Emperor Zhu had long been thinking about collecting taxes.
After talking to Prime Minister Luo Fangbo.
Emperor Zhu asked the Ministry of Taxation to submit an inventory report on local property taxes.
In the Ming Dynasty, which was basically dominated by literati and officials.
There are two institutions that intellectuals and doctors are unlikely to get involved in.
One is the military.
Another thing is taxation.
In fact, there is also a "Ming Dynasty's shadow government", which is the Ming Dynasty Royal Consortium. This Emperor Zhu's private organization will not have anything to do with traditional literati and officials.
For Emperor Zhu.
Gun barrel and money bag.
These two key and critical departments must be firmly controlled.
Therefore, most of the graduates of Daohua University and other new universities who graduated this year were arranged by Emperor Zhu to work in taxation and the Ming Royal Consortium.
Emperor Zhu focused on cultivating these new talents, and he will definitely promote a few to the cabinet in the future.
The Ming Dynasty now dominates the world, and the wars around it are basically over.
Emperor Zhu was convinced that the real war would take place in the Americas more than ten years later!
For the current Ming Dynasty, the key to the past ten years is not war.
Instead, sort out the inside.
The first is immigration.
Immigrants to Southeast Asia, Northeast China, and North America.
Especially North America.
Europeans are not fools. Of course they know that the final situation will be a struggle between East and West. Although Emperor Zhu also knows that European unity may not be possible, he should be lenient if he expects the enemy to be lenient in case the Europeans really unite to deal with the Ming Dynasty. , if Ming Dynasty is not prepared, isn’t it doomed?
So this time.
Emperor Zhu was quite diligent.
There are meetings every three days.
While focusing on the collective farm affairs in the Northeast, he also focused on the issue of clearing land taxes in the eight southeastern provinces.
What was held today was an enlarged meeting of officials from various cabinet departments. Many people came, more than thirty people, sitting in the conference hall, all holding small notebooks waiting to record Emperor Zhu's remarks.
Now the officials of the new Ming Dynasty all know it.
Emperor Zhu has a good temper.
Be polite to the officials.
When you come up for a meeting, you don't need to kneel down. You don't even have to stand, you just sit down.
This style of behavior made some former Qing officials who served Qianlong a little uncomfortable.
And he is also very generous with his gifts. He likes to give out red envelopes when there are happy events in the palace.
Overall, he is a very easy-to-serve boss.
But today Boss Zhu’s face looks very ugly.
Officials sent to audit the land tax situation in various places submitted a report, which revealed in detail how the local gentry used loopholes in the policy to avoid and evade taxes.
Except for the so-called delay.
There is also the saying of long price and short price.
Large households pay at a reduced price, which is called "short price".
Small households double the tax, which is called "long price".
Because the officials of the Taxation Department who were dispatched were not Confucian scholars.
Instead, they were retired military officers who became civilians, or new students who had studied in new schools.
He is Emperor Zhu’s loyal supporter.
And it has not been corrupted by the local scholar-bureaucrats.
Therefore, this report very straightforwardly reveals the actions of those scholar-bureaucrats who are full of benevolence, justice and morality.
'OK! The words must be said to be the blood of saints, and they are full of moral articles. What is the result? '
Emperor Zhu's face was gloomy.
Everyone present looked at each other.
Those student officials have stoked a hornet's nest!
I don’t understand any rules at all.
"Your Majesty, I believe that this "long price and short price" thing has its own reasons and has been going on for a long time. From the Qing Dynasty to the present, officials have been formed, and it is difficult to change them in a short period of time. In addition, the scholar-bureaucrats are in the opposition, responsible for educating the people, and they are unable to do so. For other livelihoods, the only way to make a living is to rent out land for a small profit. If we continue to levy it at a "fair price", I am afraid that the world's scholar-bureaucrats will go bankrupt like a crucian carp across the river. Moreover, if there are no local scholar-bureaucrats to maintain order, the world will inevitably fall into strife again. ."
The one who was speaking was Ouyang Houjun, the Minister of Rites.
As soon as this statement came out.
The answer is like a cloud.
Many officials present echoed the statement.
"The interests of scholar-bureaucrats should not be touched lightly."
"Scholar-bureaucrats are the ballast stone for the stability of the world. They have great responsibilities and should be treated favorably by the court!"
Everyone spoke up one after another.
Now Emperor Zhu was beginning to have signs of attacking the scholar-officials in the southeast.
We have to check taxes and deal with all kinds of bad regulations.
Keep going like this.
The interests of the scholar-bureaucrats will be greatly damaged.
They will have to pay the same taxes as the Mudlegs from now on.
Emperor Zhu glanced at him.
The officials at the scene suddenly did not dare to speak.
He is also the founding emperor after all.
His throne was earned through fighting, and he usually has a good temper, but no one dares to say that this emperor is easy to bully.
"Who are scholar-bureaucrats? Landlords? Scholars? According to ritual, do they have a higher status and treatment than other Ming subjects?" Emperor Zhu's voice boomed in the ears of the ministers.
He is no longer an emperor who can only rely on scholar-bureaucrats.
He has a large army at hand, the officers at hand can also take up local posts after retirement, and there are also a large number of new students waiting to be arranged.
There are also noble descendants.
At the same time, he also has a Ming Dynasty royal consortium system.
This system can also cultivate some new types of officials and cadres.
so.
These literati and officials could not handle the Ming Emperor at all.
Instead, he would be manipulated by the Ming Emperor.
"Those who have no fame are ordinary people! Why should ordinary people differentiate between themselves?"
Emperor Zhu said with a cold snort.
"I treat the gentry of the world very well. Today, there are hundreds of thousands of official positions given to literati and officials. It is easier to get an official position in this world. It is more than ten times easier than it was in the previous Qing Dynasty, right?"
"Since ancient times, to get an official position in the imperial examination, you have to have at least the merit of the candidate. However, only a small number of people can get the official position. It is easy to get the official title only if you have to be a Jinshi. Even a Jinshi may not be able to get an official position. After all, it is not enough to be a Jinshi in one year. More than Bayern, and in my Ming Dynasty, talented people can serve as officials, and the eight southeastern provinces alone can support more than 130,000 officials!"
“The official positions these scholar-bureaucrats received are several times more than those obtained in the first ten or twenty years of the Qing Dynasty!”
Emperor Zhu said loudly: "Have I treated the scholar-bureaucrats in the southeast harshly? But what about them? They collect some land taxes, push back and forth, and find ways to pass it on to the common people. They are not afraid of forcing the common people to rebel and they will be miserable. !”
None of the officials present said a word.
Although they were scholars and officials, they were all close ministers of the emperor, and they all consulted Emperor Zhu privately on investment knowledge.
When I got rich, I didn’t buy land, but invested in real estate in big cities.
Therefore, although they sympathize with the interests of the old literati in the eight southeastern provinces, they do not have to risk their own futures for these unrelated people.
Everyone didn't speak when he saw them.
Emperor Zhu said to himself: "So this time, I will completely put an end to all bad rules. These literati and scholars are no different from ordinary people! There is no any privilege!"
"The taxes that should be paid should be treated equally and paid as one!",
"It is my decree that from now on, real-name registration of land will be carried out across the country to ensure that the property rights of each piece of land are specific to individuals! Whoever owns which piece of land needs to obtain a land certificate. In the future, whether it is a sale or inheritance transfer, it must be registered in The registration and management is carried out by the imperial court, otherwise it will be treated as a terra nullius!"
Real-name property ownership system?
A group of senior officials in the hall looked at each other.
Land property requires a land certificate and class registration with the court.
After this, who will dare to buy land?
How much were the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty?
What official would buy tens of thousands of acres of land at once?
Needless to say.
It must be a corrupt official.
Emperor Zhu certainly knew that the officials under his command were not very clean.
The history of bureaucracy is probably the history of corruption.
Emperor Zhu did not dare to expect that all the officials at hand would be upright and upright officials.
Things in human nature cannot be overcome by talking about a few great principles or talking about benevolence, justice and morality.
Therefore, Emperor Zhu was not intolerant of corruption.
He knew that this could not be stopped.
However, what he wanted to ensure was that systemic corruption would not cause the collapse of the bureaucracy and the financial system of the Ming Dynasty.
This requires imitating modern state power to establish a professional tax system.
And this system must have laws to ensure its implementation.
When Emperor Zhu saw everyone's expressions, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth: "I know that everyone is rich, but their combined wealth will not exceed 10% of mine. As the emperor, I am the richest man in the Ming Dynasty. Am I still afraid of everyone?" Are you guys getting rich? What you have declared is only farmland. As for other urban real estate, shops, stocks, deposits, bonds, etc., they are not included here!"
That's right.
Emperor Zhu is going to have trouble with the landlord class.
The landlord class is a backward class in this era.
It is definitely unlikely to develop industrialization.
Wealth was fixed in the land by the landowning class.
Unable to enter market circulation.
In the eyes of Emperor Zhu, this was simply a heinous crime! !
This is the biggest obstacle to the development of capitalism!
so.
It is inevitable to have trouble with the landlord class.
Fighting landlords is not because landlords are bad guys.
But because they are a stumbling block to the development of the times!
However, Emperor Zhu's Ming Empire was not very revolutionary after all.
Therefore, we can only use various means to limit the output of the traditional landlord-tenant production relationship.
It would be best if these landowners would not be able to obtain sufficient benefits through such a simple and crude lease.
Only in this way can they have the motivation to carry out "capitalized management of land."
Don't force them.
No one wants to change easily.
In fact, the benefits that traditional literati and bureaucrats can maintain in the rough production relationship of landlords and tenant farmers are largely related to the privileges they possess.
If all the privileges enjoyed by landlords and scholar-bureaucrats were exempted.
The "return on investment" that can be obtained from this crude land management method is quite limited!
After dropping the shock bomb of "real-name property registration system".
Emperor Zhu announced the end of the small court meeting, and then left several important ministers to continue the meeting.
"Your Majesty, this property registration may be another offending matter."
Gu Song said with a bit of a look on his face.
The real-name registration of this property must be offensive. After all, the landowners and wealthy people at this time were all misers, and the silver was hidden in the cellar to mold.
The officials present were a little embarrassed.
Emperor Zhu smiled.
"Don't worry about this. Of course I won't offend the scholar-officials to the death, and what I am doing now is beneficial to the scholar-officials. I am also a scholar and can be regarded as one of the scholar-officials, so I am doing it now Everything is planned for the world's scholars."
Uh. What kind of scholar are you?
I can’t even memorize the entire Analects of Confucius.
The officials complained inwardly.
But of course I didn’t dare to say it.
"This registration of property is to support the [tax-sharing system] that will be implemented in the next step. I plan to implement the [tax law] so that there are rules to follow, laws to follow, and systems to support everyone in the future. All follow the rules, and the benefits of being a scholar-official are indispensable. After all, everyone in the world knows that I, the Ming Dynasty, share the world with the scholar-official." Emperor Zhu said.
Why share the world with scholar-bureaucrats?
Everyone present knew that when Emperor Zhu said this, he must have severely offended some scholar-bureaucrats.
"Your Majesty, what is the tax sharing system?"
Gu Song asked.
The corners of Emperor Zhu's mouth rose.
The tax-sharing system was naturally plagiarized from later generations.
Later generations experienced a period of rapid development that lasted forty years. During those forty years, local officials spared no effort and tried every means to expand finances, attract investment, and develop the local economy.
It can be said that every place is full of efforts.
The first reason for this is of course that local officials are good servants of the people and serve the people wholeheartedly.
In addition to this reason, there is another little reason.
That's the benefit!
In later generations, taxes were divided into central taxes and local taxes.
Most of the taxes generated by real estate development and investment promotion are local taxes.
The more prosperous the local economy is, the bigger the local fiscal plate will be.
The local government is working hard to make money, eh, no, it is working hard to serve the people. Of course, it will be more motivated.
If no matter how much tax the local government receives, it is pocketed by the court and nothing is left in the local government, then what energy can the local government have?
Take everything away.
There’s no way to inspire positivity!
at this point.
How could Emperor Zhu, who was so successful as a boss, not know?
Before the Ming Dynasty, the world had not been unified, and various systems and systems had not been established. Some places were even implementing military control, and some places were still fighting.
In other places, bandits are everywhere and local security is chaotic.
All these need to be sorted out by sending troops - the Ming Dynasty cannot tolerate bandits, because the Ming Dynasty wants to recruit immigrants to go outside the customs and go to Nanyang, and the local bandits are a complete obstacle.
And now.
Sichuan and Central Plains are still sorting out.
But the eight southeastern provinces can take the lead in reforming their tax systems.
"I have had this idea for some years. The Ming Dynasty's taxation is divided into local taxes and central taxes. The court cannot take away everything from the local areas. It must retain certain tax resources for the local governments in order to better build the local area. Central taxes They are three items: customs duty, interest tax, and salt tax. Local taxes are four major items: commercial tax, land tax, mineral tax, and stamp tax. The amount of tax is directly linked to the number of seats in parliaments at all levels. Regions with large tax revenues have The number of parliamentarians is large. As long as the local government meets the tax quota that has been reached, even if its own finances cannot be self-sufficient and rely on subsidies from superiors and the court, they can still retain a certain number of representatives in parliaments at all levels. There is no tax, No representation!”
(End of chapter)
