Chapter two hundred and eighty second Liu's descendants
Zhu Yuanzhang's statement made Zhang Tianqi feel ashamed. Compared with Lao Zhu's attitude towards the people, Zhang Shicheng was indeed far behind.
It seems that it is indeed wrong to say that the king is successful and the bandits are defeated. The king becomes king by his royal way, and the bandit is defeated by his bandit way!
Could it be said that Zhang Shicheng is just a giant bandit?
Zhang Tianqi couldn't answer. He was still taken to the prisoner of war camp for the time being. Like other prisoners, he had to be counted and then sent to Hongdu to work on farming and constructing water conservancy projects.
Finally, everyone was putting their talents to good use, and Zhang Tianqi had no complaints.
He was in the prisoner-of-war camp every day, watching the Zhu Jiajun count their numbers and register them. At the same time, he asked about the prisoners' origins, family situations, whether they had relatives, etc. The details of the questions made Zhang Tianqi ashamed. He had led the army for such a long time, and it seemed that
He doesn't understand his subordinates to this extent yet.
Their prisoner-of-war camp is right next to the military camp. Since the prefect's office was burned down, Lao Zhu and a group of civil and military personnel could only live in the military camp. Fortunately, everyone is used to it...
On this morning, there was a lot of excitement and excitement. Many gentry and common people from Huzhou came to see Zhu Yuanzhang and reward the three armies, holding umbrellas, gold and silver cloth, wine, meat and food.
The gifts they sent came in an endless stream and the quantity was staggering.
Zhang Tianqi stood at the prisoner of war camp and counted carefully. There were more than a hundred carriages alone... He was so angry that he couldn't help but curse.
"These grandsons used to cry poverty to me, but now that Duke Wu is here, they are all rushing to give gifts. They are really the emperor and the courtiers!" Zhang Tianqi couldn't help but scolded, but there was nothing he could do. When Monk Peng came to kill him, these people greeted Peng
The monks and Yuan soldiers came back and they greeted the Yuan Dynasty respectfully.
Later, Zhang Shicheng occupied these places, and they became Zhang Shicheng's loyal ministers.
Repeatedly jumping sideways is a person's skill. Look at this, even if the old Zhu family is destroyed, they can still find a new master. There is a thousand-year-old family, but there is no thousand-year-old court.
Isn’t it just such a bad thing!
After Zhang Tianqi sighed, he returned to his residence. He sighed in his heart and didn't eat lunch until evening. When he got to the kitchen and received the food, he was about to eat when he suddenly heard the people next to him talking.
The descendants of the Liu family they are talking about were arrested by Duke Wu, and now they are ordering a thorough investigation. This family of traitors is finally over.
Zhang Tianqi frowned and thought for a long time, then suddenly woke up, yes, it turns out that there is a branch of the Liu family in Huzhou!
Zhu Yuanzhang actually wanted to settle a score with the Liu family?
Is this family going to be in trouble?
If that's the case, I, I'm convinced!
Zhang Tianqi ate his food in a hurry and ran to Qianhu, who was in charge of the prisoner of war camp, to ask about the matter. He was too eager to know what happened...
In the morning, a group of gentry and landowners came to see Zhu Yuanzhang and presented him with generous gifts.
Zhu Jiajun came, and they had heard about those things. Some of them were timid and were ready to run away. But most people still chose to stay. There was no other way. Whoever kept their family property had to abandon it all if they wanted to leave. It was really
Reluctant to part with it.
From the moment Huzhou changed the King's Banner, they got together and actively discussed it, which led to today's move.
Lao Zhu just smiled indifferently at this. Our Mr. Zhang, in Jiangbei alone, has saved millions of shi of grain and a few hundred carts of gifts. It's like asking me to show off, which is impossible.
However, Lao Zhu still met these people, and it was still inappropriate to punish them without teaching them.
If they can proactively cooperate, a lot of trouble can be reduced.
Zhu Yuanzhang was also groping. He wanted to find a mature and reliable method. There was still so much land waiting for him to occupy, so he couldn't do everything by himself.
Only by coming up with a suitable plan can it be promoted everywhere and become a universal rule.
It was out of this consideration that even Zhang Ximeng came, and Lao Zhu asked him to explain Zhu Jiajun's policy to everyone.
Zhang Ximeng naturally took his time in formulating these laws.
"The land law has been revised many times, and now it is the most fundamental two words: average!" Zhang Ximeng said: "Equally divide the land acres, merge the Ding tax into the land tax, and levy taxes based on people and Ding acres. In the past, all dynasties have
It is divided into land tax and Ding tax, and the tax is levied according to the land acres and people. Some people also propose that, regardless of the number of land, only the Ding tax is spread into the land acres and the tax is levied according to the land."
"From now on, we will breed young people and never add taxes... But I want to say, this is not possible. How can we ignore the population and breed it? Doesn't a country only need to tax the people and not bear the responsibility? According to
Our proposition is that based on population equalization of land, people and land are tied together. Every rural citizen, no matter what their status was in the past, even if they were slaves in a tenant household, from now on will have their own share of land, with a small tax.
That is the land tax, and the land tax is the Ding tax. The current tax rate is one-tenth, which is divided into summer and autumn taxes, and taxes are paid in turn."
Zhang Ximeng said: "This is our principle. If you have anything to say, you can put it forward. But in the area of equal land, I think there is not much room for concession. Do you have any other requests for convenience or good suggestions?
, we will adopt it.”
Zhang Ximeng directly rejected Di Dingyin's method.
The idea of this thing cannot be said to be a perfect match with his, or it can be said to be completely opposite.
The core of Di Ding Yin is that the court has to collect so many taxes. In order to reduce the difficulty of collection, the Ding tax is tied to the existing land. In other words, not only the common people also pay, but also the gentry and landlords have to pay.
.
Stabilize the tax base, expand tax sources, and ensure national annual revenue.
In the final analysis, we still treat the common people as leeks, but we will be gentler when harvesting.
It will not be cut in one piece of land, nor will it be harvested from just one sheep.
The equalization of land advocated by Zhang Ximeng stems from the simple concept of treating everyone fairly. When a person lives in the world, he should have a share of the means of living, which at the moment is his own piece of land.
The following tax arrangements are also based on fairness considerations.
It can be said that they are interlocking and perfectly integrated.
The gentry present were shocked, because they came together and wanted to cut some meat in exchange for Zhu Jiajun.
This cut means that we can refund some of the land and bear some of the taxes, but at least we are allowed to support domestic slaves...or we can simply count domestic slaves as population. In this way, they can keep most of the land when the land is equalized.
.
Obviously, all these wishful thinking were shattered by Zhang Ximeng. This young man's shrewdness far exceeded their expectations. The dozen or so gentry and landlords all fell into a strange silence.
What should I do?
After a while, a scribe with fair skin, thin eyebrows and long eyes stood up and saluted Zhang Ximeng: "I have heard about Prime Minister Zhang for a long time, and when I saw him today, he was really thoughtful and extraordinary. We are all willing to follow Prime Minister Zhang's arrangements.
I just have a small request, I hope Zhang Xiangen will grant it."
Zhang Ximeng smiled and said, "My lord is here, what authority do I have to give you grace? As long as your suggestion is reasonable, we will definitely adopt it."
The man pondered for a moment, then immediately smiled, "What Prime Minister Zhang taught me is that the villain means that we want to serve the Zhu family army. Can you allow us to collect the land tax and transport it to the warehouse, which can be regarded as sharing the worries of Wu Guogong?"
"No!"
Zhang Ximeng said simply: "The collection of land taxes must be done after the land is equalized, and the elected grain chief is responsible... If it is handed over to you in advance, wouldn't you still be able to put pressure on the people and dominate the people by relying on the power to collect land taxes?"
How can the people believe in the equalization of land? Then won’t it still be a contradiction in terms and contrary to the truth? "
When this man heard Zhang Ximeng's words, his old face turned red. His wishful thinking was easily exposed, and he could only change his mind again.
"Prime Minister Zhang, this equalization of land is certainly a good strategy, but I don't know how to share the land equally among the clan? After all, these clan properties are used to support the poor in the clan, support private schools, and support ancestral halls... It seems that they are all business matters.
, can’t it be considered exploitation?”
Zhang Ximeng shook his head again, "What is clan property? There is no family between officials and people, the court and the common people! There is no land in the world that can escape land tax. Family property is not good, school land is not good, and temple land is not good!"
Zhang Ximeng blocked all possibilities in one breath, making the atmosphere awkward again.
These gentry also kicked the iron plate. At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly stood up and walked over, "We just looked at the roster. What's your last name?"
The man nodded quickly and said, "If you return to Wu Guogong, I will leave Xi."
"Oh! Just now you kept talking about the family property. Let me ask you, is there any famous person in your family, and how much property has been passed down?"
Liu Xi was stunned and didn't know how to answer.
Zhu Yuanzhang looked at his expression and suddenly smiled: "Are you a descendant of Liu Mengyan?"
"Yes...it's just a side wife, not a direct descendant." Liu Xi suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Not a direct descendant? Then you still have so many industries in Huzhou. It can be seen that the descendants of the Liu family are living a good life!" Zhu Yuanzhang asked with a smile.
Liu Xi's heart was pounding wildly, not only talking about Juntian's matter, but suddenly involving their family, it didn't seem like a good thing.
"If I return to the Duke of Wu, I will continue to cultivate and study the family, and my family will be pure and clean!"
"What a heirloom of farming and reading...it's common people farming the fields, you guys studying, right?" Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and turned his head, "Mr. Zhang, do you think we are right?"
Zhang Ximeng nodded hurriedly and said: "My Lord, Sheng Ming."
Zhu Yuanzhang said again: "Mr. Zhang, you said that at first we only wanted to share the land equally, so that we could negotiate easily and give the poor people a way to live. But some people opposed it in every possible way and came up with a lot of reasons. To put it bluntly, we didn't
Do you just want to keep your high position?"
Zhang Ximeng nodded again, "My lord, I hit the nail on the head."
"Then how did you get this position? It seems that you surrendered to the Yuan Tatars, killed Prime Minister Wen, and paid for it with the blood of Zhongliang, right?"
When Lao Zhu said this, Liu Xi's legs were paralyzed and she knelt on the ground.
But Lao Zhu still didn't want to let him go, "If we were the descendants of the Liu family, we would probably spend all our wealth to atone for the sins of our ancestors. We never imagined that you would have the nerve to come here and negotiate terms with us... Disaster
Not as good as my family, but you Liu family have received such a great favor from the old thief for hundreds of years, and it’s time to pay back the debt!"
Zhu Yuanzhang turned his head and looked at Zhang Ximeng, "What do you think, sir?"
Zhang Ximeng said with a sullen face: "I think it is very appropriate... not only the Liu family in Huzhou, but also the Liu family in Quzhou must be taken down immediately, and we cannot tolerate it!"