Shi Kefa, Zuo Maodi and Zhang Huangyan couldn't make the final decision regarding the three-year tax exemption. The only person who can be exempted from imperial food is the Emperor Chuang. King Chuang Li Zicheng is dead. Even if he is not dead, he will not be able to care about the affairs of Zhongzhou. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty can only let Zhu Cihong, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, make the decision.
Shi Kefa was busy with military affairs and had no skills to divide his time. Zuo Maodi wanted to send temporary county magistrates and county lieutenants to the three prefectures of Jibei, Dongchang and Xiyanzhou, and he couldn't leave for a while. So Zhang Huangyan hurried to Xuzhou. On the tenth day of October, he went to Yunlong Mountain and met the Emperor of Heaven.
When he went up the mountain to meet his driver, Zhu Cixiang was discussing what God is with his new love Xu Erlin. The Xu family in Shanghai is a Catholic family. Although Xu Erlin was not baptized (because of the disputes over Chinese etiquette, many scholar-officials began to alienate Catholicism), he had heard about it since he was a child and still firmly believed in the existence of the Creator.
And Zhu Cixiang's experience is such that it is certainly impossible for him to believe in the "no gods theory". So he also believes in the existence of "natural principles"... and he also believes in destiny!
Because he himself has a destiny!
Anyone who has had the same experience as him should believe that "Manifest Destiny" has fallen to him, right?
In addition to having a common belief - they both believe in heaven (the Creator) but not religion (it is obvious that Zhu Cixiang's soul traveled through time without the approval of the Pope), they also have many things in common in philosophy, mathematics, and Gezhixue. language.
Because she had received a half-Chinese and half-Western family education since she was a child, and she was extremely smart, Xu Erlin already had the potential to be a super academic at a young age, and Emperor Zhu saw the shadow of his first girlfriend in her... ..and they look somewhat similar, with curved eyebrows, big eyes, straight bridge of nose, small cherry lips, fair skin, and two small dimples appear on the cheeks when they smile. It's just too slender, a bit like the kind of girl who loses too much weight.
"Xiao Lin, please stay away for a moment," Zhu Cixiang said to Xu Erlin with a smile after receiving Huang Xiaobao's notification, "When I finish meeting Li Yan and Zhang Huangyan, let's go horseback riding together... Your body bones are too thin. It’s good to exercise more.”
"Then I'll take my leave first." Xu Erlin stood up, made a blessing ceremony with a smile, and then drifted away.
Zhu Cixiang looked at the girl's back, smiled slightly, and then said to Huang Xiaobao: "Xuan Li Yan and Zhang Huangyan!"
"Here!"
...
"Three years of exemption from taxes? Have you even composed a song? How did you sing it?"
"Your Majesty, it is sung like this: The morning seeks promotion, the evening seeks harmony. It is difficult for poor people to survive these days. Open the door early to welcome the Ming Dynasty, and the disciplines are happy. Kill the cattle and sheep, prepare wine and liquor, and open the city gate to welcome the Ming Dynasty. Is the Ming Dynasty coming? Pay food..."
The person who is singing to Zhu Cixiang is Li Yan. It sounds a bit like Henan Bangzi, and the lyrics... are very familiar! Zhu Cihong said in his heart: I have sung the song "Welcome the King of Chuang" countless times! I wonder if you will use shamisen or violin as accompaniment in the future?
"Okay, okay..." Zhu Cihong waved his hand, and then asked Zhang Huangyan, "Both Shi Kefa and Zuo Maodi support it?"
"Your Majesty, they all have no objection."
"If you don't accept food..." Zhu Cihong asked, "Are you not accepting royal food, not accepting gentry food, or neither?"
"I don't even accept it," Zhang Huang said.
Zhu Cixiang asked again: "So... what about the expenses of the government offices in the three prefectures of Jibei, West Yanzhou and Dongchang? There are dozens of counties in the three prefectures, right? How many officials are there in one county? How much does it cost?"
"I'm afraid the court will have to put money into it!" Zhang Huangyan said.
Then you have to lose money... Emperor Zhu hates losing money the most!
"How much do we have to pay?" Zhu Cixiang thought for a moment and then asked, "How do we make it back?"
Earn it back?
Li Yan and Zhang Huangyan couldn't help but frown.
"Your Majesty," Zhang Huang said, "if we can drive the Donglu out of China, we have already made a profit!"
Li Yan also said: "Henan and Shandong have experienced floods, droughts and military disasters one after another. The people are suffering as if they are in fire and water. Your Majesty is a benevolent king. Can you be considerate?"
Why is there still Henan? Emperor Zhu said to himself: You, Li Yan, have never forgotten your hometown elders! I remember when I was searching in Fujian and Guangdong in four rivers and two lakes, you all applauded me!
"Let me think about it again..." Zhu Cixiang was noncommittal, and at the same time raised a question, "How should the land be divided?"
Compared with the exemption of taxes, this is a big problem!
"Your Majesty," Zhang Huangyan said, "I have a way... to implement a permanent tenancy system and official land rent in the restored lands of Shandong and Henan."
The so-called permanent tenancy system is a tenancy system in which tenants enjoy long-term farming rights and the power to dispose of farming rights on the condition that they pay rent according to the contract.
The official land rent is a lower "fixed land rent" set by the government to be implemented in conjunction with the permanent tenancy system.
In other words, the meritorious landowners or other landowners who obtained the farmland recovered in Shandong and Henan can only charge a lower fixed rent, and they are not allowed to evict tenants if the farmers pay the rent as agreed.
"This method looks good, but..." Zhu Cixiang paused, "No one is satisfied!"
Zhang Huangyan's method is a bit like rent reduction and interest rate reduction in later generations. It sounds good, but neither landlords nor farmers will be satisfied!
Landlords of course have to charge more rent and interest...and farmers need to get ownership of their land!
"Your Majesty," Zhang Huangyan was a big landowner himself, so he certainly understood what Emperor Zhu meant. He shook his head, "But right now, there is no other better way!"
Zhu Cixiang looked at Li Yan again, and Li Yan said: "First announce three years of free food, and we will talk about the rest later!" He paused, "As far as I know, when the Donglu first made plans and dictated the fields, the people's lives were indeed easy. It took a while. But then the Qing government trained a new army, launched a new policy, and began to reclaim Guandong... More and more money and food were spent, and the tax rate became higher and higher. In the beginning At that time, it was said that it was four cents per acre, but now it has been mentioned that it is more than one dou. This was still collected by the Qing court, and local officials were not allowed to take another share. If it is the territory managed by the Angbang Zhangjing Yamen or the Zhenglv Banner San Francisco , the search becomes even more ruthless! Therefore, the people of the Central Plains all miss our great tomorrow!"
Zhu Cixiang snorted: "Are they missing Li Zicheng?"
Li Yan smiled awkwardly: "When Li Zicheng was here, they missed the Ming Dynasty... But when Donglu's fox tail was exposed, they felt that Li Zicheng was better."
One is more ruthless than the other!
Zhu Cixiang thought to himself: I wonder if the people of the Central Plains will miss the Qing Dynasty in a few years?
Thinking like this in his heart, of course he couldn't say it with his mouth. Emperor Zhu thought for a while and asked again: "Did Donglu Ji dictate the land and grant it public land or private land?"
"It's public land," Li Yan said, "There is no private land in Donglu... For the so-called Ten Banners disciples of Donglu, not only do they not have private land, but even the house they live in is not their own. Belongs to the flag or the Ministry of Internal Affairs."
"Then... the land in Fuzhou County will be temporarily used as public land. The property rights will not be changed within three years, and taxes and land rent will not be levied. We will discuss other matters after three years!"
Zhu Cixiang has already made a decision.
He had to push this matter back... He did not agree with the method proposed by Zhang Huangyan. It's not that he objects to permanent tenancy and fixed rent, but that this matter cannot be handled by him as the emperor, otherwise no one will be satisfied. Emperor Zhu will definitely complain when the time comes!
In addition, Emperor Zhu was worried that the agricultural productivity of Fujian and Guangdong in the four rivers and two lakes in the southeast was developing rapidly - on the one hand, it was due to the collapse of the "import system" and the increase in agricultural marketization; on the other hand, the industrial, commercial and colonial Stimulus for Southeastern Agriculture.
The superposition of several factors has made Southeastern agriculture and industry and commerce more and more competitive. If the agriculture in the Central Plains continues to maintain the small-scale farmer model, I am afraid that the gap between the Central Plains economy and the Southeast will become wider and wider in the future...
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