The emperor has put forward opinions on the content of the script, singing, acting skills, tunes, facial makeup, and props. Encouraging security and being loyal to the country are the main points, and the drama of the Three Kingdoms is even more attributed to the unification of the Three Kingdoms and the peace of the world.

After the modification, it would take ten days to complete the performance of a big play from beginning to end.Nick would not spend ten days watching such a "big drama", he would rather read ten volumes of "Three Kingdoms".

Cao Xi sent someone to return Nick's album and books to him. Maybe he had checked them in detail and found nothing wrong.

Not to mention Cao Xi, Nick himself felt that the way the note appeared in his room was weird.

Peasants are easily deceived by "supernatural powers" such as "spreading beans into soldiers" and "invulnerability", and believe in various magical folk remedies, but the bureaucratic class will not believe in such "superstitions". Not only did Confucius say "respect ghosts and gods and stay away Zhi", "The son does not talk about strange power and chaos".

If it is indeed God's will to stop the mining tax, the British landed in the New World at about the same time.

It is a pity that all this can only stay on the assumption, because the emperor repented and he retracted his edict.

As it is written in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: It is easy to move forward, but difficult to move backward.

This sentence means that it is easy to act in accordance with public opinion, but it is difficult to act against public opinion.

The 30th year of Wanli happened to be the time when the people couldn't bear it anymore and burned the tax factory in Yunnan. If the "legacy" of Emperor Wanli was sent to Yang Rong, he would be transferred away, and thousands of people would not all be tortured to death. up.

Bonaparte was silent.

"I don't think he's all right in his last point," Georgiana said. "But I think 'hard to chase' is true."

He looked at her.

"Integrity, my lion, you can't be the same as Emperor Wanli in some problems."

"You believe it was his promise to God that made him well?" asked Bonaparte.

"Do you believe?"

"If I believed that, I would believe what the Pope said about St. Peter's wrath," he said grimly.

Georgiana snatched the book from him, muttering "Merlin's beard, I wish it was Pride and Prejudice."

"what is that?"

"A 'simple' love story!" she grumbled. "Why doesn't a Frenchman write about romantic love?"

He smiled, kissed her on the forehead, then got up to bring the wine and filled it up for her again.

Accompanied by the sound of running water, Georgiana continued to read aloud, and it didn't take long for her to notice an orange light, which turned out to be him who had lit the candle.

She glanced out the window, it turned out that it was so dark, no wonder she struggled so much to read just now.

(End of this chapter)