Many policies and even strategic decisions of the Dachu Empire are actually not understood by outsiders.
Especially the Dachu Empire’s series of high-pressure tax policies.
From ancient times to the present, no country at home or abroad has ever attached such great importance to taxation.
In order to collect taxes, the Dachu Empire not only established the Taxation Department, a huge organization with far more people than other administrative agencies, but even the subordinates of the Taxation Department also had their own armed forces.
Chen Xingkai, the Secretary of the Ministry of Taxation, was admitted to the Council of Ministers and became the Councilor, ranking among the top officials in the Chu Empire.
At the same time, the Da Chu Empire formulated extremely high-pressure tax policies. In the face of tax evasion, they would confiscate their families and exterminate their families at every turn, and directly defined the act of armed tax resistance as treason.
The Chu Empire attaches so much importance to taxation, which makes it difficult for many people to understand, especially those with traditional concepts. They believe that benevolent government must be carried out through persuasion and the like. Of course, this is only a very small minority, and most of them are because they are unwilling to pay taxes. against taxes.
The reason why the Da Chu Empire maintains high pressure on taxation is that it has established a large-scale tax agency and set up a special tax arm in order to collect taxes. The purpose is very simple and pure, just for money.
And why do you need so much money?
I dare not say it in the future, but now, the Chu Empire has only one purpose for spending so much money: for military expenses.
When Luo Zhixue set up a large-scale tax agency, his direct goal was to collect funds for military expenses.
Therefore, even though there is great internal opposition to the tax agency, Luo Zhixue still unswervingly promotes the development strategy of the tax department.
Similarly, after the Chu Empire conquered many cities, the first thing they did was to search for funds.
In addition to regular tax collection, a large amount of property from hostile and recalcitrant gentry was also confiscated.
Regardless of the reason used for this series of means, there is still only one purpose, to obtain enough funds to sustain the war.
Therefore, even if outsiders, especially the gentry and landlords, say that the Chu Empire was extremely cruel, a large number of traditional scholars from gentry families clamor for the cruelty of the fake Chu Empire every day.
However, the Chu Empire still unswervingly adopted the confiscation policy.
Obtaining funds to maintain the war was the direct cause of a series of internal policies of the Chu Empire.
However, in this process, there will also be some side benefits, benefits that are extremely important to ordinary people.
That is the redistribution of wealth!
Through large-scale confiscation, the Dachu Empire officially controlled a large amount of farmland, which would be leased to landless and landless farmers at a low price. At the same time, in the process, private rents were reduced to a certain extent.
The unified agricultural tax has greatly reduced the burden on the bottom farmers and allowed them more living space.
The strict tax policy is also an important measure to redistribute social wealth, because the tax policy of the Da Chu Empire often prefers to tax the middle and upper class people, especially those in the middle and upper classes, due to considerations of tax collection costs and cost-effectiveness. Gentlemen and landowners.
After collecting taxes from these middle and upper class people, in addition to being used for military expenditures and direct administrative expenses, a considerable part of these funds will be used for local infrastructure construction, work-for-relief, etc., and these are all beneficial to the bottom class. Farmer's.
In addition, a very critical point is that after a large amount of wealth is collected through taxation, whether the Chu Empire spends it through military expenditures or administrative expenses, it will re-enter the economic cycle, and this economic cycle will bring benefits to the people. Bringing job opportunities, opportunities to make money.
For example, it is used for military expenses. After the soldiers receive their salaries, they have to eat, drink, and sleep. The food they eat is grown by farmers, and some of the materials are also produced in factories, so in the end, there must be some funds. Flow into the hands of farmers, workers, and handicraftsmen.
Although the tax policy and many other internal affairs measures of the Dachu Empire were still to support the war and maintain rule, the first goal was still.
However, the specific implementation process of these policies has led to the emergence of these benign results, and this has made Luo Zhixue unswervingly adopt high-pressure tax policies, work-for-relief and many other measures.
This, in turn, further increased the favorable impression and support for the empire and Luo Zhixue among the lower-class farmers, factory workers, and people in the handicraft industry.
No matter what era, people at the bottom are always very simple.
They will support anyone who can give them enough to eat and live a good life.
This kind of support is very obvious in Anyang Village, a remote mountain village under the rule of Huangzhou Prefecture in northern Chu.
Because of the continuous outbreak of the eastward advance war on the front line, the Chu army on the front line, mainly the Eighth Division, continued to move north to Hefei to fight on the front line. Because they lost the convenient river supply channels, a large number of supplies going north could only be supplied by land transportation.
Land transportation is more difficult, and the weather has turned cold, and it has even started to snow locally, causing the material transportation situation to further deteriorate.
In order to transport supplies to the Eighth Division and other troops fighting on the northern front, the Logistics Department temporarily recruited young men and women in Huangmei County, Huangzhou Prefecture, close to the front line, to be incorporated into the transportation group affiliated to the Logistics Department to transport supplies to the front-line troops.
When officials from the Logistics Department of the Chu Army came to Du Anyang Village to recruit young people to transport supplies, the local young people actively participated. Not only did they successfully complete the recruitment task, but they also exceeded the quota.
Of course, some of them did it so that they could eat after joining the transportation group, but this was also inseparable from the good life that the Chu army had brought to them in the past, and it was a kind of reward after they saw the hope of survival.
They simply felt that living under the rule of the Chu army was a great success, and they did not want to return to the period of Ming Dynasty rule, so they heard that the frontline army needed manpower to transport supplies when fighting, even though it was freezing cold, and even though there was no wages , they just take care of the food, but these young and strong people are still happy to go.
As for why he didn't join the army directly and support the Chu army by fighting.
Even if you want to join, others won’t want you...
At present, the Chu army's armed forces, the main division, are actually not large in number. Because the number is limited, the selection of soldiers is actually very strict. Many young men who want to apply may not be able to be selected.
As for the garrison...the Ming army at the front dropped more and more troops. In order to prevent these troops from harming the place, the Chu army had to continue to establish new garrison troops. Now the size of the garrison has reached fourteen divisions. And most are full.
The Chu army has been continuously reducing its garrison, and young men and women are being recruited from the civilian population to join the garrison.
Therefore, it is not easy for young people among the people to join the Chu army and serve the Chu Empire.
Being a soldier of the Chu Empire is not something you can do just because you want to.
With the efforts of a transportation group composed of a large number of civilians, the Logistics Department sent a large amount of grain, ammunition, winter clothing and other materials to the Eighth Division, the Fifth Garrison Division and other troops fighting on the northern front, effectively alleviating the epidemic. Material shortages for units such as the 8th Division.
Luo Zhixue, who was outside Jinling City, received the report from the Logistics Department. He thought for a moment and said, "Water can carry a boat and it can also overturn it. The ancients never deceived me."
Luo Zhixue said with conscience that in fact, he did not do much specifically to improve people's lives. Many of the policy measures he made were not really intended to make people live a better life. Big empty slogan.
Luo Zhixue's starting point is very simple.
In the early days, it was all about making money and military expenses. Later, it paid attention to maintaining stable rule in its own controlled areas to a certain extent.
To put it bluntly, Luo Zhixue came up with many policies just to make his rule more stable. In fact, these policies are not limited to some people's livelihood policies, such as the establishment of the Minister of Counselor, the establishment of the Military Affairs Council, etc. Wait, there is much more.
However, these policies come with some benefits that are beneficial to people's livelihood, but the benefits are actually limited.
At least under the rule of the Chu Empire, there were still more hungry people...
However, even so, just such a small benefit allowed the local people to brave the wind and snow to transport supplies to the frontline troops in the cold weather!
These people at the bottom are actually very easy to satisfy!
Luo Zhixue read the report and pondered for a long time.
Well, it's not touching. As a superior person, Luo Zhixue, who has been the emperor for more than a year, does not have such low-level emotions.
What he saw was that the demands of the people at the bottom were lower and easier to meet than those of the gentry, landlords, citizens and other classes, and they were also more feasible in terms of governance.
If you tilt certain policies slightly, you can win the support of hundreds of millions of people at the bottom, especially farmers.
And once you gain widespread support from the people at the bottom, you can completely lay the foundation for the true rule of the empire.
After all, relying solely on military power to maintain rule is unreliable and carries huge risks. It is like a fortress on the beach that will be destroyed when the tide rises.
Luo Zhixue had to find a foundation for rule for his empire in addition to military strength.
Regardless of whether it is the upper class such as landlords or new capitalists, Luo Zhixue feels that it is unreliable or unnecessary.
Because they all have weakness and lack the ability to resist force.
For these gentry, landlords, capitalists, etc., who are only a very small number, it is okay for them to be obedient. If they don't, they will be bombarded and it will be over. Luo Zhixue has no need to compromise with them.
Well, this is what the Chu army does now. They confiscate families and exterminate clans in the newly occupied areas. The Chu army has never been soft-hearted, and they don't care what the landlords and gentry think.
In short, you have to either pay taxes or confiscate your family and exterminate your family. Even if you want to escape to the Ming Dynasty, you have to keep your family property!
But the people at the bottom, especially the farmers, are different.
There are more of them, and they are easier to satisfy. It is more cost-effective to win them over. If used well, they can become the true foundation of the empire's rule.
Well, there are too many people at the bottom. Once they resist, it would be too troublesome to suppress them. It doesn't matter whether they kill them or not...
The rogue thieves in Shaanxi are a typical example. Ming Ting killed batch after batch, but he couldn't finish them all...
Moreover, Luo Zhixue felt that even if he really resisted, he couldn't really finish the killing. Who would he rule if he really finished killing?
Now, he has secretly decided to pay attention: farmers!
After Luo Zhixue made his decision, he quickly found several civil servants under his command!
Naturally, Luo Zhixue would not directly talk to them about the basis of governance, but would talk about some more intuitive administrative measures.
For example, we need to solve the problem of rural water conservancy infrastructure, such as solving the problem of excessive rent, and another example is how to prevent further annexation of land, and how to find ways to let landlords sell large amounts of land in their hands.
Each of these measures is a very grand issue. Naturally, a simple meeting cannot solve any of them. Today, Luo Zhixue brought these people over and just gave them a hint to let them know: I am very concerned about the living conditions of the farmers at the bottom, and you should pay attention to it too!
