"Abolishing the exemption of gentry is a feasible strategy. Nowadays, most of the people with land are gentry, so the amount of exemption is huge. If the exemption is cancelled, and officials and gentry will be allowed to pay grain together as a whole, it will at least increase the annual tax of more than 20 million stones of grain. It is currently enough to raise one million elite soldiers, but the expenses of the court are increasing. The salaries of the vassals and officials, the subsidies of the scholars, and the pensions of veterans, are increasing these large expenses. It is unknown whether they are sufficient in the future."

Cabinet Minister Xu Guangqi said first at this time.

His family was the first person to cooperate with the emperor to operate official industries. Like Fang Congzhe, he didn't care about how the court collected taxes, because most of the official industries they cooperated with the emperor had already belonged to the court.

As for the matter of officials and gentry paying food together, Xu Guangqi, a merchant family, had no feeling of being cut by himself.

Therefore, he expressed his support for the policy of collecting food in one's own and gentry.

However, as an important official of the court, Xu Guangqi was in his position and had to do his own affairs, so he would naturally think about the necessity of "officials and gentry paying food together" at the national level. Therefore, if he continued to say "officials and gentry paying food together" and it would be difficult for the court's annual tax to continue to increase. He did not expect to take care of Fang Congzhe's face and only said the good side of "officials and gentry paying food together".

"If it is enough, it's better to directly increase the commercial tax!"

But Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Revenue, said in a shocking manner.

Zhu Youxiao and other important officials all looked up at him.

Bi Ziyan was a major bureaucratic landlord from Shandong. Except for his own minister, his brother and others in the clan were all officials in the court and even served as important positions in the governor.

Although the powerful and noble gentry of the Ming Dynasty were both landlords and wealthy businessmen.

However, due to the differences in geo-economics, there are also biases. Families like Bi Ziyan are more of traditional landlords, with their main economic income or agriculture, and their proportion of commerce is not large.

Therefore, Bi Ziyan was more willing to let the court directly increase the commercial tax.

"The court's commercial taxes and tariffs have been increasing, and the increase is much faster than the land tax! The abolishment of the exemption of gentry is no different from the additional land tax. It can only solve the temporary gain, and it cannot allow the court's annual tax to continue to increase. Only if the commercial tax can be increased, it will become the main tax of the court. In the future, as long as the business goes, the annual tax of the Ming Dynasty will increase because of where the business goes!"

Bi Ziyan continued.

"Where is a good trader, the annual fu of the Ming Dynasty will increase because of where it goes!"

The emperor Zhu Youxiao was a little moved when he heard this.

But to achieve this goal, strong force is needed.

The Ming Dynasty is now the most productive country in the world.

The huge population base and the accumulation of agricultural civilization for thousands of years have made many skilled craftsmen and the goods produced are of high quality and low price.

There is an absolute advantage in the whole world.

But the rulers of other countries are not fools, so they will naturally engage in trade wars, prohibit the Ming Dynasty from communicating with trade, and change the form of the trade deficit with the Ming Dynasty.

This requires the Ming Dynasty to have enough strong ships and cannons to go there before it can trade.

In this way, the Ming Dynasty still needed to use money to support more elite soldiers from the sea and land.

Zhu Youxiao felt that Fang Congzhe’s proposal was good. He could first pay grain together with officials and gentry, and first use the money and grain collected from officials and gentry to raise the troops. After so many soldiers were raised, the collection of commercial taxes was not a problem. It was not a problem to expand the market for foreign trade in the Ming Dynasty and increase commercial profits.

However, what Bi Ziyan said was that the official and gentry paid food together was equivalent to adding annual taxes in disguise, so he had to think about it carefully.

Once the gentry exemption is cancelled, it is indeed equivalent to levying land taxes to the gentry, and the gentry will naturally transfer the debt to the tenant farmers, forcing the tenant farmers to pay higher land rent, causing the tenant farmers to reduce the economic income.

It is obvious that officials and gentry paid food together, that is, the exemption of gentry exemption was cancelled. In the past, tenants who relied on paying taxes by offering land to gentry were most seriously damaged.

They either forced their gentry to rebel together or they could only pay for their choice to evade state taxes.

In this way, the joint payment of food by officials and gentry can inhibit investment and mergers, and at least it will no longer allow self-cultivated farmers to actively contribute to the gentry's large households as slaves, which will help change the social structure, encourage more free people to appear, and reduce serfs.

Zhu Youxiao made up his mind and said, "I will discuss the matter of commercial taxation in the future, and continue to talk about the matter of paying food together by officials and gentry."

Seeing this, the second assistant Han, who had recovered from the serious illness, guessed the emperor's meaning. He was always silent and hurriedly bowed with the Xianghu and said, "Your Majesty! I believe that the government and gentry are not only practical and practical, but also good governance! Studying and becoming an official is to serve the king and help the people and the country, but it is not appropriate to do so. It is natural for the sake of receiving taxes for the country. Kings, princes, generals, scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, all should have this enlightenment!"

After Han Yu finished speaking, he stood there without moving.

But Zhu Youxiao and the ministers were silent next.

The atmosphere seemed a little awkward.

Zhu Youxiao was an emperor who was determined to reform. Naturally, those who gathered around him were capable ministers who were determined to reform. Even if they had the ability to change their minds, they still had their own political opinions. Ministers like Han Du who just wanted to kowtow more and talk less, and who followed the emperor's wishes, seemed a little out of place with other ministers present.

Fang Congzhe smiled because of this.

Like Han Yu, he only acted with the will of the emperor and spoke according to the emperor's wishes, but what he was more clever than Han Yu was that he knew to put forward some constructive opinions that surprised the emperor but would be happy.

When it comes to be liked by the emperor, Han Yu is indeed not as good as Fang Congzhe.

And when it comes to trying to please the ministers, Han Yu didn't seem to be as good as before.

Bi Ziyan looked at Han Du angrily at this time.

Because he wanted to encourage the emperor more about commercial taxation, Han Yu couldn't wait to express his support for the joint payment of food by officials and gentry, and he had never thought about the future tax reform.

"A silly meal!"

Bi Ziyan cursed secretly because of this.

Yuan Keli, who had just finished rectifying the Beijing camp for the emperor, also glanced at Han Yu with a complicated expression. He remembered that Han Yu had his own opinions in the past. At that time, when the Donglin Party was controlling the court, the reason why Han Yu was promoted to the court was because he dared to compete with the emperor.

"It's like this now!"

Yuan Keli thought to himself.

Then, Yuan Keli also expressed his opinion: "Your Majesty! In my opinion, officials and gentry can implement the food collection together, which can suppress the local tyrants, but it will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the gentry and even tenant farmers, or some extremes, so there will be trouble. Therefore, I believe that if this policy is really to be implemented, the court should act in one go and not give up halfway, otherwise it will completely lose the prestige of the court. I suggest that the ability of the Western Factory to collect taxes, and allow the army in the world to compete and select the most powerful officers and soldiers to form the Western Factory, and add land taxes that should be exempted from being exempted from the gentry. In this way, once the gentry and tenant farmers have trouble, they can be suppressed directly!"

"Accurate! First, order the governors and generals of the nine border towns, the guards and brave guards of the capital, to select the strongest battalion of the town, gather in Liaodong for martial arts competitions, each sending troops to harass the Eastern Barbarians. Whoever kills the Eastern Barbarians will serve in the Western Factory! The code name of this competition is 'Liaodong Liting'."

Zhu Youxiao stood up and said.

He treated the Later Jin as a hunting ground.
Chapter completed!