prosperous age

Chapter 1119 1210 It seems that we can start to engage in real estate
After talking about the Yellow River, Zhang Juzheng felt relieved.

In fact, all dynasties had failed to manage the Yellow River well, so Zhang Juzheng did not have much confidence in the Ministry of Works led by Zhu Heng.

He had also noticed over the years that Zhu Heng was a qualified Minister of Works and handled other affairs well, except for the Yellow River.

This is also the reason why he has been able to leave the Ministry of Works to Wei Guangde's faction without worrying too much and saving some energy to deal with other things.

What he was most worried about before was actually that it would be difficult to pass Zhu Heng.

When Zhu Heng and Pan Jixun had a conflict, Wei Guangde was still copying the Yongle Encyclopedia, so he naturally didn't know the details. The dispute between the two of them at that time directly led to the court holding many cabinet and ministry meetings in succession, and finally a decision was made under the mediation of Xu Jie.

Of course, the decision was just like Xu Jie's personality. It was another compromise. In fact, it adopted the opinions of both parties, that is, to dig a new river and dredge the old river.

In the end, it just meant the court spent more money.

However, because the fight was so fierce that time, even the Censorate was involved. The censors on both sides formed factions and impeached each other, which really tore the relationship apart.

From this, we can see that Xu Jie, the all-rounder, actually played a very important role. Even in such a complicated situation, he was able to control the situation and maintain the smooth operation of the government.

Zhu Heng did not care about such a huge grudge, so Zhang Juzheng was naturally happy.

"By the way, Shandai, I have something else to discuss with you."

Having accomplished a great task, Zhang Juzheng felt much better and continued.

"Appreciate further details."

Wei Guangde nodded slightly and smiled.

"It's still related to the Single Whip Law. Since we want to unify taxes and labor service and limit harassment, then the thing I mentioned before must be done before this law is implemented."

Zhang Juzheng continued.

"What's the matter?"

After hearing this, Wei Guangde was stunned. He didn't know what Zhang Juzheng was talking about.

Seeing that Wei Guangde had forgotten, Zhang Juzheng was not angry, so he said: "Even if it is about measuring the land, the taxes and labor service will be attached to the land. You and I both know what the situation is now. I am afraid that you and I may have such land in our mansions."

Zhang Juzheng did not say "hidden field", but Wei Guangde knew it in his heart.

There were quite a few in his own house, all of which were embezzled from the Yan family's land in Jiujiang.

Speaking of which, the gold, silver and real estate seized from the Yan family has become a mess.

The person in charge of the confiscation is no longer there, and the court only recovered two or three tenths of the goods, and the rest is nowhere to be found.

Of course, the truth can be revealed through a thorough investigation, but the biggest beneficiary behind this matter is Xu Jie, and it is hard to say whether Zhang Juzheng profited from it.

If the Yan family had any land in Huguang, it is possible that it had been acquired by the Zhang family.

Wei Guangde didn't want to get involved, but being able to use this land survey to clean up these lands didn't seem to be a bad thing. It would just mean having more land in name.

Since I am a Jinshi, even if the local government makes up some tax items, the tax amount will not be too much.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde nodded and smiled embarrassedly, "My family did reclaim some wasteland in the back mountain of Bengshan Fort. I don't know whether we reported it to the government. I only discovered it when I went there for fun on horseback when I was a child. There were military families working there."

"Yeah, it's the same in my family."

Wei Guangde said so, and Zhang Juzheng also echoed it.

This is a common practice and no one would bring it up openly, otherwise it would offend almost everyone.

How did the big landlords come about in the middle and late Ming Dynasty? Wasn't it that the gentry families of that time spent a small amount of silver to buy large tracts of wasteland and hired people to reclaim and cultivate land, but after the completion they did not report to the local authorities according to the system?

As for the locals, of course they knew about it, but they pretended to be unaware.

Everyone did this in tacit agreement, so it quickly became popular across the country.

The amount of farmland in the Ming Dynasty increased dramatically, but the common people did not benefit from it.

It is different from what later generations thought, that as the amount of farmland increased, the court’s fiscal revenue should have increased.

In fact, because of the tax system established by Zhu Yuanzhang, the tax amount of each prefecture is constant, so even if the land increases, the tax silver shared will only decrease, and the people will benefit from it.

However, because most of the newly added land was not reported to the court, that is, hidden land, the people did not benefit from it.

During Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, he personally instructed that the total quota of land tax be 2700 million shi, which was a key figure in the Ming Dynasty's national finances.

During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to simplify the tax system, the "Two Tax System" of the Tang Dynasty was adopted, and the land tax was levied in two seasons, summer and autumn, mainly based on the harvest time of different crops.

Wheat is collected in the summer and rice in the autumn.

In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang also took other measures to manage the state finances, such as using "shi" as the unit of calculation for the state finances, and stipulating that land tax should be directly supplied to the families of soldiers, and no longer paying military salaries.

However, there were many problems in the actual implementation of the Ming Dynasty's tax system. For example, the corruption mentioned in the Guo Huan case, officials embezzled taxes and levied additional fees under various pretexts, causing huge losses to the national finances.

In addition, in the late Ming Dynasty, there was an increase in land tax, which increased the burden on farmers and eventually led to peasant uprisings and social unrest.

Therefore, the purpose of land survey was more to reduce taxes for farmers, especially self-cultivating farmers. If the tax system remained unchanged, the court would not increase its income.

This is also the reason why the court from top to bottom is actually unwilling to do this, because it actually harms the interests of their class.

The imperial court gained nothing except increased spending.

However, once the Single Whip System is implemented, it will become difficult to levy additional taxes and fees by finding various pretexts.

"The matter of clearing the land is no small matter, uncle, have you considered it carefully?"

Wei Guangde reminded kindly.

"I have thought this matter over carefully. I will go even if there are thousands of people against me."

Who would have thought that Zhang Juzheng's answer this time would be so straightforward.

Wei Guangde stared at Zhang Juzheng for a long time without saying anything, and Zhang Juzheng looked at him calmly.

Finally, Wei Guangde moved. He touched his beard, but it was not as beautiful as Zhang Juzheng's beard.

Taking his hand back, Wei Guangde lowered his head slightly, looked away and said, "I will clearly oppose this matter.

As for the rest, uncle, don’t worry about it.”

"Thank you."

Zhang Juzheng was not angry at Wei Guangde's words, but spoke meaningfully.

Wei Guangde waved his hands, "I don't have your courage, but I can protect people."

It's enough for both of them to understand what they are saying.

"Where do you plan to start, uncle?"

Just like the initial pilot program of the "One Whip" system, we must first select one province to conduct a trial before we can implement it nationwide.

Moreover, the matter of surveying the land has to be put first. Only after the surveying of the land is completed can the One Whip Law be implemented nationwide.

“Fujian.”

Zhang Juzheng directly told Wei Guangde what he had been thinking about for a long time, which made Wei Guangde's face change slightly.

The current Left Governor of Fujian is Lao Kan. What do you want him to do?
"Fujian has a large population and a small land area, so it is very representative."

Wei Guangde only whispered, but immediately continued: "Who does Uncle want to go there?
This matter is of great importance, and we must arrange for people who can act prudently, and it would be best if the various prefectures were also replaced. "Province, prefecture, and county, this is the basic structure of the Ming Dynasty. Although replacing the county level with their own people can make things go more smoothly, who has so many people in their pockets?
Besides, such a big move might cause a backlash from the government.

No one is a fool, and the appointment and removal of officials is very sensitive.

When Wei Guangde said this, Zhang Juzheng naturally knew that he wanted to completely clear himself from the issue.

But it doesn’t matter.

"I haven't decided on anyone yet. I need to think about it carefully before I can decide."

What I said to Wei Guangde today was actually a test of each other and a search for tacit understanding.

Zhang Juzheng had fenced off Fujian, and since Wei Guangde wanted to protect his affairs after his death, he naturally would not get involved.

I am afraid that most of the Jiangxi officials in Fujian will be transferred.

The current Fujian provincial governor, Lao Kan, is of the same age as Wei Guangde, and they have a special relationship, so he will definitely be moved.

Wei Guangde should actually be opposed to the Fujian pilot project, because Zhang Juzheng also knew that Wei Guangde had deep connections in Fujian.

Not only did he let his fellow villager and classmate Lao Kan govern Fujian, but Kai Hai was also there. The deep meaning of this is self-evident.

However, Zhang Juzheng could not find a more suitable place in other provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, there are also Shanxi and Shaanxi, but Zhang Juzheng considered that place to be his rear base, so he didn't want to offend his own people at the beginning.

To give them a break, the second pilot project was chosen there.

Zhang Juzheng was somewhat surprised that Wei Guangde did not strongly oppose it, but this was also the best outcome.

Next, the two chatted casually for a while, but they were mostly discussing the recent changes in the inner and outer cities of Sijiu City.

Yes, Wang Zhiyuan is indeed very efficient. He has communicated with various departments in the past few days and has started cleaning up the garbage and feces accumulated in the city.

Shuntian Prefecture selected locations for building public toilets on the streets of the old city. From then on, the feces of the surrounding residents had to be dumped there, and the government would send people to clean them regularly.

Next to the public toilet, there is a designated garbage dump, which is also transported out of the city by people arranged by the government.

City dwellers are given a deadline to clean up the area around their homes and take the rubbish to the landfill.

The Ministry of Industry and Street Office also began to build new drainage ditches, focusing on the outer city, while the main focus in the inner city was to dredge the existing ditches.

As for the main streets, they are directly contracted to the merchants along the streets, who are allowed to clean them themselves or hire people to do it. After the cleaning is reviewed by the government, the government will be responsible for daily sanitation maintenance.

The purpose of doing so is naturally to let them know that sanitation costs money, so that they will not be so resistant to collecting sanitation fees in the future.

Although the city has been a bit chaotic recently, the city's sanitation conditions have indeed improved significantly.

"Wait a few days, everything will be done according to the rules, you can see then, haha"

Wei Guangde smiled somewhat smugly.

Zhang Juzheng's reforms were definitely good for the Ming Dynasty, but they took a long time to take effect and faced great resistance, so their implementation was slow.

Most of the projects led by Wei Guangde are short, frequent and fast-paced projects, and the results can be seen quickly.

Naturally, this also had a great impact on his reputation.

Although at the beginning, when people knew that Wei Guangde was going to be in charge of the city's sanitation, they strongly opposed it and felt that he was asking for trouble.

Especially those merchants who are destined to pay money have louder opposition.

But when the sanitation of the city is improved, those who pay for it will definitely still be unhappy, but the people should accept and recognize this policy.

After all, who doesn’t want to live in a clean and hygienic city?

Since there was no commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty, all the municipal expenses were imposed on merchants, which could be considered an indirect commercial tax.

Suddenly, Wei Guangde felt that there seemed to be something to be gained from this.

That is, if the sanitation in Beijing improves, will people outside the city want to move into the city and live there?
It seems that the real estate business in the Ming Dynasty can be developed.

Wei Guangde silently took note of this matter, and later asked Zhang Ji to buy and hoard land from various places.

Buying land, of course, does not mean buying farmland. Taxes will have to be paid in the future, and the current high land prices are likely to fall.

But even so, Wei Guangde will not "leave the market at every high".

The value of land may drop in the future, but so what? If you sell it today, you may not be able to buy it back tomorrow.

However, there seems to be a lot of vacant space in the city, especially in the outer city.

When the outer city was built during the Jiajing reign, although the main streets in the south of the city were included, a lot of vacant land and even some fields were also included, which are still being cultivated today.

There are many reasons why housing prices in inner cities are several times higher than those in outer cities, but the environment is also one of the important reasons.

A house in the outer city that costs one or two hundred taels of silver would cost a thousand taels in the inner city, even if it was located in a remote alley. This is a huge gap.

It seems that with the increase in sanitary cities, the real estate industry in Ming Dynasty has great potential.

Wei Guangde's thoughts soon drifted away. He chatted with Zhang Juzheng for a while, and then left the cabinet at the appointed time, left the imperial city, and quickly returned to the mansion in a sedan chair.

"Ask Zhang Ji to come see me."

As soon as he got off the sedan chair, Wei Guangde quickly gave orders and went straight into the mansion to the study.

Not long after, Zhang Ji came over.

In the past, when Wei Guangde's sedan chair landed, he would always be there to greet him respectfully.

However, there was some matter at the mansion today, so he was delayed and did not come.

Unexpectedly, a servant told him that the master wanted to see him immediately.

Zhang Ji hurried over while lamenting his bad luck.

"Master, today I..."

Zhang Ji entered the study and hurriedly opened his mouth to explain why he did not go to the gate to greet him, but he was interrupted by Wei Guangde as soon as he opened his mouth.

"How much money do you have in the palace now?"

"Ok?"

Wei Guangde started by asking how much money the family had, which shocked Zhang Ji. This was the first time in the history of the world that his master hadn't asked about his family's financial situation in many years.

"Master, there are more than 20,000 taels of silver in the mansion. We have to wait for two months. There will be dividends at the end of the year. I estimate there will be some."

Zhang Ji began to ramble on. Wei Guangde knew that the family's money was generally kept in two places, one in the capital, and the other in Jiujiang. However, he was not asking about his family's financial situation, so he waved his hand again.

“Collect some, and if it’s not enough, borrow some from the various chambers of commerce and use the dividends to make up for it.

And the money I had back home was also exchanged.”

Wei Guangde said that the exchange actually means exchanging with the owners of Jiangxi businesses, using the silver in the capital and surrounding areas to exchange with the silver in his hometown in Jiangxi.

“Starting tomorrow, you will buy all the houses and fields you can in the inner and outer cities. You need to buy those inside the city, but forget about those outside the city.

Not only the land in the capital, but also people from Nanjing will be arranged to go there."

Wei Guangde immediately began to give orders, he wanted to be the landlord of the new era of the Ming Dynasty.