The financial situation of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties can be said to be a bad debt, because only a few specific periods of time can be considered to be somewhat organized: for example, the sixteen years of Zhang Juzheng's reign in the Ming Dynasty (from the first year of Longqing of Mu Zong in the Ming Dynasty to Wanli in the Ming Dynasty) died ten years ago), and the Qing Dynasty only had the Yongzheng Dynasty (from the 61st year of Kangxi to the 13th year of Yongzheng).
As for Kangxi, it can be said that he was an emperor without talents and strategies, but after comprehensive consideration, he really placed too much emphasis on friendship, and this emphasis on friendship must be a disaster for the country. He favored and tolerated the corruption and law-breaking behavior of ministers above the governor level, but he did not know that ministers above the governor level would not be sycophantic to their officials at the prefecture and county level, and the prefecture and county officials protected their subordinates. It can be described as layer upon layer of deterioration. The first floor was rotten, and the people below were conservative in imposing excessive taxes and exploiting the elites. Kangxi was unable to know about it and was deceived.
Originally, this situation was not limited to the Kangxi Dynasty. It is a pity that Kangxi tried hard to improve the government and finance, but it never had much effect. He often reduced taxes or even exempted them, but this often made the chief ministers in the middle The state, county and county officials have enriched their own pockets. The country has not been enriched, the monarch has not been enriched, and the people have been enriched. A group of provincial, state and county bureaucrats in the middle have been enriched.
During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, the government's main revenue sources were head tax, also known as "dingyin", and land tax, also known as "land tax". A man becomes a Ding at the age of sixteen and needs to pay Ding Yin. He does not need to pay Ding Yin when he is sixty years old. Every Ding has a "servicing money" every year, which refers to money to let others do errands on his behalf. It varies from province to county, and the silver ranges from 1.5 cents to 8.9 taels. The ordinary ones are about 5 cents to 1 tael.
There are some cunning people who deliberately become the "coats", that is, slaves, of the bannermen, so that they can be exempted from paying dingyin. They even put their own fields in the name of the bannermen, so that they can be exempted from the land tax. This kind of behavior is called "investing and charging under one's banner".
There are also some people who are attached to the Han gentry. These people are often high-ranking officials in the court who have now retired and returned to their hometowns. The current officials are eager to show their favor to them, so how can they cause trouble for them? To move their interests.
In the last years of Shunzhi, the central government collected more than 21.5 million taels of silver every year, including the deduction of land tax (derived from Zhang Juzheng's whipping method). In addition, there are more than 6.4 million shi of grain. After Kangxi pacified the Three Feuds, he took over the Yunnan-Guizhou area formerly commanded by Wu Sangui. The tax revenue turned into more than 26.3 million taels of silver and more than 4.7 million shi of grain. The silver increased by 4.8 million taels. However, there was a shortage of 1.7 million dan of grain. If one tael of food was exchanged for one dan of grain, the excess would be only about 2.5 million taels. It can be seen that Kangxi's rectification every year was not enough.
In addition to Ding Yin and Tian Fu, Kangxi also had a salt tax of 2.7 million taels and a customs duty of 2 million taels. Including the previous ones, it was only about 36 million taels (as mentioned before, the three vassals used half the world, It turns out that what he said is true).
Kangxi was already very frugal and reduced the palace expenses to a minimum. In the Ming Dynasty, the palace spent as much as 10,000 taels of silver a day, but he only asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to spend 5,600 taels a month. Including the expenses for rewards, it was only one thousand taels. One thousand taels; in the late Ming Dynasty, burning firewood cost 27.8 million jins, but he only allowed 60,000 to 70,000 jins; there were 9,000 palace maids in the Ming Dynasty, and even more eunuchs, but he only used four to five hundred.
He was very tight on the expenses outside the palace. Jin Fu's river management required money, and he spent two million taels, which was very worthwhile. Several wars were the most expensive, but there is no clear record of how much Kangxi spent each year and how much money was spent on wars, so we dare not say anything.
Kangxi was much more frugal than Qianlong, but in any case he still needed 40 million taels of silver. But if we calculate it this way, wouldn't it mean that during the 61 years of Kangxi's reign, the total fiscal deficit would be 244 million taels of silver?
In fact, Kangxi not only had no debts, but also had a lot of savings in the national treasury. In the forty-eighth year of Kangxi, he already had more than 50 million taels (but in the later period, the national treasury became increasingly empty, and this situation was left to Emperor Yongzheng).
There is a way to make money, and that is "selling officials to win titles". This is a bit like the "selling officials in the Western Garden" of the Eastern Han Dynasty, except that the historical location is different, and the location is even different from the rise and fall of the regime. A person can have an official position, become a scholar without passing the examination, become a "supervisor", or obtain the qualification of being a "county magistrate". This is called "donating the class". Li Wei, the favored minister of Yongzheng, was born in the "donating class" and was finally able to When he reached the positions of Minister of the Ministry of War, Acting Minister of the Ministry of Justice, and Governor of Zhili, he was given the posthumous title "Min Da". From the posthumous title, we can also see that he was extremely sensitive. To get to the point, by selling his official position and title, Kangxi only got more than two million taels of silver after three years of selling.
In addition, Kangxi could also obtain income by minting money. The government probably had an additional annual income of 432,000 because of this operation and strategy.
Kangxi also had some "windfalls", such as gold and silver jewelry from Obai, Wu Sangui and others after their homes were confiscated.
Kangxi was an emperor who knew the needs of the people. He often showed kindness to the people and exempted or reduced taxes in places suffering from floods, droughts and war disasters. People's tax arrears are often written off in one lump sum and no longer considered. The amount of tax reductions and exemptions from the first year of Kangxi to the forty-eighth year of Kangxi was at least 120 million.
He also exempted the world's Ding Liang once in turn. From the 50th to the 52nd year of Kangxi's reign, Kangxi exempted one-third of the world's Ding Liang each year during these three years. The most famous thing is undoubtedly "Grow people, never add talent". In the fifty-first year of Kangxi's reign, Kangxi issued an order to fix the total number of dingyin for the fifty-first year of Kangxi. In the future, if the population increases, the poll tax will no longer be increased. This is indeed a policy to encourage childbirth. There is no need to worry about the head tax on the children after birth. You only need to consider the issue of raising children after birth. At this time, two high-yielding crops, sweet potatoes and corn, have been introduced to China. During the Qing Dynasty, the official population surged, with 100 million in Shunzhi and 100 million in Kangxi. 100 million, 400 million during the Qianlong period, and the population remained at around 450 million during the Jiaqing and Daoguang years.
After Yongzheng came to the throne, the fixed amount of head tax established by Kangxi was included in the land tax. From then on, there was no head tax. On the one hand, he wanted to reduce the burden on the common people who were not gentry landowners, and on the other hand, he simplified the procedures. The less is one cent or two cents, the more is seven or eight cents per acre.
