Shangshu Shen didn't care what Yu Qian thought, he only knew that he was going to lose money again!
Those who can serve as chief officials of the six departments have their own specialties, but they must also understand all aspects of government affairs.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for the six parts to change tunes frequently.
To be honest, Shen Yi is not very proficient in military affairs, but as the Minister of Household Affairs, he is very familiar with the management of farmland.
In the final analysis, military camps are just fields cultivated by the army. The forms are different, but the principles are the same, and many of the problems that will arise must be the same.
Therefore, when Yu Qian just mentioned this, Shen Yi reacted immediately.
This time, I'm afraid I'm going to bleed heavily...
As expected, while talking, Yu Qian took out a memorial from his sleeve, handed it to Chen Yi, and said.
"So in essence, the biggest problem in reorganizing the military settlements is how to return the military settlements that have been turned into civilian farmland in various ways back into the hands of the imperial court, and at the same time, prevent the people from being displaced due to the loss of their land."
"In view of this, Yu Mou and the two ministers from the Ministry of War discussed it and came up with a preliminary charter. However, it requires strong support from the Ministry of Revenue."
The implication is that there are currently no more than four people who know this charter, and Shangshu Shen will be the fifth.
So, under the emperor's gaze, Chen Yi breathed out softly, reached out to take the memorial, and began to read it.
Now that things have come to this, we can't hide from them, so we have to face them.
The memorial was not too thick, and as expected, as soon as Shen Shangshu opened it, he saw many traces of ink circles on it.
But when Shen Shangshu saw it, he pretended not to see it. He read the memorial carefully and completely. After closing it, he frowned.
After pondering for a moment, he looked up at Yu Qian and asked.
"Public land law?"
Throughout the ages, scholar-bureaucrats often like to rely on ancient reforms to reform the system. The reason for this is not just because of the so-called status, but more importantly, they have the experience of their predecessors as a reference, and they will be more stable when implementing their own policies. .
Throughout the dynasties, agriculture has been the country's main industry. Even the Song Dynasty, which became wealthy due to commercial taxes, attached great importance to agriculture. Because of this, various policies and methods for agriculture emerged in endlessly.
As the Chief Situ in charge of the Household Department, Shen Yi is naturally familiar with these.
The public land law was a system implemented during the Southern Song Dynasty. Its purpose was to solve the financial difficulties of the imperial court and to inhibit mergers by wealthy gentry.
Specifically, on the basis of the land restriction system, the upper limit of the number of acres that can be owned by different household registrations is defined. The excess land will be forcibly redeemed by the court and classified as official land.
After these acres were taken back by the court, they would be distributed to landless or landless peasants through leases, who would cultivate them and pay taxes to the court.
This system has had mixed success in history.
Praisers believe that the public land law restrained the tycoons, appeased the people, and at the same time increased a large amount of tax revenue for the court, and the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.
Those who deny it feel that the public land law is actually a form of forcible plunder by the imperial court. In the name of redemption, people’s land is expropriated at low prices. Although it suppressed a group of wealthy gentry, it also forced many ordinary people to have no choice but to rebel. It was really a disaster.
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And the most fundamental thing is that after the public land is leased out, local officials and the gentry collude, which will also hide a large amount of land. The final suffering will still have to be borne by the people.
Even in terms of finance, the imperial court needed to spend a lot of financial resources to redeem public land. At that time, the Southern Song Dynasty adopted the method of adding Jiaozi, which further caused social instability.
Although it is said that after the redemption was completed, the imperial court's finances quickly eased, the resulting damage to the imperial authority was irreparable.
In addition, not long after the implementation of the public land law in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was destroyed by the Yuan Dynasty. This is also the reason why many people do not like the public land law.
However, from Shen Yi's perspective, he doesn't have that much prejudice against the public land law.
On the contrary, he felt that the public land law in the Southern Song Dynasty was implemented a little late. Those so-called collusion between officials and gentry, deceiving the superiors and concealing the truth, expropriating private land at low prices, and even adding seals to redeem public land. These problems all illustrate the Southern Song Dynasty itself.
The building is already about to collapse.
There is a good policy, but it is difficult to implement it. This is the biggest problem.
In fact, if you really study the public land law carefully, you will understand that the reason why it was able to stabilize quickly after the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty was because it enjoyed the benefits of the public land law.
At that time, many of the lands granted by Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty to the heroes came from the public lands redeemed during the Southern Song Dynasty.
It is true that those who came before us were scolded, but those who come after us enjoy the blessings.
Going back to Yu Qian's memorial, in fact, the biggest problem in military settlements is how to maintain the living space of the original low-level tenants.
If it were implemented through the public land law, that would be a solution.
However... Shen Shangshu reviewed what he just saw in his mind. It seems that Yu Qian's regulations are still different from the public land law of the Southern Song Dynasty.
"Shang Shu Shen has a good eye. This charter does draw lessons from the Public Land Law, but it is not entirely the same."
It was obvious that Yu Qian valued this new memorial more than before. He nodded and said seriously.
"The public land law targets the private land of the wealthy gentry, and forced redemption will cause violent dissatisfaction. However, the military settlement itself is the court's land. First of all, in terms of status, the court has the advantage this time."
"Secondly, in terms of methods and objects, during the implementation process, the Ministry of War will also make distinctions. There is no need to mention the registered military fields. Just let the border troops return to the military camps as usual."
"This charter of the Ministry of War mainly targets the fields that have disappeared and have not been registered, and the acres that were originally military fields but were registered as civilian fields."
"To be specific, redemption is still the main method. After the Qing Dynasty, these two types of fields will be purchased back by the court according to the market price and converted into registered military fields."
"However, this part of the military land will not be cultivated by the border troops for the time being. It will still be cultivated by tenants. The local government will be responsible for paying taxes on time and supplying it to the court."
After saying these words, Shen Yi became solemn.
He was not wrong, and Yu Qian was not wrong either. This method indeed requires the full support of the Ministry of Revenue.
Shen Yi didn't know how much farmland had been hidden by so many military camps on the border, but there was no doubt that it must be a huge sum.
If all were redeemed by the court at market prices, then one can imagine how much financial pressure the Ministry of Revenue would bear.
The advantage of doing this is that it can take into account the interests of ordinary people.
At this time, Fan Guang on the side thought for a while and asked a question.
"But, after all this hard work, nothing has changed. Moreover, the imperial court also provided such a large sum of money..."
Unlike Shen Yi, Fan Guang was born as a general and was not very familiar with these government affairs. In fact, sometimes he was a little slow to react to these twists and turns in the court.
However, this does not prevent him from being able to judge the situation.
In fact, as early as when Zhennan Palace wanted to marry him, Fan Guang realized that the emperor might need him to participate in certain things.
This is a matter of course, nothing comes without a price.
Fan Guang could also vaguely think that it was most likely related to the military camp.
However, it was not until he was pulled by King Zhennan to thank him just now that he realized that the emperor had made a big decision in deciding this marriage.
The recital just now may seem like gossip, but if you read it carefully, you can get a lot of key information.
For example, the most obvious thing is that for the position of Zongrenling, what King Zhennan has to do is to prevent it from falling into the hands of King Xiang.
For another example, the emperor did not say it clearly, but the implication was that after the wedding, King Zhennan would stay in the capital, and his son, his new son-in-law, would return to his fiefdom...
In the matter of military settlements, apart from relatives, the most deeply involved person is the clan.
All these are paving the way for resolving the clan's involvement in the military camp.
As clever as the King of Zhennan, he could only bow his head obediently in front of the emperor's wishes, and he even shed tears of gratitude, not to mention Fan Guang himself, who was promoted by the emperor.
Therefore, he also needs to express his attitude.
It doesn't matter if you don't understand, at least show your concern for this matter.
And... Fan Guang really doesn’t understand!
Although he did not see the memorial that Yu Qian handed to Shen Yi, from Yu Qian's words, he probably understood what the Ministry of War wanted to do.
To put it bluntly, it means first sending people to clear out the land, and then registering all the land that has been usurped as civilian land and privately reclaimed by the army, and then redeemed by the government.
The most important thing is that after the land was redeemed, it was not settled back into the military camp, but was still farmed by the original tenants.
To put it bluntly, the imperial court paid such a huge amount of money, but in the end, it only got the acres of land on the books. In fact, who should plant it?
What are you doing with all this fuss?
Yu Qian was silent, but Shen Yi on the side smiled and said.
"Dudu Fan, what a difference, what a difference!"
With Shen Yi's eyesight, he can naturally see that the core purpose of the Ministry of War's regulations is to take back all the farmland that should be owned without affecting normal people.
As Fan Guang wondered, it seemed that the court had gained nothing from all this trouble.
However, he got a status!
Or more directly, it's the difference between ownership and use rights.
The court paid the money and took away the ownership, while the people retained the right to use it. Once the two are separated, many things will be easier to handle.
As he spoke, Shen Yi turned to Yu Qian and asked.
"If nothing else happens, Yu Shaobao won't just let these acres become military fields on paper, right?"
As expected, Yu Qian shook his head and said.
"Of course not! What I just said is just the first step, but it is the most critical step. As long as the converted Mintian crown can be successfully returned to military status, then the next step will be an internal matter within the imperial court."
"After the registration transfer is completed, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs will jointly conduct an inventory of the yellow population register again, and at the same time compare it with the fish scale register to redistribute the land."
"According to the standard of one tenth and thirty acres, those who do not have enough acres of land under their name can continue to cultivate the original acres that have been collected as military fields after registering with the government and pay taxes to the court on time."
"If the amount in the name exceeds the amount, the court will not grant a lease, and will return it to the border army for cultivation and use as a military garrison."
So, this is the importance of so-called transfer of citizenship.
When these acres of land were owned by the people, the imperial court took them back by force, which was a swindle and robbery.
However, if these acres of land can be successfully converted into military land, it will be equivalent to the court becoming a landlord and the original land owners becoming tenants.
As a result, it would not be easy for the landlord to get rid of his tenants.
Admittedly, this will still damage some of the interests of the people.
However, if each member of a family can own more than 30 acres of land, then they are not the poor people Yu Qian sympathizes with who are struggling to make ends meet.
So, in the final analysis, all this hard work is actually for one thing, so that the benefits transferred by the court can truly fall into the hands of the poor people where they belong, and not be grabbed by the gentry.
However, there is still a problem...
Shen Shangshu pondered for a moment, looked at Yu Qian thoughtfully, and asked.
"Apart from these? Yu Shaobao, don't tell Shen. Is the Ministry of War only planning to do this?"
It should be said that the charter mentioned by Yu Qian is already relatively complete. Although the process is cumbersome, it can take into account the interests of the court and the people to the greatest extent.
On the one hand, it ensured that the people without land and little land could survive; on the other hand, it cleared out the excess fields and took them back to the court, ensuring the good operation of the military settlements. It can be said to be the best of both worlds.
The only downside is...
It costs a little money!
Even though Shangshu Shen usually keeps his money bag tightly, as he said, when it's time to pay, the Ministry of Accounts is never vague.
Including this time, although Shen Shangshu was reluctant, from the moment Yu Qian revealed that he needed help from the Ministry of Revenue, no matter how reluctant he was, he never said a word of refusal.
It’s okay to spend money, but the problem is that it’s a bit of a loss!
You must know that the fields redeemed this time are either military fields that have been concealed or sold privately through various means, or privately cultivated fields reclaimed by border troops.
The former is originally the land of the imperial court, and the latter, since it uses people from the imperial court, of course it should also be the land of the imperial court.
However, you still have to spend money to get your things back.
Those bastards who invaded the military fields and forced the border troops to work could actually get a lot of money for free. I feel angry just thinking about it.
No matter how understandable it was that the Ministry of War made concessions in order to take into account the living space of the people at the bottom, Shen Shangshu still felt that he could not swallow this breath.
Moreover, he believed that Yu Qian could not swallow it either.
More importantly, based on his understanding, the emperor is not the kind of person who swallows his anger and has told Shen Shangshu countless painful lessons...
The emperor never suffers!
Sure enough, this time, Yu Qian did not speak, but looked at the emperor on the throne.
I saw a smile on the emperor's face and said lightly.
"Didn't Mr. Yu just say that he will be punished according to his situation? After the military camp is rectified this time, the Ministry of War will work with the Ministry of Punishment to investigate the border troops."
"During these days, I have also received a lot of memorials, from those who eat empty wages, those who drink soldiers' blood, those who resell weapons, and those who take advantage of their merits... All of the Ming Dynasty's generals are very courageous. Yes!"
This chapter has been completed!