Chapter 905
Endless Joy
Pan Yun and the Ministry of Works acted incredibly quickly. After leaving Kunning Palace, she took out a ruler and began drawing.
Pan Xiaohei didn't even need to painstakingly search through the records in the Spirit Realm. Based on the existing blueprints, she could design wind-powered looms and water-powered looms herself. Naturally, she also modified an even more labor-saving loom.
Pan Yun worked overtime for two hours and finished drawing three blueprints in the darkest of night. She grumbled, "I am a graduate student with a wealth of knowledge. I can't be so bad as to not be able to draw this kind of mechanical modification."
Pan Xiaohei was sleeping by the stove when it heard this. It rolled over and put its paws on its ears, pretending not to hear.
A cold wind blew by, and Pan Jun put down the drawings, glanced outside, and went out without hesitation.
She looked up at the twinkling stars in the sky, her gaze gradually shifting to the southwest. After a while, she clicked her tongue.
The stars in the southwestern sky twinkled and their constellations shifted slightly.
The official in charge of the Spring Official's duty at the observatory, who was hunched over, stared blankly for a long time before he came to his senses.
He wailed inwardly.
He just started his shift three days ago!
Why? !
Spring Official silently picked up his notebook and started taking notes. The next day, he went to glare at Winter Official with dark circles under his eyes.
Dong Guan looked completely bewildered: "Why are you glaring at me?"
Spring Official: "Last year, the celestial phenomena were unusual throughout the year. In summer, the celestial phenomena changed! In autumn, the celestial phenomena changed drastically! In winter, nothing happened. Last night, the celestial phenomena changed!"
We just celebrated Lunar New Year's Eve!
Spring has just begun, but the climate is still like winter, and then the weather changes again.
Upon hearing this, the other four officials were startled and quickly asked, "What change?"
Chun Guan scratched his face and said, "I can't see it, but something has definitely changed in the southwest."
He handed them the celestial observations he had recorded.
The four of them looked at the information one by one, but because there was so little information, they couldn't make a judgment.
So everyone looked at Xia Guanzheng.
Yin Song: "...Why are you looking at me?"
Spring Official: "Our Imperial Observatory does not currently have a Director, but we do have a National Preceptor."
Yin Song expressionlessly shoved the observation book back into his hand: "The Imperial Advisor is the Imperial Advisor to all the people. The Minister of Spring can go find her himself."
The official was holding onto Yin Song's hand tightly, insisting on stuffing the observation book into his hand: "It's still different. You are the senior brother of the Imperial Preceptor."
The other officials spoke in support of the Spring Official.
How can someone who works in officialdom not owe favors?
Yin Song could refuse one or two, but he couldn't withstand four of them coming at him at once. In the end, he took the observation book and went to find Pan Yun.
Pan Yun lived in a small courtyard next to the Imperial Observatory, right next to the palace.
This entire courtyard belongs to her. Miaozhen and two others used to live there, but after they left, only Pan Yun lived there.
In the entire Imperial Observatory, apart from the officials on duty, she was the only one who could stay in the palace at night.
Pan Jun flipped through the booklet.
Seeing that she closed the booklet easily, Yin Song knew that she knew everything and asked, "You saw it last night?" Pan Jun hummed in agreement.
Yin Song sat up slightly: "I wonder what the celestial phenomena indicate? Could it be that a natural disaster is about to strike the southwest?"
“It’s not a natural disaster, it’s a man-made one,” Pan Yun tossed the booklet back to him, tapping the table lightly with his finger. “Tell His Majesty that treacherous officials have emerged in Lingnan, which will bring great calamity.”
Yin Song's mouth dropped open: "A treacherous official? Who is that? Wasn't Wang Zhen dead?"
Pan Jun rolled her eyes without any politeness: "Is Wang Zhen the only treacherous person in the world? Don't put all the blame on Wang Zhen. If Wang Zhen is gone, there are Liu Zhen and Zhang Zhen. The root of the problem is not Wang Zhen, but the people who employ him."
Yin Song rolled his eyes and asked, "Junior Sister, you've already predicted that a treacherous official will emerge from Lingnan, but can't you predict his name?"
Pan Yun: "I've already steamed the rice, why do you still want me to feed it to you?"
Yin Song: "If you're going to help someone, go all the way."
Observing unusual celestial phenomena last night, Pan Jun immediately checked the spiritual realm and retrieved historical records.
In the previous life, in the eleventh year of the Zhengtong era, which was 1446 AD, the first year of the Jingtai era in this timeline, Liu Pu, the general who was guarding Guangxi, disregarded the established laws and incited the people to revolt. The Yao and Zhuang ethnic groups launched a major uprising and successively attacked Liuzhou and Huazhou.
After that, the uprisings of the Yao and Zhuang tribes continued until the Jiajing era. Even though the rebellion was eventually quelled, the root of the conflict remained unresolved. In the previous life, the issue of ethnic minorities was not balanced until four hundred years later.
Pan Yun doesn't believe that an unusual celestial phenomenon or a prophecy can resolve ethnic conflicts. She only hopes to slow down the occurrence of conflicts, at least not this year.
The national treasury is empty, the new emperor has just ascended the throne and lacks prestige, and since the second half of last year, the court has been fighting wars in the north, northeast, southwest, Jiangnan and southeast coast.
If Guangxi is attacked again, the Ming Dynasty will not be completely destroyed, but it will certainly be severely affected. Many things will have to be slowed down, and development in various places will be restricted.
A single move can have far-reaching consequences. If a war breaks out in Guangxi, taxes will inevitably have to be increased in order to support military spending.
She knew that at the beginning of the year, the emperor had ordered that all commercial taxes collected inside and outside the capital must adhere to the old quotas from the Hongwu era and must not be arbitrarily increased under the pretext of currency reform.
Oh, I forgot to mention that because the national treasury was really short of money, before the Lunar New Year, in order to pay officials' salaries and cover some expenses for the spring season, the Ministry of Revenue printed money.
Therefore, the market for Ming Dynasty paper money was like a flood, and since the paper money was not backed by silver or gold, its value plummeted.
The emperor feared that local government offices would use the excuse of the decline in the value of paper money to raise commercial taxes, thus harming merchants and the people, so he issued this order.
A few days later, Yu Qian submitted a memorial, stating that the tax bureaus collected too little paper money, officials were absent from their duties, and salaries were being wasted. Therefore, he requested that the tax bureaus, which collected less than 30,000 strings of cash annually, be abolished and that the relevant authorities be ordered to collect commercial taxes instead.
This is very beneficial for business development.
Because the tax authorities abolished the tax system, the corresponding policies would also change. For example, the ship material tax that was supposed to be paid at 60 strings of cash would be reduced to 20 strings of cash.
With relaxed regulations on commerce and less stringent regulations on agriculture, ordinary people could engage in small-scale business during their off-season without paying taxes or with minimal taxes, which was extremely important for the development of the local economy.
When the celestial phenomena changed last night, Pan Yun discovered that in his previous life, Emperor Yingzong had also printed large amounts of paper money to replenish the national treasury and had issued similar orders. Yu Qian had also submitted a similar memorial.
Emperor Yingzong agreed.
However, after only six months, due to the huge military expenditures and the Yao people's uprising in Guangxi, the Ministry of Revenue could no longer afford it and re-established the tax office. The corresponding taxes were heavier than before, and the number of items also increased. Not only were merchants and travelers overwhelmed, but farmers were also greatly affected.
Starting from this year, more and more people rose up in rebellion across the country, and thereafter, there were people's uprisings every year in the Ming Dynasty.
Just like a celestial maiden scattering flowers, the flames spread across the land, burning everywhere, extinguishing one place only to ignite another.
The Ming Dynasty was constantly embroiled in peasant uprisings from then on. Besides fighting these uprisings, officials, both civil and military, were also constantly scheming to embezzle funds from the national treasury or their own private coffers. They fought against Heaven, against the emperor, against their colleagues, against the people, and even against themselves—a struggle they found endless amusement in. (End of Chapter)