Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 417 Reform
It was said that Zhu Cihuan had a grudge against Yang Chao, but Yang Chao himself didn't believe it.

But Zhu Cihuan believes that the reason is very simple. His mother is Concubine Tian, ​​and his uncle is Tian Wan. Supporting role.

After arriving in Nanjing, Zhu Cihuan often heard the story of Yang Chaozhi fighting Tian Wan in Nanjing, which made Zhu Cihuan feel as if he was being slapped in the face.

At that time, Ren could bear it, but now Ren can't bear it anymore. At that time, he was just a prince in trouble, but now he is the enthroned emperor.

So even though being pressed by Zheng's, Zhu Cihuan still kept an eye out, he didn't fully agree to Yang Chao's request.

Nanjing.

Yang Chao received the imperial decree and appointment letter.

Zhu Cihuan allowed him to build the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion in Nanjing, to receive orders from Nanzhili soldiers and horses, and agreed to collect Nanzhili finance and taxes as military pay, but did not fully agree with him to control the appointment of Nanzhili officials. He just told Yang Chao that when there are officials When there is a shortage, I agree with his recommendation, that is to say, Yang Chao has no right to replace the current Nanzhili officials.

"so be it!"

But Yang Chao didn't care.

Because even if he was asked to appoint Nanzhili officials immediately, Yang Chao didn't have so many civil servants to appoint.

To put it bluntly, Yang Chao used to be a general who devoted himself to military affairs, and he didn't have enough civilian officials to use.

Originally, Yang Chao planned to stay as an old official, not to disturb the Nanzhili civil official group, and to keep the political situation as stable as possible.

As for the reform, it should be done step by step, and we should not rush for quick success.

The first step is to levy business tax.

"My lord, once the business tax is increased, I'm afraid the southern gentry will be outraged."

Yang Chao had just discussed the tax increase, but he didn't expect Huang Fengfu, the current number one civil servant under him, to stand up and dissuade him.

Yang Chao couldn't help being a little annoyed: "Feng Mansion. The governor knows that nine out of ten gentry households in Nanzhi are engaged in business, but most of them don't pay taxes! The governor heard that your family also opened several shops to trade raw silk and satin. How are you?"

Huang Fengfu immediately knelt down when he heard it: "The governor atones for his sins, and the subordinates are definitely not doing it for their own selfishness."

Yang Chao helped him up, and comforted him: "The governor knows. But the wealth in this world is based on business, but my business tax in Ming Dynasty is only a mere 10 taels."

After speaking, Yang Chao took out a list, which recorded in detail the tax situation of the Ming Dynasty in recent years.

Before the fall of the north, the land tax was more than 600 million taels per year, which was equivalent to 600 million taels of silver at the official price of the Ming Dynasty, and the government added another 29 yuan per year 280. The salaries for suppression are 730 million taels per year, and the salaries for training are more than 2000 million taels per year.This is more than 4000 million taels, a total of more than [-] million taels.

"The imperial court raised three rates, but the commercial tax did not increase by a single cent. The three rates were all paid to the common people, and even the wealthy gentry couldn't collect them. How could the world not be against it?"

Yang Chao couldn't help sighing.

Huang Fengfu's hand holding the list couldn't help shaking, it was shocking.

"Feng Mansion. There are 33 banknote gates on the Daming Canal, but Linqing Bankgate, which collects the most tax, is only 8 taels per year. Daming's annual income from Caochangdi is more than 40 taels!"

Yang Chao couldn't help standing up as he spoke, feeling very absurd. Daming has some horse farms all over the country, such as Xiaolingwei. These pastures earn more than 40 taels of hay every year.

But what about commercial tax, commercial tax, fish class, rich households, calendar days, minzhuang, archers, and the total amount of silver collected, changed, monthly grain, etc. is only 14 taels, even if the banknotes on the Grand Canal The customs revenue is included in the commercial tax, and the total is less than 50 taels of silver.

"Reporting to the governor, it's not that the imperial court does not collect commercial taxes, but the ancestral system is limited, so I dare not levy more."

Huang Fengfu said in a low voice.

Yang Chao sighed: "How does this governor not know? Emperor Hongwu issued an order: I am ashamed of the treacherous ministers who used to collect money, and tax and fines. From now on, military and civilian weddings and funerals, boats, carts, silk cloth, etc., are not taxed. "

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang thought that the business tax collected by the Yuan Dynasty was too heavy, and that small businessmen and hawkers who did small businesses had to pay taxes. This made him feel "I am ashamed", so he issued an edict, weddings Taxes on boats, cars, silk cloth and other items have been cancelled.

For a pre-industrial society, economic activities were basically food, clothing and housing, so boats, carts and silk cloth were definitely the big ones. These things were not taxed, and basically there was no need to collect them. In fact, the commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty was almost It was abolished. Knowing that Emperor Wanli sent eunuchs to collect taxes in various places, he was finally scolded by civil officials all over the world, and led to riots in many places. If these riots were not supported by local gentry, Yang Chao would not believe that timid citizens would spontaneously start.

Then Yang Chao said: "But since it is the ancestral system, it is the one who governs the ancestors. The current state is not the ancestors. It must be reformed."

Huang Feng's mansion suddenly trembled when he heard it. He originally planned to use Zhu Yuanzhang's will to his descendants, "The ministers and workers of later generations will claim to reform the system in order to conspire against them."

Zhu Yuanzhang compiled the book "Ming Emperor's Ancestors", and wrote all his experience in governing, hoping to pass it on to his descendants. He was afraid that his descendants would govern indiscriminately, and the order should not be changed.

Originally, Huang Fengfu wanted to use this to persuade Yang Chao, but Yang Chao's words such as "the current country is not the ancestor's country" caused huge waves to rise in Huang Fengfu's heart. He believed that this was Yang Chao's words showing his intention , Daming's country is not Daming's country anymore!

Whose country is that?Self-explanatory!

Zhili in the south of the Yangtze River has a large land and rich people, and the people are numerous and the soldiers are strong. This is the capital of the king and hegemony!

In an instant, Huang Fengfu had already decided in his heart that Yang Chao had the heart to be king and hegemony, and that Yang Chao was the most powerful to win the world. Then, as Yang Chao's number one aide, Huang Fengfu's future status would be people like Liu Bowen and Li Shanchang. Bit than the prime minister!

This made him not shocked, compared to the few shops in his family, they were nothing worth mentioning, and he couldn't help cursing himself that he almost missed a century-old foundation for a mere small profit.

"My lord's lesson is that the system should be reformed. I don't know how the lord wants to reform the system?"

Yang Chao was very relieved to see Huangfeng Mansion's change of attitude. Let him see the tax details that he asked someone to copy at the household department, and let him see the burden of the people in the world. He can change his mentality, which shows that he still has conscience.

"My Ming's taxes are extremely unreasonable. It's fine if I don't collect commercial taxes. Most of the autumn grain and summer grain are collected from ordinary people. On the contrary, the local gentry and civil servants who occupy more than half of the land do not collect it. First, most of them are exempted, and they hide themselves. Half of it must be corrected, the people of the world, regardless of officials and gentry, should pay the grain as a whole."

Collecting taxes from civil officials was done later in the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Of course, it encountered strong opposition, but the Manchu Qing used the knife in its hand to make those literati groups submit. The Manchu Qing knife was very sharp, and Yang Chao's knife Not sharp anymore?

Yang Chao knew that he had snatched Nanzhili from the emperor, and he was already the public enemy of civil servants all over the world. The literati who claimed to be loyal and upright had begun to scold Yang Chao as a fashion.

In any case, Yang Chao could not get the support of the gentry group, and his determination to reform would naturally hurt the interests of these people. Yang Chao was destined to stand on the opposite side of this group, so Yang Chao didn't care about these people at all. comment.

But the Huangfeng Mansion was shocked again, the government and the gentry paid the food together, which was against the law of nature, so he had to dissuade him again.

"Officials and gentry are the pillars of the country. If the officials and gentry are taxed, it may cause controversy."

Huang Fengfu knew him as the master, he was a person who didn't care much about worldly views, but he was very practical, telling him that it was too unjust for officials and gentry to pay, Yang Chao would definitely not listen, but telling him that he would force Against the gentry, Yang Chao would consider it.

It has to be said that the civilian class has been brainwashed for hundreds of years, and the common people have long accepted the axiom that scribes should not pay food. Do you think it is unfair?Then study hard and turn your family into a gentleman!

But Yang Chao shook his head: "Time is waiting for me. The governor has no time to move forward slowly. He must cut the mess quickly, so he has to take these gentry. Let them learn to pay taxes, and let them learn to fulfill their responsibilities for this country. They don't want to do it today. If you pay taxes to the country, you will not have the same fate as this country tomorrow."

Seeing that Yang Chao couldn't make sense, Huang Feng's mansion didn't dare to refute it. After weighing it, what if the Nanzhili gentry objected?It is estimated that they can only tremble under Yang Chao's soldiers, hide in a place where no one is around and curse a few times at most, and the money and food can be handed over, this is real.

Without money and food, how can Yang Chao achieve hegemony, if Yang Chao can't achieve hegemony, how can his Huangfeng Mansion achieve success? Suddenly, Huangfeng Mansion felt that those gentry seemed to be on the opposite side of him.

"So let's take these two steps first. The first step is to increase business taxes and rectify the Chaoguan. Except for Longjiang Pass in Xinjiangkou, Zhenjiang and Guazhou Chaoguan, Yangzhou and Huai'an Chaoguan, Suzhou Hushu Pass, and Susongchang Pass, All small checkpoints are closed. But for these big banknote checkpoints, the annual banknotes must reach one million taels."

Guazhou and Zhenjiang control the entrance of the Grand Canal into the Yangtze River estuary, and their locations are extremely important. Needless to say, Yangzhou and Huai’an are endowed with salt, Longjiang Pass controls Nanjing’s entry and exit of the Yangtze River, and Suzhou is responsible for communicating with Zhejiang. These places are all waterways must pass through , it is obviously the most efficient to collect tolls here, and to cancel other small bills is to take care of the efficiency of cargo transportation.

Yang Chao believes that these banknotes have the ability to earn millions of dollars a year. With his many years of experience in shipping on the Yangtze River, this amount of money is nothing.

In this way, there will be more than 500 million taels of income increase every year.

"The second step is to measure the size of the shop and use it as a tax base. It is open and fair, and there is absolutely no possibility of escaping!"

The collection of tolls is for passing merchants. As merchants like shops in various places, they should be taxed according to the size of their shops. As for other things, there is really no good way.By sales?This cannot be counted. They can manipulate their own books and make invoices?The invoices of later generations have become a cover. At least Yang Chao never needs invoices when he goes out to eat. Invoices are completely inconvenient for businessmen and consumers, and they will definitely not be implemented.

Yang Chao also thought for a long time before he came up with the idea of ​​collecting a fixed tax and calculating the tax amount based on the unchangeable shop area, so that the businessman can never deny it and pay less.

It is necessary to cultivate the habit of businessmen to pay taxes legally. After this habit is cultivated, and a kind of tax evasion is cultivated, once tax evasion occurs, they will face a great social punishment, and they will almost be squeezed out. At that time, businessmen will not evade taxes. payment.

"The tax that shops can collect is not too much for the time being. Nanjing and Suzhou are set at one million taels. Yangzhou is set at 60, and Huai'an is 40. All the shops are measured and the tax is shared!"

Only these three cities have 300 million taels of tax silver, plus the canal toll, the 1000 million commercial tax is basically settled. If the commercial tax can be collected, then Yang Chao plans to reduce the tariff. After all, more exports Conducive to stimulating the handicraft industry.

"The third step is to clear the land. Squeeze out the hidden fields. Squeeze out the hidden land like officials and gentry, and then collect taxes. At the same time, we lower the food tax of other people. No matter what, the three rates cannot be collected any more. Well, it will be abolished this autumn."

Yang Chao now wants to reduce the burden on ordinary small and medium-sized landlords and self-cultivators, and then add it to the gentry and official families. After all, the main force of the world's turmoil is these small landlords and self-cultivators. The resentment in people's hearts will drive them to take up arms.

However, Yang Chao did not dare to add too much burden to the officials and gentry, not because he was afraid of forcing them to rebel, but because these people often held tens of thousands or even more than [-] acres of land and hired tens of thousands of tenant farmers. Taxes are raised, and the wool comes from the sheep. In the end, the tenant farmers will be unlucky, and the tenant farmers can also take up arms.

Therefore, Yang Chao only intends to abolish the three rates, and at the same time exempt half of the taxes for ordinary people, and put the half on the heads of the gentry. Speaking of the motivation and goal of tax collection, it is to relieve pressure on most people and let the richer classes Take on greater responsibilities, or let the gentry and officials shoulder the responsibilities they should have, instead of letting the common people.

"Feng Mansion, this Qingzhang land is the most difficult, but no matter what, it must be completed before the end of this year. I give you full power, you can transfer anyone in the army, and all officers and soldiers must cooperate with you."

Huang Fengfu nodded slowly. This matter is too important. Although Yang Chao trusted him by entrusting him with such a heavy responsibility, the difficulties he encountered were also too great.

"My subordinates plan to start with Su Song first. Su Song is the richest and has the most gentry. If Su Song succeeds, then Nanzhili and other lands will come naturally."

Huang Fengfu thought for a moment, and then advised Yang Chao.

Yang Chao nodded: "You can go ahead and do it. Don't be afraid of arousing the reaction of the gentry. The governor plans to use three years to manage the business, and there is plenty of time to suppress them."

Huang Fengfu nodded, and walked out with a heavy heart.

(End of this chapter)