prosperous age

"Shandai, the palace has approved the matter of land reclamation."

As soon as he entered Wei Guangde's duty room, Zhang Juzheng told him the purpose of his visit.

"Is it for this matter that Uncle went to Ciqing Palace today?"

Wei Guangde asked happily.

If Zhang Siwei were here, he would certainly not have such an expression, but now there are only two of them in the room, so there is naturally no need for him to show off his acting skills.

"Yes, I heard from Shuanglin that the Queen has summoned a lot of people in the past few days to discuss this matter."

Zhang Juzheng started talking. Although his memorial only proposed to survey the land in Fujian and did not say that other provinces in the Ming Dynasty had to do so, people outside were not fools and they all understood.

Wei Guangde did not hide anything from those who came to his mansion to inquire about the news, nor did he take the initiative to mention it. They all told the news themselves.

Zhang Juzheng was still evasive and only said that the number of acreage reported by Fujian was too small, so he wanted to check.

In fact, it is just an attempt to cover up the truth. From the very beginning, the outside world has been saying that land in all parts of the country must be surveyed and land registers must be recompiled.

"It would be better if it was approved earlier, so that so many people wouldn't have to run to the mansion all day long, haha."

Wei Guangde smiled and said, "These days, there are endless guests in the mansion every night, and they all talk about this matter. I am drooling."

"How did you respond to Shandai? Did you agree?"

Zhang Juzheng asked with a smile.

"Haha, uncle brother is still worried."

Wei Guangde smiled, then said seriously: "Although my family has only a few acres of thin land, I still know right from wrong and good at lending.

Surveying the land is good for the imperial court, it just means paying more taxes. I have actually never supported the idea of ​​making money from land.

It is true that stable output from land can accumulate wealth, but that thing is too slow.

Even though land prices in the south and near the capital are high now, if you calculate the annual gains, it is really not much.

On the contrary, building workshops and developing trade are the fastest ways to make money.

Unfortunately, it is a bit difficult for the imperial court to collect large amounts of commercial taxes.

Of course, I am not saying that land is not important. On the contrary, land is the cornerstone of national stability.

Among the 60 million people in our Ming Dynasty, 90% of them work in the fields. Only when they can live a stable life can the country achieve long-term stability.

However, think about it, the Southern Song Dynasty, which only controlled half of the country, was able to support a population of 80 million. Wasn't it relying on emphasizing agriculture and promoting commerce?
Most of the court’s revenue and taxes come from industry and commerce.

It can be seen from this that a country cannot be stable without agriculture, and cannot prosper without commerce.”

Wei Guangde talked a lot and Zhang Juzheng kept nodding as he listened. Especially the last two sentences, which seemed like enlightenment to Zhang Juzheng.

Zhang Juzheng nodded slightly and could not help but murmured: "Without agriculture, the country will not be stable; without commerce, the country will not prosper.

Shandai’s words are truly insightful and really hit the nail on the head.

I had some idea of ​​what this meant before, but it was just a feeling. It was only after hearing these few words that I finally understood. "

At this point, Zhang Juzheng pointed at Wei Guangde and said, "I said you have been flirting with those businessmen and constantly encouraging those nobles to do business.

I heard you tell them not to keep their eyes on the land because it doesn’t make much money. I didn’t believe it at first, but now I do.”

"Haha, I was just saying that, please don't take it as an offense, uncle."

Wei Guangde smiled awkwardly.

Wei Guangde is keen on doing business not to establish himself as a role model, but to make money for himself.

Preaching to others was just a side job, but it was not what Zhang Juzheng thought, which was to pass on his own successful experience.

You have become a big landlord yourself, so what can you use to preach to others?

"As for the merchants, Shandai must have considered this a long time ago."

Before this, Zhang Juzheng only thought about reforming the court's malpractices. Among them, how to reduce the burden on the people and increase national expenditure had always been what Zhang Juzheng was thinking hard about.

Now, after listening to Wei Guangde's words, he has realized that Wei Guangde's original intention in supporting the land survey and the implementation of the Single Whip System was to stabilize agriculture, and increasing national income had only a small impact.

What he called "promoting commerce" was probably the focus of Wei Guangde's efforts to increase state expenditures.

Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Juzheng and saw that he was also staring at him. He subconsciously glanced at the door, and then he felt relieved when he thought of asking Lu Bu to guard outside. He lowered his voice and said, "Commercial tax has existed since ancient times, and Taizu has also determined it, but the tax law is extremely unreasonable.

But we can’t change it without permission, so I think if we really want to do it, we can only think of some way to collect dental taxes from dental shops during the commodity circulation process.”

It can be said that in the Ming Dynasty, unless it was smuggling, no matter where the goods were sold, they were mostly sold through local brokerage firms.

Even if it is an old customer, the brokerage firm will know when the goods arrive, and the goods can be sent directly to the commercial bank, which will also have to report and pay a share of the fee.

The pawnbrokers in the Ming Dynasty were so domineering because they had such a great influence on the government and local governments.

If we look at the Yahang from the perspective of commodity economy, it is a complete organization that bullies the market and monopolizes local commodity transactions by relying on the "ya tax" paid to the government every year.

But only such institutions can get money from merchants.

Even if a merchant has a noble or even royal family member behind him, he still has to pay money to the local brokerage firm wherever he does business.

It’s just the difference between how much money you pay, and it depends on the relationship.

It’s definitely the case that the pawnbrokers are the local tyrants.

To many officials, the Yahang was actually a low-class business. It was just an organization established by Taizu and it was not easy for them to move.

What's more, once you get to the local area, you really can't do without them if you want to get money.

"Collecting taxes through pawnbrokers is something we need to think carefully about."

Zhang Juzheng knew who the tax collectors were. If he delegated the right to collect taxes to them, there would be no telling what kind of disturbances would arise, so he immediately hesitated.

“What I want to do is not to use the current pawnshops, but to reorganize the pawnshops and turn them into a tax-collecting department of the Ministry of Revenue, and bring all the people in the pawnshops under it.

Since it is a government office, officials are naturally dispatched by the Ministry of Personnel of the imperial court."

In fact, what Wei Guangde wanted was to break the current official model of the Ming Dynasty and establish a real "tax bureau" under the vertical management of the Ministry of Households to be responsible for collecting taxes on goods.

If we directly send people to set up this government office, we will definitely not be able to collect any money. Just think about the troubles that Emperor Wanli and Wei Zhongxian caused in order to collect commercial taxes.

Simply recruit the low-ranking people in the tax bureau to serve as minions. Although these people will certainly commit crimes and embezzle public resources for their own benefit after becoming officials, it is impossible to stop them because too clear water will attract no fish.

As long as the bulk of the money can be handed in, it can be sent to the Ministry of Revenue to increase state expenditure.

Let them fight those "cunning" businessmen, the court only accepts money.

"Of course, I haven't talked about this yet because I haven't thought of many details."

Wei Guangde smiled and said in a low voice.

"Okay, now that Shandai has figured out the solution to this matter, why don't we sit down and discuss it.

The reason I came here was to ask if Shandai has any other suggestions on the land survey.

If so, please speak up now so we can prepare for a rainy day."

Zhang Juzheng said with a smile.

The palace gave the nod today, and I believe the approved memorial will be returned to the cabinet later. But the closer it got to this point, the heavier the burden on Zhang Juzheng's shoulders became, and he could not afford to make any mistakes.

The reason I came to Wei Guangde was, firstly, to give him a heads-up, and secondly, to see if Wei Guangde had anything else to say.

"Most of them are similar. It's just a matter of surveying in Fujian. Even if there are omissions, they can be easily resolved."

Wei Guangde smiled as he thought about it.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Juzheng nodded slightly.

"but."

When Zhang Juzheng nodded, he suddenly heard Wei Guangde say these two words. His heart tightened and he looked at Wei Guangde nervously.

"However, Fujian is a simple place with few wealthy families, so the land survey should be smooth. It is very appropriate for my uncle to choose this place.

But once it is pushed forward, Guangdong and Zhejiang are not to be mentioned, as they are nothing more than some local tycoons. But when it comes to Henan, Shandong and other places, where there are vassal princes' mansions, what should be done with the fields of those vassal princes' mansions?
Are the fields of the prince's mansion measured or not?"

Wei Guangde asked in a low voice.

Zhang Juzheng had never mentioned this matter before, and Wei Guangde had not thought of it either.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Perhaps, they had already determined in their hearts that the fields of the princes' mansions were tax-exempt according to the emperor's decree because of the system, so they naturally did not need to be measured, and even if they were measured, no taxes would be collected.

But when Wei Guangde asked this question now, the meaning was naturally different.

"If Shandai has any ideas, please speak up."

Zhang Juzheng had never considered the fields of the princes' palaces before, because they were all tax-free. What he considered most was to avoid places with many gentry families, so he chose the relatively poor Fujian as a pilot area.

For other places such as Zhejiang and Nanzhili, just follow the method of surveying in Fujian.

The gentry's land was taxed, and the amount was actually not much.

However, if these taxes were gathered together and sent to the Ministry of Revenue, they would be of great use to the imperial court.

Filling previous deficits and building up certain reserves to cope with emergencies will benefit both the country and the people.

“The land granted by the vassal king was granted with an imperial decree, so it is natural that taxes are not required.

However, the land purchased by the princes was not granted land, so Shandai felt that it was necessary to consider whether it should also enjoy tax-free treatment.

Of course, the court’s top priority now is to push forward the land survey in Fujian. Fortunately, there is no vassal palace in Fujian, so this problem does not exist.

But other provinces do have it, so I think it might be better to make a decision sooner rather than later.”

After Wei Guangde finished expressing his opinion, he finally felt better.

It's really unpleasant to see that group of royal family members occupy so much land.

Zhang Juzheng understood the meaning of Wei Guangde's words and couldn't help but lower his head to think about it.

Granting land and annexing land cannot be treated the same, this is what Wei Guangde actually meant.

However, this matter needs to be finalized in the palace, and the cabinet can only propose it.

However, Wei Guangde also said that it would be best to take this matter slowly, for fear of delaying current important matters.

The officials were already somewhat dissatisfied with this. If the royal family was also involved, it was not impossible that the land survey would fail in the end.

"The palace and the court actually have the records of the land granted by the royal palace, so they can be checked at any time if needed."

Zhang Juzheng frowned slightly and said, "What about the other fields? Does Shandai mean that you want to collect taxes?"

“If we don’t collect the money, not to mention those who donated their land, the royal palaces in various places will continue to buy up farmland on a large scale, and the national expenditure will still be reduced in the end.

Moreover, levying taxes on the land purchased by the royal palace would at least prevent them from always focusing on the land and make them think of other ways to make money.

This is true for the royal family and the nobles.

As long as the amount of land granted by Your Majesty is controlled, the state's financial resources will be guaranteed."

Wei Guangde whispered.

He revealed one more point, that is, imposing taxes on the land purchased by the royal palace might slow down the speed of land annexation by royal family members and nobles.

Zhang Juzheng is in a bit of a dilemma now, and the suggestion given by Wei Guangde is actually very difficult.

In fact, Zhang Juzheng never considered taking action against the royal family when surveying the land. After all, involving those princes would complicate things.

It’s not that he can’t afford to offend princes or dukes, he just doesn’t want to cause trouble.

But in Wei Guangde's opinion, that was not the case. The only one who dared to take action against the royal family today was Zhang Juzheng.

Regardless of whether Zhang Juzheng deliberately did what happened to the King of Liao, at least when people outside talked about this matter, most people believed that it was the result of Zhang Juzheng's secret manipulation.

In other words, Zhang Juzheng himself might not have realized that he had already exerted a great deterrent influence on the royal family members of the Ming Dynasty.

That was the princely palace of the King of Liao, Zhu Yuanzhang's son. It could be destroyed just like that.

If someone else brought it up, those princes would rush up and start biting them.

But if Zhang Juzheng proposed it, those princes would probably just wag their tails and beg for mercy, and would not dare to say a single word of "no".

Because they were all worried about offending Zhang Juzheng and following in the footsteps of the King of Liao.

In Wei Guangde's eyes, perhaps it would be best to take advantage of the time when Zhang Juzheng was still around and make full use of his deterrence to control the expansion of the Ming princes and avoid the subsequent incidents of tens of thousands of hectares of farmland being occupied.

Even if the princes at that time continued to annex land on a large scale, they would still have to pay taxes according to the law. Only the landlords would have changed, and the court would not have lost a penny of income. The Ming Dynasty would not have fallen into economic collapse and been occupied by foreign races.

"Fortunately, there is still time. Let me think about this matter again."

Zhang Juzheng did not refuse outright because he also saw that the proposal actually made sense.

The granted land to the princes' palaces remained unchanged, but taxes were levied on the newly purchased land, which seemed reasonable.

Just as Wei Guangde said, if the fields are measured today, what if the landlords donate the fields to the royal family tomorrow?

Could it be that he really managed to dodge this tax?

In this case, what is the point of surveying the land?

Zhang Juzheng suddenly realized that the land survey, which he had thought was a great skill, might sow the seeds of the Ming Dynasty's downfall if not handled properly.

It has to be said that the increasing annexation of land by royal families and nobles during the Wanli period was not only due to the connivance of Emperor Wanli, but also related to some omissions in Zhang Juzheng's reforms.

"Yeah, luckily I have time."

Zhang Juzheng said in a low voice.

After saying this, Zhang Juzheng stood up and said to Wei Guangde: "I will go back and think about it carefully. I was indeed negligent in this matter at the beginning."

At this time, Zhang Juzheng's face looked extremely ugly.

"Brother, you and I have neglected this matter before. If you hadn't mentioned the family land yesterday, I wouldn't have thought of it."

Wei Guangde still helped him to excuse himself.

Zhang Juzheng nodded and said, "Shandai, please think about this matter carefully and see if there is any other way to prevent it."

Hearing this, Wei Guangde nodded slightly. (End of this chapter)