Zhu Yuanzhang got up very early and ate very simple food. A bowl not much smaller than a basin was filled with soup noodles, a plate of garlic cloves, and a plate of pickles.
When Lao Zhu was eating, he was like a whirlwind, sweeping away thousands of miles and sweeping across the wasteland... After a while, there was nothing left, except for a layer of fine sweat beads on his forehead. He wiped it casually and walked out.
Zhang Ximeng was waiting outside, still a little sleepy, breathing heavily. His work and rest habits were very different from Zhu Yuanzhang's. Lao Zhu was a typical person who went to bed early and got up early. Even if he didn't go to bed early, he must get up early to face the rising sun as soon as possible.
When working, the earlier the better, lest you be delayed for a moment.
Zhang Ximeng, on the other hand, has become more and more accustomed to doing things in the afternoon, and then staying up until midnight, burning the midnight oil to cultivate immortality, unwilling to waste any time.
Between the two habits, it's hard to say which one is better, but now that Zhu Yuanzhang has come, Zhang Ximeng must change it.
"Sir, have you had breakfast?"
Zhang Ximeng hurriedly took out an oil paper bag from his sleeve and said with a smile: "I ate two buns, and there are two more here. If it takes a long time, I can eat them secretly while the lord is talking."
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but laugh. He dared to steal food while he was talking, and he dared to say it blatantly, "Zhang Ximeng, you are very brave!"
"Sir, you are well prepared. We are planning to finish the discussion, but it will probably not be until the afternoon, so we are ready... By the way, sir, do you still remember the last meeting like this?"
Zhang Ximeng put the bun back into his sleeve and said casually: "Why don't you remember! It should have been when we were in Lupai Village, before we entered Dingyuan City, and dealt with the Mu family... That time we eradicated the powerful and distributed the land, which completely opened up the world.
This situation not only stabilized the military morale of the old people in Haozhou, but also took the opportunity to expand the army and have tens of thousands of elite soldiers."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "Yes, it was also from that time that we gained confidence and thought about what we could do in these troubled times. Later we captured Chuzhou. At that time, Mr. Xi said that the prosperity of Chuzhou's industry and commerce could not be destroyed, and we also implemented it.
After crossing the river, even many old members of the Yuan Dynasty who had no serious faults were retained. Mr. Li said that 30% would be retained, but
As far as we know, more than half of them are old people. Officials are like this, rich households are like this, and the gentry are naturally like this."
Zhu Yuanzhang said again: "Mr. Zhang, you are debating with Liu Bowen, advocating redefining the principles and rebuilding the world. I have written so many articles recently, which can be said to be good words and beautiful pens. But we still have to say that what is written on paper will ultimately matter.
If it is put into practice, otherwise wouldn’t it be the same as the way of Confucius and Mencius?”
Zhang Ximeng hurriedly said: "My lord is teaching me that I have indeed practiced more pragmatism during this period. It is important to change customs, but there are still many places where filth and evil are still hidden. Without thorough changes, it will not work after all."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "We are not blaming you. Do you know how horrified Mr. Fenglin was when he saw your article? People like him were in admiration and admiration. This is even more true for us. Zhu Yuanzhang is so lucky to get this
Sir, help me! The truth of your article makes the knife in our hands sharper and more unyielding... Killing the person who deserves to be killed, how can we be so soft-hearted and hesitant?"
Lao Zhu held his head high and his momentum was like a rainbow. He walked directly into the school grounds. Zhang Ximeng pondered for a while and immediately followed him. However, his heart was shaken and a storm was coming, and he was afraid that it was right in front of him.
At this moment, the school field was already crowded with people from various villages. Everyone was looking forward to it. When Old Zhu Long walked to the high platform in the middle, everyone's eyes fell on him.
What's surprising is that the people just watched, neither cheering nor kneeling down and kowtowing with fear. They seemed to be examining a stranger. No one spoke, they just stared.
There were more than a thousand people on the field, and pairs of eyes fell on him. Zhu Yuanzhang was not afraid at all. On the contrary, he was very excited, and he felt like his blood was rushing.
Because Zhu Yuanzhang knew very well that he was once one of this group of people. Facing the powerful lord, they had long knelt down and kowtowed, trembling with fear.
Facing themselves and not kneeling down means they still have expectations.
In this case, how can we let so many people down?
"My name is Zhu Yuanzhang. I believe many of you have heard of it. I am Wu Guogong of Jinling. What does this Wu Guogong do... It is about this world. We are the one who calls the shots and has the final say. So what should we do?
What kind of owner is it? To put it simply, two words: equalize the land!"
Lao Zhu's voice is like a loud bell, which can be heard far away and everyone can hear it clearly.
"Under our command, there is a wizard of the world, a confidant and a confidant... He told us that when we live between heaven and earth, we should have a piece of land of our own, where we can settle down, support our family, live and multiply, and pass on the incense to our descendants.
This is called destiny!"
"Whoever dares to disobey the destiny will be overthrown by the people. This is the reason why countless people rebelled and overthrew the Yuan Dynasty. Whoever can comply with the people's hearts and distribute acres of land to the people fairly and reasonably will win the hearts of the people and rule the world.
, holding destiny in hand."
"We believe this truth. Since crossing the river, we have punished many corrupt officials, reduced excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and evenly divided the acres of land in Yingtian Prefecture, Taiping Prefecture and other places. We have also formulated regulations in Huizhou, Quzhou, Xinzhou and other places.
The highest land rent. Recently, a decree was announced in Jinling to allow women to enter school..."
"Having said that, we intend to move forward step by step to achieve the goal of land for the tiller, so that everyone can have enough food and clothing, and live a stable and prosperous life."
"Someone told us in the past that Changxing was too close to Zhang Shicheng's territory, so it was not advisable to go to war to avoid trouble. We believed it at the time, but recently we have thought of another level. It is precisely because this place is close to Zhang Shicheng that we have to take drastic measures.
Get rid of the bad government and let everyone live a good life, so that people can support us and prove that Zhang Shicheng and I are not the same thing."
"So, we have decided that from now on, within one month, we will completely complete the land clearing, and then divide the land equally among each of your households. I am here to tell everyone that this time, there are only two words for dividing the land:
fair!"
"Regardless of men and women, all adults over the age of sixteen will be equally divided into acres of land according to each village. Those under the age of sixteen will be given half of the land. The land will be distributed equally, and the taxes will also be equal and levied on a tenth basis...
"
…
Zhu Yuanzhang was talking eloquently, and the people just listened to what he said before. When he mentioned the division of land, everyone's ears perked up, their eyes widened, and they stared intently, for fear of missing a word.
Along with Zhu Yuanzhang's words, everyone's breathing gradually became faster, and their eyes gleamed with anticipation... In fact, as a bystander, you will find that the land equalization order announced by Lao Zhu at this time is not only different from the original one, but also different from the original one.
The early version after crossing the river was also different.
This is not that Lao Zhu wants to overthrow Zhang Ximeng’s Land Equalization Outline... On the contrary, this is the inevitable trend in the development of the Land Equalization Order.
When we were in Huaixi, there were ration fields, mulberry fields, and transfer fields. The ration fields did not accept land tax, and there were restrictions on wealthy households. The maximum land holdings could reach 300 acres. This varied depending on the situation in each place.
After crossing the river, Zhang Ximeng naturally canceled the grain fields and no longer had tax-free items. He also increased taxes on mulberry fields.
When we got to Zhu Yuanzhang, even these things were cancelled, and it was just a simple average! As for the rich, Lao Zhu did not give preferential treatment or leave any loopholes.
The reason is simple. There are more and more sites and the situation is getting more and more complicated. Faced with this situation, if you continue to use complex land allocation plans, there will definitely be a lot of loopholes in the end. What you started out with good intentions will definitely turn into wealth.
Rules guaranteeing that powerful households take advantage of each other and transfer burdens.
If this is the case, then simply cut it off cleanly.
There will definitely be mistakes if you do this, but you can only choose the lesser of two evils.
This method of doing things is exactly what Lao Zhu learned from Zhang Ximeng. Complex problems must be simplified, because only simplicity and roughness can achieve immediate results.
Those who have a little common sense about the finance and taxation of the Ming Dynasty will find that with the issuance of this order, the most criticized financial and taxation issues of the Ming Dynasty have undergone fundamental changes.
For example, in history, Zhu Yuanzhang appointed the official tax for the world and the tax for civilian land. For official land, the tax per mu was five liters, three combined with five scoops, for civilian land, it was reduced by two liters, for re-rented land, it was eight liters, five combined with five scoops, and for unofficial land, it was one dou and two liters.
However, Su, Song, Jia, and Hu were angry that they were guarded by Zhang Shicheng. They took the land of wealthy families and wealthy people as official land, and taxed it according to the private rent book. Yang Xian, the minister of agriculture, also used the land in western Zhejiang to increase his wealth.
The amount per mu will be doubled. Therefore, officials in the western part of Zhejiang Province will regard people’s fields as double the value of other fields, and the tax per mu will be two to three shi.
In fact, from this brief introduction, we can know that in the original Ming Dynasty, land was divided into official and civilian fields. Official land was heavily taxed and civilian land was light. In addition, there were many other types of land that were heavily rented and confiscated.
The most unlucky places were Suzhou, Songjiang and other places, which were taxed in retaliation. In the worst places, the tax was five times as high, and it lasted until the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
The tax system is so complicated, and it is obvious that there is a problem with the civil servant group. Neither Li Shanchang nor Yang Xian can be regarded as serving the country wholeheartedly.
Their selfish thoughts were too serious, and they created a lot of loopholes and disadvantages. Giving Su Song heavy taxes was equivalent to forcing these two places to resist taxes. Zhu Yuanzhang naturally had no problems in Japan, and Zhu Di could still maintain it, but later, Jiangnan defaulted on taxes
Payment has become the norm. And once Jiangnan defaults, other places will follow the same example. Even if it is just a light tax, they are unwilling to pay it. Do you think it is annoying or not?
Under Zhang Ximeng's management, Zhu Yuanzhang's views on taxes have made great progress.
The first thing is that there is no distinction between official land and private land...or simply put, all land is official land, and the landowners' names are all Zhu.
Lao Zhu will distribute the land equally to the people of the world. This is what Zhang Ximeng said. The emperor's duty is to equally divide the acres of land.
Theory and practice, at this moment, are perfectly combined.
After listening to Zhu Yuanzhang's words, some people finally cried and worshiped on the ground, "Master Qingtian! Really Master Qingtian!"