Yang Le ran over impatiently with long boots on his feet. When he saw the emperor reading "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", he couldn't help but change his tone.
"how?"
Zhu Yixi's expression changed.
"News came from Xiangyang that on the 26th, Mrs. Miao gave birth to a son."
Of course Yang Le knew the emperor's hobbies, especially the nervous Miss Miaoxian, so he couldn't wait to come over and report.
"Mother and child are safe!"
"Peace is good enough!"
Zhu Yixi breathed a deep sigh of relief, and her whole body felt much more energetic.
After all, Miao Xian is not an ordinary person.
While walking, Zhu Yixi was excited for a long time, and suddenly thought of something:
He didn't even have an eldest son.
For an emperor or a dynasty, the importance of the eldest son far exceeds everything else.
The national struggle during the Wanli period promoted the advent of party strife in the late Ming Dynasty and wasted national power.
The reason why Zhu Di was able to launch the Jingnan Campaign was that in addition to Zhu Yuanzhang leaving the vassal king's edict to punish traitorous ministers, his own identity as the legitimate son was also very important.
Now as the founding emperor, the stability of his eldest son is exactly what he needs.
The joy gradually faded, and the emperor said: "Since she has given birth, let her rest in Xiangyang for the time being. Others, especially the queen, should let them come to Nanjing as soon as possible!"
The cabinet also came over immediately. In addition to congratulating the emperor's heirs on the harvest, more importantly, they talked about the collection of summer grain.
"Your Majesty!" Yan Chongxin said happily: "After the enthronement ceremony was held in June, summer grains from various places began to arrive one after another."
"Among them, there are 1.9 million shi in Jiangxi, 2.2 million shi in Zhejiang, 500,000 shi in Fujian, 600,000 shi in Guangdong, 200,000 shi in Guangxi, and one million in Sichuan..."
"South Zhili has nearly six million stones."
"Including Huguang's 900,000 shi, the total is 13.3 million shi."
"Huh?" Zhu Yixi was shocked, even suspecting that there was something wrong with her ears: "In the huge south, five or six provinces combined are only worth one Nanzhili?"
"Your Majesty, this is only the total amount collected by the local government, but there is not much left to transport to Nanjing."
Yan Chongxin said hurriedly, he was afraid that the emperor might misunderstand something.
"How many percent will be transported?"
"About 50%."
"too low."
The emperor sighed.
Half-and-half seems good, but for the local government, it is very loose. You must know that in the Song Dynasty, all food had to be sent to Kaifeng and distributed according to the revenue and expenditure of the next year.
Even in the Qing Dynasty, the tax collection ratio exceeded 60%.
Of course, in Huguang, Zhu Yixi directly collected 70% of the tax, leaving no much food for the place.
"Tell them that when the autumn tax comes, they must pay 70%."
The emperor said in a deep voice, his words ringing loudly.
"But, Your Majesty, the vassal king..."
"In the future, the ancestral salary of the vassal prince's family will no longer need to be distributed by the local government."
Speaking of this, Zhu Yixi became very angry.
He vividly remembered that almost all of his seventeen years of service had been corrupted by local officials, leaving him with nothing to gain.
According to the custom of the Ming Dynasty, princes, commanders and kings did not dare to exceed the ancestral level, and small and medium-sized clans were also affected by the disaster.
"Yes!" Yan Chongxin agreed happily.
The reason why it is divided in half with the local areas is that the feudal princes and clans play a major role. Without this part of the expenditure, many places will be much better off.
"Fifty percent, that is more than six million stones of grain."
The emperor counted softly: "The first half a year should be enough."
"Your Majesty, nearly five million taels of salt tax, commercial tax, etc. have been collected in the past six months, which is more than enough to feed the army."
"Not enough, not enough!"
The emperor shook his head and pointed out the unreasonableness of the tax: "Zhejiang and Jiangxi only have about two million shi. You must know that this place has been a prosperous place since ancient times, no less than southern Zhili. How can there be such a big gap?"
"Also, why are there so few in Lingnan and Sichuan? Is there something wrong with the Fish Scale Book?"
Guangdong is close to the sea, the Pearl River Delta has fertile land, and the Sichuan Basin is even more famous. The tax rate is only half that of Zhejiang, which even makes people question their life.
Does such a huge gap mean that local areas are out of control, land annexation is severe, and conflicts between man and land are prominent?
"Your Majesty, do you know that the tax revenue of Shandong over the years is second only to that of Nanzhili, which is only 10% less."
At this time, Zhao Shu couldn't help but said: "The third place is still not Zhejiang, Jiangxi, or even the south, but Shanxi, which is suffering from border affairs. Its tax is twice that of Zhejiang."
"The fourth is Shaanxi, the fifth is Henan..."
Hearing this, Zhu Yixi was stunned.
The gap from what he imagined was really huge.
I never expected that those who really supported the Ming Dynasty would be the northern provinces, which was completely unexpected.
The so-called grain transfer was actually the imperial court using money to purchase grain from Huguang and transporting it to Beijing. It did not exhaust the people of Jiangnan as imagined.
"This is the reason for the endless war in the north!"
The emperor sighed, feeling incomprehensible in his heart.
Border troops, feudal lords, corrupt officials, these three mountains are enough to crush all hope of survival.
Zhang Shenyan said slowly: "We can't wait to sort out the money and food from all over the south."
"Tax arrears, tax evasion, unfair taxation, ruined food transportation, and the situation of having both money and food..."
The emperor murmured and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "It's difficult, it's difficult, it's difficult -"
"However, no matter how difficult it is, you must do it, otherwise it will cause endless harm!"
"Your Majesty, it can be easy first and then difficult!"
Zhao Shu thought about it, raised his head and said: "The tax arrears are knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger. The purpose of hiding taxes is to refresh the administration of officials. Only the system of grain chief should be changed."
The so-called grain chiefs are local village sages who are forced to work voluntarily.
In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang deeply resented the arbitrary tax collection by local subordinate officials, so he set up a grain chief to collect grain voluntarily according to the amount of grain collection, which was about one thousand dan.
It not only saves expenses, but also eliminates corruption. It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone.
Later, more people did not pay taxes and fewer people paid taxes. However, the tax amount remained the same, and people had to transport grain themselves. Grain management became a business that broke the family.
Moreover, the imperial court later split the duties of the grain chief, including the "grain chief for urging," the "grain redemption chief," and the "long-term grain transport chief." The duties were divided from one person to several or even dozens of people.
If you lose power and lose money, naturally no one will want to do it.
"But without the grain chief, how can we collect taxes and transportation?"
Yan Chongxin asked carefully.
It would cost thousands or hundreds of thousands of stones. It would be difficult for the local government to transport them, and there would be huge gaps in the transportation.
"How about paying in silver instead?"
Zhang Shenyan couldn't help but say.
One method of whipping was to use silver instead of grain. Later, it was gradually deposed because grain was too important.
"How to say?"
The emperor asked.
"Your Majesty, Southern Zhili is short of food, but there is a lot of money, so we can pay for it. But in Sichuan, Huguang and other places, there is more food and less money, so we can pay for it."
"Moreover, these large grain-producing provinces have prosperous water transportation and it is convenient to transport grain."