prosperous age

In ancient times, the tax base for government collection was actually two things: land and population.

Because of the existence of agricultural taxes in later generations, the acceptance of taxes levied on farmland was very high. Although due to the rapid development of the domestic economy, national tax revenue has become mainly commercial tax, agricultural taxes are still known and are widely accepted.

As for those related to the population, the main one was "labor service," which was not widely accepted or even adopted in later generations.

In addition, there was the poll tax, a system implemented for a long period in both the Western Roman Empire and China since the Qin Dynasty.

The poll tax, also known as the head tax or poll tax, is a tax levied on individuals at a fixed amount. It falls under the category of fixed-amount taxes and is characterized by low collection costs but significant regressivity.

This tax often coexisted with land tax in natural economies and constituted a major source of revenue for ancient states. In modern times, it has been abolished due to fairness issues, but it was used for immigration control or electoral eligibility restrictions in certain historical periods.

The Qin Dynasty in China established a population tax system. The Han Dynasty refined the collection methods such as poll tax and tax on land. During the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi implemented the policy of "no additional tax for population growth". During the Yongzheng period, the population tax was incorporated into the land tax through the "equalization of poll tax and land tax", marking the end of the population tax.

Canada levied a head tax on Chinese immigrants from 1885 to 1923. Britain and the United States also used this tax for social control.

Therefore, before the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty also levied a poll tax, which was about one tael of silver per adult male per year.

In cities, men paid in silver, while in rural areas they paid in kind.

After all, before the opening of the sea in the mid-Ming Dynasty, the country was always short of silver and money, making it impossible to collect the poll tax effectively.

Now, Wei Guangde's proposed inventory of the white registers held by local governments has revealed that the population of the Ming Dynasty is actually 30 million more than that of the yellow registers. This means that the yellow registers, which were previously revised every ten years, have become a mere formality and are completely unrelated to the actual situation.

This involves many things, especially the Single Whip Law, which is about to be implemented nationwide.

Both Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng hoped to incorporate all taxes and corvée labor into the land tax, leaving a way for the displaced people to survive, and also for the sake of fairness in the world.

Of course, there was one more thing Wei Guangde didn't mention: economic development requires a large number of able-bodied laborers. If the population is tied to the fields, it will be difficult for the city's economy to develop.

However, if people stay in rural areas, agricultural output is absolutely unlikely to increase simply because the population is larger.

"Should we report this matter?"

Zhang Juzheng finally spoke.

The report was naturally sent to the palace, but the consequences were unpredictable.

Failing to report it would be considered deceiving the emperor, a serious crime.

No one spoke, and no one knew what to say; this was a difficult situation to express.

Zhang Juzheng looked around at the three men and, seeing that none of them intended to speak, looked at Shen Shixing. Normally, at this point, it should start with the person in the lowest position.

But Zhang Juzheng thought about it and knew that Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing probably couldn't really say anything about it. It was Wei Guangde who brought up the matter in the first place. Now that the problem had been "discovered," he would see how Wei Guangde would respond.

"ShanDai, what do you think we should do about this?"

Zhang Juzheng directly called out names and asked for the opinion of the Second Grand Secretary from the very beginning.

Wei Guangde looked up at Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing, and finally looked at Zhang Juzheng, saying, "It depends on what everyone thinks: whether to continue to pretend to be deaf and dumb, or to face reality."

The reality is that the Imperial Yellow Register has been abolished, and local authorities have not seriously conducted population and land surveys. The data the court relies on is riddled with errors and omissions.

"You mean, re-register in the Yellow Register and rebuild the investigation system?"

Zhang Juzheng astutely discerned Wei Guangde's attitude: he desired change, rather than continuing to copy the old Yellow Books to make up the numbers.

"Hehe, does Uncle Brother intend to make the best of a mistake?"

Wei Guangde stared at Zhang Juzheng and asked.

These words were rather impolite, causing Zhang Juzheng's expression to change slightly.

"Since the Qin Dynasty established the poll tax system, successive dynasties have attached great importance to the population size, as it is the basis for taxation."

According to the census conducted during the Qin Dynasty, the population of China was 26.5 million. By the Han Dynasty, the population of China had reached 50 million. After a century of turmoil, the population declined sharply. However, starting from the Tang and Song Dynasties, the population of China began to grow again, and by the Song Dynasty, the population had exceeded 10 million.

At the beginning of the dynasty, the population decreased again due to constant strife, but it still had 6000 million people.

Two hundred years have passed, a full two hundred years. Is my Great Ming Dynasty really inferior to the Tang and Song Dynasties, with its population stagnating for so long?

At this point, Wei Guangde couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

Later generations have conducted many analyses on the population of the Ming Dynasty, with the least suggesting that the population was over 100 million at its peak, and the most suggesting that it was over 200 million.

When was the Ming Dynasty at its peak?
Wei Guangde began to ponder. According to the historical development, Wei Guangde felt that the Ming Dynasty's golden age should have been in the mid-Wanli period, and that it began to decline in the late Wanli period. Moreover, the full-scale outbreak of the Little Ice Age accelerated the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

From its peak to its demise, it lasted no more than fifty years.

Without a doubt, the root of its destruction sprouted in the last two or three decades.

If China does not want its descendants to wear queues or suffer another century of humiliation, it must change.

"In addition, I would like to point out one more thing."

Wei Guangde looked around at everyone before continuing, "Although the total population figure in the white book is 9000 million, regardless of its accuracy, it does not include Luzon, Palembang, and Burma, nor does it include the Jurchen tribes of Tibet and Liaodong, or the population of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission."

To be honest, it's definitely over ten million; the so-called trillions of people really do fall close.

"You mean, using the expansion of my Great Ming's territory as a pretext, we should conduct a larger-scale nationwide census?"

It would be rather abrupt to report a separate census, so some things just have to be brought to the forefront.

However, if the scope is expanded and the reason for conducting a population census in the newly added territories of the Ming Dynasty is brought up, then the total number can be directly reported after the census. Even if the population is significantly off, some things can be explained away.

"What else can we do? We can report directly to the palace that the officials in charge of the Yellow Registers have been falsifying documents for the past hundred years."

Wei Guangde sighed.

This is a huge problem, and their cabinet ministers have no choice but to face it, but they will certainly try to minimize their responsibility, or at least have a reason.

The newly emerging population consists of Han Chinese who migrated back from Luzon, Palembang, and Burma.

Anyway, you can make up any reason; it's just an excuse.

Everyone in the court could guess what was going on, but absolutely no one would reveal it.

That would offend a lot of people.

Ultimately, it will have some impact on this cabinet, but not a significant one, since the mistakes were all made in the past.

By doing this, at the very least, the imperial court would not misjudge the situation due to falsified data when formulating policies.

"The matter of the blank book is something that only a few of us should know."

I think Shan Dai's suggestion is excellent. Since all the land in the Ming Dynasty has been remeasured, let's also re-register the population.

By the way, the land surveys in Luzon, Palembang, and Burma have not yet been conducted.

The loan was then transferred to the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Works, and the Censorate to conduct a land survey in these areas.

As for the Nurgan Commandery, let's leave it for now. It's a harsh, cold place with little to no produce. We'll deal with it later.

Zhang Juzheng immediately stated that Wei Guangde's proposal, though seemingly troublesome, was certainly good for the court, and that they could not continue to be kept in the dark by those below.

The extra 30 million people included at least 10 million adult males, but the poll tax was mostly taken by local officials.

"Uncle, this matter cannot be handled so hastily."

Wei Guangde waved his hand and said, "These people can't just appear out of thin air, and the local authorities can't just ignore it."

"It can only be said that these poll taxes were actually collected locally, but were used for local government expenses," Wei Guangde sneered.

"It's inevitable."

Shen Shixing reacted quickly this time, immediately echoing the sentiment.

"Yes, that should be the case."

After Shen Shixing echoed his words, Zhang Siwei understood the meaning behind Wei Guangde's words: there was no corruption involved.

This leads to another issue: the local reaction when the imperial court wanted to take away this batch of money.

Don't assume that the central government always has the upper hand over the local governments. Think about the rebellions of the regional military governors. If all the local governments were to rebel against the central government, then think about why the Qing emperor abdicated.

The southern provinces, the main sources of tax revenue for the Qing Dynasty, all issued a telegram.

Zhang Juzheng had already guessed what Wei Guangde meant, but he still asked, "Do you mean to bring all the local officials in prefectures and counties under the management of the Ministry of Personnel and receive their salaries?"

"That's right. In the past, county magistrates and prefects raised the funds themselves, which led them to arbitrarily impose miscellaneous taxes, deceive their superiors and subordinates, and make a fortune."

However, once the investigation is conducted, their reason is that he has to pay for the entire team.

If you put yourself in their shoes, there's actually some truth to it.

Bringing local positions not listed on the official register under the Ministry of Personnel's management would conveniently cover this additional tax revenue expenditure.

Wei Guangde said.

"Can the Ministry of Personnel manage it all? A county used to have only a few people, but now there are hundreds, and large counties may have thousands."

Zhang Siwei spoke up.

"It's not difficult. The provincial administration offices' personnel departments are separated and placed directly under the Ministry of Personnel, which is responsible for the allocation of personnel in each province."

Of course, they also obeyed the provincial governor.

The Ministry of Personnel manages officials, and each province within the Ministry of Personnel manages its own officials. The selection of personnel is primarily based on the wishes of the provincial officials, so it's unlikely to have a significant impact on maintaining local stability.

Wei Guangde immediately said, "That is, dual management."

If local leaders are not allowed to manage these vertical departments, it is easy for local conflicts to arise.

However, excessive local intervention makes it difficult for them to act truly independently.

This is actually a dilemma, and even in later generations, there is no solution.

Wei Guangde could only refer to the departmental setups of later generations; there were advantages and disadvantages, so he decided to just mix and match them up and get things started first.

The Agricultural Promotion Bureau has established independent offices in each province. Although their rank is not high, they are very effective and much more efficient than when they were incorporated into the Provincial Administration Commission.

In the Provincial Administration Commission, there was ultimately an overabundance of personnel, and there was still a tendency to shirk responsibility.

With the Agricultural Promotion Office in charge of vertical management, orders could be strictly enforced, leaving no room for shirking responsibility.

However, the Agricultural Promotion Bureau was also responsible to the Provincial Administration Commission, but because its power was minimal, the Provincial Administration Commissioners of various provinces generally did not take it seriously.

The government offices are overworked; who is willing to get involved and take responsibility?

"Like the Agricultural Encouragement Bureau?"

Zhang Siwei reacted quickly, immediately recalling Wei Guangde's earlier efforts to establish agricultural promotion offices in various provinces, which then allocated a portion of official land for agricultural cultivation.

Okay, now the agricultural persuasion agency has come into play.

With their encouragement, wheat, sweet potatoes, and potatoes have begun to be planted in many places.

In my hometown of Shanxi, many farmers have started growing these imported crops.

In fact, this land survey in Shanxi uncovered a lot of land that was previously considered useless land that could not grow crops.

However, these lands were still included in the land survey this time, mainly because crops such as wheat or sweet potatoes could be grown on them.

"Yes, just like the Agricultural Promotion Bureau."

Wei Guangde answered directly.

Wei Guangde always felt uncomfortable and unaccustomed to having the Ministry of Personnel remain in the Provincial Administration Commission, because orders were issued to the Provincial Administration Commissioner and then distributed downwards.

Adding another person means adding another step to the process, and thus adding another layer of uncertainty.

Vertical management is great because it goes directly to the individual, and they know what they're supposed to do.

However, the idea of ​​separating the Ministry of Personnel was just a sudden whim of Wei Guangde's today, not something he had planned in advance.

However, this is even better. First, separate the Personnel Department and establish a provincial-level Personnel Bureau to manage local officials.

The next step was naturally to separate the Household Department from the Tax Bureau and transfer the authority of the local tax bureaus to this new government office, which would then be responsible for collecting commercial taxes.

The Provincial Administration Commission continued to be responsible for collecting agricultural taxes, while the Tax Bureau was responsible for commercial taxes.

Given the current environment where officials do not pay much attention to commercial taxes, it seems that achieving this should not be too difficult.

Some people may realize the key points, but most people who only read the Four Books and Five Classics are unaware of them.

They may have been interested in making money, but they would never have imagined the prosperity of commerce in the future, where commercial taxes would far outweigh agricultural taxes, and the foundation of national finances would be solely based on commercial taxes, not the agricultural taxes they now yearn for.

Even Zhang Juzheng could not have imagined this.

It's not that they weren't smart, but rather that the era limited their vision.

Wei Guangde believed that this strategy of "boiling the frog in lukewarm water" was feasible. As long as it was done properly, it would not be difficult for the court to issue some decrees to encourage business and raise the status of merchants. Collecting some taxes would be easy.

Wei Guangde had received feedback from his subordinates more than once, hoping to add "merchant registration" to the list of good households so that they could engage in business and trade.

Because businessmen generally have to leave their hometowns to do business and are often disconnected from their place of household registration, they encounter many difficulties.

Why do many successful businessmen choose to return to their hometowns to buy land and build houses?

Because Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming Dynasty, he divided the people into two categories: those of good status and those of low status.

Good registration can be further divided into civilian registration, military registration, artisan registration, and stove registration, while lowly registration can be further divided into beggar registration, musician registration, fisherman registration, clerk registration, delinquent registration, and prostitute registration, etc.

In the household registration system of the Ming Dynasty, there was no such thing as "merchant registration" because Zhu Yuanzhang disliked merchants very much.

The Ming Dynasty law even stipulated that merchants who did not engage in production but specialized in secondary industries could be directly arrested and punished.

Therefore, being a professional businessman is illegal in itself.

Although the status of "lowly person" was considered lowly, it was not illegal, so people still had household registration.

Since professional merchants were breaking the law, it was impossible for them to be granted a separate household registration. This is the main reason why many people believe that the children of merchants in the Ming Dynasty could not take the imperial examinations.

Merchants don't appear out of thin air; most are people of good birth who make their fortunes through business. So as long as a family still owns land and factories, they are still considered to be of good birth.

When merchants buy land, they generate income from the land, thus becoming landlords.

However, this was always inconvenient for people who were used to doing business, so they sought help from Wei Guangde.

As for Zhang Siwei, Wei Guangde didn't know if he faced the same problem, but he figured they were probably in cahoots. (End of Chapter)