eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 287 Taking advantage of fear

Wang Shouren did not go elsewhere, he chose to serve as the magistrate in Fuzhou Prefecture, and the original magistrate was named Fu Jihua.

This person originally supported Fengxi, so the Yamen of the Governor's Mansion still retained him.

Wang Shouren chose this place mainly because other areas in Fujian Province are of little value in the agricultural society, because there are mostly hills, rugged roads, and underdeveloped agriculture.

Therefore, it has been an indisputable place for military strategists since ancient times.In the past dynasties, few fought for Fujian.If we must compete for Fujian, we basically need to win important towns such as Fuzhou and Quanzhou.

To be honest, other places have been wild lands for a long time. You don't want to talk about the emperor and the court, but many ordinary people are unwilling to go there.

So the so-called arrears of money and food, in fact, there is no money and food, what can be owed.

But a provincial capital like Fuzhou is different.Solved here, basically the problem is not big.

Wang Shouren took office under the leadership of two deputy Qianhu of the Governor's Yamen.

To solve the problem of unfavorable collection of taxes and grains, we must first understand how taxes and grains were collected in the Ming Dynasty.

Scared them to death!

"The reason?"

"so?"

"Large clans are afraid of what happened in Zhejiang, and officials from all over the country will be kidnapped by them. It's bad luck for one person and everyone else. In the end, it's all fear. People who are afraid will not believe what you say, and they will be afraid of everything you do."

When Wang Shouren arrived in Fuzhou, he faced such a situation.

In the fourth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang, the great ancestor at that time, invented a system called "grain length system".

"good."

"Yes, there is a big difference." Wang Shouren smiled slightly, "When the minister came to Fujian, he didn't arrest anyone or kill anyone. Everyone knew exactly who they were withdrawing from. You Fufuzun, didn't you also go from the magistrate's yamen?" Going to participate in politics at the Governor’s Mansion Yamen? The minister is the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, the emperor’s teacher, and such a person comes, but the officials are desperate to secretly follow the law, isn’t it justified?”

But at the beginning, this method worked very well. Once the big family knew that the founding emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang was a fierce man, so what he said worked, and the food chief had a feeling of "don't treat the village chief as an official". After all, he is a bit small rights.

"This... will it work?"

In addition, "Ming Shilu" also records that Zhu Yuanzhang's attitude towards the crime of the grain chief will be reduced or exempted. attraction.

Fu Jihua was skeptical, "But where can we find so many people?"

"Now it seems that the common people are resisting...but..." Fu Jihua saw that the governor, chief envoy, and even Wang Shouren appointed by the emperor had all arrived in Fujian, and he wanted to get closer, so he told the truth, " But I think there should be a collusion between the government and the big households. One is to say that this year they will pay back the taxes and grains owed in the past, and the other is that they will not borrow new ones. As a result, the amount of taxes and grains to be collected by the counties this year has increased greatly, almost It’s the amount that needs to be collected for two years in one year.”

"Such a large amount is said, and the people are naturally unwilling. When they reported to the lower officials, they said that there were too many troublemakers and that the taxes and food could not be collected. Later, the lower officials also went to find out that the counties were deliberately provoking the common people to resist. Anyway, they said that they would charge more this year, but in fact they didn’t do much to urge them to collect more grain. When asked by the higher-ups, they said that the people were unwilling, and they were probably waiting to see how we would collect the grain. "

To some extent, the continuous decline in annual revenue in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was also related to the disintegration of the grain chief system.

But after the Chenghua period, the grain chief system began to be chaotic. At first, the big households were the grain chiefs, but later the big households were unwilling to be the grain chiefs, and forced this position to the middle and lower poor.

How do you say this...

So the big players at that time flocked to it.

The poor don't have the strength to go to the big households to receive food, and a few family members can drag you over and beat you up.

"Then the government said that there is nothing else to ask for, but to pay taxes and grains in full, and there is still a difference of [-] to [-] shi. Then naturally there will be people scrambling to urge us to pay taxes and grains."

One of the manifestations of the so-called imperial power not going to the countryside is that the taxes that the court should collect cannot be collected.

"Ming Shilu" records: "Govern the good people with good people, and there will be no danger of invasion and fishing."

"Go to those poor grain chiefs. Probably none of them are willing to be grain chiefs, right? Most of them were forced by the joint government of big households. If you did everything to persecute people, now you find that these people are in your Wandering around the house, aren't you afraid? If it really doesn't work, the government will come for the real one and catch him!"

So why do you always say that Zhu Yuanzhang taxed here heavily...it is really heavy.The sum of the several prefectures around Suzhou and Hangzhou was indeed about half of the annual revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Shouren pondered for a while, "It turns out that it is like this. In this way, if we force the expropriation, it will definitely arouse public resentment. If the people's resentment is too great, no one can go around after the court blames it. If we don't force the expropriation, the current public opinion is to accept it. Those who don't come up, especially if they don't work hard."

"On a business trip, is there any good way?"

Closer to home.

Wang Shouren said with a smile: "Usually, it's useless. But they are very scared at this time. No matter what changes we have, they will think about it. Even if you go to the street in front of each house to drink tea, those people will imagine you Maybe I was doing something. Besides, I was not in such a hurry at that time, what do you think they think?"

Fu Jihua said: "Fuzhou Prefecture has a total of 10 counties. The tax and food in each county are basically more than [-] shi, and now not many are collected."

Also let them know that I am in a hurry and let them watch me laugh.When they all believe that I am anxious, I will find that rabbits will jump over the wall when they are in a hurry.So we sent some people to look in front of the doors of various big households every day, making a false appearance that they were investigating the case.In this way, they will think that I, Wang Shouren, have become a rabbit jumping over the wall in a hurry, and I am going to catch big households to collect food money. "

In the sixth year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang divided the mansions into three classes. Those who paid more than 20 shi were the upper mansions, those who paid less than 20 shi were the middle mansions, and those who paid less than 10 shi were the lower mansions.

In the later period of Hongzhi, the annual income continued to improve, and now it is only about 2800 million shi a year.After all, in the sixth and ninth years of Hongzhi, the Susong River was governed by Liu Daxia.

Therefore, the position of food chief has become a loser.

Basically, the poor receive the poor, what can they receive?

To put it bluntly, the tax and food in Suzhou Prefecture can reach 250 million shi a year, and Songjiang Prefecture can reach 95 shi.Huzhou and Hangzhou can have more than 40 and more than 20 respectively.

Fu Jihua had a goatee, he stroked it and said: "In the past... In fact, Fuzhou government's taxes and food are not enough. The counties can only collect about 13 shi from the common people. Different years will be different. There are different gaps, and then the government will negotiate with the big households, write down the IOUs, borrow some, and make it up like this.”

Zhu Yuanzhang experienced the dark years at the end of the Yuan Dynasty when local officials expropriated and the people lived in dire straits, so he always believed that corrupt officials were the biggest scourge for poor farmers.After he became emperor, he thought of this grain chief system: in general, it is to select a number of chief grain chiefs and deputy grain chiefs in each county, and the largest household with the most land is the chief grain chief, ordering them to supervise the collection of taxes and grain and send them to the government.

But government officials have political pressure to collect taxes and grains. Sometimes many officials also have the attitude of 'after I die, I will control the flood'. Anyway, they will go to the grain chief when the time comes.No matter what you do, you hand over the tax and food in your jurisdiction to Lao Tzu.

"Let's do something that scares him even more, so that the thing he was afraid of before seems less scary." Wang Shouren touched his chin, "From tomorrow onwards, the magistrate's yamen will be very anxious, the more anxious the better, It's best if we rush around in a hurry, eager to collect food, and anxious not to collect food!

"Please teach me!" Fu Jihua said excitedly.

Of course, we later learned that the so-called good people are actually mostly bastards.

Wang Shouren asked his former prefect Fu Jihua.

"Human nature seeks advantages and avoids disadvantages. Food chiefs cannot be counted on, officials cannot be counted on, and big households cannot be counted on. It seems that we are going to be suffocated to death in this place."

This has led to another problem, that is, tax arrears.

the reason is simple,
After the land was annexed, the common people became poorer and poorer, and the big households found that they suddenly couldn't collect food!
This has nothing to do with the method of urging, just like you lend money to a good but poor person, you ask him for money, he has a very good attitude, but he has no money, what can you do?

He can go to the magistrates of Min County, Houguan County, Gutian County and other counties, and these magistrates can also go to the head of grain, but looking back, in fact, the head of grain is too poor to open the pot, and food is a problem. Who will urge you Levy and owe food?
"What about in the past? In the past, they should have been these food chiefs, right? How were the taxes and grains collected last year and the year before?"

Fu Jihua was puzzled, "What's the difference?"

Fujian Prefecture is a central government.The annual grain payment is about 16 shi.

"What Wang Fuzun means is that the big households are the first to refuse to pay the grain. But it doesn't mean that magistrates all over the country will follow them?"

Wang Shouren touched his nose, "There is a simple and rude method."

"Don't worry. Are you saying that in the current situation, is it because the government is the first to be unwilling to urge the grain, or is it because the big households are the first to be unwilling to pay the grain?"

Fu Jihua didn't know what kind of solution this was, he couldn't describe it.It can only be said to be evil.

But for Wang Shouren, the way he thinks is to address the problem, and it is a good way if it works. It is like this to deal with people who are afraid, and it is the heart of a person that is used.This is the simplest and most direct.

Sometimes, very complicated calculations cannot 'bear' accidents, one mistake, all plans are abolished.Only pointing at that heart, no one can escape.

Because every human being has different means of conspiracy, but the heart is the same. They will be afraid and selfish. Once they find that refusing to cooperate with the court to collect taxes and grains is more harmful, they will immediately turn around and support it.

That's it.How complicated can it be?
(End of this chapter)