Daming: I, Yang Xian, really govern Yang!

Chapter 173 The Power of New Taxes

During the Ming Dynasty, taxes were divided into summer and autumn.

Summer taxes run from June to August.

The collection in autumn is called autumn grain, and must be paid before February of the next year.

The summer of Hongwu's fifth year passed like this in Yang Xian's comfortable life of eating popsicles and blowing on the air conditioner.

Jiangsu, Song, Jia, Hu, and Jiangnan provinces, as pilots of the new tax system, finally handed over their first tax payment after the implementation of the new tax system.

Beijing.

The imperial palace, the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

"Boss, why are you so happy?" Zhu Yuanzhang was reviewing the memorial. He looked at Zhu Biao walking in from outside the hall and said with a smile.

Zhu Biao did not answer directly, but walked quickly to Zhu Yuanzhang, handed over the latest report, and said: "Father, the tax collection of all the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River has been completed. This is the specific report."

"So fast?" Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly surprised. According to previous years, tax statistics would be at least half a month late.

It seems that the tax reform has greatly accelerated efficiency by replacing physical goods with tax dollars.

Zhu Yuanzhang took the memorial, opened it and took a look, his face immediately showed a shocked expression: "So many?!"

Looking at the numbers written in the memorial, Zhu Yuanzhang still couldn't believe it for a while.

The Taoists in the south of the Yangtze River turned in 709 million taels of silver just for summer taxes!

You must know that last year was the fourth year of Hongwu.

During the Ming Dynasty, the national summer tax on rice and wheat amounted to 4712900 shi, 288487 pieces of silk, and 39800 ingots of money.Autumn grain, rice 24729450 stone, silk 59 pieces, money 5730 ingots.

One pound of Mingjin is about 597 grams, and one stone of Mingshi is about 153 Mingjin, which can be converted into 264.98 million tons of rice and wheat.

The average silk price at that time was about 0.4375 taels of silver per silk, which could be converted into 40.39 tons of rice.

50 guan equals 1 ingot. Not long after the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes were issued, the market basically still maintained the rule of "1 guan Ming Dynasty treasure banknote = 1000 copper coins = 1 tael of silver" established by the imperial court. The average grain price at that time was about 0.3125 taels. For silver/stone japonica glutinous rice, let’s convert it into 65.56 tons of rice.

也就是说，洪武4年征收了约值305.37万吨米麦、或者说约值895.89万两白银的实物税，和价值65.56万吨米麦、或者说约值227.65万两白银的货币税。

The tax revenue for a whole year is no more than 1000 million taels of silver.

After the new tax reform, the Jiangnan provinces paid 709 million taels of tax silver in summer tax alone.

Although the wealthy places in the south of the Yangtze River accounted for half of the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue, this was only half!
"Since other places are still using the old tax system this year, taxation work will be carried out relatively slowly. It is estimated that it will take half a month to receive reports from various places." Zhu Biao paused and then said. "However, due to the smooth progress of the land clearing work, a large number of hidden fields have been found in various places among the private sector. Therefore, even if the old system is continued, the tax collected is expected to be higher than in previous years."

"The Ministry of Revenue estimates that this year's summer tax alone will exceed last year's entire tax bill. The full-year estimate can reach more than 2500 million taels of silver."

A total of 2500 million taels of silver!
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but take a breath when he heard this, because it was too damn much.The first three years of Hongwu, the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Zhu Yuanzhang's policy was to recuperate and recuperate, so there was almost no taxation at all.

This is one of the reasons why the Ming Dynasty's treasury is so poor now.

In other words, in the fifth year of Hongwu's reign, this year's taxes were basically equal to those of the previous four years.

How could this not frighten him!
And all of this is only because of the tax reform proposed by Yang Xian.

After tax reform.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao both thought that taxes would be increased this year, but they never expected that they would increase so much!

After Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed, he quickly calmed down. He pondered for a while and then said: "Boss, what do the people in the south of the Yangtze River say about this new tax?"

Zhu Biao knew what Zhu Yuanzhang was worried about.

He was afraid that the new taxes would increase the burden on ordinary people, which would result in more losses than gains.

Water can carry a boat or overturn it. People are the foundation of Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Biao smiled and said: "Father, don't worry, the taxes paid by ordinary people are less than last year, and they are full of praise for the new taxes."

"Although the single tax seems to be more than before, the new system combines land tax and other miscellaneous levies into one line, combines the collection of silver, converts payment per mu, and collects silver uniformly. The most important thing is that unpaid corvee is abolished. Now the common people can get paid for participating in corvee work. After one year, the common people's income is much more than before."

“After the new tax system reform, a large part of the extra tax comes from the hidden farm income found after clearing the land account, and part of it comes from replacing physical goods with money, cutting out the intermediate links, and allowing the money that was originally lost in gray areas to be recovered. Treasury. A small part is the loss saved during transportation.”

"In short, the new system of the imperial court is not squeezing the common people, but suppressing land annexation and preventing gentry from taking advantage of it. I heard that the wealthy gentry households in the south of the Yangtze River are complaining endlessly."

Hearing the grievances of the wealthy squires, Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly: "They still have the nerve to complain? This is what they should pay. We didn't let them make up the taxes they should have paid in previous years, so they should Burn incense and worship Buddha."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while and then said: "Boss, the new tax system must be promoted nationwide next year. Take advantage of this period to see if there is anything that can be improved and optimize it. You can find time to ask for advice on this point. Look at Yang Xian. As the maker of this policy, he must have seen further than all of us."

"Understood, I will take the earliest rail train to Yangzhou tomorrow." Zhu Biao nodded and said with a smile.

"By the way, how is the situation on the northern border?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

Zhu Biao said: "Beiping City was previously constructed according to Yang Qing's city wall design. In the past few months, most of it has been completed, and it is basically guaranteed to be completed before winter. However, the spies on the grassland reported that Wang Baobao still seemed to have some problems. I was afraid of Tuogu Si Timur, so I didn't make up my mind for a while."

"Wang Baobao is facing more than just the pressure from the Northern Yuan Dynasty." After hearing Zhu Biao's words, Zhu Yuanzhang raised the corners of his mouth slightly and said with a smile. "After we have purchased wool from the northern grasslands in recent years, the lives of their herdsmen have improved visibly. When a war was suddenly launched, the court was unwilling, and the herdsmen on the grasslands were even more unwilling."

"So even if Wang Baobao saw that if things continued like this, the Northern Yuan Dynasty would be destroyed sooner or later, he still couldn't change anything. If Tuogu Si Timur was a hero, it would be okay to say that he had the support of the Northern Yuan court. But now this situation , if Wang Baobao wants to break the situation alone, unless..."

Zhu Biao said: "Unless Wang Baobao rebels."

(End of this chapter)