Weeping and robbing the land, a group of gentry was as powerful as a heir. Everyone had to pay back and be fined, which was not a small amount.
Many people were carried down.
"Your Highness, this matter is huge and involves a wide range of things. Do you want to give it another thought?" Xu Shiqi asked.
Shen Chenquan said directly, "I think it is feasible not to recognize the practice of doubling the exemptions and exemptions for various regions, but is it too much to pursue it for twenty years? Moreover, the deficits in various regions are bad debts, and now the officials are responsible for filling them, and they have to be punished. If there is a fine and interest, this matter will only trigger a civil uprising."
Zhu Yihai asked back, "Civil revolution? What were ordinary people forced to do in the past? Military households were forced to flee, civilian households, and craftsmen households were forced to flee. Why did they flee? Because the government imposed taxes and labor that those powerful families should pay. , it was all borne by them. They worked so hard that not only did they not get food and clothing all year round, but they also owed money to the government, so naturally they had no choice but to flee."
"Those powerful people have sucked the imperial court and sucked the blood of the people for many years. Now I don't hold them accountable for their crimes. I just ask them to vomit out some of the blood they sucked. Are they unable to bear it and want to rebel?"
"It's ridiculous. If they really want to rebel, then I will wait. If they rebel, I will cut off one of them. If they rebel, I will copy the whole family. I will just get back all the money and profits."
The two prime ministers, one old and one young, were silent.
Zhu Yihai knocked on the table, "The Ming Dynasty has already reached this point, can Gu still turn a blind eye? Preferential treatment. Of course Gu is willing to give preferential treatment to the gentry and officials, but there is a limit. We are not letting them Lying on the court and sucking blood, the court has been sucked dry and empty. If you don't stop, if you don't take action, the world will be destroyed!"
"Since we are all going to die, I might as well give it a try instead of waiting to die!"
"According to the preferential and exemption quotas set in the Jiajing year, grain and silver will be levied for the excess. The soldiers in the imperial camp are waiting for their food and salary. All the officials in the imperial court are still owed their salaries. Do you want to restore ZTE? Do you just rely on your words?"
"How many kilos of grain and taels of silver did the government of Yanzhou receive in its accounts in a year? All the grain and grain fields belonging to thousands of households are gone. Where they are, you know as well as I do."
Xu Shiqi said, "These things are all long-standing shortcomings, and we have to deal with them step by step."
"There is no time. Severe cases require strong medicine, otherwise it will not work if it is not painful or itchy. This time, Gu came to Yanzhou just to chop a few axes and set an example for the world. If Lian Gu personally dealt with it, If you can’t get this right, how can you expect officials to carry it out?”
From the Ming Dynasty to the present day, there are countless bad policies, and when all these come together, they form the ultimate fatal problem: financial collapse and no money.
It is difficult for a common people to live without money, let alone maintain a huge empire.
The Ming Dynasty had no money, so it imposed various taxes and apportionments, and then it was the same as before. In the end, all the taxes fell on the poor people. Those gentry were powerful and superior, and they were full of fat. The powerful officials even took the opportunity to exploit the people again. , whatever fire consumes will be lost, etc.
A whipping method during the Wanli period. In fact, many places had begun to convert summer and autumn grains into grains earlier. Part of the corvee silver was put into the fields, and part was sent to the fields. This was originally a way to facilitate the people and even reduce the burden of ordinary people. However, later on, the excessive levies on fire consumption in various places, and the new levies on science and technology such as three rates, further burdened the people.
Although Zhu Yihai also knew that the Ming Dynasty's financial system had a very serious problem, which was that there was insufficient surplus left for local governments, resulting in local finances having no money and food available, so he could only find ways to ask for money from the people. For example, the official establishment of local officials The number is limited, especially when there are only a few officials in a county and there are very few administrative staff. However, to maintain the operation of a county, a large number of people are needed. In addition to sending servants to the people, some professional personnel are also needed to assist.
For example, there is a six-room book office, three shifts of policemen, patrol archers, etc. However, if the court does not staff it, there will be no salaries. The localities need to employ people. To recruit people, they have to pay for the labor and food money themselves, so they levy it themselves. Many places have to pay for it.
The fire consumption levy is large, and this money is used as local funds.
This is like the suburban residential complex that Zhu Yihai later bought. It was still so expensive. The main reason was not only that the developer wanted to make money, but also because the local government had already auctioned the land at a sky-high price, and the land price had already accounted for
It accounts for a large proportion of this house.
Therefore, the additional taxes on fire consumption in various places are levied based on needs.
In the process of collecting silver, it needs to be melted and cast, and there will be losses. In the process of collecting and transporting grain, there will also be losses. It is the custom of the government to collect more. For example, in the Han Dynasty, one stone of rice was levied in addition to two measures.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, fire consumption levies in various places had become even more excessive.
Some places increased the levy by 50%, and some places dared to double the levy, and some even charged twice as much. Originally, the levy was one tael, but in the end, the people had to levy an additional 1, 2, 20 taels. The actual tax was several times higher. This extra tax was
The money went into the yamen. In the end, a small part was used for local expenses, and the larger part was shared by officials to make up for their low salary. They even used a lot of money to provide various services to the superiors.
Expenses for courtesy exchanges.
Just like a county magistrate's salary is only a few taels a year, but in fact the well-known gray income can reach as much as several thousand taels a year, and the wealthier counties have more money.
The people paid more money and the burden was heavy, so they scolded the court.
But in fact, the imperial court did not get this money, and it was all used locally.
Even in the case of Yanzhou, the share that should be paid to the court is accumulated year after year and is not paid enough, let alone expect them to return the money to the public.
The Yanzhou Prefecture, which is so big, currently only collects around 60,000 taels of silver per year on its books, and it is not enough to cover local expenses and is still in deficit. This is too much.
Zhu Yihai also hoped that these rear areas could provide money and food to support the resistance against the captives.
"Masters, now is the most critical time. We can no longer pretend that we cannot see. If we continue to pretend to be blind, our country will be destroyed. This is a greater threat to us than the Tatars. The Tatars are an external threat, but these are
A heart-wrenching problem."
"Taking Yanzhou as the starting point for clean-up and rectification, we must first stop the army and return the craftsmen to civilian registration, then evacuate the guards, clean up the farmland, and then clear up the accumulated debts over the years and other issues, and then the next step is to clean up the land and register household registrations again.
If we fight against the Japanese and want to rejuvenate, how can we deal with the outside world if we don’t fix our internal affairs?”
"Now I have given them a chance to make up for the shortfall, pay back the accumulated debts, and return the occupied and annexed farmland and official land. Let's forget about the past and write it off. But if anyone disobeys Gu's decree, I don't mind taking it."
They are operating to kill the chickens to scare the monkeys, but now I am so poor that I am very happy for someone to jump out, so that my house will be confiscated."
Neither Xu Shiqi nor Shen Chenquan could answer these murderous words.
After all, although preferential treatment for gentry is a national policy, it is also true that the gentry have gone too far. Zhu Yihai's current punishment is not arbitrary punishment.
"In the future, the collection of fire consumption must be regularized. The fire consumption rate is tentatively set at 10%, and it will be recorded in the public account. It will be turned over uniformly first, and then part of it will be returned to the local government, and part of it will be used to increase salaries for officials and increase their income.
Part of it is used to increase the number of official positions, another part is used for local government office funds, and the remaining part is used for the national treasury."
"The collection of fire consumption must be open and transparent, and no additional private collection is allowed. Violators will be severely punished."
This additional tax on fire consumption can be said to be a hotbed of corruption for important local wealthy groups, because there is no name or account. The percentage of the tax, how much is collected, and how to use it are all decided by the local government.
Now Zhu Yihai wants to standardize this. After all, there is indeed a loss rate during the melting and casting process after the collection of silver. However, this loss itself is not high, but the government has increased the amount at every level. Some have added 30% to 50%, and even added 10% to 20%.
It is twice as bad, causing serious harm to the people, and officials are becoming greedy and fat because of it.
If this additional levy is standardized, the court will have laws to follow and accounts to check. Even the levied money can be properly planned through reasonable planning, such as increasing salaries for officials and increasing local funds.
If used, it can even increase some treasury revenue.
"In the past, the food and salary for the officers and soldiers were increased, and the income of the officials must also be increased, step by step."
But all prerequisites must be financial regulation and stable income, otherwise it will be difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without straw.
"I also know that officials have gray income. A governor can even get 200,000 taels of silver a year, and a magistrate can also get several thousand taels. A large part of this money comes from fire consumption.
A lot of the money ended up being used as office expenses, so now that I have returned this money to the public, I will still take care of the actual situation."
"Officials in the army will have a corresponding amount of personal grain to subsidize their salaries and use it for public purposes. Therefore, local officials, Gu Ye, plan to use fire to consume some of the silver and use it as special silver to support integrity. The temporary governor
Twenty thousand taels per year, the governor 10,000 taels per year, the three provincial envoys 8,000 taels per year, the Taoist priest 5,000 taels, the prefect 4,000 taels, the county magistrate 2,000 taels, the general magistrate 1,000 taels, and the general judge 500 taels.
····”
This Lian Lian Yin is mainly given to local chief officials and Zuo officials, ranging from 20,000 taels to 200 taels. This figure is actually calculated by Zhu Yihai based on the regular figures he collected from local officials, and then roughly averaged them.
Got a discount.
For example, the governor can get 200,000 taels of regular silver, and Zhu Yihai will give him 20,000 taels. And a county magistrate can get tens of thousands of taels, so the minimum is two thousand.
Compared with their original salary, this amount of money is very large, even many times. But on the other hand, officials used to use their own methods to form unspoken rules and get more money, but this money
The source is not standardized, and the use is not standardized either.
Zhu Yihai now blocked it from the source, such as returning the important fire consumption silver to the public, and then regulated the use of this money, directly giving them the honest silver according to their grade and position, and stipulated that although this money was distributed to officials, it also had public uses.
Silver in nature.
In the past, officials took the money themselves, and it was up to the individual to take more or less. Now Zhu Yihai asked the court to collect the money and manage the distribution. There are standards for everything.
Everyone wants to be an official these days. If you have an official position, you will have power, and if you have power, you will get rich.
Especially if you work as an official in a wealthy place in the south of the Yangtze River, you can earn one hundred thousand taels of silver as a magistrate. Some magistrates can even earn one hundred thousand taels after three years as a magistrate.
It really made the court poor and enriched its officials, and made the people miserable and made it easier for the gentry.
If this situation is not changed, no one can save the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yihai would rather give the governor 20,000 taels of silver than have them take 200,000 taels directly from the local government. After all, this silver is squeezed out from the hands of the people. It seems that it was not taken from the imperial treasury, but it is still harmful.
What is being done is the people, what is being damaged is the authority of the country, and in the end it is he, the superintendent of the country, who will shoulder the blame of the people all over the world.
The Ming Dynasty was rotten to the core from the inside out, and Zhu Yihai was now a house decorator, trying his best to repair it so that it wouldn't collapse first.
"Your Highness, would you like to return to Shaoxing first?"
"No, I want to personally sit in Yanzhou and keep an eye on it. I must grasp the example of Yanzhou and set an example so that it can be implemented everywhere in the future." Zhu Yihai said firmly. If he left now, he seriously doubted that this matter would end in an anticlimax.
It may even end in vain, so he must keep an eye on it.
"Summoning all the editors of Fuxing News, I asked them to conduct a comprehensive special report on Yanzhou's reforms and publish all the issues in detail, so that everyone in the world would know Gu's determination and
In the process of reform, Yanzhou should be set as a good example so that other places can follow it!"
