Emperor Shunzhi was only eight years old, and all government affairs were entrusted to his uncle, the regent Dorgon.
When the courtiers saw Dorgon, they all knelt down to welcome him. The little Emperor Shunzhi said that the king was an uncle and regent, so how could his subjects not kneel?
Dorgon also seemed to regard himself as the master of the Qing Dynasty, and he was also very concerned about military and political affairs.
Since entering the capital, he has been working hard and diligently.
Early this morning, I was wearing a dark dragon yellow satin casual robe and reviewing memorials in the imperial study. The imperial desk was full of memorials, but when I looked through them, there was no good news that made people happy.
Zhou Yun, the governor of Zhending, reported that everywhere he visited was extremely desolate, and it was difficult to make up the old amount of money and grain. In addition, the acres of land were desolate, and the people were in exile, with sixty-seven people living in ten houses.
Yang Fangxing, the governor of Shandong's rivers, said that the land in Shandong was so barren that there were only one or two people in one household, and only one or two acres of ten acres of land could be cultivated.
Lei Xing, the governor of Shaanxi Province, inspected Guanzhong and then left the area. The remnants of the indigenous people had not returned, and the state of desolation was as bad as Tianyuan compared to Baojun... The empty city in Shitian was in name only but in reality, it had become a wasteland for a long time.
Gang Lin, Feng Quan, and Qi Chongge, the three most trusted scholars in the court, also sent letters to him one after another, talking about financial difficulties.
Today, he summoned Duke Yan. This man had repeatedly made extraordinary achievements in the south of the Yangtze River. Dorgon specially ordered to summon him to the capital. After several summons, he admired this man very much.
"The Ministry of Household Affairs has proposed that this year's national expenditure will require 15,734,000 taels of silver, of which military salary expenditures will account for 13 million taels, accounting for nearly 85% of the total expenditure. This year, various local levies will be collected
The total tax amount is only ten million taels, and the shortfall is as high as more than five million taels."
Dorgon invited Mr. Yan to sit aside and made him a cup of tea.
"Recently, the so-called King of Lu who supervises the country in eastern Zhejiang has been unanimously supported by all the ministries of the Can Ming Dynasty. Unexpectedly, after Zhu Yousong and Zhu Changzi were captured and surrendered, there are still people who refuse to surrender. Hong Chengchou mistook me at first.
It was said that Jiangnan's mission was certain, but now it is a missed opportunity."
Mr. Yan sat half-assed on the chair, leaning forward, very carefully.
Holding the tea given by the emperor's uncle and the regent, he listened quietly.
"Now there is another war in Huguang. Azig originally said that Huguang and Jiangxi are all settled, but now the situation reported from below is not the case. Yunyang has never been captured, and Ganzhou in Jiangxi is also like a stone. Recently, Jiangning reported that Huizhou was lost.
Chongming at the mouth of the Yangtze River and Zhoushan in eastern Zhejiang are all in the enemy's hands..."
Dorgon also sat down with a cup of tea and complained about his sorrows.
"This year, the tax revenue of each region is 10 million taels. However, the two major granaries in Jiangnan and Huguang need to collect natural grains. The supply of military supplies cannot be turned over in exchange for silver. Even the reorganization and downgrading of the army into green camps in various regions will require a large amount of additional military expenditures. Please ask for it everywhere.
Pay requires food, and I cannot conjure money and food out of thin air."
"Yan Qing, you came from the south of the Yangtze River and pacified western Zhejiang. When you were in western Zhejiang, you not only quickly put down the rebellion in western Zhejiang, but also quickly recruited and integrated many people. With the land of three prefectures in western Zhejiang, you supplied tens of thousands of people, not only protecting one side.
In order to stabilize the country, we can even send troops to help suppress Su Song's rebellion and recover many places. Tell me how you did this?"
Mr. Yan quickly stood up and knelt down to answer.
Dorgon supported him and said, "Sir, there is no need to be so formal. This is the imperial study. You can sit down and answer."
"Thank you, Emperor Regent. Judging from my experience in the south of the Yangtze River, it is indeed not easy for the court and the place now. The remaining ministers of the Ming Dynasty are still determined to recover, and the court has been trying to recover for more than a year. After entering the pass, it was unstoppable and took over the north, but it was also
It still needs time to consolidate. Now, as His Highness said, what is most needed is to consolidate the newly occupied land first, to strengthen the government, integrate the green camp, and garrison the elite Eight Banners in some key towns."
Dorgon sighed, "Money, where does money and food come from?"
"Your Highness, the collapse of the Ming Dynasty was due to taxation. The taxes of the Ming Dynasty were too light, so the country perished."
Dorgon frowned, "Isn't it always said that heavy taxes have made the people suffer for a long time?"
"Your Highness, actually these are two situations. The Ming Dynasty has always had the lightest tax rate. In terms of land tax, in the early Ming Dynasty, one mu was only a few liters, which was roughly less than thirty taxes. After Wanli's whip law, one mu was only a few liters.
But it’s about a dozen or even twenty taxes. The real tax burdens for the people are actually those other than regular taxes, various exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes and additional levies, such as three rates, etc., as well as various local wastes, waste money, etc.
, ultimately resulting in additional payments that are several times or even ten times the regular tax.
As for the preferential exemptions for the gentry, not only did they not pay within the prescribed quota, but they also defaulted on paying a large amount of additional land, etc., and paid less. Taxes in various places were insufficiently collected year after year. In addition, the two major burdens of vassals and guards were dragged down. In the former Ming Dynasty,
The country’s subjugation is also inevitable.”
"Then sir, what good advice can you give me?"
Yan Wo Gong looked profound, and slowly raised a finger, "The various long-standing shortcomings of the previous dynasty are too deeply involved, so the long-standing shortcomings are difficult to correct, and we can only sit back and wait for death, but my new dynasty does not have these problems. So I only need a few questions.
With the edict, we can completely abolish these long-standing disadvantages and get rid of the burden."
"Article 1: The former dynasty's defense posts should be dismissed. All military households in the guard posts should be converted to civilian status. All guards and soldiers in the garrison cities and fields are no longer useful. They should all be dismantled and all the garrison fields should be taken back. This is one item.
It can save hundreds of thousands of monthly rations for the guards every year. Each person has one stone per month, which is several million stones of monthly rations this year."
"The military camps in various places have taken back tens of millions of acres of land. If they are sold, they can earn tens of millions of taels of silver. Even if they are used to recruit tenants, they can collect rents of millions of taels a year. And not only that, it turns out that each guard has
The local military garrison is still unable to sustain itself, and the nearby prefectures and counties have to bear 60 to 70% of the monthly grain. Now this grain can be handed over to the court, and another amount of grain income can be obtained."
Dorgon nodded immediately after hearing this.
"With so many health centers being abolished, will there be any hidden dangers?"
"The previous dynasty had actually always wanted to abolish the garrison, but the military attachés and even the powerful gentry from various places refused because they had already invaded and divided up the farmland of the garrison and even used the military households of the garrison. This had a lot to do with them.
Naturally, I don’t want to rest assured about the profits. But these are not a problem at all for my new dynasty.”
"Those officers and soldiers of the guard station have no use except wasting our Qing Dynasty's food, so why keep it? If anyone dares to oppose, they will be exterminated, and the money and food they have accumulated by embezzlement and deduction according to law over the years will be confiscated. It will be a big loss."
Where’s the money and food?”
Dorgon laughed loudly after hearing this, "Wonderful, just by dismantling the guard posts, not only can we save millions of stone moon grains a year, but we can even add millions of stone grain crops, one in and one out.
, but the difference is tens of millions.”
"If there are any other clever ideas, please come up with them."
"My second policy is for the officials and gentry to work together to pay the rations and serve as servants, to abolish the previous gentry preferential and exemption policy, and not to give those gentry the opportunity to work together to usurp the interests of the imperial court."
Dorgon hesitated, "Fan Wencheng once told me that after entering the customs, we should treat the scholars preferentially to win over people's hearts."
"There are actually many ways to win over people's hearts. For example, the previous government's salary for officials was extremely low. Our government can definitely increase the salary for officials. This can be done openly. Although there is an increase in expenditure, how many official salary increases will there be?
It is clear how much the salary is. But the previous dynasty exempted scholars, but they took advantage of loopholes and made all kinds of names, donations, etc., so that the world's taxes could not be collected even five out of ten, which was a great harm."
"If the officials and gentry pay the grain and serve as errands together, then all the fields can be levied with a small amount of silver. This alone can increase millions or even tens of millions of taels of silver a year. And if the official salary is increased, if it increases by one million a year
Two, that’s pretty amazing.”
Dorgon heard that the Ming Dynasty gentry were exempted from tax, which resulted in the court collecting less than half of the tax every year, and he couldn't help but hate it. Now that they were in power in the Qing Dynasty, these exemptions and tax evasion were just swallowing up their money.
"Is there any other good idea?"
"I heard that Can Ming Lu Jianguo implemented a new policy of allocating land to farmland in Shaoxing, which directly fixed the farmland in various places and then spread it into all the land according to the government. It also publicized that in the future, there will be more people and no more taxes will be added.
Your Majesty, this is a very vicious move. He only said that he would never increase taxes, but he did not say that he would not increase other taxes, etc. But how do ordinary people understand this? When they heard that they would never increase taxes, how could they not be happy and jump around?
"
"We cannot lag behind the puppet Lu and supervise the country. We should also promote the idea of dividing the land between people and the land, never increase taxes, and compete with them for the hearts and minds of the people."
"If we never increase taxes, then as the population increases in the future, won't we lose a lot of taxes?"
"Your Highness, wars are ongoing, the world is not at peace, and the population continues to decrease sharply. Where will the number of people increase? Now, the pseudo-Lu Jianguo claims that he wants to breed more people and never increase taxes. In fact, he is acting treacherously.
He collected Ding Yin according to the number of people in each prefecture in the forty-sixth year of Wanli, and then spread it among the fields. Think about it, the forty-sixth year of Wanli was a peaceful year, how many people were there at that time? After the Chongzhen Rebellion, now
Are there as many people as there were in the Wanli year? But he still levied silver according to the number of people in the Wanli year. Wouldn't it be too much? But he also said that he would never increase the tax. This is deceiving the people of the world. It is obvious that the levy is too much.
, and you still make yourself look like a saint, it’s really hateful!”
Dorgon understood and couldn't help but clapped his legs, "I didn't expect this King Lu to be so cunning and cunning. He could use one trick to change the situation."
"Yes, within ten or twenty years, the population will definitely not be able to recover the number of Wanli's forty-six years, but he collects Ding Yin according to the Wanli number every year. This method is really impressive, so we can definitely do the same.
If you deceive those people who don't understand, you can collect more Ding Yin, why not?"
Dorgon was very excited when he heard this, "What other good strategies can you tell me?"
"I still have another trick, which is to confiscate all the land and property under the name of the previous dynasty. With this alone, I estimate that I can lose hundreds of millions of acres of land. In addition, those relatives of the previous dynasty who refused to surrender to our Qing Dynasty will be confiscated."
Officials also confiscated all their fields. If implemented, it would immediately solve the court's current problem of insufficient money. It would not only be enough to support the 200,000 Eight Banners military pay, but also the reorganization of 500,000 to 600,000 green battalions, military pay, equipment and equipment, etc.
Expenses are also completely sufficient.”
Dorgon couldn't help but nod.
"What do you think about the current report from Huguang asking for help, saying that the Shun army was besieging Jingzhou and Wuchang?"
Yan Wo Zheng said, "Your Majesty, please do not underestimate me. Although the remnants of thieves are numerous and powerful, and now they have joined Can Ming, they are coming with great force. I suggest that troops from Jiangning, Anqing, Jiangxi, and Henan be immediately mobilized to rush up the river to aid Jingzhou and Wuchang."
, we must win the battle quickly and not move for a long time, causing the place to rot."
These words made Dorgon very satisfied. From the dismantling of the guard station to the confiscation of the land and property of the former Ming Dynasty clan nobles, and even the emergency aid to Huguang, everything was similar to what he had imagined. Now he feels that Yan Wogong is really a hero.
The two saw the same thing, he was indeed an unparalleled national scholar.
"I know Mr. Yan. I originally wanted to keep Mr. Yan at court to assist me in regenting. But now I want to make Mr. Yan go to the south. I want you to be the governor of Jiangxi and Henan. You will be stationed in Nanchang and have jurisdiction over Henan and Jiangxi.
The governor of the province is responsible for military affairs and is also in charge of food and wages. Your main task is to assist in suppressing the Huguang rebels. At the same time, as you just said, abolish the two provincial guard posts, clean up the land of the nobles of the previous dynasties, and try to implement a unified payment of food and duties between the officials and gentry. "
