Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 205 Summoned by Meicheng
Yanzhou Fucheng Jiande, also known as Meicheng, got its name because the section of the southern city wall near the river was built in the shape of a plum blossom.

It has a history of more than [-] years since the establishment of the county government in the Three Kingdoms period. Zhu Yihai likes this ancient city next to the river and mountains. The beautiful mountains and rivers are like a paradise.

Xin'an River, Fuchun River, Lanjiang River, the confluence of the three rivers.

The weather was cool today, Zhu Yihai directly summoned local rich and powerful households in Yanzhou on the city tower near the river, looking through the ledger with the wind blowing in the river, Zhu Yihai's expression was not very good.

A group of local wealthy gentry were also trembling.

Jian Guo gave them a seat, but everyone felt that there were nails on the chair, and they couldn't sit still. They sat with half of their buttocks slightly, and they didn't dare to neglect.

It is true that the head of Zhou Fugui, a thousand households in Yanzhou, is still hanging on the city wall to attract flies.

Those squads of soldiers from the Imperial Battalion were not vegetarians. The new general soldier Liu Mu from the Warriors Town was also a black-faced Bao Gong, who gave gifts to the local gentry, neither meeting them nor accepting them.

The imperial camp closed the city to check the accounts, inspected the farmland of the Qianhu Office, the official fields and school fields of the government government, etc., and checked the account books of taxes, money and food over the years. Isn't this killing people?

Although they are officials in flowing water, the officials are basically local, and they are often hereditary from their fathers, not to mention the powerful landlords.

Checking the account now, if you pull up the radish and bring up the mud, no one's butt will be clean.

"Yanzhou is a good place, with beautiful mountains and clear waters."

Zhu Yihai put down the ledger, and finally spoke. Everyone was sweating on their foreheads, obedient.

"However, in recent years, people in Yanzhou have had some problems. The soldiers of the Qianhusuo are gone, the fields are gone, and there are problems with the grain and monthly grain every year. The same is true for the prefectures and counties. This kind of burden keeps increasing, and the payment of money and food is getting more and more year after year, but the strange thing is that on the government's account, it is always in arrears, and the more it owes, the more it owes."

"However, these local officials are getting better and better one by one. A county clerk can accept seven concubines."

"A landlord with thousands of acres of land, but has never paid grain or served..."

"Do you think this is strange?"

The people below panicked one by one.

In the end, everyone looked at Fang Kezhi. He was Fang Fengnian's uncle. The Fang family was originally from Suian County, Yanzhou, and they were only small landlords in the local area who were farming and studying. However, with Fang Fengnian's prosperity, the Fang family naturally rose up.

This is also a special ethos since the Ming Dynasty. Being admitted as a scholar is the first step. Once you pass the exam, you not only have the qualifications to be an official, but also become popular immediately, because Juren begins to enjoy many privileges. For example, preferential treatment and so on.As a result, there will be many people who donate, send their names, take the initiative to become slaves, or send their land under their names, and then give a large sum of money.

This is the same as when Zhu Yihai of the later generations took some qualification certificates when he had nothing to do, and then put them in some companies.

Those landowners can be exempted from service if they send their land to Juren's name, and it is still very cost-effective to give Juren some money.So from the beginning of raising people, scholars in Ming Dynasty began to become masters.

Fang Fengnian passed the Jinshi examination in the Tianqi Dynasty, selected Shujishi, and taught the Imperial Academy to edit.As his official career prospered, the Fang family's prosperity in Yan'an also increased.

There are more and more land under his name, and more and more people donate and send their names. For example, Fang Kezhi is still settled in Yanzhou Fucheng, where he runs many farms and shops.

"Your Highness, the students are willing to fill up all the shortfalls and debts immediately."

Fang Ke gritted his teeth and took the lead in making a statement.

Fang Fengnian was dismissed from the position of assistant minister, and it has been reported in the residence, and the pillar of the Fang family has also fallen. Although he was not convicted but dismissed from office, everyone who understands knows what happened.

At this time, Fang Kezhi could only bear the pain and decided to pay money for peace.

"Everything that needs to be made up for the deficit has to be made up. After 20 years of investigation, those who have been officials in the prefectural and county yamen have to make up for the deficit. This account must be evened out. Tax evasion and opportunistic opportunism, not only defrauding preferential exemptions by various methods such as donating and sending names, but even evading and refusing to pay taxes that should be paid beyond the preferential allowance.”

The Ming Dynasty's You Mian is actually a very huge pit.

At the beginning of the Hongwu Dynasty, the preferential and exemption policies for the scholar group were not complete, and the scope and amount of application were not uniformly determined.It was not until the Orthodox Dynasty that the regulation of "avoiding miscellaneous errors" was established, but the specific amount was not determined.

Because the pit is too big, officials continue to make suggestions in the follow-up, and the level of supplies should be used to define the amount.

In the Hongzhi Dynasty, the specific amount of exemption was finally established, but no exemption was involved.

When the Jiajing Dynasty negotiated again, many officials were still dissatisfied, so in the 24th year of Jiajing, the preferential exemption regulations were re-established, and the item of food exemption was added, but the amount was not high, which still could not satisfy the officials. In the [-]th year of Jiajing, it was adjusted again , that is, the current version that has been in use until the end of the Ming Dynasty, supplemented with the mutual conversion algorithm of Ding, Liang, and Tian, ​​and preferential exemption according to grade.

But even this final preferential exemption rule is only limited to the quota, and the excess part is the food that should be paid, and the service that should be served.

One product is free of [-] shi of field grain, [-] dong of free ding, and one shi of free field grain for officials, and one person free of ding.

If a family of Yipin has [-] shi of field grain and [-] dong of people, then the ten shi and ten ding, all grain chiefs, li chiefs, water horsemen, warehouse buckets, and warehouse servants are all assigned by the editor and are not allowed to be exempted. .

A first-rank Beijing official’s preferential exemption quota is [-] mu, and one mu is guaranteed to be exempted from three liters, so the preferential exemption is [-] shi, and the excess amount is still subject to collection, even just exempting land grain and active service.

It is inevitable to avoid uniform corvee.

For example, the three rates are logically unavoidable.

Juren, supervisors, and students all have the same quota, free of grain for one stone and two, and free of two people, which is one grade higher than miscellaneous officials and pawns.

[-]% of the original quota for official officials, [-]% of the original quota for idle officials, and [-]% of the original quota for foreign officials.

From Hongwu to Jiajing, the conditions for preferential exemption for scholars have been continuously modified, and the scope and amount of preferential exemption have become higher and higher, but the officials have not been satisfied.

Even under the rules of the imperial court, they tried their best to escape the tax and labor.

For example, for a Juren, there is already a strong man in the family who should serve, and then he accepts land and people from relatives or neighbors, an extra ding, but it is free, and even some people are directly enslaved, so the ding is not counted, the land The population increases, but the food service does not increase at all.

Even if the number of relatives is included in the household registration, it has exceeded the quota, but they often do not pay at all.

Anyway, it's so awesome.

A large number of local taxes and taxes are in arrears, and this is often the case.

The rich and big households who own a lot of fields try to find ways to exempt the quota, or even don't pay it at all. The government only dares to force the poor people to death, so the people are struggling to survive.

(End of this chapter)