On the third day of October, in the Imperial Palace, Emperor Zhu Youjian was walking among the rows of silver racks with a look of joy on his face.
According to the practice of the Ming Dynasty, land tax is divided into summer tax and autumn tax. The summer tax of land tax cannot be past August, and the autumn tax cannot be past February of the next year. At this time, the summer tax of the northern provinces has been collected. The transfer should be turned over to Taicang.
It was turned over to the warehouse.
The so-called transshipment means that the local government directly transports the collected tax money to various yamen, military camps, health offices, schools and other institutions to pay for the expenses of these institutions. The tax system of the Ming Dynasty was very complicated and the institutions at all levels were very bloated. This amount of transshipment every year
The amount is very huge.
But in general, local transshipment tax revenue accounts for about 90% of the total tax revenue. Only one-tenth of the tax revenue is paid to the central Taicang warehouse. Including Tianjin, Shandong and Henan controlled by Li Zhi, all
The main tax revenue is transferred to various local agencies, and only a small amount of tax revenue is handed over to Taicang in accordance with the practice over the years.
Therefore, the total annual tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was more than 20 million taels, but the amount of silver received by Taicang every year was several million taels. In addition, during the Chongzhen period, there were continuous famines, and the phenomenon of land tax arrears became more and more serious. Every year, Taicang's income was decreasing. This is more and more
The few million taels of silver that came in were sometimes still needed to pay the military salaries of the border troops, and they even couldn't make ends meet.
Therefore, Zhu Youjian's finances have always been stretched.
But after this reform of equalization of taxes, the situation has improved.
The income of Shanxi and Beizhili this year is much higher than in previous years. Not only did the two provinces not have any tax arrears, they also increased the land tax to the central government by 20% - Zhu Youjian followed Li Zhi's example and increased the land tax by 20% after equalizing the land tax.
Because after the equalization of taxes, the burden on the people is very low, the people can happily bear the increase of 20% of the land.
Because of the huge base, after all 20% of the land tax is turned over to Taicang, the amount will be considerable.
Wang Chengen followed Zhu Youjian, raised his hands and said: "Your Majesty, after the 20% increase in land tax in Shanxi and Beizhili, the land tax handed over to Taicang has increased to 615,000 dan. When these grains are sold on the market, they are worth
One million, five hundred and thirty thousand taels of silver."
Zhu Youjian walked among the white silver racks and nodded.
For Taicang, whose annual income was only more than 6 million taels last year, the sudden increase of 1.53 million taels made Zhu Youjian very rich - you must know that the more than 6 million taels of silver were needed to support the suppression.
The military pay of the border army has to deal with disaster relief in various places, and all of it has a fixed purpose. But this 1,530,000 taels can be used flexibly.
Zhu Youjian asked Wang Chengen: "Wang Chengen, if these 1.5 million taels per year are used to train new troops, how many new troops can be trained?"
Wang Chengen raised his hand and said: "Your Majesty, the new army's current monthly salary is three taels of silver. Counting various equipment and miscellaneous supplies, this 1.5 million taels of silver can support another 25,000 new troops."
Hearing Wang Chengen's words, Zhu Youjian laughed. If he could add another 25,000 new troops, Zhu Youjian's control over the north would be greatly enhanced.
"Good! Prince Tianjin's nine-character reform really has immediate results!"
Seeing that the emperor trusted Li Zhi so much, Wang Chengen remembered Li Zhi's attempt to seduce the guide to Zhili, so he blinked and said nothing.
Zhu Youjian noticed Wang Chengen's face and said with a smile: "The King of Tianjin wants to control Nanzhili north of the Yangtze River?"
Wang Chengen raised his hands and said, "Your Majesty, this is indeed the case."
Zhu Youjian took a breath and said: "In fact, the current Nanzhili does not listen to my command."
Southern Zhili is now controlled by the Nanjing left-behind government.
The left-behind government in Nanjing was originally the "backup government" left behind by Emperor Yongle after he moved the capital to Beijing. It was responsible for managing southern affairs, including Southern Zhili. The reason why this backup government was originally established was because Beijing was very dangerous on the front line, and it was to protect Beijing from any danger.
When it falls, there is a way out.
Originally, although this left-behind government was in a semi-independent state, it was still controlled by Beijing.
However, since the war between Jiangbei Army and Li Zhi, Nanjing officials basically did not listen to Zhu Youjian's command. The military towns in the south completely obeyed the mobilization of Qian Qianyi and Shi Kefa, and turned a deaf ear to Zhu Youjian's imperial edict. And last year,
, after the Jiangbei Army attacked Li Zhi for the second time, even the officials of the Nanjing left-behind government who appointed Zhu Youjian were unable to control it.
Because Zhu Youjian supported Li Zhi, the left-behind government in Nanjing became more and more independent. Li Zhi wanted to seize the food of the gentry, and the gentry in the south were desperate to safeguard their own fundamental interests.
There are no clans or nobility in the Nanjing government. All members are civil servants who represent the interests of the gentry. These civil servants hate Li Zhi to the core, and even hate the emperor who supports Li Zhi. They have torn off the mask of tenderness and loyalty and began to break away from Beijing's control.
Already.
This is actually easy to understand. You must know that in the original history, because the Donglin Party lost control of the Nanming court, it was able to encourage Zuo Liangyu to attack the "Qingjun side" of Nanjing. And what Li Zhi wanted to seize was more power than the court
More importantly, the lives of the gentry are at stake, and the gentry cannot sit still and wait for death.
In addition to continuing to pay taxes to Taicang, the South has completely ignored the imperial court on other matters. Therefore, what Emperor Zhu Youjian can currently control is Shanxi and Beizhili, which can be frightened by the new army in Beijing.
But speaking of it, even if Nanjing does not obey the command, Zhu Youjian still has greater power than in previous years. You must know that when the Donglin Party controlled the court in the past few years, Fushe Zhang Pu could make Zhou Yan go to the Central Government by bribing the ministers.
Confucianism became the chief minister. It can be seen that Zhu Youjian could not even control the city of Beijing at that time, and things in Nanjing were even more beyond his reach. At that time, the so-called personnel affairs in Nanjing were not the Donglin Party's own final say?
The only difference was that Nanjing was not fighting Li Zhi at that time, and Beijing was controlled by civilian officials. There seemed to be no conflict between Nanjing and Beijing.
Zhu Youjian thought of what happened in the south, sighed, and said: "Now the Jiangbei army is acting rebellious. They even attacked the King of Tianjin when the King of Tianjin was conquering the Dongnu and robbing the bandits. They did not take my imperial edict into consideration at all."
"Instead of letting the Jiangbei Army control the northern part of Nanzhili, it is better to let the King of Tianjin govern. The King of Tianjin is loyal after all, and his posture of defending the Ming Dynasty is still sufficient."
Wang Chengen sang "Nai" and lowered his head without saying a word.
Zhu Youjian looked at the silent Wang Chengen and knew that Wang Chengen was worried that Li Zhi's tail would not fall off.
After pondering for a moment, Zhu Youjian said: "I have never doubted the loyalty of the King of Tianjin. The key point now is that the court is too weak. If the court is too weak, the King of Tianjin will make the court suspicious no matter what. So instead of restricting the King of Tianjin, it is better to
Use the power of the King of Tianjin to make the court bigger."
"Informing my decree to the King of Tianjin, the King of Tianjin must pay equal taxes to the southern Zhili provinces north of the Yangtze River. The 20% of the additional taxes collected after the equalization of taxes must not be retained in the area, and the King of Tianjin must pay them all to Taicang."
Wang Chengen's eyes lit up when he heard the emperor's words.
If the tax revenue of Southern Zhili after the increased tax was 120%, and 90% of the "transfer" was used by Li Zhi for local affairs, then the emperor would seize 20% of the increased tax, which is equivalent to grabbing 30% of the tax revenue in addition to 90%.
Jiangbei has a population of nearly 20 million, and the 20% of the land captured may be worth nearly 2 million taels of silver. If this is used to train the new army, it can add another 30,000 people at least.
Wang Chengen became happy, raised his hands and said: "The Emperor is a sage!"
