My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 73 Chongzhen: Not only did you let me take the blame, but you also treated me like a monkey!
Thinking of this, Li Banghua suddenly laughed.

Then he said:

"Your Highness, please rest assured. I am already sixty-seven years old this year. I have no other wishes in this life. I only want to build a truly combat-ready army for my Ming Dynasty!"

"As long as I can fulfill this long-cherished wish, I don't care about anything else!"

Having said that, there is basically nothing more to say.

Zhu Cilang nodded.

"You've been traveling for days, you must be tired. Go back and rest first."

"Besides that, if you need anything, you can ask me. Whether it's money or something else, I won't be stingy."

"Don't worry about the firearms like muskets and cannons that the Beijing Army needs. Father has already established the Daming Firearms Research Institute, which specializes in the development of new firearms and cannons."

"We'll see the results of this in a while. If you're interested, you can go to the East Palace and take a look."

"Believe in me, I won't let you down."

After hearing this, Li Banghua was shocked again.

He didn't expect that the emperor would become so open-minded after his illness.

They killed nobles and civil servants, and even set up a firearms research institute specifically for the development of firearms!
This really made him look at her with new eyes!
After giving a few simple instructions, Zhu Cilang let Li Banghua go down to rest.

The place they went to was a mansion that Zhu Cilang had prepared long ago, and the servants and domestic servants were also ready.

In addition, Zhu Cilang also allowed Li Banghua to bring his family to the capital.

Those who did not have official positions were given official positions, and those who had official positions were promoted.

In short, Zhu Cilang was generous in rewarding these loyal ministers and generals!

After doing all this, it was already past nine in the morning.

Just when Zhu Cilang was considering what to do next, the young eunuch came to report that Luo Yangxing had arrived.

Soon, Luo Yangxing came in front of Zhu Cilang.

"Your Highness, I have been ordered to confiscate the property of Zhang Sizhi and others. Here is the property list. Please review it, Your Highness!"

Luo Yangxing said this while holding up a list of items that had been confiscated.

Seeing this, Ma Bao hurriedly took the list and handed it to Zhu Cilang carefully.

Zhu Cilang took it casually and glanced through it, his expression not changing much.

Although there was a lot of property on the list, it still seemed insignificant compared to the property of the nobles he had confiscated before.

However, at this moment, he noticed that Luo Yangxing seemed to be hesitant to speak.

Zhu Cilang closed the list and looked at Luo Yangxing sharply:
"Anything else to say?"

Luo Yangxing's heart trembled, and then he bowed and said:
"During the investigation, I accidentally learned from one of Zhang Sizhi's servants that Zhang Sizhi still has 330,000 mu of land in his hometown."

"I subsequently interrogated the families of other officials and learned that they also owned large amounts of land in their hometowns."

"All of this land adds up to a total of 870,000 mu. I don't know what to do with it, so I've come to ask for your advice, His Royal Highness."

Eight hundred and seventy thousand acres of land?
Zhu Cilang was a little surprised when he heard this.

You have to know that the land confiscated from the nobles before only added up to 200,000 acres.

And now, there are only dozens of civil servants, but they own 870,000 acres of land!

If nothing unexpected happens, these lands will not be taxed!

In the early Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang once measured the total land area in the world, which was 8.576 million mu, and the annual land tax was 2950 million dan!

This does not include the land awarded to princes and meritorious officials. If these are added, the land area of the Ming Dynasty must have exceeded 9 million mu!

Moreover, the Veritable Records of Ming Taizu record: There is a distinction between the noble and humble families of the common people. Those who work and perform duties to serve the emperor are the common people's business. But if virtuous and noble people not only honor their families but also serve themselves, then there is no difference between gentlemen and common people. This is not the way to encourage scholars to treat virtuous people. From now on, if the families of officials in various departments own land, they will be exempted from all labor service except for paying rent and taxes.

To put it simply: you nobles, officials and gentry can be exempted from corvee labor, but you still have to pay taxes!
During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, these people did not dare to make trouble and naturally paid taxes obediently.

But in the late Yongle period, this regulation gradually became unenforceable.

Because the civil servants and gentry groups had gradually developed, they began to collude with local county magistrates, clerks and other grassroots officials to avoid paying taxes by falsely reporting the amount of land and other measures.

During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the land tax was about 30 to 1, which means that only 5 kilograms of grain were collected as land tax per acre of land!
However, the grain will be lost during transportation, the poor quality of the grain will also need to be discounted, plus there will be deductions and so on, so the overall tax ratio should be 30 to 3.

That is to say, one mu of land requires about 15 kilograms of grain as land tax.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the tax rate increased slightly to 20 to 1, which means that 7 kilograms of grain were collected as land tax per acre of land.

But in general, the tax rate is actually 20:3, which means that 21 kilograms of grain should be paid as land tax per mu of land.

During the Chongzhen period, in order to support Liaodong, Chongzhen levied three additional taxes and raised the land tax to 5:1, collecting 30 kilograms of grain as land tax per acre!
综合下来，一亩地要收5税2甚至是5税3，也就是80斤左右。

This is five or six times more than the land tax during the Zhu Yuanzhang period!
According to this ratio, the land tax during the Chongzhen period should be at least five or six times that of the Zhu Yuanzhang period, right?

That’s almost 1.6 million shi of grain!

Even if wars, the Little Ice Age and other disasters caused a reduction in grain production in the north, the south has always been stable, so there must be at least half of it, right?

That is about 8000 million stones!

But in fact?
Even if Chongzhen raised the land tax to 5:1, the annual tax revenue would only be more than 2000 million dan of grain!
As for the missing 6000 million shi, they all flowed into the pockets of princes, nobles, civil officials, and gentry groups!
If calculated based on the current grain price of two taels of silver for one stone of grain, these people should pay at least 1 million taels of silver to the court every year!
Looks shocking, right?
But that's the truth
However, these princes, nobles, civil service groups, and gentry never paid a single cent to the court!
Thinking of this, Zhu Cilang's face suddenly turned gloomy.

Although he had long known the seriousness of land annexation in the late Ming Dynasty, he never imagined that it would be so serious.

Moreover, this is no longer a question of whether the situation is serious or not, but a sign of the country’s imminent collapse!
The next moment, Zhu Cilang looked at Luo Yangxing with a sharp gaze:
"Immediately send people to these people's hometowns and seize all their property, including their homes, land, shops, etc."

"Remember, anything related to them must be seized."

"Silver, gold, and other property will be shipped directly to the capital!"

"Also, manage your men well and don't take any action without authorization. Otherwise, you know the consequences."

Luo Yangxing was so frightened when he heard this that he trembled all over and quickly knelt on the ground:
"Don't worry, Your Highness. If anyone dares to take action, I will kill him first!"

Zhu Cilang waved his hand.

"Go ahead!"

Luo Yangxing hurriedly bowed and retreated.

Zhu Cilang sat in the East Warm Pavilion, feeling somewhat depressed. He knew this was just the beginning. Once he was done with Shanxi, he would take action against all the civil servants who had annexed land.

By then, the true faces of these parasites will be completely exposed in broad daylight!

However, at this moment, a young eunuch hurried in:

"Your Highness, this is bad! His Majesty is clamoring to see you again!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cilang was speechless.

Didn't we just meet yesterday? Why are you clamoring to see him again today?
Could it be that Chongzhen has a masochistic tendency and only feels comfortable when he has to talk back to me every day?
Although he felt helpless, Zhu Cilang still planned to go there.

So, he went to Kunning Palace with the list of confiscated property.

Soon, he arrived at Kunning Palace.

Before he got close, a teacup fell out from Kunning Palace and shattered at his feet.

Then, a pure voice sounded.

"Damn it! Let that rebellious son come to see me!"

Zhu Cilang shook his head speechlessly and walked in.

The next second, he saw Chongzhen holding a teacup and trying to smash it down.

Queen Zhou was trying to persuade her, but it seemed to be of no use.

Chongzhen didn't stop until he saw him appear.

"Father, what's wrong with you?"

Zhu Cilang sat down on the stool and looked at Chongzhen helplessly.

When Chongzhen heard this, he was immediately furious.

He held up the Ming Daily, which had just been published this morning, and asked gloomily:
"Rebellious son! You were lying to me about what happened yesterday, weren't you? Zhang Sizhi and the others weren't involved in this matter at all! You were lying to me just to kill them, weren't you?"

When Zhu Cilang heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

Because he didn't expect that Chongzhen would figure it out so quickly.

In fact, Chongzhen didn't understand it at first, but after thinking about it all night, he always felt that something was wrong with this matter.

How could a man of such a high position as the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet and the Minister of War do such an outrageous thing?
In addition, he studied the Daming Daily delivered this morning and finally confirmed one thing:
That means this matter is a conspiracy!
Zhu Cilang set up this conspiracy just to kill these officials, and he was just a pawn in it!
When Chongzhen thought of this, he became even more furious.

He felt like a monkey, and that rebellious son was a monkey trainer, playing him around in circles!
Not only is he taking the blame, but now they are making a fool of him!
This is simply unbearable!
Hence, the current situation.

Realizing that the father and son were going to discuss state affairs again, Queen Zhou consciously went to visit other palaces.

Suddenly, only Zhu Cilang and Chongzhen were left in Kunning Palace...

Faced with Emperor Chongzhen's questioning, Zhu Cilang just smiled faintly and did not give any answer.

Instead, he handed the list of people to be confiscated that Luo Yangxing had given him to Chongzhen.

"what is this?"

Chongzhen asked with a frown.

"The list of confiscated property."

Zhu Cilang replied calmly.

Chongzhen took the list and looked through it carefully.

After a moment, his face turned ugly.

The silver listed on the list alone amounted to more than three million taels, hundreds of thousands of taels of gold, and countless other antiques, calligraphy and paintings.

If all of it were converted into silver, it would be more than five million taels.

However, Chongzhen still said stubbornly:

"Even if they really took the money, you shouldn't just kill them like that."

Zhu Cilang shook his head and continued:

"The things listed above are just what's on the surface. Their hidden wealth may be more than you can imagine."

When Chongzhen heard this, he looked at Zhu Cilang with some confusion, as if he didn't quite understand what it meant.

Seeing this, Zhu Cilang no longer concealed the truth and said directly:

"According to the Jinyiwei's investigation, these people have occupied more than 870,000 mu of land in their hometown."

How many?

Eight hundred and seventy thousand acres?
When Chongzhen heard this, he was stunned and even thought he had heard it wrong.

But obviously, he didn't hear wrong!

Zhu Cilang continued

"Furthermore, these 870,000 acres of land are tax-free and all belong to their private property."

"I did some rough calculations a while ago. Based on the 5:1 tax rate stipulated by the Emperor and the current price of grain, the annual tax payable for these mu of land alone is approximately taels of silver!"

"In other words, these people owe the state 350,000 taels of land tax every year."

"If we count from the first year of Chongzhen, they have owed the state at least five million taels of land tax."

"And this is just the land owned by a cabinet minister, a minister of war, a few vice ministers, and some other officials."

When Chongzhen heard this, he fell silent.

This number is a bit beyond his understanding!
-
(PS: Some people may think that the amount of taxes owed by the civil service and gentry is a bit exaggerated, but it is actually not an exaggeration at all!
In the later period, it was basically all taxes from the country, including land tax, mining tax, tea tax, and commercial tax. The tax was divided 37% between the state, princes, Donglin Party, and gentry, with the state accounting for 3% and others accounting for 7%.

If taxes had really been collected, the Ming Dynasty might not have perished!

There is no doubt that the Ming Dynasty was destroyed by the Donglin Party, gentry, and land annexation.

Of course, Chongzhen himself is also responsible!)

(End of this chapter)