On the bank of the Qinhuai River, in the Baimen Pavilion, the faint sound of silk and bamboo came from the second floor. After experiencing the hustle and bustle during the day, as night falls, the Qinhuai River becomes particularly peaceful. The gentle breeze in late autumn makes people feel particularly comfortable.
Zhu Cixiang, whose pseudonym is Zhu Yaofei, sat next to Kou Baimen very naturally, drinking wine, eating side dishes cooked by Kou Baimen himself, and joking from time to time, but there was no sign of being fascinated by this Qinhuai beauty—— Where does this level of play-by-play go? It’s not like Zhu Cihong’s previous life was unknown to him.
And he, a hairless young man, could resist Kou Baimen's teasing, which was beyond the expectations of several Southeastern talents.
Among them, only Grand Duke Luo knew the true identity of "Zhu Yaofei", while Hou Fangyu, Huang Zongxi, Mao Xiang, and Zhang Huangyan also knew that the identity of "Zhu Yaofei" was unusual - just look at Zheng Sen's flattering attitude. Who is Zheng Sen? The son of the richest man in Ming Dynasty! Moreover, the richest man in the family is not an official who can kill fat pigs for meat. Even the Prince Fujun of the Ming Dynasty can only win over the Zheng family and dare not suppress and bully them.
But they didn't know that a young man like him was the real master of half of the Ming Dynasty!
After three rounds of wine and five tastes of food, the melodious sounds were almost heard. The few people gathered here began to talk loudly - this is how Donglin and Fushe, the southeastern clean streams, conduct political life.
It was Grand Duke Luo who started the topic, and of course the topic was related to the recent sufferings suffered by the people of Beijing.
And it was Huang Zongxi who started the conversation next. Among the several talented people, the one with the most thoughtful ideas was probably Huang Zongxi, who wrote "Records of Visits to the Ming Yi". And the person with the worst reputation in later generations is actually Huang Zongxi! Because he was labeled as a public intellectual in the late Ming Dynasty, he already had a bad reputation.
"The loss of Yanjing was the emperor's mistake in guarding the country and the crime of cutting down vassals and abolishing feudalism! The so-called emperor guarded the country, but actually the emperor guarded the country. He set up nine-sided important towns and spent millions to protect the emperor's surroundings. Once Yanjing If there is an emergency in Beijing, soldiers and horses from nine sides will be mobilized for it, and they will be exhausted. In the capital of the emperor, there are hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, who consume countless rice and noodles every day. The barren land near Zhili in the north is difficult to supply, so we can only use The deployment of 120,000 grain transport troops thousands of miles is really a waste of the world's government! In terms of its merits and demerits in guarding the border, it is really not as good as the Jiushei vassal established by Emperor Taizu Gao in the past. If the Jiushei is still there, the disaster of building captives will be The two vassals of Liao and Ning are enough to make up for the situation, so why is today's disaster so great?"
"Okay, okay! Well said! The emperor's effectiveness in guarding the country is indeed not as good as that of the Jiusei vassal king!" Zhu Cixiang clapped his hands and said with a smile, "It's just that Emperor Chengzuwen used vassalage to seize the country and set a bad example for himself. He is worried about his descendants. Some people followed suit, so they had no choice but to move the capital to Beijing. In the final analysis, it was Jianwen's mistake to cut down the vassal vassal! Jianwen valued Confucian ministers but despised the vassal king. He wanted to imitate the policies of Zhao and Song Dynasty, but he did not have Zhao Kuangyin's skills. As a result, he ruined the plan of Emperor Taizu Gao. The situation also laid hidden dangers for the country. However, even if Jianwen could release the power of the vassal king with a glass of wine, and then use the method of civil and military control, it would be a weak Song Dynasty."
After hearing Zhu Cixiang's words, Hou Fangyu, Huang Zongxi, Mao Xiang, Zhang Huangyan and others present were shocked.
This young man really dares to say that! He is...could he be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! ?
Zhu Cixiang glanced around the room, and then said with a smile: "In my opinion, the guardianship of the country is only one of the two major drawbacks of moving the capital to Beijing. The other major drawback is that the capital is far away from the rich land in the southeast, making the southeast The rich man is beyond the reach of the imperial court!
In a dynasty with a wise king and loyal ministers, we can still work hard to ensure that the country will not be in short supply. If you encounter a weak master or a treacherous minister, the fertile water from the southeast will flow into other people's fields. As time goes by, the country will become increasingly poor and weak, and the soldiers of the Nine Borders will naturally be limited to poverty and unable to afford military service. The rampage of Hulu has become inevitable! "
When he said this, his eyes had focused on Huang Zongxi's prominent cheekbones, and he smiled and said, "Brother Taichong, what do you think of what Prince Fujun did?"
Huang Zongxi twirled his beard and stared at Zhu Cihong. He was silent for a long time and then said: "The Prince of Fujun has great talents but little benevolence. He is a hero in troubled times and a tyrant who rules the world!"
"Huang Taichong!" Grand Duke Luo roared, "Please be careful what you say!"
Huang Zongxi smiled and said: "This is a blunt statement! The world is in troubled times! It is the great fortune of the Ming Dynasty to have a heroic leader in charge of the country, and it is also the fortune of the scholars! If it were replaced by a king who has only benevolence but no talent, the world would be in trouble. Disaster of overthrow!"
What he said... he should know the identity of this prince! Zhu Cixiang smiled slightly and thought to himself: Shouldn't you, Huang Taichong, be the one who takes the lead? Aren't you one of the three great intellectuals in the late Ming Dynasty? Why are you trying to flatter me? Do you also want to become an official?
Huang Zongxi looked at Zhu Cixi's smiling face and felt so proud in his heart! It seems that Enke can go to high school this time - Huang Zongxi doesn't know anything about public knowledge. He only knows that the young man in front of him can give him an official position. He is his king and father... that is his dear Dad Zhu! Moreover, this father Zhu is so fierce and has an army of 100,000 men. The scholar-bureaucrats from the southeast cannot defeat him at all. This is the wise and powerful Father Zhu! Huang Zongxi is a public intellectual and not mentally retarded. How could he jump out and die?
Zhu Cixiang asked again: "In your opinion, what should be done first in the southeast?"
"In matters in the southeast, of course, financial management comes first!" Huang Zongxi said with a smile, "The southeast is where wealth gathers. If the court in the southeast can't even manage its finances well, what else can it do well?"
“When managing money, why should you put it first?”
Huang Zongxi said: "When managing money, waste gold and silver should be the first priority!"
Zhu Cixiang smiled and said: "The method of changing currency must be done with caution. Brother Taichong should talk about other methods."
Zhu Cixiang knew that what Huang Zongxi was talking about was the view in the financial planning chapter of "The Visit to the Ming Yi": waste gold and silver, cast copper coins, and also implement copper bans and cast good coins - it looks good, but it is not feasible.
Because it is an economic phenomenon that bad coins drive out good coins, and a copper ban will inevitably lead to high copper prices. Minting good coins will invert the value of copper and money. When the time comes, the phenomenon of destroying good coins to extract copper and privately minting bad coins will flood. Of course, these problems would be solved after the mid-18th century. Because after that, Europeans used more efficient copper-smelting technology and discovered huge copper mines in the Americas. If after that, the Ming Dynasty continued to use copper coins as its main currency and could not close the country in seclusion, then the copper coins would definitely depreciate significantly!
Huang Zongxi thought for a while and then said: "If gold and silver cannot be abolished suddenly, it should also be easier to tax. In ancient times, when levying the rich and the lowly, millet and silk were used as the basis. Therefore, when taxing the public, there were levies of millet and cloth. This is the sign."
Zhu Cixiang said: "The imperial court's collection of money from the fields has indeed made the people work hard. It must be changed."
In fact, the expropriation of silver for farmland is not a problem for the southeast, which has a developed commodity economy. The problem is that there is too little silver in the northwest and central plains, and the expropriation of silver for farmland is a burden on farmers. The uprising in the late Ming Dynasty started in the northwest, largely because of the conquest of silver from the fields.
Huang Zongxi added: "The next best thing to financial management is clearing and conferring farmland!"
There is actually some useful information! Zhu Cixiang was stunned and said with a smile: "I would like to hear the details."
Huang Zongxi said: "Let's talk about clear fields first. There are four types of fields in the world, one is farmland, the other is official field, the third is civilian field, and the fourth is hidden field.
Taking the account books created after the Wanli New Deal cleared the land as an example, there are actually more than 780,000 hectares of farmland in the world, of which less than 10% is farmland, about 640,000 hectares, and official farmland accounts for three-tenths, which is more than 2 million hectares. Official land plus farmland account for four-tenths of the world's real land! If we also include the unidentified hidden fields, more than half of the land in the world is not owned by the people, but is official land that can be granted.
The private land was owned by the wealthy gentry, and the imperial court was planning to win over the gentry, so they did not need to ask about it. However, the official land is owned by the imperial court, and what is levied is not tax, but rent! The wealthy gentry all support tax exemption, but they would never support rent exemption, right?
If the imperial court can inventory the official farmland in the southeast and then grant it to the people, each household will be granted 50 acres, and the land rent will be tithe. Only field rent is collected, no Ding tax or other taxes are collected. And they only accept rice and noodles, not cash.
In Zhili, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong, there are no less than 10,000,000 acres of official land in total. The tithe rent is two or three buckets of rice and flour per mu, and the annual income is 25 million shi. But ordinary people, gentry, and wealthy households will not find it difficult. If we also include the salt tax of 10 million taels of silver and the customs duties of more than 1 million taels, and the imperial court's annual income of rice and flour is 25 million taels, and the silver is 11 million taels, will the state still be short of money?
Moreover, if 50 acres of land are granted to one household, tens of thousands of acres of official land should be granted to two million households... Two million households and ten million acres of land are all under the control of the hero!
This is only the land in the southeast. If we include the more than 200 million acres in Huguang, it will be enough for the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains! "
As soon as these words were said, not only Hou Fangyu, Mao Xiang, and Zhang Huangyan, the three upright gentlemen, were dumbfounded, but Grand Duke Luo, who wanted to be an official, was also stunned.
Huang Zongxi, who denounces heaven and earth all day long, seems not to be afraid of authority. Why didn't he antagonize the prince today when he met him? Not only did he not antagonize him, but he also flattered him one after another, and even offered Qingtian to grant land. Ce...you are betraying Southeast Shilin! You are rebelling! You are a traitor!
"Hahaha!" Zhu Cixiang laughed, "What a great Huang Taichong! You are the top talent!"
