The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty

The fifteenth year of Zhengde.

The capital of the Ming Dynasty, the Forbidden City, the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

Zhu Houzhao was reviewing memorials, and he had grown a beard.

After fifteen years of ruling the country, the Zhengde Emperor was no longer the ridiculous emperor of the past. He became more majestic and respectable, and his emotions were not revealed.

Yang Tinghe was sitting next to him. He was still the chief minister of the cabinet, and no one could shake his position.

In addition to Yang Tinghe, there were also many important ministers such as Wang Ao, Fei Hong, Mao Ji, and Liang Chu.

Five years passed in the blink of an eye, and the Ming Dynasty also completely changed its appearance under the cooperation of the monarch and his ministers.

"Your Majesty, this time the incident of Henan students boycotting the exam has a very bad impact. They are deliberately resisting the new policy implemented by the court!"

The chief minister of the cabinet, Yang Tinghe, said in a deep voice.

Just a year ago, the Ming Dynasty had just completed the transition from the single whip law to the land tax.

These two policies are actually aimed at the reform of the court's tax system.

The "One Whip Law" was to combine the land tax and labor service that had been levied separately since the early Ming Dynasty, that is, to combine various labor services, including Jia labor, corvée labor, miscellaneous labor, labor service, etc., into one, and compile it into one, and collect the summer and autumn taxes together with the land tax.

First, the land was surveyed and the collection area was expanded to make the tax relatively even.

According to the results of only part of the survey, nearly 300 million mu of land was added, and many gentry and gentry concealed land to pay taxes, which greatly increased the tax revenue of the court.

Second, the taxes and labor services were unified, and the harassment was restricted, so that the taxes tended to be stable.

Due to the unification of taxes and labor services, it was difficult for officials at all levels to make up names, so the corruption was cleared, the taxes tended to be stable, and the people were able to feel a little relieved.

Third, the silver was collected by the acre, and the officials collected and paid it, making the collection method more complete.

From then on, taxes were no longer levied in kind, which saved the cost of transportation and storage; taxes were no longer levied by baojia personnel, which eliminated the disadvantages of erosion and division of payments, making the collection method more perfect.

The One Whip Law was implemented for three years, and it was proved to be a great reform.

Since the reform was implemented in the tenth year of Zhengde, the total income of Taicang Silver Treasury has shown a straight upward trend in fluctuations, which not only reduced the cost of taxation, increased the tax revenue of the court, but also greatly reduced the burden on the shoulders of the people!

However, no policy is perfect. Although the One Whip Law is very beneficial, it still breeds many problems.

For example, the One Whip Law itself has a strong Jiangnan regional color. If a local policy with a strong regional color is implemented in other parts of the country unchanged, it will inevitably cause conflicts due to differences in regional environment, different levels of economic development, and obstruction by local officials to protect the interests of the region and the class. The final result is that the interests of local people are damaged.

Another example is the One Whip Law, which originally collected silver and used it for official purposes. However, after the implementation of the One Whip Law, it did not achieve the purpose of eliminating the harm of miscellaneous labor. Some local governments added corvée and taxes in addition to the One Whip Law, and extorted the people's fat and blood in various names.

Therefore, when the court noticed these bad phenomena, Emperor Zhu Houzhao and the cabinet chief Yang Tinghe agreed and decided to immediately implement the "dividing the capitation into the land" system.

Compared with the One Whip Law, the biggest difference between the "dividing the capitation into the land" system and the One Whip Law is that the One Whip Law only simplified the tax collection procedures and collected taxes in currency according to land and population, but did not abolish the head tax; while the "dividing the capitation into the land" system abolished the head tax and only collected taxes according to the amount of land. It can be said that the "dividing the capitation into the land" system is a further development of the One Whip Law.

It divided the capitation into the land tax collection, abolished the previous "head tax", and the court officials relaxed the control over the household registration, so that the people and handicraftsmen could migrate freely and sell their labor.

The local governments of each province found out the amount of land in each place and distributed taxes evenly according to the land.

That is to say, the people with the most land pay the most taxes!

After the tax was equalized, landless farmers no longer had to bear the tax. This goes without saying. As for the farmers with less land, since they were the largest number when the tax was levied on a per capita basis, and they were often burdened by the gentry and other powerful people, their burden far exceeded the proportion they should bear according to their land property.

After the tax was equalized, the tax was equalized according to the number of land or land tax. These farmers had less land, so their burden was naturally lighter than before; after the tax was equalized, the gentry served as officials and paid taxes together, and the gentry's preferential rights were abolished. Their land was equalized, so the amount of land bearing the tax increased, which also made the burden on farmers relatively lighter.

However, whether it was the equalization of the tax per mu or the gentry served as officials and paid taxes together, it was equivalent to directly touching the fundamental interests of the gentry. Therefore, there was an incident of students boycotting the Henan provincial examination this time, and openly tore up the test papers, causing an uproar in the world.

Zhu Houzhao pinched his eyebrows and fell into deep thought, looking a little tired.

After a moment, he spoke quietly.

"Lord Fei, go to Henan and take a walk yourself!"

"Kill those who should be killed, arrest those who should be arrested, don't be soft-hearted!"

"The land tax and the unified tax payment must be implemented. Anyone who dares to violate it will be killed!"

Hearing the murderous words of His Majesty, the Chief Censor of the Censorate Fei Hong nodded immediately.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, I understand."

Just at this time, Zhang Yong rushed in.

"Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty! It's back! The navy is back!"

When this was said, Zhu Houzhao was stunned at first, and then stood up suddenly.

"Who are you talking about?"

Zhang Yong was out of breath and hurriedly said: "The general is back! Xin Guogong is back!"

"The general has led the fleet to Japan and will return to the Ming Dynasty soon!"

Back!

The savage is back!

Tears burst out of Zhu Houzhao's eyes instantly.

Five years!

Damn savages!

Do you know how I spent these five years?

You are finally back!

All the courtiers were also shaken, and the burly figure appeared in their minds.

The Duke of Mingxin, Tang Hao!

The most powerful official who once bullied the court did not die in the belly of a fish but died in the sea. He actually came back!

The next moment, a frustrated voice sounded.

"Father, that bastard Tang Tuo is doing something dirty again!"

A heroic young man walked in angrily. It was none other than the crown prince Zhu Zaihe, the eldest son of Zhu Houzhao.

Immediately after, a young man as strong as a calf walked in and glared at Zhu Zaihe angrily.

"Your Majesty, please don't listen to his nonsense. He is obviously not as strong as me..."

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help laughing loudly when he heard this, and stepped forward to rub a head with one hand.

"Don't make any noise, the savages are back!"

Savage?

Hearing this, Tang Tuo was stunned for a moment.

"Your Majesty, are you saying that my... biological father is back?"

Zhu Houzhao nodded and looked at the bastard with joy.

As a result, Tang Tuo subconsciously covered his head.

"It's over!"

"Dad is back!"

"I'm going to get beaten this time!"

Everyone: "???"

Damn?

This bastard?

It’s simply a replica of Tang Hao!

Zhu Houzhao gave him a slap in the face angrily, and also gave one to his son.

The two little ones looked at each other aggrievedly, and then laughed in unison.

"Tuo'er, go back and tell your mother that the general is back!"

"Xiao Tuo, I'll go with you. Auntie can finally be happy!"