Reborn Regent of Ming Dynasty

Liu Zeqing's whole movement was as fast as a thunderbolt, and after he saw the person in front of him clearly, his tense face immediately relaxed.

Pushing the sword into its sheath, Liu Zeqing complained, "Brother Tianru, you're going to scare people to death!"

The visitor was about forty years old, and his face was very handsome. His face and eyes were full of typical literati temperament. Seeing Liu Zeqing's reaction, he just looked up and laughed.

This "Brother Tianru" was one of the well-known Qingliu leaders at that time. He could have the power to call the wind and rain in a leaf in the south of the Yangtze River. The founder and head of Fushe... Zhang Bo and Zhang Tianru!

Long before Liu Zeqing became the commander-in-chief, Zhang Pu passed through Yanzhou on the way to Beijing, and met General Liu Can, who was stationed in Yanzhou at that time and was on his way to rise. [

Based on Liu Zeqing's ability to be a servant and a retainer in the Yanzhou gentry's family, and later to become a thief and archer in the yamen, he is very good at talking about people and talking nonsense when he sees people, Zhang Pu, who is naturally coaxing, treats him very Appreciation, I think he is a good general among warriors who understands literature, scriptures and righteousness, and knows loyalty. From then on, Zhang Pu made him famous and Liu Zeqing's means of seeking a position began.

In the battle of Denglai, how can other generals get half as much benefits as Liu Zeqing?Prince Taishi, Zuo Dudu, Chief Military Officer, and Military Officer have all the benefits except for the title of knight, with Zhang Pu's waving flag and support, plus the praise of Zhang Dai and other people in Fushe, Liu Zeqing is a martial artist, but his reputation has directly entered the imperial court !

Up to now, Liu Zeqing is finally about to take the step that Zhang Pu and others have designed for him in advance, and Zhang Pu's face is full of gratified smiles.

"Brother Tianru, please take your seat!"

Facing Zhang Pu, Liu Zeqing's philistine face just now disappeared all at once, and the mighty and domineering arrogance of being a commander-in-chief who would take life and death was also gone, and the whole face was only friendly. and enthusiasm.He stood up, moved a chair for Zhang Pu himself, and invited this old friend to sit down, but he turned himself into a guest, and actually sat on Zhang Pu's lower head.

"How is this good?" Zhang Puren sat down and said with a smile, "I've become a bad guest here. I just came in because I wanted to see what you were doing, so I asked your house manager to keep quiet. You don't want to." Blame them."

"How could this be?" Liu Zeqing smiled coquettishly, and replied: "I'm not so magnanimous. Besides, who is brother Tianru? He is my great benefactor of Liu. Isn't my home the same as brother Tianru's home? "

"Haha, I've said too much, I've said too much."

"Brother Tianru, what is the important matter here? Did you pass by Beishang to enter the capital? It is a pity that Mr. Zhou did not resettle!" Liu Zeqing has always been concerned about the movements of Fushe and Donglin, and of course the changes in the officialdom in the capital are also his concern The important point is that Zhou Yanru failed to regain the position of chief assistant, but old Fan Fucui became chief assistant, which made Liu Zeqing feel a little frustrated.

"Hehe, Hezhou, Hezhou!" Zhang Pu patted the arm of the chair with emotion, and said with a smile: "The mind of the emperor changes rapidly, but this change is always the same. Don't you think why Zhou Yi Didn't Zhai be recalled to the capital right now?"

"This, I really can't think of it."

"The emperor still depends on Yang Wenruo's actions in Huguang. If he makes great contributions..."

"Then, isn't Mr. Zhou in danger?"

Liu Zeqing's face changed greatly. The Donglin Party and Fushe were his backers. Zhang Pu was his biggest ally. Zhang Pu and Zhou Yanru are also political allies now, as everyone knows.If Yang Sichang went directly to the first assistant to take charge of the cabinet cardinal, Zhou Yanru could not go back, and his backing would be unreliable.

"Hehe, how can this new merit be so easy?"

Zhang Pu laughed again, with a look of wisdom in his hands, he said slowly: "Last year, Wu Ciwei, one of the four sons of Donglin, returned to the south from the capital, and what he saw along the way was shocking. Henan, southern Shandong, and northern Huguang , suffered severe drought, which has never happened in the past 300 years of the country. For more than two years, almost an inch of rain has not fallen, and there are thousands of miles of barren land. There are not one household registration in ten, and there are more than [-] households in a county, which is only insufficient There are thousands of households, but Dingkou’s taxes still cannot be reduced or exempted, Hezhou, let me ask you, what is this situation like?”

"It's like sitting on a powder keg..."

"Well, yes, you're right." Mentioning such a tragic event, Zhang Pu's face was a little unbearable, but he still said: "The prefectures in Nanyang, Henan, and the area in northern Anhui are also full of hungry people. Suppressing bandits, using force It's only three points, the important thing is political clarity, local officials use people, and taxes should be reduced by a few points... On this matter, my colleagues have written several times, talking about the misery of the people, asking the emperor to help, but the effect is extremely poor ah."

Liu Zeqing was a little stunned by this kind of in-depth communication. He only paid attention to personnel matters, and lacked understanding and attention to fundamental political and military matters. [

In fact, the scholar-bureaucrats at that time were not unaware of the suffering of the people, nor did they fail to see the miserable situation of the people, and they also knew that the danger of this situation continuing was increasing day by day.During the 11th to 13th years of Chongzhen, during these three years, Henan province was the most affected, followed by northern Hubei and northern Anhui. In this vast area of ​​thousands of miles, there are hungry refugees and fleeing people everywhere. , the land is cracked, there are no living people, and the seeds of the farm cattle are all eaten up. All kinds of miserable conditions make people unable to help but cry.

A disaster of this level, even if the government provides relief, it will inevitably cause problems, not to mention that from the end of 12 to 13, it will start to increase the training salary!

A salary of more than 700 million taels of silver!

At this time, all the three salaries have been added, and there are a total of more than [-] million taels of taxes. These taxes are not imposed on the clan or foreign relatives, nor on gentry and giant merchants, but on farmers and ordinary merchants. body!

The world is in turmoil, and in Liu Zeqing's words, he is sitting on a powder keg!

It's not that Zhang Pu is ignorant of these facts, but it's his ass who decides his position. He and his accomplices, that is, those literati and bureaucrats who are outspoken and self-proclaimed, when they wrote a letter, they made the people miserable. Please The emperor reduced taxes and taxes, cultivated provinces and respected heaven, but apart from that, they didn't even mention the real problem.

Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing, among the five dynasties, two were established by foreign races, and three were Han dynasties. The reasons for the country's collapse were complicated, but only the Ming Dynasty died of financial collapse. There is no doubt about it.The fundamental reason is that the system set up by Zhu Yuanzhang is of course the most important reason. In the way of calculating and collecting taxes independently, the people in Huzhou have to send their food to the guards stationed in Gaoyou. A certain county wants to burn 50 yuan of bricks for Beijing's urban defense project, and then send them to Beijing at its own expense. The department that burns bricks directly deals with the Ministry of Households... Is there anything more absurd than this?The Ministry of Households of the country is said to be the location of the world's financial planning, but in fact, apart from income and expenditure, it has no other expenditure functions, and has no functions and capabilities for overall planning and refined management. When the country is in peace, there are many financial crises. When natural disasters and man-made disasters come together, collapse will inevitably occur.

In this chain, the royal family, clan, relatives, eunuchs, and civil servants, the most financial pressure is undoubtedly the civil servant class, and the gentry class who provide civil servants.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the royal family was already very frugal. For example, during the Wanli period, it was impossible for the country to spend millions of dollars on the crown of the King of Fortune. However, the Qing Dynasty was safe and sound, and the mystery of this is self-evident.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the biggest difference is that the first is the clan. The cost of raising hundreds of thousands of clans was saved, while the fiscal revenue of the Qing Dynasty was nearly 3000 million taels at the beginning of the country, but the common people could afford it. Because at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River was suppressed with the cruelest means. In terms of the amount of grain payment and commercial tax collection, the amount of collection of the gentry class in the Qing Dynasty was far beyond Ming!

This is where the mystery lies!

This is the main reason for the Ming Dynasty's bottomless tolerance and indulgence towards the scholar-official class!

The gentry has unlimited privileges, and this privilege can be passed on to all children and grandchildren!One generation of Chinese is Jinshi, and generations can't pay enough food and taxes. Once a family has a Jinshi, it is likely to become a prosperous family for more than a hundred years!

In Jiangnan, the success of this kind of family system can be seen everywhere in the prefectures. There are many Wang clans with a history of more than 200 years. It will continue to flow into the hands of that family.

The gentry did not pay their taxes, and once they were elected, that was the case. As soon as the news spread, their clansmen or outsiders would come to join them with their land deeds, and then these people would become tenants and hermits, and the state would never receive a penny from them. Taxation of money, and they only need to pay the land rent to the Jinshi master.

Although you still have to pay rent, you don’t need to pay taxes to the country, you don’t get harassed by yellow and white lists, and you don’t have to do forced labor. This is of course more cost-effective than paying taxes to the country!

In addition to fields, after the middle and late Ming Dynasty, collusion between gentry and wealthy businessmen was also very common. Qian Qianyi, a famous scholar and leader of Donglin, owned a large number of manors in Wuxi, and also invested equity in maritime merchants. Maritime trade Of course, the benefits obtained were huge. Qian Qianyi could bring [-] silver to Beijing at a time, which was a huge amount of wealth at the time. If he didn't do business, how could he easily obtain such a huge amount of wealth?

Gentlemen do business, but do not pay commercial tax. The tax system of the Ming Dynasty is complicated and the tax rate is low. There are too many places where bad rules like Hemai can be operated. The rich merchants and gentry will definitely not pay commercial tax, and they can avoid tax when they pass the customs. , In this way, the extremely low tax rate was passed on to ordinary merchants. During the reign of Chongzhen, ordinary merchants also suffered the same hardships as farmers.

This is the biggest secret of the collapse of the people due to the increase of three salaries!