Chongzhen Chat Group

After Wen Tiren greeted him, Emperor Chongzhen showed him Zuo Yingxuan's memorial, and then asked: "Qing Wen, due to famines, wars, etc., there must be a lot of unclaimed land in our Ming Dynasty, right?"

This unowned land naturally refers to fields that can be cultivated. After hearing this, Wen Tiren immediately replied: "Your Majesty clearly sees that there are still some fields. Because the output is not much, and even the taxes are not enough to pay, the landowners often abandon these fields."

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he frowned and said, "Is there such a thing? The land tax in Ming Dynasty is not very high!"

"Your Majesty, the official salary is indeed not high." Wen Tiren obviously knew a lot about this area, so he could answer immediately, "But because all kinds of miscellaneous taxes in our Ming Dynasty are based on fields, and labor is also based on fields. Distribution. These are far more expensive than regular taxes and are hard work for the people. Therefore, most of the farmers who have abandoned their fields are because of these!"

The original Emperor Chongzhen didn't know much about these. And Hu Guang, who had traveled through his soul, didn't even understand these ancient taxes. Therefore, this piece of content is a bit blank.

The reason why Emperor Chongzhen summoned Wen Tiren was not because of this, but based on another idea. Knowing this, he frowned and asked, "Please tell me the ins and outs of this tax issue."

"Your Majesty, this matter should be traced back to the beginning of Taizu's founding of the country." Wen Tiren naturally agreed to tell him, "Because of his origin, Taizu was very kind to farmers, but he hated corrupt officials, so..."

When Emperor Chongzhen heard the beginning, he couldn't help but be speechless. It seemed that Ming Taizu had to bear the blame again. But it is true that some of the systems he thought were good at the beginning were actually pitfalls, and now they are finally unstoppable. Others say he is cheating his father, and he is cheating his descendants, and they are speechless!

"Taizu stipulated that the land tax is about one-tenth, which is very low. Logically speaking, this land tax is not enough for the normal use of the Ming Dynasty. However, Taizu had other ideas: let the Ming army be self-sufficient, and the imperial power would not be enough. When going to the countryside, each village and fort implemented autonomy. In addition, during the Hongwu period, the court mostly used Ming Dynasty treasure notes to meet various expenses. Moreover, our Ming Dynasty had the fewest officials in history, and we hired more officials to do things."

Wen Tiren almost understood the attitude of Emperor Chongzhen in front of him. Therefore, he knew that such words were straightforward and simple, and some aspects were not in line with etiquette, but it didn't matter. When he said this, he secretly checked Emperor Chongzhen's face and knew that he had guessed correctly. The emperor was listening carefully, so he continued: "I have made an estimate. Now I have about 20,400 officials in the Ming Dynasty. There are about 51,000 officials. There are only more than 70,000 officials in total, but they have to govern the entire Ming Dynasty. Although we have saved costs, we are... a bit unable to do what we want!"

Or to prove that what he said was not alarmist, Wen Tiren added: "Most of the more than 50,000 officials are also serving in the army, and only about 15,000 of them are working in various prefectures and counties. And I There are 1,138 counties in the Ming Dynasty. This means that even the largest county in the Ming Dynasty does not have more than 30 positions with salaries."

Emperor Chongzhen also roughly knew about this matter, but he was a little surprised when the number actually came out. You must know that even in the largest county, with a maximum of 30 positions, they have to manage all local administrative affairs of a county, including taxation, hearing cases, maintaining public security, managing transportation, education, public works and social relief, etc. These can These are all things that require a lot of energy and cannot be done simply by one person.

Although the population of a county in ancient times was not large and could not be compared with that of later generations, in comparison, the number of officials managing it was too small and could not keep up with any current government unit. In addition, inconvenient transportation and communication in ancient times also made management more difficult.

Thinking like this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but feel a little headache. There are so many things that need to be reformed in the Ming Dynasty!

At the same time, Wen Tiren continued to introduce: "The tax system set by Taizu has not been changed, but the court and the local government have no money and food, so they can't do anything. So there were various extra jobs and labor, and later the labor was also discounted by silver taels. There is no customization for these, and because of this, the court...the court and local governments will send more if they don't have money. And if there is something to be done, the people will serve."

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen knew that labor in the Ming Dynasty was free, and he had to bring his own tools and rations, which indeed cost the government the minimum amount of money.

In fact, Wen Tiren paused for a while and hesitated a little, but in the end he didn't say anything. For example, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty also took the lead in this kind of additional factions, and the additional factions were all approved by the emperor. Even if the local government imposed some additional expenses on its own, it was thought that there were precedents to test, and the court tacitly allowed it.

These are actually the so-called exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. The things here are very complicated. If we were to explain them all, I am afraid that even Wen Tiren would not be able to explain them all clearly.

"Your Majesty should know that the annual salary of a prefect is about sixty-two taels, while the annual salary of a county magistrate is about twenty-seven taels. There are even fewer officials under them. This kind of salary is indeed economical. The imperial court spends a lot of money. But when they don't have enough money, they send more money on their own, and it's natural to make various gains. And these basically become the expenses of those who have land. "

When Wen Tiren said this, he bowed deeply and said: "I know that your majesty understands this and will make innovations. This matter is of great importance, and it is far more than the harm caused by some people abandoning their fields and fleeing. I also ask your majesty to make up your mind. Also try your best!”

Emperor Chongzhen nodded. The hole left by Taizu must be filled. The best solution is naturally to exempt agricultural taxes, but for this period, land tax is the most important source of national tax revenue. If you want to exempt it, haha, that can only be done when you dream at night.

But there is one thing, it can still be done. Emperor Chongzhen thought so, and said seriously to Wen Tiren: "Wen Qing, the collection of commercial taxes must be accelerated. I mean that in the future, the court taxes must be transferred from land taxes, otherwise heavy taxes will hurt farmers, and the Ming Dynasty will not stable!"

"Your Majesty, it is your great opinion that agriculture is the foundation of a country. To revitalize the Ming Dynasty and spread its power overseas, we must have a solid foundation." Wen Tiren immediately agreed, and even nodded to the emperor's dream, then took out a memorial from his sleeve and said, "Your Majesty, this is a memorial received by the cabinet, which goes against the mainstream. However, I think what this memorial says is exactly what your Majesty just said."

Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed when he heard this and quickly asked his chamberlain to present the memorial.

I still owe an update, and there is none today. I have to work overtime tomorrow, maybe only half a day if everything goes well. The debt I owe will be paid back tomorrow.