East Factory Governor

Chapter 706 Land New Deal
At this moment, Sun Chengzong said, "Your Majesty, Lord of the State, it would be a good idea to talk about 'buying'. But since it is buying, we have to pay money anyway. If we want to gather the world's land and distribute it to the landless , I am afraid that the amount of silver will be too large for us to imagine."

Chongzhen also frowned, and said, "That's true. After all, we can't take it by force, so where did this money come from? Brother Qin, please explain in detail."

He knew very well that since Qin Shuhuai would propose this method, he had already thought of a countermeasure.

Qin Shuhuai smiled slightly and said, "Indeed, if we want to buy so many fields, we can't afford the money. However, the farmers can pay the money and repay it in installments year by year. The imperial court guarantees them."

Both Sun Chengzong and Chongzhen were startled.

"Pay in installments? Hehe, this is the first time this old man has heard of it. Does it mean paying part of it every year?"

"That's right. Right now, the market price of an acre of good land is about 20 taels. We collect it at the original price, and then pay it back from the farmers' cultivation. The repayment period is 20 years, which means that one mu of land only needs to pay three cents and five silvers a year. After [-] years, the field will belong to the farmer himself."

Sun Chengzong thought for a while and said, "After 20 years, the land will belong to the farmers? Excuse me, the original landlord rented the land to the tenant farmers, and the annual rent was more than this, and the land will always belong to the landlord. So , Obviously the landlords are not willing to sell the land. In this way, how do we persuade the landlords to sell the land is a big problem, it is unlikely that the imperial court will send troops to snatch their land?"

Qin Shuhuai said, "Of course the imperial court cannot seize the land. However, we can set up an 'extra tax'. As long as a landowner's family has more than [-] mu of land, we will charge it a tax of one tael of silver per mu of land a year. See these Does the landlord feel distressed?"

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, land annexation was extremely serious, and [-] mu was just the standard allocation for small landlords.From this point, it can be seen that what Qin Shuhuai wanted to deal with were medium and large landlords.

"This..." Sun Chengzong smiled bitterly, "Isn't this forcing them?"

At this time, Chongzhen said, "I'm already very kind. If Gao and Zhang were replaced, they would not only have to hand over all the fields, but they would not get any money."

"Your Majesty, you can't say that." Sun Chengzong said, "But most of the landowners are gentry from all over the country, and many of them are highly respected people, who are the foundation of our dynasty's governance. Many of them are loyal to the court. Let’s just say that within the three sides, when the bandits were rampant, how many of them helped the court to fight the bandits, it can be said that the contribution is indispensable. Now we suddenly want to seize their land, this, this seems a little unreasonable."

What Sun Chengzong said is not unreasonable.In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the gentry class was indeed the foundation for maintaining the rule of the dynasty.In many places, the gentry would mediate neighborhood disputes, maintain law and order and even collect taxes on behalf of the imperial court.

Qin Shuhuai said, "Mr. Sun's words are true, that's why we 'buy' from them, not ask them. And we still have some leeway, those who have farmland below [-] mu, don't need to collect extra tax. More than [-] mu They only charge them extra tax on the part of the mu. In this way, they still have enough land to pass on to their families, and we just let them sell the unreasonable part, and buy it at market price, why not?"

Chongzhen said, "I think this method is feasible. Mr. Sun, there are no more squires than those people. Even if I offend them, it doesn't matter if they scold me bloody. Because there are more farmers who lack land, as long as these farmers say I am a good emperor, I am a good emperor!"

Qin Shuhuai couldn't help but praised, "The emperor is wise! This is called uniting the majority. As long as the majority of people support the emperor, the emperor is a good emperor."

Xin Dao, Chongzhen's judgment on the situation became more and more accurate.He has already seen that only by solving the farmers' problems can the ruling foundation of Ming Dynasty be stabilized.As for those country gentry, it is absolutely impossible for them to rebel if their continued prosperity can be guaranteed.

Chongzhen chuckled and added, "However, the mood of those squires still needs to be taken care of. We can say that this matter is not a land sale, but a relief, a merit. As I said before, for For the squires who sell a lot of land, I can set up memorial archways for them, and I can also confer officials who are not conferred, and even give honors! Don’t they all have the heart of honoring their ancestors? I will give it to them!"

Qin Shuhuai immediately said, "I can also ask the storytellers to talk about it, and praise them for their compassion and compassion."

Seeing this, Sun Chengzong could only smile, "Okay, since the emperor and the Duke of the country have made a plan, the old minister will second it. However, if we want to implement it smoothly at this time, we must first persuade King Fu. With King Fu's temperament, I'm afraid we'll need to talk a little bit."

Chongzhen frowned, and said, "King Fu's temper is indeed a little bit of his own way, but if he dares to block me at this time, I won't let him have a better life."

Qin Shuhuai said, "As long as the emperor has a word, I am willing to persuade King Fu."

Chongzhen smiled meaningfully at Qin Shuhuai, "Brother Qin, you can go, but please don't mess up Prince Fu's mansion, or I won't be able to explain to my clan."

"The ministers are counted, and the ministers are counted." Qin Shuhuai said very "sincerely".

"Then, let's talk about the second one." Chongzhen took a sip of tea and said, "About the agricultural tax, what do you think, brother Qin?"

Qin Shuhuai said without hesitation, "Of course it's exempt from taxes, all agricultural taxes are exempt."

This understatement almost made Chongzhen spit out a mouthful of tea.

Sun Chengzong's old eyes almost fell out of their sockets.

No farm tax?

For thousands of years, which dynasty did not collect agricultural tax?
More than [-]% of the population of the Ming Dynasty are peasants, and they are not taxed. What kind of game is this?
Seeing that Chongzhen and Sun Chengzong were so surprised, Qin Shuhuai couldn't help but look at them with rare and strange eyes.

He said, "Your Majesty, do you still remember what I told you that night? As long as I adopt the tax policy of the minister, we can collect 2000 million taels a year for the salt tax alone, so the agricultural tax of only a few million taels will be collected again. for what?"

"This..." Chongzhen pondered for a while, and then said, "But I always feel that there seems to be something wrong? Since the pre-Qin period, all farmers have to pay taxes, no matter the severity. If the farmers who account for the majority of the population do not pay taxes , so is it possible that all annual expenditures are collected from traders who are less than [-]% of the population? Is that too harsh on traders? "

Qin Shuhuai said patiently, "Your Majesty, do you think that farmers are not paying taxes if they don't pay agricultural taxes? Next, we will not only tax salt, iron, silk, and tea, but also tax taxes on transportation, wine making, restaurants, and teahouses." Taxes are imposed on all walks of life. As long as the farmer spends money on these aspects, then he is actually paying taxes.”

"this……."

"Don't worry, your majesty, if the farmers don't pay the agricultural tax, there is only one result, that is, the farmers have more money to buy what the merchants sell. The more merchants sell, the more tax we collect? So We are not at a loss."

"And more importantly, once the emperor cancels the agricultural tax, this will be an unprecedented event. It is a feat that the emperors of Qin, Han, Wu, Tang, Song, and Song did not accomplish in the past. The emperor will be famous forever in the name of holiness! Even It is not in vain to call the emperor the emperor through the ages just based on benevolent government!"

"The most important thing is that in this way, hundreds of millions of peasants across the country will become loyal subjects of the emperor, and there will be no power in this world that can separate them from the emperor! At that time, the emperor will have the support of thousands of people, and they will call on the world to return , do you still need to worry about bandits and foreign troubles?"

These words were extremely shocking, each word hammered Chongzhen's heart heavily.

Especially those four shocking words: Eternal Emperor!
If it is said that Chongzhen's previous ambition was to rejuvenate Daming, then these four words let him see another possibility of his life.

The eternal emperor!
How many emperors conquered the Quartet and opened up territories for these four words?

Chongzhen felt his blood was burning.

But Sun Chengzong was completely stunned.

Based on his political experience, he absolutely does not believe that the taxation of the country can still be done in this way.

But Qin Shuhuai's words made him speechless, and he couldn't find any reason to refute.

Qin Shuhuai looked at the two people who were looking at each other, and couldn't help thinking, this shocked you so much?
If I tell you that not only will there be no taxation for farming in a few hundred years, but the state will also provide various subsidies, wouldn’t it shock you?

But this is no wonder, and there is no way to explain to them now, why in an era when the commodity economy is sufficiently developed, as long as a reasonable tax policy is in place, the agricultural tax is simply a fraction.

They just need to know the result.

After a long silence, Sun Chengzong finally spoke.

"This matter, the old minister thinks, it is better to proceed step by step. The old minister suggested that the national land tax should be exempted for three years. If the imperial court spends these three years without any worries, they can announce the abolition of the land tax in the future. If there is such a day, then the emperor will really do it. It is really a blessing for all the people to have a benevolent government that has never been seen before, and it is also a blessing for China!"

Chongzhen nodded excitedly, "Okay, then this matter will be played according to Teacher Sun. Tomorrow I will issue an edict to exempt the whole country from land tax for three years! If it is three years later, oh no, if it is one year this year, the imperial court will spend nothing." Worry, I will accept Brother Qin's play, and I will abolish the land tax forever!"

"The emperor is wise!" Qin Shuhuai and Sun Chengzong said in unison.

After the matter of the new land policy is decided, the new policy of official administration will be much simpler.

(End of this chapter)