"Oh? I'd like to hear the details." Fan Jingwen admired Feng Ziying's understanding and judgment of current affairs very much.
Even the two mountain directors and dean of the academy were full of praise for Feng Ziying's talent in this area, and the entire academy benefited a lot from it.
"This is the current situation of the imperial court. Taxation is seriously insufficient and it is difficult to support the increasingly heavy military expenditures in the north. However, the military pressure from foreign invaders from the north is increasing. The imperial court does not have a long-term and sustained response strategy, which directly leads to the collapse of the east and west.
All sides are bearing this huge military expenditure. This pressure on military pay can only be borne by output areas such as Jiangnan. In the past two decades, floods and droughts have continued in various parts of the north, and all places are on a tight edge.
Unable to support more local taxes,..."
Fan Jingwen is also generally aware of this situation. He is from Wuqiao, Hejian Prefecture. He is very familiar with the difficult situation in the North. The common people basically have no food at home and have no ability to cope with famines. Once they encounter floods and droughts, they will
There are refugees all over the place, and if the local government fails to deal with it carefully, it may lead to a civil uprising.
The problem is that this situation has become more and more prominent in recent years, which makes Fan Jingwen particularly puzzled.
Why do ordinary people work so hard from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, but they always have enough to eat, and they don't have enough clothes to cover their bodies? If anything goes wrong, they will lose all their property and become beggars and thieves.
Even in the south, where conditions were better in all aspects, he could learn from some southern students in the college that the situation was not much better. The heavy land rent and taxes made every household breathless. Once they borrowed debt,
, which is basically a precursor to becoming a tenant.
"Ziying, the mountain chief and the commander have always praised your vision, so do you think this situation can continue forever? The Jurchens outside the customs are becoming more and more powerful, and the Tatar harassment has not been reduced much. Nine
The border army's salary arrears are increasing day by day, and the number of soldiers fleeing from the border areas is increasing day by day. In the southwest, it is also said that the leaders of the feudal states are ready to move, and Jiangnan is also facing the harassment of Japanese pirates. What is happening to our great Zhou Dynasty? How many years have passed?
Is it going to look like this?"
There are some words and ideas that you are not qualified to say before you pass the exam, and no one will pay attention to you. You may even think that you, a scholar, talk nonsense about world affairs and do not know how high the sky is. But now, as a candidate, as a Shuntian Qiuwei Jieyuan
He is qualified to question and ask questions.
Fan Jingwen’s question is so big that even Feng Ziying, a character who traveled hundreds of years and studied political economics and worked as an official for many years, found it difficult to answer.
This is a specious Zhou dynasty that inherited many shortcomings and problems from the previous Ming Dynasty, but it has not yet accumulated to this period the legacy that should have been left over from Zhang Juzheng’s political reform in the Ming Dynasty, nor has the financial pressure been relieved by the Longqing switch. It can be said that
Quite dangerous.
In addition, only one of the three major conquests that caused a huge financial hole in the Ming Dynasty at this time point was the Imjin Japanese Rebellion, and the other two were yet to occur.
Feng Ziying was not sure whether it would break out, but judging from what Fu Zonglong and Wang Yingxiong, two classmates from southwest China, knew, she was afraid that this disaster would not be escaped.
As for the disaster in Ningxia, Feng Ziying couldn't even remember what it was. He only knew that there would be a rebellion there. He didn't know whether such a disaster would happen in this life.
What is even more troublesome is not just these troubles and holes. It seems that the financial situation of the Great Zhou Dynasty is worse than that of the Ming Dynasty in the same timeline in the previous life. Emperor Yuanxi's six expeditions to Jiangnan should have left a huge impact on the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.
of hidden damage.
This hole is not only financial, but also administrative and institutional. I don’t know how many officials and businessmen in Jiangnan benefited from these six expeditions to Jiangnan. So how will Emperor Yonglong view all this once he comes to power?
Once the lid is lifted, Feng Ziying believes that no matter how restrained Emperor Yonglong is, this violent storm will not be small.
The most critical thing is that there is an unsolvable catastrophe within the Great Zhou. How can the chain between the Supreme Emperor, the Emperor and the former Crown Prince Yizhong be solved? How will the game of power be finally resolved?
, no one can judge, but there is no doubt that after this storm, what will be left in the Great Zhou Dynasty will definitely be devastated.
Under this situation, facing the Jurchens in the northeast who are deliberately accumulating strength and working hard for their rise, the Tatars in the north still regard the Central Plains as their best place to drink horses and feed themselves, and they still have ambitions in the eastern sea area.
The Japanese pirates are still raging, and the feudal states in the southwest are about to move. This does not include the dissatisfied rebel forces such as the White Lotus Sect within the Great Zhou Dynasty. The great chess game of the Great Zhou Dynasty really seems to have entered a dead end before it has even been played.
Bureau.
So when Fan Jingwen asked this question, Feng Ziying didn't know how to answer it for a while.
Seeing that Feng Ziying didn't say a word, Fan Jingwen didn't urge her, but just walked side by side with their hands folded.
After a while, Feng Ziying said slowly: "Brother Mengzhang, what you said is not right. That is, although the founding of the Zhou Dynasty was not too long, if we regard history as a long river flowing slowly,
If you look at it, in fact, the Zhou Dynasty is more like a continuation of the previous Ming Dynasty from a certain perspective. Well, maybe my description is not accurate, but it is true. Well, the civil and military regulations and basic structure of the court are almost inherited from the previous Ming Dynasty.
, the only thing is that the lineage of the Tian family has changed..."
This is a bit bold, but it is an indisputable fact.
In fact, many scholars and even court officials talked about this view privately. As long as it was not mentioned publicly, it was not considered a taboo.
"Then, the shortcomings of the previous Ming Dynasty have basically remained unchanged in our Zhou Dynasty..."
"Oh? Then what shortcomings does Ziying think our Zhou Dynasty inherited from the previous Ming Dynasty?" Fan Jingwen was very interested in this.
"Well, the most troubling thing for the imperial court at the moment is the financial problem. However, the main taxation of our imperial court comes from land tax. However, for several generations of emperors in the Great Zhou Dynasty, we did not expand the territory and expanded the territory, but more often maintained the status quo. Well, of course, for the original
The wasteland will definitely be reclaimed with greater efforts, but it is not that much. So how much has our population increased? Not to mention anything else, the capital city alone has increased from 300,000 people three years after Emperor Guangyuan moved the capital to the current number.
More than one million, but our land in Dazhou has not grown much, and the food output in the land has not increased much, so how can we feed the people who have doubled their number?"
It’s not that no one has mentioned this issue, but more people don’t care, or ignore it intentionally or unintentionally. In addition, in many places, the statistics of household registration population are just a formality, and the hidden population has become a common phenomenon.
Once this question is raised, it becomes a harsh and unavoidable reality.
"Yes, the rice and wheat harvests have not increased much, but the population is increasing, and once disasters occur, as we found in the survey last year, the frequency of floods and droughts in the north is much higher than fifty years ago. These
I’m afraid they are all directly responsible for the increasingly difficult life of ordinary people, right?”
Fan Jingwen was greatly moved.
"But even if I, the Great Zhou Dynasty, intend to expand the territory, let alone whether we can do it, the surrounding land is either a bitter cold land or a smog-stricken land. There is nothing like the Central Plains Jiangnan that is suitable for us, the Great Zhou Dynasty."
It’s a place where people live.”
"Brother Mengzhang, in fact, our Zhou Dynasty is not a land of bitter cold and mist as many people imagine. Brother Mengzhang should know that before the former Tang Dynasty, wasn't Jiangnan also regarded as a barbaric land? If it weren't for Sima
After the Shizhi Rebellion, a large number of northerners crossed the Yangtze River and went south. Where can we find the beautiful scenery south of the Yangtze River today?"
Feng Ziying's words made Fan Jingwen a little confused, "Ziying, Brother Yu, I don't understand what you are saying. How can the land around Dazhou now be compared with Jiangnan? Jiangnan only lacked population at that time, but now where is the surrounding area around Dazhou?
Is there any land available for cultivation?”
"Brother Mengzhang, it's just that we didn't look for it or excavate it. If nothing else, can't the old land of Annan and Dongwu accommodate tens of millions of people?" Feng Ziying asked with a smile: "Annan and Dongwu feudal states have nothing to do with me.
The Great Zhou Dynasty has always been disrespectful, and it should have been conquered long ago to recover the old land and give it to my people, but now I, the Great Zhou Dynasty..."
Feng Ziying shook her head.
But Fan Jingwen also shook his head: "Ziying, your statement is unconvincing. Annan and Dongwu are hot and humid places, and Dongwu is separated from the Central Plains by thousands of mountains and rivers. I'm afraid even if the imperial court has the ability
If you take it down, the people may not be willing to go."
"Brother Mengzhang, you also overestimated the difficulties of Annan and Dongwu. In fact, there is not much difference between Annan's hometown and Guangdong and Guangxi. The alluvial plains of its river valleys are very fertile, while Dongwu is slightly worse, but I only want to ask,
If the people are relocated and given land, and no taxes are levied for ten years, does Brother Mengzhang think there are people in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou who are willing to go?"
This question gets to the key point. People have been suffering from taxes for a long time now. It would be really attractive to directly grant land and exempt them from taxes.
Fan Jingwen also had to admit that Feng Ziying's statement was extremely tempting.
"If ten years is not enough, then what if we are exempted from tax for twenty years, or even thirty years?" Feng Ziying further said.
This made Fan Jingwen unable to resist. If he could really be exempted from tax for thirty years, then no one would be able to resist such a temptation.
"Ziying, although your idea is good, it is unrealistic. How can Da Zhou have the energy to do this now? Fan Jingwen quickly calmed down and shook his head with a wry smile: "The dilemma of the nine sides has not been solved, let alone other things?"
"The Nine-Border Dilemma stems from the lack of financial resources, and the financial difficulties stem from the Ming Dynasty's commercial taxation and maritime ban policies. If the pros and cons can be comprehensively balanced, the imperial court can dare to open a new path, and it may not be able to break the current deadlock."
Feng Ziying could only go so far. After all, without investigation, there was no right to speak. Commercial taxes and maritime bans involved too many people's interests. It could not be decided by anyone, not even the emperor and his cabinet.
This chapter has been completed!