Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 39
"I have long heard rumors that during the Denglai Rebellion, Xie Sanbin, as an inspector, colluded with the eunuch Gao Qiqian and privately distributed millions of stolen silver to the rebel army. I thought it was just a folk legend. Now it seems that these are true. gone."

Xie's Tianci Garden was surrounded by a battalion of flag bearers, and no one was allowed to enter or leave.

Hundreds of people started the Rug family's search and search, and the harvest was huge.

In just half a day, 3 taels of gold and more than 16 taels of silver were recovered from the secret cellar of the Xie family. In addition, there were also a lot of copper coins and foreign silver.

Qian Sule and others couldn't help being amazed when they saw the copied Xie's family wealth. Although they were neighbors in the same city and knew that Xie was the richest man in Ningbo, who knew that he had hidden so much gold and silver.

At this time in the troubled times of the Ming Dynasty, gold was very valuable, and one gold could be exchanged for at least 16 taels of silver, reaching a high price peak, that is, one tael of gold could be exchanged for a catty of silver.

And silver is also very valuable. After Chongzhen ascended the throne, Chongzhen Tongbao was made, and it became thinner and thinner. One coin is less than two grams, and the southern coins are lighter. According to official regulations, 63 coins of northern coins are converted into one coin of silver, and [-] coins of southern coins It is worth one penny, but in fact these thin coins are not recognized in the market. Basically, two thousand renminbi can be exchanged for one tael of silver.

The imperial court was short of copper and money, so the minted copper coins became thinner and thinner, but they still set an exchange rate that did not meet the value. Of course, the people were not stupid, so the bad coins drove out the good coins in the market, and the wealthy gentry and landlords began to collect large amounts of coins. Silver, hidden gold, on the contrary, thin money and fake money are prevalent in the market.

3 taels of gold, at the current price, is worth 48 taels of silver, plus the 16 taels of silver, this is 64 taels.

The total annual land tax in Zhejiang Province is only more than 1104 million taels of silver.

"Xie Sanbin actually owns more than 24 mu of land?" Zhu Yihai cried out in surprise when he saw a copy of the farm account book.

As local squires, Qian Sule and others are actually landlords, so they knew something about this, so they explained it to Zhu Yihai.

"Most of these lands are dedicated."

As soon as Zhu Yihai heard the word "dedication", Zhu Yihai recalled it.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Yao service was more important than taxes and food, which was a great burden on the people.

However, the royal mansion and noble farms enjoy the privilege of exemption. Once they become their farm tenants, they can be hidden under them and exempted from serving as state servants.As a result, many farmers, even small landlords, volunteered to contribute to the dignitaries.

In order to attract contributions, the rich and powerful took the initiative to collect grain and grain at an amount lower than the state's land tax.

To put it bluntly, the people brought their own land to seek refuge with the princes and nobles. This place name was given to the princes for nothing, and they even became slaves themselves.But in fact, this land is still planted by itself, but the land tax that should have been paid to the country was changed to paying rent to the princes, and the princes set the rent lower than the court tax in order to attract people to contribute.

In this way, farmers do not have to bear Yao labor, and the output of the fields is reduced, and more is retained, which improves their lives.

For the rich and powerful, through such means, many fields were annexed for nothing, and then relying on their own privileges, preferential tax exemption, and even more land and grain for nothing.

Only the country loses both inside and outside.

Compared with princes and nobles, officials are also a privileged class in Ming Dynasty. In terms of household registration, they are official households, but in terms of economy, they are exempted according to quotas and grades. Except for the exemption, Erding can also be exempted indoors.

In Wanli 38, it is stipulated that the current Beijing officials are exempted from [-] mu of land for the first rank, and the lower ranks are reduced to [-] mu of land, and foreign officials are halved. Students, supervisors eighty acres.

Originally, the preferential exemption at the beginning of the country was only exempt from Yao service, but in fact, from the middle of Ming Dynasty, it was already exempt from all food and service.And in the middle and later stages, the officials and gentry ignored the laws of the country and broke through the boundaries, basically becoming full discounts.

Tianlianqianmo does not accept any servitude, not only the official households themselves, but even the tenants who are attached to them, and the distant relatives, do not have a single hand, a foot, or a foot for the public service, and there is no money or grain for the service. .

As a result, official households have become a protective umbrella for evading state taxation and labor. There are various sources of various names, such as donations, tricks, distribution of flowers, and transfers to the village.

Poisoning has long been known as one of the three national evils, but it involves all officials, gentry and powerful classes, so not only has it not changed in the slightest, but it has become more and more serious.

Xie Sanbin’s more than 24 mu of land is actually not much of his own, maybe only about [-]%, and some of it was obtained by taking advantage of official position and power, such as lending usury in a disaster year, and then forcing Debt collection fields, etc.

Most of them are almost dedicated or sent to Zhuang.

"The Xie family only collects more than 3000 shi in the land of Ningbo, and collects 800 taels of silver every year. In addition, the Xie family also owns many weaving women who weave for profit..."

This is not only a bureaucratic landlord, but also a capitalist.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty fell was largely due to the collapse of the finances first, and the collapse of the national finances, in the final analysis, was that group of bureaucrats. They were full of benevolence and morality on the surface, but in private they not only took advantage of others, but even made donations. Merge fields and monopolize industry and commerce.

Whenever the imperial court dared to say a word about open sea trade, they would say the way to bring disaster.If they dare to levy industrial and commercial taxes and mining taxes, they will make troubles in the city. In essence, they have encroached on the interests of their own country and refuse to let go.

If the Ming Dynasty did not open the sea and conduct foreign trade, would there be no civil society?

They still trade with foreigners, but they don't make it clear, but trade with them through Macao and even the coastal islands smuggling islands, and this kind of transaction does not need to pay a cent of tax to the court.

Even private merchants who dare to participate privately and want to get a share of the pie will be designated as pirates by them and join forces to encircle and suppress them.

This is the bloody fact.

Xie Sanbin, the former servant Shaoqing and the richest man in Ningbo, ransacked his home and found these facts.

Zhu Yihai was silent.

However, seeing that even Qian Sule, who was impassioned before, and other Ningbo righteous gentry were silent, he knew that this matter could not be expanded for the time being, let alone easily pick on the lid.

"All the land under the name of Xie's family will be charged to Gu's Wangzhuang, and the original tenants and tenants can still rent and cultivate. As for the rent, Gu has no time to take care of it for the time being, so it's simpler. The fixed-rate rent system, the land is levied per mu Three cents for the silver, two cents for the land, and one cent for the land, which will be collected and handed over by the palace.”

According to the Ming Huidian, the arable land in Zhejiang is more than 250 million mu, and the land tax is more than [-] million shi, with an average tax of five shi and four dou per hundred mu.Later, when the silver was levied, the government stipulated that every stone of grain would be converted into [-] taels of silver, and a hundred mu of silver would be converted into four taels of silver.

Zhu Yihai set the highest three-pointer, which was lowered a lot.

However, the government has always collected taxes, not only collecting land taxes, but also collecting fire consumption and peace surplus.

Zhu Yihai directly proposed that Xie Sanbin's 24 mu of land be included in his palace, which is a bit ugly. Normally, it should be filled into the state and used as official land for rent.

But Zhu Yihai didn't know that there were too many tricks in it. To fight against the Qing Dynasty, to raise soldiers, to build ordnance, all of these needed money, and if the old Ming's fiscal and taxation system was still followed, then Zhu Yihai would not be able to continue playing.

So he needs to find another way.

There is no good way for the time being, so I have to bypass those moth-like officials at all levels of the Ming government.

Wang Zhuang only belonged to Zhu Yihai himself, but if it was an official land, it belonged to the imperial court, and there would be too many people to interfere.

Another point is that after Zhu Yihai's fields are all designated as his own Wangzhuang, he can actually enjoy free money and food. This seems to be digging his own foot, but Zhu Yihai can reduce the burden on his tenants by adjusting the rent. , and at the same time can actually receive a rent.

He can turn his left hand to his right hand to use the food for military expenses, etc. Without the intervention of those officials, a lot of consumption can be reduced.

Huo consumption and peace surplus have always been a means for the government to exploit the people. When collecting silver, there will be losses in the melting and casting of fragmentary silver, so they have to levy more fire consumption. However, there has never been a standard for the amount of fire consumption. Huo consumption is more than Zhengfu.

Zhu Yihai plans to set the fire consumption as one-tenth.

When collecting taxes in various places, it is called Pingyu, which is sent to the Ministry of Households with an additional share of taxation. There is also no fixed standard. Some 1000 taels are 25 taels, and some are higher.

Zhu Yihai tentatively determined Pingyu to be one hundred taels and then two taels.

Qian Sule and the others were a little surprised by Jian Guo's appetite. As soon as he opened his mouth, he wanted to take away the 24 mu of Xie's land, and put it in the palace, and changed the rent here.

Most of the landlords and tenants in the south of the Yangtze River are divided into land rent, and there are four or six or three or seven, and the landlord gets the big head.

The fixed rent that Zhu Yihai gave was three cents per mu for the upper land and two cents for the middle land and one cent for the lower land.

"3 taels of gold and more than 16 taels of silver were put into the treasury and used exclusively as military supplies."

"Your Highness, I have something to report."

"Mr. Qian, please tell me."

"Xie Sanbin is indeed shameless, and a hundred deaths will not redeem. However, the Xie family is not all traitors like Xie Sanbin. His son Xie Yuxuan was loyal to the country in Beijing and died under the knife of robbers. There are also Xie Yuxuan's five sons, although all He was young, but he was taught by his father to be extremely loyal. His eldest son, Xie Weilin, was sixteen years old. Knowing that his grandfather Xie Sanbin had sent someone to borrow troops from General Wang to suppress the righteous soldiers, he secretly came to tell the old officials and others the truth, and stayed with the old officials and others, wishing Draw a clear line with Xie Sanbin."

The Xie family is very rich, but Xie Sanbin is not the only one in the Xie family.

There are several Xie Sanbin brothers, and there are many children and grandchildren. This is a big family.

Now if the entire Xie family is directly copied, it would be too implicated.

Zhu Yihai heard, "I never imagined that such a young boy would be so loyal, I deserve a reward."

"The Xie family's ancestral home will be left to Xie Weilin brothers, and the ancestral land in Yin County will also be left to them."

This is Zhu Yihai's greatest kindness. It is impossible for him to leave so much property of the Xie family to the Xie family.

"Except for Xie Sanbin, the rest of the clan are not guilty."

"Xie Weilin was young and loyal. He should be honored. He should be bestowed with a special family background. He is bestowed on pedestrians to be pedestrians. From now on, he will serve Gu by his side."

The young Xie Weilin was summoned, and when he heard Zhu Yihai's final disposition, his expression was a little calm.

The huge Xie family in Ningbo collapsed.

But for the passionate Xie Weilin, he was finally reborn from the ashes.

(End of this chapter)