When this confrontation over the Ming Dynasty's financial reform progressed, Lin Jing had basically achieved his goal. With so many means in place, Liao's salary system could indeed be abolished.
After all, compared with the financial reform measures proposed by Lin Jing, the negative impact of Liao's salary itself was too great, and the turmoil it caused even brought the Ming Dynasty to the edge of collapse.
However, when the ministers had accepted this fact, Lin Jing was not satisfied with the present. He decided to continue to move forward bravely and raised the last issue of the day, which was also the most sensitive topic at the moment.
"Let's not talk about the salt tax anymore, let's talk about the debt."
What is arrears? To put it simply, it is tax arrears.
When he heard that Lin Jing still brought the topic to this topic, Chen Yan shook his head in his heart. Even though Lin Jing had surprised him enough, he still didn't think that Lin Jing could solve this problem. There were many reasons.
To put it simply, Ming Dynasty’s corruption is actually something with a long history.
Lin Jing continued: "My Ming Dynasty has only completed 1,170,000 taels of silver, but the arrears are as high as 7,870,000 taels. Among them, if the country has no soldiers and a shortage of years, the arrears will be more serious.
.Of course, this issue has a history of hundreds of years, and it seems no wonder that we latecomers are the ones to do it.”
When he said this, a wry smile flashed across Lin Jing's face. It is true that the Ming Dynasty has been fighting against tax evaders for more than two hundred years. There has been a lot of arrears since Yongle. For example, in the late Yongle period,
The annual debt of Suzhou alone is as high as one million dan.
Of course, the reasons for the arrears during the Yongle period were not complicated. Because Zhu Di moved the capital to the capital, the Ming court was in urgent need of wealth from the south of the Yangtze River for blood transfusion. This went against the interests of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. They were not willing to pay taxes honestly. In addition, after moving the capital to the capital,
It will inevitably lead to the weakening of the Ming court's control over Jiangnan, so it is not surprising that it is in debt.
However, later in the Xuande period, capable bureaucrats such as Zhou Chen, as representatives, carried out quite effective management of Jiangnan's arrears and water transportation. This continued until the middle and late Zhengde period, which reduced Jiangnan's arrears a lot. However, because Zhou Chen belonged to
At that time, Wang Zhen was a faction, so after Tumu Fortress, Zhou Chen was also captured, making the situation completely irreversible.
Therefore, starting from the middle and late periods of Zhengde, the amount of Jiangnan Fu increased year by year, forming a situation where it was difficult to get off. Especially the emperor's annual one million taels of gold and silver, which lasted from the 30th year of Jiajing to the 39th year of Jiajing alone.
, a total of 3.48 million was owed; another example is that in the thirty-seventh year of Wanli, 320,000 gold flowers and silver were owed; according to statistics in the sixth year of Tianqi, each province owed more than 2 million gold flowers and silver; in the sixth and seventh years of Chongzhen, gold flowers were owed
The total amount of silver is 890,000.
When the emperor's own money was owed, let alone the court's taxes.
"There are many names and methods of Fu in the south of the Yangtze River, such as living, dead, odd with a tube, sending to the village, etc., and the "iron-footed trick" is popular in western Zhejiang, that is, sending farm property to relatives.
In the name of friends or tenants, the registered assets are reduced to achieve the purpose of tax. These people do not pay for food and consumption, and local debts naturally accumulate over time. In addition, properties are randomly listed in other people's names, which results in harm to the common people.
, the common people could not appeal and could not afford it, so the whole family fled."
When Lin Jing said this, he even couldn't help but sigh and said: "Even the tax and grain concessions specially exempted by the imperial court in consideration of the people's sentiments have been taken advantage of by these people. Naturally, the wealthy households no longer need to pay taxes, but
Ordinary people are still paying rent, and they even have to pay 'footstep money' and 'winter livestock'..."
All the ministers were naturally aware of this. In fact, this was how the Ming Dynasty went down. People from common people to powerful people were the main arrears, and the money owed to them was wiped out by various names, especially
Later, from the poor to the high-ranking officials, every household had been in arrears for decades, and every time a new emperor ascended the throne, they would be exempted from it in various forms. Even Chongzhen issued an edict.
I have forgiven several accumulated debts......
When everyone from top to bottom has such an attitude, both the gentry and the common people will naturally find ways to pay the taxes. Especially the local gentry often incites the people to refuse to pay the taxes when the government clears the taxes.
, and even beat tax collectors, and the court was unable to rectify the chaos, making taxation become a norm.
When Lin Jing said this, he couldn't help but reveal a bit of a wry smile on his face.
"The gentry don't pay taxes, and the common people don't pay taxes. They pay taxes if they can, and they owe taxes if they can. Everyone is exasperated. No one dares to check, and no one dares to ask. Then I want to ask.
, who suffered the loss?"
Who suffered the loss? The answer to this question is naturally only the court.
Chongzhen took a deep look at Lin Jing. The prince had already given him too much shock, which made him feel guilty. If the court had not reached this situation, why would the prince work so hard?
"Your Royal Highness, the matter of tax fraud involves the people of the world, and we must be careful in dealing with it... The incident of grain resistance in Wuzhong in the past should be used as a lesson."
Zhou Yanru stood up again. He knew that what he was doing was offending the prince, but no matter his background or the people behind him, they didn't want Lin Jing to lift the lid, even though the stench inside had already
It smells pretty bad, but they still pretend to be deaf and dumb.
Lin Jing sneered and said: "Does Prime Minister Zhou mean that the people will follow the example of Yan Peiwei, Yang Nianru, Shen Yang, Ma Jie, Zhou Wenyuan and others back then?"
"That's right." Zhou Yanru's expression did not change at all.
Lin Jing laughed loudly and said: "So Prime Minister Zhou thinks that these people who take the lead in begging for wealth are just ordinary people? It is really ridiculous!"
At this point, Lin Jing no longer cared about Zhou Yanru's expression, and said to Chongzhen: "I believe that the real culprits are the southern gentry. Although they are not the ones at the forefront, they are among these unworthy people.
Everything has their shadow, they are using the common people to achieve their own ends!"
Chongzhen frowned. He would not allow Lin Jing to talk nonsense, so he whispered: "Tell me your reasons."
"Although the Ming Dynasty was severely taxed and the court could not collect taxes at all, the life of the common people was not easy. They still paid all the money and food they were supposed to pay, but after it was handed over to the gentry, they withheld it arbitrarily, and even
In the name of the imperial court, we ask the people to continue paying taxes——"
Lin Jing sighed softly and said: "Once the people are overwhelmed and rebel against food, they will find a way to inform the court. Then the court will forgive the arrears under the pressure of civil unrest, and they will collude with local officials to divide the arrears.
And the people are helpless."
"No, according to what you said, there is a fundamental contradiction!"
Zhou Yanru smiled slightly and said softly: "If the gentry writes to the court to exempt them from taxes, wouldn't their work be in vain? This is really unreasonable!" This chapter has been completed!