To put it bluntly, taxes from local provinces will no longer be collected across the board.
If water transportation is convenient and there is a lot of food, grain will be collected; if land transportation is difficult, more money will be collected.
Just like the north, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places, they can collect money and keep the food locally, and the court will use military expenditures to spend money to buy food, thus forming a cycle.
"If someone like Jiangnan, who has a lot of money, wants to collect money?"
The emperor was interested and the proposal was creative.
The first whipping method was to levy money, and later it became a levy of grain. It was a mess for decades. Not only the common people did not understand, but even many gentry were ignorant.
"That's the truth!" Zhao Shu also nodded hurriedly and smiled: "As the saying goes, if Huguang is ripe, the world has enough. The food in Huguang, Sichuan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang is enough to feed half the world. The water conservancy is convenient and can be conquered.
grain."
"The merchants in Jiangnan, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi are prosperous, so they must be willing to collect money."
"Grain area and money area?"
The emperor muttered, and then said: "In this case, the grain chief system should also be abolished."
"In the grain collection area, with the county as the center and the post station as the node, additional grain transport envoys can be added, which can be the sixth rank and the second official."
"The government is the grain transportation ambassador, and the province is the grain transportation ambassador. They are adjusted according to grade."
Speaking of this, the emperor became more energetic.
Zhao Shu, Zhang Shenyan, and Yan Chongxin frowned.
After the county magistrate was in charge of the judiciary, His Majesty planned to set up official positions. One government or one province would only have dozens or hundreds of people at most, but all over the country, there would be thousands of official positions.
For the imperial court, the annual salary expenditure increased by tens of thousands of taels.
"Your Majesty, the matter of money, grain and taxation is originally the responsibility of the local chief official. Now that it is raised separately, I am afraid that the rights and responsibilities are not clear!"
"After all, the chief officer has more power, so it's easier to do these things."
Zhang Shenyan suggested cautiously.
“It’s easier to make money!”
The emperor looked puzzled and said: "The chief officer's responsibility is to make overall plans and supervise and verify. How can he do everything personally?"
"However, what you said does make some sense!"
Several people were trembling and waiting to be scolded, but unexpectedly the emperor made a big turn.
Only then did Zhu Yixi realize that it was difficult for a mere grain transport envoy to shoulder such an important task.
Therefore, matters such as criminal names, money and food transfers, and collection can be completely left to the general judge.
This was also the responsibility of the general judge in the Song Dynasty. Restoring tradition was not considered unconventional.
After some explanations, the cabinet finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Yan Chong said with trepidation, "Your Majesty, the imperial court now has a large salary. If one more official is added, the expenditure on food and salary will be unsustainable."
"Okay!" Zhu Yixi said impatiently after a while:
"With these two problems solved, the tax dilemma can be relieved a lot."
At this point, the emperor coughed and said seriously: "Now that the imperial court is in trouble and the country is in trouble, I think the local vassal kings will have no objections."
As soon as these words came out, several people's eyes lit up.
As the saying goes, it is impossible to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, so we can only increase revenue and focus on the feudal king.
"Since the beginning of Hongwu, vassal kings have been required to pay taxes. The laws of the Ming Dynasty have never said this, and the ancestral system has never said that vassal kings are exempt from tax."
Zhao Shuyi said righteously, and his words were resounding.
Let me emphasize again, the vassal kings of the Ming Dynasty did not have the right to tax exemption.
The income of the vassal king was divided into royal salary and private property, and was divided into official land and civilian land.
Official land is the food and salary given by the emperor. For example, King Fu Zhu Changxun was given 20,000 hectares of land, which actually allowed him to enjoy the income of 20,000 hectares of land.
Huguang and Shandong were allocated 60,000 taels of silver from the finance, which can be roughly equal to the food.
Private property, on the other hand, is civilian land. Whether it is land annexation or robbery, it is subject to tax.
It's just that the local government is taboo about the identity of the vassal king, just like they are taboo about the exemption rights of the gentry, and they never dare to delve into it, so they can only impose more taxes on the common people.
"I think that the Ming Dynasty is in danger, and the clans and tribes must all fight to be the first and never miss out."
Yan Chongxin began to tout the model.
Zhao Shu then began to murmur, if the civilian fields of the feudal lords were included, how much more grain could the court receive.
The more he thought about it, the happier he felt.
The emperor showed a smile: "With the vassal king first, can the gentry be far behind?"
A meeting can be considered fruitful and rewarding.
The road to taxation has to be done slowly.
…
Zheng Sen came to Nanjing again and immediately noticed the changes.
Nanjing is cleaner and more orderly, and the market is becoming more prosperous. It is well deserved to be the largest city in the south.
As soon as he entered the city, he couldn't wait to go to Qianzhai and presented him with thousands of taels of silver in one go, which shocked Liu Rushi.
"Teacher, this is the student's suggestion, I hope you can accept it."
Zheng Sen raised his head, showing a hint of regret: "If I had come a few days earlier, the teacher would have already come out."
"Soon."
Looking at the money, Liu Rushi felt exhausted physically and mentally.
If it had been a few days earlier, why would there be any need to sell off the property? Unfortunately, with just money, we can't buy land.
"You, the Zheng family, acted decisively this time."
After all, Liu Rushi was nurtured. She said crisply: "Although supporting the King of Tang is a good move, the truth is still lagging behind. It's not too late to regret it now."
"I just don't know what the imperial court means..." Zheng Sen was somewhat impressed by Liu Rushi and couldn't help but say more.
"The imperial court?" Liu Rushi chuckled: "Now we are busy recruiting troops and collecting money and food. As long as your Zheng family surrenders and offers money and food, everything will be fine."
Zheng Sen nodded in agreement, but shook his head in his heart.
It's indeed a woman.
The ships on the Yangtze River are not only the Yangtze River Navy, but also a threat to the Zheng family.
If it can deal with the Manchus, it can naturally deal with pirates.
The Zheng family, a group of islands, could not defeat the officers and soldiers on land, and now they were overtaken on the ship as well. The impact of this was beyond words.
It may even threaten the very foundation of the Zheng family.
When he returned to Zheng's house, he saw that it was empty. Zheng Sen was startled: "Where did the King of Tang go?"
"Reporting to the young master, the King of Tang was picked up by a group of eunuchs."
"Really?" Zheng Sen calmed down and muttered: "It seems that the emperor is still nervous."
Thinking of this, he felt lingering fear.
After a while, when the Yangtze River Navy is fully developed, it will be really dangerous.
However, contrary to what Zheng Sen thought, King Tang did not go to the palace, nor did the emperor summon him, but went to the princes' residences.
Here, there is not only the old King of Chu, but also King Rui, a close relative, and King Yi, who also oversees the country.
The king of Tang Dynasty was shocked. He paid homage to everyone one by one and saluted, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
It’s still the old process, with King Chu sitting at the top and King Rui speaking:
"Tang Fan is here, I will reiterate once again that your majesty is magnanimous and the previous sins will be wiped away and no longer care."
"However, you have to live in peace for the next few days and stop thinking about that little bit of power."
The king of Tang was shocked and hurriedly responded.