Ming Dynasty: The Rampant Crown Prince

ps: There is a sentence in chapter 138 that is missing a cross: about 22.2 wen per catty of salt, which should be per ten catties of salt.

After resting for a quarter of an hour, everyone began to get busy again, and the account books of the Longmen Chamber of Commerce, as well as the boxes of silver that were placed outside the hall, were all moved into the inner warehouse.

Then the account books of the household population and salt were put on the table and the accounting began.

The sound of the plan immediately sounded in the hall again, and more than 100 eunuchs were busy again.

An hour later.

Qiu Zhizhong walked over with a stack of papers

, "Your Highness, it's already been calculated."

First of all, he put the demographic table on the table and said: "During the Wanli period, the population of the Ming Dynasty was about 60 million, which was roughly the same as in the Hongwu period.

"And today, the population of Daming is still around 60 million, and there is no growth.

As he spoke, Qiu Zhizhong laid out the other papers on the table one by one.

Zhu Cihong picked up the demographic table and looked at it, more than 200 years, it is actually stable now, if you want to say that during the Hongwu period, it is normal, after all, the war has just ended, and the country has just been founded, but in the Chongzhen period, it is still stable at 60 million.

I'm afraid there's a ghost in there.

"Your Highness, according to the slaves and maids, these 60 million people are not accurate, there are a large number of invisible people, such as the official family's family members, slaves, scholars' doctors, those showmen, lifters, outsiders, workers in the merchants, and now the merchants are all under the names of these people who do not need to pay taxes, so these people's families and slaves naturally do not have to pay taxes, so these are all invisible populations, and the household statistics are all people who need to pay taxes, so naturally there are a lot less.

Seeing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's thinking, Qiu Zhizhong explained that he was not a simple chamberlain now, but had to learn a lot of things Xi assist His Highness in a lot of work, so he naturally had to understand and learn Xi this knowledge.

"What if the local government hides

the population?" Zhu Cihong looked at the paper in his hand, and said: "No matter how the population grows, it will be reported to the household department according to 60 million, so will the additional population tax go into the pockets of those local officials?"

"Very likely

!". Qiu Zhizhong thought about it carefully, his face immediately changed color, thinking that the annual financial revenue and expenditure of the imperial court could not support this huge country at all, especially now that there were many wars, but these magistrates were actually collecting money in this way, how bad this was!

The corners of Zhu Cihong's eyes jumped sharply, and the hand holding the paper trembled slightly because of the excessive force, but it was still calmed down by him.

For example, if there are 1,000 people in a village, Xiucai will use his power to put those people's fields into his own name, so that those families will not have to pay taxes, but they will pay money to Xiucai, but less than paying taxes, so that both parties have money.

What is even worse is the annexation, which directly annexes the land of those people, and then these people become tenant farmers, and then harvest five cents of grain and collect four cents, leaving only one-fifth of the ration for the people.

Then, at this time, the 1,000 people in the village became 500 people, and the government was concealing it, reporting 250 people, and the other 250 people's human tax and field tax, all of them were greedy for ink.

But these things can't be done immediately, you need to plan first, he said, if you want to do anything, you must have a reason, and this reason must be found by yourself.

This place is Jiangnan, first defeat the craziest group, and then list a series of evils, in order to justify the reform, otherwise we will not see these ugliness, and these individual literati will not be convinced, and before the reform, we must first lift their fig leaf, so that the people of the world have nothing to say!

If you want to blame, blame these salt merchants and salt officials, and force him to do it in advance!"

Based on the annual consumption of five catties of salt per person, calculated by more than 60 million people, it is about 300 million catties per year, so the salt tax that should be paid is about 7 million.

Qiu Zhizhong picked up another piece of paper and handed it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, these eunuchs used abacus to calculate only an approximate number, although it was not so precise, but it was not much worse.

Zhu Cihong took a look at it, and it was immediately clear in his heart that for every ten catties of salt, the tax was 22.2 wen, that is, the tax on one catty of salt was 2.2 wen, but last year's salt tax was only 1 million!

" But the annual salt output in various places is about 600 million catties!" Qiu Zhizhong picked up another piece of paper, said an even more exaggerated figure, and said: "In other words, there are still 300 million catties of illicit salt in circulation, sold in various places, and even outside the customs

!"

Of the more than 14 million salt taxes, only 1 million was handed over to the state treasury, not to mention the private salt, and the more than 7 million salt taxes were actually 6 million in the hands of those gentry and officials

!"What is the price of salt now?"

Zhu Cihong's eyes narrowed, and the killing intent in his heart exploded!

"300 Wen a catty of salt, and for each catty of salt, the imperial court only collects 2.2 Wen in tax!" "

Good guy, Qiu Zhizhong was taken aback by this profit, this is too exaggerated.

In other words, Zhu Cihong ordered that all the salt in the country be transported to the Agricultural Affairs Department for processing, and then sold exclusively by the Longmen Chamber of Commerce, which actually didn't work at all, just one more businessman was selling salt, and some salt was transported to the Agricultural Affairs Department to make a show.

You give the decree to the decree, what should we do, what else do we do.

Very good, you are all doing well!"

Zhu Cihong closed his eyes and waved his hand weakly.

"The slave and maid are gone.

Everyone left, and after Qiu Zhizhong gave everyone a reward, he did not go to rest, but came to guard outside the main hall.

All night, Zhu Cihong did not fall asleep, but kept thinking in his mind: How to deal with those interest groups in the south of the Yangtze River, but whether his 110,000 soldiers of the Beijing Battalion can control the local forces in the whole country?

This is a question, I am afraid that the number of people is not enough, but it is more than enough to control a small Jiangnan region.

I thought about it all night, and it was not until early in the morning that I opened my eyes and opened the door of the temple.

"Slave and maid please your

Highness!" Qiu Zhizhong, who was sitting on the steps, heard the sound, and immediately stood up and saluted, the whole night in the hall was full of fire, feeling that His Highness had not slept all night, but it was normal, just last night, His Royal Highness was able to stabilize his mentality, and if he changed anyone, it was not as simple as not being able to sleep, and it was estimated that he would vomit blood with anger.

Zhu Cihong didn't speak, he came directly to Jingren Palace, then washed up, waited for everyone to come to discuss politics, and held a stack of papers calculated last night in his hand, his face was extremely calm, but he looked extremely scary, so that Qiu Zhizhong stood at the door and didn't dare to say much.

Little by little, time passed.

Cabinet ministers, as well as some other ministers, have already gathered in the East Palace and entered Gyeongin Palace one after another.

Fan Jingwen, Ni Yuanlu, Sun Chengzong, Bi Maokang, Song Yingxing, Li Ruolian, Qian Qianyi, Feng Ying......

See His Royal Highness the Prince!" "Slave maid Dongchang Ma Zhong See His

Royal Highness the Prince!" "A group of people are gathered in the East Palace, you look at me and I look at you, and I know at a glance that they are all His Royal Highness the Prince's people.

"What are the actions of Jiannu?" Zhu

Cihong looked at Ma Zhong first, in fact, Dongguang came to report it, and there is nothing to arrange at present.

"Back to Your Highness, according to the report of the spies over there, Jiannu's side is vigorously capturing the strong men around and training them into an army, especially the Sauronians in the north.

Ma Zhong said, and said: "There are also Qing troops on the border of the Ming Dynasty who continue to capture Zhuangding, and there are often fierce clashes with the defending Ming army, but most of the Ming troops retreat into the city, but the villages and towns outside the city are ......"

Speaking of this, he did not continue, but quietly waited for His Highness's instructions.

"The Qing army has entered the customs, you have made meritorious efforts to investigate the intelligence, and the Admiral Dongchang will be yours, and continue to investigate the situation on the Jiannu side.

"Okay, you stand down.

Zhu Cihong waved his hand.

"Slave and maid, thank Your Highness for your grace!"

Ma Zhong kowtowed excitedly to thank him, and then withdrew.

"Your Royal Highness, now that Lu Xiangsheng is leading troops to garrison the border pass, he will definitely strictly drill those guards and strictly grasp military discipline, and the military department will also send orders to let them fight the Qing army, prevent villages and towns from being plundered, and maintain the territory of our Ming border pass. After

Ma Zhong left, Sun Chengzong, the secretary of the Ministry of War, immediately stood up, this matter is a matter of the Ministry of War, of course he has to come out to speak.

"Li Ruolian, you go out and wait first.

Zhu Cihong suddenly looked at Li Ruolian, the matter of Jinyiwei was not suitable for discussion in the public.