The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 774 Steady Replacement
Now officials are vigorously raising wages and benefits. If you don't work hard, I will replace them immediately.

When the ministers heard it, you are really insidious, lord, isn't this what Jin Yiwei did.

Jin Yiwei went down to investigate the problem, but he didn't say that he must find out the problem.

"You can check the army in the local area, check the local area with the army, or check Jiangxi in Huguang, and check Huguang in Jiangxi. They are staggered from each other, and the more local areas are checked, there is always a way to find out the problem."

"Of course, as long as the people below work hard and do their best to fulfill the imperial court's will, no matter how much we investigate, there will be no problem."

In fact, it is mutual supervision, but at the grassroots level in ancient times, there was no partisan competition, so what should we do?Just use other methods to engage in mutual supervision.

Ding Yi also said, for example, his most important re-measurement of the field, firstly, the local officials will measure it again, and then get the data.

Ding Yi will send the local garrison to measure again. The difference between the two is more than [-] mu, and the local officials will be beheaded.

The faces of all the ministers changed drastically, ruthless, King Zhenbei is really ruthless.

Who dares to hide the grain fields.

But this is not over yet. The survey is re-measured every year and new data is reported, because Ding Yi requires as much new land as possible.

Every year, the imperial court will send people to spot checks, and each province and each government will select a county to weigh.

If the error is too large, of course it will be cut.

These policies have to be posted outside the gates of each county government, in black and white, for one year, so that all officials and officials can watch them every day and keep them in mind.

Ma Shiying said in a trembling voice at this time: "Re-measure the land, Zhang Juzheng did it back then, Jiangnan's reaction was particularly strong, if the gentry object again? And block, what should I do?"

"Kill." Ding Yi did not hesitate, and said sharply, "How many gentry are there in the south of the Yangtze River? Are there [-]? The king sent [-] troops, and one person killed five, is that enough?"

The Hall of Martial Heroes was suddenly quiet, and everyone felt the prelude to the storm.

All the ministers were pale and trembling, and intuitively felt the great courage and strength of Ding Yi's reform.

This is also something that Zhang Juzheng cannot accomplish.

Zhang Juzheng couldn't do it because he didn't have soldiers in his hands.

I don't know how long it has passed, "In the city of Nanjing, there are many meritorious deeds for the founding of the country--" Lu Daqi said in a deep voice.

The families of these founding fathers don't know how many grain fields they have, and they never pay taxes.

"The Ming Dynasty is dead, but there are still meritorious service in the founding of the country." Ding Yi said coldly.

All the ministers looked at each other, please don't be so arrogant, my lord, please be more reserved, everyone still wants to save face.

But you guys are actually quite happy.

Their fields will all be confiscated. The homes of these meritorious nobles are not tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of acres.

For example, the family of Xu Da, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty, is Nanjing Xungui, with countless grain fields, so it must be the first one to be unlucky.

Of course, these few people in front of them would gloat and be happy to see them.

"You are all important officials of the imperial court. It is best not to have more than a thousand acres of grain fields at home. You should set an example. The Ming Dynasty was almost wiped out by bandit soldiers. You should understand that no amount of money and land is as important as the stability of the country and a peaceful life. .” Ding Yi said earnestly.

All the ministers were thoughtful, and Ding Yi's last words touched them all.

Lu Daqi said at this time: "There are so many officials in the county government, the pressure on the court to pay the salary is very great."

He is the Minister of the Household Department, and he has been thinking about whether he has money and whether he can pay for it.

"This king has already done the calculations. As long as the land is re-measured, there will be no natural disasters and taxes will be collected. There will be no problem at all."

He has experience in Shandong, land tax plus business tax, these people can afford to support them.

"There are less than 350 officials in each county, and there will definitely be more in the future. Adding three hundred officials, it will be [-]."

"Each county's salary, plus subsidized food expenses, is about [-] shi."

"A county's grain field is 20 mu."

"Two shi per mu, [-]% of the tax is [-] shi, and [-] shi is used, and [-] shi can be handed over to the court."

"And the grain fields in most counties exceed 20 shi."

"There is also a commercial tax in each county. Only the commercial tax of Dufang and Honglou can collect tens of thousands of silver in each county."

"A small number of counties with few fields are supplied by the imperial court. Generally speaking, there must be no problem."

Judging from the number of officials assigned by Ding Yi, as long as a county has [-] mu of land that can be paid taxes on time and can be collected, the land tax can reach [-] shi, and it can support the entire county's officials, with more than [-] mu of land. , the land tax can still be handed over to the central\central finance.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty had a total of 170 counties. (Fuzhou, etc. are not counted)
The Ming Dynasty was divided into upper, middle and lower levels according to the amount of land tax paid.Shangxian counties range from 6 to 10 shi, Zhongxian counties range from 3 to 6 shi, and Xia counties are less than 3 shi. The land tax is directly proportional to the population. In the Ming Dynasty, the Shang county was at least two or three times that of the Xia county.

What kind of concept is this, that is, the original Ming Dynasty paid taxes, and more than [-]% of the counties had land taxes of more than [-] shi.

Calculated based on this tax, more than [-]% of the counties could support Ding Yi's current officials before, and there is still a surplus.

In the past, there were many fields that were not included in the tax collection.

Does this mean that the Ming Dynasty is very rich?

Let's look at the land tax before the Ming Dynasty.

In the 26th year of Hongwu, the land tax of the Ming Dynasty reached more than 200 million stones, and Taizu announced that the newly cultivated land would never be paid.Since then, the land tax of the Ming Dynasty has basically stabilized at the level of 3000 million shi.

During the Yongle period, due to the merger of Annan, it once reached 400 million shi, but it was not maintained for a long time. After the Ming Dynasty gave up Annan, it fell back to 3000 million shi.

During the Xuande period, because the Jiangnan area protested that the land tax was too high, they continued to deliberately default on taxes (the high tax in the Jiangnan area was because Zhu Yuanzhang retaliated against the people in Jiangnan who supported Zhang Shicheng too much), and many officials in the court also supported the reduction. , the benchmark of the empire's land tax dropped to 300 million shi until the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

At the time of the fall of the Ming Dynasty, according to the standard land tax, there were 700 million shi, but Chongzhen could use up to 300 million shi every year, less than one-tenth.

In other words, Chongzhen's empire would spend about 500 million a year.

Ding Yi now has 1000 shi per county, and more than 2000 counties will cost more than 5000 million shi. Adding the prefecture and capital officials and the army, it is estimated that at most [-] million shi will be enough.

In the Ming Dynasty, less than half of the country's taxed fields were collected, and the calculated output was 1.3 stones per mu.

Ding Yi promotes potatoes and sweet potatoes on a large scale, and focuses on the construction of water conservancy ditches and agricultural production. In the future, there will be no problem with the output of two or even three stones per mu.

Coupled with the increase in the tax field, the annual expenditure of 5000 million shi is no problem at all.

As for how many fields the Ming Dynasty has now, there are different opinions in history, some say 11 to [-] million, and some say [-] billion.

Ding Yi has not yet fully counted it. According to the statistics of the Ming court in 1502, it was 835.7 million hectares.

Judging from Chongzhen's payment in the previous two years, it was different. At that time, Chongzhen collected more than 1000 million taels of payment. The court calculated based on the area of ​​730 million hectares, which was about [-] million mu.

However, the paid land does not include a large number of nobles, clans, gentry, and officials. The actual data must be far more than [-] million.

Therefore, Ding Yi's plan is to use the land tax to spend the whole country in the early stage, and to pay the commercial tax to the central\central government. In the later stage, the land tax will be handed over to the central\central government in addition to the expenses, so that the national treasury will become richer and richer.

After reading it, Lu Daqi hesitated, and said: "According to the example of Prince Shandong, it is not a problem for the whole country to support so many officials and soldiers."

"However, if there is a natural disaster and the land tax is lost, how will it be dealt with?"

It means that if there is a natural disaster and the grain cannot be collected, how will you distribute the grain of the officials?
"So officials need to be diligent, don't just study hard, learn about water conservancy, grow crops, and guide the people to prepare for disasters. There must be no such thing as the loss of harvest during the reign of Chongzhen. You can rule the world and farm. For this one, I still have to rely on my king’s Dongjiang Town."

Several ministers looked embarrassed, but what Ding Yi said was fine, but when it came to farming, they really couldn't do it.

The only one who could grow at the scene was Zhang Shenyan. He had learned from Lu Shengxiang, but he was definitely not as good as Ding Yi.

Wang Duo thought for a while, and said, "Is it possible for the veteran to delay the promotion of the salaries of officials across the country?"

Lu Daqi stared at him immediately, "Don't worry, I don't have rice to cook at home, and I don't have money to buy new clothes."

"What's Wang Shangshu's opinion?" Ding Yi said with a smile.

"You can let the officials in the world support the prince first, and wait until the world is settled before starting. Now the world is undecided, and the war is chaotic." Wang Duo rolled his eyes and said, "Let's not say that the land taxes are not collected, and the officials are not willing to accept it." Know who you work for."

The meaning of this is obvious. Now that you, Ding Yi, have raised your salary, everyone still thinks that it was done by the Ming Dynasty.

This good thing cannot be taken over by the Ming Dynasty.

This has to be known to all officials in the world. This is your decision, my lord.

What's more, if the news is heard first, the officials will have hope. At that time, all the officials will wish for you, the prince, to take over as soon as possible.

Wang Duo's flattery is really good, of course Ding Yi thought of this a long time ago, and now that the land tax has not been collected, it can be distributed like this, don't be heartbroken to death like this.

But he deliberately didn't mention it himself, and sure enough, Wang Duo still brought it up.

"What Wang Shangshu said is reasonable, but we can figure it out slowly. We don't lack food and drink now." Ma Shiying followed immediately.

The rest of the people all agreed, only the upright official Lu Daqi was not happy.

"Does Lu Butang have enough money? Tell me if you need it." Ma Shiying laughed with him at this time.

"No, it's enough." Lu Daqi refused.

At present, Ding Yi and other ministers agreed to spread the word first, draw a big cake, win people's hearts, and also urge all localities to speed up the implementation of the imperial government's policy, re-measure the land, and collect land tax and commercial tax.

A general from Dongjiang Town once asked Ding Yi why he didn't clean up the officials of Daming at once. How many officials of Daming are good?

In fact, there were still many good officials at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and there must be no one-size-fits-all, and now Ding Yi has a lot of things in the early stage, such as measuring land, recruiting troops, and repairing water conservancy, etc., with the cooperation of local officials, it will be done faster and easier.

Ding Yi's plan is to be steady, and gradually replace the original Daming's people with his own people.

It must be safe and smooth, minimize conflicts, and do not send troops everywhere to suppress.

The world has been in chaos for a long time, and the common people have managed to live a peaceful life. Ding Yi has no reason to make it more chaotic.

Ding Yi talked a lot with the ministers that night, because everyone drank and knew that they would get a raise, everyone was in a good mood, and they got closer to each other a lot.

Several Shangshu feel that getting along with Chongzhen is completely different from before, it is very relaxed, and there is no need to worry about Ding Yi suddenly getting angry or something.

When the ministers finally left, Lu Daqi walked out of the Martial Heroes Hall, looked towards the opposite direction of the Wenhua Hall and the East Palace, with a sad expression on his face.

(End of this chapter)