People in Zongwu: Starting with the Yin Gui Sect

Chapter 323

Time entered June of the seventh year of Tianqi, and the Ningjin War, which lasted for a month, finally came to an end.

And Yuan Chonghuan won the victory as expected. He not only drove back the Jiannu led by Huang Taiji, but also beheaded more than 4,000 people with more than ten more artillery pieces than in the original time and space, which was nearly one-third more than in history.

Why can beheading only a few thousand people be called a great victory?

There is no way. Since the Battle of Sarhu in the 47th year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty has been losing to the Jiannu. Now it is hard to win a small victory, so it is natural to brag about it.

Only in this way can the morale be boosted as much as possible, so that all the soldiers feel that the Jiannu can be defeated and will die if they are cut by a knife.

Of course, the contribution of Mao Wenlong of Pidao is also indispensable. If he had not raided Shenyang, the old nest of Jiannu, from behind when Huang Taiji attacked Jinzhou, Huang Taiji would not have retreated so easily. Therefore, when Wu Yu rewarded the meritorious officials, he did not forget the soldiers of Pidao.

However, before the decree of reward reached Shanhaiguan, Yuan Chonghuan was criticized for negotiating peace with Jiannu privately, and was eventually forced to resign.

When Wu Yu heard the news, he was obviously stunned. He really didn't expect Yuan Chonghuan to do such a stupid thing as negotiating peace with Jiannu. Didn't he know that the Ming Dynasty and Jiannu had long been incompatible?

However, merits are merits and faults are faults. Although the other party has resigned from the post of Liaodong Governor, the reward should not be reduced. It's just that there are some changes in the imperial edict, and there is no mention of his promotion.

Shaking his head, putting Yuan Chonghuan's affairs behind him, Wu Yu simply put his energy on the reform.

The facts are the same as he proved. With the victory of the Ningjin victory, he brought a lot of prestige to the court and the people, so he planned to use the influence of the Ningjin victory to implement the first reform, which is actually not a reform but a restart, restarting the one-whip law implemented by Zhang Juzheng.

The taxation system of the Ming Dynasty was divided into two types, one was levy and the other was labor service.

Zhang Juzheng's "One Whip Law" combined the two, eliminating the complicated and cumbersome taxation system in the middle, and to a certain extent increased the taxation of the court while reducing the burden on the people.

But unfortunately, with the death of Zhang Juzheng, this "One Whip Law" was also abolished, and what Wu Yu has to do now is to restart this system.

Of course, this "One Whip Law" also has great limitations, so Wu Yu plans to wait until the time is ripe in the future, and then gradually improve it to the later "Dian Ding Ru Mu", but this kind of thing can't be rushed, it can only be done little by little.

But before he convened the cabinet to discuss, the Donglin Party members couldn't sit still, and they actually asked Wu Yu to issue an order to cancel the commercial tax.

Good guy, Wu Yu really called it good guy, originally he thought that the burden on the people was too heavy, so he reduced it a little, but the Donglin Party directly asked him to increase the agricultural tax and cancel the commercial tax, and also called it the court's collection of commercial taxes to compete with the people for profit.

What, so the merchants are civilians, and the farmers are not civilians? It is OK to impose agricultural taxes, but not commercial taxes.

To be honest, was the commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty high? Not only was it not high, but it was outrageously low, only 1% of the tax rate, which was much lower than the 1% of the agricultural tax rate.

But even with such a low commercial tax, those people were still not satisfied. In this case, don't blame him. Originally, he didn't plan to take action on the commercial tax so early, but now it seems that commercial tax reform is imperative.

Of course, he was angry, but Wu Yu did not immediately argue with the group of people, but directly invited Jinyiwei Commander Xu Xianchun and Dongchang Admiral Wei Zhongxian.

That's right, after being ignored by him for a few months, Wei Zhongxian was so obedient that he didn't need to be beaten during this period. Not only did he not let people call him Jiu Qiansui as before, but he also ordered people to demolish all the ancestral temples built by those officials to please her.

In addition, with the departure of Cui Chengxiu, Zhou Yingqiu and others, Wei Zhongxian's voice in the court has become as low as it can be, so Wu Yu doesn't have to worry about him doing anything when he uses him now.

"I, the commander of the Jinyiwei, Xu Xianchun, pay my respects to the emperor!"

"I, the old slave, the governor of the Dongchang, Wei Zhongxian, pay my respects to the emperor!"

Wu Yu nodded, without saying anything, and just threw a piece of information to the two of them to read.

The two were confused at first, but when they saw the information on it, their faces changed drastically.

Because it clearly stated that the eight major Shanxi merchants had sold countless grains, ironware, salt, and even Yu Jun's crossbows and armor to the Jiannu over the years. Each item and each transaction was enough to make them confiscate their property and exterminate their clan.

That's right, this is Wu Yu's way to fight against the Donglin Party this time. You Donglin Party don'tAre you saying that collecting business taxes is competing with the people for profits? Then let the whole world see how these profit-seeking businessmen do it.

"You have also seen the intelligence above. This is the purpose of my people letting you two enter the palace this time. Take down all these illegal businessmen who are betraying the country and harming the people.

Considering that these businessmen are in collusion with the local garrison, this time the Jinyiwei and the Dongchang will jointly act. If one of them is let go, I will take your heads as compensation!"

Wu Yu's words scared the two people, because they knew very well that the gentleman in front of them was the kind of person who would do what he said.

"Go, I'm waiting for good news from you two!"

Wu Yu also patted the shoulders of the two with both hands, indicating that they should get up and leave.

The two people felt as if they had been pardoned, and they crawled out of the Qianqing Palace.

"Big companion, how is the newspaper I asked you to start doing now?"

After sending Wei Zhongxian and the other two away, Wu Yu then asked Wang Chengen.

That's right, the newspaper company that Wu Yu asked Wang Chengen to build was for the purpose of printing newspapers. As a person of later generations, no one could understand the importance of public opinion better than him.

In this information-blocked ancient times, people only had two ways to get news: one was from restaurant guests or storytellers, and the other was from the court's official newspapers.

However, this official newspaper was generally used to transmit various court documents and politics, and only ordinary government agencies could see it, so the audience was very small.

What Wu Yu had to do was to improve it on this basis and change the original official newspaper into something similar to newspapers in later generations.

At that time, the official newspaper would be open to the whole society, and anyone could read it, and it didn't matter if they were illiterate. There would be a special person in each newsstand to read it aloud to the people around them.

Of course, if you don't want to squeeze in to read it, you can also buy a copy from the newsboy for one penny.

Since Wu Yu was planning to reform the Ming Dynasty, it was essential to seize public opinion. Moreover, he would issue an order after the newspaper came out. Except for the newspapers published by the court, all others were illegal and would be severely punished once discovered.

"Master, I have prepared all the newspapers you told me to start. I have even recruited 200 newspaper boys. Now I am waiting for your words. This is the first newspaper that has just been printed. Please take a look."

Wang Chengen handed a newly published newspaper to Wu Yu.

However, when Wu Yu saw the content of the print, he frowned.

"Master, what's wrong with you? Are you not satisfied with the content above?"

Wu Yu shook his head, "The content is good, but the title is not eye-catching enough, and the text is too difficult to understand."

"Eye-catching?"

Wang Chengen looked puzzled.

Wu Yu did not explain but asked him to lean closer and whispered a few words in his ear. The more Wang Chengen listened, the wider his mouth opened.

"Your Majesty, is it okay to write this title like this?"

"Don't worry, the original intention of our newspaper was to be read by the people. Most of the people can't read a single word, so even if you read it to them, they won't understand. In this case, it would be more practical to use plain language directly."