Zhu Yuanzhang can see my dreams

Chapter 334 Who says a rich country cannot be destroyed?
Wang Buli glanced at the silver in Zhu Biao's hand and felt very uncomfortable.

This kid has been mentioning Japan's silver intentionally or unintentionally recently. What is he doing?
Wang Buli's doubts were even more aggravated. He had only told Zhu Di about this matter, and no one else knew about it.

Could it be that the fourth brother was talking in his sleep at night?
It is really unnecessary for Mr. Zhu to send someone to monitor his son, right?

Wang Buli had to doubt Zhu Biao's behavior and repeatedly mentioned the two points of Japan and silver.

Zhu Di was stunned for a moment, he felt it was a bit of a coincidence.

Because he believed that his wife Xu Miaoyun and Wang Buli would never leak this matter.

So Zhu Di subconsciously took the silver from Zhu Biao and looked at it:
"Brother, what's the difference?"

"The quality is not good."

Zhu Biao shook his head and continued playing mahjong: "That's why Dad didn't give out this batch of silver as a reward."

Hu Weiyong was obedient and listened carefully.

I always feel that the prince is not talking about money.

How much silver can a small country like Nacuoer in Japan have?

Since ancient times, China has used copper coins.

They all relied on robbery, and the silver they snatched from the people would not be of good quality.

"Oh, let's not talk about this."

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Wang Buli casually, and seeing that he had no intention of talking, he did not force an interruption.

"The fourth brother said that the Ming Dynasty was short of cattle, so we went to the northwest to fight." Zhu Biao sighed leisurely, "But the Ming Dynasty was short of silver, where else could we go to fight?"

Wang Buli quickly sorted the cards and asked casually, "Who knows where there are silver mines around Daming?"

Zhu Biao didn't expect Wang Buli to ask this question directly.

He was stunned for a moment and didn't continue the conversation.

"Your Highness is right." Xu Da added, "If it had really been discovered, the news would have been spread long ago."

Zhu Di silently arranged the cards. He just wanted to speak.

As a result, Wang Buli spoke first, so he took the silver.

"Fourth brother, what did you want to say just now?" Zhu Yuanzhang looked at his son who opened his mouth and closed it again.

"Me?" Zhu Di only whispered in response to his father's question:
"Father, we haven't decided how big the fight will be."

"Hahaha."

Zhu Yuanzhang burst into laughter. He always thought that he had never fought before and had forgotten about it.

He always felt that the fourth brother knew something, but not everything.

Zhu Di did not reveal his cards. Although he felt that it was not kind of Wang Buli to be able to enter the fairyland and eat alone, he was not an outsider after all.

Since he didn't choose to tell his father, there must be some reason for it.

What if Wang Buli had only heard about it and was not sure? If the Ming Dynasty had spent so much manpower and resources to conquer Japan but didn't find any silver mines, wouldn't that be a waste of joy?
"In fact, even if a country has money, food and people, it can still perish."

Wang Buli mentioned it when he was drawing the cards, which immediately aroused everyone's interest.

"Which dynasty would be like this?" Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows slightly: "Could it be the Han Dynasty?"

"impossible!"

"I think the Prince Consort's words are like duckweed without any basis."

"Well, I haven't heard of it."

"Of course it's the Sui Dynasty." Wang Buli looked at the cards in his hand in response to the rebuttals from the people around him:

"I remember a scholar from the Yuan Dynasty wrote a book saying that the richest country in history was the Sui Dynasty."

"Oh?"

Zhu Yuanzhang never thought about the Sui Dynasty which would perish in the second generation.

Yang Guang lived a dissolute life and was fond of ostentation. He was not a good role model for an emperor to follow.

As for some books about the Yuan Dynasty, none of you here have read much.

"The first sign of a country's wealth is its population growth, which is the best indicator of its wealth."

(During the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui, the average annual population growth rate reached 2020 per thousand (China's population growth rate in was per thousand).

Wang Buli's words made everyone agree that if the population of a dynasty does not grow, there must be a huge problem.

Only when ordinary people have a stable and secure life can their children grow up as safely as possible.

There are no wars, plagues, high taxes or the like that can feed people.

“Secondly, Sui’s wealth was also reflected in the fact that the treasury was full.

Many famous large granaries were built at that time, such as Taicang in Xijing, Hanjia Granary and Luokou Granary in Dongdu.

The large warehouses store tens of millions of dan of rice and millet, and the smaller warehouses store millions of dan.

The ruling minister at the time estimated that the food stored in the warehouses would be enough to feed the entire nation for 50 to 60 years.”

Zhu Yuanzhang became interested, this was exactly what he expected.

If his Ming Dynasty also had so many large granaries, then there would be nothing to be afraid of!

Unfortunately, there is none.

"Why was the Sui Dynasty so rich?"

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't understand why the Sui Dynasty was so prosperous.

"Your Majesty's question is the same as Emperor Wen of Sui's." Wang Buli drew a card and inserted it into the deck: "He said, I don't seem to collect much money and grain, and I don't spend a lot of money and grain, so how come I still have so much money and grain?"

Zhu Di laughed out loud a few times.

He felt that Emperor Wen of Sui was being too pretentious when he said this.

He learned this word from Wang Buli.

Zhu Biao, however, didn't understand why Wang Buli had dragged his topic to something so far away.

"Emperor Wen of Sui was a wise ruler, but he failed to choose a good successor." Hu Weiyong also commented.

Wang Buli played a card and then stretched out his hand to make a "yeah" gesture, saying, "Generally speaking, there are two main reasons for Sui's wealth."

"Which two aspects?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"First, since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the state has cracked down on the power of the nobles and powerful families, so that the state can effectively control the land and population, and can levy taxes on the vast land and the people, thus changing the past situation of national corruption and family prosperity;
The second is to establish an effective administrative system, such as the three-province and six-department system, which can effectively concentrate resources in the hands of the government.

Especially after the widespread use of highways and canal transportation, grain, materials, and wealth were continuously transported to the central government and stored.

In addition, Emperor Wen of Sui was relatively frugal and restrained in imposing corvée labor.

For example, the age of adult labor service was raised from 18 to 21, which gave people more time to engage in agricultural production, and also played a role in promoting the formation of the Sui Dynasty’s wealth.

Zhu Yuanzhang subconsciously began to compare himself with Emperor Wen of Sui, and he achieved the first point.

He dealt a severe blow to the power of the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, constantly weakening them, and also levied taxes on the people.

Secondly, it was also an effective administrative system. He was confident that Emperor Wen of Sui was not as diligent as him, and he was also very frugal.

Even so, the Ming Dynasty was not as prosperous as the Sui Dynasty.

On the contrary, money needs to be spent everywhere, but there is no money to spend.

The only difference is that Zhu Yuanzhang lowered the age for corvee labor to 16 years old.

Even when Emperor Yang of Sui first ascended the throne, he raised the age for corvée service to 22, and even exempted women from the burden of rent and taxes.

However, Emperor Yang was too ambitious and eager to accomplish unprecedented feats in a short period of time.

He soon changed his approach of reducing the financial burden on the people when he first came to the throne.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had been conscripting laborers on a large scale, especially when building the Fengyang Palace, many craftsmen died.

Everyone started to curse the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang felt uncomfortable so he gave up the plan to move the capital to Fengyang.

It is an unfinished engineering project that has cost a huge amount of money.

Today, the Nanjing Imperial City is still being expanded and renovated, but corvée labor has not stopped.

Hu Weiyong glanced at Wang Buli, stepped back silently, and said nothing.

There were few common people in the early Ming Dynasty.

That is why the emperor ordered that the age of those performing corvee labor be reduced.

Of course, there is a lack of strong laborers in the fields. Farming is extremely hard work, so the output is naturally even less.

If the Ming Dynasty wanted to emulate the ancient dynasties, its financial expenditure would suddenly increase dramatically.

Then it will be even more difficult to get anything done.

This was a taboo for Zhu Yuanzhang, who always liked to save money.

Hu Weiyong would naturally not get into trouble.

Zhu Yuanzhang was also considering it, and then asked:

"Buli, do you think the country should become rich first or the people should become rich first?"

"Your Majesty, that is indeed a good question." Wang Buli fumbled with his cards and said:
"The country should be made rich first, but after the country is rich, how to make the people rich is a bigger problem."

Zhu Yuanzhang also agreed with Wang Buli's opinion. If the country has no money, how can it suppress the rebellion?

Just like in the late Ming Dynasty, all the money was taken away by the nobles and powerful.

The emperor didn't even have the money to recruit soldiers, let alone resist foreign invasions and peasant uprisings.

The Ming Dynasty naturally perished.

"What was Emperor Yang of Sui's great cause?"

Zhu Biao's teacher never taught him this kind of knowledge.

The emperor's guidance books such as Han Feizi that we studied were from an earlier era.

Wang Buli pointed out: "There are still two points, one is "dealing with the four barbarians", and the other is "patrolling".

Both of these measures have greatly increased the burden on the people, and more importantly, have over-taxed their labor."

Zhu Di looked at his cards and was very interested in the first point: "Brother-in-law, what is "serving the four barbarians"? "

Wang Buli was willing to explain Zhu Di's question:
"The Four Barbarians refer to the ethnic minority regimes surrounding the Sui Dynasty. These three words mean that Emperor Yang of Sui recruited ethnic minorities from the Western Regions to pay homage to them and ordered the counties they passed through to spend huge sums of money to entertain them.

Emperor Yang of Sui also lured the Western Turkic regime to submit to the emperor by offering land. In order to supply the soldiers and civilians garrisoning there, huge amounts of supplies were transported from the interior, and a large number of civilians died on the road.

Not to mention that he also conquered Goryeo three times, for which he recruited millions of soldiers and countless laborers. There were hundreds of thousands of civilians transporting grain to the northern granaries all year round, and soldiers and civilians died side by side. "

"Look at me. When the four directions come to pay tribute, I only let them stay at the post station. The extra expenses of the envoys are all paid by themselves. We, the Ming Dynasty, will never spend money on them."

Zhu Yuanzhang was very proud of this matter.

He was not only stingy with himself, but also with foreigners who came to pay tribute.

"As for the issue of foreign tribes submitting to the country, we have considered it before, but we mostly let them graze outside the Great Wall and exchange cattle and sheep for food, salt, tea, etc. We never thought about supporting them."

Zhu Yuanzhang was very dissatisfied with Emperor Yang of Sui's actions. Isn't this just creating a group of bigwigs to enjoy themselves?

I'm going to fuck you!

In the Ming Dynasty, no one can be the boss!
"I went to Peking to be a vassal, and I was thinking of driving those people who defected to the Ming Dynasty to fight the Mongols."

Zhu Di was actually somewhat influenced by his father and would never spend money on others for no reason.

It would be better to use this money to reward my subordinates. When the time comes, they will follow me and work hard to achieve success, and I will still have to rely on them.

"Then why are you on parade?"

Zhu Biao was quite interested in this.

Wang Buli looked at the cards Zhu Biao played and said, "It means that Emperor Yang of Sui launched too many and too frequent major engineering construction activities in order to travel around the country.

For example, at the beginning of his reign, in the first year of Daye (605), Emperor Yangdi built the eastern capital Luoyang City, recruiting 200 million laborers every month, and nearly % of the laborers died.

In the third year of Daye, more than one million men were sent out;
In the fourth year of Daye, 20 men were mobilized to build the Great Wall, and more than half of them died.

Starting from the first year of Daye, the Sui regime continued to dig the Grand Canal.

By the fourth year of Daye, the construction of the Tongji Canal and the Yongji Canal each employed more than one million laborers and resulted in countless casualties in that year alone.

In short, during the 13 years of Emperor Yang of Sui's reign, corvée labor was imposed indiscriminately almost every year. Not only was the number of people unprecedentedly large, but it was also extended beyond the time limit, and there was never any limit on the working and service periods.

What's worse, the corvée was intense, the living conditions were poor, the law enforcement was strict, and the mortality rate was extremely high.

Year-round corvée labor left the people no rest.

The people cannot engage in normal production activities and their lives are extremely poor.

As a result, "the whole country suffers from labor and loses money."

This is also the reason why I suggested to Your Majesty that some large projects should be completed in stages rather than all at once.”

With the large-scale death of strong laborers, it would be difficult for this dynasty to maintain.

"Well, we in the Ming Dynasty should learn from the lesson of the demise of Emperor Yang of Sui."

Zhu Yuanzhang has always been very satisfied with Wang Buli's method of completing engineering projects in stages.

This way, the busy farming season will not be delayed.

Those strong laborers who built the canal also earned money.

Businessmen also take the initiative to spend money in order to reduce taxes.

In short, as long as the court doesn't spend a penny and still makes some money, just do the job!
This method is much more clever than Emperor Yang of Sui's magnanimous decision.

"So the main reason for the fall of the Sui Dynasty was not the lack of money and grain. There was still a large amount of money and grain in the government warehouses when the Sui Dynasty fell.

In my opinion, the main reason for the fall of the Sui Dynasty was excessive corvee labor and the abuse of people’s power.”

Zhu Biao summarized what Wang Buli said.

"Well, this is what the prince summed up." Wang Buli was very satisfied with Zhu Biao's political sensitivity:

"In ancient Chinese history, the Sui Dynasty was the only dynasty that directly led to large-scale peasant uprisings and dynasty changes due to the abuse of people's power."

"So corvée labor is not a very good way to collect taxes?"

Hu Weiyong also understood that corvée was a form of tax levied by the government and no one could refuse it.

There were three tax handles in ancient finance.

Either tax people, tax land, or tax merchants.

Among taxpayers, the most primitive form was to use corvée to directly enslave the people, making them serve as soldiers for free, engage in agricultural or handicraft labor, build projects, or serve as transportation manpower.

Corvée was a burden imposed directly on the people.

On the one hand, it will affect the time and ability of the people to engage in agricultural production. Those who perform corvée labor cannot farm the land and have no food to eat.

On the other hand, the burden of corvée labor is felt directly by the body, the pain is the strongest, the suffering is the most direct and profound, and it may even cause death.

Therefore, using corvée as a form of fiscal revenue not only affects the creation of wealth, but also causes direct resistance from workers, which is not a good approach.

Chen Sheng and Wu Guang also started their rebellion because of forced labor.

Especially with so many young men gathered together, it would be hard to avoid accidents if the situation is not well controlled.

The same was true when manpower was organized to repair the Yellow River at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

"In theory, it is true." Wang Buli played a card: "They are all starving, why don't they rebel?
The people's patience is limited.

Just like His Majesty, who could no longer tolerate it, joined the uprising army, embarked on the path of rebellion, and created the current Ming Dynasty.

I'm afraid that not only His Majesty has not thought of this, let alone others."

When talking about this, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a little proud. He touched the cards and sighed:
"Yes, back then I thought being a soldier and having enough food to eat was already great, but who would have thought that I would conquer the world and become the emperor!"

"Hahaha."

Xu Da and others all laughed.

Mu Ying felt the same way. He had never thought that the kind-hearted person who adopted him could become the emperor.

He still finds it incredible when he thinks back on it.

I had a bad life when I was a child, but who would have thought that things would turn out so well later on?
"We have learned from the lessons of the Song and Yuan dynasties and reaffirmed the status of the two taxes as the orthodox fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

The time for collecting the two taxes was also greatly relaxed. The summer tax could not exceed the eighth month of the lunar calendar, and the autumn tax could not exceed the second month of the following lunar calendar.

In form, the two taxes were paid in kind, mainly rice and wheat, and secondary silk fabrics.

In terms of finance, we should avoid the practice during the Song and Yuan dynasties of creating false pretenses to arbitrarily seize the wealth of the people.

We must stick to the determination to make the two taxes the official fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly proud when he said this.

The two-tax system originated from the reforms of the Tang Dynasty, but of course there were other miscellaneous taxes!
The two taxes in the Song Dynasty were based on money and rice, and were called "summer taxes and autumn taxes."

This means that silk and money are collected in summer, and grain and grass are collected in autumn.

In terms of the system, both taxes were levied based on the number and grade of land. In principle, self-cultivating farmers paid the two taxes directly to the state.

The tenant farmers first paid rent to the landlord, who then paid the two taxes to the state.

Various additional taxes originally related to land were gradually merged into the two taxes in the early Song Dynasty.

In order to collect the two taxes, the Song Dynasty carried out many land survey activities and compiled account books to manage the land.

However, in the Song Dynasty, the revenue from the two taxes alone was not enough to support the country in dealing with the threat of foreign invasion.

As a result, the fiscal revenue had to be mainly dependent on industry and commerce to increase fiscal revenue.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty was much poorer than the Song Dynasty, which occupied half of the country.

In the late Hongwu period, the two taxes remained at less than 30 million shi of grain, but according to Huang Renyu's conversion, the two taxes in the Song Dynasty were more than 100 million taels.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked slightly smug, but Wang Buli didn't say anything.

After all, in Lao Zhu's opinion, this is a huge progress.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not look at the revenue from the Two Tax System of the Song Dynasty, but only compared it with the crude Yuan Dynasty.

Although the Yuan Dynasty also emphasized the two taxes, due to its simple system and low quality of rulers, it liked to use predatory tax means in finance to plunder wealth from the people.

They choose to include tax.

"Your Majesty, these two tax laws are quite good." Hu Weiyong echoed, "But when I was reading the tax book, I still found some problems."

(End of this chapter)