The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 175 The Terrifying Land Tax
The entire prefectures and counties in Southern Zhili basically finished measuring the fields in their jurisdictions within one month, compiled statistics and compiled them, and then reported them to the Ministry of Household Affairs, almost a few days earlier than the time stipulated by the cabinet.

Leaving aside the water in it, at least the administrative efficiency has been top-notch in all dynasties, and compared with before the Ming Dynasty, it is even worse.

This is the advantage of establishing the authority of the cabinet, Ma Shiying's promises, and the benefits of not having any civil servants to hinder and dismantle the situation.

At this moment, in the household department office in Nanjing, thousands of officials are busy collecting data from various places, and then verifying it over and over again.

It wasn't until after repeated verification that Minister of the Household Department took the brochure and hurried to the Wenhua Palace where the cabinet is located.

Ma Shiying and other officials from various ministries have long been looking forward to it, waiting anxiously. Almost everyone wants to know how many fields there are in the whole of Nanzhili, and how much tax can they collect every year?

"Ge, the Ministry of Household Affairs has completed the statistics of all the mulberry fields, good fields and dry fields in the fourteen prefectures and four prefectures. Please take a look..."

"Hurry up and bring it here..." Ma Shiying hurriedly got up and went to meet him, grabbed the booklet, and started to read it.

Other officials also surrounded them.

After reading it, Ma Shiying also gasped, and after handing the booklet to the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, his tone was a little trembling: "I never expected that there are more than 6000 million mu of mulberry and dry fields in the province of Nanzhili alone. "

"Hiss! Isn't there more in Henan and Huguang?"

Except for the Minister of the Ministry of Officials who was reading the brochure, the other officials also took a breath of air.

Before all the officials had finished watching, Xu Lan came to the cabinet, and Xuan Ma Shiying entered the palace immediately.

Obviously Zhang Yan is also very concerned and curious about how many fields there are in the whole Nanli.

Ma Shiying didn't delay, took the brochure and rushed to the imperial study room. When she came to the imperial study room, Princess Kunxing was there, standing beside Zhang Yan.

"The minister kowtows to the queen mother, and kowtows to her highness the princess."

"Ma Aiqing, don't be too polite, sit down!"

"Thank you, Empress."

"Ma Ge, I heard that the Ministry of Households has cleared the statistics of the fields in various places?"

As soon as Ma Shiying sat down, Princess Kunxing asked impatiently.

"Returning to the Queen Mother, Princess, the Ministry of Household Affairs has indeed calculated that the entire South Zhili has a total of more than 530 million mu of mulberry fields, more than [-] million mu of paddy fields, and more than [-] million mu of dry fields, totaling more than [-] million mu. These are the detailed figures, please look over to the Queen Mother, Princess..."

Zhang Yan and Princess Kunxing were shocked when they heard the words.

Zhang Yan took the brochure handed over by the maid, and after reading it and handed it to Princess Kunxing, she said in disbelief: "Ma Aiqing, there are more than 6000 million mu of land in this Jiangnan area, and there are more than 500 mu of mulberry fields alone. For 700 mu, at five qian per mu per year, more than 4000 million taels of tax can be collected, plus more than 600 million mu of paddy fields and dry fields, and more than [-] million taels of tax can be collected... This, this, this year plus Come on, wouldn't it be more than thirteen million taels?"

After Zhang Yan finished speaking, her little mouth couldn't close in shock.

"Returning to the Empress Dowager, it is true, and this is only the land tax, not counting the land tax, commercial tax, and customs duties. If these are added, at least it will have to be doubled. It is difficult for the veteran to estimate how much he can collect in a year. "

Ma Shiying replied, feeling the same in her heart.

I heard that it will be doubled. The tax revenue of Jiangnan alone may exceed 2000 million taels a year. Zhang Yan is going crazy. She really can't imagine that after the new policy is fully implemented, the entire Ming Dynasty will be able to collect more money in one year. How much tax will come up.

"This gang of corrupt officials and evil gentry is really abominable. When the father was in power, the entire south only collected five or six million taels of tax money every year. Now it's a good thing that they have concealed so many fields..."

Princess Kunxing slammed the booklet on the table, her face flushed with anger, and she cursed angrily.

Both Zhang Yan and Ma Shiying chose to ignore her as a young cynic, because it is meaningless to say these things now.

It wasn't until a long while before Zhang Yan calmed down some excitement, looked at Ma Shiying and asked with a little worry: "Ma Aiqing, just in the south of the Yangtze River, the land tax of more than 1000 million taels will be paid every year, will it be too heavy? Make it impossible for the people to afford it?"

Obviously, Zhang Yan has been in power in Nanjing for more than a year, and she has understood many things. She knows that most of the big gentry households in various places will eventually distribute the tax equally to the tenants.

"Queen Mother, five cents per mu for mulberry fields is not high, and one or two cents per mu for paddy fields and dry fields is also not high. They will set up names cleverly and charge too much.

As a result, the taxes that the people have to pay in the end are often several times or even ten times more than the court regulations. "

Ma Shiying gritted his teeth for the last time, and simply told the truth.

"Ma Shiying, since you already knew this, why didn't you make it clear to the court before?"

Princess Kunxing was in a fit of anger, and she couldn't help asking when she heard the words.

Every time I think of my father's grey-haired and exhausted body because of money and food, the anger in my heart rises.

"The old minister is guilty and ashamed of the Supreme Emperor!"

Ma Shiying also had no choice but to get up and kneel to plead guilty honestly, but she thought in her heart that if the old man dared to perform such memorials before, his bones would have been cold by now.

"Okay, my son, how can this matter be blamed on Ma Aiqing?"

"Ma Aiqing, please get up!"

"It turns out that Aiqing knows the crux of the problem, and she must have a good plan in mind to deal with it, so she won't repeat the same mistakes again?"

After Zhang Yan finished speaking, she looked straight at him.

Princess Kunxing didn't say anything either.

"Returning to the Queen Mother, we can only strengthen supervision on this matter. If we investigate and deal with it, we will punish it severely. However, it is almost impossible to completely eliminate the officials from collecting taxes indiscriminately." Ma Shiying replied honestly.

Zhang Yanxiu frowned, apparently dissatisfied with his answer, it was fine to rely on supervision for a short period of time, but after a long time, he would definitely slack off again.

Princess Kunxing snorted coldly: "There is nothing impossible. If you want to completely stop officials from collecting taxes indiscriminately, you Ma Shiying can't do it. It doesn't mean that the emperor can't do it. The matter of deducting officials' salaries and funds, Isn't it easy for the emperor to solve it? Now you Ma Ge and the Minister of the Household Department can still deduct the salaries of officials from all over the place?" Said the last look of complacency.

"What Her Majesty the Princess said is that Your Majesty is a sage king through the ages, and ordinary people like me cannot compare in his knowledge. I think His Majesty must have a solution in his heart."

Ma Shiying said with a look of admiration, he was both depressed and admired by His Majesty for letting the bank pay the salary for the household department.

"You're right, Brother Huang really told me about this."

"Oh?"

Zhang Yan's eyes lit up, and Ma Shiying also looked at Princess Kunxing.

"Auntie, Brother Huang didn't say the specific method. He only said that it is related to the bank. Let me speed up the establishment of the bank and improve the relevant system."

Princess Kunxing had no choice but to explain.

Zhang Yan nodded and did not ask any further questions, but said to Ma Shiying: "Ma Aiqing is busy with work, so she needs to take care of her health."

"Thank you Queen Mother for your concern, and I will leave!"

Ma Shiying tactfully resigned and left.

Back in the cabinet, all the officials were relieved to hear that the Queen Mother had only asked about it.

After all, if you want to say that the data reported by various places is not watery, they will not believe it even if you kill them.

Ma Shiying also didn't believe it, so he said: "Everyone, although there is nothing wrong with the number of acres reported by the state governments this time, we still need to check it again."

"Gege, in my opinion, this is enough. With 6000 million mu, the annual tax revenue is as high as more than 1000 million taels. I am afraid that even the land tax in Jiangnan in the Song Dynasty was far inferior, so there is no need to check it again." Bar?"

"That's right. The Queen Mother didn't say anything. It's better if you don't make a fuss. After all, when the water is clear, there will be no fish. One relaxation and one relaxation is the way to govern."

After the Minister of the Household Department and the Minister of the Ministry of Officials finished speaking, almost all the officials nodded in agreement.

This time the Empress Dowager allocated a total of 50 taels of silver, and the big guy hardly got any lucrative money except for his own salary, so they all felt that this kind of achievement was good. They could not only explain to His Majesty, but also take the opportunity to collect a wave of filial money from all over the world. .

Otherwise, if you really check them one by one, then there is really no filial piety.

"Hmph! Do you think the old man just wants to make a fuss? The queen mother didn't say anything, but where is your majesty?

The old man is sure that no matter whether the cabinet sends someone to check, His Majesty will eventually send people to each county to check one by one. Rather than being embarrassing when His Majesty finds out, it is better for the cabinet to check it first and give officials everywhere a chance. Lest you have time to be a dead soul under the sword in vain! "

Ma Shiying snorted coldly, how could everyone's thoughts be hidden from him?But what kind of temperament His Majesty is, he is very clear, and he must not take chances.

When everyone heard this, their faces changed. Thinking about His Majesty's style of doing things, this possibility is really great.

For a while, everyone was very depressed, secretly thinking that it is really difficult to be a civil servant in the Shenwu Dynasty. If it was the Chongzhen Dynasty, all the officials would have to save tens of thousands of wealth.

"Then how does the old man plan to check it? If you check it all, the officials estimate that all the officials will have to be dismissed at the least, and a major demerit will be recorded."

Minister of the Ministry of Officials frowned and said, last time Ma Shiying was dismissed and assigned dozens of civil servants, which made it very difficult for him to be a human being.

"How about this, first select ten counties to check, and then report the inspection results and punishment decisions to the prefectures and counties, let each place report again, and finally check them one by one."

Ma Shiying waved his hand and said, obviously he had already been thinking about it.

"Ge, are ten counties too many? Why don't we just pick two?"

The Minister of the Ministry of Officials was shocked. Ten counties meant that at least 100 civil servants would suffer.

"Humph…"

Ma Shiying snorted softly, and glanced coldly at the Minister of the Ministry of Officials.

The latter's back felt chills, and he immediately said respectfully: "The lower official is presumptuous, elder brother forgive me."

He couldn't help being nervous. Although Ma Shiying had no right to dismiss him, he believed that as long as this old man suggested to His Majesty to dismiss him, His Majesty would not hesitate.

"All right!"

"It's not that I don't care about people, but that everyone should take a long-term view. Your Majesty values ​​the New Deal far more than you and I imagined. Playing tricks on this is like picking chestnuts from the fire. Sooner or later, you will play with fire and burn yourself."

Ma Shiying's breath also slowed down a little, and he glanced at the civil servants and said.

In my heart, I also scolded these guys for their stupidity. Their minds are only thinking about making money, and they don't think about whether His Majesty will let them take charge of the New Deal.
In the future, there will be more opportunities to make money, and if you can choose to make money at this time, isn't that obviously committing a crime against the wind, and why is it against His Majesty?

Everyone is not stupid, they have all come to their senses, this time is really not the time to make money, but to do the errands beautifully and gain His Majesty's trust.

As long as they gain His Majesty's trust, they will be able to completely replace those people in Beijing in the future. They are powerful, so why not have a chance to make a fortune?

Seeing that everyone was awakened, Ma Shiying didn't say any more, and immediately selected ten counties and sent ten teams to inspect the censors. , plus a hundred soldiers, went to the counties in a mighty way.

(End of this chapter)