Chapter 311: Zhu Di, the Emperor Taizong, came as a reference
Piaotian Literature Wang Shizhen's "Huang Mingsheng" records that there is also a Qingcheng Wang Sheng who has more than 100 sons. Except for the eldest son who is hereditary king, the other 99 people are named generals of the country. Every family meeting, together with
Father and brother cannot know each other well. Such a high birth rate caused the population of the Ming Dynasty clan to increase and expand exponentially.
Such a huge parasitic group just distributes Lumi according to the standards mentioned above, which makes it difficult for the national finance to bear. For example, Zhu Qizhen has an annual salary of two thousand dan as a county king, and his seventy sons all receive an annual salary of 1,000 dan as a general.
The annual salary of the daughter, the head of the county, and the grandson, the general of the auxiliary state, is 800 dan, and the state pays this family more than 100,000 dan every year. Members of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty have become a privileged and parasitic class. These dragon sons
Most of the emperors and grandchildren get something for nothing and live a life of indulgence. Except for a few outstanding individuals who have made special contributions to the progress of the country, nation and world culture, most of them are people who only eat, drink, have fun and have no future. Such a huge parasite
It is not difficult to imagine the great pressure that the group exerted on society at that time.
The huge clan consumes an unknown amount of national wealth and people's wealth. Especially in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the huge clan expenditure made everyone's tax and service burden increasingly heavy, and also caused a serious financial crisis in the Ming Dynasty. For example, in the 31st year of Jiajing, the whole country
The total tax and grain revenue is 22.85 million shi, and the annual salary expenditure of each prince's palace reaches 8.53 million shi, accounting for 37% of the country's total tax and grain revenue. The expenditure to support the royal family exceeds the entire
The total official salary.
Places with many royal palaces had heavier burdens. In the 41st year of Jiajing, the grain warehouses in Shanxi stored a total of 1.52 million shi, while the total annual royal salary of the province was 2.13 million shi. In the 19th year of Wanli.
The largest annual tax expenditure in Linfen, Shanxi is the salary of the prince and royal family members, accounting for nearly half of the tax and 40% of the tax, followed by military pay. Military pay also accounts for 30% of the tax.
Seven and thirty-six percent of the tax.
It is conceivable that the expenditures of the entire Ming Empire were spent on what in the later period, not to mention the Chongzhen period that was separated by decades. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty was never able to cope with the increasingly expanding population and burden of the royal family.
It is easy to solve. Supporting the royal family has become the largest expenditure in the national funds. This is one of the most serious problems in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.
It is a pity that these 200,000 clans are much more numerous than the Eight Banners soldiers. They are pampered and receive support from the people, but they cannot organize themselves to defend their families and the country. If these 200,000 clans can concentrate on learning riding and archery, why does the country need to recruit troops?
Just relying on the Zhu family descendants of the Ming Dynasty clan, they can form an elite army of at least 20 to 30 thousand people who are fully professional and do not need to worry about food, grass and military pay.
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Nowadays, only a hundred years have passed since the beginning of Hongwu, but the population of the Ming clan has reached an era of explosive growth. At least. According to Zhu Qizhen's understanding, the population of the Ming clan has now reached two.
More than 1,500 people. You know, this is only a hundred years. From the fifty-eight people in the Hongwu period to the one hundred and twenty-seven people in the Yongle period, and then from the Yongnian period to the present, the number has actually increased by twenty times.
.
You can imagine how boring the clan children of Lao Zhu's family are. They can't be officials, do business, or do anything. Apart from finding women to doze off with, they probably can't find much entertainment every day.
Of course, it also proves from another aspect that once the quality of life improves, how strong the fertility of Lao Zhu's family is.
And just this few people already need more than two million shi of Zonglu to cover expenses. You know, the current tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty, just talking about grain taxes, is only about 24 million shi, and that alone is
From the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zonglu needed to withdraw nearly one-tenth of the national tax revenue.
This number is shocking enough. At least Zhu Qizhen felt a toothache when he first heard this number. And after seeing that in the later period of history, almost half of the fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty was used to pay for Zonglu's income, Zhu Qizhen
Qi Zhen was completely confused at that time.
Damn it, all the country’s tax revenue is used to support the clan, so what should we do with the country’s army? What should we do with the country’s officials? Don’t we need to spend money on these?
Although many emperors of the Ming Dynasty would conduct in-depth research and reforms on tax issues, unfortunately, they were all criticized by those officials, so that they often ended without any cure. And the Ming Dynasty, since the Tang Dynasty, has not been responsible for the country's commercial taxation.
The dynasty that paid the least attention to income, or was the least able to control and operate it, was not that the emperor did not want to do anything, but that the ministers were unwilling to do anything.
The specific reasons are quite clear in Zhu Qizhen's heart. At least according to later generations, even some famous officials who were widely publicized in those history books had millions of dollars in their families and fertile land that could even reach an ordinary county.
The area owned.
Zhu Qizhen really wanted to ask those ministers who studied hard for more than ten years and passed the imperial examination to become officials, where did their money, silk and land come from?
Moreover, according to the system, officials do not need to pay taxes on their property. Another point is that many officials even refuse to pay taxes for the sake of reputation, hoping to gain a good reputation when they are local officials.
Okay, I seem to have digressed again. In short, Zhu Qizhen knew very well that these crappy things, or the reasons that led to the demise of the Ming Empire, must be solved. If he does not try to solve them, then there will be no way to solve them in the future.
People will solve it. After all, unlike themselves, they come from the future and can clearly know that Ming Dynasty will decline and perish due to these reasons.
As his younger brother Zhu Qiyu, King of Tao, is an excellent role model, or in other words, a card that Zhu Qizhen will use in the future.
What's more, Zhu Qizhen also deeply remembers that although Zhu Qizhen regained the throne in history, he still did not kill Zhu Qiyu, but just imprisoned him in Xinei. What's more, back then, even if he raised troops to kill him
Zhu Di, who had killed most of China in Nanjing, did not capture Zhu Yunwen or his eldest son, but he did not kill Zhu Yunwen's second son either. He only imprisoned him in Guang'an Palace in Zhongdu (Fengyang).
And if Zhu Qizhen takes action against Zhu Qiyu and his son now, it will inevitably cause dissatisfaction, or in other words fear and panic, among the civil and military ministers who have surrendered to him. What's more, Zhu Qizhen originally did not want Ming Dynasty to appear too big.
It was precisely for this reason that Zhu Qizhen did not lead hundreds of thousands of border town elites to rush directly into the capital. Instead, he only used a small number of elites and cooperated with ministers who were loyal to him to use lightning speed to cover up the situation.
Regain the imperial power.
"...If the child really dealt with Zhu Qiyu and his son, how would the world view the child? I'm afraid that by then, those people who had already surrendered due to the general trend of Zhu Qiyu's death might do it again. At that time, they will regret it.
It's beyond our reach." Of course Zhu Qizhen would not and could not tell the previous reasons, but just using Zhu Di, Emperor Taizong, as a reference was enough to make both Empress Dowager Sun and Sun Jizong give up these thoughts.
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At least, after hearing Zhu Qizhen's words, Sun Jizong couldn't help but shed a cold sweat. He prostrated himself on the ground again and said in shame: "Your Majesty is a wise man, but a humble minister is dull. I almost missed the court. Please punish me."
"Okay, uncle, get up quickly. You are also thinking about me. If you are in a hurry, something will inevitably go wrong. How can I blame you?" Zhu Qizhen took a step forward, helped Sun Jizong and said with a warm smile, he was very worried in his heart.
It is clear that Sun Jizong also has selfish motives, but his selfish motives are for himself. As long as he is still the emperor, the Sun family will be safe and sound. Therefore, since his ideas are somewhat biased, Zhu Qizhen will not blame him.
Seeing this scene between her uncle and nephew, Queen Mother Sun couldn't help but nod her head. "The Ai family is all confused. Yes, the emperor has grown up after all, and he thinks much more than his mother. Haha, it seems like
, I can feel relieved for my mother from now on.”
After a long talk all night, the Queen Mother Sun couldn't bear it anymore. Under Zhu Qizhen's persuasion, the Queen Mother Sun reluctantly went to bed. Zhu Qizhen and Sun Jizong left the Renshou Palace together, but Zhu Qizhen did not.
He took the royal chariot that the emperor often used in the palace, and was surrounded by a group of guards with swords, walking slowly with Sun Jizong.
"Uncle, in the past two years or so, I have suffered a lot of losses. You, grandpa and several other uncles are here in the capital to work for me. Otherwise, even if I want to return to the capital, without your help, I will not be able to do anything."
After five years, I’m afraid I won’t even think about it.”
Zhu Qizhen and Sun Jizong walked forward slowly, looking at the Forbidden City that had corridors and pavilions, but seemed to never get out. They couldn't help but feel a little depressed. For some reason, this Forbidden City made Zhu Qizhen feel very depressed, even
It makes people feel out of breath. "Is it because I got dizzy from the palace fighting scenes I saw in my previous life? I don't like the dirty and dark atmosphere in the palace." Zhu Qizhen couldn't help scratching his head.
He scratched his slightly itchy scalp and thought to himself.
"Your Majesty, why do you have to be so modest? No one in the world, not to mention veterans, can believe that Your Majesty can work hard and regain great wealth under such adversity." Sun Jizong shook his head and looked at it.
The nephew, who was almost half a head taller than him, said with a smile.
"Your Majesty, you had already begun plotting when you were in Waca. This far-sightedness and scheming were beyond the reach of the officials. When Your Majesty escaped from Waca and returned, I finally believed that Your Majesty was not
Your former Majesty."
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ps: The update has arrived, please take a look at it slowly. I am adjusting the rest time during this period. When I can adjust it, I will increase the speed and quantity of updates.
