Chapter 105 Financial Master

Wang Zhi slightly twirled his beard and said: "Zhou Chen is a capable minister. Not only everyone in the imperial court knows this, otherwise he would not have been allowed to sit in the position of governor of Jiangnan for so many years. If you think about it carefully,

, but it was the fifth year of Xuande's reign. After receiving the order at the critical moment, he never moved his position."

Zhu Qizhen said: "Are you ordered in times of danger?"

"Exactly." Wang Zhi said with a hint of reminiscence in his tone: "I remember that during the Xuande period, the amount of money and food in Jiangnan was about 11 million shi."

"The amount of taxes our government pays each year is only more than 20 million shi. However, the money and grain have somewhere to go. Every year, we can have a surplus of 2 to 3 million shi. Even if it is a good year, during the Yongle period, it was even more difficult to make ends meet. Jiangnan

Money and grain are the foundation of the imperial court. Several times in a row, the collection was ineffective and we had to face food shortages. It can be said that the government and the public were shocked at that time."

"Emperor Xuanzong summoned his ministers for secret talks many times, and what they discussed was how to deal with the money and food in Jiangnan."

"At that time, Duke Dongli urged Emperor Xuanzong to appoint Zhou Chen."

"After Zhou Chen was appointed, he traveled thousands of miles with only a donkey in green clothes. He visited the south of the Yangtze River. As a result, officials calculated the time and knew that the new governor was coming, but they didn't know where he was. He changed his official robes and came alone.

Everyone in the house was shocked, but they didn’t know that the new governor has been here for more than half a month.”

"I still remember one or two of Zhou Chen's memorials at that time, 'There is a name for heavy burdens, but there is no reality of defeat.' 'A heavy burden will cause the people to flee. More than half of the households in Suzhou fled, and the people and the land were empty.'"

"Faced with the situation in Jiangnan, on the one hand, he asked Your Majesty to exempt money and food, but on the other hand, he implemented the two methods of per square meter."

"The so-called square meter refers to the increase in consumption included in the main item. Emperor Taizu rested with the people, and the Ming Dynasty taxation was not heavy. Even though Jiangnan was heavily taxed, the most difficult thing for the people in Jiangnan was not paying food, but transporting food.

, especially after Beijing moved the capital, the grain from the south of the Yangtze River was transported thousands of miles to the capital, which was enough to make the people bankrupt. He discussed with Pingjiang Bo Chen Xuan to change the people's transportation to the official transportation, and the people only needed to go to Jiangyin to pay for the grain, and this was

The consumption on the road is called rice consumption and is added to the main term."

When Zhu Qizhen heard this, he frowned and thought to himself: "This is not a tax increase, how can the people be happy?"

Zhu Qizhen is not a god who avoids the fireworks of the world. He also understands the mentality of ordinary people. No matter how good you are, if you add a little bit to the money issue, they will complain.

How is it possible to raise taxes and at the same time be praised by the people?

This is simply impossible.

Wang Zhi seemed to have read Zhu Qizhen's thoughts and said: "Your Majesty, you don't know. The people in Jiangnan are suffering from bad luck. Now that the consumption rice is being levied, each family will not have to raise a daughter. The people are naturally happy, and Zhou Chen is imposing additional consumption rice."

, also measured

.The official land will be less and the people's land will be more, and the distribution will be equal."

Zhu Qizhen frowned slightly and said, "What's going on? I remember that the imperial court had hundreds of thousands of hectares of official land in the south of the Yangtze River. Is it true that official land is taxed more heavily than private land?"

Zhu Qizhen was very aware of this. When Emperor Taizu went to Jiangnan, he listed the official fields of the previous dynasty, that is, the official fields of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, as well as the fields of the Zhang Shicheng family.

However, there is no difference between the official land expropriation and the private land expropriation. It is just that the court collects an extra point of land rent. However, ordinary people who farm other people's fields also have to collect land rent. They just pay the land rent to the court.

Other than that, there are no additional charges.

Wang Zhi said: "Your Majesty, the official land in the south of the Yangtze River is no longer the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Now it has changed hands countless times. The people who farm the official land on a sharecropping basis not only have to pay the government taxes and land rent, but also pay to the landlords.

It can be said that it is unspeakably miserable to be a member of the Jiao family.”

When Zhu Qizhen heard this, he cursed in his heart: "Such things as second landlords also happened in ancient times."

Originally, in the early days of the Republic of China, the common people rented official land directly from the imperial court, but now the official land has long been unknown. It is just that the land rent on the official land is in name only and has become another additional tax on land.

Zhu Qizhen thought with his toes that there must be countless transactions in this.

Why did the imperial court's hundreds of thousands of hectares of official land become like this? Zhu Qizhen originally wanted to ask, but when he saw Wang Zhi lowering his eyes, he silently pinched his beard and said nothing.

Zhu Qizhen was stunned and thought to himself: "Sure enough, it is 'You can ask about Hongnong in Yingchuan, but you can't ask about Nanyang in Henan.' But now in Guantian in Jiangnan, you can't ask about Guo."

Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty sent people to cultivate the fields, and this was the result. Henan was the capital, and Nanyang was the imperial hometown. All kinds of powerful people were intertwined, so it was naturally not unquestionable.

The same problem exists today in Jiangnan Guantian.

It has been a long time, and the situation that has developed to the present is not something that happened in one day or two, and the people involved are not just one or two.

An investigation may not be able to find out clearly, but what if it can be found out? They did not pay any less money or food, but they just suffered for the people.

Moreover, some people are already dead. How to deal with them? We really want to wipe out Jiangnan with blood.

Zhu Qizhen sighed and stopped asking.

Seeing that Zhu Qizhen had calmed down, Wang Zhi continued: "Moreover, the purpose of consuming rice is not in the government, but in the warehouse for farmers. All the needs of the countryside can be obtained from it. Although the people have to consume rice, their corvee labor will be reduced.

They paid a lot of attention, so they were naturally happy."

After Zhu Qizhen heard this, a spark suddenly appeared in his mind and he said: "You mean, this place that consumes rice can be used as a substitute?"

Wang Zhi said: "It cannot be completely replaced, but the use of rice is mostly for military supplies, delivering horses to husbands, and providing relief in famine years."

, build river channels, etc.”

Zhu Qizhen sighed secretly for a moment: "People's livelihood is so difficult." Why didn't Zhu Qizhen understand that most of these so-called etc. are burdens without names.

To be honest, if the taxes are actually included in the national official tax, they are actually not too much, but I am afraid of the miscellaneous items that have no name and no status. I can't explain why, but it is the money that needs to be paid.

Zhou Chen nominally added a tax, which was rice consumption. But in fact, he reduced an unknown amount of unnamed exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes.

Zhu Qizhen finally understood why Zhou Chen was called Qingtian by the people in Jiangnan.

Wang Zhi continued: "With the square meter law, the official taxes are borne by the officials, and the additional expenses are borne by the people. It can be said that the officials and the people have both benefits."

Zhu Qizhen frowned slightly and said, "Wait a minute, you said the extra cost lies with the people, who is in charge of this Jinongcang?"

Wang Zhi said: "The local officials are responsible."

Zhu Qizhen didn't know what else to think about. He was stunned for a moment and said, "Sir, please continue talking about discounts."

Wang Zhi said: "In fact, Zhou Chen did not initiate the practice of converting taxes. It was only carried out on a large scale by Zhou Chen. In the time of Taizu, there was a practice of converting taxes into silver, but generally speaking, the amount was not large."

"However, Jiangnan rice grain was originally intended to supply the salary of hundreds of officials in the capital. However, after the capital was moved, the rice grain was transported from Jiangnan to the capital. Too much food was consumed, so the method of converting rice grain from the official fields into cash was implemented.

By sending it to the capital, the burden on the people will be greatly reduced. And the salaries of the officials in the capital can also be paid directly in silver."

"And what Zhou Chen promoted in Jiangnan was not only folding silver, but also folding cloth, which allowed the people to pay less for food, facilitated transportation, and was convenient for both public and private matters, especially in Songjiang, where Songjiang was the best in the world. Various discounts

In this case, the discounted rice price for the people is always a little higher than the local rice price. This makes it much easier for the people."

Zhu Qizhen stood up and walked around, murmuring: "Sqm, discounted."

These four words made Zhu Qizhen think a lot.

Converting all taxes into silver, what is this? It is a whipping method.

Being exempted from labor service and paying money and food, what is this? This is sharing one's own land.

These are all famous fiscal policies of later generations, and are even written down in history textbooks, but now it seems that what Zhou Chen did has signs.

Regardless of what Zhou Chen thinks, Zhu Qizhen's view of Zhou Chen is completely different. He thought to himself: "But I don't know if Zhou Chen is my Wang Anshi?"

Wang Zhi said: "Your Majesty, I just said that Zhou Chen has a bad reputation. Your Majesty probably thinks that Mr. Zhou has offended a powerful man? But if that were the case, I would not say this in front of Your Majesty."
Chapter completed!