I'm only seven years old, Lao Zhu, you let me supervise the country?

Chapter 205 Unprecedented event!We listen to you!
If Zhu Yunxuan's request was to exempt all the people of Ming Dynasty from paying taxes for a year, Lao Zhu would not be in any shock.

With a high probability, he agreed directly.

Anyway, there is a lot of money and food in the national treasury now, so it is nothing to exempt the world from taxes for a year.

But, exempt from corvee?
or permanent?
If Zhu Yunxi hadn't said it twice in succession, old Zhu would have suspected that his ears had heard it wrong.

People in the Ming Dynasty generally did not have to perform military service.

Because serving as a soldier and fighting in a war is a matter for military households and has nothing to do with ordinary people.

But transporting grain and grass also requires recruiting people.

Of course, this is only a small part.

Other types of corvee are the bulk.

For example, there are 110 households in a li, and a li is divided into 10 jias, each with 10 households.

So there are a hundred households in total.

The remaining 10 households will be the head of the armor, and one person will be elected as the head of the village.

They are responsible for the real estate affairs of their own people, assisting the government in arresting fugitives, serving as servants at the Yamen, delivering materials, and are responsible for general miscellaneous expenses, such as sacrifices, construction, banquets, etc.

The average corvee is the regular servant sent by the yamen at all levels, and the strength is poor, and the silver difference is different.

The handymen are non-recurring, temporary local servants.

From cutting salaries, carrying firewood, building roads, building rivers, building cities, transporting materials, and even warehouses, gates, Zaoli, shop soldiers, postmen...

All in all, the government at this time had very few staff.

The other unestablished personnel were all conscripted personnel serving as corvees.

The state does not pay wages.

Not only do they have to work, but they also have to prepare their own food.

The government will not be held responsible for anyone who dies due to various reasons while serving.

anyway.

Some relatively good positions can often get a salary.

Like saponins and the like.

According to customization, this kind of post can receive money.

This is for personnel stability.

Because the money is distributed, ordinary people cannot grab it.

And more corvee workers don't have a dime, and they have to eat their own food.

It's okay to send out occasionally.

Anyway, during leisure time, idleness is idleness.

Only when it comes to major projects such as building rivers, roads, and cities, will the people be overwhelmed.

"Grandfather, grandson is serious, grandson thinks that all the people in the world should be exempted from corvee?"

Lao Zhu yelled, stood up, and said, "Nonsense!"

After he finished speaking, he took a look at Zhu Yunxi, then sat down slowly, his breath slowly subsiding.

In Lao Zhu's impression, Zhu Yunzhen was not a willful person.

When he said this, he must have his own ideas.

However, Lao Zhu still couldn't understand.

But he is willing to listen.

"Tell me, why is this? Without corvees, even the government cannot function normally. If you want to build a project, how should you build it?"

Lao Zhu is really a little confused.

On the one hand, it is said that the project will be greatly promoted, and on the other hand, it is said that all the people in the world will be exempted from corvee. How can this make sense?

"There is enough money in the national treasury." Zhu Yunzhen said: "In the future, if the country needs corvees, then just spend money to hire them. The state will only collect taxes and no longer force people to do corvees."

He raised 5000 million taels of silver as a reserve fund, and planned to print as many as [-] million taels of renminbi, totaling [-] billion yuan.

But this amount of money has only been spent on [-] million taels so far.

The remaining [-] million are still lying in the treasury.

How to spend money is not an easy task.

Reward heroes and generals, princes and marquises?
That can only cause the poor to become poorer and the rich to become richer.

The money must be sent to the hands of the common people.

But how to send it is a university question.

Later generations of modern countries are all troubled by this.

The water is constantly released, but the money is not invested in the real economy.

A lot of money is idle, inflation is rising, and people's wealth has not grown.

As a result, many social problems have been caused.

It has also become a hot spot in economics research.

But today's Ming Dynasty has a simple economic structure, and the problem of spending money is much easier to deal with than later generations.

The way Zhu Yunxuan came up with was to spend the money on major repair projects by paying labor remuneration.

In this way, the projects needed by the country are built, and the money printed is distributed to the people.

Kill two birds with one stone.

In addition, people will buy things only when they have money, which will also greatly stimulate the prosperity of the commodity economy.

One more point.

Because of the need to serve corvee, in fact, the people were physically restricted.

Many corvee workers are not allowed to pay to join the service.

The people must stay in their place of origin and cannot leave the place, otherwise, they will be deserted.

Population mobility and economic development often complement each other.

Restricting population mobility actually restricts economic development.

The fifth point is that the burden on the common people will be greatly reduced without corvee.

Everyone will be grateful to the court.

This is the best way to buy people's hearts.

Sixth, the corvee is the responsibility of the local clan.

The so-called imperial power does not extend to the county.

The government relied on local clans to govern and allocate people to serve as corvees.

This in turn resulted in excessive power of local clans.

On the one hand, it is not conducive to the governance of the country, and on the other hand, it also creates greater oppression on the people at the bottom.

Without corvee, the power of the clan would be greatly weakened.

Moreover, because local clans are responsible for recruiting free corvees, they are also responsible for managing them.

Including many daily tasks.

Be under the control of others and obey their orders.

These people are under the management of the local clan, and naturally obey the orders of the local clan.

As a result, the local clans are oversized and the state management is weak.

Once these people become recipients of state salaries and the state pays for them, they are "civil servants."

Only obey the orders of the state, not the command of the local clan.

The situation where the imperial power does not extend to the counties will be completely reversed.

Grassroots governance will undergo radical changes.

The most important thing in governing the country is county governance.

County governance is based on the administration of officials.

But if most of those "officials" have no establishment, no salary, and people who are not under the jurisdiction of the court, how can they govern?

It is not a good thing for the emperor and subordinate officials to rule the world together!
The official institutions of the feudal dynasty were very streamlined.

But it was temporary, and too many people were recruited.

The seventh point is that investing a large amount of money into national construction will greatly stimulate the development of the national economy.

As a result, new interest groups were formed and their rule was further consolidated.

Another point is that through large-scale construction projects and payment of remuneration, it also played a role in disaster relief.

People who are desperate, as long as they are willing to contribute, they don't have to worry about not having enough to eat.

As for spending too much money...

Once the economy develops.

The tax collected can be perfectly covered, so there is no need to worry about it.

……

As mentioned above, there are many advantages to abolishing corvee.

Therefore, in modern countries, except for the fact that military service is still compulsory, there is basically no concept of corvee.

In fact, even for compulsory soldiers, most of them have nominal obligations, and the country will still pay a lot of money and provide benefits in various aspects.

Zhu Yunzhen explained the benefits of abolishing corvee to Lao Zhu in detail.

Lao Zhu half-understood, but he understood at least two things.

First, the abolition of corvee can effectively reduce the burden on the people.

The second is that the court has enough money and can afford it.

"You have to think clearly, there is no turning back when you shoot the bow."

"Although there is a lot of money and food in the national treasury, once the corvee is abolished, the court's expenditure will also increase sharply."

Old Zhu was still not at ease.

This is something that has never happened before.

Once the decree is made, the world will surely shake.

"My grandson has long known that after the corvee is abolished, tax revenue will increase significantly, enough to cover expenses."

Zhu Yunxian is full of confidence.

"Abolish corvee, abolish corvee..."

Old Zhu muttered to himself, still hesitating.

"Grandpa Huang, please trust your grandson and abolish the decree." Zhu Yunxuan implored.

"Never mind."

Lao Zhu picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp.

"You govern the country in an orderly manner, and the Ming Dynasty is prosperous. Now you have a lot of money and food, and the people praise you. It shows that your governance ability is far superior to mine."

"You have such a heart, and you love the people like a child. Now that you have made up your mind, why don't we allow it?"

"Then we will decree that from next year, Daming will abolish corvee!"

(End of this chapter)