Chapter 9                                                              

Are there no problems with the land system in the Ming Dynasty?

No, there is not only a problem. It is also a big problem.

After all, when Jiajing ascended the throne, he wanted to drive the land. However, after a series of things, the reforms in the early years of Jiajing were finally gone. As strong as Jiajing, he could not do anything.

This shows how big the problem is here.

Zhou Mengchen also knew that Zhang Juzheng's whip method was essentially a reform of land tax.

Although there are a lot of criticisms, I know that the results of Zhang Juzheng's reform are obvious to all.

It can be seen that the problem of the land system in the Ming Dynasty is so great.

Zhou Mengchen knew that although Zhang Juzheng is now his capable arm, a person like Zhang Juzheng would definitely not be just someone else's assistant, he had his own ideas.

Zhang Juzheng's thoughts may have changed a little compared to history, but his focus is also on the land.

After all, in China, the land problem is the fundamental problem of all dynasties. If the land problem is solved well, the country will have more destiny. If the land problem is not solved well, the country will have less destiny. It is clear in history.

To a certain extent, what Zhang Juzheng raised was the most fundamental problem in the Ming Dynasty, and Zhou Mengchen has always avoided this problem.

Zhou Mengchen pondered for a moment and said, "Uncle, you and I have been friends for many years, and I will not hide it from you anymore. It is not that I don't know where this dynasty is, but because this dynasty is here, the more I want to put it behind it."

"It is like using troops. It is easy to start with the enemy first and then difficult. First, the enemy is smaller, and then the enemy is bigger. For land, I don't know how many people are responsible for their lives. As long as they move a little, they will attract a huge counterattack. But now I will start from the outside world. Uncle, you have never calculated it. Now the land tax is no longer the main income of the court. In this way, even if there is some turmoil in driving the land, the stronger the court's strength, the more it can suppress it. If it goes the other way, I'm afraid things will go against my wishes."

"How can I not know the uncle's heart? I just need to be patient for the time being."

Zhang Juzheng said, "I feel relieved. However, Brother Zhou still doesn't know much about the lowest-class people. Although there are many other taxes in the court today, it may not be better than land taxes. Because the land collected is not only talent, but also taxes."

Zhou Mengchen's heart moved and said, "I think this is bad, but the more I do this, the less I can't act rashly."

The Ming Dynasty's land tax was more than 23 million stones, equivalent to less than 10 million taels of silver, which seemed to be only one-quarter of the taxes that the Ming Dynasty had today. But in fact, the Ming Dynasty had always had light land taxes, but heavy taxes and labor.

The land tax is not collected much. As long as you don’t make any spoils, you can put the taxes of high-ranking officials and nobles on ordinary people, and other means, most people can afford land taxes, but the taxes and labor service are too heavy.

In fact, it is not that the tax and service are too heavy.

During the Taizu period, the most important thing was equal. Whether it was land tax or tax service, it was equal to every household. It took ten years to get a round of tax service and a round of tax service. But the basis for all this was the Huang Ce.

But the yellow book today is the waste paper from hundreds of years ago.

It is useless at all. So there are excessive taxes and labor, or uneven taxes and labor, which will cause people to be destroyed.

Taxation and service means that the people bring their own dry food to work for the government for free, which leads to various expenses. It can be said that many of the grassroots county governments make money from tax and service to satisfy the appetite of the top and the bottom.

Taxation and service are invisible labor. It is too easy to do it. If the people below work for a few more days, the people will have to obey. After all, there is no evidence of complaints about these things.

If the taxes and service are converted into wages, then the additional taxes and service time that has been added to the Ming Dynasty is already illegal is an astronomical figure. It may not be less than customs taxes.

Not to mention, the farmland water conservancy construction in the 1950s and 1960s was almost carried out in this way. In the past 20s and 30s, the land of China has really changed, and almost all the land has perfect water conservancy projects.

What a terrible number if these workloads were converted into money.

Overall, the difficulty of taxation is less than that of tax service. The difficulty of tax service is less than that of land. After all, it is harder for people to spit out the land that has been occupied and can be killed.

Zhang Juzheng was relieved and said, "I will feel relieved in this way."

Zhou Mengchen said: "What do you think about this?"

Zhang Juzheng said: "Do you know the method of a whip?"

Zhou Mengchen's heart moved. As expected, Zhang Juzheng valued the one-whip technique as in history. After all, the one-whip technique is not a new thing. It can be said that it had already taken shape during the Chenghua period. Some people also implemented it in the early years of Jiajing, but it was all based on provinces. And it was soon left alone.

Zhou Mengchen said: "Of course, it is not that all taxes are reduced to silver, and they are paid together. Public and private benefits are both good."

Zhang Juzheng said: "That's right."

Zhou Mengchen said, "I have thought about this, but there are several problems. First, where is the people's money in their hands? People always have money by selling grain. When the green and yellow food is not accepted, the price of grain will be one in the sky and one in the ground after autumn. If you have to pay taxes with silver, the price will probably fluctuate even more. I'm afraid it's just a fertile grain merchant."

"Secondly, all taxes are deducted from the silver lining. It can really guarantee that these taxes will not be added again in the future. In this way, the increase of these taxes is equivalent to increasing taxes to the people."

"There was a problem of fire consumption. Now, everything was solved by using silver dollars and copper coins."

After hearing this, Zhang Juzheng said, "Flying Xiong has already, will the plan come out?"

Zhou Mengchen said: "It is not difficult to solve the first problem. Just establish a system of official warehouses across the country. Uncle is determined that when the Ministry of Revenue reform this time, I can try out one or two. The second problem is not the second problem. It can be said that it will definitely be added in the future. All some taxes are not the less merged, the better. Maybe a few important tax items are retained, or just merged and collected without writing off the tax items?"

The famous Huang Zongxi's law is about this problem, meaning that every tax reform will reduce the burden on farmers, but it will rebound soon, and the burden on farmers will quickly exceed the burden before the reform.

The so-called "the harm that does not return to accumulation".

Zhang Juzheng felt a big headache for a moment.

Establishing a granary system across the country is not an easy task, let alone thinking about the issues after the merger tax, which is indeed something he has never thought about.

Zhang Juzheng looked at Zhou Mengchen, sighed in his heart, and said to himself: "Sure enough, the prime minister must have come from the prefectures and counties. I have been sitting on the bench in the Hanlin Academy for ten years. Although I have the current status, I am far from being able to compare with Zhou Mengchen in many things. I can never compare with Zhou Mengchen."

Deep down in Zhang Juzheng, he was actually not very convinced by Zhou Mengchen. Being willing to be under Zhou Mengchen is a politically favorable choice, rather than being truly convinced and willing to be Zhou Mengchen's deputy.

After all, even if the capable people in the world seem very humble on the surface, they are arrogant at heart. Zhang Juzheng is even more so.

Today, Zhang Juzheng suddenly felt a little convinced. What he was convinced was not Zhou Mengchen's knowledge. After all, Zhang Juzheng was a practical practitioner and did not care too much about various Confucian theories. Some people commented on Zhang Juzheng and said that he was a Legalist in his bones because of this.

What he was convinced was Zhou Mengchen's ability to deal with government affairs.

This is what he thought the most important thing. When he saw the whip method, Zhou Mengchen's thinking was more profound and perfect than him. Zhang Juzheng was naturally a little discouraged and convinced.

However, Zhang Juzheng didn't know. The reason why Zhou Mengchen had this idea was because Zhang Juzheng's one-whip method was a brilliant stroke in the history of the Ming Dynasty. There were many analysis of the one-whip method, and I don't know how many of them were.
Chapter completed!