"I have long heard rumors that during the Denglai Rebellion, Xie Sanbin, as a patrol officer, colluded with the eunuch Gao Qiqian to secretly share millions of looted silver from the rebels. I thought it was just folklore. Now it seems that these are all true.
Already."
Xie's Tianci Garden is surrounded by flag-bearing camps and no one is allowed to enter or leave.
Hundreds of people began to search the Carpet Company's house, and the harvest was huge.
In just half a day, 30,000 taels of gold and more than 160,000 taels of silver were recovered from the Xie family's secret cellar. In addition, there were also many copper coins, foreign silver, etc.
Qian Sule and others couldn't help but marvel when they saw the copied Xie family's wealth. Although they live in the same city and country and knew that Xie was the richest man in Ningbo, who knew he had so much gold and silver hidden away.
At this time, in the troubled times of the Ming Dynasty, gold was very valuable. One gold could be exchanged for at least sixteen taels of silver, reaching a high price peak, that is, one tael of gold could be exchanged for one pound of silver.
And silver is also very valuable. After Chongzhen came to the throne, Chongzhen Tongbao was made, and the coins became thinner and thinner. One coin was less than two grams, and the money in the south was even lighter. According to official regulations, sixty-three cents of northern coins were converted into one silver coin, and one southern coin was equivalent to one coin.
One hundred Wen can be exchanged for one qian, but in fact these small amounts of money are not recognized in the market. Basically, 2,000 Wen can be exchanged for one tael of silver.
The imperial court was short of copper coins, so the copper coins they minted became thinner and thinner, but they also set an exchange ratio that did not meet the value. Of course, the people were not stupid, so the bad coins drove out the good coins in the market, and the wealthy gentry and landlords began to hoard large quantities of them.
Silver, Tibetan gold, but thin money, fake money, etc. are prevalent in the market.
Thirty thousand taels of gold, according to current prices, is worth 480,000 taels of silver. Add in the more than 160,000 taels of silver, which equals 640,000 taels.
The total annual land tax in Zhejiang Province is only more than 1.14 million taels of silver.
"Xie Sanbin actually owns more than 240,000 acres of land?" Lao Zhu was so surprised when he saw a copied land account book.
As local squires, Qian Sule and others were actually landlords. They knew some of the facts about this, so they explained it to Zhu Yihai.
"Most of these lands were dedicated."
Zhu Yihai came back to his senses as soon as he heard the word "dedication".
In the Ming Dynasty, Yao service was more important than taxes and grain, which was a huge burden on the people.
However, the palaces of princes and nobles enjoyed privileges and exemptions. Once they became their tenants, they could hide under them and avoid serving as state servants. Therefore, many farmers and even small landowners took the initiative to surrender to the powerful.
In order to attract donations, the powerful took the initiative to collect grain grains at an amount lower than the national land tax.
To put it bluntly, the people brought their fields to the princes and nobles, and the land was given to the princes for free. They even worked as slaves themselves, and their household registration was not in the country's accounts, and they no longer had to serve as Yao servants. But in fact, the land was still
I am planting it myself, but instead of paying the land tax to the country, I pay rent to the princes. In order to attract people to contribute, the princes set the rent at a lower level than the court tax.
In this way, farmers no longer have to bear Yao labor, less of the farm output is handed over, more is retained, and their lives are improved.
For the powerful, through such means, they annexed many fields for nothing, and by relying on their own privileges and preferential tax exemptions, they could obtain land and harvest grain for nothing.
Only the country loses both inside and outside.
Compared with princes and nobles, officials were also a privileged class in the Ming Dynasty. They were registered as official households, and financially they received quotas and exemptions based on their grades. All current officials were exempted from Yao service, leaving officials with nothing for life. Only those who passed the examination would be exempted from their status.
In addition to being exempted, you can also be exempted from the second dose indoors.
In the Preferential and Exemption Rules promulgated in the 38th year of Wanli Period, it is stipulated that the current imperial officials of the first rank are exempted from 10,000 acres of land, and the following is reduced to the eighth rank, and the exempted land is 2,700 acres.
Sixth, birth members and supervisors are eighty acres.
Originally, the exemption in the early days of the Republic of China was only exemption from Yao service, but in fact, starting from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it was already exempted from all labor and food. From the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the officials and gentry ignored the national laws and broke through the boundaries, basically becoming all
Free of charge.
There is no official service in the fields, and not only the official households themselves, but also the tenants and servants who depend on them, and their distant relatives, have neither hands nor money to pay for the official service, nor a grain of money to pay for the service.
.
As a result, the official household became a protective umbrella for evading state taxes and Yao labor. Various schemes such as Yuansou, offering sacrifices, deceitful sending, dividing flowers, sending to the village, etc. emerged in endlessly.
Harm has long been known as one of the three national evils, but it involves all officials, gentry and powerful classes, so not only has there been no change at all, but it has become more and more intense.
Xie Sanbin's more than 240,000 acres of land, his family actually doesn't own much of it, maybe only about 20%. Some of it was obtained by exploiting the power of the official position, such as loan sharking in years of disaster.
Then they forced debts to collect land and so on.
Most of them are almost donated or sent to the banker.
"In Ningbo alone, the Xie family collects more than 13,000 shi of grain rent and 9,800 taels of silver every year. In addition, the Xie family also owns many loom weavers who weave for profit..."
"
This is not only a bureaucratic landlord, but also a capitalist.
A large part of the reason why the Ming Dynasty collapsed was that its finances collapsed first, and why the national finances collapsed, in the final analysis, it was the bureaucratic group. On the surface, they talked about benevolence, justice and morality, but in private they not only plundered, but also made donations.
Merge fields and monopolize industry and commerce.
Whenever the imperial court dares to talk about opening up sea trade, they will say it is a recipe for disaster. If they dare to levy industrial and commercial taxes and mining taxes, they will make the city full of uproar and chaos. In essence, they are usurping the interests of the country and refusing to let go.
.
The Ming Dynasty did not open the sea and did not trade with foreign countries. Did the people disappear?
We still trade with foreigners, but we don’t do it openly. Instead, we trade with them through Macao and even smuggling islands along the coast. This kind of transaction does not require paying a penny of tax to the court.
Even if private businessmen dare to participate privately and want a piece of the pie, they will be labeled as pirates and join forces to encircle and suppress them.
This is the bloody fact.
Xie Sanbin, the former imperial servant and the richest man in Ningbo, ransacked his home and found out these facts.
Zhu Yihai was silent.
However, seeing that even Qian Sule and other Ningbo gentry who had been impassioned before were silent, he knew that this matter could not be expanded for the time being, let alone pick a lid on it easily.
"All the land under the Xie family's name has been transferred to Gu's Wangzhuang, and the original tenants can still rent the land for farming. As for the rent, Gu has no time to take care of it for the time being, so it will be simple. Fixed quota rental system, land tax per acre
Three cents of silver, two cents of silver for the middle land, and one cent for the lower land. The rent will be collected and turned over by the palace."
According to the Ming Dynasty Huidian, there are more than 46 million acres of cultivated land in Zhejiang, and the land tax is more than 2.52 million shi. The average tax per 100 acres is 5 shi and 4 dou. Later, when the silver was levied, the government stipulated that every stone of grain would be discounted at 0.8 liang.
For silver, one hundred acres is worth four or three cents of silver, and one hundred acres is worth three quarters of silver.
Zhu Yihai set the highest three points, which was a lot lower.
The government has always levied taxes, not only collecting land tax, but also levying fire consumption and peace surplus.
Zhu Yihai directly proposed to transfer Xie Sanbin's 240,000 acres of land to his palace. This was a bit embarrassing, but normally it should be transferred to the state and used as official land for lease.
But Zhu Yihai didn't know that there were too many tricks in this. To fight against the Qing Dynasty, to raise troops, to build ordnance, all of which required money, and if the fiscal and taxation system of the previous Ming Dynasty was still followed, Zhu Yihai would not be able to play at all.
So he needs to find another way to ridicule.
There was no good way for the time being, so I had to bypass those worm-like officials at all levels of government offices in the Ming Dynasty.
Wangzhuang only belongs to Zhu Yihai personally, but if it is an official land, it belongs to the imperial court, and there will be too many people to take control of it.
Another point is that after all Zhu Yihai's land is divided into his own Wangzhuang, he can actually get free money and food. This may seem like poaching himself, but Zhu Yihai can reduce the burden on his tenants by adjusting the rent.
, and at the same time, you can actually receive a rent payment.
He can use this grain from his left hand to his right hand to support military expenses, etc. Without the intervention of officials, a lot of losses can be reduced.
Fire consumption and surplus have always been a means for the government to exploit the people. When levying silver, the scattered silver taels will be lost in melting and casting, so they have to levy additional fire consumption. However, there has never been a standard for how much this fire consumption should be levied, and even in some places
The fire consumption tax is more than the real gift.
Zhu Yihai planned to set the fire consumption limit at one-tenth.
When taxes are levied in various places, the amount of extra levies paid to the household department is called Pingyu, and there is no fixed standard. Some 1,000 taels are paid with 25 taels, and some are higher.
Zhu Yihai tentatively determined Pingyu as a hundred liang and then interpreted it as 2 liang.
Qian Sule and others were a little surprised by the appetite of the prisoner. He wanted to take away all the 240,000 acres of the Xie family's land as soon as he opened his mouth, and put it in the palace, where the rent amount was also changed.
Landlords and tenants in Jiangnan mostly share the land rent, with rent ranging from 46 to 37, with the landlord taking the lion's share.
Zhu Yihai's fixed rent of three cents per acre for upper land and one cent for middle land is not unheard of, but it is rarely done.
"Thirty thousand taels of gold and more than 160,000 taels of silver were put into the national treasury and used exclusively for military supplies and food."
"Your Highness, I have something to report."
"Mr. Qian, please tell me."
"Xie Sanbin was indeed shameless and would never redeem himself. However, not all of the Xie family were traitors like Xie Sanbin. His son Xie Yuxuan was loyal to the country in Beijing and died at the hands of an intruder. There were also five sons of Xie Yuxuan, although they were all
Although he was young, he was very loyal to his father's teachings. His eldest son, Xie Weilin, was only sixteen years old. When he knew that his grandfather Xie Sanbin had sent people to borrow troops from General Wang to suppress the rebels, he secretly came to the old ministers and others to inform them truthfully, and stayed with them, hoping to
Draw a clear line with Xie Sanbin."
The Xie family is very rich, but Xie Sanbin is not the only one in the Xie family.
Xie Sanbin has several brothers and is full of children and grandchildren. This is a big family.
Now it would be too implicated to directly confiscate the entire Xie family.
When Zhu Yihai heard this, he said, "I didn't expect that such a young boy could be so loyal. He should be rewarded."
"The ancestral home of the Xie family will be left to the Xie Weilin brothers, and a thousand acres of the ancestral land in Yin County will also be left to them."
This is Zhu Yihai's greatest kindness. It is impossible for him to leave so much of the Xie family's property to the Xie family.
"Except for thanking the three guests, the rest of the tribe will not sin."
"Xie Weilin is loyal and loyal at a young age. He should show his loyalty by giving special gifts to Juren and his family background. He will be given the title of "Xingren" and "Xingren". From now on, he will be by Shigu's side."
The young Xie Weilin was summoned, and when he heard Zhu Yihai's final disposition, his expression was somewhat calm.
The huge Ningbo Xie family collapsed suddenly.
But for the passionate Xie Weilin, he finally rose from the ashes.
