The emperor did not stay too long in Zichuan and led his army to Zhangqiu.
Although the ministers believed that Zichuan was already close to Jinan and could be stationed here to command from a distance, Zhu Yihai was not someone willing to hide behind and listen to the news. If this was the case, he might as well stay in Dengzhou.
"In the Ming Dynasty, Zhangqiu produced 148 candidates and 36 Jinshi. It is the hometown of humanities. Last year, in the Tatar Beijing Examination, Zhangqiu also produced four Jinshi."
Zhu Yihai climbed up to Changbai Mountain and looked at Zhangqiu City at the foot of the mountain. After hearing that four Tatars had been awarded Jinshi last year, he couldn't help but sigh, "I thought Zhangqiu blacksmiths were famous in the world and were good at making iron pots. I didn't think that Zhangqiu's blacksmiths were famous for their skill in making iron pots."
There are also many scholars.”
"Zhangqiu blacksmith is indeed famous all over the world. It is said that in the Tang Dynasty, Zhangqiu, Shandong Province, was called the best iron smelter in the world. In the second year of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty, Zhangqiu became the number one scholar in martial arts."
The year before last, there were nine candidates, and last year four won the imperial examination. This county did have good results in the imperial examination, but they all participated in the Tatar imperial examination.
Looking at the connected military camps at the foot of the mountain, Zhangqiu City is located on the bank of the river at the foot of the mountain.
With its green bricks and small tiles and willow trees, it feels a bit like the south of the Yangtze River.
"Your Majesty, Li Jinming and other Zhangqiu gentry would like to see you."
"But that Li Jinming from Suozhuang Village?"
The Li family in Suozhuang Village is very famous because this thousand-year-old village, which was founded in the Tang Dynasty, produced three generations of seven successful people and five Jinshi in the late Ming Dynasty, which is very impressive.
Li Jinming was also one of the four Jinshi scholars in Zhangqiu who went to Beijing to take the joint examination last year. He has an older brother, Li Jinzheng, who was Jinshi in the middle of the Tianqi year. He was promoted to the magistrate of Zhangde and was a doctor in the Ministry of Industry.
During the Chongzhen Dynasty, he also petitioned for commendation for his grandmother Xiahou, and received approval. In the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, the Jie Feng Ke Feng Memorial Archway was built in the village.
Li Jinzheng died in office in the 14th year of Chongzhen's reign. Li Jinming and his younger brother Li Jinyi were elected in Jinan in the year before last. Last year, Li Jinming passed the imperial examination in Beijing, and Li Jinyi failed. This year, the Tatars opened Enke, and Li Jinyi was named in the gold medal.
A large family in a village has produced seven people and five Jinshi in three generations, which is indeed very impressive, especially the three brothers Li Jinzheng are real brothers.
"Since you're here, let's meet you."
The history of Zhangqiu's city construction dates back to the Northern Zhou Dynasty. It was first named Gaotang and later changed its name to Zhangqiu, which continues to this day. During the Ming Dynasty, the city was reinforced several times and built into a stone city.
Only eighty miles away from Fucheng, Zhangqiu originally had many green camps stationed there, but when faced with the arrival of the Shence Army, they opened the city and surrendered without any resistance.
The gentry and common people in the city were spared a war.
The gentry elected Li Jinming and others as representatives to come to see the emperor, hoping to receive preferential treatment from the imperial court.
They also knew that they had surrendered to the Qing court in the past few years, and they knew that they were wrong, so they cut off their braids, changed into Hanfu, and raised a large sum of money to pay tribute to the emperor.
Before anyone arrived, the gift list was delivered first.
Five hundred taels of gold and ten thousand taels of silver.
If this amount of money had been placed during the Chongzhen period, it would have been a lot, because no matter how poor Chongzhen was and asked hundreds of officials to borrow money, no one would be willing to pay for it. Even a bachelor could only provide a few hundred taels of silver at most.
Now, not much.
Because it is not difficult for these wealthy gentry families in Zhangqiu to collect this little money.
Zhangqiu is a cultural hometown, close to Fucheng and very prosperous.
Zhangqiu's iron smelting is indeed very famous. It was known as the hometown of blacksmiths in ancient times. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there were 48 iron officials across the country, and there was Dongpingling Smelter in Zhangqiu.
Zhangqiu's blacksmiths began in the Spring and Autumn Period, flourished in the Western Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang Dynasty, and continued to flourish in the Song and Ming Dynasties.
This is due to their favorable conditions. Since ancient times, Zhangqiu has had more than three dozen blacksmiths, many merchants, and many medicinal shops. Zhangqiu is hundreds of miles away and is rich in iron ore, limestone, refractory soil, coal and other resources.
It provides good conditions for iron smelting.
In the Ming Dynasty, Shandong cooks dominated the royal cuisine, and Shandong cuisine also became official cuisine. Whether it was palace banquets or official entertainment, Shandong cuisine occupied an important place. Their best skills were sea cucumber, abalone, bird's nest, shark's fin, and black bone.
The fish eggs are genuine and exquisitely cooked.
And every Shandong cuisine chef has an iron pot from Zhangqiu, Shandong.
Zhangqiu is a thousand-year-old city with a rich collection of humanities. It is well-known in the imperial examinations. It has many candidates and officials. It also has a lot of minerals such as iron ore and coal, so there are also a large number of mine bosses. Their Qianniu signature blacksmiths also make medicinal materials.
They are very famous, so the wealthy families in Zhangqiu are really wealthy.
It’s not simply about owning a lot of land, but it’s also engaged in mining, iron smelting, medicinal materials, etc. There is even a Zhangqiu gang in Shandong cuisine, and many restaurants are opened outside. In the past, there were dozens of restaurants opened by Zhangqiu people in Beijing.
The restaurant is said to rival those owned by the Fushan Gang.
Mine bosses and pharmacy bosses make more money than landowners.
In the early years, there was no mining tax or commercial tax. As long as the top and bottom management paid tribute, the money would be earned.
When the imperial court levied taxes, they received nothing, but when the Tatars came, they paid a lot of tribute.
Now that Emperor Shaotian is here, these people have heard about Sun Zhixian's fate a long time ago and are afraid.
I quickly collected 500 taels of gold and sent 10,000 taels of silver.
"The guilty people pay homage to the Holy Emperor!"
Li Jinming and Li Jinyi brothers took the lead, and a group of Zhangqiu gentry and wealthy families knelt down to worship the emperor. Li Jinming also held Zhangqiu's account books and household registration in his hands and presented them to the emperor, while Li Jinyi held a plate of Zhangqiu soil, which symbolized Zhangqiu's surrender to the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yihai took it and looked through it without asking them to get up.
The account book sent by Li Jinming is quite detailed. According to the Wanli calendar, there are more than 59,000 people in Zhangqiu County and more than 54,000 people in some areas.
Before the Tatars, taxes were based on this household register in the last year of Wanli.
If there is a Dingkou, the levy is one cent and eight cents for each ding. If there is no dingkou, the levy is one cent and two cents for each ding.
The squire paid tribute and exempted more than 1,200 people.
The original amount of third-class land for large grain crops was nearly 14,000 hectares, the upper-class land was more than 7,000 hectares, and the upper-class land was abandoned for more than 1,600 hectares. In addition, the reclaimed land was not reported for registration and was sent to the village.
A total of more than 73,000 taels of silver and more than 22,000 shi of rice were collected from Diding.
This was the old almanac in the last years of Wanli, and the Tatars collected taxes based on this. In fact, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhangqiu, Shandong, was plundered several times by the Tatars. Later, during the Denglai Rebellion, the intruders invaded Shandong, and then the Qing army
Going south, anyway, many people with registered residences fled, and many fields were deserted.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! But the Tatars don't care about this, they just use these more than one million acres of land and nearly 60,000 people to conquer.
Of course, this is only the official tax on the surface, and there are many additional taxes, not to mention floating taxes, fire consumption, etc. The Tatars stationed at the Eight Banners also raced to enclose land, confiscated Wangzhuang, official fields, etc.
The population of Zhangqiu is not much different from that of Licheng County, a prefectural city, which has more than 60,000 people. Compared with Zouping County, which has more than 10,000 people, it is several times higher.
Li Jinming and others were obviously aware of the situation in Zichuan, so after submitting the booklet, they also expressed their willingness to cover all the past tax arrears in Zhangqiu County and the local government's losses.
They, the gentry and landowners, took it upon themselves to make up for it.
Even the fields that have not been declared and registered after reclamation in the past, some unclaimed land, as well as Wangzhuang, Guantian, military farmland, etc. will be proactively cleared and reported.
This full desire to survive.
The Tatars had already made a memorial to Zhangqiu before, and they also gritted their teeth and made up for the payment. Now they are doing it again, but they are proactive. After all, the things in Zichuan cannot be explained clearly.
There are all kinds of rumors. Now that the army is gathering, who knows what will happen.
Be proactive.
Zhu Yihai took out a note and said to the people in Zhangqiu who were kneeling on the ground, "I have some data here. Zhangqiu has a total cultivated land of 1.17 million acres, including more than 5,000 acres of paddy fields and 70 acres of irrigated land.
There are more than 10,000 acres, including more than 250,000 acres of dry land, more than 200,000 acres of garden land, more than 600,000 acres of woodland, and more than one million acres of grassland..."
"The six townships in Zhangqiu all have a lot of arable land and are important grain-producing counties."
"In addition, there are many iron ore and coal mines in this county, as well as various iron smelting and other workshops."
Facing the data presented by the emperor, Li Jinming was shocked. He was a big local businessman, so of course he knew the actual situation in the county. After all, many members of the Li family were in charge of the sixth house in the county government, so he had real first-hand data.
The Tatars used the Ding and Tian numbers from the last year of Wanli to levy grain. In fact, the problem was huge and it was not accurate at all. However, the Tatars did not care about this. They just wanted to levy taxes. If they were not enough, they would levy more.
Specifically, it is up to the people below to figure it out on their own.
But what Emperor Shao Tian said now, especially the number of fields, is basically consistent with what he has, and is accurate to the exact number of various fields.
He was sure that someone must have taken the real data obtained by the county government and reported it to Emperor Shaotian.
He is definitely a person with a relatively important position in the county government, at least someone like Dian Shi and Liufang Shuli.
Having truly accurate field data means accurate taxation.
This number of the emperor includes the unclaimed land that has been reclaimed over the years, as well as various royal villages, official fields, military villages, etc. The total number is this.
The emperor also told him that Zhangqiu's land could be converted into more than 920,000 standard tax acres.
So according to the current new land tax rate, the total is more than 220,000 stone grains.
The previous tax amount of the Wanli Dynasty was more than 70,000 taels of silver and more than 20,000 shi of rice. If calculated based on the current tax of one tael and more than one shi of grain, the Wanli Dynasty's tax amount would be less than half of what it is now.
Of course, during the Wanli Dynasty, grain was converted into silver, and one stone was sometimes only converted into four or five taels of silver. Seventy thousand taels could be converted into hundreds of thousands taels of silver, which was about the same.
Before, there was additional fire consumption, but now it’s all there.
"The old bad debts of the past have been written off, and this year's land tax has also been waived."
"Starting from next year, we will collect taxes according to Shaotian's new law. According to the 920,000 tax acres, we will collect more than 220,000 stone grains of land,"
Tian Fu and Ding Yin will not be levied until next year, but industrial and commercial taxes, levies, special taxes on salt, tea, tobacco and alcohol, mineral taxes, deed taxes, etc. will be levied from the day the Ming army regains Zhangqiu.
Li Jinming and others couldn't believe it, but said that the local gentry and landlords were willing to bear the past shortfalls.
"If you really have this intention, just learn from Zichuan and build charity warehouses locally. Donate some grain to the charity warehouses to relieve famine in disaster years. In normal times, you can help orphans and widows. The gentry will jointly manage it. The county will send one or two people to assist.
It will be good if the accounts are disclosed on time."
Zichuan started to prosper, and two liters per mu were donated as charity grain.
It has been recognized and praised by the emperor, so it has become a standard now. If you have money, you can donate more, but if you have land, the minimum donation is two liters per mu. This is not a tax, but a local act of charity.
The imperial court did not use this food, but only used it for local famine relief and to help orphans and widows. The county did not directly manage it, but only sent one or two people to assist in supervision.
In this way, it is equivalent to everyone saving a public disaster relief fund, which can be taken from the people or used by the people.
Although the gentry in Zhangqiu were willing to take the initiative to settle the previous bad debts, Zhu Yihai still refused. The people of Shandong were also greatly harmed by the Tatars. Although Zhangqiu was not greatly affected by the Yellow River floods, it has also been affected by the floods in recent years.
All kinds of arbitrary and violent levies were imposed, and levies came and went, but in the end they still harmed the people.
Even if the powerful gentry is willing to take the responsibility, there is no need to do this kind of thing except as a last resort.
If they really wanted to make up for it, they would have to sell off their fields, or even transfer mines, etc. This would not be conducive to long-term peace and stability, so it would be fine.
Zhu Yihai finally accepted the gold and silver they donated.
Of course, rewards were also given.
These gentlemen were given an archway as a mark of recognition.
In addition, their children will be given a quota for the Imperial College. Even those who participated in the Tatar imperial examination and won the imperial examination, such as the Li Jinming brothers, will not be held accountable. They will be allowed to retain their previous imperial examination achievements in the Ming Dynasty and can continue to take the imperial examination.
Even Zhangqiu County Government, Tuanlian, and Township Baojia would give priority to these gentry.
Zhu Yihai even boasted a bit shamelessly that he would rule the world together with the gentry. The gentry he mentioned were stunned for a moment. Of course, they were also very happy with this result, and even a bit unexpectedly happy.
Although there will be no more exemptions and exemptions for the gentry in the future, the officials and gentry will pay the same grain, land will be levied per acre, and even industrial and commercial taxes, levies, mineral taxes, etc. will be levied in the future. They are not gentry, and they do not have any privileges or exemptions, but at least now
Hasn’t this level been passed?
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! If Emperor Chongzhen of Beijing dared to do this to them during the Chongzhen period, they would definitely jump up, but now, they feel relieved and feel that Shao
Emperor Tian is very kind.
At least it's much better than the Tatars who race to enclose the land, force them to surrender, or even levy and extort money.
This means that without comparison, there is no difference.
Zhu Yihai also specially asked these gentry to call the young members of the family. He personally considered it and found out that they were good at reading and writing good articles. He even directly arranged for them to study in the Imperial College without occupying the space given to them.
Quota.
Even if their writing is mediocre, as long as they are tall and strong, regardless of whether they are good at riding or shooting, they will be specially recruited to study at the Tokyo Military Academy.
This is also a way to make a career.
"It's dinner time too, so everyone will stay and have dinner with me."
It was still the emperor who took him to the imperial camp for inspection, and then stayed in the same camp to eat together, making steamed buns and stewed soup.
Li Jinming finished the meal with some trepidation, thanked him at the end and left. On the way, he told his brother Jinyi, "When you get back, quickly clean up all the land that has been transferred to the village, the land that has not been reclaimed, and the government land that has been invaded and handed over to the Yamen. Not even one acre can be taken."
Keep."
"We must quickly take the lead in setting up the charity warehouse. In addition to paying two liters per mu, our family will donate an additional five hundred stones of grain."
"Donate so much? Tens of thousands of catties!"
"It's already this time, and you still can't bear to part with this small amount of food? As long as this time passes safely, we will be safe and sound in the future, how many five hundred shi are there? Our family has tens of thousands of acres of land, and just collecting rent alone in a year will cost us tens of thousands of shi of food.
Don’t let the small lose the big.”
"Also, go back and study hard to prepare for the exam. Next year in Enke, all our brothers will have to take part. This is fundamental."
When Li Jinyi heard that he was going to take the imperial examination again, he couldn't help but feel a headache, "We got Jinshi in the Qing court in Beijing, but this is also because there are not many people taking the exam, especially there are no scholars from the south. Now we have to take the exam in Tokyo, which is basically
They are all from the South, can we pass the exam?"
"Shao Tianchao has two rankings, the Northern and Southern Rankings. When we take the exam, we will also take the Northern Ranking. What are we afraid of? Since we can pass the exam in Beijing, it is the same in Tokyo. As long as we pay attention, it will be fine. I think it is best to explain it to my family. Let's go directly to Tokyo to prepare for the exam now.
,"
After hearing this, Li Jinyi thought it made sense, "Well, now I can still visit officials in Tokyo and communicate with the southern officials."
"Take all the young people in the family to study in Tokyo. Those who can go to the Imperial Academy will go to prison, and those who can't go to prison will continue to study. Now Zhangqiu is not peaceful. There is going to be a big war."
"Brother, do you think you can't win?"
"We will definitely win the fight, but I don't know how long it will last. Zhangqiu is so close to Jinan and it's too dangerous. Let's go to Tokyo to study in peace and prepare for the exam."