Cannon Fodder is King [Quick Transmigration]

The more Meng Zezhi thought about it, the happier he became. With a big wave of his hand, he made four orders in succession.

One is to canonize Qian Boyu as Jing Haibo and Liu Wenshan (the one who exterminated the Japanese pirates) as Ping Haibo.

The second is to reward the soldiers accompanying the army with a thousand taels of gold and ten thousand taels of silver, which will be distributed by Qian Boyu himself.

The third is to put those gold and silver into the national treasury, and all the rest will be included in the internal funds.

The fourth is to exempt this year's land tax, and at the same time encourage land reclamation, and stipulate that the reclaimed wasteland will be exempted from land tax within ten years.

When they heard that Emperor Ning Wu wanted to waive the land tax, all the officials were shocked. You must know that the annual fiscal revenue of the Dayang Dynasty, the field tax accounted for 70.00%.The most important thing is that the land tax will be exempted. Wouldn't the consumption they can receive behind the scenes be greatly reduced.

Even if someone stood up and objected: "Long live, this matter must not be allowed. The annual expenditure of the imperial court on official salaries, military salaries, and river works alone amounts to 500 million taels of silver."

The Dayang Dynasty raised millions of soldiers, but the annual military salary expenditure was less than 200 million taels of silver. The main reason was that the Dayang Dynasty implemented the military settlement system, that is, the land was distributed to the army for planting. Basically, the soldiers stationed on the border could To support themselves, only the navy and some city guards need the military salary allocated by the household department

"If there are celebrations or natural disasters again, at least tens of millions of taels of silver will be spent a year, and the annual tax revenue of the whole country is only 800 million taels. Now it is already enough. If the land tax is exempted, the treasury may not be able to make ends meet. Long live, please think twice!"

"Your Majesty, please think twice long live."

"It's fine if you don't say anything about Aiqing." Meng Zezhi twisted his expression: "What you said reminded me of something."

"Because of the violence and immorality of the Mongol Yuan, private commerce suffered predatory damage. Therefore, at the beginning of the founding of the country, in order to restore commerce, Emperor Taizu once told the Ministry of Household Affairs that military and civilian wedding and funeral offerings, boats, carts and silk cloth were all tax-free. It is also decided that for all business taxes, one will be taken at thirty."

You know, Emperor Guangde repeatedly reduced and exempted the agricultural tax, and it was only as low as 25.The peasants were too poor to have enough to eat, but the merchants and local officials colluded and became rich.

Meng Zezhi has a deep understanding of this point, otherwise how would he get the extra money (matches, soap) of more than 20 taels a month?

"Now, more than 30 years have passed, and business has largely recovered. It is time to re-collect taxes on merchants. From now on, the business tax will be changed to one out of ten."

One out of ten?How much will you pay this year?

All civil and military officials were excited: "It is absolutely impossible, not to mention that the ancestral precepts must not be violated, to increase business taxes rashly, compete with the people for profits, and spread the word, how will the people of the world feel..."

"Compete with the people?" Meng Zezhi said in a bad tone, "Or compete with the officials?"

All the ministers choked.

"You know the facts well." Meng Zezhi said, "So, I am not discussing with you, but telling you my decision."

"Long live……"

"Not only that, from now on, the per capita tax will be paid according to the number of acres of land under the name. Those with more land will pay more, those with less land will pay less, and those without land will not pay. Officials and gentry pay food as a whole, and consumption and envy go to the public."

The official tax collected by the imperial court from the common people has two basic components, one is land tax and the other is poll tax.The former is taxed according to the property status, while the latter is taxed according to the head. During the Guangde period, the head tax was [-] yuan per Ding and [-] catties of grain.

At the same time, registered or retired officials and scholars who have achieved fame are not required to perform military service and corvee service, and even the shops and fields under their names are not required to pay taxes.

Officials and gentry pay food as a whole, which means that they also pay taxes and work as errands. Of course, it is okay for them not to do military service and corvee service, as long as they can be converted into silver.

Meng Zezhi's move undoubtedly greatly damaged the interests of officials and the landlord class.

"Long live……"

Meng Zezhi directly interrupted their words: "I also know the difficulties of all those who love you, so I have decided that from today onwards, all civil and military officials will increase their salaries by ten times the regular salary every year. In addition, civil officials Add eight times the official salary for mission expenses, and military officers add five times the regular salary for mission expenses."

Taking Zhengyipin senior officials as an example, the annual regular salary is no more than 180 taels of silver and 180 shi of Lumi.The price of goods in the capital is not low, and it is a problem to feed a family with this money.

Hearing this, all the ministers were taken aback.

The stick was beaten, and the sweet dates were also given, and then it was time to salute first and then fight.

"However, my ugly words are at the front. From now on, don't accept anything that is ice, charcoal, consumption, and envy. If it is found out by me, those who accept bribes or embezzle more than 1000 taels will be dismissed and sent away for thousands of miles. 5000 taels Those with more than 1 taels will be punished by the three clans. There are also tax evaders, who will be demoted from the official position and seized from the ranks."

"This, such a severe punishment..." The faces of all civil and military officials turned green and pale.

Meng Zezhi glanced at them meaningfully: "If you have a clear conscience, you won't think it's torture."

The ministers were embarrassed and speechless.

"Also, from now on, [-]% of the money obtained by the sea trade will go to the national treasury, and [-]% will go to the internal treasury."

Note that the silver coins mentioned here do not include those rare treasures.

"Private overseas trade is strictly prohibited. Those who violate it will lose their family property and be exiled in the army. The tribute of vassal states is still mainly based on exploration and cooperation trade."

After Emperor Taizu established the country, he followed the practice of the previous dynasty.Only vassal states are allowed to conduct tribute trade with the imperial court with time, place, and quantity regulations.That is, the merchant ships of the vassal state came to China with tribute and their respective goods. After the imperial court accepted the offerings and bought the goods with money, it returned the goods needed by the vassal state in the form of "state gift".The tribute period of various countries ranges from three to five years. When paying tribute, you must have a survey (certificate) issued by the imperial court in advance.

The reason why he did this was because the tree he had painstakingly planted was now barely recouping the cost, so he naturally didn't want others to pick the fruit.

Second, it is to prevent businessmen from rushing into the sea.Because the domestic production of bulk goods is limited, once they taste the sweetness, they will inevitably recruit people to expand production.But where do the workers come from? They have to go to the countryside to find them.Once the farmers who cultivate the land rush into the factories and the fields are left uncultivated, the consequences will be disastrous.

So things have to be a gradual process. At least within 15 years, Meng Zezhi does not intend to let go of maritime trade.

"As for things such as stalls entering the mu and so on, the cabinet will first draw up a booklet and present it based on the actual situation of the people in our dynasty."

Meng Zezhi only had to come up with ideas, and the people below would handle the errands.

"Yes." Lu Zengxiang responded immediately.

When the officials dispersed, Meng Zezhi kept Qian Boyu for lunch.

"By the way, did the sea trip go smoothly?" Meng Zezhi asked.

Qian Boyu immediately put down his tea bowl, stood up and replied, "Long live, it's going well. We have a large number of people, and the pirates hardly dare to approach. It's just that when passing by the Mano Baxie Kingdom on Java Island, the occupying army mistakenly thought it was a Those who came to aid the enemy immediately fought, and we took thirteen people to go in."

"The leader of the local occupation army was worried about our army's retaliation, so he sent an envoy to send 1 taels of gold to apologize. I thought that this time I went to sea for business, and it is really inappropriate to fight against Western countries. In addition, the other party also suffered heavy casualties. So I decided to decline their compensation."

"In addition, more than [-] sergeants and boatmen unfortunately died of illness on the way, and two warships and a treasure ship were lost due to the storm."

"It's good if you don't suffer a loss." Meng Zezhi nodded: "As for the dead soldiers and boatmen, they were also meritorious. Be sure to treat their families well."

"Long live, don't worry, I have a sense of propriety." Qian Boyu replied.

"That's good. Uncle has been away from the capital for so long. You might as well stay at home for a few more days and spend more time with grandpa and aunt. There is no rush to go to sea." Meng Zezhi sent him to the gate of the hall.

"Thank you Long Live Long En." Qian Boyu couldn't help being overjoyed. The implication of Emperor Ning Wu's words was that he planned to entrust the matter of maritime trade to him.

Sure enough, the past seven months were not in vain, he was successfully promoted to Emperor Ning Wu's confidant, and he also won the title of Boss Jinghai. In addition, he now bears the title of Duke Zheng's son. It is no problem to descend to inherit the title of Zheng Guogong.

——Six years have passed like this.

In the past six years, the civil and military officials did not dare to mention the draft again, so Meng Zezhi also tacitly refrained from using Lu Li to provoke them.

With the promotion of high-yield crops such as corn and sweet potatoes, coupled with unremitting efforts to open up wasteland, the national average grain yield per mu has finally exceeded the 900-jin mark, and the area of ​​cultivated land has reached [-] million hectares.

"Long live the report," Lu Zengxiang, the chief assistant of the cabinet, came out of the class and said: "By December of the seventh year of Ningwu, it was verified that the household registration in the country was 868 million, and the population was 5152 million. The annual income includes 336 million pieces of brocade, 90 catties of silk, 342 million catties, 219.7 million salt imports...per capita tax, silver 96 taels, grain 191 million shi; commercial tax, 642 million taels; sea trade, 1468 million taels...a total of 2392 million taels of silver."

"By December of the seventh year of Ningwu, a total of 831 million taels had been spent on official salaries, military salaries, and river work, and a total of 23 million taels had been spent on 361 items such as tribute courtyard repairs and palace expenses... Check, the national inventory of silver was 7792 million taels, and gold was 142. Ten thousand taels, 641 million stones of grain, 43 bolts of brocade..."

After reading these, Lu Zengxiang finally said: "Congratulations, long live, Yuji has only been around for eight years, and there is peace in the sea today, and there is peace between the top and bottom."

The ministers immediately congratulated and said: "Congratulations, long live, the world is in great order, and a prosperous age can be expected."

"It's too early to say that." Meng Zezhi was not only satisfied with these, he said: "Since the mansion is overflowing, next year's tax will be exempted together with the land tax."

"Yes." The officials were indifferent, not as excited as they were six years ago.It was true after thinking about it, but it was only a few hundred thousand taels of silver. The most important thing in the national treasury at this moment was money.

"As for cloth and cotton, [-] pieces will be left, and the rest will be handled by the Ministry of Maritime Trade."

The Ministry of Maritime Trade is a new office established five years ago. As the name suggests, it is in charge of maritime trade.

"By the way, the previous firearms bureau came up with a novel thing called 'cement', which is easy to manufacture and has a large output. It can be used to build bridges, pave roads and build houses. It is as solid as a rock. Now that the national treasury is full, I Thinking about using this cement to re-pave the official roads across the country."

If you want to get rich, build roads first. This is a rule of thumb.

As he spoke, he clapped his hands, and immediately four guards came in carrying a thick cement slab.

The ministers touched and stepped on the cement board, making sure that no matter how hard they were, the cement board was safe and sound, and a look of surprise immediately appeared on their faces.

But after the amazement, everyone's expressions gradually became serious again.

Re-pave the official roads across the country?The amount of this project is not generally large.

He Qingyun asked after deliberation: "Long live, does it mean to send corvees to build roads?"

"That's not necessary, the people are suffering enough. Anyway, the treasury is not short of money at the moment, the cost of cement is not high, and this road can't be repaired overnight. My original intention, in addition to improving traffic conditions, is also The idea is to let farmers have a good place to earn money during the slack season. Therefore, it is better to use the recruitment system for this road construction. As for the specific wages, it depends on the situation." Meng Zezhi said.

He also thought about abolishing corvée in a few years.

"In this way, it can be regarded as hiding wealth among the people." Lu Zengxiang very much agrees with this kind of thing that kills two birds with one stone.

"Then it's settled." Meng Zezhi made a final decision: "This matter will be handled jointly by the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Industry, and the Firearms Bureau."

"The minister waits for orders."

Meng Zezhi finally said: "However, I have to remind all my lovers that a gentleman loves money, and he takes it in a proper way. It is better not to take what should not be taken."

Hearing this, recalling the tragic situation at Caishikou in the past few years, all the ministers all looked solemn: "Ministers, please remember."

And so on for another eight years.

Hurrying and stopping, the official road was completed, the coastal fortress was completed, and even the Gongyuan was renovated, and even Meng Zezhi's mausoleum was completed.

Meng Zezhi thought about it and thought again: "If this is the case, then the Forbidden City should be repaired as well. Since Emperor Taizu came to the throne, this place has not been repaired much, and many places have been destroyed."

Hearing this, all the ministers blushed and felt ashamed of the emperor. If Emperor Ning Wu hadn't mentioned it, they would have forgotten that there was such a thing.On the other side, he couldn't help but feel that Emperor Ning Wu was generally good except for being a little out of tune, at least he was easy to support.

No, to be precise, they are the ones being fed.

After all, the majority of the national treasury's income is Haimao, and Haimao was created by Emperor Ning Wu...

Thinking of this, all civil and military officials suddenly had mixed feelings in their hearts.

They said repeatedly: "It should be, it should be."

Then, in the 26th year of Ningwu, all nations came to Korea.