"The disasters in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, North Zhili and the Huaihe River..." Zhu Youjian laughed, "What does it have to do with you Suzhou scholar-bureaucrats who enjoy preferential treatment? Have your fields been flooded? No drought, everything is fine. What are you anxious about?
And I am working as an official and gentry in the eight prefectures of North Zhili, paying grain and tax together, and collecting five liters of imperial grain per acre. What do I have to do with you Suzhou Juren who don't pay grain and are even exempted from commercial taxes? Southern Zhili is a place beyond my reach, and your Suzhou Prefecture has always had a tradition of resisting taxes and grain. I have never thought of raising your taxes!
I just want to add it, are you willing to give it to me? The officials sent by Grandpa Temple and Wei Zhongxian to your Suzhou to collect taxes did not end well... I, the emperor, did not want you to slap me in the face!
But why do you bother to stand up for Zhu Guoshou, Li Chunzhen and other gentry from Beizhili? Those two people from Beizhili are not as good as you Suzhou people. They paid last year's autumn grain and this year's summer taxes honestly, and they didn't dare to beat up my officials for resisting the taxes! Zhu Guoshou and Li Chunzhen, am I right? "
The people of Suzhou are so kind, that's because the Ming army in Nanzhili has long been abolished, and whether it is the Nanjing Jingying, the Caojiang Navy, or the naval forces along the coast, they all have one vote to take the lead and not pay taxes. In the hands of honorable ministers and hereditary military attachés.
Of course they would not suppress the people in Jiangnan who resisted tax... So the officials sent by the Beijing court to South Zhili to supervise taxes had a very difficult time.
But Northern Zhili is not Southern Zhili, the real emperor is at his feet, and this emperor has more than 100,000 confidants who are brave and good at fighting. Moreover, the emperor also proved that the sword in his hand was quite sharp with his excellent record of defeating the Northern and Eastern slaves and opening up new territories. Now in Beizhi, who dares to try his best?
"No...absolutely not!"
"My family has paid taxes..."
Of course Zhu Guoshou and Li Chunzhen did not dare to fight the tax collectors sent by Zhu Youjian... because most of those who dared to do so are now dead!
Therefore, the implementation of the law of paying grain and taxes to the officials and gentry in the eight prefectures of Northern Zhili was relatively smooth. Because the unified payment of grain by officials and gentry was implemented, the land tax in Beizhili was equally distributed to every acre of land. And the tax on five liters of wheat per acre is not high in any case! Although the harvest in Beizhili has not been good in the past few years, one acre of land can yield eighty-nine dou to one stone of grain, which is 80-100 liters. The tax of 5 liters is only one for twenty. It is basically Not heavy.
Therefore, the officials and gentry in Northern Zhili paid grain and taxes together, so there was no civil unrest, and the situation was basically relatively stable.
Another reason why the gentry here in Beizhili did not dare to make trouble is that most of the land in Beizhili was actually occupied by nobles and hereditary military attachés, and there was not much land belonging to scholar-bureaucrats - this is also why Zhu Youjian The reason for the "integration of officials and gentry" in the eight prefectures of Beizhili in one step... If he lets the "officials" of Beizhili go, there won't be much land left to collect taxes normally.
After losing most of their "knife handles", the nobles and hereditary military attachés have turned into toothless tigers and dare not resist Zhu Youjian's imperial power. The nobles and hereditary military attachés are on their knees. Why should the scholar-bureaucrats who don’t have much land think of themselves as evil people?
"Zhu Guoshou, Li Chunzhen," Zhu Youjian said in a serious tone, "then tell me, is the tax of five liters per mu considered heavy?"
"Not heavy, not heavy at all..."
"It's only one tax per twenty, how can it be heavy?"
How can two people from Northern Zhili dare to say that they are important? To put it bluntly, what happened to the land tax that ordinary small farmers paid before "officials and gentry paid grain taxes"? In Henan, Shanxi, Shandong, Shaanxi and other places, what about the land belonging to small farmers whose grain payment is higher than five liters per mu?
Zhu Youjian looked at Zhang Pu and Yang Tingshu again, "Do you think it's a lot or not a lot to pay five liters of wheat per acre of land?"
"It's really not much..."
"Not much..."
Zhu Youjian smiled: "Then it's okay not to mention the tax issue in Zhili, Northern China!"
"Your Majesty," Zhang Pu did not give up and said to Zhu Youjian, "but Shaanxi has suffered from drought for many years, the land has dried up, and the harvest has been more than halved...The imperial court is unwilling to reduce or reduce taxes in Shaanxi. It is really It’s a bit unreasonable!”
Zhu Youjian laughed: "The severe drought in Shaanxi is the suffering of people in Shaanxi. Does it have anything to do with you Suzhou people? Does it have anything to do with you gentlemen from Jiangnan?"
Yang Tingshu frowned and said, "Why did your Majesty say this? The world is one family, how can we distinguish each other?"
"The world is one family?" Zhu Youjian laughed, "According to what you said, Shaanxi and Suzhou are brothers?"
"Yes..." Yang Tingshu always felt that something was wrong, but he still said bravely, "Your Majesty is the king and father, and everyone in the world is a subject. Of course, the people of Shaanxi and Suzhou are brothers... "
"Yes, I remembered. You are the Yang family of Hongnong, and your ancestral home is Shaanxi!" Zhu Youjian nodded, "Then I ask you, if your brother is going to starve to death, will you, a rich man in Suzhou, give him food? "
ah? Still have such a problem?
"Of course I have to give him food..." How could Yang Tingshu say no? Great Confucian, that is about respecting brothers and sisters. How can you watch your younger brother starve to death?
Zhu Youjian smiled and said to Zhang Pu again: "I heard that you have a bad relationship with your brothers and they are going to starve to death. You must be happy, right?"
Zhang Pu was born by a maid, and he was very young. He was a bad boy at home, so he was bullied by his brothers and his aunt since he was a child... Fortunately, there is an inspirational story about the Ming Dynasty's counterattack in the exam! Zhang Pu is a typical example. He has a good mind, is diligent and studious, and has no problem with being a scholar or a scholar. He is also known as "Lou Dong Er Zhang" and is considered to be the successor of Dong Lin and the leader of Fushe.
However, after he counterattacked, he did not take revenge on his brothers. If his brothers were in trouble, he would still have to help.
"Why did your Majesty say this?" Zhang Pu was dumbfounded by Zhu Youjian's words. "Students are students who read the books of sages. How can you hate your brothers and hope that they will starve to death just because of their minor faults? If the students' When the brothers encounter difficulties and have no...no food to eat, the students will definitely help them."
Zhu Youjian smiled and asked: "Now the brothers in Shaanxi are starving to death. You people in Suzhou have plenty of rice. Should you give some to the people in Shaanxi?"
These are two different things!
Zhang Pu and Yang Tingshu didn't dare to agree on behalf of the Suzhou people, otherwise they would become the public enemies of Suzhou?
Seeing that the two great scholars were speechless, Zhu Youjian smiled and said: "It is true that I am the father of the Ming Dynasty, but the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty do not love each other and do not regard each other as brothers! Otherwise, how could Shaanxi be short of food? How could Jiubian be without pay? In places like Nanzhili, Huguang, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Sichuan, there are more than 400 million acres of farmland on the books, including paddy fields. At least half, and they are all good fields with two crops a year. If one acre can produce one dou of imperial grain to save the people of Shaanxi and the soldiers of Liaodong, why is the state's affairs like this?"
One mu per dou, 400 million mu is more than 40 million shi... plus the land tax of several northern provinces, plus the salt tax, plus the commercial tariff, etc., how much does it cost in a year? There are 60 million!
If Zhu Youjian really had that much income, the severe drought in the future might not be a problem!
In Chengyun Hall, all the officials were silent.
Because what Zhu Youjian said just now was not for the officials, but for the officials - the south must pay a land tax of one acre per dou!
This is a big opening for a lion!
And...it can't be done! Because the officials and the gentry are not allowed to pay grain and taxes together, this dou per acre falls on the common people, which is just a stone per acre!
If the officials and gentry are required to pay grain and taxes together... Zhu Youjian still has too few soldiers!
Zhu Youjian sighed and said to the ministers in the hall: "If you don't pay taxes, I can't do anything about it... If the drought can be alleviated, everyone will be happy. I have Beizhili." The eight prefectures' unified food collection service is enough to support 100,000 elite royal troops. If Yuan Chonghuan can use the money and food raised from the salt service to practical purposes, it will only take five to ten years to pacify Liao and eliminate the captives.
But if this drought continues, I will have to beg for food sooner or later! "
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