Millions of beggars are eating the big households in Xiangyang Prefecture. The losses to the big households can be much greater than the tax of one dou or two dou per acre!
Now as long as the rice soldiers are willing to leave, let alone one or two dou, even five or six dou in tax, they will grit their teeth and agree.
But the question is, can Zhu Youjian stay in Xiangyang? Aren't you going back to Beijing? Will Xiangyang or Wuchang be the capital in the future?
If that's the case, there's no need to worry about Huguang's taxes. As long as Zhu Youjian leads millions of begging soldiers in Huguang, it will not be a problem to pay 60 million dan a year for more than 200 million acres of land in Huguang... and it can also radiate along the Yangtze River to Jiangnan, In Sichuan, earning 100 million a year is not a dream!
On the books of the Ming Dynasty, Huguang had 220 million acres, Jiangxi had 40 million acres, Zhejiang had 46 million acres, Southern Zhili had 77 million acres, and Sichuan had 13 million acres on the books, but in fact it was no less than 50 million acres. In addition, there are a lot of hidden fields in South Zhili, and a lot of them have been flooded in the Huaihe River Basin. If you check carefully, it should be over 100 million.
The Yangtze River Basin alone or the provincial administrative regions close to the Yangtze River Basin have more than 450 million acres of fertile land... Two buckets per acre can cost 90 million shi!
Over 100 million is not difficult at all, but how to manage the army in the north?
The basis of Zhu Youjian's rule is still the eight heavenly soldiers including Zhangqian, Dianqian, Yuqian, Datong, Xuanfu, Yanshan and Daning. In addition to the imperial army stationed in Sichuan and Guizhou, it is based on the imperial guard Qianhu Station in Sichuan and Guizhou. The remaining seven armies are all based in Beizhili, Datong, Xuanfu, Yanshan, and Daning. In addition, the five noble concubines Wanhu Orduo, whom Zhu Youjian relied on, were also stationed as herders on the northern grasslands.
If Zhu Youjian moves the capital from Beijing to Wuchang, he will have to stay away from the more than 100,000 elite troops stationed in Datong, Xuanfu, Yanshan, Daning and Beizhili for a long time. And it is quite dangerous to stay away from one's most basic armed forces for a long time...it might lead to a Jingnan War or an Anshi Rebellion.
Moreover, the war between the Ming Dynasty and the slave thieves has not yet ended, and the northern grasslands have not been pacified, so it is impossible for Zhu Youjian to move south to Wuchang - unless he can eradicate the slave thieves, conquer the grasslands, and level the northwest. The imperial court moved southward to avoid the enemies in the north. This was a huge loss of prestige! Once the prestige is lost, the more than 100,000 elite soldiers in the north will become disloyal. It is too dangerous!
But Zhu Youjian still has a way!
As long as the gentry in Huguang agree to a tax rate of one dou per acre, the annual land tax of 20 million shi will not be evaded. Not only the agricultural tax will not be evaded, but also the commercial tax cards on the Jingjiang, Hanshui and Xiangjiang rivers can be restored. , and another one or two million taels of business tax will be collected a year!
When the imperial court was not located along the Yangtze River, receiving this number was not a small amount.
Zhu Youjian laughed and said: "Uncle, don't worry, I have already found a way to collect the full amount of land tax from the various prefectures in Huguang!"
Zhu Yiming asked with interest: "Your Majesty, what are you going to do?"
Zhu Youjian laughed and said: "Of course it is decentralization! There are only two reasons for the difficulty of taxation in this dynasty. One is that the court has been far away from the center of wealth in the world since it moved northward during the Yongle period. Production in the Central Plains has completely declined since it moved southward during the Song Dynasty. Well, by this dynasty it was far inferior to Southeast, Huguang and Sichuan. And the production of the Yanyun land in the north was even inferior to that of the Central Plains, let alone the wealthy lands along the Yangtze River.
The purpose of the imperial court in Yanyun was to control the areas where Jiubian could use force nearby, but what was the result? Liao Town still fell, Jiubian was still weak, and even the military strength of Xuanfu and Jizhou was weakened to the extreme. Xuan and Ji are so close that it is difficult for the court to control them, so how can they control Southeast, Huguang, and Sichuan as if they were pointing with their arms?
The second reason that made it difficult for the court to collect taxes was that local power was decentralized, and the lower-level officials who were close to the people had little power and found it difficult to shoulder their responsibilities.
The grandfather believed in his descendants but not in officials, so he used the vassal king to control the four directions. At the same time, he removed the power of the prime minister internally and divided the power of the ministers externally. The power of a province was divided into three parts by him. They were in check with each other and each was not under their control. The same is true under the Three Divisions. Later, although governors were set up to take charge of the local area, they were too far away from the prefectures and counties, making it difficult to effectively control them. Moreover, the local system of this dynasty favored the establishment of three departments at the same time. There were still many constraints on the governors' ministers, making it difficult for them to perform effectively.
In addition, the governor of a province is after all a feudal official. All aspects must be considered in selection and appointment, not just paying taxes. Therefore, governor weight cannot solve tax difficulties.
My reform in Beizhili was to delegate power to the prefect. Let the prefect take charge of the affairs of the government, mount the horse to govern the army, and dismount the horse to govern the people. The power is in hand and the responsibility is on the shoulders! Just like the governor of the Han Dynasty, the governor of the Tang Dynasty. "
The eight prefects of Beizhili under Zhu Youjian also include the governor of Datong, the governor of Xuanfu, the commander-in-chief of Yanshan (there is no governor in Yanshan now), the governor-general of Yanning and the commander-in-chief of Daning, the governor-general of Jiliao, the commander-in-chief of Pingliao, etc. The fourteen local official positions are actually like the governor of the Han Dynasty and the Jiedu of the Tang Dynasty. They not only have military and political power, but also have great personnel power.
Of course, Zhu Youjian would not grant his military power to the officials below without reservation. The extent to which these fourteen officers can be grasped by military and political officials also depends on the situation.
For example, the military power of the eight prefectures in North Zhili is the regimental training of the prefecture, while the governors of Datong and Xuanfu towns only control their own patrol signs.
The General Soldiers of Yanshan, the Governor of Yanning, the Governor of Jiliao, and the General Soldiers of Pingliao have the greatest power. They are truly responsible for running the army and the people. These four governors or generals are all former enemy generals and do not have heavy power. This is not possible, so there is no talk of reform.
The real reform of the official system is actually the eight prefectures of Beizhili, the second town of Xuanda, and one Chongqing prefecture. Although Niu Jinxing of the Chongqing Prefecture did not have the power to control military affairs, Zhu Youjian had ordered Li Jin to fully cooperate with Niu Jinxing, which was equivalent to giving him the power to mobilize troops.
In addition, although the head of Xuanda Second Town is called the governor, he is actually the territory of the same prefecture. In the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, Zhu Youjian removed the prefects of Datong and Xuanfu, and let the two governors directly manage the borders of the two towns. Prefectures and counties within the walls (the health centers within the walls of both towns were changed to prefectures and counties).
So what Zhu Youjian wants to implement now is the local prefect responsibility system!
The position of the prefect is not as "high" as that of the governor, and you can directly reach the county. If the military power given to the governor is given to the prefect, then it must be personnel power. Then the efficiency of tax collection can be greatly improved. If a large landowner under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate incites the people to resist taxes, the county magistrate will have a hard time dealing with it. He can only report it to the prefect, who will then report it to the governor and the prosecutor. Then the governor and After the patrol made a decision, it was transferred to the General Military Office to mobilize troops. After the troops were transferred, Bingbeidao and the officers under the General Police went to suppress it.
In such a big circle, there will definitely be indispensable wrangling and buck-passing... And how can high-ranking officials such as the inspector and governor immediately mobilize their troops as soon as they receive the report from the prefect? Doesn't this mean that senior officials obey the orders of junior officials?
Moreover, those who can incite the people to resist the tax are rich and powerful, and there are many ways to mess up the matter of troop deployment.
Under such circumstances, the magistrates and county magistrates below generally provoke less wealthy families. The rich don't pay taxes, so let the common people pay more!
There is no need for the governor to send troops to force the common people to fight. The county magistrate's three squads of yamen officers are enough.
Therefore, the "Prefect Responsibility System" of the eight prefectures in North Zhili is quite effective. Even though the eight prefects don't have many regiments on hand, they only had 1,000 people when they first took office. But these 1,000 people are enough to suppress the tax resistance of local wealthy families... Local wealthy families generally do not come forward on their own, but let ordinary people serve as cannon fodder. And these ordinary people were not stupid. They became honest when they saw that the prefect had soldiers in his hands.
Even if you are still willing to work hard, you still have to pay more!
For the local wealthy, the risks and costs of training and fighting against 1,000 regiments that can be dispatched at any time are too great! Let’s forget about raising taxes honestly...
Zhu Yiming finally understood Zhu Youjian's plan, but he still felt something was wrong and frowned. After all, the Eight Prefectures of North Zhili and the towns of Xuan and Daer are under the eyes of the emperor. They are controlled by the four armies of Zhangqian, Yuqian, Xuanfu, and Datong (the main towns of Xuan and Daer are not under the jurisdiction of the governor), so they should not be out of trouble. But if the prefects elsewhere had the power of Han County Governor and Tang Jiedu, they would be afraid of disasters in the feudal town!
