If you want to collect taxes, the first thing you have to do is clear the land.
Although the Ministry of Household Affairs sent official documents on land clearing to all provinces and counties when deciding on a higher tax system, it is not a simple matter to clear the land clearing.
Originally, Han Du was focused on the matter of clearing his father-in-law's land just to be on guard against Qi Tai and others, fearing that they might cause trouble for him.
However, what surprised Han Du was that the Qing Zhang Tian Mu went very smoothly and was carried out in an orderly manner according to the plan of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Such calmness made Han Du frown. This Qing Zhang Tian Mu was the best in all prefectures and counties.
The opportunity to cause trouble, would they give it up in vain?
Just when Han Du was puzzled, Wang Yuanji and Zhao Yu came to report, "Master Hou."
Looking up and seeing the two people smiling, Han Du frowned slightly, obviously things were a little different from what he thought. ??
"How is the matter of clearing your father's land going?"
Wang Yuanji quickly handed over his hand and replied, "The official is about to report to the Marquis that the last Shaanxi Chief Envoy who has cleared the land has reported the number of acres to the Ministry of Household Affairs today. Lord Hou, the Ministry of Revenue has completed the land clearing of the world's acres."
.This is the total number, please take a look at it."
With that said, Wang Yuanji handed Han Du a document with both hands.
Han Du looked at the document handed over by Wang Yuanji, his expression was shaken, and he asked in a hesitant voice, "What did you say? The settlement has been completed?"
"Yes, Lord Marquis. The marriage has been settled, and the fields of each chief minister are recorded here." Wang Yuanji didn't understand. It should be a happy thing, but now he was still a little unhappy.
Han Du said no more and reached out to take the booklet.
"Five, one hundred and nineteen thousand four hundred and seventeen hectares, so many? Are you remembering it wrong?"
This number is somewhat beyond Han Du's expectation. What is this concept? According to the archived information of the Ministry of Household Affairs, there are almost 7 million households in the Ming Dynasty, which means a population of more than 40 million. In other words, almost everyone can
There are ten acres of fields.
If the average person can really have so much land, then the people of the Ming Dynasty will definitely be able to have enough food and clothing. Of course, absolute average does not exist, but as long as these fields are not abandoned, no matter who occupies more land, then
There will always be no shortage of food, mulberry and hemp produced in the land, right?
The Ming Dynasty had so much land that it would have no problem to feed the people of the world.
"Master Hou, I didn't believe it at first. I even checked the fish scale atlas of the Ministry of Household Affairs. But I only found the year of Hongwu's thirteenth year. At that time, the world's land was only more than three million hectares." Zhao Yu is also an old householder.
Even he could only find out Hongwu Thirteen
The number of years.
Han Du was stunned when he heard this, raised his eyes to Zhao Yu, and asked, "Only the thirteenth year of Hongwu was found? Didn't the Ministry of Household Statistics calculate the world's land in the next twenty years?"
"No." Zhao Yu shook his head and then added, "Anyway, I haven't heard of it since I came to the Ministry of Revenue."
Han Du was speechless. It has been almost twenty years since the thirteenth year of Hongwu. During Lao Zhu's reign, he had always encouraged the people to reclaim wasteland, but the Ministry of Household Affairs had a dark eye on how much land had been reclaimed over the years.
, I have no idea at all, what does Tobe do for food?
What makes Han Du even more strange is that Lao Zhu has ignored the Ministry of Household Affairs for so many years?
After lowering his head and thinking for a moment, Han Du could only attribute this to Lao Zhu's desire to hide wealth among the people. Perhaps in Lao Zhu's view, it would be enough if the people had enough food and clothing.
Wang Yuanji also spoke at the right time and said, "Master Hou, I was worried that there was something wrong with the calculation at first. For this reason, I and Master Zhao led a group of people to check it several times to confirm that the number was correct."
Han Du held the booklet, pondered for a while and then said, "Is it accurate?"
"Confirmed!" Wang Yuanji nodded with a smile. After a pause, he added, "If there is really a mistake, it cannot be in the Ministry of Household Affairs. The problem will only appear in the various chief envoys."
Patting the booklet twice in his hand, Han Du said in a deep voice, "No matter where the problem lies, as long as there is something wrong with this number, once it is sent to the imperial court, it will be our fault!"
Wang Yuanji and Zhao Yu looked serious as they listened.
Han Du raised his eyes and looked at the two of them. He said, "So, even if the problem lies with the Chief Envoy or even the prefecture, we have to verify it one by one. Do you understand?"
Wang Yuanji and Zhao Yu looked at each other with expressions of embarrassment on their faces.
Zhao Yu cupped his hands and said, "Master Hou, it's less than two months before the autumn harvest. If we go to verify it slowly now, I'm afraid it will be too late!"
This is indeed a problem!
Han Du stared into space and thought hard. After a moment, he said, "Even if you can't verify all of them, you must find a way to randomly select a few chief envoys to verify. This matter must not be ignored."
"Yes, Lord Marquis."
If you just randomly select a few for verification, you will have enough time, so Wang Yuanji and Zhao Yu naturally agreed quickly.
Time is in a hurry
, more than half a month has passed.
Wang Yuanji and Zhao Yu looked solemnly and hurriedly found Han Du and reported, "Master Marquis, the person who verified the number of acres of land is back."
Han Du looked up and saw the expressions of the two people, and couldn't help but said, "What? Is there really something wrong with the number of acres?"
Wang Yuanji sighed and said, "Returning to the Marquis, there is no problem with the number of acres of land allocated by the chief envoys."
Hearing this, Han Du felt relieved. He picked up the teacup, leaned back on the chair, and said with a smile, "Isn't this a happy thing for everyone? Why are you like this?"
"Master Marquis, there is no problem with the number of acres of land that the Chief Envoy Si Qingzhang has, but" Wang Yuanji suddenly became hesitant, and even did not dare to look at Han Du.
"But what?" Han Du also noticed something was wrong.
"However, they also cleared the land of each prince's palace," Wang Yuanji lowered his head and replied in a low voice.
"What?" Han Du suddenly slammed the teacup on the table. Even the hot water in the cup spilled out and splashed onto Han Du's hands, but Han Du didn't notice at all.
Wang Yuanji had no choice but to bite the bullet, took out the booklet from his sleeve robe, held it up with both hands, and said, "This is a verified situation, please have a look at it."
Han Du grabbed it suddenly and opened it eagerly. Sure enough, when the people from the Ministry of Revenue were verifying the land acres in Huguang and Shandong, they suddenly discovered that the two chief envoys had also reported the lands owned by the King of Chu and King Qi.
This discovery shocked the officials of the Ministry of Revenue, and then they found all the chief envoys who had feudal lords and feudal lords and inspected them carefully. This inspection shocked the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs. The number of acres reported by the Political Envoy actually included all the acres owned by the feudal lords.
After Han Du finished reading, his face suddenly became livid. He sat back down and immediately understood why Qitai had been so quiet recently. He spent the whole day either drinking and feasting or going to brothels.
Originally, Han Du thought that Qi Tai had discovered his conscience and did not want to fight with him anymore. But now it seems that he was simply paralyzing himself before.
He had already prepared the real trump card for himself.
"This matter is too big. I want to enter the palace immediately to ask for an audience with the emperor." Han Du grabbed the book hard and stood up slowly.
"Master Marquis, do you want to go down and accompany the Marquis?" Wang Yuanji asked worriedly.
Han Du waved his hand towards him, then took a deep breath and said, "No, just wait for the news from me."
The two of them had to stop and nodded.
.
Zhu Biao was reviewing memorials in the Qianqing Palace, his brows furrowed tightly, and the Zhu Biao in his hand remained for a long time.
He used to do this kind of thing every day, but since he came to the throne, he still found differences from before.
In the past, when his father was still alive, he had to review memorials. But because he knew that his father was behind him, even if he encountered some difficult-to-decision memorials, he could write down his opinions and thoughts on them without thinking. Anyway, If you write it correctly, you will be praised by your father. If you write it wrong, it won't be a big problem. At most, your father will point it out and remind him how to reply here. Please pay attention to this next time.
But now it's Zhu Biao's turn to make the decision. After no longer having his father to give him the full story, Zhu Biao suddenly discovered that sometimes it is really difficult to write. If he makes this stroke, no one may die, but But it will affect the food and clothing issues of thousands of households. If it is slightly off, you may not know how many people will suffer.
Wang Yue walked quietly to Zhu Biao's side. Seeing that the emperor had not yet started writing, he said softly, "Your Majesty, the Marquis of Zhenhai would like to see you."
"Yeah!" Zhu Biao hummed subconsciously.
Then he came to his senses, turned his head and asked quickly, "What did you just say? Who wants to see you?"
"Go back to your Majesty, and ask for an audience with Marquis Zhenhai." Wang Yue quickly bowed and reported again.
Zhu Biao glanced at the memorial in his hand, sighed, put down the memorial in his hand, and said, "Pass it on."
"Your Majesty, Han Du, pays homage to the Emperor." He lowered his head and walked in quickly, bowing first.
Zhu Biao smiled and stretched out his hand to indicate, "No courtesy, stay flat."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Han Du then stood up and stood with his head held high.
Zhu Biao smiled and asked, "If you don't continue to plan the collection of taxes this year at the Ministry of Household Affairs, why are you so anxious to see me?"
Han Du quickly raised his hand and said, "I am asking to see the emperor this time just to clear up my father's land."
"Oh? Is the marriage settled so soon? What's the matter?" Zhu Biao gave Han Du a strange look.
Han Du quickly picked up the book and said, "Your Majesty, please take a look at it."
Zhu Biao nodded slightly.
Wang Yue quickly collected the fly whisk, walked quickly down from Danbi, and presented the booklet to the emperor.
Zhu Biao picked up the book, flipped through it, and his expression suddenly changed. After a cursory look, he immediately slapped the book on the imperial desk.