Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 61 I am the only one in the world who has the right not to pay taxes!
"This... Rong Weichen, take a look..."

When Xu Pu met Zhu Youtang's eyes that seemed to see through everything, his heart sank and he quickly looked away.

Xu Pu looked at the account book in his hand and said, "Your Majesty, the summer taxes in Nanzhili are 7414 taels of silver and 214 million dan of rice."

"The summer taxes in Zhejiang Province were 4674 taels of silver and 117 million dan of rice."

"Ganzhou's summer taxes were 2487 taels of silver and 165 million dan of rice."

Hearing these figures, Zhu Youtang laughed in anger: "Lord Xu, you are from Nanzhili, you should be very familiar with the situation in Nanzhili."

"Considering the land, population, and economic conditions of Nanzhili, is this the only amount of summer tax that can be collected in a year?"

"Nanzhili is a land of plenty, rich in nutrients, and fertile land, but it only collects this much tax in a year. Don't you think it's ridiculous?!"

Xu Pu lowered his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead, whispering: "This... is because our Ming Dynasty has low taxes to support the people, and has kept the wealth among the people, and has not competed with the people for profits..."

"The harvest in Southern Zhili...is not particularly good either. This year, the Yangtze River flooded and submerged a lot of good farmland."

"And according to convention, governments at all levels will withdraw... next year's salary in advance, and some grain... will be stored in local granaries for emergency use..."

"Moreover, the local vassal kings will also receive their rice allowance for the next year, and...the vassal kings and nobles will all be exempt from taxes..."

Zhu Youtang sneered: "So when it comes to my hands, there are only more than 7,000 taels of silver and more than 2 million dan of rice, right?"

Xu Pu fell silent.

No matter how many excuses or reasons he can come up with, the data is there.

Nanzhili was the richest place in the Ming Dynasty, but its summer tax was only this little a year. It was really unacceptable.

The main reasons why the tax revenue in the Ming Dynasty was so low are the following four points.

The first point is that the tax collection is simply too low, and more taxes in kind are collected.

The second point is that princes, royal family members, noble relatives, aristocrats and landlords have the right not to pay taxes.

The third point is that without reasonable and effective means of supervision, the court did not know the actual income of merchants and farmers, especially the silver of commercial taxes, which it could not collect at all.

Fourth, corruption.

Among them, the second point is particularly fatal.

The princes not only owned a large amount of fertile land that was tax-free, but also received a considerable salary every year.

Because the noble landlords did not have to pay taxes, they illegally annexed a large amount of fertile land through various means.

There were even self-cultivating farmers who took the initiative to donate their good farmland, gifted it to noble landlords, and then rented it back.

In this way, one would only need to pay taxes to the noble landlords, rather than to the Ming court.

In the early years of Hongwu, the Ming Dynasty still had more than 800 million acres of land that could collect taxes.

By the Hongzhi period, the Ming Dynasty had only 400 million acres of land left to collect taxes.

Over a period of more than a hundred years, the noble landlords illegally annexed half of the land of the Ming Dynasty. This was simply lawless!
At the same time, the Ming Dynasty also collected silver tax and collected corresponding taxes according to the population size.

All of them were collected by local officials and not handed over to the Ming court. In fact, most of this income went into the private pockets of officials.

This kind of taxation greatly hindered population growth. It also gave lower-level officials the opportunity to use their privileges to conceal the population, thereby increasing the burden on ordinary people.

And the most important point is that the imperial court can no longer control the Jiangnan region.

The wealth of the Jiangnan region all fell into the hands of the Jiangnan landlords and literati.

"The taxation system of the Ming Dynasty needs to change."

Zhu Youtang said calmly, saying something that made the three ministers present change their expressions drastically.

The last time Zhu Youtang reformed the currency value in the main city, all the officials in the capital cried out in despair.

This time the taxation system of the Ming Dynasty is to be changed again. Does this mean they are going to take action against these officials again?
Zhu Youtang pondered for a moment, then issued an order: "The Ministry of Revenue, together with the Censorate and the Western Factory, will survey the land across the country starting tomorrow."

Xu Pu's face turned pale as paper in an instant. He was about to open his mouth to dissuade him, but when he looked up and met Zhu Youtang's sharp gaze, his throat seemed to be pinched by someone and he could not make any sound.

"Tomorrow the cabinet will draw up a list of officials to survey the land across the country for me, including officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Censorate."

Xu Pu lowered his head, his mouth full of bitterness: "Yes, Your Majesty."

In fact, Zhu Youtang had long wanted to make some changes to the Ming Dynasty's tax system.

In other words, the currency reform that was carried out first was to pave the way for the tax reform that would be implemented next.

The two complement each other and are closely linked.

According to Zhu Youtang's idea, the tax reform should be divided into three steps.

The first step is to survey the land across the country.

The second step was to abolish the head tax, distribute miscellaneous taxes such as the silver tax evenly among the fields, and collect taxes uniformly according to the number of fields.

The third step is to remove anyone’s right to be tax exempt.

There is only one person in the entire Ming Dynasty who has the right not to pay taxes, and that is me! Later, when the land tax reform is completed, we can start to move on to the commercial tax.

Zhu Youtang's reform method absorbed the advantages of both the Single Whip System and the Land-based Tax System, and was the most suitable tax law for the Ming Dynasty today.

But these reform plans were still in their infancy, and Zhu Youtang only had one major reform direction in his mind.

As for the details of how to implement it, Zhu Youtang has not yet figured it out.

But the issue of surveying the entire country's land can be put on the agenda.

After the beginning of next spring, while currency reform is being implemented throughout the Ming Dynasty, tax reform will also be implemented simultaneously.

But by then, I'm afraid there will be another bloody storm.

After taking a sip of hot tea, Zhu Youtang turned to look at the Minister of Works Jia Jun.

"Minister Jia, how is the construction of my palace going?"

Jia Jun quickly replied: "Your Majesty, the construction period is good."

"The damaged parts of the three main Fengtian halls have been completely cleared."

"As soon as the thick nanmu trees from the southwest arrive, we can start repairing them."

"Your Majesty's Hall of Mental Cultivation has also completed all the preliminary works and has begun construction."

"The wood used for construction is divided into huanghuali wood, nanmu wood, and red sandalwood inlaid with Xiangfei bamboo."

"According to this schedule, it will probably be completed by the beginning of next spring."

Zhu Youtang nodded and looked at Liu Daxia again.

"Minister Liu, has everything been peaceful in the north recently?"

Liu Daxia stepped forward and bowed in response.

"Your Majesty, since your Majesty wiped out the 100,000-strong Tatar army, the nomadic peoples in the northern grasslands no longer dare to go south to herd horses."

Zhu Youtang stretched out his hand, picked up two dried fruits and put them into his mouth.

"Winter is coming, and who knows what the northern Tartars might do when they are desperate."

"Let the soldiers guard the Great Wall for me."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Besides the north, have there been any incidents in other border towns?"

Liu Daxia was full of confidence: "Your Majesty, everything is normal."

Zhu Youtang waved his hand and said, "Okay, that's all for today. Everyone go back."

"It's your Majesty, I'm sorry, please leave!"

After the three of them bowed, they quickly left the Hongde Hall.

Zhu Youtang picked up the hot tea beside him, took a sip, and felt relaxed all over.

I opened the window slightly and let the cold wind outside blow away. The room became warm as spring, which was really comfortable.

After Zhu Youtang rested for a while, a young eunuch suddenly came to report a message.

"Your Majesty, Empress Dowager Wu invites you to Chuxiu Palace for a chat."

Zhu Youtang raised his eyebrows. He had never been to the harem during this period of time.

I almost forgot that there is still a beauty contest for him in Chuxiu Palace.

Zhu Youtang stood up and said, "Go ahead."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

As soon as Zhu Youtang came out of Hongde Hall, a eunuch immediately put a thick banner on him.

Not long after sitting on the dragon chariot, Zhu Youtang arrived at Chuxiu Palace.

"The Emperor has arrived!"

Zhu Youtang walked into Chuxiu Palace, and the eunuchs, palace maids and beauties around him knelt down and saluted.

"Greetings to Your Majesty!"

"No gift."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

After everyone stood up, Empress Dowager Wu waved to Zhu Youtang.

"Your Majesty, come and take a look at these beauties. Are there any that satisfy you?"

(End of this chapter)