Take a plane to the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 463 Chang'an University of Science and Technology
"Where is the difficulty?" Zhu Changyuan frowned slightly. If even a ruthless person like Hong Chengchou said that it is difficult to govern Taiwan in his own way, then it is indeed difficult.

Hong Chengchou cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty asked me to go to Taiwan, and I would not hesitate to die, but to complete the task His Majesty said, it would be as difficult as climbing to the sky. Just imagine, Your Majesty, those indigenous landlords hold a lot of land in their hands. It's good, but Those lands are legal in name, and even the imperial court cannot use them for no reason, otherwise, the country will not be a country, and the law will be lawless!"

What Hong Chengchou said is also true. Zhu Changyuan's current situation is very different from that of Mao Zedong's time. He wants to take back the land from the landlords and kings, but he lacks a convincing reason.

It is possible to use strong nature, but that is the last step.

"Lord Hong!" Zhu Changyuan personally pulled out a chair for Hong Chengchou, but Hong Chengchou said he didn't dare.

"I know how difficult it is. To be honest, if it wasn't difficult, I wouldn't use you, Hong Chengchou!" This sentence raised Hong Chengchou very high.

Hong Chengchou was so excited that he almost blurted out his promise to Zhu Changyuan.

"As the minister of the Chongzhen Emperor, I have a question to ask you!" Zhu Changyuan's eyes were very bright, he looked at Hong Chengchou seriously, and said slowly: "Tell me, in the Ming Dynasty, you had so many troops in your hands. Why did they keep fighting against the Manchus and defeating them repeatedly? Regardless of national power, political power, public opinion power or cultural power, the Ming Dynasty was always overpowering the Manchus, so why couldn’t they win?”

Hong Chengchou was deep in thought.

Zhu Changyuan continued: "Is it because our Ming army's combat effectiveness is weak? Obviously not. I remember that during the period of Li Rusong, Li Rubai, and Li Chengliang, the Ming army was invincible and unstoppable."

"But why did everything change during the reign of Chongzhen?"

Hong Chengchou remained silent.

Zhu Changyuan asked a more direct question, "In the Battle of Songjin, you had 40 troops in your hands. Why did you lose to Jianlu, who had only [-] troops? Have you thought about it afterwards?"

When Hong Chengchou spoke this time, he first sighed, and then said: "It's not that my soldiers in Ming Dynasty are not as powerful as Jianlu, and the minister's decision at that time was not wrong. It's just that the army has no pay and food, the court has no money, and the minister doesn't know how to fight. "

"If you had enough silver at that time, would you be sure to win that battle?" Zhu Changyuan asked again.

"Naturally, I have full confidence. If the army has money and there is no mutiny in the army, the 40 troops only need to defend Liaodong to the death. Within a year, the captives will be chaotic, and in three years the whole Liao will be restored!" Hong Chengchou was full of confidence.

"Yes, I think so too!"

Zhu Changyuan's tone suddenly became sharp, "During the period of Emperor Taizu, the country's annual tax was as much as 4000 million taels of silver, but in the last years of Chongzhen, the annual tax revenue was only 400 million taels of silver, which was less than [-]% of that of Emperor Taizu's time. One, do you know why?"

"In the last years of Chongzhen, the tax revenue was actually quite a lot, but it just couldn't be collected!" Hong Chengchou was a high-ranking official of the Ming Empire, and he knew all about these things like the back of his hand.

"Why can't it be collected?" Zhu Changyuan asked again.

"Farmers are seriously bankrupt, and there is no surplus food in the family to support their wives and elderly people. How can they afford the court's taxes?" Hong Chengchou told the truth.

The taxation system of the Ming Dynasty followed the style of previous dynasties. Taxes were not collected according to the land area of ​​the country, but taxes were collected according to the head of the country.

For example, a farmer's family has [-] mu of land, and there are [-] people in the family.

Then the standard for his tax payment is not one hundred mu, but eight people.What he has to bear is not the tax of one hundred acres of land, but the tax of eight people.

Is this a problem?
Of course there are problems, if every farmer has land, there will be no problem, but if a certain family goes bankrupt and sells all the [-] mu of land in the family, there will be no income from then on, but still have to bear the taxes of eight people, Here's the problem.

Conversely, those big landlords, such as the Kang family in Henan, occupy eighteen counties at every turn, but how many people can there be in their family?Count you one hundred people.

But eighteen counties pay taxes for one hundred people, isn't this a joke?
No, this is a real fact.

This was before the middle of the Ming Dynasty.

Later, Zhang Juzheng reformed and changed the taxation based on the head into a double taxation based on the head and land. The country's finances improved temporarily, but the final result was the same.

Because according to regulations, the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty did not have to pay taxes.

As a result, many farmers or small and medium landlords deposited their land in the name of the vassal king to avoid taxation, and then only needed to give the vassal king a certain benefit fee.

All these have led to the repeated shrinking of the national taxation. During the reign of Chongzhen, the national taxation was less than one-twentieth of that in the early days of the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, various problems arose spontaneously.

"If this plan of mine is carried out throughout the country, does Lord Hong think that this will happen again in the Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Changyuan took a deep breath and said to Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou moved slightly, and suddenly remembered a terrible fact.

He suddenly thought, if the land is distributed according to the population, if the land is forbidden to buy and sell!The result is that there will be no landlords, no land mergers, and no reduction and shrinkage of national tax revenue.

In this way, as long as the system is established, legislation is made in the name of the country, and as long as Zhu Changyuan's descendants do not commit suicide by themselves, the Ming Empire seems to be able to shine forever and be immortal.

Hong Chengchou only felt the ups and downs of the Chinese dynasties, which Zhu Changyuan really explained.

"Stand up!" Zhu Changyuan's voice suddenly rose: "I can send [-] elite soldiers to Taiwan with you to break the old order and rebuild the new Ming Empire starting from Taiwan!"

"I entrust you with full authority to handle Taiwan affairs. You can kill anyone who dares to resist me!" Zhu Changyuan narrowed his eyes slightly, and said something that made Hong Chengchou shudder: "You don't need to report to me for killing thousands of people!"

"Huh!" Hong Chengchou felt short of breath, this kind of power can almost be compared to Zhu Changyuan in Liaodong back then.

"This imperial edict is for you!" Zhu Changyuan took out a volume of imperial edict that had been prepared a long time ago from the table, handed it to Hong Chengchou and said, "Look at it!"

Hong Chengchou opened the imperial decree, only glanced at it, and was short of breath again.

It clearly stated on it that he would be granted the title of Marquis of Dinghai, that his salary would be equal to that of the first rank of the current dynasty, and that his descendants would rest with the country for all generations.

The only thing that puzzled Hong Chengchou was that the later inscription of the imperial decree was on June [-]th of the second year of Taizheng!
Isn't this the first year of Taizheng?How is it the second year of Taizheng?

Zhu Changyuan quickly answered Hong Chengchou's question: "It is even more difficult to get rid of the old and innovate, not to mention this kind of innovation that will benefit our Ming Dynasty forever. No hesitation."

"If you can measure and distribute all the land in Taiwan by the end of next year, this edict is my reward for you. If you can't finish it, you can burn it!"

"Yes!" Standing in front of the emperor, Hong Chengchou felt slightly depressed. Fenghou was originally something that made him extremely honorable, but when it happened to him today, he felt that the imperial decree was like a mountain pressing down on his back superior.

"It's just, what is your reason?" Hong Chengchou asked.

It is okay to reform the land policy, but a convincing reason must be given.

Zhu Changyuan shook his head and said: "That's your business. I won't give you any reason. You don't need to report to me for killing thousands of people. If you can't do it like this, I have nothing to say."

"Yes!" Hong Chengchou said in a cold sweat, tremblingly: "I try my best not to get blood on my knife!"

"It doesn't matter!" Zhu Changyuan narrowed his eyes slightly, and said loudly: "For the sake of innovation, for the great cause of the Ming Empire, even if there are mountains of swords and seas of bones, I will not hesitate."

What is murder?
In the future, when we open up the world and slaughter the world, I don't know how many people will die under my butcher's knife!
Hong Chengchou finally went to Taiwan, with 100 elite teachers, more than a hundred capable officials, [-] million taels of start-up capital, and Zhu Changyuan's high expectations.

A few days after Hong Chengchou left, Zhu Changyuan received another piece of good news.

The governor of Shaanxi reported that the construction of Chang'an University of Science and Technology had been completed.

This is a major event that Zhu Changyuan instructed local officials in Shaanxi to do before. The location of Chang'an University of Science and Technology used to be a concentration area of ​​several large mansions in Chang'an City. university hall.

Shaanxi is Zhu Changyuan's rear, and it is also the place that supports Zhu Changyuan the most.

Moreover, in this place, there are no landowners, because Zhu Changyuan distributed all the fertile land to local farmers two years ago, and he only needs to issue an order in Shaanxi: prohibiting private sales of land.

The land reforms here and in Liaodong were the fastest and most thorough, and they were completed first. At the same time, with the completion of the land reform, Shaanxi and Liaodong became the main sources of taxation.

In return, the limited fertilizer resources in Zhu Changyuan's hands naturally leaned towards these two places infinitely.

Of course, let’s get down to business, another purpose of establishing Chang’an University of Science and Technology is to accommodate those half-hearted scientists and inventors on Riyue Island.

It's not that Riyue Island is not suitable for living, but that for a long time to come, the Ming Empire and the European countries in the west are likely to become hostile countries. Zhu Changyuan doesn't want those old-fashioned scientists under him to be behind Stab him, or go back to Europe with science and technology.

It would be best to take them out of Riyue Island and imprison them in Chang'an City. On the one hand, they will not know any information about their mother country; Can't run either.

Naturally, Zhu Changyuan would not treat those people badly. There was no shortage of food, drink, and fun, and he was cared for in a humane way. He brought most of the family members to Riyue Island a long time ago.

(End of this chapter)