Chapter 154 Who is in favor and who is against
Given Chongzhen's character, he would have been captured and cut into pieces by the Embroidered Uniform Guards long ago.

But even so, Chongzhen still couldn't be happy about Qian Qianyi, a man who surrendered and then rebelled without any integrity.

However, although he did not understand, Qian Qianyi immediately put aside his doubts and concluded: "I think that the so-called land tax distribution is nothing but a competition with the people for profit. Our dynasty is people-oriented. Isn't it a loss of benevolence to compete with the people for profit?"

Qian Qianyi said this with great passion. If ignorant women and children were standing here, they might even applaud Qian Qianyi's words.

However, Qian Qianyi did not expect that Chongzhen's face suddenly changed. He glared at Qian Qianyi fiercely and accused him, "Asshole, you are making far-fetched and specious arguments!"

"You are an editor of the Imperial Academy, but you deliberately misinterpreted the classics!"

None of the officials expected that Chongzhen would refute it in this way.

After all, Qian Qianyi was a famous literary figure in Jiangnan. He was well-versed in the Confucian classics, history, and the Four Books and Five Classics. He was not only extremely talented, but also well-read. Yet, he was scolded by the current emperor in the Golden Palace as a bastard who made far-fetched claims and deliberately misinterpreted the classics!
Regardless of whether Chongzhen was right or wrong, today's remarks will surely become strong evidence for those who are at odds with Qian Qianyi to attack him.

Perhaps there will be people in the literary world who will speak up for him, but if these words spread among the people, they will become ironclad evidence.

After all, ordinary people in the market don’t care about so many things. But when they hear that even the emperor himself says that you are a far-fetched bastard, how can it be false?

In just a moment, Qian Qianyi's face turned red, but he forced himself to suppress his emotions, staring at the ground with wide eyes without saying a word.

Chongzhen sneered and said, "Do you feel that I have wronged you and feel aggrieved?"

"Okay, I'll tell you, I'm justified in scolding you!"

Upon hearing this, Qian Qianyi raised his chin slightly with some dissatisfaction and looked at Chongzhen's chest.

Chongzhen sneered and continued, "Since you said that the court should not compete with the people for profit, then you should also know that the saying "not competing with the people for profit" comes from "Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Honest Officials". Those who receive salary should not compete with the people for profit, and those who receive great things should not take small things!"

"Han Confucian Dong Zhongshu also said that the family that receives the salary should only eat the salary and not compete with the people for the business. Only then can the benefits be evenly distributed and the people can have enough food and clothing. This is the principle of heaven and also the way of ancient times."

"Whether it is the "Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Officials Who Follow the Rules" or the words of the Han Confucian Dong Zhongshu, the original intention is that officials have already received salaries from the court and have enjoyed great benefits, so they should not compete with the people for small profits. It warns future generations that officials and even their family members, since there are already people serving in the court and enjoying salaries, should not enclose land for business and compete with the people for small profits."

"Since you keep saying that the court should not compete with the people for profits, then I would like to ask you, does your family own any land, forests, or businesses?"

Every word of Chongzhen's speech was thought-provoking and completely refuted Qian Qianyi's reasons for opposition!
Not only did he quote classics to explain the original meaning, but he also used one's own spear to attack the other's shield, directly questioning whether Qian Qianyi's family had any land and whether there was anyone in his family doing business.

Chongzhen also had some understanding of Qian Qianyi. He knew that he came from a scholarly family in Jiangnan.

Although they cannot be called wealthy, such scholarly families must generally own a lot of land, otherwise it would be difficult to maintain their seemingly glamorous life.

It is even normal for someone in the family to be engaged in business.

Then according to Qian Qianyi's view that "you should not compete with the people for profits", if the Qian family only had a dozen or twenty acres of land, it would be fine for their own use, but once they had more land and became landlords, wouldn't that violate his own views? Not to mention, if anyone paid attention, they would definitely find that someone in the Qian family was doing business. According to the views of ancient Confucian scholars, isn't this also a clear case of competing with the people for profits?

It turns out that you, Qian Qianyi, are always talking about benevolence, righteousness, and morality in the Thatched Cottage, and act like a gentleman, but behind the scenes you are actually doing the exact opposite, like a thief and a prostitute!
Qian Qianyi opened his mouth, his face, which had turned red with anger, turned pale in an instant, and he couldn't say anything to refute for a long time.

Upon seeing this, many officials who held the same opinion as Qian Qianyi shut up obediently, for fear that Emperor Chongzhen would walk up to them and ask them, "Tell me your reason for rebuttal in one sentence." That would be extremely embarrassing.

Seeing Qian Qianyi speechless, Chongzhen glanced at the cultural relics and officials, feeling as if he was looking down on the world.

Chongzhen strode back to the throne, sat down again and said, "Abolish the Liao tax and implement the method of equalizing the land tax. Who is in favor and who is against it?"

At this time, all the officials had experienced Chongzhen's power, so how could they dare to stand up and oppose him? The main reason was that they could not argue with Chongzhen. After all, the emperor had absolute superiority in both power and morality.

Both the pragmatic Bi Ziyan and the moralist Qian Qianyi were convinced by Chongzhen's words. When the others questioned whether they had the stance and eloquence of these two men, they all seemed to keep their heads down and remain silent.

Chongzhen suppressed his excitement. He quite enjoyed the feeling of debating with a group of scholars, but business was more important at the moment.

He looked at Shi Fenglai who was also shocked. Shi Fenglai immediately understood and stood up with a proud look on his face. He announced loudly: "Since my colleagues have no objection, I declare that the court has unanimously passed it!"

"Announce to the world on this auspicious day, abolish Liao military pay, and implement the law of equalizing land tax!"

After that, he and several cabinet ministers knelt down before Chongzhen, shouting "Your Majesty is wise!"

The other officials looked at each other in bewilderment, and, led by Bi Ziyan, knelt down and shouted, "Your Majesty is wise!"

As the news of abolishing Liao taxes and the land tax quickly spread throughout the heartland of the Ming Dynasty, people everywhere shouted to the emperor that he was wise.

Perhaps the policy of allocating land tax to each household is difficult to understand for ordinary people in the market and farmers who have lived in mountain villages for a long time, but the news of abolishing the Liao salary and no longer levying additional taxes is so clear that no one needs to explain it to them and everyone can understand it at a glance.

Although the Liao salary allocated to each acre of land was only nine cents, which seemed not much, it should be understood that this was an additional surcharge on top of the normal taxes.

If a farmer has ten acres of land, he will need to pay an additional nine cents of silver in Liao tax every year on top of the original tax.

At that time, the average annual income of a peasant family was only eight taels of silver.

This is equivalent to taking away one-eighth of the people’s annual income, and this is only the apparent income.

In fact, when it came to the hands of local officials, the local clerks levied heavy taxes and imposed additional levies, and the nine cents stipulated by the court was often more than doubled.

For that acre of land, one tael and eight cents of silver would be required as tax, which was almost a quarter of the annual income.

(End of this chapter)