Jiande, the capital city of Yanzhou, is also called Meicheng. It is named after the section of the south city wall facing the river that is built in the shape of a plum blossom.
It has a history of more than 1,200 years since the establishment of the county government during the Three Kingdoms period. Zhu Yihai liked this ancient city near the river and the mountains very much. The beautiful mountains and clear waters make it look like a paradise.
Xin'an River, Fuchun River, Lanjiang River and Sanjiang River converge.
The weather was cool today. Zhu Yihai directly summoned the powerful local wealthy people in Yanzhou on the tower near the river. He looked at the account books while blowing the river breeze. Zhu Yihai's face didn't look good.
A group of local wealthy gentry people were also trembling.
The supervisor gave them a seat, but everyone felt that there were nails on the chair and could not sit still. They sat with half of their buttocks slightly bent, and they did not dare to neglect it even though they were leaning out in discomfort.
In fact, the head of Zhou Fugui, a member of a thousand households in Yanzhou, is still hanging on the city wall to attract flies.
The army of soldiers from the imperial camp were not vegetarians. The newly arrived General Liu Mu of the Warrior Town was also a black-faced Bao Gong. He gave and gave gifts to the local gentry, and neither saw nor accepted them.
Isn't it costing lives to inspect the imperial camp's closed city to inspect the accounts, inspect the farm fields of the imperial guards, the official fields and academic fields of the garrison offices, etc., and inspect the account books of annual taxes, taxes, money and food?
Although there are official officials, the officials are basically local, and they are often hereditary inheritance from son to father, not to mention that the powerful landlords are even more untouchable.
Now check the accounts, if you pull up the carrot and bring up the mud, no one's butt will be clean.
"Yanzhou is a good place, with beautiful mountains and clear waters."
Zhu Yihai put down the account book and finally spoke. Everyone was sweating on their foreheads, and they were reluctant.
"But in recent years, the people of Yanzhou have had some problems. The soldiers in Qianhusuo are gone, the fields are gone, and there are problems with grain and monthly grains every year. The same is true for prefectures and counties. The people have problems.
The burden keeps increasing, and the amount of food and grain paid increases year by year. But the strange thing is that in the government's books, there are always arrears, and the more the arrears are, the more they are owed."
"However, these local officials are more nourished than the last. A county clerk can have a concubine with seven rooms."
"A landowner with thousands of acres of land has never paid for food or served in the army..."
"Do you think this is strange?"
Everyone below was more panicked than the other.
Finally, everyone looked at Fang Kezhi. He was Fang Fengnian's uncle. The Fang family was originally from Sui'an County, Yanzhou. In the area, they were just small landowners who farmed and studied. However, as Fang Fengnian became prosperous, the Fang family naturally grew up.
.
This has also been a special trend since the Ming Dynasty. Being admitted as a scholar is the first step. Once you are admitted as a juren, you not only have the qualifications to be an official, but also become very popular immediately, because the juren begins to enjoy many privileges.
For example, there will be exemptions and exemptions, etc. So many people will contribute, send their names, take the initiative to be slaves, or send land to their names, and then give a large amount of money.
This is just like the later generations of Zhu Yihai, who took some qualification certificates when he had nothing to do, and then put them in some companies without taking care of anything and getting paid monthly.
Those landowners could be exempted from service if they sent their fields to Juren's name. It was still very cost-effective to give some money to Juren. Therefore, from the time of Juren, scholars in the Ming Dynasty began to become masters.
Fang Fengnian passed the Jinshi examination in the Tianqi Dynasty, selected common people, and was awarded the Imperial Academy editorship. He had a bright future. Although he later offended Wei Zhongxian and was demoted, he was immediately reused in the Chongzhen Dynasty and became the first assistant. As his official career prospered,
, the Fang family also prospered in Yan Anna.
There are more and more lands under his name, and more and more people are dedicating their land to them. For example, Fang Kezhi still settled in Yanzhou Fucheng and ran many farms, shops, etc. here.
"Your Highness, the students and others are willing to make up for all the shortcomings and arrears immediately."
Only then can he grit his teeth and take the lead in taking a stand.
Fang Fengnian was dismissed from the post of assistant minister, and the news was reported in his residence. The pillar of the Fang family also fell. Although he was not convicted but became an official, everyone who understands knows what happened.
At this time, Fang Kezhi could only bear the pain and decided to pay for peace.
"Everything that needs to be made up for the deficit must be made up. Looking back twenty years, anyone who has served as an official in the prefecture or county government must make up for the shortfall. The account must be balanced. Even those who have not served as officials or officials, but these
Years of tax evasion and tax avoidance have been opportunistic. Not only did they defraud the tax exemptions through various methods such as making donations and sending names, but they even evaded the taxes payable in addition to the tax exemptions.”
The Ming Dynasty’s exemption program was actually a huge pitfall.
When the Hongwu Dynasty was first established, the preferential and exemption policies for the scholar group were actually incomplete, and the scope of application and the amount could not be uniformly determined. It was not until the Zhengtong Dynasty that the regulations on "prevention and exemption of miscellaneous errands" began to be established, but the specific amount was not determined.
Because the pit was too big, officials continued to make suggestions, and the amount should be defined at the product level.
During the Hongzhi Dynasty, the specific amount of exempted grain was finally established, but it did not involve exempted grain.
When the Jiajing Dynasty negotiated it again, many officials were still dissatisfied. Therefore, in the 10th year of Jiajing's reign, the rules for exemptions and exemptions were redefined and an item of food exemption was added. However, the amount was not high and still could not satisfy the officials. In the 24th year of Jiajing's reign, the officials were still not satisfied.
It was adjusted again, which was the current version that was in use until the end of the Ming Dynasty. It added the mutual conversion method of Ding, Liang and Tian, with priority and exemption according to grade.
But even this final exemption rule is only limited to the amount of exemption. The excess part will be paid for the food and service.
One grade is exempted from field grain for thirty dan, and a senior official is exempted from 30 ding. For an official, one dan of field grain is exempted, and one cadre is exempted.
If a first-class family has forty shi of farmland and forty ding of people, then for these ten shi and ten ding, all the grain lengths, mileage lengths, water horsemen, warehouse buckets, and warehouse servants are all assigned, and they are not allowed to be exempted.
.
The amount of land exempted for a first-grade Beijing official is one thousand acres, and one mu is exempted from three liters, so the exemption is thirty dan. The excess amount will still be levied, or even only the land, grain and official service will be exempted.
Even if you stop doing corvee, you won't be able to avoid Li Jia.
For example, three wages are inevitable.
The quota for examiners, supervisors, and students is the same, with one stone and two free grains and two men exempted, which is one level higher than miscellaneous jobs, clerks, etc.
The official salary is 70% of the original salary, the official salary is 50% of the original salary, and the foreign official is 50% of the official salary.
From Hongwu to Jiajing, the conditions for privileges and exemptions for scholars were constantly modified, and the scope and amount of exemptions became higher and higher, but they still could not satisfy the officials.
Even under the rules of the imperial court, they tried their best to evade taxes and duties.
For example, if a juren has a strong man in his family who is supposed to serve, and then he accepts land and people from relatives or neighbors, he gets an extra ding, but all of them are exempted. He even directly asks some people to surrender as slaves, so the ding is not counted, and the land
As the population increases, the food supply does not increase even a little.
Even if the number of relatives included in the household registration exceeds the limit, they often do not pay at all.
Anyway, that’s how awesome it is.
This is often the reason why local taxes are in arrears.
The rich and wealthy households who own many fields try to find ways to waive or exempt the amount, or even refuse to pay at all. The government only dares to force the poor people to death, so the people are unable to make a living.
