Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

After deciding to set up the SASAC in Shaofu Temple, Zhu Youjian continued to set up the administrative office:

“Whether they are collecting taxes or operating a business, they are all economic activities.”

"So the establishment of the Taifu Temple, Sinong Temple, and Shaofu Temple depends on the economic connections between the various places."

“For now, we don’t need to set up all of them, just set them up in major economic circles.”

Taking out a map, Zhu Youjian pointed to Jiangnan and said:

"At present, the most active area of ​​Ming Dynasty's economy is in the Jiangnan area."

"How do you define Jiangnan? In my opinion, the core is Suzhou and Songjiang, and the outer areas are Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture and Changzhen Prefecture under the jurisdiction of the Jiangnan Governor, as well as the three prefectures of Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou in Zhejiang."

"They are collectively known as the eight prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Zhennan, Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou, all of which are located in the Yangtze River Delta or around Taihu Lake."

After drawing a range on the map, Zhu Youjian continued:
"This area is centered on Taihu Lake and connected to the surrounding areas through the Taihu water system. It can be called the Taihu Economic Zone."

"I intend to appoint the Governor of Jiangnan as the Inspector General of Taihu Lake, responsible for dredging waterways, repairing water conservancy projects, and strengthening the connection of the Taihu Lake economic circle."

"The Inspectorate Office will set up a taxation department, which will be directly managed by the Inspectorate Office and Nanjing Taifu Temple. It will unify the tax invoices of the Taihu economic circle, especially the Taihu waterways, as a pilot project of a unified tax system for industry and commerce to avoid double taxation."

"If the Taihu economic zone performs well, Nanjing Taifu Temple, Sinong Temple, and Shaofu Temple will be used as the southern administrative office to govern the southern Zhili, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang areas."

Unlike the Taifu Temple and Weiwei Temple, which directly set up offices across the country, the emperor first established a southern office based on the Nanjing Yamen. This shows the emperor's cautiousness in setting up offices for the three temples.

If it is not done well, the idea of ​​setting up local institutions in the three temples is likely to fail.

Zhai Fengchong, who was unwilling to see this, said:

"I think there should be pilot projects not only in the south but also in the north."

"The Haihe Inspection Office has already been established. We can set up a branch agriculture temple in the north to help transport grain by water."

Zhu Youjian thought about it and thought that it would not be a good idea to set up an economic zone only in Jiangnan for trial, so he said:

"It doesn't need to be limited to the Haihe River Basin, it can be expanded to the entire northern Zhili."

"The entire Bohai Sea and Haihe River area can try out a single tax system, which can be called the Bohai Economic Circle."

"The focus of future development in the north will be the Bohai Economic Zone, especially the Beijing-Tianjin-Yongcheng area."

Having said that, Zhu Youjian looked at the map and continued:
"After the completion of the Triangle Highway, Shuntian Prefecture proposed to merge Yongping Prefecture into it and make it the Yongping Office."

"I think that after the Daling River defense line is stabilized, the defense pressure in the Shanhaiguan area is no longer that great. We can merge Yongping Prefecture into it, and let the Shuntian Governor be responsible for the border defense of the Great Wall west of Shanhaiguan."

"Beijing, Tianjin and Yongzhou will all be in Shuntian Prefecture in the future. They will become the core of the Bohai Economic Circle, just like Suzhou, Songjiang and Hangzhou in the Taihu Economic Circle."

These are two key development zones established by Zhu Youjian with reference to the two major industrial bases of Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan and Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou. He intends to build them into industrial bases and develop them into urban agglomerations and economic circles.

Taxation must naturally be unified first to promote the development of industry and commerce in the region.

The ministers naturally did not know the emperor's long-term plan, but they thought it was reasonable to have a pilot project in the north and south.

Under the policies of the imperial court, the two places also took the lead and became the first regions in the Ming Dynasty to complete marketization and the free flow of goods and personnel.

The industry and commerce of the Ming Dynasty were most developed in these two places, and each had its own focus.

Among them, Beijing, Tianjin and Yongli were greatly influenced by the imperial court and had rich coal and iron resources. They mainly relied on the imperial court's investment to develop heavy industry and had strong state-owned enterprises.

Many state-owned enterprises directly under the imperial court have their headquarters here. There are a large number of giant companies with influence throughout the world.

As Suzhou, Songjiang and Hangzhou are rich and people have active minds, they are mainly engaged in commerce and light industry, and have countless small and micro enterprises.

In particular, the Self-employed Business Association, which has ties to the Employed Workers Association, is very powerful in Jiangnan and can protect self-employed individuals from harassment and extra taxes.

The protection of employees is also good, and training is often organized. Many employees become self-employed through learning, and then establish businesses, achieving identity transformation.

The two places also became the most developed areas of the Ming Dynasty and an important source of fiscal revenue.

Zhu Youjian had anticipated this future, because he had deliberately guided it in this way, placing heavy industry in the north where he had strong control, and focusing on light industry in the south.

It was difficult for the ministers in the court to think of these things. They just thought that the emperor wanted to collect more industrial and commercial taxes.

However, they did not know that the premise of collecting more industrial and commercial taxes was to develop industry and commerce. The Ming Dynasty's national policy of attaching importance to industry and commerce began to be established from then on.
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The news of the unified tax system for agriculture, industry and commerce first reached Jiangnan, where a pilot project was launched.

Cao Wenheng was quite excited when he saw the news that he was appointed as the Inspector General of Taihu Lake.

Although this position was not much different from that of the governor of Jiangnan, it represented the emperor's approval and meant that the emperor remembered what he had done in Jiangnan.

In particular, the emperor gave the Taihu Inspection Office the authority to retain 10% of the taxes, which made him feel that tax reform would be easier:

"Although the emperor attaches great importance to taxes, he does not blindly extort money from the common people."

"We originally estimated that after the implementation of the one-tax system, we could ship 225 million koku."

"I didn't expect the emperor to leave us another 200%, and only asked us to ship million stones."

"Compared to the previous 189 million koku, the actual burden is lighter."

Zhang Pu felt the same way and sighed:

"Yes!"

"Your Majesty has always been concerned about the suffering of the people."

"Suzhou previously said that the shipment was 189 million dan, but after adding 225% ​​to % of the consumption, the actual amount would be more than million dan, so I made this estimate before."

"I didn't expect that His Majesty would not only waive the additional tax, but also leave 200% for the Inspectorate to use, and only require that million shi be sent to Taicang."

"This Nantaicang must be completed as soon as possible. In the future, the tax grain from Suzhou, Songjiang and other places can be transported directly there and handed over to Sinong Temple for transportation."

Nantaicang was a newly established warehouse directly under the Nanjing Sinong Temple. It was located in Taicang Prefecture, Suzhou Prefecture, and was convenient for transshipment to the sea.

This is a great thing for people in Taicang, Suzhou, and even the entire Jiangnan region. They no longer need to work hard to transport grain to the capital and other places, and bear the transportation costs.

This additional consumption used to be very high. At the lowest point, it was one stone plus one dou. At the highest point, it was one stone plus seven or eight dou. It was a very heavy burden for the people.

Therefore, both Zhang Pu and Cao Wenheng said that under the new tax system, Suzhou Prefecture's burden of shipping 200 million shi was lighter than the previous 189 million shi, because it did not have to bear the consumption tax.

This gave them more confidence to complete Suzhou's tax system reform, especially to rent out the recovered official land.

Yes, most of the official farmland in Suzhou Prefecture has been taken back now. The remaining farmland is no more than 100 mu.

After the workers' association rushed to harvest grain and then cotton, the Suzhou gentry could no longer sit still and reached agreements with the government to exchange overseas land.

If they don't change their ownership, the workers' association will completely replace their position, and even if they insist that they are landlords, the government will not recognize them.

The tenants would not pay them rent, which meant they actually lost their land.

Therefore, regardless of whether they were willing or not, these people had to reach an agreement with the government to exchange land. They had to obey the court's command and go to develop the new Jiangnan. However, these people were not without conditions. One of their requirements was to obtain the status of a knight and own territory overseas, rather than farming for the Jingjiang Kingdom.

"What did the Emperor say about the title?"

"Have you agreed to their proposal to exchange land for titles?"

Turning to Zhang Yixian, Cao Wenheng asked him.

The power to confer titles now rested entirely with the Emperor, especially those overseas.

There were disputes among ministers in the court, but they were suppressed tacitly by the emperor and his ministers.

Because the current emperor has already bribed his ministers with titles, and can distribute titles relatively fairly.

The ministers hoped to wait until the ennoblement system was stabilized before competing for this power.

The system of conferring titles is currently being adjusted, so some informed Suzhou gentry dare to request titles from the emperor.

Zhang Yixian had already received the emperor's reply and said:
"The emperor agreed to confer the title of knight, but required them to cultivate one-tenth of the land within five years and provide food and taxes to the court, otherwise their knighthood would be revoked."

"The standard for exchange is that one acre of private land can be exchanged for ten acres, and official land can be exchanged for three to ten acres depending on the circulation process. The minimum 3750 acres of land can be exchanged for 37500 acres overseas, which is equivalent to a knighthood of ten miles, and the title of junior knight is granted."

"You can also donate grain, the price is 37500 dan, converted into silver according to the grain price in the capital, cents per dan, and you must cooperate with the court to recover the official land."

"This level of nobility was not allowed to be donated before, but now it is a special favor for Suzhou gentry."

Upon hearing this, Cao Wenheng, Zhang Pu and others all nodded, believing that it was indeed preferential treatment.

The current emperor seems generous with titles, having conferred titles on many people since he ascended the throne.

However, the threshold for the title was also very high. The minimum donation amount was for a high-ranking nobleman with an area of ​​15 acres and a value of 15 shi. Many people simply could not afford it.

Now Suzhou gentry are allowed to donate 37500 shi of junior knighthood, giving them the opportunity to become hereditary nobles. Isn't this a preferential treatment?
In particular, installment payments were also allowed, and the down payment only required 3750 shi, which was only 2625 taels of silver. Many wealthy families and even impoverished families could afford to donate.

Zhang Pu thought about this and asked:

"Food is so precious, what is the rent for this year?"

"Do tenants still have to pay rent to the landlords of government-owned land?"

Zhang Yixian laughed and said:
"Need not!"

"How can we give them after we have collected all the money? Wouldn't that make them still think about collecting rent?"

"The emperor said that he could give them preferential treatment and allow the landowners who turned over the official land to donate the down payment, and then postpone the remaining installments for five years, and then pay the second installment after five years."

"Give them five years, and they can reclaim all the overseas lands. They can directly use the food grown overseas to pay the remaining nine installments."

This surprised everyone. They didn't expect the emperor to be so generous. It was equivalent to saying that as long as anyone could give out 3750 shi of grain, they could donate a title.

Zhang Pu was considering whether he should organize an employers' association to donate money to become a knight and resettle some people there.

With the grain harvested by the tenant farmers this year, hundreds of households could donate to become a knight, and the tenant farmers who are willing to go overseas to work could go and farm and hand over the remaining grain.

But it is a troublesome matter as to who will be the knight.

Later, when the emperor learned about this matter, he made a special policy that members of the collective council of the employees' association would share the status of knighthood while in office.

The workers' collar is owned by the workers' association and is used to place workers and provide livelihoods for unemployed workers.

This territory is very large. The workers' association donated millions of stones, and the area is more than three million acres, which is close to a barony.

Later, a city of hired workers was built on the territory, which became one of the most prosperous cities in the Lancang River Delta with its large population and industry. It provided huge income to the hired workers association every year, making it one of the most powerful groups in Ming Dynasty.

Zhang Pu was not thinking of this at the moment. He was just listening to Zhang Yixian mentioning the adjustment of the knighthood rank:
"The reason why the donation-based knighthood is set so low this time is also related to the officials in the court suggesting that the knighthood level be adjusted."

"Some officials think that commanders and centurions are not worthy of becoming viscounts and barons. It is suggested that the ranks of knights be increased from two to seven, from the lowest rank of 10 li to the highest rank of 70 li, corresponding to centurions to commanders."

"Only those who have made great contributions can become a baron, own the fiefdom of Fang Baili, and be called Marquis of Baili."

The status of the commander and the thousand-householder was suddenly reduced. Cao Wenheng thought of his hereditary title of hundred-householder and frowned:
"In that case, if you want to become a baron in the future, don't you have to upgrade your knighthood level step by step?"

"Who made this suggestion and what was their intention?"

In the past, his hereditary centurion title was equivalent to a knight, and if he made meritorious contributions and was promoted to hereditary deputy centurion, he would be able to become a baron.

I hadn’t expected that it would be possible to increase my rank out of thin air, and that I would have to accomplish many more feats to become a baron.

How could he accept this? He was very dissatisfied with this policy.

Zhang Yixian laughed and said:
"The one who proposed this is, of course, the one who has become a baron."

"They themselves have this title, so they don't want the status of the baron to be too low and be easily obtained by others."

"After hearing the news, many ministers in the court decided to convert their hereditary titles into baronial titles."

"Some garrison officers also want to be granted titles and go overseas to open up fiefdoms."

Zhang Pu was speechless when he heard this, and vaguely guessed why someone would make such a suggestion.

It is very likely that the emperor was dissatisfied with the small number of hereditary officials going overseas, so he arranged for someone to spread this rumor.

Warn those hereditary officials that if they don't transfer their titles quickly, they will not have such a good opportunity in the future.

At the same time, he also felt a sense of urgency in his heart, that is, if he did not enter the government and make achievements as soon as possible, it would be difficult for him to become a baron in the future:

It is not easy to reach the seven levels of knighthood.

Even hereditary commanders could no longer obtain the title second only to earl.

Of course, Zhu Youjian was not so ruthless. He only spread the rumor to force hereditary officials to transfer their titles and establish fiefdoms as soon as possible. He did not really want to establish seven ranks of knighthood.

A hereditary commander can still be promoted to viscount, but his rank must be changed from first-class to third-class.

The hereditary commander-in-chief and commander-in-chief could only be promoted to baron, one level lower than before.

When one reaches the rank of Qian Hu or Deputy Qian Hu, he can only become a knight, leaving the ranks of the five ranks of duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron.

This tendency had already been in place when the quota for slaves was set previously, with the status of hereditary thousand-household households being equated with that of a knight, and the quota for slaves being limited to thirty people.

The final knight level will be adjusted from the original two levels of ordinary knight and high knight to four levels of junior, intermediate, high and special, with an area of ​​10 li, 20 li, 30 li and 40 li respectively.

There are also some special knight lordships similar to mercenary lordships, which can own territories of less than 100 miles.

The new knighthood hierarchy will be implemented in five years, forcing those hesitant officials to make up their minds as soon as possible.

Allowing Suzhou gentry to donate for junior knighthood was a confirmation of this rumor, indicating that the court was adjusting the knighthood level. (End of this chapter)