Brother Zhu Youxiao

[In April, in the southern Zhili area, there was a severe drought and no rain, and migratory locusts covered the sky.The official order to arrest him is getting worse.The price of rice is three taels of silver per stone, and the folks eat bad grains and rotten residue as a delicacy, or eat tree scraps and elm bark.Long live ordered to set up factories everywhere to distribute porridge, and hundreds of thousands of people eat it every day. 】

[In June, there was a severe drought in Liangji, Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang, and Huguang, and locusts broke out. 】

[Give the matter Zhong Zuo Mao et al. Shang Shu: "June Guiyou, two Beijing, Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang drought, locusts, many hungry robbers. I arrived in Linqing from Jinghai, and saw the people hungry and migrating, and the road was full of robbers. 】

In July, it was a very hot summer, but as Wang Chengen read out a memorial, everyone sitting in the Chengyun Hall felt that the temperature in the hall dropped sharply.

This is the first time that Zhu Ciran has experienced a situation where more than half of the people in the country have suffered from severe hunger, and the people have no way to survive.

All of this stems from his order to prohibit the large-scale release of stabilized food.

He was sitting in the hall, with a trace of worry that could not be dispelled on his brows, surrounded by more than a dozen ministers including the cabinet, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Sixth Ministry.

At the critical moment, the Ming Dynasty still had to let Zhu Youjian take the top spot, but at this moment Zhu Youjian faced this memorial, but his mind was not on it.

Sitting in his seat, he looked at the memorial, and then at the people in the hall, with a slight dissatisfaction on his face.

He knew very well that it wasn't that these cabinet ministers had no solution, but that they didn't offer a solution.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian threw the memorial on his desk, and the sound of the memorial falling on the table made the cabinet ministers feel tight.

"Cabinet, Six Ministries, Metropolitan Procuratorate, haven't you proposed a solution?"

Zhu Youjian's tone carried a few questions, and Sun Chengzong, the chief assistant of the cabinet, also bowed and replied instead of everyone:

"We all believe that opening the Changping warehouse is the fastest solution, and secondly, dams and canals can be built in drought-affected places."

"For example, now that the water levels of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River are lowering, we can take the opportunity to build dams in the upper reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, as well as in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, so as to use strands of dikes to trap water and remote dikes to prevent floods. Relief with work."

The method proposed by Sun Chengzong was the "Shooting water and flushing sand method" by Pan Jixun, a famous water control official in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Youjian knew a lot about this method whether he was in Ming Dynasty or in later generations.

This method is also one of the most effective and cheapest methods for treating the Yellow River in later generations.

Right now, taking advantage of the severe drought to build dams, the Yellow River can be harnessed after the drought is reached, and killing two birds with one stone with work for relief before the drought is over is indeed a very useful method at the moment.

Sun Chengzong's concern should be that the opening of Changping warehouse will affect immigration.

After all, with food and a way to survive, many people would no longer want to emigrate.

"Currently, how many people in the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River are still in the ranks of the immigration team?"

Zhu Youjian did not directly answer whether the method is feasible, but asked about the number of immigrants in the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River.

"Right now, there are still more than [-] million people waiting to be relocated, and they live on porridge fields in ports and wharfs."

Sun Chengzong answered first, and then Zhu Youjian asked again: "What is the population of the three provinces?"

"This..." Faced with Zhu Youjian's inquiry, Sun Chengzong naturally didn't know the details. After all, the population of the three provinces was changing every day, so he looked at Li Changgeng, Minister of the Household Department.

Seeing this, Li Changgeng immediately bowed and replied:

"Excluding the more than [-] million people waiting to be relocated, the number of people in Nanzhili is about [-] million, Zhejiang is more than [-] million, and Jiangxi is more than [-] million."

"The specific number of people in each province is difficult to answer. After all, in the year of the catastrophe, the population is too mobile."

Li Changgeng's answer made everyone face the population situation of the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River during the apocalypse.

Of course, this is definitely not absolute, because with the technology and administrative strength of this era, it is difficult to accurately count the number of people in each province.

However, even if it is estimated, the population of the three provinces is close to 500 million, and although the population of Ming Dynasty is already close to 9000 million, the number of Han people is only 600 million after excluding 6000 million minorities. That's all.

Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the population of these three provinces accounted for one-third of the population of Ming Dynasty. Up to now, they have been relocated several times, but they still account for the vast majority of the population.

There are still 700 million people who have not migrated. If these 700 million people have food and do not want to migrate, the population of the three provinces will return to more than [-] million.

"When the apocalypse came, how many people were relocated from the three provinces?" Zhu Youjian picked up a teacup and moistened his throat.

"About more than 500 million, of which Jiangxi moved the most, with [-] million, followed by Nanzhili with more than [-] million, and Zhejiang at least about [-] million."

Li Changgeng honestly told the Ministry of Household Affairs about the immigration situation of the three provinces. Calculated, the three provinces have migrated an average of 20 people per year in the past 60 years, which is 20 people per province.

"Northern provinces opened up Changping grain warehouses, and after the Huangdian sold them, the money was handed over to the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Industry to build dams after removing the cost."

Zhu Youjian untied Zhu Ciran's permanent warehouse policy for the north, but this does not mean that Zhu Ciran's permanent warehouse policy was useless.

In order to appease Zhu Ciran, Zhu Youjian also asked Li Changgeng, "Since Prince Chang Pingcang's administration initiated it, how many people have immigrated from the imperial court to last month?"

"There are about 600 million feudal clans, and there are still more than 360 million who have not moved."

"About 380 million overseas supervisory departments and provinces, there are still 110 million who have not been relocated."

"There are about 450 million people in the provinces outside the Central Plains, and about 160 million people in the southwest of the Central Plains."

"In 22 months of the new policy, about 600 million people will be relocated to various places."

Li Changgeng reported Zhu Ciran's achievements with both reputation and reputation. For the common people, this achievement is temporarily ruined, but for them in the future, it is praise.

The drought that Daming has experienced in these years far surpasses the Dingmao Famine in the Qing Dynasty, but the number of fleeing famine is far from enough. To put it bluntly, Zhu Youjian was too benevolent back then.

If he followed Zhu Ciran's example and made up his mind early, then the current population of the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River would be less than 5000 million.

"The Prince's administration this time will benefit both the people and the court in the long run."

Zhu Youjian set the tone for Zhu Ciran's New Deal, that is, he was affirmed to do this.

"The three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River still need to maintain the New Deal. At the same time, Huangdian suspends commerce and uses ships to relocate as many people as possible."

"When autumn comes, the locust plague will continue to break out. I am afraid that many people will have to be displaced."

"Seize this opportunity and relocate the people of the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River overseas as much as possible, especially in Luchuan, Yingzhou, and Jiaozhi."

"In addition, the new policy for women from Yingzhou to move to various parts of Ming Dynasty is opened. As long as they are willing to move to other places, they can exchange one mu of Susukida in their hands for three mu of paddy fields."

Zhu Youjian must prepare to solve the problem of the proportion of Yingzhou's population. After two years of emigration in the Ming Dynasty, the number of Han people in Yingzhou is still less than 300 million, but the population of Yingzhou has risen to 300 million.

Although it is said that more than [-] million Han people married Yingzhou women, leading to the Sinicization of more than [-] million Yingzhou women, there are still more than [-] million Yingzhou people left.

Among them, there are more than six million Yingzhou women, and there are more than three million unmarried ones.

If these people are relocated, the local population of Yingzhou will drop to 1000 million.

Afterwards, the Han Chinese who squeezed in could also increase by another 100 million, reaching as many as 400 million.

In Yang Wenyue's seemingly "impartial" policy, the proportion of Yingzhou's population will gradually decrease, and the Han people will occupy a dominant position.

This is true of Yingzhou, and so is Luchuan.

Right now, as long as the population problems of Yingzhou, Luchuan, Jiugang, and Jiaozhi are solved, and the number of Han people reaches [-]% or even [-]%, then it is a certain fact that the locality will become the basic market of China.

But having said that, it will take decades of hard work to accomplish this.

The development and immigration of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Huguang in the five southwestern provinces of the Ming Dynasty took nearly 70 years from the Hongwu period to the Zhengtong period, and it took nearly [-] years to stabilize the local area.

However, the subsequent emperors did not pay much attention to migration, so that except for Huguang, the other four provinces basically had no way to settle down.

Zhu Youjian thought that he had done the immigration work of the Hongwu, Jianwen, and Yongle dynasties, and had stabilized these four provinces.

What he needs now is to allow Zhu Ciran to continue the migration for decades.

If he can persist, then Daming is expected to turn the current territory of Daming into the basic territory of China within two generations.

Therefore, for his immigration policy, Zhu Youjian will always encourage, but never crack down on.

"The prince's new policy must be maintained in Jiangnan, but it does not mean that the Changping warehouse in Jiangnan cannot be stored, but that it cannot be stored too much."

"The people only want to move if they are hungry."

"Don't think that this is the imperial government's persecution of the people. As long as the imperial court guarantees to regenerate the fields and cattle, then the relocation will be an act of fortune for the vast majority of the people, and it is a good policy of the imperial court to benefit the people. "

"Besides..." Zhu Youjian paused, and then took a deep look at Chengde.

Chengde didn't know why, but what Zhu Youjian said next made him suddenly enlightened.

"The current financial system of the state government is that the whole country has a single account. At the end of the year, the Ministry of Finance and the cabinet hold a closed-door meeting to calculate the revenue and expenditure of the court and localities for the year. [-]% of the autumn tax is turned over to the court and [-]% is retained for local use. "

"Although this method has been implemented very well by local governments, it has also caused local governments to report to the higher authorities if they don't have enough money. Please ask the cabinet to solve it."

"The essence of this model is to eat from a big pot, and the local government has little enthusiasm for the local economy."

"For the local yamen, most of the work is done by the court, and the court will pay for it if it is not done well, so laziness gradually arises."

"In addition to the long distance, it often takes several months for the taxes in one place to be transported to the capital, and it takes several months to travel for redistribution."

"In this way, the local yamen can't do a few things in a year. Although the imperial court has control over the local area, this strength is very limited."

"Now the two capitals and thirteen provinces in the Central Plains except Fujian and Guangxi have not built railways, and the railways in other provinces are under construction or have already been connected."

"Guangxi and the coast of Fujian are not a big problem. The railway problem can also be built from the first month of next year. The Ministry of Industry needs to draw up a memorial for Wanzai to review."

Having said that, Zhu Youjian took a look at Wen Tiren, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Wen Tiren lived up to his name of "Wen Toad". He bowed to respond when Zhu Youjian pointed him out.

After ordering Wen Tiren, Zhu Youjian continued to solve the problem:

"With railways and ships, even Guangxi, the farthest place in the provinces, can deliver taxes to the capital within one month, and South Kunlun, the farthest overseas, only needs three months."

"In addition, there is a bank, and the bank can store the taxes of various government offices, transfer them, and issue them on behalf of them, because I think that the financial problems of the country can be changed."

Zhu Youjian wanted to change the financial system, which attracted everyone's attention, especially Li Changgeng, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

In the face of their concern, Zhu Youjian also first described the financial system of the Ming Dynasty.

"The taxation system ten years ago of Guochao Tianqi was an apportionment system, that is, the court held a meeting before the year to formulate a budget, and then allocated the required tax tasks to various places, which led to the fact that the taxes that the people of the Guochao had to pay were not a fixed value. .”

"Every time the imperial court needs money, it needs to temporarily increase taxes, such as the Liao pay in those years."

"This kind of system is not good. It has the ethos of the previous dynasty, and the grassroots rule of the previous dynasty relied on a large number of clan powers, and would not directly intervene. If it needs money, it will be allocated. I won’t ask for more. But what about Guochao?”

"Guochao's apportionment system is based on Baojia as the unit, accurate to each household, and tries every means to disintegrate the influence of clan forces, and the grassroots control is stronger."

"There were no major problems with this system at the beginning, but in the Hongzhi, Zhengde, and Jiajing years of the Guo Dynasty, local land mergers caused the gentry to occupy too much land."

"Property affiliation has generally appeared among the people, that is, paying a certain amount of remuneration to hang their shop land under the names of these privileged classes to obtain tax-free privileges, and even volunteered to offer themselves as slaves to the Lord Juren in order to avoid corvee."

"These things, you former officials and lords should know better than Gu..."

Zhu Youjian glanced at everyone, facing his gaze, Sun Chengzong and the others lowered their heads.

People among them, even people like Sun Chuanting, would let the children of the Sun family put the land under their own names, because this kind of custom is very common in this era, and no one thinks it is wrong.

But with Zhu Youjian's abolition of slavery, it is not so easy to hang on to the land.

Although it is not easy, it is not impossible, but the risk is slightly higher.

Zhu Youjian knew it well, so he wanted to change the tax system and fiscal system.

Facing this group of officials, he glanced at Zhu Ciran, motioned him to listen carefully, and then continued:

"There are fewer people and land to collect taxes, but the task of tax collection is not necessarily less, so it falls on the poor people who do not have privileges, and the people who are overwhelmed flee one after another, forming refugees."

"As refugees increase, the number of taxpayers will decrease further, forming a vicious circle."

"An ordinary person, in addition to his own tax, also needs to pay taxes for the county magistrate and others. Even the farmers have fled, and you have to pay the taxes of the neighbors who have starved to death."

"As long as this tax system is still there, even if the people are living a good life now, who can guarantee that the government will still be as clear as it is today?"

"I have already abolished the privileges of tax-free acres and all people with merit, and what I need to do now is to change the financial system."

"Back then, the local government kept [-]% and handed over [-]%, but in fact they kept as much as they used for themselves, and handed over what was left to the court."

"If things go on like this, the local government gets more, and the imperial court gets less, and I have just implemented administration, and there is a lot of waste everywhere."

"Railways, government roads, foreign wars...these things are waiting in line, not to mention drought, water conservancy, disaster relief and so on."

"Afterwards, I changed to hand over [-]% of the taxes and withhold [-]%. Although it is a good thing for the imperial court, it is very unreasonable for the local construction of the country to be formulated by the imperial court all the year round."

"It's such a system that local officials are only responsible for implementing it, and they don't have any aggressiveness."

"For so many years, local taxes have not increased, and what has increased is the revenue of the national treasury."

"It is common sense to adapt measures to local conditions, and what the imperial court has to do now is to motivate the localities, raise their own problems, and solve problems by themselves."

Zhu Youjian explained why he wanted to change the taxation method and system, and the next step is the solution:
"At the moment, the core of the country's finances is that the court takes the lion's share of taxes, centralizes financial management, and delegates powers to local governments."

"The powers of the local yamen are mainly public affairs, similar to the maintenance of government schools, bridges and roads."

"These are all major matters related to people's livelihood, and none of them can be sloppy."

"However, in order to do these things well, the gold and silver needed must be the [-]% that the local yamen intercepted, which is not enough. Therefore, [-]% of the country's annual memorials are from the local government to ask for the imperial court to allocate money."

"If the imperial court doesn't give it, the local yamen will take the risk and collect it from the people."

"In recent years, the local government has invented a lot of taxes and apportionments, especially for farmers who have land, land, and money."

"I've heard that there are village government repair taxes, township road taxes, and canal taxes and other miscellaneous taxes."

"Before the local farmers still had money, these taxes added up to only a hundred yuan a year, which is not too much, but what about now?"

"Farmers have been overwhelmed by the drought, but the local taxes have not been reduced. If I hadn't visited the lower level in person, I wouldn't have known that the lower level people could still collect so much tax with different tricks."

Zhu Youjian's words made Zhu Ciran a little surprised. He had never heard of these taxes. That is to say, these taxes only appeared in the past few years after he traveled south, and these years happened to be the most difficult years for the people. .

For a moment, he immediately looked around at the officials of the cabinet, six ministries, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and found that they were all stunned, apparently unaware that the local yamen did such a thing.

"You are all indifferent to local affairs, and you don't even know that the tax system needs to be reformed. Why? Want to sit on the previous credit book and reap the rewards?"

"Or do you think I'm going to leave Fan, fooling around for two years, and things will be easier when I leave?"

"I dare not wait!" Zhu Youjian's questioning made everyone stand up one after another, bowing and bowing to express that they definitely didn't think so.

Obviously, even though they knew that Zhu Youjian was about to die, they still didn't dare to make trouble at this juncture.

Before Zhu Yuanzhang was seriously ill, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River made up the "North and South List Case" in order to think that Zhu Yuanzhang was seriously ill and would not live long, so he could be a demon.

As a result, the emaciated camel was bigger than the horse. Even though he was seriously ill, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly showed his power a year before his death, killing many officials at once, scaring all the officials out of their gallbladder.

The lesson from the past is still there, who dares to use his life to bet whether Zhu Youjian will kill them?

What's more, Zhu Yuanzhang was so sick and dying that he could explode with such power, let alone Zhu Youjian, who was in his thirties.

Therefore, Sun Chengzong and the others in the cabinet felt very wronged about this matter, and even Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren, the mainstays of the conservative school at the moment, couldn't help cursing the local government from the bottom of their hearts.

If you want to be corrupt, you have to wait for the king of Qi to become a vassal before you get corrupted. Do you think you are not dying fast enough if you come up with these prohibited miscellaneous taxes now? !
"The Metropolitan Procuratorate is patrolling the area. Gu would like to ask you, what did you inspect? Don't you know these things that even Gu knows?"

Although Zhu Youjian's words were questioning, his tone was very flat, and he was even drinking tea to moisten his throat.

However, for those who have seen him kill tens of thousands of officials, even if he just coughs, people will wonder if he is about to engage in another big case.

"On the issue of the tax system, Gu once again reiterated that, except for the commercial tax and agricultural tax stipulated by the court, other miscellaneous taxes must not appear."

"In addition, there are enough Tianqi Tongbao issued by the imperial court at the moment. From next year, all Tianqi Tongbao will be collected as tax, and no tax in kind will be levied. The tax rate ratio of [-]% for the imperial court and [-]% for local governments will be cancelled."

"For the financial problems of the local government and the imperial court, the Ministry of Household Affairs sent people to visit, and reported the different tax amounts that each county needs to pay according to the situation of each county."

"Shouldn't rich places like Suzhou Mansion and Yingtian Mansion pay more, while places outside the customs and some places in the northwest should pay less?"

"In addition, there are some taxes. Can they be collected by the local government? For example, booth fees and store taxes are commercial taxes that belong to the county."

"There are more than [-] counties in the country, and now there are railways. It is not difficult to go through all of them."

"The new tax system, I want to see 23 years before the apocalypse."

Zhu Youjian issued an ultimatum to the cabinet and the six ministries, and also issued an ultimatum to the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

If they don't do a good job in the 23rd year of the apocalypse, then no one can blame him for King Qi.

"Back off, the prince stays."

Zhu Youjian explained what he wanted to explain, and then let Zhu Ciran stay.

Seeing this, Sun Chengzong and the others got up and bowed one after another, and they withdrew from the Chengyun Hall during the chanting ceremony, and even the Qi Palace.

After they all left, Zhu Youjian looked at Zhu Ciran who stayed behind, feeling a little dazed.

"Uncle?" Zhu Ciran asked cautiously, and Zhu Youjian also came to his senses after hearing the words, and then he said seriously:

"Although state affairs are busy, your behavior is also worthy of criticism."

"It's not that you haven't rested since you came back from the south tour. In the seven months of this year, you have had 27 days of rest."

"For these 27 days, you can take one day off if it is short, or three to five days if it is long."

"But even if you rest, you're just wandering around the capital. Have you ever visited a remote place one day?"

"The construction of the train is not only for the development of commerce and trade, but also for the people in power to see further."

"You can't go to Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou. You can always go to Shanxi and Henan, right?"

"But what about you? You either walk around the capital every day, or rest in the Spring Harmony Palace."

"National affairs are indeed tiring, but if you are not tired, will the life of the people be easier?"

This was the first time Zhu Youjian reprimanded Zhu Ciran, Zhu Ciran did not refute this, but humbly reviewed: "What uncle taught me is that my nephew is indeed a bit slack."

"It's my nephew's fault that my nephew didn't know about the miscellaneous taxes in the township that my uncle mentioned today."

"In the future, I will definitely pay attention to people's livelihood and place as my uncle said."

After Zhu Ciran finished speaking, he cupped his hands and bowed deeply, expressing that he was listening to the instruction.

Seeing this, Zhu Youjian stopped talking about him, but waved his hand: "Go and do your business, don't play around."

"Yes..." Hearing this, Zhu Ciran felt even more guilty, and walked out of the Chengyun Hall dejectedly.

Walking on the stone bricks of the palace, Zhu Ciran couldn't help self-criticism.

Indeed, after he returned from his trip to the south, as the time spent dealing with government affairs gradually lengthened, he himself began to feel tired and tried to avoid laziness.

Uncle Qi's actions today touched him a lot. Now that the people are not living and working in peace, how can he enjoy peace?

"call……"

Exhaling a breath, Zhu Ciran, who walked to the gate of Prince Qi's Mansion, turned around and glanced at the Chengyun Hall on the high platform, and couldn't help cheering himself up:
"Uncle, don't worry, my nephew knows what to do."

After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked out of Prince Qi's mansion.

"father!"

Just when Zhu Ciran walked out of Prince Qi's Mansion, Zhu Cihong brought his six brothers into the Chengyun Hall.

They were dressed in crew-neck gowns, as if they were going on a long trip.

"Father, can we go hunting in Yanshan?"

As the "leader brother", Zhu Cihong immediately asked Zhu Youjian after entering the palace.

Zhu Youjian, who was sitting on the seat dealing with the memorial, also glanced at the clock, then got up and looked at Wang Chengen, and said with Wang Chengen's astonished expression: "Put the memorial to the carriage and go to Yanshan Road to deal with it."

After explaining, Zhu Youjian turned around and walked towards Zhu Cihong and the others with a smile, picked up the youngest Zhu Cican, and led the children out of the Chengyun Hall with a smile.

"Let's go, Dad will take you to the autumn hunting."

"Great……"

Chapter 2 update time is "seven o'clock"