Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 322 Grain Production Reduction Under the Little Glacier

"How much is the yield per mu?"

"Ninety-eight catties..."

On September [-]th, when Daming was expanding its borders and lands under Zhu Youjian's arrangement, the two conversations on the Northeast Plain instantly made people's faces darken.

In the rice fields outside Shangjing, Huang Taiji inserted his hand into a bag of grain in the grain truck. When he took it back, the plump rice grains made people salivate, but the yield made people frown.

The crops in Northeast China are a cyclical problem in agriculture. When the climate was warm, such as during the Han and Tang Dynasties, rice was grown in both the Tang Dynasty and the Bohai Kingdom, and the Northeast is the source of rice in the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

However, as the temperature dropped later, and many countries such as Bohai, Liao, and Jin were destroyed when they perished, and the Mongols did not manage the Northeast for a long time.

However, in a hundred years, the Northeast has once again become a semi-primitive environment.

It wasn't until Huang Taiji and Nurhachi led people north to reclaim the territory that this place regained some vitality.

As for the crops that the Kingdom of Jin grows on the arable land, it is basically japonica rice obtained from North Korea.

The Kingdom of Jin did not have the background of Ming Dynasty, so after relocating and reclaiming the fields, there was no qualification to be picky. They began to grow crops from the first year of reclamation.

The yield of japonica rice per mu in the first year was only more than [-] catties, but in the second year it reached more than [-] catties per mu, and in the third year it reached a peak of [-] catties.

Logically speaking, this year, which is the fourth year, the grain yield per mu should hit a new high. After all, the newly cultivated fields usually stabilize in the third year.

However, the reality gave Huang Taiji a hard head. On the more than [-] mu of arable land that has been reclaimed in Shangjing for four years, the grain yield per mu has plummeted from [-] catties last year to around [-] catties.

This is not just the case with the cultivated land in the fourth year. The yield of more than [-] mu of cultivated land that has been cultivated for three years is only more than [-] kilograms per mu, while that of the cultivated land for two years is only a little over [-] kilograms, and that of the cultivated land for one year is only more than [-] kilograms.

Huang Taiji, who originally thought that Daikin would finally be self-sufficient this year, faced such a situation with an extremely ugly face.

"Five hundred and ninety-four thousand mu. I originally thought that there would be four hundred thousand stone grain this year, but it seems that the maximum is three hundred and twenty-three thousand stone. It must be that these slaves did not take good care of it!"

Jierhalang couldn't help but yelled, and he wanted to draw his sword and kill the starving and skinny Han slaves next to him...

"Okay..." Huang Taiji stopped them, and Jierhalang also stopped swinging his knife.

Only the few Han slaves kneeling on the ground were so frightened that they urinated directly in their crotches.

"It has nothing to do with them, it should have something to do with the weather."

Huang Taiji patted the ashes on his hands, and waved his hands to signal the grain carts and slaves to leave.

Although he doesn't know the relationship between the reduction in grain production and the cooling of the Little Glacier, he also knows that grain is more dependent on the weather, and that bad weather and bad harvests are justified.

The Little Ice River not only sent out the abnormal weather of severe drought in several provinces to Daming, but also received certain attention outside the customs and the whole world.

Huang Taiji can feel that the temperature this year is a bit cold. At this time last year and previous years, it was enough to wear a shirt during the day in the capital, but now he needs to add clothes.

"This year's winter should come in early October." Huang Taiji tightened his clothes, turned to Jierhalang and said:

"Ama Khan is suffering from a stroke right now. Xingjing City is managed by Daishan and Fan Wencheng. Xingjing City, Huifa City, and the fields of Pu'er River should be able to produce a lot of food."

"As long as there are [-] stone grain this year, we can still live well."

"It's just that there are not many Han slaves." Jierhalang muttered, and not far from his back when he said this, on the plowed land that was reclaimed, it can be seen that the number of Han people in the entire capital is compared with the number of Han people. Last year, it was reduced by more than half.

"The rest of the Han people, we have to treat them better and stop being so harsh. Only when they are there are people able to reclaim the land. Besides, their number is only [-] right now."

Huang Taiji looked at the group of skinny Han slaves, and Ji Erhalang also said:
"Guo Sangdai, who was a slave in the north, has gathered hundreds of thousands of savages. Amin can't even catch the savages now."

"Enough is enough..." Huang Taiji walked towards the capital with his hands behind his back, and said as he walked:

"Sixty thousand bannermen, [-] Han men, [-] Mongolian men, and [-] old and weak women and children of Jurchen Mongols and Han, more than [-] people and more than [-] mu of arable land are enough to maintain a balance .”

Huang Taiji seemed to be talking about the strength of the Kingdom of Jin, but there was some loneliness outside the words.

After all, before the Battle of Restoring the Liao Dynasty, the number of Han Chinese controlled by the Kingdom of Jin was nearly [-], and the number of Jurchens was [-]. Including the Mongols, they actually numbered nearly [-].

After the Battle of Restoring Liao Dynasty, the number of Jurchens dropped from [-] to [-], and the number of Banners was only [-].

It took them four full years to increase the number of Banners to [-] and the number of Jurchens to [-].

It's just that the fighting power and quality of these savage Jurchens who were filled into the Eight Banners of Jianzhou was far inferior to those of the Jianzhou Jurchen who died in the Battle of Restoring Liao Dynasty.

The three-to-one farming and war structure made the development of the Jin Kingdom very deformed. Many Han Chinese, Mongols, and Jurchens who needed to participate in labor were far worse than before.

If it goes on like this for a long time, the soldiers of the Kingdom of Jin will gradually become the guard soldiers of the late Ming Dynasty.

Huang Taiji is very clear, but he has not changed, the reason is that he knows that Daikin does not have the so-called "long-term".

"If it weren't for the severe drought in the north this year, I'm afraid Zhu Youjian would be ready to fight again."

Huang Taiji's words seem to be Zhu Youjian who can't stand up to morality.

"..." Hearing Huang Taiji's words, Jierhalang was also silent for a moment, and finally said:

"Last winter, I sweated profusely and had a stroke. After waking up, I could only speak. My mind was sometimes confused and sometimes sober. This year's cold winter, I don't know..."

"I have asked Fan Wencheng to protect Khan Ama well." Huang Taiji led Jierhalang into Shangjing City.

In Shangjing City, there were no wandering people on the streets, and everyone was farming. The rows of wooden houses in the city made it easy to imagine that if one family caught fire, it would be a disaster for the whole city.

Judging from the layout of the city and the scenes outside the city, it is obvious that the current state of Jin is completely a slave social system, and except for the high-level officials of the Eight Banners, everyone else is a consumable.

The two walked towards the palace, and as their backs slowly walked away, the same thing happened in the Yanshan Mountains.

"This year's Tianfu and Hubu are estimated to be less than [-] million stones..."

In the forest, when Zhu Youjian, holding a bow and arrow, rode on horseback and glanced at the memorial in his hand, he immediately looked around him.

Around him, Lu Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao were guarding him, a member of the Imperial Horse Supervisor's personal eunuch and a dozen Xiao cavalry guards were all around.

Dong Yingju rode his horse and just arrived to submit the memorial. The surrounding mountains and forests were turning yellow, and late autumn was coming to an end.

This scene flooded into his eyes, making Zhu Youjian feel a little pressure, but the pressure did not come from this group of people, but from his shoulders.

"How many land taxes does the Yumajian have this year?" Zhu Youjian handed the memorial to Dong Yingju, and asked the eunuch who accompanied the Yumajian.

In this regard, the accompanying eunuch immediately replied: "The statistics have not been completed, but nearly [-] million acres of the nearly [-] acres of military farmland will not be harvested this year. I am afraid that this year's annual revenue..."

The accompanying eunuch hesitated, looked up, and after making sure that Zhu Youjian was not angry, he said:

"I'm afraid that this year's land tax income is only about [-] million shi..."

After saying one sentence, the burden on Zhu Youjian's shoulders became even heavier. According to common sense, the land tax that should be able to earn [-] million shi is less than [-] million shi this year.

"What would it be like if there was a severe drought across the country..." Zhu Youjian couldn't help thinking.

If the Little Ice River continues and there is a severe drought across the country, I am afraid that the imperial court's land tax revenue will not even be able to guarantee [-] million shi.

At this moment, Zhu Youjian can be regarded as slightly experiencing the helplessness of Chongzhen in history.

"How much revenue can the two divisions, the municipal ship division, and miscellaneous items have..."

Zhu Youjian put his hope on taxation, and Dong Yingju's words eased his anxiety slightly:
"The two divisions should be able to earn [-] million taels from this year to the end of the year, the annual revenue of the Shibo Division should be around [-] million taels, and the miscellaneous revenue should be around [-] million taels, totaling about [-] million taels... ..."

"Where's the eunuch?" Zhu Youjian turned his head to look at the accompanying eunuch, and the other party also bowed:
"The combined annual revenues of Huangdian and the official circles in the North Field, the textile field in the South Field, and the six major shipyards should be less than eight million taels."

"That is to say, the total tax revenue this year is about [-] million taels, and the land tax is less than [-] million shi..." Zhu Youjian frowned.

"It should be so..." Dong Yingju bowed in return.

Facing such taxes, Zhu Youjian's expression was not very good-looking.

In the fifth year of Tianqi, Daming earned [-] million taels of silver and [-] million Shitian Fu.

In the sixth year of Tianqi, Daming's annual income was [-] million taels, and more than [-] million Shitian Fu.

This year, the seventh year of Tianqi, the annual income is [-] million taels, which is less than [-] million Ishida Fu.

Under this rule, the fifth year of the Apocalypse turned out to be the best year for Daming's finances. Judging from the sudden drop in land taxes and the increase in taxes, Daming is changing from a fiscal situation that emphasizes land taxes to a fiscal situation that balances land taxes and taxes.

"We still have to increase the speed of the push..."

Zhu Youjian stretched his brows, thinking about what else could increase taxes in his mind.

However, after much deliberation, he realized that there were only mining tax, deed tax, commercial tax, and liquor tax.

Among the four, the liquor tax is already in progress and it is estimated that it will be collected next year. Although the deed tax exists, it has not been strictly collected.

The so-called deed tax is equivalent to the [-]% tax imposed by the imperial court on the amount of transactions signed in written contracts in later generations.

It's just that since Zhang Juzheng's death, this kind of transaction tax has existed in name only, and [-]% of them have evaded taxation, and the remaining [-]% are also completely puzzling.

Even if the local government is collecting taxes, Zhu Youjian can clearly see from the annual household records that the amount of tax revenue is not large, and most of it does not go into the private pockets of local officials, but serves as local financial funds.

This kind of transaction tax, the proportion that the court can get is less than one-thousandth of the due amount.

According to the history books read by Zhu Youjian in his previous life, and the results of Mao Yuanyi's investigation, the strict implementation of the deed tax can completely earn five or six million taels of income.

However, there is one point that Zhu Youjian has to consider, and that is to prohibit private land sales.

If this is prohibited, then the deed tax is basically a tax on the urban population, because it is best to collect taxes for houses and shops.

It's just that with Daming's current urbanization of less than [-]% of the population, perhaps the deed tax income will be discounted by [-]%, only one or two million taels of annual revenue.

As for the mining tax... This is the most troublesome point for Zhu Youjian.

Thanks to his imperial grandfather Wanli, the word "mining tax" stinks more than shit.

If Zhu Youjian used the name of mining tax to collect taxes, the people all over the world would scold his old Zhu family from Zhu Youjian to Zhu Yuanzhang.

How to minimize the impact of mining tax collection?Zhu Youjian already had an idea about this, and it was nothing more than an official mine and iron camp.

Like salt, wine and tea, it is directly brought back to the imperial court. In this way, the imperial court is playing games, and Zhu Youjian can turn the conflict between the government and the people into an anti-corruption issue.

It is the final commercial tax. If the salt and iron tea mines are all government-run, then the commercial tax collection is directly set at one tax per ten.

The current pressure on the people is mainly on miscellaneous items. The existence of miscellaneous items makes the people who originally only need to bear 3% of taxes directly increased to 15% to 20%.

More importantly, most of the miscellaneous items entered the pockets of local subordinates, which Zhu Youjian could not tolerate the most.

"Step by step, solve the problem of the wine department first next year..."

Squinting his eyes, Zhu Youjian had a plan in mind, which was to solve all the above financial problems within ten years.

As long as these problems are solved, the tax revenue of Daming can reach [-] million taels of silver. If the farmers pay the grain directly in the form of silver, eliminating the link of color discount, then the tax revenue of Daming can reach [-] million taels of silver.

However, there is a problem with this, that is, the scale of silver in circulation in the Ming Dynasty is not enough for the people to spend [-] million taels of silver in cash to pay taxes every year.

In other words, under the above conditions, Zhu Youjian still needs to solve a problem, and that is the problem of currency.

Issuing currency is not a pure market behavior, but the imperial court acts as a violent machine to guarantee the credit of the currency and ensure the circulation of the currency.

If Ming wants to issue currency, it is impossible to only control the currency itself, but must have a strong influence and control over the production and circulation of materials, otherwise the currency will inevitably depreciate due to hyperinflation.

This is true of paper money, but it is also true of metal currency.

If you want to mint coins and monopolize the problem of counterfeit coins among the people, you need the imperial court as a violent machine to monopolize the mining, circulation, and use of copper.

However, the Ming Dynasty was basically a mess about this point.

Not to mention that the Ming Dynasty did not have much influence on the production and circulation of important products, even the control over the currency was completely lost. This did not start in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, but a consistent trend after Hongwu.

Jiajing seems to be the most powerful emperor in the Ming Dynasty. He wanted to ban the casting of private money. As a result, every time the prohibition was loudly shouted, the people finally banned private money, and the officials used the reason of "inconvenience for small people" to make the policy impossible. Let it go.

In the sixth year of Jiajing, Zhu Houcong even wrote in a memorandum that "only the false and evil people who are privately cast are forbidden, and I don't have to be banned."

In other words, Zhu Houcong himself also acquiesced that the imperial court would not take back the right to mint coins, but instead "prohibited private minting of copper coins of too low quality", as for other mints that were better minted, he could not help it.

As a result, judging from the officials' memorials in the fifteenth year of Jiajing, the Ming court actually did not even do this at all.

Fifteen years before Jiajing's private counterfeit money was at least as good as the real money minted by the imperial court.

As a result, the counterfeit money made after the fifteenth year of Jiajing was extremely poor. The people who made it were unscrupulous, and the people who used it had no doubts. On the contrary, they were minted by the government.

Zhu Youjian had already read all the memorials on "coinage" archived by the Ministry of Households in the Ming Dynasty, and he knew very well that in the current coinage market, bad coins drive out good coins.

What was supposed to be directly monopolized by the imperial court in the Ming Dynasty became a competition between the government and private minted money according to market rules.

Officials in the Ming Dynasty did not want to monopolize directly, but tried to improve the quality and cost of casting money, so as to naturally eliminate low-quality private money.

But the problem is that the Ming court did not monopolize the mining and circulation of copper, and a large number of copper mines were controlled by gentry and powerful.

To put it bluntly, in the end, if you want to take back the right to mint coins, you have to monopolize all the copper mines, and to monopolize all the copper mines, you need to step on the shoulders of the powerful gentry and shit.

Zhu Youjian didn't dare to say anything else, but in terms of his ability to step on the shoulders of the powerful gentry, he was six times better than any emperor or prime minister.

"If you are tough with your words, he will be even tougher. If you simply raise your knife, he will rather die than surrender... But if you are tough with your words while holding the knife around his neck, he will know how to kneel obediently."

This is the conclusion Zhu Youjian came to after reading all six memorials on Zhu Yuanzhang's archives.

There are only swords, and those are Zhu Yuanzhang, Qin Shihuang, Han Wudi...

Only mouth, then you are Song Renzong, Ming Xiaozong, Ming Shizong...

You have to have a knife and a mouth to control this group of powerful gentry, and the so-called knife is the army, and the so-called mouth is the reputation, the right to public opinion, and the people who belong to them.

Coincidentally, all these things are available, and the only inconvenience is that he needs to wait.

"The matter of the wine department must be put on the schedule. After Enke, a student of Yanshan this year, except for filling vacancies, all of them will join the wine department."

Zhu Youjian spoke to Dong Yingju, and Dong Yingju bowed in response.

"How many officials are there in the country right now?" Zhu Youjian asked again suddenly, and Dong Yingju also subconsciously replied:
"There are more than [-] civil servants, more than [-] clerks who need to be paid, and more than [-] subordinate officials who do not need salaries."

"There are more subordinate officials..." Zhu Youjian turned his head and said to Lu Wenzhao, and Lu Wenzhao comprehended and bowed in response.

After he agreed, Zhu Youjian said to Dong Yingju:

"I said at the last court meeting that the salaries of hundreds of officials are indeed low. The Ministry of Household Affairs is preparing to draw up a regulation to re-establish the salaries of some officials according to today's prices."

"In addition, starting from today, Zheng Cong Jiu Rank will be divided into Zheng Jiu Rank, Cong Jiu Rank, and Sub Jiu Rank."

"Scribes are classified into the second ninth rank, and they are normally compiled in the Ministry of Officials. The annual salary of the second ninth rank is twelve taels of silver. Official positions at all levels should be increased step by step according to this."

"Your Highness, in this way, I'm afraid millions of subordinates will not accept it..." Dong Yingju persuaded him earnestly, but Zhu Youjian said:
"The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials distribute Yanshan teaching materials to subordinate officials. The assessment will be in October next year. If they fail to achieve grade C, all of them will be abolished."

"All the subordinate officials who have achieved grade C will be classified as scribes, and they will enter the ninth grade."

Zhu Youjian couldn't bear the millions of subordinate officials anymore. Even though Daming didn't pay them salaries, the imperial court turned a blind eye to their greed for money.

For so many years, they have been greedy for money, and now they are hindering the pace of the imperial court's financial reform.

It just so happens that the [-] Yanshan students will graduate again next year, and even if the millions of petty officials drop all the picks, the [-] Yanshan students plus the recruitment of private talents will be enough to fill the vacancies.

There are more than [-] million people in Ming Dynasty, even if there are only [-] officials, [-] scribes can manage it well.

What's more, if the scribes can't manage it, then the Gongweiying army will manage it for one more year.

However, Dong Yingju is not Zhu Youjian, he is the servant of the household department, and he needs to calculate whether the court's taxes can support the scribes, so he said:

"If the number of scribes reaches one million, the annual expenditure will be [-] million taels of salary, which... the imperial court may not be able to afford."

"Don't worry, there won't be so many." Zhu Youjian saw Dong Yingju's concerns, so he comforted him:
"The number of scribes will be strictly controlled within [-]."

With [-] subordinate officials, this number can basically be compared with the number of ordinary people by [-] to [-].

In this era, this ratio is enough to do a good job in the court's account.

What's more, it's better to be busy with fewer people, and there is no time to think about corruption.

"The salary of officials and scribes is better calculated by the Ministry of Households. It is best not to exceed ten million taels. In addition..."

"Brother! Look what I hit!"

Just when Zhu Youjian was about to continue explaining to Dong Yingju, he heard Zhu Youxiao's happy voice resounding in the forest.

Zhu Youjian looked back, but saw Zhu Youxiao riding on horseback holding a bow and arrow, surrounded by dozens of big Han generals, and the carts behind him were the corpses of prey such as leopards and gazelles .

"Just don't exceed [-] million taels." After explaining, Zhu Youjian rode his horse to Zhu Youxiao.

Lu Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao and others followed closely behind, and after Dong Yingju bowed, he turned his horse's head and returned to Dading Palace.

"What? Is there something wrong?"

When Zhu Youjian arrived in front of Zhu Youjian on his horse, Zhu Youxiao also saw the back of Dong Yingju who turned his horse's head and left, and asked Zhu Youjian curiously.

When Zhu Youjian heard the words, he told Zhu Youxiao about the series of reform policies he and Dong Yingju had said.

In this regard, Zhu Youxiao did not show any dissatisfaction with any policy, but said with a smile:

"In short, my brother will deal with it as he sees it, but for now, let's look at my prey first."

After all, Zhu Youxiao waved his finger at his prey, and his happy mood could be seen from the smile on his face.

"Winter is coming soon, and it's almost time to go back to the capital."

Facing his brother's happy appearance, Zhu Youjian inevitably poured a basin of cold water, which froze Zhu Youxiao's smile.

However, he also knew that there would be nothing interesting to do in Yanshan after winter, so he could only wave his hands: "My brother arranges it."

After that, he greeted Zhu Youjian to go hunting with him to the depths of the forest...

　Update two chapters from ten to eleven in the evening

　　
　
(End of this chapter)