The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"Shandai, what's going on at Yingtian Mansion?"

In the main hall of Qianqing Palace, Emperor Longqing was sitting on the throne and asked some strange questions.

Recently, he has seen seven or eight memorials to impeach Hai Rui. All the officials who submitted the memorials unanimously said that Hai Rui was stupid and unfit to continue sitting in his current position.

Shu Hua published the second impeachment memorial, listing Hai Rui's official career, especially his experience in the Ministry of Household Affairs, and believed that with his upright style, he was more suitable to serve as governor of Nanjing's grain reserves.

The Governor's Grain Reserve was the name of the special censor who was placed in Nanjing. Before Jiajing, it was the censor of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate. Twenty-six years after Jiajing, he was led by officials from the Nanjing Ministry of Household Affairs and the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate.

Although both have the word "Governor", the Governor of Nanjing Liangcao is still very different from the important ministers who control one side and take charge of military affairs. Naturally, the abbreviation cannot be the Governor, but Liangtai.

Of course, because China has attached great importance to food since ancient times, this position is not bad, but it is certainly not comparable to Governor Yingtian.

Before Wei Guangde could speak, he heard Emperor Longqing continue: "Hai Rui has only been in Yingtian for half a year. He was very effective in controlling local floods before, and there were also memorials in Nanjing to report his achievements. How come it has changed so much in such a short period of time? It seems that he was there It’s as if Ying Tianfu did something that made people angry, who did he offend?”

The previous words were normal, but the last sentence shocked Wei Guangde. He knew that Emperor Longqing might have known about it, or he might just have guessed, but he knew that Hai Rui must have started a fight with someone in the south.

Hai Rui had a good reputation in the capital, and Wei Guangde believed that Emperor Longqing must know about it.

Although I am not sure what his attitude was when he appeared on "Public Security", but after all, times have changed, and I think even if it was unpleasant, he has long forgotten it.

Now that he is the emperor, he has the power to promote and demote officials, so he will naturally look at the problem from his own perspective.

The emperor may not want to see the officials he appointed being defeated by the people below.

But shouldn't this be said to Gao Gong?

Why are you talking to yourself?

The seemingly innocent words caused huge waves in Wei Guangde's heart. He was not sure whether Emperor Longqing knew their plan.

It was just the emperor's question, and Wei Guangde had to answer. Fortunately, everything was just in his mind, and nothing was shown on his face.

After being an official for such a long time, he was still able to show his emotions and anger, so he forced himself to calm down and said: "Your Majesty, I heard that after Governor Hai implemented a whipping method in the ten mansions of Yingtian, many years ago The people who had lost their land were bathed in God's grace, and because of Hai Qingtian's name, they sued the local tycoons one after another, hoping to get back their lost land and their deeds."

"Are they taking things by force?"

Emperor Longqing asked again, without any emotion in his tone.

"This, according to what I heard, was probably between you and me, but now I regret it, but it seems to involve a wide range of things, and it is not ruled out that some people were bullied and forced to go to the fields."

Wei Guangde didn't know how the Xu family acquired the land in Songjiang Prefecture, but he thought that in addition to avoiding taxes and servitude, there was also a lot of land that was forcibly taken.

For example, if the Xu family receives two large pieces of land and a small piece of land connected between them, if the owner of the land is unwilling to donate or sell it, he may be extorted from it.

However, what is known from the current situation is that it is an indisputable fact that the Xu family owns huge fields in Songjiang Prefecture and surrounding areas, and the source may not be legal.

"Which family's fields can actually instruct my science to speak for them?"

Emperor Longqing obviously asked the question knowingly, because he spoke in a very frivolous tone inadvertently.

"It is said to be the land of the Xu family in Huating County, that is, the old family of Xu Jie and Xuge, a veteran official."

Wei Guangde replied.

"It's no wonder. Tell me how much you know about the Xu family. I'm very curious about how it's spread outside."

Therefore, Wei Guangde told everything about the recent news circulating in the capital. He believed that Emperor Longqing must have learned about the situation from the factory guard, and Zhao himself wanted to confirm the authenticity.

"How many acres does the Xu family have, or hundreds of thousands of acres, or the legendary more than 200,000 acres?"

Emperor Longqing was obviously very sensitive to this number. He had heard from his teacher Gao Gong about the land donation, but he did not take it seriously.

Because what Gao Gong told him was that the people were worried about being assigned too many corvees, so they chose to donate to the local powerful in exchange for protection. With this relationship, the local chiefs and Jia chiefs would not be able to assign the labor indiscriminately. In fact, it was for the villagers to a means of protection.

But if the Xu family can amass more than 100,000 or 200,000 acres of land as a result, it will be no small matter. You can imagine what the lives of other people who did not contribute were like.

Because there are so many fields, it cannot be the fields of dozens or hundreds of people, but thousands of families.

"I don't know."

Wei Guangde lowered his head and replied, "How much land the Xu family owned was not clear to later generations, because Hai Rui did not conduct a thorough investigation at all."

Now, of course, Wei Guangde didn't know that all the figures were estimated by Yingtianfu Yamen, or that the rumors among the people were not true.

"If Xu Jie really has so many fields, how many other gentry families are there in the world, and how many fields do they own?"

Emperor Longqing suddenly asked a question that seemed unrelated but very relevant. Obviously, the emperor already had his own thoughts and knew that when looking at problems, he did not look at right or wrong, but considered the world first, and everything was based on the stability of the world. First up.

"A whip method is good for the people, but it will frighten the powerful. No wonder this method has been replaced several times before. Ge Shouli bluntly said that this method harmed the country and asked for it to be stopped."

Emperor Longqing still seemed to be talking to himself, but in Wei Guangde's ears, he already understood what Emperor Longqing was thinking.

That is to seek stability. After all, he is just a conservative emperor, not a pioneering and enterprising emperor.

It is so difficult for Ying Tianfu to perform even one whipping method. If it were really promoted nationwide, there is no telling how much trouble it would cause.

"Jiangnan is suitable, Jiangbei can only take advantage of it slowly."

Wei Guangde said what he said before.

“What’s the difference between Jiangnan and Jiangbei?”

Emperor Longqing seemed to have grasped the key point and asked.

"The handicraft industry in the south of the Yangtze River is developed, and landless farmers are mostly engaged in commodity production, while the north is weaker. Losing land is like losing the foundation, which can easily lead to chaos."

Wei Guangde suddenly paused when he said this, because he thought of a charter he had written before, which was about mining.

Wei Guangde had previously written a copy based on a pattern known to later generations, but Emperor Longqing never had a clear attitude after sending it to the palace.

The emperor didn't mention it, so it was naturally not easy for him to ask, so he just dragged it off.

"Actually, your Majesty does not need to directly deny the whipping method because of this. You must know that the people are very resistant to corvee. It is not that they are unwilling to contribute to the country, but that some of the systems of corvee are too harsh, especially for those who travel long distances. In their It seems to be almost a life-threatening job.

A whip method was used for the operation of corvées. The people used money to pay for the service, and the local government used the money to hire laborers to work nearby. The people did not have to worry about the dangers of corvee service, and the laborers also had a job. This was to kill two birds with one stone. "

Wei Guangde continued.

"Then why did civil unrest occur in the North, especially in Shandong and other places because of this law?"

Emperor Longqing had been the emperor for so many years and had a lot of contact with the government. Naturally, he knew a lot of things. When Wei Guangde said this, he immediately asked.

"The causes of civil unrest in Shandong are complicated, and many of them are caused by the White Lotus cultists. This does not mean that the people in the north do not support the whipping method."

Wei Guangde replied, directly throwing the blame on the officials to the White Lotus Sect. The real reason was that the land annexation in the North was more severe. Most of the people were tenants and had very little land of their own.

In such an environment, if people are asked to do corvee labor, who will cultivate their own fields?

The whipping law implemented in the north is actually a tax increase in the eyes of the people. Originally, they did not have to bear the corvee. It was a matter of communication between their masters and the government. But now they are directly required to pay, which is okay.

Moreover, this money is not a small amount of money. You can know that the miscellaneous taxes are several times higher than the regular taxes. Local officials will also get involved in this process and make a lot of money.

With the slightest incitement, the already poor people can only rise up.

Wei Guangde's current class is different, so naturally he will not stand in the perspective of the common people.

Even if we sometimes consider them, it is from the perspective of maintaining social stability.

"Actually, what the people want is just enough food and clothing to cover their bodies for a day. This is what the court should give them."

When Wei Guangde said this, he glanced at Emperor Longqing on the throne and saw him nodding slightly before continuing: "There are many mines in the north. Your Majesty can hire people to mine and give money to buy clothes to meet daily needs. Then he will not Civil unrest occurred.

Civil unrest is often more likely to be provoked in poorer places, and I also have an idea, that is, after the implementation of the whip law, the corvee has become a tax similar to the Ding tax.

In the past, the Ding tax was levied on a per-population basis, but landless people were fine. Landless people already had no food and clothing, so where would they get the money to pay the tax?

A whip method is actually to combine the taxes and levies, distribute the land taxes, corvee labor, and miscellaneous labor among the acres, return the labor to the land, measure the land and calculate the land, levy according to the acre, and levy the money.

Landed people are taxed on all the fields in their names, while landless people don't have to pay taxes. This is because those with land pay more, and those without land don't pay.

For these landless people, Your Majesty can hire them as miners to mine for Your Majesty. The money earned can also meet the needs of food and clothing. In this way, the world will be peaceful. "

The development of society is actually like this. Landed people live on one-third of an acre of their own land, while the proletarians work in factories to earn three meals a day.

As for encouraging large workshops to absorb idle people, it goes without saying that Jiangnan can maintain stability because of the existence of these handicraft workshops, which absorb a large number of unemployed people.

In the north, there are fewer such workshops, especially in places such as Shanshan and Shaanxi, which eventually became the source of the overthrow of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the whipping method mentioned by Wei Guangde, it has actually been integrated into the Qing Dynasty's Tan Ding Ru Mu.

It's just that the whip law implemented in the Ming Dynasty only considered the merger of taxes and levies and distributed them on the acres, without any intention to adjust the Ding tax.

However, Wei Guangde knew that the later Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty forcibly promoted these reforms, such as the sharing of land between farmers and farmers, the return of fire to the public, and the integration of gentry and gentry as errands to pay grain.

Naturally, the return of fire consumption to the public did not exist before the introduction of the whip law. However, the problem will gradually emerge in the next ten or twenty years. As for sharing the land and the gentry working as errands and paying grain, it is not considered by today's officials. middle.

Especially the latter, which is tantamount to breaking the image of aloofness they have painstakingly created.

Why is it that all things are inferior, but reading is the only one that is superior?

The opinions of the East and the West on whether the gentry should pay grain or not were different. Although they seemed to be consistent from the perspective of the supreme ruler, in fact there were many differences.

In the East, the gentry certainly wanted to evade taxes and enrich themselves privately, and they actually did it. It was a group behavior.

In the West, although they also want to do it, they can't do it. In other words, if some people do it, they will suffer serious legal consequences once they are discovered.

Although I, Wei Guangde, have no objection to paying for my work as an errand, I still want to delay it as long as I can. Anyone who would take the initiative to take the money out of his pocket is a fool.

In the future, if the imperial court is seriously unable to make ends meet and will go bankrupt, it won't be a big deal to raise it.

As for now, Wei Guangde has nothing to say yet.

But when the words came to this, Wei Guangde suddenly had a new idea, which could be regarded as being brought up when he said that Tan Ding was entering the family.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Longqing was already thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of Wei Guangde's proposal of "dividing a small family into an entire family".

"Your Majesty, when Taizu was in power, he fixed the taxes and levies of each prefecture and county at a permanent amount. However, the situation at that time was that there were not many vassal kings in the world, and the land granted by the vassal kings was also small, so the people could afford it.

Nowadays, in the provinces of the Central Plains, it is almost difficult to find a palace that can house the vassal king. Times have changed. "

Suddenly hearing that Wei Guangde suddenly mentioned the clan king again, Emperor Longqing retracted his thoughts and looked over.

"What I just mentioned, with the whip method of spreading the Ding tax into the fields, is actually for the consideration of the proletarians in the world, who already have no food and clothing, how to support the imperial court.

According to Taizu's policy, all prefectures and counties spread all the land into acres of land and taxed it together. But what I also want to say is, why not take this opportunity to tax all the land granted to the clan. "

As soon as he said this, Wei Guangde keenly noticed that Emperor Longqing's mouth opened as if he was about to speak, so he hurriedly speeded up his speech and said first: "Not only the clan, but also your majesty's imperial estate also pays taxes.

This tax is compiled separately and goes directly to the palace, and this part of the income can be used as a gift to the clan and then distributed to the last branches of the clan. "

"Uh-huh?"

Emperor Longqing opened his mouth to speak, but for some reason he suddenly stopped speaking, and only a strange accent came out of his mouth.

Looking at Wei Guangde, he lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then raised his head again and seemed to have understood the reason.

"You mean to collect the clan tax and then use this tax to subsidize the clan's lack of rice?"

"Your Majesty is holy."

Wei Guangde said: "In the beginning, Taizu divided the vassals into vassals to stabilize the surrounding areas, but things soon changed.

Today's vassals no longer have the ability to protect the imperial court. Instead, they continue to suck blood from the imperial court, but they have actually done nothing.

The people of the world have the responsibility to support the emperor, but don't the clans and vassals have the responsibility, just because they are clan clans?

The clan enjoys the support of the people, but they also have the responsibility to support the emperor.

The taxes that should be collected must be collected, and the taxes that should be paid must also be given. Otherwise, as time goes by, they will forget that there is Your Majesty. "(End of chapter)