"The total household registration of Yanzhou Prefecture is 111,507 people, and the farmland is 10,357 hectares and 44 acres. Including Dishantang Lake mulberry trees, etc.,
The above-mentioned landowners and external tax collected a total of one hundred and sixty-nine thousand six hundred and ninety-five two and three-thirds of silver, a total of five thousand two hundred and seventy-three stone and eight buckets of rice.
"This year, in the sixth month of the year, there will be a leap year, and the amount of silver collected will be two thousand eight hundred and forty-nine taels, and the rice collected will be two hundred and ninety-four stones and eight buckets..."
Yanzhou Prefecture Office.
Zhu Yihai was in the hall listening to the data reported by the chief minister Song Zhipu. These were the latest figures for Diyin and Dingyin that the ministers had worked overtime and night to compile.
Basically, it is based on the records of the forty-sixth year of Wanli, plus the amount of silver earned by Yanzhou Prefecture during the Wanli period.
The total amount of land divided into acres is one hundred and seventy-two thousand five hundred and sixty-nine taels of silver, and rice is five thousand five hundred and sixty-eight stones and six dou.
The levy for each mu of land was one qian and two silvers, while the levy for each acre of land was more than three cents of silver.
Wanli taxed, not only the fields where grain was grown were taxed, but also the land where tea and trees were planted, and even mountains, ponds, lakes, etc. were also taxed, but the tax rate was lower.
Hongwu initially set the standard for official fields, five liters, three and five scoops per mu, for civilian fields, three liters, three and five scoops per mu, for rented land, eight liters, five and five scoops per mu, for reed fields, five and three scoops and four scoops per mu,
For collapsed land, three scoops per mu are required; for unofficial land, one bucket or two liters per mu is used.
At this time, the money will be collected in exchange for silver.
An acre of land in Yanzhou is worth about one qian and two cents, and some natural rice is also taxed.
The conversion of rice to silver is probably one tael of silver per stone of white rice, plus two qian for foot expenses.
One mu of silver and two liters of silver is actually equivalent to the levy of one dou of rice plus two liters of foot money. It is already two or three times higher than that of the Hongwu Dynasty. Of course, if the additional levies imposed by the Tianqi, Chongzhen and other dynasties are included, it will actually be even higher.
Several times more. However, the war in the early Ming Dynasty was also tiring for the people.
Of course, now the price of grain in Zhejiang is two liang and one stone, so based on this ratio, the actual tax is only half a bucket.
Zhu Yihai also knew that decades had passed since the forty-sixth year of Wanli. It was definitely not accurate to use the previous data to collect the current grain, but it would be even less accurate if the data from Tianqi or Chongzhen Dynasty were used.
Tian Fu and Ding Yin have been calculated clearly. Now we just need to spread all the grain discounts among these fields. According to statistics, Yanzhou not only counts fields, but also fields, mountains, ponds, lakes, farmlands, etc.
The field is a little more than ten thousand hectares, more than one million acres, and the ding silver is more than 20,000 taels, while the Ding mouth is more than 111,000, which means that one ding of ding silver is less than two taels of silver. More than 20,000 taels of silver are spread out.
Of the more than one million acres of farmland, one hundred acres can be spread for less than two taels of silver, which is less than two cents per acre.
So if we calculate it like this, after the tenants rent an acre, the conversion rate is a bit more than one penny and four cents per acre of land.
If the levy is a true one, one dou of grain will be levied for one acre of land, which costs two taels of silver, and will be divided into two cents of silver. If a landowner has one hundred acres of land, he will pay 12 dan of grain, plus two taels of silver.
If we add 10% of the fire consumption, it will be thirteen stones, two buckets of grain, and two liang of silver.
"My lords, I think that nowadays we are constantly using troops, so the land tax should mainly collect natural grains. Landowners with more than ten acres of land should receive natural grains, and deliver the grains to the countryside, and the officials will collect them. As for households with less than ten acres of land, they can be paid at a discount
Silver, this year it will be converted into one stone and two taels of silver."
"If you put a small amount of silver into the farmland, you will be directly taxed for the silver."
Nowadays, the price of grain is only 2,30 taels per stone and rice. Now, if we still levy silver according to the 1 tael per stone rice in the past, it is equivalent to half the tax. For them who are now in urgent need of money, this will make things worse.
, then we can only collect natural grains.
Song Zhipu had dark circles under his eyes. He had been a doctor in the Ministry of Household Affairs before, so he was familiar with these financial and food matters. "I was in a hurry, so I still used the registration numbers from the Wanli period. There must be many inaccuracies in it, such as the actual number of acres."
High, Dingkou must be more than in Wanli year..."
Zhu Yihai waved his hand and said, "Those are all minor problems. Let's start with a rough framework and implement it, and then we can slowly make up for it later."
A Yanzhou Prefecture only has about 100,000 shi of grain and 20,000 taels of silver, which is indeed a little less. Zhu Yihai believes that if all the acres are measured again and the household registration is comprehensively censused, it will definitely be 20 to 30%, or even 40 to 50% more.
Chengdu is possible.
"When levying natural grains, we must be careful not to burden the people. It would be better if people from all over the country just hand them over to the countryside. In addition, since 20% of foot consumption has been added to each stone of grain and an additional 10% of fire consumption has been collected, how much should be collected?
It’s just the amount, no additional charges can be levied, it’s enough to make up the balance. I know that the Ministry of Household Affairs has a bad rule, which levies an additional 25 taels of silver for every one thousand taels. This silver becomes the small treasury of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs
Privately divided.”
"This must not happen again in the future. I have returned the fire to the public and used it to give officials a raise in salary."
"In addition, the money and food collected must be distributed according to the quotas and retention amounts previously determined. If there is more money retained in the local area, the officials should increase their salaries appropriately, and the labor and food money of the servants should also be increased accordingly according to the actual situation.
, let everyone be able to support their families, instead of working as errands on an empty stomach, or even paying back wages.
If you ask a man to starve and guard the granary, how can he think of ways to steal grain from the warehouse? If we give the warehouse guard a sufficient salary and he still steals, then it is only right that we punish him."
Zhu Yihai increased the amount of surplus left for local areas to make finances relatively loose. This was also the policy of the Ming Dynasty in recent years. The local areas were poor and the officials were poor, so they could only impose more taxes and send servitude to the people. The burden on the people continued to increase, but the powerful households were
Not too affected, exacerbating the polarization and creating a vicious cycle.
Yanzhou has a relatively large population, with a population of more than 100,000. There are 143 business houses in this city alone, and the population of the city exceeds 10,000.
However, Zhu Yihai was still very dissatisfied with the amount of money that could only be collected. The industrial and commercial taxes had to be reorganized.
Lijin also had to be collected, and all the proceeds were used to support the army and fight the war.
Lijin, industrial and commercial taxes, etc. are not taxes levied directly on the people. They are taxes levied on those industries and commerce. Although it is possible that merchants will eventually add the cost of this tax to the price of goods and pass it on to the people, at least compared to
Ding Yin, taxes like land tax are much better.
This is like the salt tax. It is essentially a poll tax, because it is essential for everyone to eat salt, so the salt tax is equivalent to a poll tax. But if you levy a deed tax on land and house sales, then
For many ordinary people who do not have land or houses to buy or sell, this tax cannot be levied on them.
Therefore, from the perspective of the ruler, although the poll tax is the simplest to collect and seems to be the most fair, in fact, for the court, the poll tax is the most unreasonable and the cost of collection is the highest.
"After the Yanzhou military camp and official fields are cleared, what should be done with them? Should they be handed over to the imperial camp warriors to control the fields?"
Zhu Yihai shook his head. The army is for fighting, not for farming. At least at this stage, he can no longer build military camps. This is not a border. There is less land and more people here, so he directly rents these fields to the people for farming.
, and then just collect the rent.
"They were all handed over to the Imperial Camp Liangtai to recruit tenants and rent them out." Zhu Yihai still kept a hand and did not hand over these fields to the local government. He handed them over to the Liangtai. In addition to paying taxes and paying taxes according to law, the rest of the income was directly transferred to the government.
The grain platform is used for military expenditures.
The warriors were stationed in Yanzhou, with five thousand combat troops and one thousand eighty auxiliary troops. The auxiliary troops cost three taels of silver a month. The combat troops were divided into three ranks.
If you are waiting for something, let's give it half pay for the time being. Instead of just giving half, half should be kept for a certain period of time and distributed collectively during festivals or when going on an expedition. This can be considered as an incentive and to prevent soldiers from escaping or something.
If calculated based on full rates, it would cost 27,800 taels of silver a month and 2,560,000 taels of silver a year as military pay. This does not include the war horses, the fodder for the draft horses, the food for the soldiers, and the armor and weapons.
These purchases and consumption.
After such a calculation, all the local silver and tin silver in Yanzhou are still far short of being used to supply the army. They must rely on lijin, industrial and commercial tariffs, and even land rents from military fields and official fields to make up for it.
"Your Highness, the annual military salary for one town in the imperial camp is more than 200,000 taels, and the ten towns alone are more than 2 million taels. However, there are also large expenditures such as weapons, food and grass, which are higher than the pay of Guan Ning's army. The soldiers
There are still more. The Chongzhen Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty still have the whole world. They can gather the power of the whole country and cannot support the Guan Ning army. Now with half of the country, how can they support the ten towns of the Imperial Camp and the two towns of the Jingying? Your Highness also asks you to reduce the number of soldiers and horses in the Imperial Camp and save money.
expenditure!"
He Tengjiao stood up again.
He and Zhu Yihai were still calculating the military salary expenses of Guan Ning's army.
"They traveled thousands of miles to the country and participated in expeditions. Therefore, from Tianqi to the Chongzhen Dynasty, the pay for soldiers in Liaodong was two or three times that of the inland soldiers. Because the war in Liaodong continued, this generous pay was always retained. During the Chongzhen Dynasty, the Guanning infantry was paid once a month.
Two or four cents of silver plus half a stone of rice, for cavalry one or two six cents of silver plus half a stone of rice, and for servants even one to two eight cents of silver per month.
Calculated in this way, the cavalry earns 19 taels of silver per year plus six shi of rice. The servants earn at least 21 taels of silver plus 6 shi of rice. Even the infantry earns sixteen taels of silver plus six shi of rice.
Six stones of rice.
At that time, the court discounted large grains at eight taels of silver for one stone. In fact, grain prices were high at that time, and one stone of rice was worth more than one tael of silver. Therefore, these six stones of rice could be exchanged for seven or eight taels of silver.
So even the lowest infantryman has about 24 taels of silver a year, the cavalry has 28 taels, and the servants have 30 taels.
While raising horses in the inland area would result in ten bunches of grass and two to three liters of beans a day, Liaodong war horses would charge higher amounts of grain and grass, fifteen bunches of grass and three liters of beans a day, roughly equivalent to at least twelve taels of silver per year.
Horses bought from Xuanda or Hexi cost at least fifteen taels, and the war damage rate was still high, so they cost about forty taels of silver every year.
Of course, another big expense is recruiting soldiers and pensions. The Anjia silver for recruiting soldiers is at least 5 taels, and the war death pension is at least 15 taels.
If you go to war, you have to distribute food, about one tael a month.
You also have to spend money on rewards, training, clothing, etc.
Calculating carefully, raising a Guanning cavalry requires more than 20 taels of food and salary for the soldiers, and more than ten taels of war horses, which means at least forty taels a year.
If a Guanning cavalryman died in battle after three years of service, the court would have to spend a total of about two hundred taels of silver.
This is the horror of the cost of raising an army.
Under normal circumstances, the expenses are fine, but once it enters a state of war and you keep fighting back and forth, money will really flow like water.
Zhu Yihai's ten imperial camps, including the two towns of Jingying, each have 5,000 soldiers and 1,800 auxiliary soldiers. The lowest pay for the auxiliary soldiers starts at one penny a day, which is at least thirty-six taels a year.
, higher than the original Guan Ning cavalry and even higher than the servants.
He Tengjiao came from Huguang, where it was common for the soldiers there to pay even one tael or even one tael a month and still be in arrears with their pay and rations.
Moreover, this imperial camp was so special that it did not go through the Ministry of War, the Fifth Military Mansion, or even the Royal Horse Supervisor. It was led by the Supervisor himself, which made He Tengjiao feel that it was done randomly.
"Inspector He said that the military expenses for Guan Ning's army were high, and that the food and wages in Huguang were low. These are facts, but they are not entirely true. Times have changed, and we cannot just make vertical comparisons, but also have to make horizontal comparisons."
"What time is it now? The Tartars have invaded the south and have taken away half of the Ming Dynasty. It is a time when the country is in danger. At this time, we must build an elite army of kings who can fight, dare, and be loyal. How can we build it? Just talk about loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, and courage.
?"
"If the soldiers don't have enough food, clothing, or warmth, and they can't support their wives and children, how can they fight with peace of mind?"
"Don't compare it with the army of the Ming Dynasty in the past. There is no comparison. In the past, it was because the pay was too low and the pay was owed, so the guards were abandoned and the border troops could no longer fight. That's why the country fell and the Central Plains was devastated."
"Compared with our opponents, what kind of food and pensions do the Tatars get? Although the Tatars get similar food rewards to Guan Ning's army in a month, they are just basic. They spend most of their time on rewards and looting. They
The pension is also extremely high.”
"A guard will get two hundred taels of silver if he dies in battle, and one infantryman will get 150 taels of silver. Even if a slave in armor goes into battle and dies in battle, he will get a hundred taels of silver. This is a one-time pension, and it does not include the deceased.
Allowances for widows and orphans, etc. Even the green battalion’s horsemen died in battle at seventy taels, and the infantrymen died in battle at fifty taels.”
"And what about us?"
"The treatment in the imperial camp is relatively good now, but Anjia's silver is only five taels, and the compensation for death in battle is only ten taels."
"Do you know what the standard of pension given by the Tatars is? It is a hundred times their monthly salary, but what about us? Even if it is the imperial camp, it is only equivalent to less than three months' standard."
The more Zhu Yihai talked, the angrier he became. Even the boss knew that if he wanted to work hard on sales, he had to give a commission. Who could do the hard work with just a basic salary?
What's more, now the soldiers are required to fight, fight tooth and nail, and face extremely powerful enemies.
Relying on one tael of silver a month? Who the hell is fighting for you?
"Soldiers go into battle with one or two taels of silver as monthly salary. This is not something to be proud of. It is a shame, a shame for the imperial court, a shame for the Ming Dynasty, a shame for you and our kings and ministers. The soldiers sacrificed their lives to fight for the imperial court, but we only think about how to provide for the imperial court."
Less money?”
"Aren't you ashamed? Don't your conscience hurt?"
Zhu Yihai slapped the table directly. He Tengjiao was pushed there and could not get off the stage. He originally wanted to say that there were too many soldiers in the imperial camp and the military expenditure was too high. He also compared it with Guan Ning's army. Five million military expenditures a year were of no use.
But Zhu Yihai didn't tell him this and directly questioned his conscience.
How did He Tengjiao answer?
Could it be that being a soldier is worth one tael a month?
Or is it enough for a soldier to go hungry and owe money to fight for the country and defend the border?
He didn't dare to say this at all, so he could only stand speechless with his face turning red and white.