Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 223 Advice to abolish Liao's pay

"I can't do anything, but God doesn't help me!"

On August [-]th of the third year of the Apocalypse, when the civil servants were angry with the eunuchs and took action against them, when Zhu Youjian was complacent and loose in Liaodong, riding horses in the suburbs all day long, in the southwest mountainous area, accompanied by a person's unwillingness to roar, counting Thousands of Ming troops marched towards the city...

Apocalypse: On August [-]th, Zhu Xieyuan sent people eight hundred miles to rush, and three days later, the news of An Bangyan's suicide and defeat spread to the capital.

Since then, the She'an Rebellion, which had been plagued by cholera for nearly three years, came to an end.

This campaign cost [-] million taels of silver, dispatched more than [-] troops, mobilized troops from Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Huguang and other six provinces, and consumed more than [-] million shi of grain. .

Since the end of this battle, there are no more chieftains in Guizhou, and some chieftains in Yunnan, southern Sichuan, Guangxi and other places have also been cautious because of the battle of the Ming army, and many ambitious people have bowed their heads.

The capital was decorated with lanterns and festoons, and the people in the southwest were overjoyed. Even the millions of people in the five northern provinces, such as Shaanxi, who were squeezed out, were all beaming. They walked the streets and alleys to tell their friends that the Ming Dynasty had finally finished the two wars. .

For the people, they don't care who is in power. After all, officials are all the same, and clean and capable officials are always rare.

For them, the reason why they care more about the Battle of Restoring Liao Dynasty and the Rebellion of She'an is because of the so-called Liao pay.

Liaodong was restored, Jianlu was broken in the back by His Royal Highness Qi, and An Bangyan and Song Wanhua in the southwest also disappeared...

Under such circumstances, the Ming Dynasty has already achieved peace everywhere, so can the Liao pay be cancelled, so that the people can breathe a sigh of relief?

The idea of ​​the people is very simple, they don't ask the court and the government to exempt them from taxes, they just want to reduce or exempt the Liao's tax.

Perhaps for some people who regard themselves as noble, the so-called Liao pay is nothing more than nine cents of silver per mu of land, which is nine cents, and these mud legs are reluctant to pay.

But for Zhu Youjian, who is familiar with the deformed tax system of Ming Dynasty, what does Liao pay mean to the people of the world?He couldn't be more clear.

Local officials shielded the gentry, big landlords, merchants, nobles, and civil servants, and directly transferred the nine coins per mu that originally belonged to them to the people of Ming Dynasty.

There were more than [-] million mu of land in the Ming Dynasty, of which only two-thirds were in the hands of the common people, and the other one-third was occupied by them respectively.

It looks good, because they only occupied one-third, and left two-thirds for the common people.

But here comes the problem. Among these two-thirds, most of the fields are in the same class.

Small and medium landlords...

The common people have no money, and to put it a little harshly, they can be said to be poor compared to the powerful gentry.

Poor ghosts have no money in their hands, so they have to find someone who is not so poor, or even a little rich, to collect money.

If this is to use the economic language of later generations, it is "harvesting the middle class".

Throughout the dynasties, only by harvesting the middle class can a dynasty continue its life.

Judging from the process of the Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, when the ruler aimed the sickle at this class, the dynasty became a dying person entering the intensive care unit.

Whether you can continue your life depends entirely on whether the number of this class is enough.

When harvesting this class, the Song Dynasty performed very well, so even though it occupied the least amount of land, it easily broke through [-] million people.

As for the harvest, the Ming Dynasty was far inferior to the Song Dynasty. Because of the greed of the literati, merchants, big landlords, and relatives, plus the sudden drought on the small ice river, they were actually consumed in only about thirty years. A seven seven eight eight.

In this kind of consumption, the middle class in the north is undoubtedly the first to be harvested.

"The poor have no money to accept, and the rich can't accept it, so I can only accept you people. Chongzhen, you are really unlucky..."

When Zhu Youjian figured out the ins and outs of Liao's payment, he looked at the document in his hand and sighed.

[This year, a total of [-] taels, land tax of [-] million taels, miscellaneous items of [-] million taels, salt tax of [-] taels, and customs duties of [-] taels The remaining two...]

Looking at the types of tax items and the quantity of each tax item in his hand, Zhu Youjian stood up while speechless, put his hands behind his back, and walked out of the courtyard.

Jin Yiwei followed him, while he was walking through the General Manager's Mansion, which cost more than three thousand taels of silver.

All the information that appeared in the world where he lived flashed through his mind...

Liao pay, also known as new pay, was levied in the forty-sixth year of Wanli and was mainly used for military needs in Liaodong.

From the setting of the quota in the [-]th year to the death of Emperor Wanli in the [-]th year, except for a few areas such as Guizhou in the Ming Dynasty, an average of [-]% of silver was levied per mu of land, totaling [-] taels.

This year, after Wei Zhongxian came to power, Zhu Youxiao used Wei Zhongxian again to expropriate merchants and ordinary people in the name of Liao's salary, for customs clearance, salt and other miscellaneous silver taels.

This year, more than six million taels of silver can be received, a new high, because Cui Chengxiu and others are doing trouble in Jiangnan.

In previous years, the salt tax levied by the Liao Dynasty was at most [-] to [-] taels, but this year it suddenly increased by ten times, and the daily miscellaneous items of hundreds of thousands of taels were also raised to more than [-] million taels by Cui Chengxiu.

Is this a good thing?It's not actually...

Cui Chengxiu may charge miscellaneous and salt lessons because he needs to overthrow some salt merchants and officials who do not obey him, but it is impossible to collect so much at once.

If so many can be collected, it is bound to start with the common people, small and medium-sized landlords, small and medium-sized salt merchants, and small and medium-sized merchants.

The way to start is very simple, but it means that the court increases taxes.

Zhu Youjian didn't know exactly how many people there were in Ming Dynasty, but even if it was calculated on the basis of [-] million people, each commoner would have to pay forty-two Wen on average.

The adult who occupies one-third of the resources transfers one-third of the taxes that should be collected to the other two-thirds, and finally leads to the remaining two-thirds, each of whom needs to pay six Thirteen texts.

For these two-thirds of the population, even counting his [-] million people, based on the smallest household of five people, it is only [-] million households.

Twenty million households, that is, [-] million men who are the pillars, will share the more than six million taels of Liao pay. In fact, each person needs to share more than three hundred cash.

Judging from what Zhu Youjian knew, except for the densely populated Nanzhili, Shandong, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi provinces where hundreds of counties can earn twenty Wen a day, other provinces except the prefecture and provincial government Outside the institute, the wages range from ten to fifteen yuan.

In other words, this share basically made the more than [-] million pillars work for nothing for a month.

If you add the land tax, you will have to work for two months for nothing, plus one month of corvee...

it is good!One-third of the year is spent rushing to pay taxes.

This heavy taxation is also the reason why small farmers with only a few acres of land in their hands cannot survive after the land is merged.

To be honest, Zhu Youjian is short of money, and Daming is also short of money, but Zhu Youjian knows what money can be taken and what money cannot be taken.

The six million taels of Liao's salary is a lot, but at this time, if this kind of tax is collected, as long as the local area encounters a little disaster, it is tantamount to forcing the people to rebel.

"If you don't cure the disease, you can cure the disease..."

Zhu Youjian, who was walking, stopped, sighed, then turned and walked towards the study.

When the court was short of money, he had to take action to cancel the Liao pay.

Although he knew that even if the Liao pay was abolished, many corrupt officials would continue to use this tax name to deceive the people, corrupt and pass on the gentry's land tax, but such cases are rare after all.

It is impossible for him to give up the problem of reducing the burden on hundreds of millions of people for the sake of very few cases.

After thinking about everything, Zhu Youjian returned to the study, then picked up the pen and prepared to write.

Seeing this, Jin Yiwei immediately studied the ink, and then Zhu Youjian began to write.

First of all, he explained the current situation of Daming to his imperial brother, the number of acres of Yumajian after the abolishment of Tianxiawei, and calculated how much money Daming would have to mobilize under such circumstances.

He tried his best to write the situation of Da Ming well, avoiding the little ice age that he knew would erupt.

Because he knew that if he didn't write the situation well, then his brother would not be willing to give up Liao's salary.

Taxes, once established, no ruler wants to abolish them.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian deliberately described the life of the people at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty, and then said, "If the Liao pay is collected again, the chaos of extravagance will become common."

In one sentence, the seriousness of the matter was expressed.

Although the She'an Rebellion had always been against the second and even third tier troops of Ming Dynasty, at least it also dispatched white soldiers and two first-tier soldiers from Shangzhi, and gathered nearly [-] troops.

If this kind of thing breaks out again, I am afraid that for Da Ming, he will fall into the quagmire of war again.

"Send this letter to the emperor."

After finishing writing, Zhu Youjian blew up the ink and handed it to Lu Wenzhao who came belatedly.

Lu Wenzhao responded, and then handed the letter to Lu Xian to escort, and after he made arrangements, Zhu Youjian also looked at him suspiciously and said:
"It's not your temper to be late for today's shift."

"Please forgive me, Your Highness. This morning I went to the people outside the city and the Jingcheng Qianhu Office to check the information of North Korean merchants." Lu Wenzhao first admitted that he was late, and then explained the reason why he was late.

"Let's talk about it" Hearing that the matter was related to North Korean merchants, Zhu Youjian knew that the news must have something to do with Jianlu.

As he expected, Lu Wenzhao quickly explained the news that the North Korean merchants had detected for the Ming army.

"The old slave seems to have been shot in the battle of Chaoyang Mountain, and he is still lying on the bed. The inside of Jianlu is supervised by Daishan." Lu Wenzhao took the lead to report back, but Zhu Youjian immediately interrupted:
"Where's Huang Taiji?"

"Huang Taiji has never shown up, but his status seems to have declined due to the loss of Zhengbaiqi. The merchant did not waste any effort to inquire about his situation." Lu Wenzhao responded:
"It is rumored that he was also seriously injured. After lying on the bed for two months, the old slave transferred ten Niulu from Engedel and a battalion from Fan Wencheng for him to dispatch."

"In addition, more than [-] males over the age of [-] among the Jianlu tribe were divided into various banners. The two yellow banners of the old slaves were divided into seven cattle records, and the [-] men were divided into four cattle records for Daishan. , [-] people."

"Huang Taiji's Zhengbai Banner was assigned two Niulu, with [-] people, and Xiangbai Banner was assigned one Niulu."

"Afterwards, the old slave merged the remnants of the Xiangbai Banner and the Zhengbai Banner into the Zhengbai Banner, and prepared to prepare the Xiangbai Banner next year."

"Right now, in the hands of Huang Taiji, there should be eleven Zhengbai Banner Niulu, ten Mongolian Niulu and a battalion of Han soldiers, totaling more than [-] people."

Lu Wenzhao made the matter clear, but Zhu Youjian was no longer nervous, because he knew that Huang Taiji, who had more than [-] people, could not become a great weapon.

There was one thing that caught his attention...

"Dai Shan and Mang Gurtai didn't say anything when Engdel and Fan Wencheng were transferred to Huang Taiji?" Zhu Youjian asked, and Lu Wenzhao also answered:

"Mang Gurtai is very angry, but this transfer seems to be to punish him for rescuing Hetuala, which caused most of the [-] army to be annihilated."

"As for Daishan, he didn't show anything..."

"This is very interesting..." Hearing Lu Wenzhao's words, Zhu Youjian couldn't help rubbing his fingertips behind his back, and said:
"I originally thought that the old slave would make Huang Taiji his successor after the war, but now it seems that because of the loss of the strength of the two white flags, he is ready to pave the way for Huang Taiji."

"Paving the road?" Lu Wenzhao was a little puzzled, but after Zhu Youjian took a few steps back and forth, he said:
"If Amin didn't stand in line, then this old thief is probably planning to let Dai Shan and Master Mang Gur fight to the death, and then let Huang Taiji take over."

"He transferred Mang Gurtai's Han camp and Daishan's Beilu Niulu, in fact, he was under Huang Taiji's team."

"Let people from Daishan and Manggurtai keep an eye on Huang Taiji all the time, and at the same time win him over."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian smiled lightly and said:
"At that time, if Huang Taiji chooses to stand in the team, then it is very likely that he will become a weight after Amin and determine the balance of the scale."

"But in fact, Nurhachi made Huang Taiji go into hibernation and absorb the soldiers of the two of them, or let Huang Taiji do some things."

"What's the matter? Could it be that they are here to invade Liaodong?" Lu Wenzhao frowned, while Zhu Youjian shook his head with a light smile and said:
"If he wants to withdraw Huang Taiji and Amin from the current power struggle, he will definitely attack Beishan Jurchen and Beilu at the same time."

"Not only can you absorb a large number of northern captives and savage Jurchens, but also let Amin and Huang Taiji restore the vitality of the Jian captives. Why not do it?"

"If this is the case, isn't the situation very bad? Why is Your Highness smiling so happily?" Lu Wenzhao followed with a wry smile, but Zhu Youjian stretched his waist and said:

"Are you laughing happily? Maybe it's because the old slave's methods are too low..."

After moving his body, Zhu Youjian said as if no one was watching:
"Jianlu was beheaded by us one-third of the men in one go, and internal problems have long appeared."

"The old slave's methods have never been considered clever. I dare not tell others, but Daishan, who is a player in the game, should be able to see it."

"As long as Daishan doesn't want to give up the so-called "Khan position", he must respond in some way."

"But Your Highness..." Lu Wenzhao hesitated:
"After all, Beilu controls hundreds of thousands of strings. How can Huang Taiji and Amin have less than [-] troops to beat Beilu?"

"Huh?" Zhu Youjian glanced sideways at Lu Wenzhao, and then patiently explained:
"Beilu, like Jianlu, is actually the side close to my Ming Dynasty, and can best learn some methods from my Ming Dynasty."

"Important resources such as artisans and people fleeing north will become their firewood."

"But think about it, what do the Tuman, Harqin, Tumed, Hetao, Ningxia and other ministries near my Ming Dynasty look like?"

"Even if that guy, Tiger Rabbit Dun, has received my Daming Years' Years Award, there are no more than ten thousand iron cavalry under him who can wear triple armor."

"With such strength, facing the attack of Jianlu, I'm afraid it will be very difficult to fight."

Zhu Youjian did not say that Mongolia would be annexed by Huang Taiji, because such words are impossible in the current situation.

Although Huang Taiji and Nurhachi used troops on the grassland several times in the previous life, plundered a large number of people, cattle and sheep and other resources, and continued their blood in the protracted war with Ming Dynasty, but after all, it was Jianlu who had a [-]-three heavy armored army case.

No matter how much Lin Danhan pulls, it is impossible for Huang Taiji to defeat him with nine thousand stinky fish and rotten shrimp.

Zhu Youjian does not deny Huang Taiji's ability, but in reality, no matter how outstanding his personal ability is, he is complete without a good platform.

If the old slave died before the battle of restoring Liao Dynasty, Huang Taiji took over Houjin, and Houjin was united because of the threat of the Ming army, then Zhu Youjian might be afraid of Huang Taiji.

Because at that time, Huang Taiji had [-] to [-] males in Jianzhou, [-] northern captives and [-] Han soldiers, as well as hundreds of thousands of Han people and hundreds of thousands of old and weak women and children.

If he retreated to Wuyewuwei at that time, and then liberated the men to work, and continued his life by fighting the Beishan Jurchen and the Mongols, he might still be able to fight Zhu Youjian for a few years.

But the problem is that the current situation of the Houjin Dynasty is that there are less than [-] males over the age of fifteen, one-sixth of the old and weak women and children have been killed, most of the Han soldiers have been beheaded, and only the Northern Barbarians have a slightly complete system.

This is still from the point of view of people, if we look at the land, even if there are Haixi Jurchen, Beishan Jurchen, and Donghai Jurchen who have cultivated for hundreds of years, the amount of cultivated land in the northeast outside the Great Wall is still impossible to exceed [-] million mu.

Even if you add Wuyewuwei's reclamation of new fields, it will be at most two million mu.

How is it possible to raise [-] soldiers and horses and [-] to [-] people on two million acres?

Even if Huang Taiji really did it, it is estimated that the ending at that time may be the result of half the population starving to death.

Moreover, this is already the best path for Houjin at present.

But the problem is that Huang Taiji's two white flags were crippled and almost completely destroyed.

If Huang Taiji can't take the stage, then no matter who Nurhachi replaces, Houjin will have to perish.

Even if Huang Taiji takes the stage, Hou Jin will starve to death more than half of the people.

Now he sent Huang Taiji to Beishan or Mobei. With the size of Huang Taiji's soldiers and horses, if he wanted to support war with war, he had to go to Khalkha and Horqin to practice.

It's good for him to find Waikalkha and say that if he wants to fight Horqin, then the cavalry in Liaodong will have a chance to make meritorious service.

The end of the Battle of Restoring the Liao Dynasty made Harqin's Bo Xuanai, Tuman's Chaohua and others much more honest.

Therefore, it is easier for the Ming army to buy war horses. After all, the Ming army has proved that they have the cavalry maneuverability to travel five hundred miles north and fight continuously.

Five hundred miles is enough to penetrate Tuman and Karaqin, and then return to the capital with cattle and sheep, as if on an outing.

The reason why the Ming army was unable to plunder the Mongols like the Houjin in the late Ming Dynasty was actually because of capacity issues.

Even Li Chengliang didn't have the strength to send troops to Monan, then plunder tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, and return safely. The reason is very simple, he has too few servants.

Nine thousand family members sounds a lot, but once they bring tens of thousands of cattle and sheep southward, they will probably be besieged to death by many northern captives along the way.

After the change of Tumu Fortress, there were very few people who were able to go north in the Ming Dynasty and successfully returned after plundering cattle and sheep. Basically, they were existences like Wang Yue and Ma Fang.

But even if they exist like this, the elite under their command is only between [-] and [-].

Looking at Liaodong and Beizhili now, there are [-] Ming army cavalry all over the border. If it weren't for Bo Huanai and Chaohua who were still obedient, Zhu Youjian would have sent troops to sweep the north.

What is embarrassing for him now is that among the wealthiest tribes in the grassland, with the strength of the Ming army's expedition, all the tribes who can fight are at the door of the house, while the Tuman, Harqin, Tumed, Hetao, Ningxia and other tribes at the door of the house Here, the first two are still his younger brothers.

Tumed is also a tribute to the Ming Dynasty, one that has not been plundered.

In this way, the only ones he can fight are the Ordos Department of Ningxia and the Ordos Department of Hetao to the west of Helan Mountain.

And to fight these two tribes, you can't beat them like normal grassland tribes.

One of them relies on the Mu Us Desert of later generations, and the other relies on the Badain Jaran Desert and Tengger Desert.

If Zhu Youjian wants to fight them, he can't simply say that cavalry is used to support the war. He still has to equip the cavalry with enough civilian husbands, but he doesn't need to be equipped with so many like infantry, and the logistical pressure is not so great.

The rebellion of Fu Liao and She'an wiped out Zhu Youjian's family fortune accumulated for three and a half years, and he still owes debts to this day. In the next year, he will probably have to pay off his debts...

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian felt a little headache and asked Lu Wenzhao:
"For the beheading in the She'an Rebellion, how much money is still owed by the imperial court? Have you submitted the tax documents of the Imperial Horse Supervisor for a summary?"

"Returning to Your Highness, the imperial court still owes more than [-] taels of silver to the Southwest soldiers and horses, and the tax documents have not yet been compiled."

As soon as Lu Wenzhao opened his mouth, Zhu Youjian calmed down and told him:
"Tell Chengen and Huachun that if the collection of documents is completed and the taxes and money from various places are escorted to the capital, the first thing to do is to return the reward money owed to the troops and horses of the Liaodong ministries."

"The pension field and the pension silver, first issue a document to the survivors of the soldiers who died in battle, and then when the guard field is abolished, no matter it is replacement or whatever, it must be properly arranged."

"As for children's schooling, if there are children of soldiers who died in battle, their children and their families will be entertained near several universities in Yanshan; bronze medal."

"This bronze medal can be written with the name, place of origin, and battlefield experience of the soldiers, and then put it in the courtyard, which can be exempted from tax for five years."

"In addition, tell the neighbors in the counties, towns and villages to announce the achievements of the man in this family, and ask the local Nanzhen Fusi Jinyiwei to visit from time to time, so as to prevent the young people from seeing the benefits and forgetting their righteousness."

With calm eyes, Zhu Youjian murmured to the undried inkstone ink on the table:
"I'm afraid this is the last thing Gu Neng will do for them..."

　Let me report the situation: I have a ligament strain, and I have to sit in a wheelchair for a month, and then I have to wait until the National Day is over, and the operation can only be done on October [-]th. After the operation, I can go home and write in a wheelchair normally.

　　The company gave him one month's paid leave, and after the operation, he could resume two more shifts.

　　But even in the hospital, using a mobile phone to code words can guarantee a daily update of [-] words before the operation. Don’t worry about the basic update. At most, you may ask for a day off on the day of the operation, but it shouldn’t be too much. It mainly depends on my mobile phone. Is the code word fast...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)