Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The impact of Operation Autumn Harvest was enormous.

After successfully seizing the food, the money and food crisis faced by the workers' association was resolved.

In addition, many tenants and farmers who cultivated government-owned land flocked to join the workers' association.

As mentioned earlier, 90% of farmers in Suzhou were tenant farmers, and many of them became tenant servants. After these tenant farmers who cultivated government land knew that the Hired Workers Association could protect them and help them pay rent and taxes to the government, they almost rushed to join and asked the Hired Workers Association to send people to harvest.

In just a few days, Zhang Pu harvested 100,000 dan of grain. And as more and more rice fields matured, the harvest was about to reach 1 million dan or even 10 million dan.

He also led people to the county government offices to collect taxes with great fanfare, and paid the rent and taxes of the land according to the highest rate of three dou of land.

After the government collected the autumn grain, the Suzhou gentry panicked because they found:

The hired hands guild could replace the gentry.

Tenants who used to deal with the government through them can now pay rent and taxes to the government through the workers' association. They can also elect and remove union members, ensuring that they will not suffer losses.

The government collected rent and taxes from tenants through the workers' association, without having to go through the gentry and curry favor with them.

It can be said that Zhang Pu’s hired workers association replaced the position of the gentry.

In this new order, there is no need for gentry.

For a time, some gentry thought of the so-called re-making of rituals and music, and finally understood what it meant to reshape the ritual and legal order:

"Officials, gentry, and common people, this is the current order."

"Government, associations, and civilians, this is the new order of etiquette and law established by Zhang Ximing."

“If the association can replace the gentry, what is the way out for us gentry?”

Faced with the crisis of being replaced, some gentry finally thought of New Jiangnan, believing that New Jiangnan, where they could keep slaves and servants overseas, was their way out.

More people began to prepare food and silver, and some even took land deeds to Zhang Yixian to donate for the title.

Obviously, they had realized the danger, and Zhang Pu's threat to purge half of the gentry was not empty talk.

Some gentry refused to give up and, in a rage, led their servants to defend their fields, beating up tenants who had joined the labor union and obstructing the union's harvesting teams.

In just a few days, dozens of armed fights occurred in Suzhou, resulting in casualties.

Gu Yanwu was so anxious that he hurriedly led the Yingyang Army soldiers to quell the riots and prevent larger disputes.

Li Ruolian and a battalion of the Yingyang Army, who had just arrived in Suzhou, also joined the ranks of maintaining public order.

Their neat formation and accurate shooting easily suppressed dozens of disputes. The Yingyang Army soon became famous in Suzhou and was considered a strong army.

The idea of ​​eliminating the Hired Workers Association was also nipped in the bud: everyone knew that the Yingyang Army was on Zhang Pu's side, and even the guards were trained by them. If you want to eliminate the Hired Workers Association, you must get past the Yingyang Army.

This was obviously impossible, and the Suzhou gentry had no other options but to put pressure on the government, asking it to step in and ban the Hired Workers Association.

Suzhou prefect Kou Shen was embarrassed by this request and said:

"The Hired Workers Association is registered with the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, and has also received permission from the Nanjing Weiwei Temple to form a guard team and train militia."

"Even if the Suzhou Prefecture wanted to ban it, we don't have the power to do so!"

The Nanjing Ministry of Revenue Minister is Lin Yuji, who was born in Jinjiang, Quanzhou Prefecture, and is a cousin of Zhang Ruitu. He has a good relationship with Jinjiang officials such as Yang Jingchen and Lu Tunan, and can be said to be the emperor's man.

Zhu Youjian had appointed him as the Minister of Finance in Nanjing with the intention of training him. Now it seems that this person is doing a good job and is obedient to the emperor's will.

It was obviously impossible to ask Lin Yuji to abolish the Employees Association, not to mention the Nanjing Weiwei Temple.

Faced with Kou Shen's evasion, these Suzhou gentry were helpless for the time being. They looked at Huang Daozhou expectantly, saying:
"Huang Tuiguan, you are always the most reasonable one."

"You said that the tenants paid rent and taxes without the permission of the landowners. Is this reasonable in the world?"

Huang Daozhou groaned in silence. Just when some gentry thought he was persuaded, Huang Daozhou took out a pile of petitions and said:

"These are the petitions filed by the tenants, accusing you of encroaching on government farmland and seizing their land."

"Some people sue you for causing disability, whipping tenants, cutting off ears, chopping off fingers... and even forcing people to pay off debts."

"The case is currently under trial. Please cooperate with the Supreme Court."

This made the gentry who were sued extremely angry. They never expected that Zhang Pu would send someone to sue them.

If these cases are not resolved, they will not only lose their status but may even be exiled overseas.

Some gentry shouted angrily:

"This is a false accusation, all a false accusation."

"Huang Tuiguan, you don't know that litigation is rampant in Jiangnan, and there are often evil slaves who use false accusations to frame gentry."

"Zhang Ximing's father was angered to death like this. Huang Tuiguan, please don't fall for their evil scheme!"

Everyone tried to persuade Huang Daozhou not to listen to one side of the story and fall into Zhang Pu's trap.

However, Huang Daozhou said:
"The case has been handed to me, so I have to investigate it."

"Please cooperate and wait for the court summons."

Then he said to these gentlemen:
"If you want to sue them in return, please write a petition and submit it to the Supreme Court."

"A court trial is based on evidence, so you need to be prepared."

Faced with such a stubborn magistrate, the Suzhou gentry were speechless for a moment.

One can only sigh that "a gentleman can be deceived by tricks" and think that Huang Daozhou was led into a ditch by Zhang Pu.

Other Suzhou officials were willing to help them, but they could not influence the decision of the Suzhou Prefecture Assembly. Most officials tried to evade their request, either asking them to go to the governor of Jiangnan or persuading them to reconcile with Zhang Pu.

Obviously, the officials who had no worries about the autumn harvest simply stood aside and watched the dispute between the Hired Workers Association and the Suzhou gentry. No matter how these people made a fuss, it did not affect their performance in the imperial examinations and their political achievements.

Some people may even be hoping that the Hired Workers Association will win and dampen the arrogance of the Suzhou gentry, so that they will not have to beg the government for grain in the future.

Faced with such a Suzhou government, the Suzhou gentry had no idea what to do. They went to negotiate with Zhang Pu, but they could not see him at all.

Obviously, Zhang Pu wanted to harvest more grain during the autumn harvest and ignored them.

At this time, he was in the Jiangnan Governor's Office, saying to Cao Wenheng, Zhang Yixian and others:
"Tai Cao, Eunuch Zhang, you have all seen it now, right?"

"Zhang has always been cautious in his work and will never let you down."

"Suzhou has more than 5 million acres of official farmland, and at least 6 million acres if the hidden farmland is included. This year, all of these farmlands will be taxed at the highest rate of three dou, and at least 1.8 million shi can be taxed."

"The autumn grain shipped this way is enough, and we don't have to worry about the big farmers at all."

The amount of autumn grain in Suzhou was 203 million dan, and 185 million dan was shipped. According to Zhang Pu, there was no need to worry about the autumn grain to be handed over to the court.

Moreover, the rest of the harvested grain can be purchased by Sihai Grain Store to make up for the gap caused by selling it to the Employment Association some time ago, and can also be transported to the north.

Zhang Yixian laughed out loud, feeling proud of himself for having persuaded Sihai Grain Bank to support Zhang Pu.

Cao Wenheng also praised: "What a courage!"

"What a trick!"

Then he asked with some anticipation:

"How much tax do you think Suzhou can collect this year?"

"If we go by the 9.29 million mu of land on record, and we get 3 dou per mu, we can get 2.78 million shi!"

Thinking of this number, Cao Wenheng felt itchy in his heart, because he knew that if he really received so much, it would definitely solve the big problems of the court.

The emperor would certainly be generous in rewarding him and promoting him to a higher position.

Zhang Pu waved his folding fan and said slowly:

"This year is a special case, and we can't just count it this way."

"But there must be hidden land in Suzhou. The current land must exceed the 9.85 million mu in the 26th year of Hongwu."

"If we estimate it at 10 million mu, if the government and the people are the same, then there is no distinction between government fields and private fields, only three categories: upper, middle and lower:"

"There are three dou per mu of upper fields, two dou and five liters per mu of middle fields, and two dou per mu of lower fields."

"On average, the tax per mu is about 2 dou and 5 liters. It does not exceed the estimated upper limit of 11% tax."

"In this way, Suzhou's 10 million mu of land can collect 2.5 million shi of tax."

"If we start with 90% of the cargo, that would be 2.25 million shi."

He then calculated the existing taxes in Suzhou and said:

"Suzhou Prefecture's autumn grain is 203.8 million dan, 185 million dan is shipped. Summer tax wheat is 5.3 dan, 4 dan is shipped."

"The total is a little over 209 million shi, and the starting point is 189 million shi."

"There is also horse grass, tax silk, etc., which add up to about 20,000 taels of silver."

"The students' opinion is that these should be included in the autumn grain and counted as part of the 2.5 million shi."

"This way of simple taxation is convenient for both officials and the people."

Cao Wenheng nodded and said:

"This tax law is indeed much simpler than before."

"It can be called a one-tax system, like a one-whip system."

Zhang Pu nodded and said:
"It is based on the Single Whip Law, which measures the land and combines it into one, and no longer collects Liao taxes or other additional levies."

"It's just that the Single Whip Law is very inconvenient for some farmers. In addition, there are many disasters in all directions, and the court needs food."

"So this single tax system allows both grain and silver to be paid."

"The Sinong Temple will set up warehouses in various places to receive the grain that needs to be shipped."

"Shuntian Bank and Hubu Bank are responsible for receiving the silver."

This was a refinement and optimization of the Single Whip Law, drawing lessons from the previous implementation of the Single Whip Law. By abolishing preferential exemptions, setting up a transfer agency, and issuing silver dollars, the difficulty of taxation was simplified and the consumption and surcharges were reduced.

At the same time, because it was difficult for local governments to abolish corvee labor, corvee labor was not included this time, and taxation and military service remained separate.

From now on, the collection of levies and conscription of corvée labor will need to be approved by parliament, and the people will supervise the officials.

Cao Wenheng nodded repeatedly after hearing this, thinking that it was indeed much better than the old law, and that it showed that the officials in the court were not just sitting there doing nothing.

What particularly touched him was that the court had taken into account the burden on the people and set a tax limit. The highest tax the court could collect directly from government farmland was three dou. The rent and tax that landlords could collect from tenants could not exceed one dan.

If the actual burden exceeds this limit, people can resist rent and taxes, and hold sit-in demonstrations and petitions.

This made him sigh from the bottom of his heart:
"The current emperor is truly benevolent and always cares about the livelihood of the common people."

“They will be allowed to even resist rent and taxes.”

"But now the performance of officials is mainly based on taxes, so it's really difficult to be caught in the middle..."

He shook his head, thinking that this was a difficult approach to implement. He estimated that local governments would not allow the tenants to cause trouble for the sake of political achievements.

Zhang Pu also felt that this was a bit naive, but he could not criticize the emperor. Instead, he had to do his best to remedy the situation. He said:
"Our employers' association will set up a tenant farmers' association to guide tenant farmers in resisting rent and taxes."

"Strive to ensure that the rent and taxes of the gentry do not exceed the limit, and do our best to mediate disputes."

Then he said:
"The court only collected three dou of rent from official fields, which is not high. But the highest tax collected from private fields of landlords is one dan, which is too high."

"Captain Gu and I have discussed this carefully and we think that the highest limit of eight dou is more appropriate. But the gentry in Suzhou will probably disagree."

"So Zhang and his brothers in the Hire Workers Association intend to label landlords who pay more than 7 dou and 5 liters of rent, which is more than three times the average tax levied by the court, as bad gentry in public opinion."

"Help the tenants to sue the evil gentry who collected more than one stone of rent and taxes and put them on the blacklist."

“Only those who collect less than five dou of rent and whose rent does not exceed the imperial taxes will be considered good gentry, and we will promote them during elections.”

"This way, the gentry will have some scruples and will not push the tenants too hard, which would lead to resistance to rent and taxes."

Cao Wenheng nodded, feeling that Zhang Pu's approach was very good.

Having a workers' association mediate between government officials, gentry, and tenant farmers can indeed reduce many incidents.

In addition, the Workers' Association played a balancing role on the gentry, so the more he looked at the association, the more satisfied he was with it, and he planned to expand it to other prefectures.
-
Liu Lishun, who was observing secretly, was also very satisfied with the employees' association.

After Zhang Pu led the hired workers association to harvest grain and pay taxes, he keenly realized the significance of the hired workers association:

This is not only a mutual aid organization, but also can help the government to govern the local area to a certain extent. It can completely replace the role of gentry, and even be more in line with the government's wishes than gentry.

Thinking about the maximum rent and tax limit he had implemented in Zhuolu District, which was violated from time to time and caused disputes, he felt that what was missing was an employment association, or a tenant farmer association.

Only with the association's mediation can the government be able to just sit back and do nothing and focus on other areas.

"But this hired labor association includes both hired workers and tenant farmers, even slaves, as well as self-employed people such as combers."

"This influence is too strong. It should be split into three or four associations according to the agricultural, industrial and commercial sectors."

“It would be better if it could be brought under parliamentary supervision and connected to a special committee under parliament.”

Thinking about the usage of the Workers' Association, Liu Lishun felt that the Workers' Association should be split into the Tenant Farmers' Association, the Slaves' Association, and the Self-Employed Persons' Association, corresponding to farmers, businessmen, and untouchables.

Special committees under the parliament should also liaise with them to incorporate these associations into the new ritual and music system.

In fact, because these associations will have a great influence in the future, Liu Lishun feels that they should also be taken into consideration during elections to prevent certain people from using associations to manipulate elections.

Obviously, he had already recognized the Hired Workers Association in his heart and incorporated it into the ritual order he had envisioned. Just like Zhang Pu used the Hired Workers Association to reshape the order in Suzhou. (End of this chapter)