Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 73 Li Jin
After lunch, Zhu Yihai cast bait to fish in a stream on the island.

Yang Boxing led the standard-bearers to disperse the guards, Song Zhipu, Chen Hanhui, Ke Xiaqing, Yu Dafu, Shen Chenquan and Zhu Yihai's confidantes also dropped their poles.

In the army, everything is kept simple. The bamboo cut on the island is tied to the line, and a reed is used as a buoy, and earthworms dug in the ground are used as bait. The stream is clear and there are fish swimming in Huiwan.

It's just an excuse to say it's fishing.

These confidants just wanted to find a place to talk to Jian Guo alone.

"During this time, we have borrowed more than 30 taels of silver from the gentry and landowners in Ningshaotai, and raised more than [-] taels of silver. Originally, we could still collect [-] taels of tax, but His Highness has already announced the debt Pay full exemption, and exempt this year's tax."

"There is good news. The original Chongzhen government patrolled the sea in Ningbo. When Hongguang worshiped Lu Ruoteng, the governor of Fengyang. He was originally from Fujian. He resigned because he was dissatisfied with the theft of power by Ma Shiying and others. Guo Zhenyi, who was appointed as the inspector of Zhejiang Province, was in Wenzhou, and now I heard that His Royal Highness supervised the country in Taizhou, raised the flag to fight against the captives, and collected taxes to persuade them to raise money.

Among the 30 taels of silver, some of them were taxes from the two governments, and some of them were donations from big businessmen.

"His Royal Highness issued an exempt order before, but before it reached Wen, they have already collected and shipped the silver collection, and please His Highness dispose of it."

Lu Ruoteng and Guo Zhenyi were able to get so much money, of course Zhu Yihai couldn't say anything, knowing that the money must be forced to be donated, but now he can't turn the blame on them.

It is rare to be so loyal and capable.

After thinking for a while, he said, "Gu intends to set up four governors in Zhejiang Province, a governor in West Zhejiang in Hangjiahu, a governor in Ningshaotai in eastern Zhejiang, a governor in Wenzhou, and a governor in Jinquyan. .Part ways and caress!"

Strictly speaking, the governors and governors of the Ming Dynasty were dispatched rather than formal official positions. They were originally imperial envoys with a temporary nature and were withdrawn immediately after the work was completed. However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, they basically became permanent.

Originally, there was one governor in each province, or even one in several provinces. According to different needs, the provinces set up sub-patrol roads, sub-guard roads, military equipment roads, and food supervision roads. There are still many things.

For example, at the end of Chongzhen, a bunch of governors and commanders were set up in the capital of Beijing, and eight towns were set up around Beijing alone.

Now Zhu Yihai's actual control of the territory is very small, only a land in the east of Zhejiang, and it is not very stable. He previously appointed Yu Ying as the governor of Zhejiang, but now he wants to divide Zhejiang into four governors, one of which is still occupied by the enemy. Jin Quyan and Wen Chu are actually not his real control area.

The purpose of doing this is essentially to strengthen control.

"Lu Ruoteng conferred the censor of the capital, the governor of Wenzhou, and Guo Zhenyi supervised the censor, and the inspector of Wenzhou. He Junyao, deputy general of Wenzhou, who was awarded by Yuan Hongguang, moved the capital to Tongzhi, and was the general officer of Wenzhou."

Wen Chu's ability to send 30 taels of silver so quickly undoubtedly showed their loyalty to Lu Jianguo. Since they supported him so loyally, Zhu Yihai naturally had to reciprocate.

The governor, the inspector, and the general soldier are regarded as the three-person leadership team appointed by the Wen Department.

He also gave He Junyao a military establishment of 1 people, with 3000 people in the third battalion of the standard battalion of the general army, and then a total of seven battalions including the deputy general of the Wenzhou defense, the generals of the Wenzhou defense, the generals of the Chuzhou defense division, and the guerrilla generals. 7000 people, these 1 people are the official ranks of officers and soldiers, paid by the Ministry of War.

"Send people to Wenchu ​​to proclaim the decree and pay homage, and bring 10 taels of silver as salary for the Wenchu ​​battalions."

With 1 horses, tens of thousands of taels of military pay a month, 10 taels is actually not much, and Wen Chu just sent 30 taels of silver, and Zhu Yihai raised another 10 taels, in fact, it was still Wen Chu’s money, but This is done in the name of official military pay, which is completely different.

"Explain clearly to Lu Ruoteng and He Junyao that the officers and men are all paid according to the new official military salary, but they are currently in financial difficulties, so for the time being, they will be paid half salary first, but they must be paid in real terms, and officers at all levels are also paid according to the new standard. Give corresponding food subsidies. If you give him [-] soldiers and horses, I hope Wen Chu can train [-] soldiers to fight!"

"The 10 taels are considered as the reward for the settlement of the Wenchu ​​soldiers, as well as the military salary for the first three months. As for the follow-up, the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of War will provide it alone."

Song Zhipu was a little distressed. The 30 that he had just paid in had now gone to [-], and then he had to pay the military salary in the future.

"Your Highness, now that we are in financial difficulties, relying only on borrowing money and collecting donations may not be a long-term solution. Do you want to re-levy the three rates?"

Old Zhu shook his head.

"The reputation of the three rates is too bad, and before the three rates were levied, officials from all over the country took advantage of the opportunity, and the people hated it. If the three rates are imposed again, I am afraid that many people will be forced to rebel first."

"It's hard to raise soldiers without money." Song Zhipu, the chief assistant, couldn't conjure up money out of thin air.

"Actually, I have been thinking about this issue for a long time. I had some vague ideas in my mind before, but now they have taken shape."

The finances of the Ming Dynasty have always been corrupt, and Chongzhen was forced to hang himself. If the old tax system is not changed, no matter how much trouble can be made, it can be turned around.

After all, no matter how you can fight, you have to have money to support soldiers.

If there is no money to raise soldiers, the soldiers under him will inevitably become robbers and bandits, so why talk about resisting captives and expelling Tartars?
The method Zhu Yihai can think of now is actually to use the method Zeng Guofan used to fight the Taiping Army back then to collect lijin.The so-called likin is actually a checkpoint tax.

The Hunan army set up customs checkpoints in the areas they controlled, and merchants had to pay taxes when passing through the checkpoints. Because the tax rate was one percent, that is, one percent, it was called lijin.

Later, Lijin not only set up checkpoints to collect tolls, but also levied on landlords, shop owners, etc., which was roughly one in a hundred.

Relying on Lijin, Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army solved the big problem of military expenses. Coupled with the income from robbery and persuasion, the Hunan Army was able to maintain it, and it could fight more and more, and finally broke through Tianjing and wiped out the Taiping Army.

Zhu Yihai believes that since the Ming Dynasty, all kinds of old taxes have long been out of shape. The real rich landlords, gentry, and merchants do not pay taxes, but the poor people bear the main taxes. The tax system is unreasonable.

The poor can't live on, and in the end they have to bear the main tax, so the people go bankrupt and the country is in turmoil.Rich people are connected to each other and have rich assets, but they can enjoy preferential treatment.

If we do this, the country will not be in chaos.

But now that Zhu Yihai has also become a ruler, he also has to face the problem of tax collection. According to the traditional method, the result is that the rich will not have to pay, and the poor will not be able to pay.

So what he has been thinking about is to bypass the old tax law. Before he announced the exemption of the original tax owed, and even exempted the tax payable this year, he understood that ordinary people can no longer afford these taxes. Since they cannot be collected , It is also possible to force the government to force the people to rebel. With such a large tax collection cost, it is better not to collect it.

But without taxation, the court could not sustain itself. To support officials and soldiers, they had to ask for money.

"The country is in danger, the people are in distress, and righteousness is to rejuvenate the Ming Dynasty and save the people, not to oppress the people. Therefore, the three rates must be abolished, all old debts must be exempted, and even the original land and silver must be paid first. Suspension."

"Your Highness, but in this way, the imperial court has no tax revenue, so how can it raise troops for the army?"

"Lijin!" Zhu Yihai finally threw out his plan, "Add a Lijin General Bureau under the household department, and set up Lijin sub-bureaus in all provinces and roads. Officials will be appointed to be responsible for the collection."

"Likin?"

"There are three types of likin. One is to pass through likin. There are checkpoints set up at the Hejin Pass on the roads of various prefectures and counties. All the goods that pass through the customs will take [-]% of likin."

"The second is the lijin of the place of origin. One percent of the lijin is levied on the products produced in the place of production, such as rice, tea, salt, cloth, etc., which can be levied according to the market price in silver. .”

"The third is the transaction likin, and the transaction tax of shopkeepers and shopkeepers is also [-] percent."

These three taxes are completely simplified, and the tax rate is not high, one percent, but in fact they are all-encompassing.

The output tax is levied on the place where the same item is produced. The grain produced by farming is taxed, and the silkworm and silk weaving are also taxed, even if you dry salt to make tea.

Then, in the process of trafficking by merchants, tariffs must be levied. The farther the traffic is returned, the higher the tariffs will be.

The last is the transaction tax. Merchants sell in markets and shops, and every transaction is equivalent to a tax.

One percent may not seem like a lot, but because of the wide scope of collection and basically no threshold, the amount of tax that can be collected is still a lot.

Especially compared to the current tax situation in the late Ming Dynasty, this will be a huge change.

The industrial and commercial taxes in Ming Dynasty were already low, or even almost non-existent, and the bureaucratic and gentry class enjoyed privileges and paid almost no taxes.

Just relying on head money to suck blood from the people, this is inevitably a vicious circle.

Although the imperial court had planned to levy the three salaries according to the land, in fact they were basically grafted on to the common people in the end.

Zhu Yihai can't say that he will change the taxation system of Ming Dynasty, and he can't say that he will take action against the tax-free privileges of the gentry class, but now he can change his name and use the name of Lijin to try.

After all, in name, the regular tax is still there, and the privileges of those officials and gentry are still there. Now it is just a new levy of likin, and likin is special, and there is no preferential exemption.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, lijin could earn more than 1000 million taels a year, and even reached more than 300 million taels at the highest point. It can be seen that this thing is very powerful.

Exemption from accumulated arrears, exemption from regular taxes, so that the people can have a respite to recuperate, and then levy lijin, or even create a new levy system, set up a special lijin bureau, and be vertically led by the Ministry of Households, changing the past hundreds of years. The old method of collecting taxes by local subordinate officials and big clans will definitely change the corrupt officials.

"Aren't the gentry free?" Song Zhipu asked the key question.

"In the face of a national crisis, this lijin is equivalent to a donation, but I just hope there is a standard. It is not an exaggeration for merchants to sell goods and persuade them to donate one percent? Merchants sell transactions, and each donation is one percent. Let’s live? Landlords’ paddy fields, tea gardens, saltworks, and even cloth factories’ dyeing and weaving houses are advised to donate one hundredth, isn’t that much?”

"In this way, there is a standard persuasion to donate, so that everyone can donate to save the country without saying that the burden is too heavy. This is not a tax, but a persuasion, so why are there preferential exemptions? Persuasion is naturally the Ming Dynasty The gentry donated first!" Zhu Yihai said seriously.

After Song Zhipu and Chen Hanhui heard this explanation, they could not refute it.

That's right, this is a donation, not a tax. Where is the discount?
And compared to Zhu Yihai's persuasion in Haimen and other places in Ningbo before, there is still a standard for this lijin, and one hundredth does not sound high. much?
Song Zhipu was in awe of Jian Guo, how could he come up with such a good idea.

"This method is very good. If Lijin is implemented in an all-round way, it will not only win the support of the people, but also reduce the dissatisfaction of the big landlords and gentry, and also get money and food to support the army. Praise!"

Zhu Yihai said in his heart that this was a good method that Zeng shaved his head and worked hard to find out. He really saved Man Qing and continued his life. He just borrowed it.

"The lijin method is also a temporary method of last resort. The Ministry of Households has established lijin bureaus in various places to collect lijin. Supervision must be strengthened. If corrupt officials take the opportunity to use it as a tool of corruption, it will damage the reputation of the court and the common people will not do it."

"I will draw up regulations and systems as soon as I go back, and I will definitely strengthen management and supervision. Whoever dares to stretch out their hands will never be polite."

Zhu Yihai shook his hand, pulled up the fishing rod, and a fish two fingers wide was lifted out of the water, "The fish is hooked!"

"This fish is hooked, and that Li Yuchun should be hooked too." Zhu Yihai said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)