Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 305 Have you eaten today?
The aristocratic rebellion that swept across Korea was quite large, involving more than a thousand families, large and small.

There were tens of thousands of rebellious nobles, defecting soldiers, corrupt officials, and even bandits who took advantage of the situation to rob people in the eight provinces of Korea.

If ordinary Ming soldiers had seen such a powerful enemy force, they would have fled back to Liaodong long ago.

Unexpectedly, these Beiwei Army soldiers were like monsters born for battle, their thirst for battle reaching its extreme. Not only were they not afraid of the enemy's attack, but they became more and more excited as the battle went on, shouting "blood", "killing", "born to be a war maniac" every day...

Their bravery and swiftness inspired the ordinary Ming army and also inspired the ordinary Korean officers and soldiers. They all joined forces to turn the tide.

Perhaps because Korea has many mountains and little land, and its land area is only as large as a province of the Ming Dynasty, players were able to quickly cross the east, west, south and north to quell the rebellion and, in the process, deal with some local bandits.

Most of the bandits in North Korea either surrendered and atoneed for their sins or were completely wiped out, and the national security level was improved by two levels.

Not to mention that they could leave their doors unlocked at night, but at least merchants and travelers didn't have to worry about being robbed by bandits when they traveled far away.

Excluding those who were wounded and fled, and those who disappeared into the mountains and forests, a total of 58,591 rebels and traitors were killed throughout the eight provinces of Korea...

Maintaining peace and order is a great benefit to the people, and capturing spoils of war is a reward for the players.

The total amount of grain seized in this battle was over 768,000 dan of rice and wheat, 1,970,000 taels of silver, 9,500 taels of gold, over 10,000 bolts of silk, cotton, and other fabrics, over 20 large and small civilian ships, and countless rare treasures, books, and ancient paintings.

This only includes money, grain and property, and does not include real estate such as fields, houses, shops, mills, and workshops.

Some players think that since they need to settle the spoils of war such as land, they might as well do a round of land surveying and population census, which will make it easier to collect taxes from Korea in the future.

As for taxes, they will naturally be squeezed from those who have more money.

This suggestion sounded good, but it was immediately rejected by the keyboard players who had learned the lesson of the great rebellion.

It is indeed necessary to conduct an inventory of the country's land and population, but the current social environment must also be taken into consideration.

Although they decisively suppressed the backlash of the nobles through strong military means, they also had to understand that the implementation of any reform would lead to dire consequences.

Players who learn from their mistakes won't fall in the same place twice.

They cannot afford to trigger another major rebellion, and they have to hurry to bring back money, food, and supplies to benefit their own base.

Of course, these two reforms do not mean giving up, but we need to make a small patch before that -

Confiscate civilian weapons across North Korea.

Regardless of identity, group or individual, no one is allowed to privately possess armor, crossbows, bird guns and other high-attack and high-defense weapons. Only hunting bows, bamboo guns and wooden spears can be used to defend against wild beasts and bandits.

All the armor and muskets collected are distributed to the players. The remaining weapons are made into farm tools and sold to farmers.

Thanks to the "Carbon-based Communication Network", the civilian and security team players scattered across the country began to implement the "Weapons Confiscation Order" within a day. Even the brothers in the combat team temporarily played the role of administrative cadres.

North Korea's land area is still too small. Players stationed in the county town can cover all the villages by walking dozens of miles outside the city.

What is the so-called royal authority going down to the county level? Thousands of players were temporarily transferred to civilian cadres, raising the administrative power of the poor and weak country of North Korea to a level that did not belong to it, and directly sending the royal authority down to the village level.

If the number of players increases several times, it will even be possible to extend royal authority to every household and establish an "underground eye system" to closely monitor every family.

What color shit someone pooped today, what gossip someone discussed at the dinner table, which bachelor a widow slept with today, all could be conveyed to the supreme ruler in a moment, even more powerful than Zhu Yuanzhang's Jinyiwei.

After confiscating the weapons, they arranged for personnel to transport them to the prefecture and county cities, and handed them over to specialists to be responsible for the distribution of weapons and armor. After all, it was not a complicated task, and the players completed it quickly.

As for the centralized processing of weapons and armor, that is the job of craftsmen.

Deprived of most of society's resistance, players suddenly showed their terrifying fangs—

Land surveys, population censuses, and cumulative agricultural taxes of 10% to 40%, which were far more severe than the Datong Law, were introduced simultaneously.

For ordinary people and small households, they used to pay taxes on time. Whether the authorities checked or not, their lives were still a mess.

They would actually be happy to collect more taxes from high-ranking officials.

But the nobles were unhappy, as this series of policies seemed to be targeting them.

The land survey targeted hidden fields, the population census targeted the number of slaves, and the cumulative agricultural tax snatched money from the big landowners.

They were very angry, but they dared not resist. Those who had the strength to resist had been beaten up by the new king's "iron fist" and no longer had the "vital force" to resist the new king.

The weapons and armor were confiscated by the new king in a short time. Even if they wanted to rebel, they could not defeat the government army.

A heavy armored man beating an unarmored man is like a strong man beating up a kid; one man is more than enough to defeat twenty.

Not to mention the battle-hardened armored celestial soldiers, who are almost no different from "humanoid Gundams".

The bandit-catching battalion loyal to the new monarch also honed its practical experience in battle, and the imperial camp soldiers and the forbidden guards were also fully trained. Even if there was another round of aristocratic rebellion, the new monarch could deal with it alone.

The nobles who had originally wanted to reap the benefits were now deeply regretting it. If they had known the tragic outcome today, they should not have remained silent and should have rebelled together to drive out the new king.

It’s a pity that the volcano has already erupted once and cannot erupt a second time before accumulating enough energy.

And they also know that if they are cut by the soft knife of these policies, they will not be able to accumulate enough energy for a volcanic eruption... Once the new law is introduced, the players will be eliminated again.

But this time, the players had many more people to help them——

Over a million slaves who lost their masters and were "transferred from private to public." Former nobles who were granted a 1% share of their land. Merchants who were extorted and bullied by the nobles.

The slaves had been farming for their masters and were familiar with the scattered lands. They were eager to get a lease and start working.

The former nobles had 99% of their land confiscated. They did not dare to resent the new king and the heavenly soldiers who were full of martial virtue, but they were very jealous of those nobles who did not participate in the rebellion.

The former nobles' families fell into decline because of this, so why can these nobles stay out of it and enjoy wealth and glory?

With the revengeful mentality of "I am miserable, so I want you to be miserable too", the former nobles were like chickens with their blood pumped up, leading the surveying personnel to locate the hidden fields, and even actively reported the nobles' past tax evasion.

The merchants had been suffering from corruption and extortion by officials before, and they were the most unhappy about it. Now that they saw the nobles had become the victims of the new king's beating, they naturally wanted to add insult to injury.

All houses, shops, and workshops should be reported as someone's hidden "private property."

North Korea is divided into eighteen administrative units, and the "land survey" players of each administrative unit are directly connected to the highest level.

The sacred Kara connects every group of administrative players.

The players below quickly went to the countryside to visit and register each piece of land, each household, and each piece of unequal property.

Almost at the same time, the players above filed their reports in the National Archives, saving the travel losses of reporting and delivering back and forth, as well as a lot of ineffective meeting time.

The administrative departments of the "new government" are like the "mother insect" firmly at the center, collecting and distributing massive amounts of information, prompting a large number of terminal insects to perform their tasks quickly and efficiently.

Fast, zero corruption, everyone doing their job, quickly registering and calculating the tax amount for land tax rates, and reshaping the country's tax collection model...

This series of efficient and swift work efficiency made the nobles who had always disliked the new monarch dumbfounded.

Everyone can see the new monarch's military skills, but when did he train his administrative officials?
In a small country, it usually takes one or two years to carry out this work of surveying land and registering households.

Officials reported to higher levels, and the time and money spent on preparing tax books and writing official documents were also huge.

There are innumerable disputes and contradictions involved, which will surely be obstructed by the secret efforts of the gentry and powerful, dragging out the process for several years.

The lower-level officials are not easy to deal with either. It is during this period that they manipulate things and exaggerate things that are good for the people, turning them into things that ultimately harm the people.

Administrative efficiency and tax collection efficiency were both reduced to the lowest level, so that in the end nothing was accomplished.

This is also why successive dynasties have implemented reforms and changed taxes in the hope of suppressing the powerful and appeasing the common people, but in the end, it only increased the burden on the people.

The nobles also intended to laugh at the new monarch, but unexpectedly, they were severely slapped in the face by the new monarch.

Not only were the data compiled by the government basically consistent with what they had, but the hidden fields and slaves of each family were also clearly checked.

The most important thing is that this administrative team rarely actively solicits bribes, or even if there are sporadic acts of corruption, they are quickly extinguished.

The nobles didn't even have time to sabotage the tax collectors' corruption before this vigorous integration movement ended.

Is this still the young and naive Prince Bongnim Lee Ho?
How come he has such amazing military talents and the team of local officials he dispatches are so honest and efficient?

Even ordinary people found it unreal. They didn't even spend the "straw sandals money" and "hardship fee" they had prepared long ago. For a time, they thought they were living in a dream world.

Players have no idea what the nobles and commoners are thinking, they just focus on completing tasks to gain more reputation points.

The total population of North Korea has just been released. Including slaves, the country has a total population of 11.37 million.

The taxable land controlled by the "new government" directly climbed to 245 million knots, which was more than the land at the founding of the Joseon Dynasty.

If the progressive agricultural tax is implemented, more than 6 million Huashi can be collected each year, which is several times the tax revenue of the "old government" in the past.

Whoever controls the country's arable land and population also controls the vast majority of its resources.

After deducting the military and official stability maintenance expenses, the "new government" plans to divide the spoils captured in this war and the annual income into three parts.

One piece was used for the construction of water conservancy facilities in North Korea, so that slaves could quickly get rid of their lowly status through labor.

A portion is reserved as a national emergency fund to be used to operate the country's industrial and agricultural development.

The remaining tax grain was reserved specifically for the Beiwei Army.

As a result, the Beiwei Army received a total of 1.5 million taels of money, grain and cloth for this campaign in Korea, as well as subsequent logistical support of 1 million shi of tax grain per year.

This made it easy for the Beiwei Army to support an additional 60,000 to 70,000 militiamen, allowing them to truly suck the blood of the puppets and support their own soldiers.

……

As public security and taxation gradually improve, the Tartars completely withdraw from Korea, and the players who led their troops south and the Ming army should also return to Liaodong.

(End of this chapter)