Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 213
Everyone originally wanted to stop Jian Guo from acting recklessly in Yanzhou, especially when they heard that Jian Guo was in Yanzhou. After the people's grievances were boiling and the gentry wailed, they all felt that Jian Guo was messing around.

The gentry is the foundation of the imperial court and must be treated preferentially. How can we attack the gentry? Wouldn't that be a thief?
In the beginning, the bandits swept across the world and broke into Beijing relying on the slogan that the Chuang Wang came without paying food. Guan, snatching Li Zicheng's throne just after he took office, isn't this a lesson from the past?
What if the gentry surrendered to the Tartars in a hurry?
But who knew that Jian Guo would drop such a heavy question as soon as he came.

Everyone was speechless.

These problems of the Ming Dynasty have indeed rotted the roots of the Ming Dynasty. Without Li Zicheng, there would be no Jianzhou Jurchen, and other people would come to overthrow the Ming Dynasty.

Daming wasn't ruined by the bandits and Jurchens, it was his own fault. The bandits and Tartars were nothing more than tearing off Daming's shame and exposing everything.

In the magistrate's yamen, there was silence.

Although this problem has existed for a long time, it is still somewhat unsolvable when it is thrown out.

In fact, it's not that there is no solution, but it involves too much. It can be said that every aspect of the Ming system must be involved. Even a cabinet scholar can't say that he has such courage.

Think about Zhang Juzheng, how powerful he was back then, the whip method he promoted was not a top-down reform, but a method that many local governments had already begun to try out after years of exploration. The policy is used to summarize, improve and promote.

But the implementation of the whip method was not smooth, even Zhang Juzheng was liquidated so miserably after his death, it was because of these things, any official should not think about it.

Who wants to end up like this in the end?
Furthermore, this reform and reform, in the end, cut their own interests, and few officials have such courage.

So few people are willing to do such a thankless thing.

But today Zhu Yihai said that if there is no reform, the country will be destroyed.

He Tengjiao stood up.

"Your Highness, I think that the old system has been corrupted for a long time, and it really needs to be reformed to adapt to the situation, but it is like a person who has been ill for a long time and his body is too weak. Using the tiger and wolf medicine at this time is not saving lives, but killing lives.

"I heard that His Royal Highness checked the account books in Yanzhou, and ordered the officials to fill in the deficit, even for 20 years. I think it is absolutely impossible. The deficits in various places are not all corrupted by officials, and even if there are officials corrupted , not everyone is greedy."

"There are various reasons for the deficit, and it is unreasonable to place the responsibility on the officials now. Furthermore, if such heavy penalties are imposed on those gentry who evade taxes and owe taxes, wouldn't this mean that they will be forced to rebel against the people?"

"Your Highness, the gentry are the foundation of the dynasty, so don't cut down the pillars yourself."

"Your Highness, please think twice and take it back!"

Chen Meng and others followed suit and asked for their orders to be withdrawn.

Zhu Yihai was silent for a while.

"The situation in Yanzhou Prefecture is special, and Gu takes this as a model, so it is strict and serious. As long as the rest of the places correct themselves, fill up the shortfall in time, and return the invaded Guantian Juntun and other places, then Gu can not be punished and fined. .”

"However, it is impossible for Yanzhou Mansion to change the order overnight. This is what they deserve. Gu has already been given a lighter sentence, otherwise, he would not be able to escape the fate of being beheaded and ransacked."

This murderous frontal toughness made the Grand Scholars a little uncomfortable.

But Zhu Yihai did not give an inch.

If you want to open a window, you have to first say that you want to demolish the house, and then he will finally agree to open a window.

Chen Meng once again asked for his order to be withdrawn.

Zhu Yihai looked at Chen Meng, "How old is Chen Qing?"

"The minister will be sixty next year."

"Oh, I remember that Chen Qing seemed to be a candidate in the 40th year of Wanli. Later, he failed in two examinations and was appointed as the teacher of Xin'an. In the second year of Tianqi, he was selected as a Jinshi in the examination. He was selected as a scholar and served as a reviewer of the Imperial Academy. In the first year of Chongzhen, he was promoted to the Secretary of the Imperial Academy. , a sixth-rank official, took a test in Nanji, was convicted and dismissed from Nanjing.

Nanjing established the country, began to lecture and read the scriptures, left the servant of the Ministry of officials, died in the southern capital, became a monk in Hangzhou, and then returned to Shengxian County, Shaoxing, and went out to help after the lonely prison, right? "

Chen Meng nodded.

His qualifications as an official are actually mediocre. Although he is about the same age as Ruan Dacheng and Fang Fengnian, he only achieved the sixth grade in the Chongzhen Dynasty. He defected, so he was specially invited to join the cabinet to support him.

But he didn't do a few practical things in the cabinet, but he sang with Fang Fengnian and attacked the chief assistant Song Zhipu.

Now that he can't comprehend the will of the state supervisor, and still sings the opposite tune at a critical moment, then there is no point in keeping such a cabinet minister.

"Chen Qing, the current situation is in dire straits, internal difficulties and external troubles. What's the use of pretending to sleep at this time? We must ease the difficulties of the people. The ancestral system has been in use for more than 200 years. The world situation is also turned upside down. Changes must be made."

"If you don't change it, the country will perish and the world will perish, so we must fight with our backs."

"Chen Qing was afraid of being scolded by the gentry and afraid of taking responsibility, so she went back and continued to become a monk, continue to read scriptures and pray for Buddha, to see if she can save the world, and if she can pretend to sleep again."

Chen Meng was so accused by Zhu Yihai that he was ashamed to stay in court.

Immediately, he had to kneel down and ask for resignation.

Zhu Yihai also agreed directly without any politeness, without leaving any scene, there is no need to pretend to stay, what is needed now is efficiency, not fake politeness.

"Please return Xu Chen."

"Give Qing Guozijian a sacrificial wine and be responsible for rebuilding Guozijian in Shaoxing."

Chen Meng hesitated for a while, and received the order, then Zhu Yihai waved his hand, Chen Meng retreated in embarrassment, he was no longer qualified to discuss matters here.

Since Zhu Yihai became the supervisor of the country, he has paid homage to fourteen cabinet scholars, but Fang Fengnian and Chen Meng have already been dismissed.

"Everyone, if the people don't have a living, the country will not survive. The foundation of the Ming Dynasty is not only the gentry, but the gentry, farmers, businessmen, and businessmen. The bowl of water is level."

It has come to the point where it is necessary to change, but how to change it, everyone has no idea.

After all, if it's just tinkering, it doesn't make much sense.

Chen Meng's dismissal can be regarded as another expression of his determination to supervise the country. For a while, the monarchs and ministers were able to concentrate on solving the problem instead of arguing whether to do it or not.

"Only one idea."

Seeing that no one said anything, Zhu Yihai had no choice but to continue talking.

"Apocalypse and Chongzhen had frequent wars, turmoil in the Central Plains, severe taxation and labor, and a high burden on the common people. Gu intends to use the tax and service records of the Wanli period as the fundamental basis to collect taxes from all over the country."

Use the tax and service registers of the Wanli period to collect the current tax and corvee decades later?

Everyone thinks this idea is very clear.

But what Zhu Yihai said next shocked them even more.

"Then the total number of tax and service in the 46th year of Wanli was set as the number of tax and service in the first year of Lu Jianguo, and an edict was issued to the world. From then on, no tax will be added."

Many of them haven't responded yet.

What do you mean, never pay?

Generally speaking, the tax amount is not fixed, but variable, because the number of fields is also variable, and even the household registration of the population is also variable.

Zhu Yihai explained to everyone in detail.

During the Wanli period, it was quite stable, so the collection of taxes and duties was relatively comprehensive and well kept. Compared with the chaos caused by the turmoil in various places in recent years, this is a relatively reliable and comprehensive database.

It is used directly, which is relatively reliable and saves time and effort.

As for the fact that there have been changes over the past 20 years, they have not changed too much, which is acceptable.

What is never added to the tax?

First of all, taking the prefecture as the unit, according to the amount of taxes collected by the local government in the 46th year of Wanli, how much was collected per mu at that time, and how much was still increased, and the increase in these years was eliminated.

When the other whip method was implemented, all kinds of corvees were combined and converted into silver, and then part of them was shared among the fields, but some were still collected on a per household basis.

Zhu Yihai planned to allocate all the small amount of money that Wanli's whip did not go to the field, and also go to the field, and collect it together with the land tax.

All kinds of new corvée assignments after the one-whip law will be cancelled, and will no longer be collected, such as three rates, donations, etc.

For example, in the past, the land tax of Yanzhou Prefecture was converted into silver for five cents and four cents per mu, and Dingyin was charged one cent per Dingyin.

But in fact, in the past few decades, various new apportionments have been added, such as Liao’s rate of one mu plus one cent and two, followed by the practice rate and suppression rate. It is several times that of the current supply.

The same is true for the common people’s ding silver. Originally, corvees were merged and converted into silver, and part of it was allocated to the land tax. The rest was collected according to the ding levy, and the Yanzhou government paid one coin per ding per year, but up to now, it has been several taels of silver, which has been multiplied by dozens of times. .

Now Zhu Yihai said that the land should be collected according to the 46th year of Wanli, that is, five cents and four silver for one mu.

One coin per penny fixes the total number of pennies in the whole government in the 46th year of Wanli, and the total pennies are calculated at one penny per penny, and all of them are distributed among all the fields in Yanzhou Prefecture. In the future, there will be no poll tax like Dingyin alone.

For example, if Yanzhou Prefecture has 30 ding and 100 million mu of land, 3 taels of ding silver will be allocated to the land tax, and three cents of silver will be shared per mu. The combination of land and ding is [-] cents of silver per mu, plus [-]% Two fire consumption, one mu is almost one coin.

In this way, Liu Zongzhou and others understood.

It's not as amazing as imagined. The words "Never add Fu" are very shocking, but after a closer look, it seems that nothing has changed?
"Your Highness, isn't this transferring Ding Yin to the land tax, and changing the levy on the landlord?"

"Gu also knows this, but it's more reasonable to spread the money into the mu."

A whip method in the Wanli period only spread part of the silver.

Now the vast majority of the people are landless people, and Ding Yin's burden on them is much higher than that of the landowners.

Essentially speaking, Fu comes from the fields and is collected and turned over to the imperial court.

Serves, mainly local servants, etc., are converted into silver, and this money should be kept in the local area for use.

Tian Fu and Ding Yin should be fixed, but in reality, Ming Dynasty is quite casual in this regard. All kinds of additions are very arbitrary.

Even a whip has just merged various service and silver collections, and after a few years turned around and re-introduced the merged ones separately, and there are even many different additional collections in various places.

The water here is too muddy, so basically the people everywhere are suffering from corvee labor. Originally, the south was heavily taxed and the service was light, and the north was heavy and taxed, but by the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was a mess, and the north and the south were in dire straits.

"The key to the reform of the tax and service system is to cut through the mess quickly, fix the tax, divide it into the mu, and never increase the tax."

As soon as these words came out, the old ministers were deeply shocked.

In the past, no matter whether it was the imperial court or the local government, when the finances got confused, every time they did something, they would levy additional apportionments. This has always been the case.

Never add a tax, then what should I do if I have no money in the future?
Building palaces, building rivers, building cities, and even fighting wars, if the money is not enough, don’t you apportion and levy?
As for the amount of tax per mu, it is not so important. The key is the total amount of taxes. If only the amount of the 46th year of Wanli is collected, and the increase in taxes and duties in the past 30 years is completely abolished, how will the fiscal gap be made up?
The levy of the three rates together is a full 2000 million taels of silver.

Is it enough to rely on land and silver for one acre of land plus fire consumption?

(End of this chapter)