The Ming Empire was beleaguered internally and externally, but it rained all night. After winning the great victory at the Battle of Songjin in 1642 and annihilating the last Ming army outside the Pass, Huang Taiji sent troops to bypass the isolated cities of Ningyuan and Wu Sangui. Shanhaiguan entered the North China Plain, burned, killed and looted all the way to Shandong, and then left after defeating more than 80 cities.
According to later statistics, during this invasion, the Qing army plundered a total of 2,250 taels of gold and 2.2 million taels of silver, and captured 369,000 Han people who returned north as slaves. Emperor Chongzhen, who had no available troops, could only watch the Qing army come and go freely within the territory.
For this reason, Chongzhen issued the edict of sinner for the third time. In the edict of sinner, he admitted that he was beyond his capabilities:
"There are frequent disasters, wars and disturbances, thoughts of misfortune, and restlessness at night. These are all caused by my bad character! The sin is mine, so don't dare to forgive yourself. From today on,
Previously in 1635, Zhang Xianzhong's army invaded Fengyang, Anhui and burned the ancestral mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty. Chongzhen later issued an imperial edict saying that "the bandits have not been suppressed and the mausoleums were shocked." By 1641, due to many years of drought, locust plagues, and famine within the empire, At the same time, Chongzhen issued an edict to blame himself due to frequent disasters. This time, Chongzhen issued an edict to blame himself for the third time. Feeling physically and mentally exhausted, Chongzhen said in his own words, "I silently prayed to God in the palace, repaired the crime, and looked at the matter." He felt powerless to prevent further deterioration of the situation.
This powerlessness is, to put it bluntly, closely related to the financial deficit of the Ming Dynasty.
It is said that the Ming Dynasty was founded on agriculture, and its finance mainly relied on agricultural taxes. In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, statistics showed that the land in the world was more than 8.5 million hectares, but in fact the taxable land was more than 4 million hectares. As time went by, due to the powerful landlords concealing the land According to data, the number of tax fields actually controlled by the Ming Dynasty officials continued to decline. Coupled with factors such as various natural disasters that reduced production, the Ming Dynasty officials could actually receive less and less agricultural taxes.
Scholar Fang Zhiyuan pointed out that during the Wanli period, Zhang Juzheng expanded the number of tax fields nationwide to more than 7 million hectares through the strong implementation of "land clearing" during the Wanli period. However, even so, the domestic land tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty at that time was only about 25 million taels. Even if other taxes such as industrial and commercial tax, salt tax, etc. are included, the actual tax money that the Ming Dynasty officials could receive at that time was only about 40 million taels.
Of these 40 million taels, about half, or about 20 million taels, will still be retained in local areas for local government use. What can really be handed over to the central government, even in times of good weather and no turmoil, the central government of the Ming Dynasty can only receive about It's 20 million taels of silver.
Of these 20 million taels of silver, excluding various expenses, the actual amount that could enter Taicang, the Ministry of Revenue, was only about 4 million taels. By the end of Chongzhen, due to various natural and man-made disasters, even 4 million taels were not received every year. silver.
After the death of Zhang Juzheng in the tenth year of Wanli (1582), the Ming Empire, which lacked financial experts, fell into financial deficits year by year. In addition, the three major Wanli campaigns in the late Wanli period (the Battle of Ningxia, the Wanli Korean War, and the Battle of Bozhou) even cost almost all money. In the twenty-fifth year of Wanli (1597), three halls in the Forbidden City were burned down by fire, but the Ming Dynasty's finances could not find the money to rebuild them. This matter was postponed until the fifth day of Emperor Xizong's Tianqi 28 years later. In 1625, the Ming Dynasty raised enough funds to rebuild the three main halls.
The wealth that Zhang Juzheng built for the late Ming Dynasty was gradually squandered after his death. Source: Film and TV stills
It can be seen that the financial problems in the late Ming Dynasty were no longer a matter of one day or two. However, although the Ming Dynasty was very poor financially at that time, the active economy in the late Ming Dynasty made the people lively and sensual. Especially in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions in the southeast, the economy was actually very prosperous.
The problem is that although the southeastern region has a prosperous economy, the Ming government cannot collect taxes. The root cause is that as early as the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that the commercial taxes collected in the eighteenth year of Hongwu (1385) The figure serves as the future quota, and no additional taxes may be imposed thereafter.
This put a shackles on the official government of the Ming Dynasty. In other words, the economy was developing, but the government could not enjoy the benefits. Therefore, when natural disasters occurred frequently in the country and the Manchus from the Northeast continued to invade, the Ming Empire needed to provide relief to the victims internally. , when foreign countries needed money to raise troops, the empire could only watch as the southeast region became rich while the central government itself was impoverished.
During the reign of Emperor Wanli, Emperor Wanli also saw the problem. He wanted to impose commercial taxes many times, but was opposed by officials on the grounds that "the ancestral system cannot be changed and the people's livelihood is suffering due to heavy taxes." With no choice, Wanli had no choice but to Eunuchs were sent to various parts of the country to mine and collect industrial and commercial taxes. However, when these eunuchs arrived, they went around extorting money, which made the people complain and complain. The eunuchs enriched their own pockets. In fact, the private money paid to Emperor Wanli was very small. In other words, Emperor Wanli was busy and did not make much money, but he ruined the reputation of the emperor and the central government. It was really not worth the gain.
As early as the period of Emperor Wanli, the Manchus were constantly invading. In order to raise troops for the Northern Expedition to quell the disaster, in the forty-sixth year of Wanli (1618), the Ming Dynasty government officially launched the "Liao Rate". The initial collection standard for the "Liao Rate" was every year. An additional three and a half cents per mu of land was allocated (the Ming Dynasty's silver unit was therefore liang, qian, centimeter, centimeter). Later, it was finally fixed at an additional nine cents per mu of land. In the stable period, it could increase the Ming Empire's income by about 520 cents per year. Ten thousand taels of silver.
With the spread of various natural disasters and peasant uprisings in the late Ming Dynasty, in order to exterminate "bandits", the Ming government had no choice but to launch a "suppression rate" in the 10th year of Chongzhen (1630), which could make a profit of about 3.3 million yuan a year. Two taels of silver; in addition, in order to train troops to pacify the Northeast and suppress bandits internally, "training rates" were also collected at that time, with an annual income of approximately 7.3 million taels. In this way, the three major "suppression rates", "training rates" and "Liao rates" were Together, the salaries can probably increase the revenue of the Ming Dynasty by 16 million taels of silver every year.
But the problem is that these three additional taxes are land taxes, and most of the burden falls on farmers, especially those in the north.
Scholar Fang Zhiyuan pointed out that although there seemed to be more than 7 million hectares of land that could be taxed in the late Ming Dynasty, because powerful households and landowners could conceal their actual farmland in various ways, and their income did not necessarily rely entirely on land, this made the three major The actual burden of rates fell mainly on farmers. At that time, the three additional rates "meant an increase of about 70% in tax revenue per acre of farmland."
Moreover, since the tax is collected based on land area, farmers in the vast northern region have to actually bear more taxes in famine years when natural disasters occur frequently.
In fact, since the late Tang Dynasty, China's economic center of gravity has gradually begun to shift to the south. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the southeastern region's industry and commerce had become very developed and wealthy. In fact, starting from the Southern Song Dynasty, the population of the south had exceeded The northern region north of the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River - but the problem is that although the south has a large population and a developed economy, the land area is not as large as the north. In the south, especially in the southeast, an increasing proportion of the source of wealth comes from industry and commerce. The problem is that the main tax in the Ming Dynasty is still agricultural tax, and the "three major rates" are still agricultural tax. In this way, in other words, the fiscal flaws of the Ming Dynasty's tax system mean that the rich southeastern region does not have to pay Rich people cannot pay any taxes, but poor people, especially farmers, especially farmers in the north, have to bear heavier taxes.
Scholar Fang Zhiyuan pointed out, "If the pressure of 'three wages' falls on each labor force, we can find that the burden of extra wages borne by a farmer in the northwest is about ten times that of a farmer in the southeast."
But does this analysis mean that the fiscal and tax burden on the DPRK is very heavy? Liu Shougang, a scholar who focuses on the study of Chinese financial history, pointed out, "As Mr. Huang Renyu pointed out, the average fiscal tax burden in the Ming Dynasty was only about 10%, while in Japan during the same period, the tax burden reached 50%... The fundamental fiscal problem in the Ming Dynasty was that the state Institutions and normal finances could not effectively tax the growing industrial and commercial economy, and could not fully mobilize the financial resources of the empire."
Liu Shougang pointed out, "Under such conditions, once the country has an urgent need for tax revenue, there is no right path to take and it can only take a crooked path, and a crooked path will hurt everyone."
Whether it was Emperor Wanli instructing eunuchs to mine mines and collect taxes, or the government in the late Ming Dynasty levying the "three major rates", it was essentially a "crooked path" in finance.
Liu Shougang said: "The reason why the Ming Dynasty designed such an industrial and commercial tax system is not only to learn from the lessons of industrial and commercial taxation in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, but also because the empire has entered a mature period since the Ming Dynasty. Because of maturity, the state's functions have turned inward and are not driven by progress. For the purpose of expansion, there is little need for expenditure; because of maturity, the country tries to eliminate all uncertainties and adopts quota measures to manage financial activities. For the industrial and commercial economy that belongs to free-flowing resources, it adopts contemptuous and irresponsible measures Attitude. There are no necessary protective measures, formal commercial laws and thorough legal procedures. Officials, large and small, are famous for their sloppiness and corruption in the management of industrial and commercial taxes."
As a result, the Ming Empire, which did not enjoy the tax benefits and form a community of destiny from the booming industrial and commercial economy in the late Ming Dynasty, but could only exploit farmers through agricultural taxes, became an inevitable trend with wars and wars all over the country - so in Chongzhen During this period, the Ming Dynasty government fell into the dilemma of "Chongzhen Death Situation" and could not extricate itself. To put it simply, the Ming Empire suffered from financial shortages due to natural and man-made disasters. The financial shortage in turn aggravated natural disasters and man-made disasters, and the flaws in the financial system caused This contradiction cannot be reconciled. In this vicious cycle, the "Chongzhen Dead End" of the Ming Empire can no longer be solved, and the Ming Dynasty gradually moves towards the edge of destruction.
05
While Chongzhen was struggling with financial difficulties, his royal family members were generally extremely wealthy.
In the 14th year of Chongzhen (1641), Li Zicheng besieged Luoyang and conquered Luoyang's Prince Fu Zhu Changxun, who owned more than 20,000 hectares of land. His fields were spread across Henan, Shandong, Huguang and other provinces. At the beginning, the construction cost of his Prince Fu's residence alone cost 28 Ten thousand taels of silver. But for such a wealthy vassal king, not to mention spending money to support the Ming Dynasty central government and the royal family to tide over the difficulties, even in the face of the life and death moment of the peasant army besieging Luoyang, Zhu Changxun still refused to work and let the soldiers starve. Li Zicheng defended the city for him, but the defenders mutinied and turned against him. Li Zicheng occupied Luoyang almost without a fight.
After entering the city, Li Zicheng angrily rebuked Zhu Changxun in public and said: "You are a prince and you are the richest in the world. When there is such a famine, you are not willing to give out any money to help the people. You are a slave!" Afterwards, Li Zicheng ordered Zhu Changxun to behead his head and executed him The corpse was chopped into pieces, mixed with venison, and cooked into a "Fu Lu Feast" to vent his anger.
Although the case of Blessed King Zhu Changxun came before, many vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty were about to die, but they still completely ignored the safety of the Ming Dynasty and the life and death of the people, and only guarded their own private wealth. At the end of 1642, the Qing army once again bypassed Beijing to attack Entering North China to plunder people and wealth, in December of that year, the Qing army attacked Yanzhou, Shandong. At the critical moment, Deng Fanxi, the prefect of Yanzhou, persuaded King Zhu Yi of Lu to send money to recruit troops to defend the city. Deng Fanxi said, if King Lu is willing to spread the wealth, Recruit troops so that the city can still be defended, otherwise it will be too late to regret once the situation is over. However, the miser Zhu Yipai, the king of Lu, refused to live and die. As a result, the Qing soldiers soon attacked Yanzhou Mansion, and Zhu Yipai had no choice but to hang himself. The palace's money was also robbed by the Qing soldiers.
For these clan kings of the Ming Dynasty, even though they were born relying on the big tree in the center of the Ming Dynasty, even at the moment of life and death of the dynasty, the feudal kings were unwilling to spend any money to support the central finance, let alone Talking about helping the people, these miserly vassal kings were eventually killed by the Qing soldiers or the peasant army in the chaos of the late Ming Dynasty, and were eventually destroyed in the angry waves of the times.
Although King Fu Zhu Changxun and King Lu Zhu Yipai died tragically because of their stinginess, he was not the last unscrupulous vassal king in the late Ming Dynasty.
In 1644, just after Chongzhen hanged himself, the peasant army led by Zhang Xianzhong also invaded Sichuan. Faced with the crisis, Sichuan censor Liu Zhibo hurriedly persuaded the king of Shu, Zhu Zhishu, to spend money to reward the soldiers and civilians and strengthen the city defense. Thinking of Zhu Zhishu, a wealthy man from Sichuan, he acted like a rogue and said: "There is a lot of money and grain in the silo, but there is only one Chengyun Hall. The old man is waiting to tear it down and sell it for payment!"
Facing the shameless King of Shu who had no idea of life and death, Liu Zhibo, who was in charge of Chengdu city defense, directly angrily said: "Your Highness, no one can afford the Chengyun Palace, only Li Zicheng is the recipient!" This means that once the peasant army breaks the city, everything will be over. It is no longer owned by the King of Shu. But Zhu Zhishu "never realized" this. For these vassal kings, they plundered the people's wealth as members of the Ming Dynasty clan, but when the country was in trouble and needed their dedication to defend the enemy, these people generally behaved badly. The image of a miser who was short-sighted, greedy and shameless, completely ignored the safety of the political power they relied on, and eventually perished and made the world laugh.
Jiang Quan, the commander-in-chief of Taiyuan at the time, recalled: "There are more than 4,000 people with the surname of Yun (now Datong, Shanxi). The intruders have been entrenched for six days, and they are about to be slaughtered..."
Although in the past dynasties, when dynasties changed, the successors often massacred the royal family members of the previous dynasty, but in terms of the scope and breadth of the massacre, no dynasty was as obvious and cruel as the late Ming Dynasty. The reason for this is that the Ming Dynasty The imperial clan had become a vampire in Ming Dynasty society, causing the peasant army at that time to hate and hate it from top to bottom.
It is said that at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang designated all his sons as princes and stipulated that the descendants of the royal family were not subject to ordinary laws and were not subject to the control of local officials. The palaces, clothing, and military cavalry of the kings were as good as those of the emperor. Even the princes and ministers would "fall down and pay homage" when they saw the descendants of Zhu Ming's royal family.
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang set the lowest salary standard for officials in the Ming Dynasty: the annual salary of a first-rank official was 900 shi... and a seventh-rank official was 140 shi. In the Ming Dynasty, one stone of rice was equivalent to about 180 kilograms today. If calculated at 5 yuan per kilogram of rice today, in the Ming Dynasty, the annual salary of the first-rank prime minister at that time was about 810,000 yuan today, and the annual salary of the seventh-rank county magistrate was about 126,000 yuan. Because In the annual salary of Ming Dynasty administrative officials, they also had to bear various official expenses themselves. This made Hai Rui, a famous upright official in Ming Dynasty, so poor that he could not even afford meat. When Hai Rui celebrated his mother's birthday, he bought a pound of meat for the first time. At that time, it even caused a sensation in the entire Ming Dynasty officialdom at that time.
At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that once the royal family was crowned a prince, their annual salary would be at least ten thousand shi, which was more than ten times that of the highest-ranking officials in the Ming Dynasty, and this did not include large rewards such as land. In order to let future generations live the most superior life, Zhu Yuanzhang also stipulated that the descendants of the royal family do not have to engage in any profession. All consumption of each royal descendant is borne by the state: starting from the age of 10, they can also receive wages and enjoy salary. When they get married, the state will provide houses, crowns Clothing and wedding expenses. After death, there will be a huge funeral expenses.
Because there are many benefits to having children, the clan of the Ming Dynasty likes to have children the most. "When a clan is ten years old every year, they will be granted a salary. If they give birth to a general who controls the country, they will receive a thousand shi (a hundred shi higher than a first-grade prime minister)." Ten generals can earn thousands of dollars..."
There are so many benefits to having children, so throughout the 276-year history of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants worked hard to "create people" because "the wealth and wealth were so great, they couldn't help but take in more concubines." The most exaggerated one is that Zhu Zhongyi, the Qingcheng king who lived in Shanxi in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, gave birth to at least 94 children. When Zhu Zhongyi was alive, the number of direct descendants he passed down reached 94. There were more than 700 people, which was shocking.
Encouraged by the policies of the Ming Dynasty, by the 32nd year of Wanli (1604), the number of members of the Ming Dynasty clan had rapidly expanded to more than 80,000. This was only the number of high-ranking royals listed on the jade certificate. If we add in the massive number of As for the lower-class royal family, according to estimates by population history experts such as An Jiesheng, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants had multiplied to nearly one million people.
According to the speculations of contemporary scholars, the population growth rate of the royal family in the Ming Dynasty was 10 times the national average population growth rate at that time.
Regarding the country's favor to the royal family, people in the Ming Dynasty lamented:
"The kindness I owe to my relatives can be said to be all-encompassing. It is far more generous than that of previous generations."
The policies of the Ming Dynasty made the clan a cancer and a heavy burden on the Ming Empire. Source: Film and TV stills
The large number of descendants of the royal family also placed a heavy financial burden on the Ming government, and social conflicts intensified day by day.
At that time, the royal family of the Ming Dynasty not only had extremely high salaries, but also often occupied massive amounts of land. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, while the per capita land area in the country continued to decline and the poor had almost no place to stand, the country's land was increasingly concentrated in the hands of the royal family. Take King Jing and King Lu as examples. They owned as much as 40,000 hectares of farmland in Huguang and other places. , in addition to the 20,000 hectares of land owned by King Fu, and 30,000 hectares each owned by King Gui, King Hui, and King Rui.
In Hunan, the land occupied by King Ji is as high as 7.8 million acres, of which 40% of the fields in Changsha and Shanhua counties in Hunan are owned by King Ji.
In Henan, half of the province's land is owned by various princes. Take Zhu Changxun, the third son of Emperor Wanli of Ming Dynasty and the King of Fu, as an example. When Zhu Changxun got married, Emperor Wanli rewarded him with a wedding fee of 300,000 taels. Zhu Changxun went to Luoyang to join the feudal clan, and Emperor Wanli spent another 280,000 taels of silver to build a mansion for him; in addition, Emperor Wanli rewarded his beloved son with a total of 40,000 hectares of land at one time. Because the officials were too extravagant, it was finally reduced to 20,000 hectares. Because the land in Henan had been divided up at that time, for this purpose, he also received gifts from Shandong, Huguang, etc. The land was divided into fields, and the 20,000 hectares of royal land were barely enough to be given to King Fu Zhu Changxun.
People in the Ming Dynasty described this: "No one can do more to seize people's property and serve the people than the emperor's village and the fields of the kings, nobles, and middle-ranking officials."
As the number of the royal family expanded dramatically, the Ming Dynasty's finances gradually became overwhelmed.
Taking the Jin Palace in Shanxi as an example, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the annual salary was only 10,000 shi, but by the Jiajing period, this number increased to 870,000 shi.
In addition, in the Prince of Zhou's Mansion in Henan, the annual salary increased from 10,000 shi in the early Ming Dynasty to 690,000 shi in the Jiajing period. For the Prince of Chu's Mansion in Huguang, the amount increased from 10,000 shi to 250,000 shi.
As the royal family continued to expand dramatically, local officials in the Ming Dynasty also discovered with horror that many local government finances were on the verge of collapse just to support the local royal family. Take Shanxi's local finance in the middle and late Ming Dynasty as an example. At that time, Shanxi's annual revenue was about 1.52 million shi, but at that time, the Zhuming royal family in Shanxi alone had to pay an annual salary of 3.12 million shi.
In addition, in Henan, the annual income of Henan in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was about 840,000 shi, but at that time the salary required by the Henan royal family alone reached 1.92 million shi.
So during the Jiajing period (1522-1566), Ming Dynasty officials pointed out with fear that even with all the efforts of the country, it was no longer enough to support the royal family's descendants:
"The generals and lieutenants of the royal palace have mobilized tens of thousands of plans and faked orders for dozens of years. Although they have damaged the savings of the palace and exhausted all the tax revenue of the world, is it enough to support them?"
"In the future, the saint's sons and gods will be passed down from generation to generation, using the limited land to increase the uncounted salary and food. What will they do to benefit the future?"
By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, even if all the world's financial resources were exhausted, they were no longer able to support Zhu Yuanzhang's royal descendants, but they were still not satisfied.
Take the Fu Wang Zhu Changxun who was killed by Li Zicheng in 1641 and chopped into pieces to make a "Fulu Banquet" as an example. Zhu Changxun was the third son of Emperor Wanli in the late Ming Dynasty. When he conquered Luoyang, he not only asked for 20,000 hectares of land, but also demanded Emperor Wanli begged for a reward: "Therefore, Zhang Juzheng, the great scholar, lost all his property, paid miscellaneous taxes at Dizhou along the river from Jiangdu to Taiping, and collected tea and silver from salt wells in Sichuan for his own benefit... He also asked for a thousand and three hundred quotations of Huaiyan salt to set up shops in Luoyang and Minshi." , Not only that, King Fu Zhu Changxun also competed with the people for profits, monopolized the salt industry in many places in Henan, and prohibited others from selling salt: "The prohibition does not come from the king's shop."
King Fu Zhu Changxun is not an isolated case. While a large number of royal families competed with the people for profit and monopolized the sale of salt and other industries, this caused the Ming government to fail to collect salt tax and other taxes. While the people were resentful, the Ming Dynasty's finances As a result, income became increasingly difficult, and military expenditures were also affected. "Border wages were thus low." As a result, the problem could only be solved by increasing the exploitation of ordinary people, which in turn promoted the decline of the dynasty.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, while the royal family was increasingly monopolizing land, princes from various places often complained to the emperor about poverty and asked for various privileges: in Kaifeng, Henan, King Zhou had the local taxation rights, and King Lu occupied 26 rivers and lakes;
In Lucheng County, Shanxi, King Qingyuan occupied the commercial tax; the emperor gave the commercial tax in Tunliu County, Shanxi to the King of Liaoshan; in addition, King Pingyao even applied for a tax in Licheng County, Shanxi on the grounds that his family was too large and life was tight. annual business tax.
Looking at the country at that time, Zhu Changxun, the king of Fu, "became rich in treasures and jade", the King of Qin in Shaanxi "owned millions", and the king of Shanxi owned 1,060 houses.
In order to support the rapidly expanding Zhu Ming royal family, by the late Ming Dynasty, the people in the Ming Dynasty had even reached the point of "wasting chopsticks, selling houses, and donating wives to support the kingdom."
But even so, Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants were still dissatisfied, and they even openly became representatives of evil forces everywhere.
As a vassal king stationed in various places, at that time, the auxiliary general of the Prince's Palace beat the local county magistrate just because he enforced the law and punished his servants. In Shanxi, the King of Hedong often beat local officials and "blackmailed" them. It is common practice for officials to enter the prefecture and county without permission, and to humiliate and beat them."
In the thirty-seventh year of Jiajing (1558), the steward of the Prince's Palace in Ninghua, Fujian Province, even openly beat Liu Wangzhi, the local feudal official and the second-rank Zuo Buzheng envoy, because he "failed to ask for salary and grain."
As members of the royal family enjoy judicial privileges and "punish without punishment" when guilty, Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants also committed evil everywhere: in the fifth year of Jiajing (1526), Shanxi Fenyang Qingcheng served as the auxiliary general of the palace, and even openly colluded with bandits ; In addition, the lieutenant of Fu Guo from the Xiangyuan Palace in Shanxi and the Fu Guo Lieutenant from the Changhua Palace in Zhejiang even "privately left the forbidden city to steal" and openly killed and robbed.
In Wugang, Hunan, Zhu Qili, the king of the mountain people, said that "it is useless to seize the wives and daughters of the people before and after"; in Yuzhou, Henan, Hui King Zhu Zailun even "had a beautiful woman passing through the house, plundered her and had sex with her, and the young girls did not dare to take her, and he became very angry." , throw yourself against the tiger."
By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, many of Zhu Yuanzhang's royal descendants had become representatives of local evil forces and became a huge nuisance to various places.
Therefore, it can be said that the demise of the Ming Dynasty was deeply related to the Ming Dynasty's clan policy, as well as the clan's erosion of national finances and plunder and abuse of the people. While the Ming Dynasty clan maintained the so-called Zhu family, it eventually backfired on the entire empire. The Ming Empire was beleaguered internally and externally, but it rained all night. After winning the great victory at the Battle of Songjin in 1642 and annihilating the last Ming army outside the Pass, Huang Taiji sent troops to bypass the isolated cities of Ningyuan and Wu Sangui. Shanhaiguan entered the North China Plain, burned, killed and looted all the way to Shandong, and then left after defeating more than 80 cities.
According to later statistics, during this invasion, the Qing army plundered a total of 2,250 taels of gold and 2.2 million taels of silver, and captured 369,000 Han people who returned north as slaves. Emperor Chongzhen, who had no available troops, could only watch the Qing army come and go freely within the territory.
For this reason, Chongzhen issued the edict of sinner for the third time. In the edict of sinner, he admitted that he was beyond his capabilities:
"There are frequent disasters, wars and disturbances, thoughts of misfortunes, and sleepless nights. These are all caused by my bad virtues! The sin is mine, so don't dare to forgive yourself. From today onwards, I will silently pray to God in the palace. , repair the province to take responsibility for the crime, and annihilate the Hu Ping bandits in time to atone for the crime."
Throughout the seventeen years of Chongzhen's reign, he was in the eighth year of Chongzhen (1635), the fourteenth year of Chongzhen (1641), the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), and the seventeenth year of Chongzhen (1644) on the eve of his suicide. In February, a total of four edicts were issued.
Previously in 1635, Zhang Xianzhong's army invaded Fengyang, Anhui and burned the ancestral mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty. Chongzhen later issued an imperial edict saying that "the bandits have not been suppressed and the mausoleums were shocked." By 1641, due to many years of drought, locust plagues, and famine within the empire, At the same time, Chongzhen issued an edict to blame himself due to frequent disasters. This time, Chongzhen issued an edict to blame himself for the third time. Feeling physically and mentally exhausted, Chongzhen said in his own words, "I silently prayed to God in the palace, repaired the crime, and looked at the matter." He felt powerless to prevent further deterioration of the situation.
This powerlessness is, to put it bluntly, closely related to the financial deficit of the Ming Dynasty.
It is said that the Ming Dynasty was founded on agriculture, and its finance mainly relied on agricultural taxes. In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, statistics showed that the land in the world was more than 8.5 million hectares, but in fact the taxable land was more than 4 million hectares. As time went by, due to the powerful landlords concealing the land According to data, the number of tax fields actually controlled by the Ming Dynasty officials continued to decline. Coupled with factors such as various natural disasters that reduced production, the Ming Dynasty officials could actually receive less and less agricultural taxes.
Scholar Fang Zhiyuan pointed out that during the Wanli period, Zhang Juzheng expanded the number of tax fields nationwide to more than 7 million hectares through the strong implementation of "land clearing" during the Wanli period. However, even so, the domestic land tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty at that time was only about 25 million taels. Even if other taxes such as industrial and commercial tax, salt tax, etc. are included, the actual tax money that the Ming Dynasty officials could receive at that time was only about 40 million taels.
Of these 40 million taels, about half, or about 20 million taels, will still be retained in local areas for local government use. What can really be handed over to the central government, even in times of good weather and no turmoil, the central government of the Ming Dynasty can only receive about It's 20 million taels of silver.
Of these 20 million taels of silver, excluding various expenses, the actual amount that could enter Taicang, the Ministry of Revenue, was only about 4 million taels. By the end of Chongzhen, due to various natural and man-made disasters, even 4 million taels were not received every year. silver.
After the death of Zhang Juzheng in the tenth year of Wanli (1582), the Ming Empire, which lacked financial experts, fell into financial deficits year by year. In addition, the three major Wanli campaigns in the late Wanli period (the Battle of Ningxia, the Wanli Korean War, and the Battle of Bozhou) even cost almost all money. In the twenty-fifth year of Wanli (1597), three halls in the Forbidden City were burned down by fire, but the Ming Dynasty's finances could not find the money to rebuild them. This matter was postponed until the fifth day of Emperor Xizong's Tianqi 28 years later. In 1625, the Ming Dynasty raised enough funds to rebuild the three main halls.
The wealth that Zhang Juzheng built for the late Ming Dynasty was gradually squandered after his death. Source: Film and TV stills
It can be seen that the financial problems in the late Ming Dynasty were no longer a matter of one day or two. However, although the Ming Dynasty was very poor financially at that time, the active economy in the late Ming Dynasty made the people lively and sensual. Especially in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions in the southeast, the economy was actually very prosperous.
The problem is that although the southeastern region has a prosperous economy, the Ming government cannot collect taxes. The root cause is that as early as the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that the commercial taxes collected in the eighteenth year of Hongwu (1385) The figure serves as the future quota, and no additional taxes may be imposed thereafter.
This put a shackles on the official government of the Ming Dynasty. In other words, the economy was developing, but the government could not enjoy the benefits. Therefore, when natural disasters occurred frequently in the country and the Manchus from the Northeast continued to invade, the Ming Empire needed to provide relief to the victims internally. , when foreign countries needed money to raise troops, the empire could only watch as the southeast region became rich while the central government itself was impoverished.
During the reign of Emperor Wanli, Emperor Wanli also saw the problem. He wanted to impose commercial taxes many times, but was opposed by officials on the grounds that "the ancestral system cannot be changed and the people's livelihood is suffering due to heavy taxes." With no choice, Wanli had no choice but to Eunuchs were sent to various parts of the country to mine and collect industrial and commercial taxes. However, when these eunuchs arrived, they went around extorting money, which made the people complain and complain. The eunuchs enriched their own pockets. In fact, the private money paid to Emperor Wanli was very small. In other words, Emperor Wanli was busy and did not make much money, but he ruined the reputation of the emperor and the central government. It was really not worth the gain.
As early as the period of Emperor Wanli, the Manchus were constantly invading. In order to raise troops for the Northern Expedition to quell the disaster, in the forty-sixth year of Wanli (1618), the Ming Dynasty government officially launched the "Liao Rate". The initial collection standard for the "Liao Rate" was every year. An additional three and a half cents per mu of land was allocated (the Ming Dynasty's silver unit was therefore liang, qian, centimeter, centimeter). Later, it was finally fixed at an additional nine cents per mu of land. In the stable period, it could increase the Ming Empire's income by about 520 cents per year. Ten thousand taels of silver.
With the spread of various natural disasters and peasant uprisings in the late Ming Dynasty, in order to exterminate "bandits", the Ming government had no choice but to launch a "suppression rate" in the 10th year of Chongzhen (1630), which could make a profit of about 3.3 million yuan a year. Two taels of silver; in addition, in order to train troops to pacify the Northeast and suppress bandits internally, "training rates" were also collected at that time, with an annual income of approximately 7.3 million taels. In this way, the three major "suppression rates", "training rates" and "Liao rates" were Together, the salaries can probably increase the revenue of the Ming Dynasty by 16 million taels of silver every year.
But the problem is that these three additional taxes are land taxes, and most of the burden falls on farmers, especially those in the north.
Scholar Fang Zhiyuan pointed out that although there seemed to be more than 7 million hectares of land that could be taxed in the late Ming Dynasty, because powerful households and landowners could conceal their actual farmland in various ways, and their income did not necessarily rely entirely on land, this made the three major The actual burden of rates fell mainly on farmers. At that time, the three additional rates "meant an increase of about 70% in tax revenue per acre of farmland."
Moreover, since the tax is collected based on land area, farmers in the vast northern region have to actually bear more taxes in famine years when natural disasters occur frequently.
In fact, since the late Tang Dynasty, China's economic center of gravity has gradually begun to shift to the south. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the southeastern region's industry and commerce had become very developed and wealthy. In fact, starting from the Southern Song Dynasty, the population of the south had exceeded The northern region north of the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River - but the problem is that although the south has a large population and a developed economy, the land area is not as large as the north. In the south, especially in the southeast, an increasing proportion of the source of wealth comes from industry and commerce. The problem is that the main tax in the Ming Dynasty is still agricultural tax, and the "three major rates" are still agricultural tax. In this way, in other words, the fiscal flaws of the Ming Dynasty's tax system mean that the rich southeastern region does not have to pay Rich people cannot pay any taxes, but poor people, especially farmers, especially farmers in the north, have to bear heavier taxes.
Scholar Fang Zhiyuan pointed out, "If the pressure of 'three wages' falls on each labor force, we can find that the burden of extra wages borne by a farmer in the northwest is about ten times that of a farmer in the southeast."
But does this analysis mean that the fiscal and tax burden on the DPRK is very heavy? Liu Shougang, a scholar who focuses on the study of Chinese financial history, pointed out, "As Mr. Huang Renyu pointed out, the average fiscal tax burden in the Ming Dynasty was only about 10%, while in Japan during the same period, the tax burden reached 50%... The fundamental fiscal problem in the Ming Dynasty was that the state Institutions and normal finances could not effectively tax the growing industrial and commercial economy, and could not fully mobilize the financial resources of the empire."
Liu Shougang pointed out, "Under such conditions, once the country has an urgent need for tax revenue, there is no right path to take and it can only take a crooked path, and a crooked path will hurt everyone."
Whether it was Emperor Wanli instructing eunuchs to mine mines and collect taxes, or the government in the late Ming Dynasty levying the "three major rates", it was essentially a "crooked path" in finance.
Liu Shougang said: "The reason why the Ming Dynasty designed such an industrial and commercial tax system is not only to learn from the lessons of industrial and commercial taxation in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, but also because the empire has entered a mature period since the Ming Dynasty. Because of maturity, the state's functions have turned inward and are not driven by progress. For the purpose of expansion, there is little need for expenditure; because of maturity, the country tries to eliminate all uncertainties and adopts quota measures to manage financial activities. For the industrial and commercial economy that belongs to free-flowing resources, it adopts contemptuous and irresponsible measures Attitude. There are no necessary protective measures, formal commercial laws and thorough legal procedures. Officials, large and small, are famous for their sloppiness and corruption in the management of industrial and commercial taxes."
As a result, the Ming Empire, which did not enjoy the tax benefits and form a community of destiny from the booming industrial and commercial economy in the late Ming Dynasty, but could only exploit farmers through agricultural taxes, became an inevitable trend with wars and wars all over the country - so in Chongzhen During this period, the Ming Dynasty government fell into the dilemma of "Chongzhen Death Situation" and could not extricate itself. To put it simply, the Ming Empire suffered from financial shortages due to natural and man-made disasters. The financial shortage in turn aggravated natural disasters and man-made disasters, and the flaws in the financial system caused This contradiction cannot be reconciled. In this vicious cycle, the "Chongzhen Dead End" of the Ming Empire can no longer be solved, and the Ming Dynasty gradually moves towards the edge of destruction.
05
While Chongzhen was struggling with financial difficulties, his royal family members were generally extremely wealthy.
In the 14th year of Chongzhen (1641), Li Zicheng besieged Luoyang and conquered Luoyang's Prince Fu, Zhu Changxun, who owned more than 20,000 hectares of land. His fields were spread across Henan, Shandong, Huguang and other provinces. At first, the construction cost of his Prince Fu's residence alone cost 28 Ten thousand taels of silver. But for such a wealthy vassal king, not to mention spending money to support the Ming Dynasty central government and the royal family to tide over the difficulties, even when facing the life and death moment of the peasant army besieging Luoyang, Zhu Changxun still refused to work and let the soldiers starve. Li Zicheng defended the city for him, but the defenders mutinied and turned against him. Li Zicheng occupied Luoyang almost without a fight.
After entering the city, Li Zicheng angrily rebuked Zhu Changxun in public and said: "You are a prince and you are the richest in the world. When there is such a famine, you are not willing to give out any money to help the people. You are a slave!" Afterwards, Li Zicheng ordered Zhu Changxun to behead his head and executed him The corpse was chopped into pieces, mixed with venison, and cooked into a "Fu Lu Feast" to vent his anger.
Although the case of the Blessed King Zhu Changxun came before, many vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty were about to die, but they still completely ignored the safety of the Ming Dynasty and the life and death of the people, and only guarded their own private wealth. At the end of 1642, the Qing army once again bypassed Beijing to attack Entering North China to plunder people and wealth, in December of that year, the Qing army attacked Yanzhou, Shandong. At the critical moment, Deng Fanxi, the prefect of Yanzhou, persuaded King Zhu Yi of Lu to send money to recruit troops to defend the city. Deng Fanxi said, if King Lu is willing to spread the wealth, Recruit troops so that the city can still be defended, otherwise it will be too late to regret once the situation is over. However, Wang Lingu, Wang Lulu, refused to die. As a result, the Qing soldiers broke through the Luzhou government soon. Zhu Yipai had to die by himself.
For these clan kings of the Ming Dynasty, although they leaned on the big tree of the central government of the Ming Dynasty, even at the time of the life and death of the dynasty, the princes refused to take out a slightest support for the central government, let alone don’t want It is said that the people are reluctant, and these lounges are ultimately in the beacon of the chaos in the late Ming Dynasty or being killed by the Qing soldiers, or being killed by the peasant army, and eventually destroyed the waves of the era of the times.
Although King Zhu Changzhang and Lu Wang Zhu died of miserable, he was not the last one of the unscrupulous princes at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
By 1644, after hanging and committing suicide on the Chongzhen, the peasant army, who was loyal to Zhang Xianzhong, also entered Sichuan. Facing the crisis, the Sichuan patrol Liu Zhibo hurriedly persuaded the Shu King Zhu Zhizheng to take out money to appreciate the military and civilians and strengthen the urban defense. Thinking of Zhu Zhizheng in Fourtelope Sichuan, he said, "There are countless money and food in the lone library, only the transportation hall, the old gentleman and other disassembly to sell the charging!"
In the face of the shameless King of Shu who did not know and lived, Liu Zhibo, who presided over Chengdu City Defense, said directly and said, "His Royal Highness. No one can afford the carrier hall, only Li Zicheng is the Lord!" It means that once the peasant army breaks the city, everything will be No longer owned by King Shu. However, Zhu Zhizheng "does not realize" this. For these princes, they plunder the world's wealth as the clan of the Ming Dynasty, but when it is difficult to be in the country and they need to dedicate to the enemy, these people generally perform The images of the glory and greedy and shamelessness of the wicked and shamelessness were completely ignored by the security of the regime they rely on. In the end, they died and died.
Soon, Zhang Xianzhong led the army to break through Chengdu, and the regret of the regret of Shu Zhiyu, who had regretted it, had to commit suicide under the way, and he had to commit suicide. After King Shu committed suicide, he previously persuaded him to scatter his wealth and guard the city. The Sichuan patrol of Royal History Liu Zhibo was also arrested by the Farmers' Army. Zhang Xianzhong let people persuade him to surrender. Liu Zhibo was afraid of fear, and yelled before he died, "Ning Duo was a knife, and killing one less."
But the crazy Zhang Xianzhong did not let go of the people of Chengdu. Before evacuating Chengdu in 1646, he ordered the city to slaughter the city and slaughter the hundreds of thousands of people in Chengdu. It is "Fan Wangfu, regardless of whether it is unbelievable, regardless of the military and civilians, and the surname of Zhu, who are all killed."
In 1644, Li Zicheng's peasant army entered Shanxi. Later, Taiyuan General Jiang Yan, who was surrendered, recalled, "Everyone attacked, plundered burning, and was extremely poisonous, and Zong Fan was particularly disaster." The army first killed more than 300 people including the Royal Royal King Xihe Wang; in Fenyang, the Royal "Gentleman" opened a killing ring.
After overcome Taiyuan, because of the extremely hatred for the Zhu Ming royal family, Li Zicheng's farmers' army "arrested more than 400 people in the Jin Dynasty, sent Xi'an, and killed it." Change, searches behind closed doors, get more than a thousand people, kill the sons of the sea, if you wipe out the sheep. "
Jiang Yan, then the chief of Taiyuan, recalled: "The surname of the Zong of the cloud (now Shanxi), with a schedule of more than a thousand, the thief entangled for six days, and the slaughter will be exhausted ..."
Although when the dynasties have changed the dynasties, the later parties have the behavior of the royal family of the royal family before the slaughter. The Chari clan has become the vampire of society in the Ming Dynasty, making the peasant army hate and hate from top to bottom.
It shows that at the beginning of the founding of the country, Zhu Yuanzhang named all his sons as princes, and stipulated that the children of the royal family were not restricted by ordinary legal and returned to the local government. The king's house, clothing and military ride, and the next heavenly son, even the minister of the Gong Hou met the descendants of the Zhu Ming emperor.
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang set the minimum wage standard for the Ming Dynasty officials: 900 stones in Zhengyi Pin officials ... Zhengqi 140 stone. In the Ming Dynasty, one stone of rice was equivalent to about 180 kilograms today. If calculated at 5 yuan per kilogram of rice today, in the Ming Dynasty, the annual salary of the first-rank prime minister at that time was about 810,000 yuan today, and the annual salary of the seventh-rank county magistrate was about 126,000 yuan. Because In the annual salary of Ming Dynasty administrative officials, they also had to bear various official expenses themselves. This made Hai Rui, a famous upright official in Ming Dynasty, so poor that he could not even afford meat. When Hai Rui celebrated his mother's birthday, he bought a pound of meat for the first time. At that time, it even caused a sensation in the entire Ming Dynasty officialdom at that time.
At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that once the royal family was named a prince, his annual Lulu was at least more than Wanshi, and it was more than ten times the highest official of the Ming Dynasty. This does not include a large number of rewards such as land. In order to let future generations live the most superior life, Zhu Yuanzhang also stipulated that the descendants of the royal family do not have to engage in any profession. All consumption of each royal descendant is borne by the state: starting from the age of 10, they can also receive wages and enjoy salary. When they get married, the state will provide houses, crowns Clothing and wedding expenses. After death, there will be a huge funeral expenses.
Because there are a lot of benefits of having children, the clan of the Ming Dynasty likes to have children the most. Ten generals, they got Lu Wanshi ... ".
There are so many benefits to having children. Therefore, in the 276 years of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants almost "made people", because "Lilu's thick is so, so he did not accept it, so as not to accept it. Tu is a man. "Among them, the most exaggerated, and at least 94 children who lived in the middle of the Ming Dynasty and lived in Shanxi gave birth to at least 94 children. When Zhu Zhongzheng lived, the descendants he passed on the person who personally passed on More than 700 people are shocking.
With the encouragement of the Ming Dynasty policy, in the thirty -two years of Wanli (1604), the number of people in the Ming Dynasty has rapidly expanded to more than 80,000 people, which is only the number of senior royal clan named in the jade. The underlying royal family, according to the estimates of the population history of Ansheng, and the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants had reproduced to nearly one million people.
According to contemporary scholars, the population growth rate of the royal population of the Ming Dynasty was 10 times that of the national average population growth rate at that time.
Regarding the country's high waiting of the royal family, the people of the Ming Dynasty said with emotion:
"I have nothing to do with my kiss, but it is far from the previous generation."
The Ming Dynasty policy made the clan a tumor and heavy burden of the Daming Empire. Source: Film and TV stills
The huge descendants of the royal family also made the Ming government carrying a heavy financial burden, and social contradictions became increasingly intensified.
At that time, the royal family of the Ming Dynasty not only had super high Lu, but also often occupied a large amount of land. After in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, while the per capita land area of the country continued to decline and the poor landless land, the country's land became more and more concentrated in the hands of the royal family. Taking the king of Jing and the King as an example, they were as many as 40,000 hectares in Zhuangtian and other places in Huguang and other places. In addition, Fuwangzhuang Tiantian was 20,000 hectares, and the Zhuangtian of the King of Gui, King Hui, and Rui Wang each.
In Hunan, the land occupied by Kings is as high as 700,000 to 800,000 acres. Among them, 40%of the 40%of the two counties in Changsha and Shanhua are owned by Kings.
In Henan, half of the land in the province is owned by each palace. Taking the third son of the Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty and Zhu Changzhang, the King of Fu Wang, when Zhu Changzheng got married, the Emperor Wanli rewarded the marriage fee of 300,000; Zhu Changzhang went to Luoyang to the vassal, and the Emperor Wanli spent 280,000 white silver business houses; in addition, For the sake of this baby's heart, Emperor Wanli rewarded 40,000 hectares of land. Since the official power Chen was too luxurious, it was finally reduced to 20,000 hectares. Because the land of Henan was divided by melon at that time, it was also from Shandong, Hu Guang, etc. The land was divided, and the 20,000 hectares of Wang Tian were barely enough to give up the 20,000 hectares of Wang Tian.
In this regard, the people of the Ming Dynasty described: "Those who take advantage of the people and become the people are great, and the emperor Zhuangzhuang and the kings, Xun Qi, and Zhongguanzhuang Tian are very good."
With the fierce expansion of the royal number, the finances of the Ming Dynasty gradually became unsatisfactory.
Taking the Jinwang Mansion of Shanxi as an example, only 10,000 stones were needed in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, but in the Jiajing period, this number increased to 870,000 stones.
In addition, in the King's Mansion of Henan, the year of the year also increased from 10,000 stones in the early Ming Dynasty to 690,000 stones during the Jiajing period. The Palace of Huguangchu increased from 10,000 rocks to 250,000 stones.
In the process of the constant expansion of the royal family, local officials in the Ming Dynasty also found that just to support the local royal family, many local governments finances have collapsed. Taking the local finance in Shanxi in the middle and late Ming Dynasty as an example, the annual financial collection of Shanxi was about 1.52 million stones at that time, but at that time, the Zhu Ming royal family in Shanxi only reached 3.12 million stones.
In addition, in Henan, the annual financial collection of Henan in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was about 840,000 stones, but at that time, the Lulu needed by the Royal people of Henan at that time reached 1.92 million stones.
So during the Jiajing period (1522-1566), officials of the Ming Dynasty pointed out in panic that even if they did their best to the country, it was difficult to support the children of the royal family:
"General Wangfu and Lieutenant Moved to be tens of years. For decades, although the accumulation of the inner government was damaged, the full tax of the world was exhausted, and it was enough?"
"In the future, the Son of Son and the grandchildren is legendary. With limited land, where does the grain of no calculations be made?"
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, even if he did his best to the world's financial resources, he could not support Zhu Yuanzhang's children and grandchildren, but they were still not satisfied.
Take Zhu Changzhang, who was killed by Li Zicheng and chopped into the "Fulu Banquet" in 1641 as an example. Zhu Changzheng was the third son of the Emperor Wanli in the late Ming Dynasty. Emperor Wanli begged to reward, "Zhang Juzheng, a university scholar, has not given birth, and Jiangdu to Taiping's Miscellaneous Tax along the river, and the tea silver in Yanjing in Sichuan benefits himself ... Please ask Huaiyan Three Hundreds, set up a store in Luoyang and Min City." Not only that, Fu Wang Zhu Changzhang also competed with the people and monopolized the sale of salt industry in many places in Henan, and banned others from selling salt: "It is forbidden to sell it."
Fuwang Zhu Changzhang is not a case. While a large number of royal family, the people's competition for the people, monopolized the salt industry and other industries, the tax taxes of the Ming Dynasty government's salt tax cannot be collected. The income is also increasingly embarrassed, so that the military expenditure is also affected. "The side is there", which can only solve the problem that can only increase the peeling of ordinary people, which has promoted the decline of the dynasty.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, while the royal family became more monopolized land, the princes in various places often cried from the emperor and asked for various privileges: Kaifeng in Henan, Zhou Wang had local tax courses, and King King occupied 26 Hebo;
In Tancheng County, Shanxi, the King of Qingyuan possess business tax; the commercial tax in Tunshi County, Shanxi, was given by the emperor to King Liaoshan by the emperor; Business tax.
Looking at the domestic at that time, the King of Fu Wang Zhu Changzhang "Zhuyu goods bribery in Shanchi", while the Qin king of Shaanxi "hug millions", and in Shanxi's replacement king, he owns 1060 houses.
In order to support the fierce expansion of the Zhu Ming royal family, in the late Ming Dynasty, the people in the Ming Dynasty even reached the point of "abolition, house, and wife donating wives for the kingdom."
But even so, Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants were still dissatisfied, and they even blatantly became the representatives of evil forces in various places.
As a prince stationed in various places, at that time, the auxiliary generals of the King's Mansion fought for his servants alone because the local county magistrate punished his servant, and he fought against the local county magistrate. In Shanxi, King Hedong often beat local officials, " There are Divisions, who is good at entering the prefecture county, shamed insults, and is accustomed to it. "
In the thirty -seventh year of Jiajing (1558), the housekeeper of the Ninghua Palace of Fujian even blatantly beat the local Fengjiang officials and Liu Wangzhi Liu Wangzhi, the Zuo Buzheng of the second product.
Because as a member of the royal family, he enjoys judicial rights and "punished without punishment" when he is guilty, so Zhu Yuanzhang's descendants are also in trouble: Five years of Jiajing (1526), the auxiliary generals of Qingcheng Palace in Fenyang, Shanxi, and even publicly colluded with the bandits publicly colluded openly with the bandits blatantly colluded with the bandits publicly. In addition, Lieutenant Lieutenant, the auxiliary country of Xiangyuan Palace in Shanxi, Lieutenant Lieutenant of the Auxiliary Palace of Changhua Wangfu, Zhejiang, and even "privately outbound the ban on the city", blatantly killed and robbed.
In Wugang, Hunan, the wandering king and Zhu Enterprise "have nothing to do with their wives and daughters in front and back"; in Yuzhou, Henan, the King of Hui Zhu Zaulun even "has a beautiful woman who has passed the house, plundered and prostitution, and the female young dare not pick up, that is, anger, that is, anger , Vote with Tigers. "
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's children and grandchildren, many of them have become the representatives of local evil forces, and became the great harm of various places.
Therefore, it can be said that the demise of the Ming Dynasty also had a profound connection with the clan policy of the Ming Dynasty and the erosion of the country's finances and plundering the people. While maintaining the so -called Zhujia Jiangshan, the clan of the Ming Dynasty eventually rejected the entire empire.
