Qiming 1158

Chapter 1205 Only the agricultural tax can save the current situation
Su Yonglin can clearly deduce the next move of the Chengdu court.

The Chengdu court will attack the self-cultivation farmers, increase taxes, and obtain sufficient resources to deal with the economic crisis by strengthening the exploitation of farmers, which will inevitably lead to strong resistance from the farmers.

As their cruelty continues and winter approaches, a large number of farmers will lose their livelihoods. Once the farmers' patience reaches the limit and all hope is lost, it is only natural that they will rise up.

The Central Headquarters of the Renaissance Society quickly gave its own advice on this matter. Su Yonglin wrote a letter to the Sichuan branch, telling them to be determined, to be good at observation, not to be blindly impulsive, and to find opportunities before launching actions. .

The central government supports Xu Tong's view.

The facts were just as Su Yonglin had expected.

The time from the occurrence of the Mi disturbance to the pacification was very short, and Wu Lin resolutely implemented the orders of the Chengdu court.

While killing the activists and leaders of the rice riot, he also brought tens of thousands of unemployed people into the army. number.

The Mi commotion quickly subsided without causing more damage or threatening the rule of the Chengdu court. The speed of failure was beyond the imagination of many members of the Sichuan branch.

They were surprised by Xu Tong's accurate judgment of the situation.

This successful judgment gave Xu Tong a real prestige, and some senior members who joined the Renaissance Club earlier also realized that Xu Tong was not just a young man who was good at military expeditions.

He has a strategic vision.

This is a very rare ability, and it basically depends on personal understanding. It cannot be learned by learning. Otherwise, the existence of strategists will not be an important and valuable resource for a country.

The old man with deep experience did not approve of Xu Tong as the director of the Chuan-Shu branch, believing that his qualifications were still inexperienced, and he was only good at military and not good at politics.

However, it has been proved that Xu Tong is not only good at military, but also has political ability and strategic vision. Xu Tong has initially established prestige in the Sichuan branch.

At the same time, the Chengdu court also fell into a new crisis.

While the number of troops was about to reach the number Wu Lin expected, the finances of the Chengdu court also fell into a huge crisis.

Wu Lin is not in charge of financial work, and he does not know much about financial work and is not very enthusiastic. He only pays attention to the strength of the army and the enrichment of personnel. pressure.

Not everyone is as powerful as Zhuge Liang who can raise [-] troops in Sichuan and Shu.

The hastily established Chengdu court did poorly in financial work, so that the financial cash flow soon became unsustainable. For this reason, Chen Yongyan, the minister of household of the Chengdu court, who managed the finances, made a report to the emperor Zhao Buxi.

"The original ministers thought that if all Shu brocade industries were nationalized, they would get a steady stream of financial revenue, enough to support the operation of the imperial court and the military expenditure of [-] troops, but they did not expect that the Shu brocade trade was cut off by the Ming Dynasty and the puppet dynasty.

If it only relies on private sales, and cannot operate normally, the gains cannot be compared with normal operations at all. The losses of the imperial court for several months cannot be stopped. The current military expenditure of nearly [-] troops is a sum of money. After the seven or eight state capitals around Chengdu were destroyed, it was another sum of money to rebuild and appease them.

In addition to the cost of various military projects repaired in order to prevent the Ming army from attacking, the tax revenue of the court in the previous quarters has been completely exhausted, and the money collected from the Lin'an court and the property of the traitor has basically been exhausted. is stretched. "

Zhao Buxi looked at Chen Yongyan's report, his brows furrowed, and his face was very ugly.

He is a financial official and has ten years of work experience related to finance. He is absolutely not intimidated by this issue. Therefore, Chen Yongyan's reports are true and there is no fraud in the slightest.

"Really to this point?"

Zhao Buxi asked in disbelief: "The imperial court has only been established for four months, has it come to this point? Before I came to Chengdu, I also had a little understanding of Sichuan's finances, and it never reached this point. How could it suddenly deteriorate? So far?"

"Go back to your Majesty, that's true."

Chen Yongyan said helplessly: "The finance of Chuanshu did have room before, and His Majesty also knows about other reasons, but there is one more point. Before, the officials in Chuanshu were only local officials, and their rank and salaries were not high. Official fees are low.

However, once the country was founded, the number of officials and the rank of officials increased greatly, the cost of maintaining officials in the court increased greatly, the salary of senior officials increased several times compared to before, and there were a lot of rewards to appease people, so... worry. "

Zhao Buxi was stunned for a moment, and after a while, his face showed a bitter state.

"Such a small stall, such a large court, and the stubborn problems of Song Dynasty with too many officers and soldiers can't be solved in the end, how can this be good..."

Seeing Zhao Buxi's distressed appearance, Chen Yongyan hesitated for a while, but decided to speak.

"Your Majesty, in the current situation, only the agricultural tax can save the situation."

Zhao Buxi sighed.

"Agricultural tax? The people of Sichuan and Sichuan already have a heavy tax burden. How can they continue to increase taxes? If they continue to increase taxes, I'm afraid there will be a big problem..."

Chen Yongyan said in a low voice: "If the people cannot raise taxes, then the only targets that can raise taxes are the big families in Sichuan and Shu. They own a lot of fertile land, but they pay very little tax, and they don't even pay tax evasion and evasion. If the tax can be paid, the problem of insufficient national use can be solved immediately!"

This is the main purpose of Chen Yongyan's performance of Zhao Bunyi.

Since industry and commerce can no longer make money, they can only turn their attention to agricultural taxes.

The agricultural tax of the common people has already been increased to a high level, and if it continues to increase, there will be an accident.

The people have become poor ghosts, and there is no more oil and water to squeeze. Then there is only one group left for the Chengdu court - the powerful landlords of Sichuan and Shu.

With money, land, and food, once the tax is collected, it will be a relief, and the financial problems of the Chengdu court will be solved immediately, which is a panacea.

However, after Chen Yongyan spoke up, he found that Zhao Buxi's face was even more ugly.

Although Zhao Bunyi is not a pro-people official, he has also worked as a front-line official and has worked in finance for so many years. He understands more than many officials who have been separated from the masses for a long time how difficult this seemingly simple problem is.

If the problem is so easy to solve, will the Kaifeng court and the Lin'an court still be so embarrassed?
Now it is the turn of the Chengdu court, and the problem has not improved in the slightest.

It is definitely a big deal to collect agricultural taxes.

Just like the Ming Dynasty, the agricultural tax is the absolute big brother in the current Ming Dynasty's tax system, accounting for more than [-]%, and it is the main source of the Ming Dynasty's huge fiscal revenue.

However, in the land of Sichuan and Shu, the land is annexed and the landowners are everywhere, so that the bulk of the agricultural tax cannot be collected at all.

(End of this chapter)