prosperous age

Yunmengze, also known as Yunmeng Daze, is a collective name for a group of ancient lakes on the Jianghan Plain in Hubei Province, China.

The eastern part is located at the foot of the Dabie Mountains and Mufu Mountains, east of present-day Wuhan, and along the riverbank. The western part is roughly east of the line between present-day Yichang and Yidu. The northern part is the Dahongshan area around present-day Suizhou and Zhongxiang. The southern part is limited by the Xiajing River. The area includes various landforms such as mountains, forests, rivers, and lakes.

Yunmeng Marsh is divided into two parts, north and south. The area north of the Yangtze River is a marshland, while the area south of the Yangtze River still retains a vast body of water, known as Dongting Lake, which was also called Yunmeng in ancient times.

The name Yunmeng was already mentioned in ancient books more than two thousand years ago. The earliest record is found in the Book of Documents, Yu Gong, Jingzhou: "Yunmeng soil is made into Yi"; and in the Rites of Zhou, Zhi Fang, Jingzhou: "Its marshes are called Yunmeng".

It only says that Yunmengze is in Jingzhou, in the Chu region, without specifying its exact location.

In pre-Qin ancient books, the term "Yunmeng" did not specifically refer to Yunmeng Marsh; it was also a general term for the hunting grounds of the King of Chu during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

The Strategies of the State of Chu states: "Therefore, the King of Chu toured Yunmeng, with a thousand chariots and banners covering the sky. Wildfires rose like rainbows, and the roars of rhinoceroses and tigers were like thunder."

From the description of the King of Chu's hunting life in Yunmeng, it can be seen that Yunmeng refers to vast mountains and plains rather than lakes and marshes.

During the pre-Qin period, this group of lakes had a circumference of about 450 kilometers.

Later, due to the continuous deposition of silt brought by the Yangtze and Han Rivers, the Han River Delta continued to expand, and the area of ​​Yunmengze gradually decreased.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, the northern bank of the Yunmeng Marsh on the Han River had become flat land. It silted up during the Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties and shrank during the Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern dynasties.

During the Han Dynasty, as the lake gradually shrank, some parts of it degenerated into muddy land. By the Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, Yunmengze had shrunk by half.

During the Tang and Song dynasties, the area was broken up into a cluster of small lakes. Some of these lakes gradually silted up, while others expanded. In the eighth year of the Qingli era of the Song dynasty and the fifth year of the Mingchang era of the Jin dynasty, the Yellow River breached its banks twice. The Yunmeng Marsh no longer existed and became a marshland, prompting the surrounding people to begin cultivating the land.

One of Zhang Juzheng's intentions in undertaking the massive renovation of the Jingjiang Dike was to further cut off the river's flow and thus completely transform this swamp into fertile land.

In later generations, the Northern Yunmengze disappeared, but the Southern Yunmengze, also known as Dongting Lake, still exists.

After a welcoming banquet the previous night, Wei Guangde woke up refreshed the next morning. With the help of the most beautiful courtesan in Songjiang Prefecture, Wei Guangde washed up and dressed before heading to the main hall.

While having breakfast, Hu Junde had already arrived with the people from the prefectural government office to await orders.

Well, during Wei Guangde's stay in Songjiang Prefecture these past few days, official business at the yamen has been suspended.

It's not that he really did nothing; it's just that his staff and minor officials in the government office handled everything. They made decisions on small matters themselves, but for big matters, they had to wait for his decision.

"Mingqing, have you eaten?"

Wei Guangde asked with a chuckle.

"Teacher, I have already eaten."

"Please take your time, teacher. It's still early today, no rush."

Hu Junde immediately smiled ingratiatingly.

"Well, let's go to Huating first today and deliver the gifts from the capital to Grand Secretary Xu. If we have time, we can also visit the docks."

My main purpose in coming here this time is to see the achievements of Songjiang Prefecture in opening up to the outside world.

Among those accompanying me this time are court painters. His Majesty is too busy with state affairs to travel south and see Songjiang Prefecture in person, so he specially arranged for a painter to accompany me south to bring the Songjiang wharf to life on paper.”

Wei Guangde laughed.

"His Majesty cares deeply for the people of Songjiang Prefecture, which is truly a blessing for them."

"Teacher, upon your return to the capital, please convey to the people of Songjiang their gratitude to His Majesty."

Hu Junde immediately responded, expressing his gratitude to the emperor.

“At yesterday’s banquet, I saw some people expressing dissatisfaction with the tax system in Songjiang Prefecture.”

Wei Guangde put down his chopsticks and looked at Hu Junde, asking a question.

“Teacher, it is true that a few gentry have expressed their dissatisfaction, but they only discuss it in private and dare not make it public.”

Hu Junde's expression changed slightly. Last night, several well-known gentry in Songjiang Prefecture did express the court's dissatisfaction with the tax system in Songjiang Prefecture at the banquet, and Wei Guangde did not respond at the time.

This time, the tax burden on ordinary people was reduced by the conversion of poll tax to land tax, but the tax burden on gentry increased throughout the country.

Compared to the past, they actually made a huge profit.

After all, the amount of taxes levied was less, and the taxes were still due. The increase was the poll tax that the people should bear, but this was offset by the newly created land and the allocation of taxes, so the increase was not significant.

The most important thing is that it wiped out the old debts, which can be said to have eliminated a lot of hidden dangers.

Of course, people are never satisfied; once they have one, they want two. They still want to separate the poll tax.

After all, in their view, the poll tax was something that ordinary people should pay and should not be included in the land tax.

In fact, after a year of implementation, Wei Guangde also noticed that this law does have drawbacks.

There is a solution, namely, a dual urban-rural household registration system, where urban residents pay poll tax and rural residents are included in the land tax.

Just like the incident in Hangzhou, it was trouble caused by city dwellers who had nothing better to do than stir up trouble.

The dissatisfaction of the gentry in Songjiang Prefecture naturally stemmed from the heavy tax system established by Emperor Taizu for the surrounding prefectures.

Despite the major tax reform, the extremely heavy taxes levied on the five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Jiaxing, Huzhou, and Changzhou remained unchanged, causing some dissatisfaction among the local people.

"The taxes levied on the three Wu regions are the heaviest in the land; a single county there can rival a large prefecture north of the Yangtze River. This is quite evident!"

This is known as the "heavy taxation of Suzhou and Songjiang," where 1.76% of the country's land was used to bear nearly one-seventh of the national tax grain.

This tax reform did not involve the tax base, so the land tax in the five prefectures remained unchanged, and the gentry still had to bear the poll tax, resulting in a huge loss, especially in Songjiang Prefecture.

Because of the opening of Songjiang Prefecture as a port, a large number of farmers flocked to the docks to become laborers. They sold their labor to earn money to support their families and no longer farmed.

However, the poll tax was borne by the landlords, which naturally caused great resentment among the gentry.

"Later, you can quietly release the news that the court's reforms are not yet complete; only the general framework has been finalized."

The imperial court also had its own considerations regarding Suzhou and Songjiang.

When the dynasty was first established, the whole country was poor, but Suzhou and Songjiang were the only wealthy areas, so heavy taxes were levied on them.

As commerce flourishes in various regions, this tax system will be gradually adjusted.

This decision was not made by Wei Guangde himself, but rather the result of discussions with Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao.

After the Embroidered Uniform Guard reported the situation in Songjiang Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture, and other places, it naturally attracted the attention of several people. Even the young emperor was speechless after reading the Embroidered Uniform Guard's report and asking in detail about the heavy taxes levied on the five prefectures.

It was several times larger than other prefectures and lasted for two hundred years.

Here, Wei Guangde did not mention the fundamental reason why the five prefectures were heavily taxed, which was that Zhang Shicheng had looked down on Zhu Yuanzhang because the areas under his jurisdiction were wealthy.

Zhang Shicheng was truly wealthy, with the support of gentry from five prefectures. He had money and grain at his disposal, and could easily recruit a large number of soldiers to fight against the Ming army.

However, after Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Zhang Shicheng, the five prefectures complained of poverty when they paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty, truly treating the Hongwu Emperor like a fool.

As a result, the Ming Dynasty imposed heavy taxes on the five ministries.

The cause was indeed Zhang Shicheng, but the root cause was Zhu Yuanzhang's dissatisfaction with the contempt shown towards him by the gentry of the Five Offices.

Later, when various government offices in the Ming Dynasty had a pretext for collecting taxes, they would often levy them on the Five Ministries. For example, the Five Ministries accounted for more than half of the gold and silver tax, and the Five Ministries also bore a heavy burden of the Ministry of Works' labor and material tax.

Officials in Beijing collectively and tacitly ignored this.

Even Xu Jie dared not mention reducing taxes for Suzhou and Songjiang.

When Wei Guangde suddenly mentioned that he would help reduce the burden on Suzhou and Songjiang in the future, Hu Junde's eyes widened in disbelief. Wei Guangde smiled, beckoned Hu Junde forward, and then quietly explained the concept of the household registration system.

The Ming Dynasty had a household registration policy, but it only distinguished between civilian households and military households. The urban-rural dual household registration system proposed by Wei Guangde reflects the urban-rural distinction of later generations.

Rural residents were exempt from the poll tax, which was instead levied on the land and paid by the landowners. However, these people were not allowed to work in the fields, otherwise they would be subject to double the poll tax.

Urban residents were required to pay a poll tax and were allowed to work in the city without restrictions, whether at the docks, in businesses, or in workshops.

This was done because a large number of farmers from Songjiang Prefecture had gone to work in the city in the past six months, leaving rural fields uncultivated.

This phenomenon of abandonment and land clearing, which would later become common in later generations, appeared in the Ming Dynasty at this time.

While the Single Whip Law did set a fixed amount for land tax, it did separate the tax into two categories: grain tax and poll tax, making adjustments very convenient for local authorities.

The total amount of the poll tax was determined in each region based on the population survey. After deducting the poll tax payable by urban males, the remainder was allocated to the land, and the calculation was very convenient.

Although the amount of poll tax is negligible compared to the heavy grain tax, the news can at least reassure the gentry and let them look forward to the court's subsequent reforms.

Furthermore, if Songjiang Prefecture could attract enough men to work there and become part of the urban population, their poll tax could completely cover the total poll tax of Songjiang Prefecture, making it possible for landlords to pay only grain tax without having to pay poll tax.

When Wei Guangde said these words, Hu Junde understood that the imperial court was actually using this method to support the development of industry and commerce, and that the gentry's active support for industry and commerce was also beneficial to them.

Well, in the end, the gentry had the final say in the Ming Dynasty.

If they do not support the development of industry and commerce, it will be very difficult for businessmen to do business.

Show them the benefits of industrial and commercial development, and they will naturally know what stance to take towards this major transformation.

In reality, the landlords and gentry were not stupid. Xu Jie not only purchased a large amount of land, but also invested in workshops. He owned several sandpaper workshops, which was a combination of landlords and merchants.

Wei Guangde went to Xu Jie's residence for two reasons: first, to express the court's concern for the veteran official; and second, to spread the word and encourage gentry to invest their money in developing industry and commerce.

As for whether some people might use rural household registration to work and evade the poll tax, there are ways to deal with that.

There is actually a limit to how much land a single person can manage.

Absolute accuracy is impossible, but relative clarity is achievable. Ultimately, it depends on the diligence of the officials and bureaucrats.

Even in later times, with advanced information and strict censorship, bizarre cases still occur, such as a person receiving a salary at age 1 and retiring at age 22 to receive social security benefits.

Ultimately, the key is whether the person in charge is dedicated.

The cabinet cannot concern itself with the grassroots; that's the business of local officials.

"By releasing the news through the prefectural government and the Xu family, it should be confirmed."

Wei Guangde laughed.

"Teacher, has the imperial court really decided to do this?"

Hu Junde was still somewhat incredulous, as he had put in a great deal of effort over the past two years to stabilize the gentry.

Although the cabinet's approach did not fundamentally solve the problem, it still had some benefits. At least it showed that the court was paying attention, but it needed to proceed gradually.

"Of course, the Grand Secretary and the Inner Minister both support it, and His Majesty is aware of this and has not objected."

No objection means tacit consent.

Hu Junde understood this point.

"Just wait for the official report at the yamen; the regulations are still under discussion at the Ministry of Revenue."

Wei Guangde smiled and said, "I know the pressure you're under here, and the imperial court knows it too."

Upon hearing this, Hu Junde stood up and bowed deeply to Wei Guangde.

"The student will certainly live up to the teacher's trust and will manage Songjiang Prefecture well."

After Wei Guangde finished breakfast, he got into his sedan chair and headed to Xu Jie's residence.

The Xu residence was in Huating County, which was fortunately not far away. The sedan chair carriers were fast, and they arrived in less than an hour.

Xu Jie was already an old man at this time, but he still came to the gate of the mansion to greet him.

Xu Jie remained cautious and prudent his entire life, even in his old age.

As soon as Wei Guangde got out of the sedan chair, he saw the old man being helped by his son and immediately rushed over to greet him.

"Grand Secretary Xu, how are you feeling? The Empress and His Majesty in the palace are both thinking of you, as are we, the younger generation."

"Alright, alright, I'm in good health. Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty and the Empress."

"I'm at ease entrusting the court to you and Uncle Da. Although there have been many developments in recent years, they have all benefited the country and its people. You are destined for great things."

Wei Guangde was respectful, and Xu Jie was also good at flattery, speaking eloquently.

Although Wei Guangde had never spent time with Xu Jie in the cabinet, they were not strangers. After exchanging a few words, he entered Xu's residence.

Upon entering the Xu residence, after exchanging pleasantries, Wei Guangde presented the gifts he had brought from the capital.

The gifts were plentiful, including those from the palace last time, as well as items entrusted to him by Xu Jie's disciples, such as Zhang Juzheng.

Even if they had previous dealings, as long as they were disciples, they would prepare some gifts and ask Wei Guangde to bring them over.

Ultimately, it's just a gesture, an expression of the teacher-student relationship.

Xu Jie happily accepted the gifts and then entrusted Wei Guangde to bring back some return gifts.

Next, the topic turned to the current tax and labor service reform.

Wei Guangde repeated what he had said to Hu Junde, but to show that it was a matter of great importance, he sent away the servants from the Xu residence before speaking.

"It's better than nothing. I did have the idea of ​​reducing the grain tax of the five prefectures, but the country was in trouble, so I didn't take any action."

Now that the court has shown its interest, I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of my fellow villagers to Grand Secretary Wei and all the cabinet ministers.

"Although our five prefectures are wealthy, we truly cannot bear such a heavy grain tax."

Xu Jie couldn't help but wipe his eyes. It was impossible not to feel heartache, as it was all money and grain, and every year they had to pay seven or eight times more taxes than other places in Jiangnan.

"The grain tax is indeed a bit heavy, which is why I chose to open the sea in Songjiang Prefecture. By opening workshops and chambers of commerce, I can always earn more money to supplement my family's income."

The imperial court's consistent policy was not to compete with the people for profit, and this also applied to the policy of allowing wealth to be stored among the people.

Wei Guangde laughed.

"But in recent years, the imperial court seems to have increased commercial taxes considerably."

Xu Jie stared at Wei Guangde with his cloudy eyes and said.

"Paying taxes is a matter of course, and it has not crossed the red line set by Emperor Taizu. Grand Secretary Xu has presided over the court and naturally knows why the country is facing difficulties."

Although commercial taxes were levied according to regulations, the imperial court also increased the sources of income for merchants.

Now, under my uncle's leadership, the finances are somewhat more abundant, but the old treasury is still empty.

"Hey"

Xu Jie certainly knew that governing a country was fundamentally about finance and taxation; only with money could a country maintain stability. (End of Chapter)