"Your Majesty, Xiong Tingbi, pays homage to His Highness Taisun."

"Student Zhu Youdong, meet Mr. Xiong."

On the afternoon of the seventh day of the first lunar month, Zhu Youdong met his fourth teacher, Xiong Tingbi, in the specially set up school in Ciqing Palace.

Yesterday's class was about two old gentlemen teaching "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius". It stands to reason that Lu Kun and Shen Li are both one of the three great sages in Wanli, and they are the leading Confucian scholars of this era, and they come to teach a fourth or fifth grader. A child who is 6 years old is not yet ready to take advantage of it.

It is a pity that what they are facing is the soul of a modern person. This soul comes from an era when many masters of the Republic and the Republic of China made detailed summaries of Confucian classics and constantly introduced new ones. Therefore, although in some details, Zhu Youdong I am not very familiar with Confucian classics. But on some of the more famous sayings, such as people can use it but not know it, live in sorrow and die in happiness, etc. The views expounded by Zhu Youdong have been refreshing to the two old gentlemen. .

As a result, after the class yesterday afternoon, the two old gentlemen felt that they had been helped a lot. His Highness Taisun was extremely smart, and indeed he was worthy of being a Canglong Tusheng. It seems that we have to prepare lessons carefully when we go back, and we must let Taisun know our knowledge next time. sharp!

On the afternoon of the second day, Zhang Yicheng, the first scholar to teach calligraphy and painting.

Before time travel, Zhu Youdong was a surgeon and had to learn regional anatomy, so he had some sketching skills. Therefore, after Zhang Yicheng briefly tried Zhu Youdong's skills, he was also amazed - it seems that today's lesson preparation is really good. Too simple.

The art of calligraphy and painting is a side detail for the king of a country, especially when an artistic genius like Huizong of the Song Dynasty served as an example. Therefore, the royal education of the Ming Dynasty did not attach great importance to calligraphy and painting: as long as the written characters are not ugly. Therefore, Zhang Yicheng’s course time is the shortest compared to the other seven teachers.

At the last two moments, Xiong Tingbi appeared with a powerful aura.

"Your Highness, according to Mr. Shen Ge's arrangement, I will explain the Law of the Ming Dynasty to Your Highness. However, this Law is huge in length and involves a vast amount of content. I think that as the crown prince of the country, Your Highness does not need to learn all of it, but only needs to understand the contents. Just part of it.”

"The students obey the teacher's orders, but Mr. Xiong thinks where should the students start learning?"

"I believe that Your Highness should first learn the "Household Code". This is related to the finance and taxation of the Ming Dynasty, the livelihood of the people, the reproduction of household registration, etc. For a country, it is the most important thing."

"What you said makes sense, sir. I respectfully accept your orders."

"Okay, Your Highness, um, there are a few of you." He casually waved his sleeves at Zhang Shize, Li Chunzhong, and Wang Chengen. Xiong Tingbi asked Zhu Youdong with piercing eyes: "May I ask Your Highness, the annual income of the Ming Dynasty? Millions of taels of silver, tens of millions of stones of grain. Where did these things come from?"

"Replying to the teacher, the student thinks that these are the people's blessings, and they are all obtained by the hard work of the people from the land and workshops."

"Your Highness is really a benevolent person, very good! I have also heard about the disputes between His Highness and Chen Ju in the past, so of course Your Highness should know that although this amount of money and food seems to be a large amount, it is very important for our territory of two capitals and thirteen provinces. For the Ming Dynasty, there are still many shortcomings."

"Yes sir, students understand."

"Then does your Highness know that the country has this amount of income, but how much more do the people pay than this amount of income?"

"As I said to you, sir, students may presume that what the people actually pay is about three to five times the national income."

"...Hiss~~~Your Highness, you are truly a man born with knowledge. So, Your Highness, where do you think all these collected things have gone?"

"Well, students think that the lost tax revenue can be roughly divided into three categories. First, the loss on the road. Although the Ming Dynasty began to fully implement a whip law in the ninth year of Wanli, most of the physical taxes were collected in silver. But in kind

The tax has been implemented for so many years, and it cannot be completely eliminated. As long as it is collected in kind, losses during the transportation process are inevitable."

"Well, it is indeed commendable that Taisun can see this. I used to be a local official, and I did see such losses. But to be honest, due to the vigorous promotion of the One Whip Law, the proportion of physical taxes in our Ming Dynasty has been

It’s very small, so the loss is not big.”

"Yes, sir. Next, the student will talk about the second point, increasing the distribution. Since the whip law simplifies the tax types and makes local income clear, it becomes extremely difficult for officials at all levels to get involved in land tax.

So in order to facilitate the work of their respective governments, they came up with various additional levies. Among them, the largest levy is on fire consumption!"

"Okay! Your Highness is indeed a man born with knowledge! What Your Highness needs to know is that the amount of money and fire that our government stipulates on the surface is about one hundred and one hundred and two, but in fact the amount imposed by local governments at all levels on the people is about one hundred and two.

Ten, if you do it too much, it can even reach a hundred and twenty!"

"ah?!"

The one who uttered this exclamation was of course not Zhu Youdong, but Zhang Shize who was sitting next to him.

The last British duke of the Ming Dynasty who died for his country in the historical sense was only six years old at the moment. Although he was born into a noble family, he had been exposed to many things since childhood. But how could he hear Xiong Tingbi and Zhu Youdong talking in such a calm tone?

Governments at all levels imposed such additional levies. The current British prince could not help but exclaim.

Glancing at Zhang Shize casually, Xiong Tingbi showed no interest in explaining: "Please continue with the third point, Grandson."

"Yes, students believe that the third reason why the actual taxes of the people are much larger than the national income is that since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there has never been a single person who can be fully responsible for taxes, similar to the three envoys of the former Song Dynasty.

Needless to say, the Ministry of Household Affairs collects land taxes, and the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Works and even the Ministry of Punishment can all levy various taxes on the people. This makes it difficult for various departments to cooperate, and they are at odds with each other. As a result,

The taxation agencies of our Ming Dynasty are bloated and inefficient, and there are so many types of taxes that it is difficult for the people to distinguish them clearly and to deal with them."

"Bah bang bang~~" Xiong Tingbi clapped his hands vigorously amidst the laughter: "Hahahaha~ God bless me, Ming Dynasty! His Highness Taisun is only four years old this year, and he can see such a profound level, sir.

I am really impressed! But Your Highness also forgot to mention the fourth point."

"Uh... the student has probably guessed what the gentleman is going to say. But I am my great-grandson."

"Ah? That's right. I won't talk about the fourth point next."

What is the fourth point? Of course, the Ming Dynasty’s government has been extremely bad and officials have been corrupted on a large scale and in all aspects! Just this, how can Zhu Youdong say this as the emperor’s grandson?

——————————————————————————————————————————————

The next chapter is an analysis of the financial problems of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, this book is a novel rather than an academic monograph, so it will not go into too much depth. Friends who are interested in this issue can read Mr. Huang Renyu's "The Finance of Ming Dynasty China in the Sixteenth Century" and Taxation”.
Chapter completed!