Dakongfang, West Garden.
The sound of the piano is rippling, melodious and graceful, making people feel like a spring breeze. The occasional glide is like a swallow copying water, making ripples.
In an octagonal pavilion, Zhu Cixiang and several of his confidants were listening to Kou Baimen's piano playing brought by Zheng Sen. Among them, the father and son of the Wu family frowned slightly - what does the surname Zheng mean? Why bring a beautiful woman to Dakongfang? Are you dedicating it to Master Chitose?
Just when the two father and son were worried about whether Wu Sanmei could continue to be favored, the sound of the piano suddenly stopped, and Kou Baimen looked calm and nodded gently in greeting.
Zhu Cixi just waved his hand gently and dismissed Kou Baimen without saying a word.
Kou Baimen is very beautiful, indeed worthy of being the most beautiful woman in Qinhuai, but she is not Zhu Cihong's cup of tea.
Seeing that Zhu Cixi dismissed Kou Baimen casually, the Wu family father and son breathed a sigh of relief. Then they looked at each other. Wu Sanfu said with a smile: "Master Qiansui, you have summoned all the guys here today, won't you?" Let’s listen to this little girl playing music together?”
Zhu Cixiang smiled and said, "You are all my confidants. You will come to Dakongfang more often in the future. Let's listen to music, watch a show, and have a drink together. In short, don't let us become strangers."
He winked at Jinyiwei commander Zhu Chunjie again. Zhu Chunjie smiled and took out a thick account book, "Master Qiantose, this is the property account book of each family of the eunuch rebels that Jin Yiwei has just compiled. Please take a look."
"Haha." Zhu Cihong waved, and Huang Xiaobao quickly stepped forward, took the account book, and handed it to Prince Zhu with both hands.
Zhu Cixiang looked through the pages and asked, "How many gardens were copied? How much cash and cash? How many acres of land?"
Zhu Chunjie replied: "As of yesterday, there are 128 confirmed gardens located in Yingtian Mansion, of which 66 are located in Nanjing."
"Hahaha," Zhu Cixiang laughed, "Everyone here has a garden!"
Zhu Chunjie added: "The total amount of gold and silver copied is more than 26 million taels, including more than 1 million taels of gold."
Zhu Cihong said: "Five million taels of silver will be used to disband the ministry, and the rest will be divided!"
This is really a big deal! Wealth worth nearly 25 million taels was distributed by Zhu Cixiang like this!
Of course, these 25 million taels are only part of the "financial assets" owned by the nobles and ministers of Nanjing. There are also more than 30 million taels of debts and shares, which will all be put into Zhu Cihong's pocket.
Zhu Chunjie continued: "There are more than 50 million acres of land! Among them, no less than 28 million acres are located on the ground in South Zhili, and the rest are mostly in Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian and Huguang. Among the 28 million acres in South Zhili, about 8 million Mu is military settlement, more than 4 million mu is private farmland or granted farmland, and most of the rest is hidden farmland.”
"Haha, 16 million acres of hidden farmland!" Zhu Cixiang smiled, "That's great! By the way, how much registered farmland is there in Southern Zhili?"
"About 77.4 million acres." Zhu Chunjie replied.
"What about Zhejiang?"
"There are about 46.7 million acres."
"Haha," Zhu Cixi sneered twice, "South Zhili is full of plains, and Zhejiang is full of mountains. Moreover, South Zhili is more than one and a half times larger than Zhejiang Province. It is actually only 31 million acres more... .This is the number that was found when Zhang Juzheng was in power!"
Southern Zhili is equivalent to Jiangsu, Anhui and Shanghai in later generations. Although Jiangsu Province at this time was not as big as it would be in later generations - part of the land in northern Jiangsu was still submerged in the sea and had not been silted out. But no matter how you calculate it, Jiangsu must have more cultivated land than Zhejiang!
As for Anhui Province, it is a large grain province with thousands of miles of fertile land. In later generations, the cultivated land area of Anhui Province was more than one and a half times that of Zhejiang Province. Nowadays, the cultivated land in Nanzhili, which consists of Anhui, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, is only 70 to 80% more than that in Zhejiang Province. The ratio of hidden land to registered land is probably one to one!
"Master Qiansui, it would be great to get more than 30 million acres of land!" Wu Xiang smiled so hard that he couldn't even close his mouth. "Even if there are 100,000 new troops to overcome difficulties, 10 million acres will be enough... ..Another 5 million acres will be enough for those who have followed Qian Suiye. Another 15 million acres can be turned into military camps. With a rent of seven dou per acre, you can still earn more than 10 million shi!"
What a fart! Zhu Cihong sneered in his heart: There are obviously 150 million acres of land, but more than 70 million are recorded on the books, of which at least 10 million acres are military camps that do not pay taxes. Among the remaining 60 million acres, 70% to 80% are various gentry fields, which do not require taxes...
...
The river is surging and flows eastward slowly. Perhaps because the miserable Emperor Chongzhen is no longer in power, the climate in the south of the Yangtze River this year is also wetter than in previous years. The Yangtze River, the golden waterway that runs through the waist of the Chinese land, also seems to have very abundant water, rolling and churning toward the sea.
In Yingtianfu, Nanjing, on the south bank of the Yangtze River, a young man wearing a red arrow jacket was riding horses along the river with a large group of young men also wearing arrow jackets. Behind them were a large group of guards. The south bank of the Yangtze River is full of green rice fields. Many Jiangnan farmers wearing bamboo hats are busy in the fields, either weeding or fertilizing, and carefully tending the late rice in the paddy fields.
Rice in the south of the Yangtze River is mostly grown in two crops, divided into early rice and late rice. The best paddy fields can produce as much as three stones of rice in a year! A stone in the Ming Dynasty was equivalent to about 1,890 kilograms in later generations, and three stones was equivalent to more than 500 kilograms. And it's rice, not rice in the husk.
For an era without chemical fertilizers and pesticides, this kind of yield is really not low.
As for the "heavy taxation" of the Ming Dynasty in the south of the Yangtze River, taking Suzhou Prefecture, which had the heaviest taxation, as an example, during the Hongwu period when taxation work was most effectively implemented, the annual tax revenue was 2.7 million shi - 2.8 million shi, accounting for about the national total. Less than 10%. The average mu tax is less than three bushels, about two bushels and eight liters. If the rice produced is three shi, the grain payment is less than three dou, and the tax rate is less than 10%, can it be considered a "heavy tax"?
In the Wanli period, despite Zhang Juzheng's repeated rectifications, Suzhou's land tax was still much lower than in the Hongwu period, just over 2 million shi. The per-mu tax should be around two buckets. If you produce three shi of rice and pay two dou of grain, is this tax considered heavy?
Of course, the taxes in Suzhou and Jiangnan are still very heavy compared to other places in the country. In terms of land tax, Suzhou’s land tax is about seven to eight times the national average!
From this point of view, it is indeed a heavy tax.
But in the dry fields of the Central Plains and northwest, even before the Little Ice Age, the yield (flour) per mu was less than one stone, usually only a few buckets. Even if it is tax-free, the income from planting one acre of dry land in the north cannot be compared with one acre of paddy field in the south of the Yangtze River.
From this perspective, the land tax in Jiangnan is not heavy at all.
Of course, the premise of not being heavy is that the tax can fall evenly on the land in Jiangnan, rather than most of the land not paying taxes, and a small part of the land bearing the entire tax... And what Zhu Cixi now sees is the lush Originally, paddy fields were not taxed! Because these fields are owned by Wei Guofu!
Zhu Cixiang reined in the reins and stood up high, looking at the rich fields thoughtfully. His former head guard, Wang Qi, who was now the division commander of the New Army, rode his horse forward, came close to Zhu Cixiang, and whispered: "Master Qiansui, it's getting late, it's time to go back. It's not yet outside Nanjing City. In Great Taiping, there are still many fugitive eunuch traitors who are causing trouble."
Zhu Cixiang sneered: "What traitor is there that your central military advisor can't deal with? Lao Qi, you don't need to say more... We must finish checking this land today. We won't go back to the city if it's too late. This way There is a separate courtyard of the Xu family, just sleep for one night."
"Master Qiantose, why do you need to personally ask about such an unimportant matter?"
"Not very important?" Zhu Cixiang glanced at him, "Is there anything more important?"
Yes, I have!
Wang Qixin said: You still have the position to usurp, the Tatars to defend, the Donglin Party to win over, and Zuo Liangyu to deal with...
Zhu Cixiang said calmly: "The land here will soon be allocated to the middle and lower-level officers and soldiers of the middle division... The land of the four levels of guards, warriors, captains, and small flags will be allocated in this area. Among them, the guards 50 acres will be allocated, warriors will be allocated 70 acres, school captains will be allocated 100 acres, and small flags will be allocated 150 acres. A total of about 600,000 acres of paddy fields will be allocated."
