Facing the court ministers whose expressions became increasingly solemn, Lin Jing looked around at everyone and smiled softly.
"Since Mr. Chen doesn't remember, I will tell everyone."
"In the first year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, my annual income was 26 million taels of grain and 5.2 million taels of silver. If all were converted into silver, it would be almost 30 million taels... And
At that time, the Liao rate was only nine cents, but last year it had reached one and two cents. Can Mr. Chen tell me why it dropped so fast?"
Lin Jing suppressed a smile on his face. Since these uncles wanted to talk to each other, he didn't mind pulling down Ming Dynasty's rotten pants first.
Chongzhen also looked at Chen Yan at this time. He naturally knew this number, but at this time the emperor also wanted to know the reason.
Chen Yan wiped the sweat on his face and said: "I believe that the protracted war in Liaodong, coupled with the disaster, has caused the refugees to cause chaos, the world is in chaos, and the people cannot live and work in peace and contentment, so the tax revenue will naturally be reduced..."
"Yes, you are right, but this is not the fundamental reason."
Lin Jing sneered and said without mercy: "Whether it's a war or a disaster, after all, the biggest impact is on the north. However, the tax revenue of several provinces in the south is decreasing year by year. I won't talk about the salt tax for now, just miscellaneous items."
There is a huge loss of silver, and the tax revenue in the south has been reduced a lot."
"I...I really don't know how much I know."
Lin Jing finally lost the idea of continuing to whip corpses in front of the Minister of the Ministry of Finance who was ignorant of all questions. Instead, he said in a deep voice: "When I made the tax settlement in the world, Emperor Taizu once calculated that the tax acres in the world were 850 million.
Tens of millions of acres, the total amount collected is almost 32 million shi. Today the world is still the same world, the population has increased, the wasteland has been opened up, and even the taxes are much higher than before, but
But a strange thing happened, the taxes I received in Ming Dynasty were reduced by more than half!"
Indeed, after Lao Zhu appraised the tax acres of the world, he found that too much grain had been collected and could not be eaten at all, so he lowered the tax rate again and again until the grain collected was only 29.5 million.
Shi had just decreed "Never start a new career", just like the later rabbit-shooting maniac's "Never add a tax" was a complete imitation of a tiger and a cat, and it was not as sincere as Lao Zhu.
To put it bluntly, the Ming Dynasty’s taxes had always been at a very low level. Calculated, the average tax for one acre of land was only 0.0344 shi. The government also had regulations, 0.053 shi for official land and 0.0335 shi for private land. Others depended on the nature of the land.
Slightly different.
You must know that even on the most barren land at that time, it was not a big problem to harvest one stone per acre of food. Some could receive three stones, and even the paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River could receive more than four stones. Moreover, the agricultural technology of the Ming Dynasty had been developing.
By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, it was very common to receive three stones from one acre of land.
Therefore, in theory, the life of the people of the Ming Dynasty should be getting better and better, but in fact, not only the people were trapped in a wandering life, but even the Ming Dynasty was in a precarious situation.
In response to the prince's question, everyone was silent. Those who knew how to answer did not stand up, while those who did not know how to answer simply did not understand or did not want to understand.
Lin Jing seemed to have made up his mind to reveal everything he knew. He took out a yellow book from his arms and sneered: "I believe you are familiar with it. Yes, this is what I got from the person below.
There was a yellow book in it, but what surprised me was that the households filled in on it all lived to be more than a hundred years old..."
"More than a hundred years old? Where on earth is this place? There is such a longevity village in Ming Dynasty?"
Chongzhen was a little surprised. He quickly looked at Lin Jing and asked.
Lin Jing shook his head slightly, "Father, it's not that the people here have lived for more than a hundred years, but that the officials of the Ming Dynasty still use the yellow books from a hundred years ago to do their work. They used the yellow books from more than a hundred years ago.
The situation in the Ming Dynasty is levying taxes... The world has changed greatly, and times have changed, but the taxes in the Ming Dynasty are still based on the accounts that were used more than a hundred years ago!"
"This is nonsense, asshole!"
Chongzhen said coldly: "The people below are all neglecting their duties, but you are in a daze. The Ming Dynasty has reached this result today, but what on earth are you doing?"
"I am guilty."
All the ministers in the palace quickly knelt down. Faced with this issue, they had no way to argue, and they also did not want to argue. The reason was very simple. The accounts were completely distorted decades or more than a hundred years ago.
What is the reference significance of statistical data?
Lin Jing sighed again and said: "My Ming Dynasty's inability to collect taxes is mainly due to two reasons. One is the salt tax, and the other is arrears."
When Zhu Cixi said this, the expressions of the ministers changed again. Especially the first assistant Zhou Yanru took a deep look at the prince. He finally knew that the prince was probably well prepared today and would defeat every move.
In a fatal place.
The reason is very simple. Food is the most important thing for the people, and salt is the top priority. All dynasties have implemented strong control over salt as a commodity, and the Ming Dynasty also did the same. It specially established the Capital Transfer Envoy Department and the Salt Class Promotion Department.
, and salt tax revenue accounted for at least half of the Ming Dynasty’s tax system.
In the "Ten Comments on the Salt Law of the Ministry of Household Affairs" written during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, it is recorded that half of the national wealth, the so-called salt law, is only four million per year, half of which belongs to the people, and the other half is taken
Give salt pods.
The meaning is also very simple. The Ming Dynasty's fiscal revenue can collect 4 million, but only half of it is the people's tax, and the other half is the salt tax.
But the problem is that the normal operation of the salt administration system in the early Ming Dynasty was inseparable from Zhu Yuanzhang's strict management system. The cruel punishments made officials dare not take chances. However, after the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the entire salt administration system
They are all in a state of poor operation. Officials deliberately lowered the price to collect salt from kitchen households. Naturally, kitchen households refused, so they chose to partner with relevant stakeholders to sell illegal salt. The proliferation of illegal salt in the salt market also made Ming
The North Korea's salt administration system further became chaotic.
Lin Jing sighed softly and said: "In the Ming Dynasty, the salt tax has always been two million taels, but now, the total tax and salt tax subsidy is less than 700,000 taels, and there are still 260,000 taels.
The remaining 150,000 taels are unfinished... The reason for this has to be worth pondering."
Facing Lin Jing's question, Chen Yan couldn't help but be speechless. As a gentleman of Donglin, he naturally talked about those big principles in a set way. But now that Lin Jing was telling him these figures, it was surprising.
He couldn't refute it at all.
"I am aware of my guilt."
Chen Yan knelt on the ground, already beginning to wonder if he should resign... This chapter has been completed!