Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 114 Zhu Yuanzhang's brand of power! (Subscribe)
half an hour.

Zhu Yuanzhang put down the account book.

It was indeed as Xia Zhibai said, he paid monthly wages to the workers.

If all were calculated, the monthly wages of these workers were higher than those of many clerks in the Ming Dynasty.

With such expenditure, Xia Zhibai could still make a profit of 4,000 taels. Although this 4,000 taels was not common, it was enough to show the profit.

But it is absolutely impossible to set a precedent for "official-business" cooperation.

It is absolutely impossible for the government to engage in business.

Xia Zhibai knew that these alone would not be enough to impress Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang would not believe it either.

To some extent, Zhu Yuanzhang had a strong sense of "exclusivity" and hated everything left over from the Yuan Dynasty. A major feature of the Yuan Dynasty's governance was the implementation of the tax farming system and the extremely evil collusion between officials and businessmen.

For businessmen.

Zhu Yuanzhang felt disgust from the bottom of his heart.

Allowing businessmen to live is already a great blessing, but it is absolutely impossible for them to actively approve it, promote "merchant officials", and allow officials to engage in business.

Xia Zhibai said slowly: "For Your Majesty, money and grain are just a number. If the court needs as much as it wants, it can collect it from the people of the world. As long as it is not exhausting the resources, the court does not need to go to such great lengths and risk the influence of official corruption. It is not worth the loss."

Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent.

He actually agrees with this statement.

I have always disapproved of the so-called business.

Xia Zhibai said: "And this is a big problem exposed by your Majesty in governing the country, that is, you don't know how to manage the economy."

"Your Majesty is always busy with his books, day and night, and everyone in the world knows about it."

"It is also highly respected and admired by scholars."

"But in my eyes, Your Majesty is actually 'unread'."

"Indeed, Your Majesty is familiar with all kinds of history books, all kinds of books by sages, and military strategies. He knows the successes and failures of many dynasties in history like the back of his hand. He even constantly draws lessons from them, trying to prevent the Ming Dynasty from repeating the mistakes of history. Your Majesty can be said to have read everything, but in my opinion, Your Majesty missed one thing."

“It’s the study of economics!”

"Upper decision decided by the economic background."

"There is a folk proverb that goes, 'A good cook cannot cook without rice.'"

"Money is not everything, but without money, nothing can be done. Your Majesty hated the tax farming system of the Yuan Dynasty, so when the Ming Dynasty was first established, the tax farming system was abolished. But was it really abolished?"

Xia Zhibai sneered, his eyes full of disdain and sarcasm.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.

"No." Xia Zhibai said indifferently with a cold face: "The tax farming system of the Yuan Dynasty is just as the literal meaning is that the country contracts a certain tax in a region to some people, and the court collects contract fees from these people every year, but the contract fees collected by the Yuan Dynasty are very high."

"And the wool comes from the sheep."

"Officials or merchants who are responsible for certain taxes will demand higher taxes from the people."

"Your Majesty has implemented a fixed tax system throughout the country."

"Isn't it also a kind of alternative 'tax-farming system'?"

"Your Majesty is also promoting a quota system throughout the country. The court stipulates how much iron and salt should be produced each year. If there is less, it will be replenished, and if there is more, the mines will be closed. This is to maintain the country in a certain state. But can the country really do what Your Majesty wants? Can it always remain unchanged?"

"impossible."

"Just like your majesty cleans up corrupt officials."

"Your Majesty, how many corrupt officials have you killed since you started the rebellion?"

"Is there a complete ban on corrupt officials in the world?"

"And in the Imperial Edict promulgated this year, His Majesty said the following."

"Your Majesty, I have heard that the rulers and ministers of ancient and modern times shouldered the heavy responsibility of the world, cared about the people's livelihood, and formulated laws and regulations to benefit the people. It can be said that the ruler and the ministers were of one mind and had the same aspirations. The heavens and the earth were moved, and the four seas and five mountains were willing to serve as county magistrates, so the weather was good, the crops were abundant, and the families had enough food."

"But in the Ming Dynasty, the situation was completely the opposite."

"Officials always put their own interests before their public interests in handling government affairs, and corruption and abuse of power are rampant, eventually leading to crimes as deep as the sea and as heavy as the mountains. Before the bodies of the previous batch were cleared away, the next batch of death row prisoners were sent to the execution ground, and so on and so forth, countless corrupt officials fell in the sea of ​​blood and corpses."

"Your Majesty even raised a question."

"Alas! Is it really because of your Majesty's incompetence that this has happened, or is it because of the corruption of previous generations?"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard Xia Zhibai speak the contents of "The Imperial Edict" in public, his face suddenly darkened and his eyes were filled with anger.

He understood what Xia Zhibai meant.

Xia Zhibai did not agree with what he said in "The Imperial Edict".

He thought it was his own problem as emperor.

Hearing Xia Zhibai say such outrageous words, Zhu Biao was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat.

If someone else read out these words, he would not feel so uneasy, but these were said by Xia Zhibai. Ever since Xia Zhibai appeared in front of him, he has always been strongly dissatisfied with his father.

Zhu Biao was worried that Xia Zhibai would say something outrageous again, so he quickly stopped him and said, "Shut up! How can you criticize the Imperial Edict written by His Majesty?"

"Your Majesty has made it very clear in the preface to the Imperial Edict."

"It was the 'Ninety-three Years of Reign' of the Yuan Dynasty that corrupted the morals of the world and the integrity of scholars."

"Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Emperor has been lenient with these scholars, not only allowing them to serve in the court, but also giving them important positions. However, these scholars with corrupt moral integrity have not made progress after entering the court, and have been 'selfish over public interests'. Your Majesty has no choice but to raise the butcher knife and kill these scholars with corrupt moral character."

"This is to cleanse the remaining poison of the Yuan Dynasty's evil policies!"

"This is the fact, which cannot be disputed or slandered!"

Zhu Biao's attitude was extremely firm.

Xia Zhibai sighed softly and shook his head.

The only edicts nowadays are "The Great Edict" and "The Imperial Edict". If he remembered correctly, Zhu Yuanzhang would write a few more books as supplements in the following years, but these books seemed ridiculous to Xia Zhibai.

From the beginning to the end, it is discussing one thing.

The previous generation was not good. The officials during the Hongwu Dynasty were not good. Later, due to frequent northern expeditions, local people rioted one after another, so he wrote another book saying "the people are not good". Finally, after killing generals such as Lan Yu, he unwillingly wrote another book saying "the military officers are not good". Zhu Yuanzhang criticized everyone from top to bottom in the Ming Dynasty.

But he refuses to admit that he has a problem.

Xia Zhibai raised his head, his eyes like stars, without any evasion.

He looked Zhu Yuanzhang in the face and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty wants officials to shoulder the heavy responsibility of the country, care about the people's livelihood, and formulate rules and regulations to benefit the people, but has Your Majesty ever given them such an opportunity?"

One word fell.

Zhu Biao's face changed suddenly.

Zhu Yuanzhang's pupils were also filled with anger.

Before Zhu Yuanzhang got angry, Xia Zhibai spoke out on his own.

"No." "Don't talk about officials and government affairs."

"I am currently a commercial official, and my main business is the salt market, so I will use the salt administration as an example."

"I have discussed some of this with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince before."

"The Ming Dynasty's salt administration has serious problems."

"The current salt administration of the Ming Dynasty follows the old system of the Yuan Dynasty."

"This system mainly targets salt-producing households, requiring them to pay taxes based on salt as the calculation unit, and the household is the basic unit for taxation."

"At this stage, it is very obvious that some households have more people and some have less, but no matter how many people there are, each household needs to pay a salt tax of thirty yin. This system obviously has serious drawbacks, but in the 18 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, no one has proposed to amend it."

"But I can tell your majesty very clearly."

"Even if Your Majesty tells the officials of the Ming Dynasty about the shortcomings of the salt administration, the suggestions they give are still just patchwork and they will not really sympathize with the people."

"the reason is simple."

"Your Majesty will not allow much change."

"The current framework of the world has already taken shape under your majesty's coercion."

"And it cannot be changed."

"Under this situation where there is not much room for maneuver, the officials in the court can only patch up the Ming system in a very limited space and then try to achieve what Your Majesty wants. As for whether it will increase the burden on the lower-class people, no one cares."

“They can’t take care of both.”

“I want to have it both ways.”

"The simplest way is what I did, setting up a salt company, which is beneficial to both the upper and lower levels, and can also take into account the people's livelihood. But I can do this because I have obtained the special permission of His Majesty, and there are many systems to make way for it. However, the officials do not have this right, and His Majesty does not allow the officials to have such a right."

"They don't even have the courage to speak."

"I really don't dare."

"If we change it, it will definitely take a lot of energy and time, and will also mobilize a lot of officials. It may even require a major change in the salt administration. Who can guarantee that after the change, it will definitely be better than before?"

"Who dares to take responsibility in your majesty's hands?"

"And changes to the salt policy will inevitably involve spending money."

"The Ming Dynasty only has so much tax revenue per year, and the court can't afford it. Even if Your Majesty agrees, if there is a loss of money, given Your Majesty's clear-cut attitude of likes and dislikes, I'm afraid you will immediately execute these officials for corruption."

"Under such circumstances, how much 'real talent' can officials demonstrate?"

"As long as conditions permit, I will do my best to meet your majesty's requirements and do some mending."

"The reason why I can stand before your Majesty so openly today and point out the shortcomings of the salt administration is not because I am bold and fearless, but because I have indeed achieved profitability within three months and have indeed provided a new direction for the change of the salt administration."

"even so."

"The account book that I thought was very impressive, in your Majesty's eyes, only has 4,000 taels left."

"Your Majesty is still thinking about the 50,000 taels you lent."

"Your Majesty can only see the immediate benefits, but not the long-term consequences of the changes."

"Perhaps in your Majesty's eyes, businessmen are profit-driven. Since they are doing business, they must see results quickly. It would be best if they could see immediate results and see the return of money immediately, or even directly spend 50,000 and get back 100,000. This way it is not a loss. But everything has a development process. How can it be achieved so easily in one go?"

"It's just like planting crops. You have to till the land, sow seeds, and apply fertilizers. It also takes several months of cultivation before you can get a harvest in the fall."

"Your Majesty knows a lot about farming, but he is unwilling to invest his patience in other matters."

"It seems to have safeguarded the interests and authority of the court."

“In fact, we will only lose more.”

“The gain is not worth the loss.”

Zhu Yuanzhang looked indifferent and didn't take these words seriously.

In fact, Xia Zhibai can see clearly and understand the system he established?
Xia Zhibai looked away, glanced at the hall, and said with a smile: "Economy is the foundation of politics, and war is the continuation of politics."

"When I was in Kaifeng, I did some research on the Ming Dynasty's taxation system."

"Your Majesty is outstanding in the institutional system."

“It’s also very groundbreaking.”

"Your Majesty does have a heart to benefit the people."

"From the very beginning, we will strive to implement low tax rates for agricultural and commercial taxes to realize your majesty's idea of ​​benefiting the people."

"With such low tax revenue, the Ming Dynasty can still guarantee its fiscal expenditure and even achieve a certain surplus. This is amazing to me."

"But all this comes at the cost of the people's hard work! It is supported by heavy corvee labor."

"Your Majesty has evenly distributed a large amount of corvée labor to the people through measures such as equalizing labor, rotating the service of the lijia, reducing corvée labor, and avoiding farming seasons."

"Your Majesty is very far-sighted. He knows that such high-intensity corvee labor will be difficult for the people to bear."

"Therefore, after establishing a low-tax system, Your Majesty immediately set about establishing a complete set of supporting guarantee systems to save tax expenditures, such as military settlements, civilian settlements, manor fields, official fields and other high-rent official fields."

"Your Majesty also actively cracked down on local tyrants, restricted the policy of rich households to annex land, and implemented a household registration system throughout the country for the descendants of military service, craftsmen, and kitchen servants, as well as a system for criminals to redeem their sins through military service, a salt law system for merchants to deliver grain to military towns, and a system for the transfer of tax grain to nearby transports, etc."

"."

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression changed completely when he heard Xia Zhibai explain the tax system he had established in detail.

This system was created by him after reading history books thoroughly and fully absorbing historical experiences and lessons.

He has always been proud of it.

Because this system is complete and perfect, there is no need to make any changes.

In the past, some officials in the court did raise objections.

But he always disdained them, even sneered at them, because these officials had no idea how complete the system he founded was, nor did they know how much effort he had spent on it, how many books he had read, and how many historical records he had read.

What he didn't know was that this was the foundation he had built for the Ming Dynasty to last for thousands of years.

Xia Zhibai felt emotional.

Zhu Yuanzhang was actually quite a genius.

He built such a huge empire from scratch and created such a huge tax system single-handedly, but all this came at a price, and that price was endless exploitation and oppression.

Xia Zhibai said with a complicated expression: "The core of the system created by Your Majesty is two words in my opinion."

"power."

"More complete."

"It is to use the power of the court to seize the labor of the people for free, or to seize the production income of the people at a high price, and to collect a large amount of 'non-tax revenue' from the people to supplement the low tax revenue, thus causing fiscal shortages."

"Isn't what I said wrong?"

(End of this chapter)