Chapter 352 Everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world
Hearing Zhou Yanru's question, Lin Jing just shook his head and said: "How can you work in vain?"
"Everyone in the world knows that paying taxes to the imperial court is a matter of course. At most, you can pay less, but it is impossible not to pay them completely."
"Especially the local officials of the Ming Dynasty. If they want to deliver missions to the higher authorities, they must receive the money and food they should pay. Therefore, in order to receive the money and food, they will take the lead in asking the gentry to pay first, and the common people will pay later. Wait until the gentry pay.
Once you get out, the people will follow."
"After the money and food are obtained, the money of the wealthy gentry will be returned in full, and the money of the common people will be divided into three parts!"
There was a strange smile on Lin Jing's face. The Goose City that was placed in later generations was everywhere in today's Ming Dynasty. They wantonly devoured the flesh and blood of the people and did not take anything seriously.
Having said this, Lin Jing looked at Emperor Chongzhen and said: "To my father, the situation in our Ming Dynasty today is a hundred times worse than when Zhou Chen was patrolling the south of the Yangtze River in the past. Without Zhou Chen's determination, I'm afraid there will be no good way to stop this evil.
"
As soon as Zhou Chen was mentioned, everyone's expressions changed, especially Chongzhen, who also smiled bitterly in his heart. This man was not a gentleman in the Ming Dynasty. Instead, he was always regarded as Wang Zhen's minion.
However, the expressions of Zhou Yanru and others changed slightly. They all knew that Zhou Chen, let alone anything else, was very sharp in patrolling the south of the Yangtze River to check for taxation.
In the fifth year of Xuande's reign, Zhou Chen was appointed as the governor of Jiangnan. His first task when he went to Jiangnan was to tax the governor's grain. Secondly, he subsidized the people and allowed them to act flexibly on the principle of expediency. Through investigation, he found that Suzhou's tax rate was as high as 700 yuan.
He was extremely surprised to find that the Songjiang and Changzhou prefectures also owed 900,000 shi.
After Zhou Chen asked his elders, he learned that the main reason for the tax was that "rich households were unwilling to increase consumption", while the rest of the common people were oppressed by excessive taxes, leading to a serious population exodus. This was very shocking in Suzhou, a land of plenty.
things.
Later, Zhou Chen submitted the famous "Yu Xing Zai Hu Bu Zhu Gong Shu", in which he analyzed the ways out for the lost population and those who owed taxes.
The main factors require the bank’s account department to address them squarely and actively deal with them. He gave Taicang as an example:
"Based on the household registration in Taicang City, during the Hongwu period, Ding granted 16 acres of land. In the 24th year of the Yellow Register, there were originally 8,986 households in 67 li. However, in the current Xuande 7th year, there is only one
There are 1,569 households in ten miles. After verification, only 738 households were found, and the rest were all escaped and the number was falsely reported."
In other words, from the 8,986 households in the 24th year of Hongwu to the 7th year of Xuande, there were only 1,569 households left. After repeated verification, he discovered the real household registration
There are only 738 households left, and the rest are imaginary numbers.
This is a terrible number, and it also means that the tax revenue of Taicang County in the Ming Dynasty has dropped by more than 90% in just forty years!
In order to solve this problem, Zhou Chen first vigorously inspected the fields, re-established the land parcels, strictly carried out the inspection of acres, surveyed, and issued reports. He required the actual number of acres, or any excess deficit, and clearly stated the reports, and required nine requirements, namely
'Districts lead the map, the map leads to the polder, the polder is divided into characters, the number is compiled from the number, and the title is determined from the number. The album is called Liushui, the map is called Yulin, and the surname is ordered by the surname, and it is sealed from the main line', so that the field has a fixed number.
, endowed with a constant amount.
After inventorying the land, Zhou Chen re-recruited the refugees and implemented measures such as "comprehensive verification of land grains" and "separate collection of tax grains" to recruit refugees and ensure the collection of taxes and grains. The effect of this method was very significant and was very popular. Normal order in Suzhou was soon restored.
Later, Zhou Chen created the "square meter method" and the "relief farm warehouse" to equalize farmers' taxes and help the poor people. Later, he was ordered to inspect Huai'an and Yangzhou Salt Affairs, making the salt class sufficient and effectively reducing the burden on the people. However, Zhou Chen later Chen's reform measures greatly damaged the interests of local powerful people, so Zhou Chen later had no choice but to be forced into officialdom.
Now Lin Jing claims to reuse Zhou Chen's reform methods, which naturally makes all the officials in the court worried.
Zhou Yanru frowned and said: "Right now, the issue of benevolence is indeed related to the lifeblood of our Ming Dynasty. However, since last year, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have experienced successive floods and even snow disasters. The common people's dreams have been put in a state where every family's dream is hanging over their heads. We still need to consider it." It would be a bit too tough to reduce taxes in the South and pursue the tax at this time."
Chongzhen also nodded slightly. The reason why he did not issue an imperial edict to collect Fu Fu this year was because he was worried that the court would collect taxes too quickly, which would lead to further civil unrest in the local area. However, he attached great importance to this matter and even sent a special letter to Chen Yan issued a decree asking him to solve the problem of poverty.
"Since the emperor mentioned the matter of Fu Fu, I think he should have some suggestions?"
Indeed, since Lin Jing proposed the abolition of Liao pay, he has discussed several major current issues in the Ming Dynasty and given his own suggestions. From the current point of view, they all seem to be feasible strategies. Therefore, this also made Chongzhen pay close attention to Lin Jing. Your suggestions have been taken into consideration a lot.
"I naturally understand that solving the problem of poverty is not a matter of haste, but a long-term perspective."
Lin Jing's voice was a little heavy as he said: "There are many disasters in the south of the Yangtze River right now. The taxes owed in the past few years can be appropriately reduced or reduced. As for starting this year, all taxes need to be paid in time."
After finishing speaking, Lin Jing continued: "I believe that every man is responsible for the rise and fall of the world. The current situation in the Ming Dynasty is difficult and dangerous, and the people should be more considerate. Therefore, everyone needs to pay the tax, and no one can do it for any reason. I came to refuse, but I think that in order to show the court's kindness, those who have less than ten acres of land under their name can be exempted from the tax as appropriate."
"In this case, will those wealthy gentry disperse their fields?"
Soon, a minister raised such a question. Indeed, this kind of situation has happened many times before.
Lin Jing had a smile on his face and said: "If this is the case, then don't worry. No matter who you are, as long as the land under your name exceeds ten acres, you need to pay the tax. If you fail to pay, the land under your name will not be registered directly." Up to ten acres."
Hearing this move, everyone's eyes suddenly lit up, but some people couldn't help but take a breath of cold air in their hearts, this method is really too cruel!
Indeed, the number of ten acres is not high, and those who live with less than this number do not have much to gain. And if the wealthy gentry intends to spread out their nominal fields, it will be difficult to spread them out to everyone. If it were like that, it would be difficult for him to get back his ten acres of land. And as long as the area of dispersion is not wide enough, then big landowners like those who own more than ten thousand acres of land will have to pay the tax no matter what, unless they are dispersed widely enough. He doesn't want his own land.
When Chongzhen heard this, he seemed to feel that this strategy was good. A smile suddenly appeared on his face and he said: "If this is true, my talent in the Ming Dynasty is really promising!" This chapter has been completed!