Daming: Let you do your best to manage, do you go to health?

Chapter 58 The old man is really angry.

Having said that, Zhu Zhanji finally gave his own direction for reforming the tax system.

It did give Zhu Di a feasible idea for the direction of innovation. However, after Zhu Di carefully considered and analyzed it, he still frowned and asked: "Although there is nothing wrong with that, but you just said that you want to transfer the pressure of taxation to other places. Where is it transferred to? With so much silver, no matter where it is transferred to, it is impossible to change it out of thin air."

The old man understood very well that since it was said that it was going to be transferred, someone must take over the order, and this part of the deficit would not disappear just because of someone's one or two words.

Hearing that the old man grasped the key to the problem so quickly, Zhu Zhanji laughed again: "Grandpa, it seems that you are not joking when you say that you have the ability to handle those government affairs."

Seeing that Zhu Zhanji is still talking nonsense with him, Zhu Di is really anxious this time: "Stinky boy, if you want to talk nonsense from now on, you will be fined to stay in the Qianqing Palace for three months. Can't take a single step!"

Seeing the old man's unprecedented seriousness, Zhu Zhanji was really scared.

In the blink of an eye, the joking look on that face disappeared immediately, and then he said quickly and solemnly: "If you want to talk about where to transfer, you have to think about where you should transfer, and where can bear these taxes? pressure without being forced to rebel!"

Following Zhu Zhanji's train of thought, Zhu Di really thought about it carefully, but after much deliberation, he couldn't figure out what kind of crowd would be willing to accept such a big shortfall?
Looking at the entire Ming Dynasty, it is definitely impossible for the common people to bear this part of the deficit, because they are the ones who are bearing it now.

Who else?
Royal family?

No.

Can't afford it either.

Minister?

Now the Ming Dynasty implements a low salary system. If there is no extra money, they will not be able to meet their own living needs. If this is done, won’t they force them to resign or embezzle?
Who else?
If it was placed in the Tang and Song Dynasties, a few ministers representing the aristocratic families could be killed, and some short-term gains could be obtained by ransacking their homes. However, the Ming Dynasty followed the Yuan Dynasty, and the so-called real family backgrounds all ran back to the grassland.

In addition, when his father Zhu Yuanzhang was in power, he emphasized agriculture and suppressed business. Through this extreme policy, all the labor force of the Ming Dynasty was concentrated on the production of agricultural food, and the current situation of food shortage was solved in a short period of time.

However, the disadvantages are also obvious, and the development of business is extremely sluggish.

Even in the Yuan Dynasty, commercial taxes were a large source of income for the court, but in the Ming Dynasty, commercial taxes were almost negligible.

It is equivalent to reducing a large part of taxes for no reason.

At the same time, there were very few merchant groups in the Ming Dynasty.

Nowadays, if you want to pass on the pressure of these taxes, you will really not be able to pick out any suitable people for a while.

While Zhu Di was frowning and thinking, Zhu Zhanji on the side also continued to speak: "Actually, the method to find people who will bear this part of the deficit is very simple. First of all, we must find out who is the richest person in the Ming Dynasty?"

Speaking of this, Zhu Zhanji looked at the old man with a smile, and asked guidingly: "Grandpa, do you think the Ming Dynasty is rich?"

Hearing Zhu Zhanji's question, Zhu Di didn't understand his intention, but he still said truthfully: "Of course I don't have money. If I had money, my father wouldn't disagree with my grandfather's decision to go to the north when he was in prison. objection."

But Zhu Zhanji shook his head and said, "My grandson thinks that the Ming Dynasty is very rich."

Looking at Zhu Di's puzzled gaze, Zhu Zhanji explained with a smile: "In fact, to measure whether a country has money, we can't simply rely on the taxes collected by the Ministry of Households, but on the internal production and production of the country. Products, that is, food, cloth, etc., can be calculated comprehensively.”

"Although the establishment of the Ming Dynasty is still very short, there are only two or three dynasties so far. In addition, my grandfather likes to do big things this time and spent a lot of money. However, since the establishment of my Ming Dynasty, my great-grandfather has worked hard to rectify the government. It can be said that the Ming Dynasty has completely emerged from the wars at the end of the Yuan Dynasty during the decades under the rule of my great-grandfather."

"The food and other materials produced by the common people are completely enough for our dynasty. In addition, under the governance of your grandfather and my father these years, the comprehensive national strength of the Ming Dynasty has actually been rising. These materials are also constantly accumulating, but where did the money go?"

"If it is placed in the past dynasties, the imperial court will take these national powers into the hands of the imperial court bit by bit through taxation, corvee service, minting coins, etc., and gather the power of the people of the world to do great things. But in my dynasty, minting coins will not be mentioned. , almost nothing, and the taxes are not too much. It’s like the common people’s family farming to save land, and every crop of leeks is raised, they will be harvested.”

"But I cut the leeks with the love of my great-grandpa and you, the speed of cutting the leeks obviously cannot keep up with the speed of the leeks grown by the strong soil."

"That is what we often mention, hiding wealth from the people. But the problem we are facing now is that the wealth that should have belonged to the people has not fallen into the hands of the people, just like the leeks grown in our family. What kind of soil power has been accumulated, where have these grown leeks, that is, wealth gone?"

"Gentleman!"

"This is also a drawback of our dynasty's taxation system. Although exempting those gentry from taxes has indeed promoted the growth of scholars, the drawback is too great, and it is so big that the entire Ming Dynasty can't bear it."

"Grandpa, think about it, the common people have to pay taxes for farming, not only the head tax, but also the land tax, that is, if you have an acre of land, you have to pay the tax for an acre of land. And those gentry, they don't have to pay land tax, In this way, they can recklessly purchase the land that was originally in the hands of the common people. However, the common people, after careful calculation, found that after paying the land tax and head tax for a year, the grain they had cultivated for a year was unexpectedly Not much left."

"It's better to sell these lands to those gentry, and then grow food for those gentry. In this way, the income from their labor is enough to pay poll tax, and they don't have to pay land tax, and they can get more money for selling the land. The key is that what I do every day is the same as before, it’s all about farming.”

"If you were grandpa, would you still plant your own land? Of course not!"

"But in the imperial court, the taxes that should have been collected have become the profits of those gentry, and the land that they are reluctant to use has also become the profit of those gentry."

"That's why my grandson said that the Ming Dynasty was actually not poor, and was even stronger than [-]% of the previous dynasties. It's just that the poor are the imperial court, and the rich are not the real people, but the gentry!"

(End of this chapter)