The people’s taxes are not increased, but the national treasury has doubled!
What a big tone! What an arrogant young man who speaks nonsense!
Li Mo and others did not believe Zhu Ping'an's statement that the people did not have to pay more taxes while the national treasury doubled. There were so many powerful people and great men in history who did not dare to say such things. Zhu Ping'an was just a teenager and dared to say such big words. He was really a newborn calf who was not afraid of tigers and spoke nonsense!
"Oh, my dear, are you saying that the people don't need to increase taxes, and the national treasury can be doubled?" Emperor Jiajing couldn't help but become interested when he heard Zhu Ping'an say that he came up with this so-called method of doubling the national treasury without increasing taxes on the people when he was checking the information on the maritime ban.
"Your Majesty, that's right." Zhu Ping'an nodded without hesitation.
"Your Majesty, what this person said is illogical and extremely wrong. I request that these people who talk nonsense be expelled from the palace to serve as a warning to others!" Li Mo really couldn't help it. He took two steps forward, bowed and saluted Emperor Jiajing, and his words were quite harsh.
"Why do you say that, my dear minister?" Emperor Jiajing asked calmly with no change in expression.
"Please allow me to argue." Li Mo bowed to Emperor Jiajing again, then turned around and strode towards Zhu Ping'an. Standing in front of Zhu Ping'an, he asked aggressively, "What you said is that if the people do not pay more taxes, the national treasury can double. Is that true or not?"
"Yes." Zhu Pingan nodded.
"Ridiculous! Big mistake!" Li Mo couldn't help but scold Zhu Ping'an upon hearing that. If Zhu Ping'an hadn't turned his face away in time, he would have been sprayed in the face by Li Mo's spit!
"The wealth and goods created by heaven and earth are limited to this number. If it's not the people, then it's the officials! If the people are taxed more, the country will be rich. If the people are taxed less, the national expenditure will be less! What you said is nothing but a disguised way of taxing the people, which is even more harmful than the traitors who cause chaos in the country! In the Western Han Dynasty, Sang Touhong once proposed this theory. If the people are not taxed more, the national expenditure will be sufficient. What's the point of banning private coinage and monopolizing salt and iron? It's nothing but a disguised way of exploiting the people's strength! Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it. If the people's strength is exhausted, the riots will surge and rebellions will continue!"
"You, a top scholar, don't think about serving the country, but become a traitor who disturbs the country. What is your intention?!"
Li Mo was furious, pointing at Zhu Ping'an and cursing him. He classified Zhu Ping'an as a traitor who had caused chaos in the country, and put him on the cross of a traitor, with thousands of feet stepping on him!
"What you said, my lord, is that the wealth and goods created by heaven and earth are limited to this number. If they are not in the hands of the people, then they are in the hands of the officials. I deeply agree with this." Zhu Ping'an seemed to be blind and deaf. He turned a deaf ear to Li Mo's angry attacks and insults. His tone was gentle and calm, which formed a sharp contrast with Li Mo's red face and thick neck.
"I don't need your flattery!"
Li Mo was deeply impressed by what Zhu Ping'an said to him, and he disagreed very much. He felt that Zhu Ping'an was too rude and shameless. After flattering the emperor, you flatter me. Go away, I won't fall for your tricks!
Hahaha..
The flattery has hit the horse's leg. Don't you know that our Lord Li is most disgusted by this kind of flattery in the workplace
Many officials laughed quietly after hearing what Li Mo said. They looked at Zhu Ping'an and thought that Zhu Ping'an was a big "idiot"! Even in such a situation, the people were not taxed and the national treasury doubled!
Under the laughter of the crowd and the contemptuous look of Li Mo, Zhu Pingan just shook his head and smiled, then bowed to Li Mo and said, "Your Excellency, you think too much. Pingan is just saying that what you just said, 'The wealth and goods created by heaven and earth are limited to this number, if not in the people, then in the officials', makes sense."
Li Mo's words mean that the wealth in the world is limited, and the wealth is either in the hands of the people or in the country. The implication is that if the country has money, it must be because the taxes on the people have increased, or the people have been exploited in disguise.
"I was overthinking. Haha, you said that what I said makes sense, but isn't it totally absurd that the people's taxes are not increased and the national treasury has doubled? Then you swore to Your Majesty that the people's taxes are not increased and the national treasury has doubled, isn't that deceiving the emperor, do you know your crime?!" Li Mo was very disdainful of Zhu Ping'an's answer. He seized the loophole in Zhu Ping'an's words, directly charged Zhu Ping'an with the crime of deceiving the emperor, and aggressively questioned Zhu Ping'an.
If it were an ordinary person, under the pressure of Li Mo's momentum, he would have surrendered long ago!
However, Zhu Pingan was not like that. Looking at the aggressive Li Mo, Zhu Pingan just shook his head gently, remaining very calm.
"What your Excellency said makes sense, and what Ping'an said also makes sense. I am loyal to Your Majesty, how dare I deceive you?" Zhu Ping'an said calmly, shaking his head.
"Ridiculous! If what I said makes sense, then you are talking nonsense!" Li Mo was furious.
"It's either this or that? Why can't it be both? Please forgive me for my rudeness, sir." Zhu Ping'an said calmly, and then bowed to Li Mo and said, "What you said, 'The wealth and goods created by heaven and earth are limited to this number. If it's not in the people, it's in the officials.' It makes sense, but it's also biased."
"Was what I said biased?" Li Mo laughed angrily.
"Please calm down, sir, and listen to my explanation. If what I say makes sense, please forgive me. If what I say is unreasonable, then I will apologize to Your Majesty." Zhu Ping'an bowed.
"I will just listen to you." Li Mo didn't even look at Zhu Ping'an.
"As for what is so-called reason, the highest good is like water. I will use water as an example. The wealth and goods produced by heaven and earth are limited to this number. If they are not in the people, then they are in the officials. If we compare rivers to the wealth and goods in the world, then we can compare the upper reaches to the officials and the lower reaches to the people. The amount of water in a river is constant. If there is more water in the upper reaches, there must be less water in the lower reaches. Therefore, what I say, your Excellency, is reasonable." Zhu Ping'an explained.
Humph, Li Mo snorted coldly, agreeing with what Zhu Pingan said.
"As for what is unreasonable, I will use water as an example. Rivers represent wealth and all kinds of things, the upper reaches represent officials, and the lower reaches represent the people. The basis for what you said is reasonable is that there is only one river. If there is another river nearby, and I introduce the water of another river into the upper reaches of the river we mentioned as an example, then the water in the upper reaches will increase, but the water in the lower reaches will not decrease. This is because the water of another river was introduced into the upper reaches of this river." Zhu Ping'an continued.
Huh
After hearing Zhu Ping'an's analogy, some officials couldn't help but let out a cry of sudden enlightenment. In the past, they only focused on one river and forgot about other nearby rivers. After hearing Zhu Ping'an's words, they felt as if they had suddenly realized something.
"You...are just quibbling." Li Mo snorted coldly and shook his sleeves vigorously.
"What I just said is that the people do not have to pay more taxes, but the national treasury doubles. This is the same reason. Why should we always focus on our Ming Dynasty? There are countless wealth outside of our Ming Dynasty. What I said is that we can not increase the taxes on the people, but introduce the wealth of other countries into our Ming Dynasty's treasury. In this way, wouldn't our Ming Dynasty's treasury double, but we don't have to increase taxes on the people."
Zhu Pingan stood there and watched Li Mo and the ministers talking, as if he also had some kind of halo around him, a feeling of standing out from the crowd. (To be continued.)