Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 217 Does your conscience hurt?

"The total household population of Yanzhou Prefecture is 11 Dingkou, and the amount of land is 350 hectares and 44 mu. In addition, Dishantang Lake, Sangzhemu, etc.,
A total of 16 five taels and three cents of silver were expropriated for the above-mentioned land and land, and a total of five thousand, 690, three stones and eight buckets of rice were expropriated.

"In June of this year, Diding Jiajun, the collection of silver is 840 nine taels of money, and the collection of rice is 290 four stones and eight buckets..."

Yanei government office.

In the hall, Zhu Yihai listened to the data reported by the chief assistant Song Zhipu. These were the latest figures of the land bank and the Ding bank compiled by a group of ministers who worked overtime and night.

Basically, it is based on the records of the 46th year of Wanli, plus the figures of various servants in Yanzhou Prefecture during the Wanli period.

The land is divided into acres, and the total silver for the land is 17 nine taels of silver, five thousand five hundred and sixty-eight stones and six buckets of rice.

The land tax is one cent and two silver per mu, and the land is more than three cents per mu.

Wanli taxation, not only the fields that grow grain, but also the land that grows tea and trees, and even mountains, ponds, lakes, etc. are also taxed, but the tax rate is lower.

At the beginning of Hongwu, official land was set up, with five liters and three infusions and five spoons per mu, private land three liters and three infusions and five spoons per mu, re-lease land per mu of eight liters and five infusions, and reed land with five infusions and three spoons and four scoops per mu. If the land collapses, three in one scoop per mu, if there is no official land, one bucket and two liters per mu.

At this time, the collection of silver was changed.

One mu of land in Yanzhou is worth about one cent and two yuan, and some uncolored rice is also expropriated.

The conversion of rice to silver is roughly equivalent to one tael of silver per stone of white rice, plus two cents for foot consumption.

One mu of silver is one coin and two coins, which is actually equivalent to collecting a bucket of rice plus two liters of foot money.It is already two or three times higher than that of the Hongwu Dynasty. Of course, if the addition of the Apocalypse and Chongzhen Dynasty is counted, it will actually have to be added several times.However, the service in the early Ming Dynasty also exhausted the people.

Of course, the price of grain in Zhejiang is now two to one stone, so according to this ratio, the actual levy is only half a bucket.

Zhu Yihai also knows that the 46th year of Wanli has passed for decades after all, and the previous data is definitely not accurate enough to collect the current grain, but it is even more inaccurate to use the data from the Tianqi or Chongzhen Dynasty.

The land tax and Ding Yin have been calculated clearly, and now all the grain discounts need to be distributed among these fields. According to statistics, Yanzhou not only counted fields, but also land, mountains, ponds, lakes, and farmland.

The field is more than 2 hectares, more than one million mu, more than 11 taels of dingyin, and dingkou is more than 1000, which is less than two renminbi of dingyin.The more than 2 taels of silver was spread over more than 100 million mu of land, and less than two taels of silver was spread on a hundred acres of land, that is, less than two cents per mu.

So if it is calculated in this way, after the land is divided into mu, the silver conversion is a little more than one quarter of silver per mu of land.

If it is true nature, one mu of land will be requisitioned for one bucket of grain, and two or two buckets of money will cost money, and then two cents of silver will be shared. If a landlord has a hundred mu of land, he will pay twelve shi for grain and add two taels of silver.

If [-]% of the fire consumption is added, it will be thirteen stones, two buckets of grain, and two taels of silver.

"My lords, I just think that the army is constantly being used now, so the land tax should be based on the collection of natural grain, and the landowners with more than ten acres of land should pay the natural grain, and hand over the grain to the village, and the officials will accept it. As for households with less than ten acres of land, they can be deducted. Silver, this year, it will be converted at one stone meter and two taels of silver."

"The small silver allocated to the field will be collected directly."

Nowadays, the price of food is two or three taels of stone rice, and now the silver is levied according to the previous stone rice conversion of one tael of silver, which is equivalent to reducing the tax by half. For them who are desperately short of money, this will make things worse , you can only levy natural food.

Song Zhipu had dark circles under his eyes. He had been a doctor in the household department before, so he was proficient in these matters of money and grain. High, Dingkou must be more years than Wanli..."

Zhu Yihai waved his hand, "Those are minor problems, first make a general framework and implement them, and then pick up what's left and fill in the gaps and slowly fix them."

A Yanzhou prefecture only has about a hundred thousand shi grains, plus 2 taels of silver, which is indeed a bit small.Zhu Yihai believes that if all the acres of land are measured again and the household registration is comprehensively surveyed, there will definitely be an increase of [-]-[-]%, or even [-]-[-]%.

"If you collect natural grain, you have to be careful not to burden the people. The people from all over the country can only hand it over to the village. In addition, since 1000% of the grain has been added to each stone grain, and an additional 25% of the fire consumption has been collected, how much should be collected? It’s just as much as it is, and there is no need to levy additional expenses or surplus. I know that the Ministry of Household Affairs has a bad rule that every [-] taels will be charged [-] taels of silver. "

"This incident is not allowed to happen again in the future. Gu has already returned the fire consumption to the public and used it to raise the salary of the officials."

"In addition, the collected money and food should be distributed according to the previously determined shipment and retained amount. If there is too much money left in the local government, the officials should raise their salaries appropriately, and the workers' food and silver should also be increased accordingly according to the actual situation. , so that everyone can support their families, instead of working on errands when they are hungry, or even posting backwards.

If you let a man guard the granary on an empty stomach, how can he think of a way to steal grain from the warehouse? If we pay the warehouseman enough salary and he still steals, then it is only reasonable for us to punish him. "

Zhu Yihai increased the surplus for the local government and made the finances relatively loose. This is also the policy of the Ming Dynasty over the years. The local government is poor and the officials are poor, so they can only levy and send labor to the people. The burden on the people continues to increase. Less affected, exacerbated polarization, vicious circle.

Yanzhou also has a relatively large population, with a population of more than 140. There are [-] companies in this prefectural city alone, and the population of the prefectural city exceeds [-].

But Zhu Yihai was still very dissatisfied with only such a small amount of money collected, and had to reorganize the industrial and commercial taxes.

Lijin must also be collected, and all the proceeds are used to support the army and fight.

Lijin, industrial and commercial tax, etc. are not directly taxed on the people, but are collected from those industries and businesses. Although it is possible that the merchants will eventually add the cost of this tax to the price of the product and pass it on to the people, at least compared to Taxes such as Ding Yin and Tian Fu are much better.

This is like a salt tax, which is essentially a poll tax, because everyone needs to eat salt, which is essential, so a salt tax is tantamount to a poll tax.But if you collect deed tax on land and house sales, then for many ordinary people who do not have land and house sales, this tax will not be levied on them.

Therefore, from the ruler's point of view, although the collection of poll tax is the simplest and seems to be the fairest, in fact, for the imperial court, poll tax is the most unreasonable and the collection cost is the highest.

"After the Yanzhou military settlements and official fields are cleaned up, how should they be disposed of? Will they be handed over to the imperial camp warriors to garrison the fields?"

Zhu Yihai shook his head, the army is for fighting, not for farmland, at least at this stage he can no longer set up military camps, this is not a border gate, here is less land and more people, so these fields are directly rented out to the common people for farming , and then just collect the rent.

"Leave it to the Imperial Ying Liangtai to be responsible for renting out tenants." Zhu Yihai still kept a hand, and did not hand over these fields to the local government, but to the Liangtai. Grain Taiwan, used for military expenditure.

Warriors are stationed in Yanzhou, with five thousand soldiers and one thousand and eight auxiliary soldiers. The auxiliary soldiers cost three taels of silver a month. Waiting for three or two nines, for the time being, half pay, not only half, but half of it will be held for some time, and it will be distributed collectively during festivals or when they go out to fight. It can be regarded as an incentive, and it can be regarded as preventing soldiers from escaping.

If the full salary is calculated, it costs 8000 taels of silver a month, and 256 million taels of silver a year. This is not counting the purchase and consumption of war horses, draft horses, food for soldiers, and armor and armor. .

Calculated in this way, all the local silver and small silver in Yanzhou are used to supply the army, and there is still a big gap. They have to rely on lijin, industrial and commercial tariffs, and even the land rent of military and official land to supplement.

"Your Highness, one town in the imperial camp costs more than 20 taels a year, and these ten towns cost more than 200 million taels. However, there are still big expenses such as military equipment, food and grass, which are more expensive than the original Guanning army's salary and more soldiers. , The Chongzhen Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty still had the whole world, and they could gather the strength of the whole country. They couldn't afford to support the Guanning Army. Now, with half of the country, how can they support the ten towns of the imperial camp and the two towns of the Jingying camp? Please also cut down the soldiers and horses of the imperial camp to save money! "

He Tengjiao stood up again.

He and Zhu Yihai were there to calculate the military expenses of the Guan Ning Army,

"Go thousands of miles across the country and participate in expeditions. Therefore, from Tianqi to Chongzhen Dynasty, the soldiers in Liaodong were paid two or three times as much as those in the mainland. Because of the continuous war in Liaodong, this generous salary has been kept. During the Chongzhen Dynasty, the Guanning infantry was paid once a month. Two or four qian silver plus half a shi of rice, cavalrymen received one or two or six qian silver plus half a shi of rice, servants even paid one or two eight qian silver per month.

Calculated in this way, the cavalry has 19 taels of silver plus six shi of rice a year, and the servants have at least 21 taels of silver plus six shi of rice. Even the infantry has 16 taels of silver and six shi of rice a year.

According to the discount price of the imperial court at that time, one shi of rice was worth eight taels of silver. In fact, the price of grain was high at that time, and one shi of rice could be worth more than one or two taels of silver. Therefore, the six shi of rice could be worth seven or eight taels of silver.

So even the lowest infantry has about 24 taels of silver a year, cavalry has 28 taels, and servants have 30 taels.

Horses in the inland area get ten bundles of grass plus two or three liters of beans a day, while war horses in Liaodong rush to kill, and the grain and grass are higher. Fifteen bundles of grass and three liters of beans a day, roughly converted, at least 12 taels a year.

Horses are bought from Xuanda or Hexi, at least 15 taels, and the war damage rate is still high, and it costs about four taels of silver every year.

Of course, another big consumption is recruiting and pensions. An Jiayin is at least five taels for recruiting soldiers, and the minimum pension for death in battle is 15 taels.

If there is a war, we have to distribute food, about one tael a month.

Rewards have to be given out, and training, clothing, etc. all cost money.

After careful calculation, to raise a Guanning cavalry, the soldier's food and salary are more than 20 taels, and the war horse consumes more than a dozen taels, at least forty taels a year.

If a Guanning cavalry soldier died in battle for three years, the court would have to spend about 200 taels of silver in total.

This is the horror of raising an army.

Under normal circumstances, the expenditure is fine. Once it enters a state of war, you will come and go, and the money will flow like water.

As for Zhu Yihai's ten towns in the imperial camp, including the second town of Jingying, each town has five thousand soldiers and one thousand auxiliary soldiers. It turns out that the Guanning cavalry is even taller than the servants.

He Tengjiao came from Huguang, and it is common for soldiers there to pay one tael or even one tael a month in arrears, and they can default on food.

Moreover, this imperial battalion is so special that it does not go through the Ministry of War, the Fifth Army Mansion, or even the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and is led by the Supervisor himself, which makes He Tengjiao feel that it is acting recklessly.

"Inspector He said that the Guanning Army's support for the army was high, and that the food and wages in the interior of Huguang were low. These are facts, but they are not all facts. Time changes and things change. You can't just make a vertical comparison, but also a horizontal comparison."

"What time is it now? It's the Tartars' invasion of the south, and half of the Ming Dynasty has been taken away. It is a time when the country is in peril. At this time, it is necessary to create an elite army of kings who can fight, dare to fight, and are loyal. What do you rely on to build it? Just talk about loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, and bravery. ?"

"If the soldiers don't have enough food and clothing, and they can't support their wives and children, how can they fight with peace of mind?"

"Don't compare it with the army of the Ming Dynasty in the past. There is no comparison. In the past, because the salary was too low and the salary was owed, the guards were abandoned and the frontier army could no longer fight. That's why the country fell and the Central Plains fell into ruins."

"To compare with our opponents, what kind of food and compensation do the Tatars get? Although the Tatars receive food rewards that are similar to those of the Guanning Army for a month, that is only basic. The pension is also exceptionally high."

"A guard who dies in battle pays 200 taels of silver, and a single infantry has 150 taels of silver. Even a coated slave who goes to battle in armored soldiers is paid a hundred taels of silver. This is a one-time pension, not including the widows and orphans behind him. Allowances, etc. Even the cavalry soldiers of the green battalion died in battle with 70 taels, and the infantry soldiers died in battle with 50 taels.”

"And what about us?"

"Imperial Camp is fairly well paid now, but An Jiayin only has five taels, and the pension for those killed in battle is only ten taels."

"Do you know what the standard of pension given by the Tatars is? It is a hundred times their monthly salary, but what about us? Even in the imperial camp, it is only equivalent to the standard of less than three months."

The more Zhu Yihai talked, the more angry he became. Even the boss knew that if he wanted to sell his life, he had to pay a commission. Who would work hard with the basic salary alone?
What's more, soldiers are now required to fight and fight desperately, and they are still facing extremely powerful enemies.

Rely on one tael of silver a month?Who the hell is fighting you hard?

"Soldiers are paid one or two taels of silver to go into battle. This is not something to be proud of. It is a disgrace, a disgrace to the court, a disgrace to Ming Dynasty, a disgrace to you and my monarch and ministers. Soldiers take their lives to fight for the court, but we only think about how to give it to them." Less money?"

"Aren't you ashamed, don't your conscience ache?"

Zhu Yihai directly patted the table, He Tengjiao was stuck there and couldn't get off the stage. Originally, he wanted to say that there were too many soldiers in the Imperial Battalion and the military expenditure was too high. He also compared it with the Guanning Army, and the military expenditure of 500 million a year was of no use.

But Zhu Yihai didn't tell him this, and directly questioned his conscience.

How did He Tengjiao answer?

Could it be said that a soldier is worth one or two a month?
Or is it enough to be a soldier who is hungry and owes money to fight for the country and defend the border?
He didn't dare to say these words at all, he could only stand there speechless with his face turning red and turning pale.

(End of this chapter)