Zhang Siwei left the Yangxin Hall, and it was time for the Political Affairs Hall to get off work. Because he was a little frightened today, he decided not to work overtime and went home directly from Miyagi to rest.
The Prime Minister of the Cabinet had his own cards, and the luxurious carriage was surrounded by more than thirty knights for protection. He shouted in front that the horses riding the cards in the back were the same as the horses driving the shafts, and they were all good horses selected from a thousand.
Since the Saihanba Association broke down the barriers, the highly complementary economies of the Han and Mongolian peoples have experienced explosive integration and development. With the prosperity brought about by the Great Reform, horses from the Mongolian grasslands have spread all over the world in recent years.
The horse racing club established by the Zhou king and other clans pushed the horse trade to a level unimaginable by the emperors of the country. Northern nobles and merchants flock to horses that have been eliminated from the racecourse. The direct consequence is that breeding fine horse breeds and transporting horses over long distances has become a hugely profitable business.
Naturally, the hot demand was transmitted to the grasslands - from the Tianshan Mountains to Nenhorqin, the kings of wild horses were captured by herdsmen in large numbers, and horse dealers from the capital spent huge sums of money on them.
The power of role models is infinite. A single horse can elevate a herdsman family or even a small tribe to a higher class. This temptation is irresistible.
Therefore, starting from the tenth year of Wanli, a large number of horses were transported thousands of miles to the inland. Some horse dealers have even crossed the Gobi Desert to search for the "bloody horse" that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty would rather launch a war to get - the Ahel Te Golden Horse.
Zhang Siwei even heard that the Capital Jockey Club had formed a caravan and was preparing to return to the Silk Road to search for more valuable Aleb horses in Persia and Ottoman.
As Prime Minister, Zhang Siwei naturally cannot be so shallow as to think that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty launched the war just for a few horses. But judging from the actual results, the current emperor's instructions to the clan to form a horse racing club have solved the millennium problem of horse administration in the Central Plains - a typical method of moving a thousand pounds with four ounces, this method can only be stopped at the top of the mountain.
Returning to the beautiful Prime Minister's Mansion, Zhang Siwei washed up, gathered his staff, and held a small meeting in the study to study the tasks assigned by the emperor in the Yangxin Palace today.
It has been a full year since Zhang Juzheng passed away last year and Zhang Siwei took over as Prime Minister. As his position became more stable, more talents were recommended by various parties, giving Zhang Siwei many choices. In the past six months or so, in addition to Jiang Chunxi, the original staff member, several more have been added to the staff, and the staff team has grown in size.
Zhang Siwei briefly explained what happened in the Yangxin Palace, and all the staff were thrown into confusion. Shen Xianwu, an aide from Zhang Siwei's hometown, asked: "Does Your Majesty intend to restore 'equal land'?"
The so-called "equal land" refers to the land ownership system implemented from the Northern Wei Dynasty to the middle of the Tang Dynasty - land is owned by the state, and farmers can "grant land" for farming and weaving. The tax system is called "renting yongdiao", which means paying for grain and cloth. As land rent and labor service. The land equalization system is also the economic basis of the "fu army system".
After the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, Prime Minister Yang Yan introduced the "Two Taxes Law" to replace the "rent-yong modulation" in response to the uncontrollable land annexation by nobles and big landowners and the large number of peasant households fleeing. The land equalization system completely collapsed and was implemented for about three hundred years.
In the successive dynasties after the Two Taxes Law, land annexation became an unsolvable problem. In the eyes of Confucian disciples, Yang Yan, who introduced the Two Taxes Law to disrupt the land equalization system, was more guilty than Shang Yang. Shang Yang's disintegration of the "well field system" was a big sin for the corrupt Confucian scholars who "I Cong Zhou". However, Yang Yan admitted that private land ownership and encouraged annexation were the cause of the cycle of chaos. His crimes can only be described as "too numerous to describe."
Zhang Siwei shook his head and said: "That's not what the emperor meant." He stood up and explained in detail: "I thought the same thing at first and asked the emperor, 'Where does the land come from?' Because the prerequisite for equalizing land must be that after great chaos, a large amount of land must be abandoned. Only the imperial court has enough land to grant farmland."
"How can there be so much land in the world now? Even if all the land in Northeast China and Myanmar is used for farming, there won't be enough -"
"But the emperor found another way to solve this problem by using policies to allow landlords and farmers to voluntarily give up their land."
"Let's talk about the yeoman first. Today, for a family of three to five, the average land per person for a yeoman is more than 5 acres. Over the years, the imperial government has been very effective in cracking down on powerful people and suppressing mergers."
Gu Qing
"The emperor wants to use the method of tax exemption to allow the farmers to provide 'ration land'. The imperial court is planning to issue a decree to exchange taxes for land. For example, if a family of three pays three acres of land, they will be exempted from the land tax of six acres for life!"
All the staff were as confused as Zhang Siwei in Yangxin Palace. Shen Xianwu raised his fingers and said: "Take Puzhou as an example. The average price of three acres of farmland is sixty taels per mu, making a total of eighteen taels. If a family of three has been exempted from tax for forty years, the tax on six acres of farmland will be about half a tael per year. Silver, twenty taels of silver for forty years, and the price difference is only two taels. Who is going to do this business?! Isn’t it good to keep the land and pass it on to the family?”
Zhang Siwei shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Because the emperor wants to pilot it in Shanxi, I have already settled this account at the Yangxin Hall, but the emperor has other things to say in this big article."
"First, the calculation is not like this. The emperor means that from the time a person is born, all men and women will be granted land. Although your family of three has three acres of land, the more children you have, the more land you will receive. If there are more, the land will be farmed for you for free; secondly, the court will implement the "dividing the land into the acres" based on the current whip law. From now on, the land tax and labor will be fully folded into the land, and the land tax will be higher in the future. Yes, the tax-free six acres can be settled; thirdly, Prince Zhongxing measured the world in the sixth year of Wanli, and introduced the whip method in the eighth year of Wanli. In these years, the imperial court's outstanding and famous scholars all received tax refunds based on their treatment. In the future, Not only do I not have this preferential treatment——"
Before Zhang Siwei could finish speaking, the study room was already bursting into flames. Jiang Chunxi was twirling his beard when he pulled out a strand. He stood up and shouted: "Is the emperor trying to undermine the roots of the imperial examination?"
Seeing the commotion in the study, Zhang Siwei turned around and asked the serving maid to heat up two cotton towels. Then he sat on the chair and smiled bitterly: "You can't say that. Nowadays, universities have been established in all provinces, and university graduates are required to issue degrees. What the emperor means is that in the selection of officials in a few years, those with degrees will be exempted from the scholar examination. Directly participate in the imperial examination - in this case, the scope of the tax refund will be too large, and this preferential treatment cannot be given."
Jiang Chunxi trembled again when he heard this, and tears rolled down his face: "This will not only destroy the roots of the imperial examination, but also cut off the source of orthodoxy! Replace the Five Classics and Four Books with the study of objects, and replace self-cultivation with the study of economics to govern the country!"
When Zhang Siwei heard this, his face was uncertain at first, and then he stared at Jiang Chunxi with a stern look and shouted: "Chunxi be careful! The emperor said, 'Cheng Zhu can explain Confucius and Mencius, but others can't?' The so-called Taoist theory, But we have known each other since the Southern Song Dynasty. In the absence of Zhu Xi, didn’t Wenjing, Zhenguan, Kaiyuan, Song Renzong, etc. still prosper and prosper?! 'The truth can finally be proven through practice' - this is also the emperor's original words."
Seeing Zhang Siwei's stern expression, Jiang Chunxi couldn't help but feel a little stunned. He bowed and sat down silently, his eyes dull, as if he had lost focus.
Another aide, Wang Zhiheng, was not lost. He cupped his hands and said, "Prime Minister, you just said that not only do you not have this preferential treatment - you haven't finished speaking yet."
Zhang Siwei kept a straight face and said nothing. He took a hot cotton towel from the maid's hand and wiped his face vigorously. Then he sent her out and revealed the answer to the mystery: "Your Majesty wants to implement a 'progressive tax'. The more land you have, the more taxes you have to pay. If the average per capita exceeds a thousand acres, I am afraid that most of the harvest will have to pay taxes. In the future, I am afraid that big landowners will not be able to pay taxes." If we become tenants, the land price will be as cheap as dirt. By then, the court will have enough land to buy and grant land - this is a way to deal with the landlords."
When everyone in the study heard this, their faces turned ashen. Wang Zhiheng heard this and asked: "With this kind of reform, it is really meaningless to keep the land."
Zhang Siwei nodded and said: "The emperor is calculating the world's big accounts. Now there are hundreds of millions of acres of cultivated land in the country. If the average number of men, women, old and young is equal, the average per capita will be more than six acres - not to mention that there are still 20% of the people. Work in the city. If the landlord sells a large amount of land, the issue of annexation will be solved."
He sighed and continued: "The emperor said, 'The reform edict has been clear for a long time. Starting from the sixth year of Wanli, there has been no distinction between craftsmen's households, military households, merchants, and kitchen households. All people can choose their own jobs independently. However, due to inertia over the years, although I changed my nationality, but I still do what I used to do.”
"Now we need to use land reform to stir up people's hearts, so that those who want land can get it, and those who want to go to the city can go directly to the city - not only to solve the contradiction between people and land, but also to solve the problem of insufficient labor in industry and commerce, and at the same time to encourage population growth.'"
Zhang Siwei's staff were all shaken after hearing this. This is such a big article! Zhang Siwei's left sentence said "The Emperor", and the right sentence "The Emperor" meant everyone in the study was involved in brainstorming. Zhang Siwei took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, laughed incomprehensibly, and then said: "The ration farm method has another advantage - the emperor is worried that it is too early to marry a girl in the world. Once this method comes out, this girl will not be able to get married unless she She must grow up to be an old girl, otherwise no one will be willing to marry."
Jiang Chunxi had come to his senses at this time, and he asked: "If everything goes well and meets the emperor's wishes, two-thirds of the land will be tax-free in the future! What about the imperial government's financial plan and expenditure?"
When Zhang Siwei heard this, the muscles on his face twitched, and he replied in a hoarse voice: "Everyone is divided into acres, and after the officials and gentry pay taxes together, the remaining one-third of the land can be used to pay half of the current land tax. The rest, Naturally, it has to come from industry and commerce. The emperor wants to triple the current thirty-one tax—eight tax one!"
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