Glancing at Xu Wenchang, Zhu Yijun smiled and asked, "Do you think it's inappropriate?"
"I think it's inappropriate!"
Xu Wenchang looked respectfully at Zhu Yijun and said, "The Scholar's Silver is very important. Everyone in the world is waiting to see what His Majesty will do. I originally thought that His Majesty would implement the Scholar's Silver in Daxing County first."
"His Majesty has established the Tax Bureau, but where will the people come from?
Who will collect taxes? "
"Let the scholars collect their own taxes. There are too many things that can be manipulated. Although the imperial court has the Fish Scale Register, the imperial court only looks at the amount of taxes. It's hard for the imperial court to know how the taxes are collected, who collects them, and who collects them."
"There are all sorts of stalls running amok in the local areas. Add to that the fire consumption and such, there will be problems."
"If the gentry colludes with the government, collecting less from the gentry means collecting more from the commoners. This will disturb the foundation of the Daming.
Once the commoners are forced into a corner, there will be trouble. "
Zhu Yijun looked at Xu Wenchang. Could he say that Xu Wenchang was indeed Xu Wenchang?
He was really impressive!
He looked at the essence of the problem. In reality, would the local officials collude with the gentry?
There was no need to think about it. They would definitely collude.
In this era, without the support of the local gentry, the officials could not even continue to be officials.
How did the Wanli Emperor's mining supervisor die? He was beaten to death.
Glancing at Xu Wenchang, Zhu Yijun asked directly, "What do you think?"
"I think this should be carried out slowly. Starting with Daxing County, we can try it out for a year or two. Then, we can fill in the gaps. If there are any problems, we can solve them in time.
When the time is ripe, we can introduce it to the prefectures and provinces. "
"The Daming of two capitals and thirteen provinces can be completed within ten years."
Ten years!
Zhu Yijun looked at Xu Wenchang. If he only wanted to introduce the Scholar's Silver, he could use these ten years to do this. However, he could not wait for ten years.
How was he supposed to do other things if he had to push for ten years just for a single cultivation silver?
The key was that he needed the support of money for his future reforms. He needed a stable financial income.
The salt policy and the land tax were his most stable sources of income in the early stage. Without the support of these two sources of income, his subsequent reforms would simply be empty talk.
There were many things that couldn't be said or done.
"I'm leaving the palace tomorrow. Come with me!" Zhu Yijun muttered to himself for a moment as he looked at Xu Wenchang.
Xu Wenchang was stunned. He didn't know what Zhu Yijun was up to, but he could see that the Emperor didn't want to say anything, so he could only bow and say, "This subject obeys!"
After Xu Wenchang left, Zhu Yijun sighed helplessly.
Although peaceful reforms were what he pursued, sometimes violent methods were more effective.
The next morning, Xu Wenchang came early with Hai Rui. Zhu Yijun didn't expect Xu Wenchang to call Hai Rui over.
However, looking at Xu Wenchang's expression, it should be Hai Rui who insisted on coming.
Zhu Yijun didn't say anything. He changed his clothes and left with Chen Ju and the guards.
Outside the door, Wang Yongji also came. Zhu Yijun smiled and said to the three of them, "Today, I will take you to see the Daming Tax Department."
The carriage went out of the palace gate, passed through a few streets, and finally stopped in front of a large courtyard in the east of the city.
After everyone got off the carriage, they looked at the scene in front of them in a daze.
There were people standing guard at the entrance of the courtyard. Their attire was different from that of the other yamen gatekeepers. The gatekeepers here looked more like soldiers.
However, they didn't wear armor, and their clothes were more like that of yamen laborers.
However, their demeanor didn't look like yamen laborers.
The sabers on their waists looked very sophisticated, and they were all the same. It was clearly a military standard.
The clothes of the four gatekeepers were similar to yamen laborers. They wore black hats and thin soled boots. However, their clothes didn't have the word "laborer" written on it. Instead, it had the word "tax" written on it. It looked a bit strange.
"These are tax laborers." Zhu Yijun looked at the four people and said.
Chen Ju walked over at this time and showed his waist tag to the other party. Only then did the tax laborers run in to report.
Not long after, a middle-aged fat man walked out. He wore a green official robe with a silver pheasant embroidered on the chest. Everyone knew at a glance that this was a fifth-rank civil official. Was he from the Tax Department?
"This subject, Minister Lu He of the Tax Department, greets Your Majesty, greets Your Excellency!"
Zhu Yijun nodded, then opened his mouth and said, "Call everyone in the Tax Department to the main hall. Today is the day that your Deputy of the Tax Department arrives!"
As he said this, Zhu Yijun pointed at Wang Yongji and said, "Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, in charge of the Tax Department, Wang Yongji, you."
"This lowly official Lu He greets Deputy Wang!" Lu He hurriedly came to Wang Yongji's side and said respectfully.
Wang Yongji nodded and said with a smile, "Minister Lu, you may dispense with the formalities!"
Not only Wang Yongji, but Hai Rui and Xu Wenchang were also dumbfounded. Where did this Lu He come from? Why was there suddenly a Tax Department yamen?
Looking at the plaque of the Tax Department yamen, they all recognized it. It was personally inscribed by Zhu Yijun.
The two divine beasts at the side were two Pi Xiu. Did this mean that they only ate and didn't poop?
"Alright, let's go in!"
Zhu Yijun smiled and interrupted the gazes of these people, then walked into the Tax Department yamen.
In fact, this was Zhu Yijun's first time here. He found that this place was really big.
When he came to the main hall, there were already many people waiting. When they saw Zhu Yijun walk in, they all knelt on the ground.
Zhu Yijun walked to the main seat and sat down. Then he looked at the people below and said, "No need for formalities, please rise!"
"We have come to the Tax Department today mainly to deliver your deputy." Saying this, Zhu Yijun had Chen Ju read the imperial edict again.
In fact, this was an imperial edict conferring the title of Wang Yongji. It could also be considered an official appointment.
"Tell me your position, then tell me what you do. It can also be considered that you are acquainted with the king."
At this time, a civil official standing on the left took a step forward. He wore a dark red official robe with a cloud goose embroidered on the chest. This was a fourth rank civil official.
He respectfully bowed to Zhu Yijun and then began to introduce himself.
"This lowly official Shang Hong, I am the registrar of the Tax Department and am in charge of the Tax Department's accounts and documents."
After Shang Hong retreated, another civil official wearing a dark red official robe walked out. "This lowly official Qi Baisheng, I am the warehouse manager of the Tax Department and am in charge of all storage matters."
"This lowly official Zhang Li, I am the transport envoy of the Tax Department and am in charge of all transportation matters."
After the three officials, a person who was clearly dressed differently stood out. This was because he wore a flying fish robe.
He didn't wear much of this thing. He stood up and said, "This lowly official Liao Changting, I am the inspector of the Tax Department."
"I am in charge of all tax servants in the Tax Department."
After these four people, a dozen more people came out and introduced themselves. They were basically all doctors of various departments, including Lu He from the Archives Department.
The entire yamen structure was very complete and the scale was also very large.
Wang Yongji glanced at Hai Rui, and Hai Rui glanced at Xu Wenchang. The three of them didn't understand what was going on.
"After the Daming's Tax Department is established, the two capitals and thirteen provinces' tax departments will soon be established as well. The tax departments of each province will be under the jurisdiction of the Daming's Tax Department.
We have already prepared the manpower. Once the Ministry of Revenue hands over the tax matters, we can begin. "
"There aren't many tax servants in the various regions for now, but it doesn't matter. We will have a portion of the Imperial Bodyguard become tax servants."
"Other than the provinces, each prefecture and county will also have a tax department. The entire tax department will be spread all over the world and will be in charge of collecting taxes.
From now on, the Daming's local yamen will no longer have the authority to collect taxes. All taxes will be collected by the Tax Department. "
"The government will divide the expenses of each level of yamen into high, middle, and low grades and allocate them from the annual tax revenue. This is called withholding."
"If money is needed in an important matter, you can submit a memorial to the government, and the government will allocate the funds separately.
The funds will be used for specific purposes, and the government will send people to monitor the expenditure of the money. If there is any corruption, it will be severely punished. "
Hearing Zhu Yijun's words, the three of them were stunned. The emperor had already prepared for this long ago, but where would this manpower come from?
Zhu Yijun knew himself well. He had prepared for this for ten years. He had spent ten years investing in two organizations. One was Chen Ju's military bureau, and the other was Xu De's internal affairs bureau.
He had thrown a large sum of money into it, so it was time to see results.
For example, Liao Changting, who had just spoken, was the number three of the internal affairs bureau's Shun Tian Fu.
Many of the others present were his subordinates from Wu Qingbo and Li Wei's side.
Ten years was enough time for him to train a group of skilled people. They were very familiar with accounting, farming, and business.
Many of them were businessmen who had traveled far and wide. They were definitely rare talents.
Back then, he had sent a group of young eunuchs to Wu Qingbo's business. In addition to supervising the finances, they were also responsible for nurturing talents.
Half of the accountants from Wu Qingbo's accounting school would come to his side every year. Adding on the training school from the inner factory, a few hundred people would be thrown into it every year. In ten years, he had accumulated quite a sizable amount of manpower.
Although it was unrealistic to arrange for all of them to be his own people, it was not a problem to use his own people as the framework to form a tax department.
For the lack of manpower, Zhu Yijun was prepared to transfer from the Imperial Bodyguard in the various regions. These Imperial Bodyguards were local tyrants and controlled a lot of resources.
Transferring a group of people from among them into the Tax Division was also more than suitable.
Currently, the internal affairs bureau's manpower was spread all over Daming, with the provincial capital as the center and the prefectural capital as the surface. If it wasn't in remote areas, it had already spread to the county towns.
A few days ago, he had asked Xu De to split up the internal affairs bureau. A portion of it would be transferred to the tax department, such as the current Liao Changting.
He had worked in the internal affairs bureau for many years, so it was absolutely suitable for him to transfer to the tax department.
After all, these people were very familiar with the local area, and even knew many of the local gentry's dirty deeds. Once someone caused trouble, they could bring out the evidence of their crimes. There was no need to frame them or waste effort to convict them.