Xu Shiqi had obviously considered this issue seriously. Faced with Zhu Yihai's question, he immediately came up with a suggestion of his own.
"First of all, the salary should be reduced. Now that the country is in crisis, most of the imperial territory has been lost. There is no pay for the troops on the front line. All the soldiers in the imperial camp are paid half pay. As a royal family, the clan should set an example. I would like to reduce the salary of the clan by half."
"The prince's annual salary is 10,000 shi, half of it is 5,000 shi, and the lieutenant of Fengguo is 200 shi, and half of it is 100 shi." Zhu Yihai fanned himself with a cattail leaf fan, "And how much is the salary of a hundred officials in the Ming Dynasty?
The monthly salary of the first grade is eighty-seven stones, from the first grade to the third grade, it decreases to thirty-five stones, from the third grade is twenty-six stones, from the fourth grade is twenty-one stones, from the fifth grade is sixteen stones, from the sixth grade is ten stones, from the seventh grade to the
From nine, decrease by five measures until you reach five stones."
Zhu Yihai sighed.
"This was the official salary set during the Hongwu period, and it has been a permanent system since then. Over the years, officials have said that the salary is too low, but they have not changed it."
In the Ming Dynasty clan, the highest prince lived on 10,000 shi lumi a year, and the lowest was Lieutenant Fengguo, 200 shi a year. Although there were some flaws, a genuine official could only live on 1,044 shi a year.
Shi Lumi, a person from the ninth grade only has sixty stones a year, and he also has his own qualities and colors.
Although officials also have other incomes, that's all on the surface. Others are more gray incomes, and gray incomes are related to the power of official positions. Only those officials with high-level positions have higher gray incomes, such as Hai Rui.
It was once reported that a county official's annual income was several thousand taels of silver.
The annual salary of a governor ranges from tens of thousands taels to more than 100,000 and 200,000 taels. This is related to the power in his hands. Generally, Zhengyin officials have high incomes, while ordinary officials do not have so much. Even even if
In fact, the governor and governor's one or two hundred thousand taels of silver per year do not all go into their own pockets. They also have to maintain a very large personal team, such as various masters, even bearers, cooks, servants, attendants, bookboys, etc.
Even this money has to be used for office expenses, etc., and it also has to be delivered and managed everywhere.
But no matter what, compared with the Lumi of the sects and vassals, there is still a big difference.
A high-ranking official of the first rank, already a very popular minister, but only one-tenth of the prince's rank.
Since Xu Shiqi mentioned this matter today, Zhu Yihai believed that it was indeed time to start.
"The old man also said that now that the country is in crisis, it is more important for the royal family and the country to sympathize with the country. The soldiers all get half pay, but the soldiers risk their lives to fight the Tatars. The first-class soldiers only get one and a half silver a day, and a month
He is only four taels and a half, and the temporary half pay is only more than 2 taels. The eldest husband only pays one tael of silver every day, and the half pay a month is only one tael and a half of silver. However, the prince lives in the rear and earns 10,000 dan a year, so he gets half of it.
There are still five thousand stones, which is too much."
"The imperial court is simply unable to support so much now. I think the salary should be based on the salary of a hundred officials, and then reduced by half."
"The prince is of the first rank, the prince of the county is of the first rank, the general who governs the country and the general who assists the country, etc. are reduced accordingly. The prince's monthly salary is half of eighty-seven stone, forty-three and a half stone,"
Zhu Yihai thought for a while, forty-three and a half shi was still several thousand kilograms, so he added, "Half will be sent first, and the whole thing will be paid, and the prince will get 20 shi per month."
Reduce it by ten times, then fold it in half, then increase it by half again, and add a zero.
Originally it was 10,000 shi lumi a year, but after Zhu Yihai broke his bones, it became 240 shi.
Xu Shiqi was shocked by Zhu Yihai's discount intensity.
"Your Highness, is it a little less? The vassals also have to support their families and the population is large."
Zhu Yihai himself was a prince before, so he didn't know this. "When the national crisis is facing us, we should not worry about enjoying ourselves. We should send out the servants and servants who should be dismissed, and hire less, so that everyone can make a living on their own. We must increase revenue and reduce expenditures, and be diligent and thrifty."
The soldiers on the front line still don’t have enough to eat!”
If you don't take action, that's enough. Since you want to take action, it must be effective.
Otherwise, a painless salary reduction will not have any effect, so what is the purpose of the reduction?
Of course, the biggest problem of the Ming dynasty was not only the Lumi issue, but also the local occupation of land, and the lack of food and service for their huge royal village.
So now Zhu Yihai plans to start rectifying this aspect.
"All the land of Zongfan's farmland that is still under the rule of the imperial court is ordered to be reported by each vassal on its own initiative, and the imperial censor will be sent to work with local officials to comprehensively measure and register it. Whether it is Zongfan's farmland or by name, etc., as long as it is in Zongfan's
Half of the land under the name will be collected into the special official land of the imperial court and listed under the name of the inner government. The output of these fields will be used to support the imperial army."
"If the remaining half is left, then a dou of grain from the two emperors will be collected per mu."
Xu Shiqi was shocked again.
Directly confiscate half of the land and transfer it to the inner government of the prison country to support the imperial camp, and then leave half of the land, and then collect one dou and two meters of imperial grain per acre.
One dou per acre, how did this number come about, is it too much or too little?
As an experienced high-ranking official, Xu Shiqi actually had an account in his mind. After a brief analysis, he realized that although he didn't know how the Jianguo's levy of two per mu came from, it was actually similar to the current burden on the people.
The land tax in the Ming Dynasty is very light, about thirty tax dollars, maybe less than one.
However, land tax actually only accounts for a small part, because the burden of the people includes summer grain, autumn grain, land and silver, and even lijia, equal corvee, post transfer, military payment, etc. Anyway, the sum of all items is the original full tax.
several times.
Anyway, if one acre of land is converted into grain, it would cost about 13, 45, 5 kilograms, and in some places it may be even higher.
During the Wanli period, there was a whipping method, which was to fold all kinds of miscellaneous things into the acres, levy them once, and then stop collecting others. However, after all kinds of things were combined into one whipping method and collected together, it didn't take long for another one to be collected.
There were many new levies, in fact many of them were things that had been merged and then levied again.
The burden on the people is heavy anyway.
However, the clan, relatives, and officials all took advantage of their privileges and did not bear the burden. Even if there was no such right in the law, they just refused to hand it over. Then many people registered their fields with the princes and dignitaries by donating, sending their names, etc.
Name, in order to avoid taxes and Yao labor.
What Zhu Yihai means now is those vassal farms. Regardless of whether you are really your own property or someone else put your name in your name to avoid military service. Anyway, I will follow you to a whipping method and share the land with you.
I won't tell you how to distribute this silver, grain, and that. I'll just give it all a name and name it Imperial Grain.
Those things like land, tax, silver, etc. are still the same as before, free of charge, no charge.
But what I am collecting now is the imperial grain. Even if the country is in trouble, it is time for you, the royal relatives and relatives who have enjoyed the country's favor for hundreds of years, to contribute. I will levy a special tax on you. It will be collected on an acre basis.
The amount of tax per acre of land is levied, and the rest does not matter. This imperial grain does not have any privileges, exemptions or exemptions.
One acre yields one bucket and two liters.
Normally, one acre of land can produce a poor harvest of one stone, while better fields in the south can yield only two or three stone, and some places even cultivate four or five stone of it intensively. After all, in the Ming Dynasty, many places already used fertilizers for farming.
Even if the land is good or bad, now this is special imperial grain, with one bushel and two liters per acre, it is still affordable.
