Money is a huge problem.
The current position of the Ministry of Household Affairs is actually not too difficult. Huang Zicheng, the Minister of Household Affairs, and Zhuo Jing, the Right Minister, are relatively relaxed. Without him, the foundation laid by Zhu Yuanzhang is still worthy of recognition. At least the court is not short of money and food at the moment.
Think about it, Emperor Jianwen and Zhu Di have been fighting for four years, and they can't keep up with money and food. There is no reason to carry out some reforms on their own, and they will have no money.
But it is not a solution to just rest on the bottom. As long as Zhu Yuanzhang's system continues to operate, the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty will still not be changed, and the sufferings inflicted on the people of the Ming Dynasty will still occur.
This is not the result Zhu Yunwen wants to see. Therefore, determining the status of merchants, changing Zhu Yuanzhang's policy of focusing on agriculture and suppressing business, and vigorously developing industry and commerce will become Zhu Yunwen's inevitable choice.
However, a prerequisite for the development of industry and commerce is abundant products and free movement of people.
According to the three categories of military, agricultural, and craftsman established by Zhu Yuanzhang, all descendants need to work in this industry.
He is a farmer, and he was a farmer and a military household in those ten thousand years. Even if your family dies, you still have to find someone to serve as a soldier for you. It doesn't matter whether the person you find is your nephew or your nephew.
Without reforming the household registration system, business reform cannot be promoted.
The reform of the household registration system also involves land reform and the land tax system.
The first issue is not to say that if businessmen are loosened, the economy will develop, the market will prosper, and they will be able to enjoy tax revenue.
"In the final analysis, we still need to liberate the labor force first."
Without liberating farmers, underlying problems will continue to arise;
Without liberating the peasants, there will be no surplus labor in the cities;
Without liberating farmers, there will be no way for business to develop...
Behind each link is the issue of land.
Zhu Yunwen turned his attention to the issue of land tax system.
In terms of agricultural taxes in the Ming Dynasty, they were mainly land taxes.
The land tax adopts a two-tax system, that is, the summer tax is levied in the eighth month of the lunar calendar every year, and the autumn grain tax is levied in the second month after the autumn harvest.
The tax rate is roughly five to ten percent of the total harvest.
In the early Ming Dynasty, both summer taxes and autumn grain taxes were paid in grain, that is, taxes in kind were adopted. When collecting taxes, everyone carried grain on carts and shoulders to pay the tax, and the government delivered the grain to Nanjing in various ways.
The imperial court used these grains to pay the salaries of the emperor's relatives, civil and military officials, and the soldiers' wages.
When paying wages, there are quotas for how many bags of rice a first-rank official will receive, and how much rice a ninth-rank sesame official will receive. You can just take the sacks and collect them when the time comes.
In the early Ming Dynasty, the basic unit of salary for officials was often not the unit of money "liang", but the unit of grain "shi".
Of course, this method of using grain as wages was not because the emperor was stingy, but because at that time, grain was a hard currency.
To put it bluntly, if you carry grain on the street to buy vegetables and tofu, people will sell it to you.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, silver gradually became a hard currency, and some people could no longer pay grain, but converted it into silver taels.
Of course, this does not form a unified system, and its implementation is quite mixed.
In addition to Tian Fu, there are also Ding Fu and servants.
If Zhu Yunwen wants to change all this, he must change the issue of agricultural tax.
In the early Ming Dynasty, agricultural taxes accounted for the absolute majority of the central government's finances, while commercial taxes were basically only a fraction of the total, and it would not hurt to erase them.
Changing the agricultural tax system is not something that can be done in just a few words.
how to change?
Later generations paid public grain for decades, supporting the development of urban industry and commerce. Later, the cities subsidized the rural areas. When the time came, the agricultural tax was cancelled. This tax no longer exists.
Can Zhu Yunwen cancel agricultural taxes?
Dare to cancel?
After the abolition, the entire Ming Dynasty's ruling foundation was lost. It would be strange if it did not perish.
What methods can be adopted to loosen the constraints on farmers?
Zhu Yunwen thought of Zhang Juzheng, the greatest politician and reformer of the Ming Dynasty. This was the most outstanding chief minister of the Ming Dynasty. The "one whip method" implemented during the reform was highly praised in the history books of later generations.
And this evaluation has a distinctive word:
Epoch-making!
After the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty continued the method of whipping, and later developed it into the method of dividing people into acres.
"Call the cabinet ministers, the Minister of Household Affairs, and the Minister."
Zhu Yunwen made up his mind to put the "One Whip Method" on the stage of history 183 years ahead of schedule.
The core of the One Whip Law was to combine the land tax, corvee and other miscellaneous levies from various states and counties into one, consolidate and levy silver taels, and pay them per mu.
When a whip was placed in front of Huang Zicheng, the minister of cabinet and household affairs, and Zhuo Jing, the right minister, no one spoke for a long time.
"Your Majesty, this system seems to be mysterious and mysterious. However, I do not recommend its implementation."
Huang Zicheng thought for a long time before speaking cautiously.
Zhu Yunwen didn't want these people to accept it immediately, so he asked: "Tell me what you think."
Huang Zicheng said bluntly: "First, adopting a whip method may not be applicable to the whole country. The land south of the Yangtze River is fertile and fertile, and the products are rich. If you calculate it this way, it is easy. But in the land north of the Yangtze River, there are many people with poor soil and little production. Is this calculation biased? Secondly, once the implementation of a whip law fails to provide financial resources, and additional corvee taxes are added, will it be harmful to the people?"
"Thirdly, converting grain into silver saves a lot of trouble. However, farmers have no silver and can only go to merchants to exchange it before paying taxes. Once the price of silver is deliberately raised, what will happen to the people when the price of silver is high and the price of grain is low? quiet?"
Zhu Yunwen looked at Huang Zicheng and didn't realize that this guy had some knowledge about economics.
Jie Jin shook his head, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, what Huang Shangshu just said makes sense. However, in my opinion, the advantages of a whip outweigh the disadvantages and should be implemented."
Zhu Yunwen looked at Xie Jin, nodded and said, "Tell me about it."
Xie Jin bluntly said: "One whip method integrates land taxes, corvee labor, and miscellaneous levies. It can avoid repeated levies and repeated expropriations by lower-level officials, which is conducive to reducing the burden on households. Our Ming Dynasty Yin Yin editors mainly include Lijia and Lijia. The problem of unevenly light and heavy burdens on different households is very prominent, and adopting this method can alleviate this problem, which is beneficial to the farmland industry. This is one of them."
"Secondly, using silver coins instead of real objects can avoid the loss of food sent to the capital from various places every year. If the court needs food, it only needs to be allocated in reward, and there is no need to waste time on farmers."
"Third, the implementation of the One Whip Law can reduce tax expenditures. The government will come up with a list of taxes and levies, and each household will complete the list. First, there is no need for the intervention of the village chief, second, there will be no fraud by the grain chief, and third, there will be no loss of public grain. From this, I believe that, This method is advisable.”
Zhu Yunwen looked at Xie Jin appreciatively, then looked at cabinet minister Yu Xin, and asked: "Mr. Yu Ge is the old minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. If you have any opinions, you can talk freely."
Yu Xin smiled calmly, appreciating the new emperor's open-minded attitude, and said: "I second the proposal to resolve the cabinet ministers. This method is indeed feasible. I am ashamed to say that I have mediocre talents and have never thought of such a wonderful method. Think about it carefully, Huang Shangshu What he said is also pertinent, and some problems really need to be solved.”
"As far as I am concerned, although this method is new, it seems substantial and practical. If the top and bottom work together, it can be implemented. I am just worried that if this method is extended to prefectures and counties, lower-level officials will have less opportunities to exploit them, and may He maliciously resisted and, in the name of the Emperor, carried out this law indiscriminately, disturbing and harming the people."
Zhu Yunzhen's pupils condensed slightly. Yu Xin was indeed experienced. He knew the function of a whip method and its shortcomings. What was even more clear was that the key to whether this method could be implemented was not the central government, but whether the local authorities cooperated with each other.
If local governments and powerful evil gentry take the lead in opposition, and no matter how good the system is, it will not be implemented to the end, it will be of no use, and may even be harmful to the people!
Zhu Yunwen nodded solemnly, stood up and said: "Everyone, you only see the present, but you do not see the future of development. Every day, every year, princes, ministers, landowners, and wealthy businessmen are constantly annexing land, and even think about it. Try to take away farmers' land. Once farmers encounter famines and floods, they can only sell their fields and become tenant farmers with no freedom."
"Haha, the funny thing is that the tenant farmers worked hard, but in the end they could only end up in poverty. And the grain they received eventually fell into the hands of princes, ministers, landowners, and wealthy businessmen. Some people did not pay taxes, and some did not pay taxes. People evade taxes. By then, the land will be in the hands of those people, how much more national taxes will there be?"
"Besides, in the north, the Northern Mongolian forces are still there. They will inevitably go south to invade our borders frequently. On the coast, there will also be pirates and Japanese pirates. Officials want salaries and the army needs money and food. How can we maintain the huge expenditure with a small amount of finance? What’s next?”
"No! Therefore, we must not only reform the agricultural tax system, but also the land system, and even more, the commercial system! I tell you, if you want a strong and prosperous Ming Dynasty, you need the courage to create a prosperous era! Dare to take an unprecedented path the way!"
Yu Xin, Zhang Yan, Xie Jin, Huang Zicheng, and Zhuo Jing looked at the ambitious Zhu Yunwen, and a ball of fire ignited in their hearts.
It can be seen from Zhu Yunwen's words that in his eyes, it is not just the issue of the agricultural tax system, but the issue of the entire empire! His eyes are not only looking at the present, but also looking at the future!
It is a great honor for a minister to serve such an emperor!
"I'll give you a month to work out a feasible plan, identify the problem, and propose how to solve it. If the cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs still can't solve it, we can work together and recruit some of the Imperial College students to participate."
Zhu Yunwen gave the order.
Although Zhu Yunwen was determined to reform, he was not in a hurry to take the first step.
But what restrained Zhu Yunzhen's hands and feet was still the issue of the vassal king. Specifically, it was the King of Yan Zhu Di!
On August 16, King Yan Zhu Di left the capital. After crossing the Yangtze River, he traveled straight to Beiping Mansion under the stars and night. Just when Zhu Di arrived in Xuzhou, Ping An and Sheng Yong were in Beiping Mansion and started taking action.
On September 5, Sheng Yong successively dismissed and transferred 32 military generals, and selected talents from the army and entrusted them with important tasks.
On September 6, Ping'an mobilized its army to defend Peiping. The troops originally responsible for defense were sent to Linqing and other places for training.
On September 7, Qu Neng held a large-scale military training in Shanhaiguan.
…
On September 9, Ping An received the implementation order of the new army strategy and began to implement the new army strategy around Beiping Mansion.
PS:
The article mentions that the "One Whip Method" was implemented 183 years in advance. This is based on the time when Zhang Juzheng promoted the "One Whip Method". The pioneer was Gui E in the Ming Dynasty, who proposed it in 1530, the tenth year of Jiajing, and Zhang Juzheng in Wanli. It was implemented nationwide in nine years, that is, 1581, whichever time is later.
