Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian's idea of ​​levying tax on property undoubtedly did not receive the support of his ministers.

In particular, Yang Sichang and others strongly opposed this.

They may own a lot of land, or they may feel that this policy is not conducive to the development of their family.

Li Changgeng, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, who previously served as the Minister of Works in Nanjing, pointed out:
"There are many official farmlands in the Jiangnan area, and the number of official farmlands in Suzhou and Songjiang Prefectures can reach 70% to 80%. "

"Although the official farmland in Jiangnan today is owned by the government, in reality, except for the higher rent and taxes, it is no different from the private farmland in terms of trading."

"Your Majesty has limited the amount of official land that civilians without official titles can own to 100 to 200 mu. I am afraid that the people will rebel."

Explain to the emperor in detail the changes in the official fields in Jiangnan and the current actual situation.

Zhu Youjian listened to his explanation and realized the complexity of the situation in Jiangnan. He was even more glad that he had adhered to the ancestral system and did not let people from Jiangsu, Songjiang, and Zhejiang serve as officials in the Ministry of Revenue.

Otherwise, the Ministry of Revenue would oppose it even more fiercely, and there would be no need to even mention such a measure. The people in Jiangsu and Songjiang would definitely ask for tax reductions on official farmland, rather than restrictions on official farmland.

Now faced with this reality, Zhu Youjian can only say:

"First try it out in Northern Zhili, and then we'll try it out in Southern Zhili and other places later."

"My opinion is that the upper limit for nobles and officials who contribute to the country should be higher."

"Especially the manor lands of the nobles, which can be converted into lands of nobility in the future. Just like the hereditary lands of officers, sergeants, and military households, they only need to pay the tithe tax."

"The rest of the officials can rent and cultivate a certain amount of official land according to their ranks."

"For those who have not served the country, the maximum amount of government land that each household can rent and cultivate is limited to 100 or 200 mu."

"If the land exceeds the upper limit, the tenants will be ordered to split up, or the rent and tax will be increased by 10% for every 100 mu of land."

"The maximum is 1,000 acres per household, and one cannot become a super-property owner."

This measure made some officials somewhat accept it, but many officials were still unwilling to accept it.

Because they realized that if this measure was passed, the emperor's taxation of the super-property owners might become the norm, and they might have to pay more taxes in the future.

Yang Sichang pointed out that taxes should be fair and should be paid equally per mu. We should not let some people pay heavy taxes just because they have a lot of land.

This made Zhu Youjian, who had previously read his "Diguan Ji" and thought that he had great insights into finance, frown.

Given the current situation in the Ming Dynasty, if the same taxes are levied on everyone, those people struggling on the line between life and death will rebel in the face of a survival crisis.

On the contrary, the big landowners with large amounts of land can still squeeze out some.

Thinking of Yang Sichang's previous proposal to increase Liao tribute, Zhu Youjian felt that although this man was talented, he did not care about the suffering of ordinary people. He could not be allowed to interfere in finances, lest the whole country rebel.

So he reprimanded severely:
"The Ministry of Revenue's affairs belong to the Ministry of Revenue, and the Privy Council should not interfere at will."

"The military and the government have been separated. Officials of the Privy Council and the Executive Council should be aware of this."

Yang Sichang was fined three months' salary and asked to make a public self-criticism and write an article to be published in the official gazette.

When the ministers heard the emperor's reprimand, they were suddenly shocked.

Because this not only represents the emperor's insistence on levying taxes on property, but also is an open statement on the separation of military and political power.

Previously, the officials of the Privy Council were happy that they had the final say on almost all military affairs. Now they realize that the political affairs that they could have a say in when they were in the Ministry of War no longer have anything to do with them.

Even though Yang Sichang had previously served as an official in the Ministry of Revenue, he now had no say in the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue. Except for the Minister of War, who also belonged to the Executive Yuan, all the officials of the Privy Council had no right to interfere in government affairs.

Faced with this reprimand, Yang Sichang could only kneel down and apologize. He also restrained his pride that his strategy was adopted by the emperor.

Only then did he realize that the emperor attached far more importance to the system than to individuals. Even if he was favored now, he could not violate the rules at will.

By punishing Yang Sichang, Zhu Youjian temporarily suppressed the voices of opposition and continued:

"Those who comply with the land restriction policy and pay taxes according to the law should be given priority when local salt companies raise shares."

"If they want to build workshops or trading companies, they should also be given preferential treatment in terms of patent authorization, etc., and they should be given priority when the government purchases them under the same conditions."

“You must know that the wealth of the world is not limited to agriculture. If you want to make a fortune, you must also engage in industry and commerce.”

Guide those wealthy families to develop into industrial and commercial sectors.

The officials listened to the emperor's straightforward words. Although they felt that the talk of profit was a little wrong, they also realized that the emperor had no intention of preventing them from getting rich. He just didn't want some people to occupy too much land and leave the common people without land to survive.

If they could exchange their surplus land for shares in the salt company, I believe many families would be willing to comply with the land restriction policy or pay the property tax.

This made the officials' opposition to the property tax less intense. However, the matter was still not finalized.

The ministers proposed to hold a court meeting on the grounds that the matter was of great importance. After the court meeting passed, the policy would be implemented in northern Zhili on a trial basis.

Zhu Youjian knew that if the court debate was held now, it would most likely fail to pass. So he proposed that if the court debate passed, it would be implemented nationwide. It would only be tried in northern Zhili without passing the proposal.

It was also made clear that the salt monopoly policy should be linked to the land restriction and the property tax. The two should be tried together, and the shares of the salt company should be used to compensate those who suffered losses due to the land restriction.

He even ordered the Ministry of Revenue's Salt Administration to auction off shares of salt companies in various places and use the proceeds from the auction to make up for the shortfall in Liao salary this year.

Otherwise, the Ministry of Revenue will find a way to make up the money on its own.

Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Finance, had no choice but to agree to implement the policy in northern Zhili. Whether it would be implemented nationwide in the future needed to be discussed in the court.

This made Zhu Youjian nod his head, and he felt that if a court meeting was held after the trial, there would be a greater chance of the property tax being passed.

I can use this time to change the minds of the ministers who can participate in court discussions.

However, he did not do this matter himself, but handed it over to Qian Qianyi, the person who openly proposed the super-property tax.

Qian Qianyi never expected that he would be entrusted with such an important task by the emperor.

After he wrote The Theory of Eternal Property and proposed to levy taxes on super-property owners as requested by the emperor, he regretted it because many people criticized his theory.

So when the emperor asked him to write a memorial proposing taxation, he pretended not to understand and backed off. He just limited the temple property according to the emperor's request and prevented temples and Taoist temples from becoming super-property owners.

But this matter also encountered great resistance. Many religious figures opposed this policy.

They knew that this measure was proposed by the current emperor, but they did not dare to slander the emperor. They could only slander Qian Qianyi and prevent him from restricting the temple property.

However, Qian Qianyi received clear instructions from the emperor, so he naturally dared not disobey them. He imposed strict restrictions on the temple property of all religions. Because of this incident, Qian Qianyi's reputation in the religious community was greatly damaged. Some monks even called him an enemy of Buddhism.

Fortunately, the emperor cracked down on illegal religions this winter and strictly prohibited such messy names. Religious people's slander against Qian Qianyi did not continue to rise. Even some temples and Taoist temples began to cooperate in restricting temple property.

Otherwise, they might be declared an illegal religion and severely cracked down by the imperial court.

Qian Qianyi's situation thus improved somewhat, and the issue of restricting temple property was finally advanced.

Unexpectedly, just when this matter had just begun to make progress, he was asked by the emperor to participate in the trial implementation of property tax in northern Zhili.

And we must ensure that the property tax can be passed during future court discussions.

This made him feel very frustrated, but he also realized that this was a test from the emperor:

If he can do this well, he may become a minister at the level of assistant minister and be listed as a candidate for grand secretary.

Given his reputation and the power of the Donglin Party, it was almost certain that he would be promoted to the cabinet in the future.

But if he didn't do well, he might be rejected by the emperor. No matter how many people recommended him, he would never be a candidate for the Grand Secretary.

It can be said that this was the biggest hurdle he encountered before becoming a Grand Secretary.

Only after crossing this hurdle will the road ahead be smooth.

Qian Qianyi thought for a long time, and finally sighed:
"I thought I had a choice, but in fact I had no choice at all."

"Ever since I revised the Theory of Eternal Property, I have been destined to implement the property tax throughout the country in accordance with your majesty's will."

"My life's work will also depend on this."

This was something he had always been vaguely aware of, but had not dared to face.

Because if he did that, he would be completely at odds with the powerful super-property owners in the world.

However, in order to please the emperor, he chose to revise "On Permanent Property" according to the emperor's request, which doomed him to this outcome.

If he did not put into practice the "Theory of Eternal Property", not only would he not be able to match Liu Zongzhou in academic terms, but his final outcome would be being abandoned by the emperor and ridiculed by the people of the world.

So he finally decided to implement the "Theory of Eternal Property" he had written before according to the emperor's request.

However, before he could figure out how to implement it, an article was published in Ming Pao, pointing out that Qian Qianyi's previous standard for permanent property holders, which was based on ancient books, was wrong:

In ancient times, one hundred acres of land was only equivalent to twenty to thirty acres today.

The so-called "one man with five people to tend to a hundred acres of land" should be 20 to 30 acres in today's terms.

Therefore, the minimum standard for permanent property owners should be set at owning 20 or 30 acres of land, rather than the 100 acres mentioned by Qian Qianyi before.

This article made Qian Qianyi furious.

Because this article is not against the "Theory of Permanent Property", but is trying to fight for the right to interpret the permanent property.

If even the right to interpret Hengchan was taken away by others, how could he, the person who wrote "On Hengchan", maintain his academic status?
If someone writes a more complete theory of permanent property, who will care about his status as a pioneer?
He also realized that this article, published under a pseudonym, was very much in Zhang Pu's style. Various numerical calculations also conformed to the scientific theories proposed by Zhang Pu.

This was an attack launched by Zhang Pu, the rising star, against him, the senior. He had to fight back decisively to maintain his position.

Even Qian Qianyi, who knew who was behind Zhang Pu, understood very well that this article was a warning from the emperor to himself, letting him know that the emperor could not only use him but also other people.

Therefore, Qian Qianyi sorted out and perfected the "Theory of Production" that he had been thinking about before, and selected some viewpoints from it to refute Zhang Pu.

He did not object to the number of acres calculated by Zhang Pu, but pointed out from a higher perspective that whether one is a permanent property owner should not only be judged by the amount of land, but also by how much it can produce.

In areas with low yields, the per-acre requirement for stable production is high.

In the south where there are two crops a year, compared to the north where there are three crops in two years or even one crop a year, those who have stable property need less land.

Therefore, he believed that the number of acres of permanent property in the north should be set at 30 acres; while in the south it should be lower, perhaps at 20 acres.

As for the areas outside the Great Wall and overseas, since they have just been developed, it is reasonable to set the area at fifty or one hundred acres.

The imperial court should ensure that every family that actively immigrated could become a permanent property owner. The landless refugees should be relocated overseas to build a well-off society where everyone has permanent property.

This article published in Datong Daily had a far greater influence than the articles Zhang Pu published in Ming Pao under other pen names.

Because it clearly proposed how to build a well-off society in Ming Dynasty——

As long as the Ming Dynasty opens up enough land overseas, everyone can become a permanent property owner.

Now, refugees who have nothing can become permanent property owners overseas.

Liu Lishun had previously proposed that families with permanent property belong to well-off families, and was the first to combine the theory of permanent property with the theory of well-off society. After reading this article, he wrote an article to praise it enthusiastically.

He also cited his own experience in handling government affairs at the Zhuolu District Government Affairs Office, pointing out that it was in line with reality to designate a family in the north that owned 30 acres of land as permanent property owners.

It is suggested that families with an area of ​​30 to 100 mu be defined as well-off families, and that they pay the same taxes as ordinary households.

A family with 100 to 1,000 acres of land is considered a wealthy family, while a family with more than 1,000 acres of land is considered a wealthy family and is subject to property tax and super property tax.

This article obviously added fuel to the rumor of property tax in Beijing, because Liu Lishun had already proposed to try it out in Zhuolu District.

If no one objects, this policy may be tried out throughout northern Zhili in the future.

The people of Northern Zhili were obviously very concerned about this. Ordinary people found it difficult to express their opinions in newspapers, but scholars were more likely to express their opinions.

These scholars could afford to study, and although they were not rich, they were at least better off than ordinary people. Moreover, after passing the examinations for the title of Xiucai and Juren, their families gained a lot of land.

They all thought that it was inappropriate to start collecting property tax from 100 mu. Super property tax should only be collected from wealthy families with more than 1,000 mu.

There are also some people who do not want to increase taxes at all, and they strongly oppose the property tax in the newspapers.

The entire Beijing's media was in an uproar. The sales of newspapers also increased steadily, and with the help of the postal companies gradually established by the Imperial Household Department in various places, the news affected the entire Shuntian Prefecture and northern Zhili.

Many landlords in northern Zhili heard about this incident, and because of their vested interests, they had to get involved.

These people had different attitudes and needed to express themselves. Some landlords began to hire scholars to write their opinions into articles and publish them in newspapers, making the profession of journalists and writers hot. (End of this chapter)