During the social season of summer and autumn, the weather in Kaifeng turned cold quickly. Li Laiheng didn't pay much attention to it, but he occasionally felt cold. His nose was stuffed, which made it inconvenient to handle official duties. He had to entrust a considerable number of important affairs to the political affairs hall, and the result was that
Delayed military preparations for Yunnan and Liao.
The weather changes rapidly, sometimes hot and cold, which sometimes makes Li Laiheng feel at a loss. It also makes him think twice about whether to move back to Beijing or choose another new capital in the future.
A burst of heat forced into the study, and the palace people carefully moved the brazier in. The gaps in the porter's windows were also carefully patched up with cotton and silk to prevent the cold air from seeping in and affecting the emperor's body.
Li Laiheng smiled bitterly for a while. He was rather opposed to such a big move. But the Empress Dowager was really worried, so Li Laiheng did not go against the Empress Dowager's wishes on such a trivial matter.
"Is Huirou okay?"
Li Zicheng's only remaining bloodline, the eldest princess Li Huirou, also contracted the cold disease. Li Laiheng himself had been exercising his muscles and bones for many years and had a good physique, so he was not afraid of such minor illnesses and pains.
But the eldest princess is still a young girl. If something happens, Taizu's bloodline will be cut off. How will he explain to Li Zicheng's spirit in heaven?
After the palace servants made a report, Li Laiheng remembered Lin Maomao, one of the female officials in the inner court, who seemed to be a candidate with good medical skills. He also remembered that Lin Maomao was responsible for taking care of the imperial concubine in the early stages of You Ci's pregnancy.
"In this way, let Lin Maomao Lin Shanggong take care of the eldest princess. You must be careful and nothing will happen. Otherwise, how will I face the spirit of Taizu Taizong in heaven?"
After saying that, Li Laiheng lay back on the seat. The cushions of the chairs in the royal study were made of Suizhou cotton, Songjiang cloth, and Suzhou silk. Li Laiheng supported the development of these large workshops, and most of the royal purchases were concentrated in Suizhou.
Xiangyang, Wuchang, Suzhou, Changzhou, Songjiang and other places.
The capital of the gentry and merchant workshops in Hubei had a first-mover advantage and a close relationship with the Dashun court, so they could obtain many orders from the royal family and military supplies.
The gentry and merchant capital in the Jiangnan area has a strong economic foundation and advantages. Once the restrictions on the system are relaxed, the capital will continue to tilt towards handicraft workshops due to the restrictions of the farm system. In Susong Province, various large-scale enterprises
Factories are also blooming like a hundred flowers.
The camp system played a great role in restricting land transactions and land income. Now, although many provinces have begun to reform the land clearing and banning system, causing land prices to rise significantly, the imperial court has also promulgated many laws restricting land annexation.
At the same time, the reform of the capitation tax is also being implemented simultaneously.
The large-scale establishment of camps and the strict measurement of land all over the world during the subsequent clearing and banning of fields allowed the Dashun court to have first-hand information on the area, scale, and distribution of farmland, which naturally provided the basis for the subsequent implementation of "dividing a small amount into an acre".
The foundation was laid for the reform.
Li Laiheng is not short of money now, so he doesn't care even if dividing the land into acres may cause a drop in income within a certain period of time. After all, abolishing the capitation tax, or integrating the capitation tax into the land tax, can effectively reduce the number of landless people.
The tax burden on landless farmers and industrial and commercial enterprises.
In principle, landless farmers and industrial and commercial people no longer have to bear the burden of silver, which relatively reduces the burden and is conducive to the development of industry and commerce. Moreover, after the head tax is integrated into the land, the tax amount is linked to affordability, which is also conducive to inhibiting mergers.
Increase the difficulty for large households to purchase land.
The preliminary trial implementation of "sharing a small share of land per acre" and the slogan of "big tax and small rent, rent according to tax" that the Dashun court has always adhered to were excessive exploitation of tenant farmers by landlords in the process of restricting the tenancy relationship.
During the process of clearing land and banning land, the practice of directly allocating camp land to a large number of landless poor people also created a large number of self-cultivating farmers who could be relied upon to become a source of soldiers and taxes for the dynasty.
These self-cultivated farmers had smaller fields, so their interests were not harmed in the reform of "dividing a man into an acre". On the contrary, due to the reduction of the capitation tax, the tax pressure was reduced, and naturally they became staunch supporters of the imperial policy.
Moreover, a considerable part of the homesteaders who were allocated camp fields were veterans of the Dashun Army, family members of the army, and the remains of martyrs. Although these people's economic strength was very weak, their relationships with each other were intricate and their social activities were very powerful.
In the struggle for local interests, it can even overwhelm the powerful local gentry class.
Of course, the large-scale social problems that resulted from the conflicts and even armed conflicts between the local gentry and the guest peasants are a story for another time.
In essence, most of the exploitation and life pressure suffered by tenant farmers and farmers with small land do not come from the capitation tax, but from the oppression of land rent by the upper class landlords.
In the late Ming Dynasty, the land rent collected by landlords ranged from 50% to more than 80%. Compared with the tax rate collected by the Ming Dynasty, this was almost ten times higher.
Therefore, the poor peasants were actually mainly exploited by the upper-class landlords. However, the Ming Dynasty court adopted an attitude of openly supporting and encouraging the landlords to transfer the burden to the tenant farmers, publicly declaring, "With nothing to rent, where does the wealth come from?"
Some local governments even issued an order: "When tenants lose rent, two liters per mu of rice and two cents per mu of silver will be added to cover the expenses of the midwife."
Therefore, dividing the land into acres and abolishing the capitation tax have limited significance in protecting landless and landless peasants. Even if Li Laiheng is not clear about this, Yingtianyuan is also very clear about it.
Therefore, Yingtian Yuan’s consistent position has always been to strictly limit the land rent of landlords and thoroughly protect the interests of tenant farmers.
Because the owner-peasants have the ability to protect themselves, the farmers who are really in danger and can easily fall into bankruptcy are mainly landless tenant farmers.
Therefore, Li Laiheng relied on the strong prestige and administrative execution capabilities of the imperial court in the early years of the Republic of China to directly establish the legality of permanent tenancy rights and the strict regulations that land rent should not exceed 40% by administrative decree.
These two decrees were collectively referred to as the "New Tenancy Protection Law" at the time. Among them, the decree that mandated that land rents should not exceed 40% directly caused a provincial uproar in the six southeastern provinces of Jiangning, Susong, Huaihai, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Fujian.
great commotion.
A large number of Jiangnan gentry organized their servants, broke into government offices, beat officials and burned laws and regulations, which was tantamount to rebellion.
In response to this situation, Li Laiheng ordered the mobilization of garrison troops, preparing to directly use decisive force to suppress the situation when the situation was completely out of control. On the other hand, he also ordered the local bandit envoys, camp envoys, and promotion officials to organize those who were in the "
The poor peasants and gentry who had profited from the "New Tenancy Protection Law" protested.
On September 11, the second year of Tianfa, the Taicang officials, headed by Wu Weiye, led more than 200 servants to besiege the government office and beat the officials. As a result, three officials and clerks were beaten to death and more than ten people were injured;
On September 18, the second year of Tianfa, under the organization of the local camp envoy in Taicang, the standing militia organized by the landless poor peasants suddenly rushed into the city of Taicang Prefecture with 500 troops. The local defenders opened the city gate.
Sitting back and doing nothing, the militiamen looted all eleven gentry households headed by Wu Weiye and burned their mansions before returning.
Taking the "Taicang Case" as the trigger, a large number of violent riots broke out in six provinces including Susong, Jiangnan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian and Huaihai, in which gentry besieged government offices and militia retaliated against the gentry.
The whole commotion lasted for three months and gradually calmed down after the arrival of the New Year.
The "Taicang Case" and a large number of subsequent related cases directly caused thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of injuries, affecting six provinces, and the scale was extremely large.