People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 107 I was shocked when I checked!The land more than doubled!Lao Zhu was so angry that his tooth ached! 【Please subscribe】

Zhao Mian's initial thoughts were the same as those of young Xia Yuanji.

I always think that this is because they want to use the common people as targets for exploitation, and they just want to prey on the common people.

But now I discovered that it was not the case at all.

The imperial court had no money, no gold or silver, and it did not produce silver or gold. These things were scattered among the people and collected bit by bit.

They all forcefully require the people to exchange Baiyongbao banknotes.

The court could make ordinary people obedient, but how could it make those powerful gentry or those with some wealth obey?
They have a lot of gold and silver hidden in their hands, but they are unwilling to take it out.

Why did the Guo Huan case happen? That case was indeed unjust.

Everyone can clearly see how Guo Huan, a newly arrived minister of household affairs, could unite so many people to embezzle the entire world's taxes for a year.

Even a fool can see that this is a complete injustice.

But there is no way.

The imperial court at that time went through several Northern Expeditions, especially after the failed Northern Expedition. What did it urgently need?
When the whole world hates Hu Fu, it is the greatest right to attack the Northern Yuan Tatars.

If the Northern Expedition fails and the Northern Yuan Dynasty fails, the prestige of the imperial court will be reduced.

Under such circumstances, what is urgently needed to boost the public sentiment of the entire world?
It is necessary to fight again quickly.

What is needed is to prevent the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty from harassing the newly built country.

Can you cope without issuing treasure money?

Herein lies the paradox.

This is what makes the court helpless.

Zhao Mian did not tell Xia Yuanji this.

Because he knew that Xia Yuanji was much smarter than people of his generation.

It can be seen from the fact that Xia Yuanji and Shen Liqian, two young men, showed off their talents and became prosperous during their time in the capital.

These two young men are passionate and resourceful.

But these two young people really didn't understand why the older generation had been struggling for more than 20 years.

Zhao Mian spread his hands: "I brought you here today to find out how much gold and silver there is in the treasury, just to tell you young people.

Don't think that just because you are passionate is right.

Don't think that an emperor who rose from the bottom will be less intelligent than you. "

After Zhao Mian finished speaking, he patted Xia Yuanji on the shoulder and said, "Sooner or later, this burden will be placed on the shoulders of young people like you. I am willing to be your stepping stone."

After speaking, Zhao Mian dusted himself off and left from the warehouse.

Looking at Zhao Mian's slightly stooped back.

For the first time, Xia Yuanji felt that he was sometimes too conceited.

None of the veterans who have been able to support the country from its founding to the present is simple.

"Zhao Butang, this junior has learned a lesson!" Xia Yuanji stood up and saluted Zhao Mian's back with apology.

Zhao Mian steadied himself, waved his hand without looking back, and left gracefully.

After Xia Yuanji returned to the cabinet, he talked to Shen Liqian about what he saw in the warehouse.

After listening to what Zhao Mian said, the two young people also fell into deep thought.

Xia Yuanji didn't want to hide anything from the prince, so the two of them came to Zhongcui Palace in the East Palace and reported to Zhu Biao.

Zhu Biao actually knew how much gold and silver there was in the warehouse.

So he wasn't surprised at all.

Zhu Biao, on the contrary
"Do as many things as you have. One thousand to ten thousand taels of silver, one million taels of gold, and all the treasure banknotes distributed to surrounding provinces will be raised first. You can exchange them for whatever you can.

At least tell the people that Chaotian is not escaping. Even if the court does not have so much savings, give them ten reassurances. "

Xia Yuanji didn't understand why he did this. This was simply a drop in the bucket for the treasures in the world.

Doing this is tantamount to whetting the appetite of the people, but there is no way to satisfy everyone.

Some people can understand the court's painstaking efforts, but most people will not have such a good understanding.

They may wonder if the court is teasing them again.

But Zhu Biao smiled slightly after listening to Xia Yuanji's concerns.

"What Xia Aiqing said is true, but the imperial court has found a solution. Now let's distribute 1000 million taels of silver and 100 million taels of gold to the Treasury Department and Pingzhen Treasury below.

As for the subsequent replenishment of gold and silver, you don’t need to worry. "

After Zhu Biao finished speaking, Xia Yuanji and Shen Liqian were immediately confused.

They didn't hear people from the Ministry of Industry say where huge silver or gold mines were discovered.

How could Zhu Biao tell Xia Yuanji and Shen Liqian that they had already set their sights on the huge silver mine and the huge gold mine on the nearby Japanese Nu Island.

A silver mine with an annual output of several million taels was enough to make the imperial court rich in an instant.

It's enough to exchange these treasure banknotes in the hands of ordinary people.

So he was very confident and didn't have any worries at all.

After the two people went out, Zhu Biao looked at the report that had been passed on from Jin Yiwei about the land for the construction of the Pingzhen Treasury for all treasures in the world, and felt relieved.

Although he doesn't like the Jin Yiwei group, it's because the Jin Yiwei are above the law.

But he likes the efficiency of Jin Yiwei's group.

Used in the right place, these people can really be of great use.

Therefore, his father said that he would recruit more Jinyiwei, and Zhu Biao agreed.

According to Zhu Yuanzhang's idea, Jin Yiwei in various places should set up agencies to monitor local taxes.

……

More than half a month passed quickly.

Finally, two things made Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao and his son happy.

First of all, after four months of land clearing, all the land clearing work in the surrounding Zhili, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Jiangxi, Henan and other places has been completed.

All the fish scale books from various places were collected into the warehouse of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Zhao Mian, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, and a group of officials from the Ministry of Revenue worked overtime to conduct inspections by category.

After the land was cleared, it was divided into three grades: high-grade fertile fields with water sources, medium-grade barren fields, and low-grade high-water-rich fields.

交税的时候，无论官田还是民田，规则一样，上等田1亩实为1亩、中等田以1.5亩折为1亩、下等田以2亩折为1亩。

At the same time, it is necessary to classify the fish scale books compared with previous years.

Under the pressure of passing the legal exam these days, officials have become more motivated.

Even Zhao Mian felt a pressure on his heart.

Now he is very anxious.

Fortunately, there are young people like Xia Yuanji who are helping him.

Otherwise he would have collapsed long ago.

After Xia Yuanji's last conversation with Zhao Mian, he didn't have so much resistance to this veteran.

I also understood what was going on with this old fritter.In the past, Xia Yuanji was a dull and prickly man, and he was dissatisfied with these officials.

I look down upon these officials for pushing and shoving each other.

I thought that these people just didn't dare to take responsibility, but now I understand.

No one can bear such a responsibility, even if they have the intention, they are powerless.

So from the initial incomprehension and hostility to the current understanding and admiration, Xia Yuanji changed very quickly.

The land measured in these provinces is indeed more than twice the land measured in the previous fish scale book.

In the 14th year of Hongwu's reign, the national land record was 36677 million acres.

In May of the 24th year of Hongwu's reign, the policy of dividing land into acres was implemented. After the land was cleared, the land obtained was 85076 million acres.
This is because before the land was cleared, the land of the gentry class was not measured at all.

And they are the ones with the largest land holdings.

And just from this data, we can see how much more food the court would be able to produce if all taxes were levied.

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he gritted his teeth, but he knew in his heart that it was right to increase taxes on them.

It is only fair to put it all on their heads.

Now he finally knew what Chen Han's share of the family meant to the Ming Dynasty.
Seeing so much land coming out, he already knew what it meant.

The Ministry of Household Affairs quickly took this decree to carry out the work of allocating people into acres.

They themselves did not expect that so much land could be measured during this measurement.

When Zhu Yuanzhang issued this order, he also issued the same two instructions to the local Jinyi guards.

The first is to monitor these officials and charge all grain prices according to local grain prices when collecting taxes.

On the other hand, it is necessary to quickly establish a warehouse after the grain purchase.

These warehouses originally existed in every province, but because the annual tax collected was from grain taxes, these official warehouses were vacant.

Jin Yiwei's current task is to clean up these warehouses first, and then the officials behind will buy back the excess grain and place it in them.

This matter is very simple for Jin Yiwei.

After this order was conveyed, it soon caused a great shock somewhere in Suzhou.

……

Suzhou House.

A certain teahouse.

The tea drinkers were talking a lot.

“I really didn’t expect that the imperial court would implement this national policy so quickly.

It's good now, we don't need to pay so much food.

And the court also accepts it in treasure money, which is great. "

Another person said: "I really didn't expect it. I only knew that the imperial court would issue treasure banknotes, but I didn't expect that the imperial court would receive treasure banknotes.

Now, as long as we hand over all these treasures, our life should be easier. "

At this time, someone answered: "Yes, as long as we don't hand over the food, and as long as we don't have any servants or corvees on us, it's fine."

After seeing the notice posted by the imperial government, the common people in Suzhou Prefecture are preparing for the collection of summer taxes in August this year.

As for the summer tax grain prices, the imperial court set standards, which were determined based on the prices at the beginning of the year.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing for them, as food prices fluctuate.

At the same time, the people of Suzhou Prefecture were also surprised to find out.

The taxes they have to pay don't seem to be the punitive taxes they paid before.

Originally, they paid the most taxes in Suzhou.

The pressure brought to the people every year is very heavy.

In the past, Suzhou's annual taxes were worth one-third of the world's taxes.

The current tax collection situation on them by the court, although there is no explicit lifting of their previous heavy taxes.

But this time the court only levied the tax per acre and did not mention punitive taxes, so it should have been exempted. After hearing this, the people set off firecrackers along the street to celebrate.

But some are happy and some are unhappy.

At the gate of a large house in Suzhou Prefecture.

There was an old man who was losing his temper right now.

Because the accountant just finished calculating the summer tax for him today.

After hearing the amount he reported, the old man became furious and said, "What kind of rules are these? Our farmland is more than 2 acres. How much tax do we have to pay?"

The old man was complaining, and his son persuaded him: "Dad, didn't you say that you and the prefect of Suzhou can drink at the same table, and he won't be accommodating? Every year, our family contributes to Suzhou Station, bridge construction and road paving, etc." How much money have you paid, but it still doesn’t give us any face?”

His wife beside him also spoke: "That's right, sir, we have so many fields, we can't really charge so much tax, right?"

When the old man heard his son and wife complaining like this, he sighed deeply: "You think I haven't looked for him?
This year, the imperial court implemented the system of sharing the land between the peasants and the gentry, and the officials and gentry all worked together to pay taxes. Not to mention gentry like us, even his family members had to pay taxes. Will he take care of us?
The imperial court came up with the so-called examination method, which is layer by layer. If he dares to let our family go, there will be Jin Yiwei who will give him up immediately.

Do you think he would give up his black hat to help us? "

When the old man's son heard this, he was surprised. He couldn't understand what was going on in the court.

"Aren't you afraid that we are the ones scolding them? We are the ones who pay taxes to them, and we are the ones who help them get rid of the villagers below and all these things in the village.

Why, put us all aside.

Aren't they afraid that the common people will cause trouble? "

After hearing this, the old man shook his head: "Son, you really think too simply.

Do you think they didn't take it into consideration?
You think that there are so many smart people in the court who have not considered this issue.

I have to tell you some very bad news. Nowadays, the government and the gentry work as errands to pay the grain, so that the poor people who have no land do not need to pay so much tax.

The common people support such a court, do you think they are willing to rebel?
Only by making those of us who are rich and powerful pay taxes can we reduce the pressure on those miserable, smelly common people who are trying to take our skin off.

Even if it's a rebellion, there won't be any of those bitter, stinky poor people to serve as your spearmen.

Do you think we can afford to rebel?
Now that Jin Yiwei is patrolling down below, should we stop saying such things? "

When it came to this, the old man was actually helpless.

Just as he thought, the common people were supporting the imperial court and the government.

The most proud people are those people who have no land or little land.

He can already see it after implementing this policy.

Ordinary people have taken the initiative to spread the word in the streets and alleys.

They have already volunteered to help the government measure land.

So now no matter what they say, in their eyes, the imperial court is the best, and who cares about ordinary businessmen like you.

When he thought of this, even the old man admired him, "How on earth did the imperial court come up with such a solution?

It is simply life-threatening. It is simply asking these poor people to supervise us at this time.

You can't hide it. It's not like gold and silver. You can just dig a hole and bury it all in it. "

……

(End of this chapter)