“… According to the statistics of the above provinces, the total amount of cultivated land in the two capitals and 13 provinces is about 7.83 million hectares. The results of random inspection and measurement of the yield per mu in various places, among which the average yield per mu in the area south of the Yangtze River is about 26 stones; Between the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, the yield per mu is about 14 stones; In the area north of the Yellow River, excluding the disaster-stricken areas in Shaanxi, the yield per mu is about 1 stone.

The area north of the Huai River is the dry farming area, the south of the Yangtze River is the water farming area, and the area between the Yangtze River and the Huai River is a miscellaneous area of water and drought operations.

With the Huai River as the dividing line, the cultivated land in the northern region grows non-food crops, accounting for about 7% of the cultivated area. In the south, more than 8 percent of the cultivated land is cultivated with non-food crops.

This year, it is estimated that the national grain output will be about 1 billion stones, and the processed grain will be 550 million stones. My Ming Dynasty has a registered population of 60 million, and according to the standard of 4 stone per person per year, it is 240 million stone.

If calculated according to these data, this year's grain should be enough for the people of our Ming Dynasty to consume. Zhang Ruitu carefully observed Chongzhen's expression, and read out the conclusion of the document in his hand unhurriedly.

To Zhang Ruitu's disappointment, after listening to the cabinet's report on Chongzhen's grain harvest in the first year, Chongzhen's face did not change. This leaves him unsure whether he should support the report's conclusions.

Today's cabinet meeting is the last in September. At the beginning of the year, the imperial court demanded that all localities re-measure cultivated land, ensure the planting area of grain, and approve the population and grain yield per mu in each county.

By mid-September, officials in nine provinces had submitted their investigation reports. Although only a small number of officials honestly went down to count the situation in their county, and most of the county officials only asked their staff to copy a copy of the yellow book of previous years, from these reported data, people have seen a lot of problems.

The results of this investigation report were reported directly to the cabinet by each prefecture, so the local officials did not pay much attention to it. Naturally, they did not expect that when the cabinet compiled the data based on these data, there would be discrepancies in the data reported by the various governments and provinces.

In later generations of China, the more economically developed a region was, the more taxes and taxes it paid, and the official in charge of the local government would be regarded as highly capable, and he himself would be the focus of training in the bureaucratic system.

But in today's Ming Dynasty, it doesn't matter whether the local economy has developed or not; It does not matter whether there are various public works that are beneficial to the national economy and people's livelihood at the local level; Even if there is a local disaster, it does not matter whether the chief official has acted in time to mitigate the disaster.

It is important to listen to Shangguan's wishes, not to make trouble for Shangguan, especially not to make the wealthy gentry under his rule unhappy. The officials of the Ming Dynasty can be steadily promoted, but they are not those officials who will come to work.

It is those officials who are good at meeting the officials and satisfying the local gentry and wealthy families. The so-called official voice is not the voice of those gentry and wealthy families praising someone. How can the voices of the real flat-headed people reach the ears of the superiors?

Besides, God knows that behind these wealthy gentry is the big man, maybe even the officials have to nod their heads and greet them. offended the ordinary people, the sky couldn't fall, and offended these wealthy gentry, then the sky might really fall.

How to make these gentlemen feel that you are a good person is nothing more than conveying benefits. For these gentry and wealthy families, their greatest interests are the land tax and the poll tax.

As long as their taxes can be reduced, the gentry and wealthy families do not mind giving back a part of it to the officials. And these officials also have no psychological burden, anyway, it is the imperial court that loses, but they themselves benefit.

Besides, if the court collects a few less money, won't the people have a few more money in their pockets? According to the sages, this is called rest with the people, and it is a righteous act for the country and the people.

If according to the laws of the imperial court, the tax burden must be strictly levied, and no one will be in arrears, which has aroused local resentment. If you can't say it, he will become a corrupt official who loots the people in the mouths of the people, and a cool official who is ruined.

Therefore, from the county to the prefecture, from the prefecture to the province, and finally to the imperial court, the harvest and tax revenue of all parts of the country are getting smaller and smaller.

For example, the estimated annual grain production is 550,000 koku, and by the time of the final report, it would be nice to have about half of it left.

The land tax of the Ming Dynasty was 30 tax 1, but today, all kinds of miscellaneous taxes are combined, and it is almost 10 tax 1.

If the normal tax is followed, the tax revenue for the current year should be around 55 million stones. However, in the end, the tax revenue that the imperial court can receive should be around 26 or 7 million stones, which is also in line with the tax situation in previous years.

And this extra tax went into the pockets of the local officials and the wealthy gentry. It's just that there were no statistics in the past, so everyone knew that local officials concealed taxes to benefit themselves, but they didn't expect such a staggering amount to be summed up.

When this information was summarized in Zhang Ruitu's hands, cold sweat suddenly broke out on his forehead, and he went to discuss with Shoufu Huang Liji, and did not disclose it to other colleagues.

If this information is directly poked out, it will be another shocking case since the beginning of the country, and even if he is a high-ranking minister, it will be difficult to get out of the whole body.

But it is impossible to hide this information. By the time the counties reported to the cabinet, the palace had already had a copy of it, and it was clear that the emperor already had this summary in his hands.

Whether it is Huang Liji or Zhang Ruitu, they have no intention of accompanying those officials to the funeral. Maybe the emperor won't punish the officials in the world, in that case, Chongzhen will really become a loner.

But the emperor may not punish them, hiding them for those officials, after all, this is trying to deceive the king. Chongzhen has already given the cabinet a lot of powers, and if someone in the cabinet still wants to deprive the emperor of his right to know, it is obviously a bad intention. Even if the emperor disposes of them, no one will cry out for them.

Huang Liji discussed with Zhang Ruitu for a long time, and decided to see Chongzhen's reaction first, and then decide his position.

Zhang Ruitu made a report at the cabinet meeting, which only discussed the content of the aggregated data, and did not involve the issue of discrepancies in the data of the county, government, and provincial governments, and did not take the initiative to mention the huge discrepancy between the actual tax revenue and the theoretical tax revenue.

Zhu Youzhen's gaze met Huang Liji's for a moment, then he crossed him and stopped at Guo Yunhou, who was sitting on his left.

"Mr. Guo, you are the head of the household, do you have any different views on this report?" Zhu Youzhen asked casually.

Guo Yunhou only hesitated for a moment, and then said: "This report seems to be too optimistic, for example, the population registered in my Ming Dynasty is more than 60 million, but if you add hidden households, it is far more than this number.

In order to determine the amount of grain shortfall in Beizhili and calculate the real grain surplus in each county, the Ministry of Household conducted spot checks on the actual amount of cultivated land and population in each prefecture and county in Beizhili.

Although there was a large drought in the Gyeonggi area this year, due to the construction of water conservancy and the construction of roads and workshops in the capital at the beginning of the year, although the Gyeonggi area was affected by the disaster, there was almost no outflow of population, and all of them were absorbed by the workshops in the capital, the mines in the western part of the city, and the Haihe River control project.

Therefore, the old minister thought that the survey and statistics of the household department should still be able to truly reflect the actual population of each county.

Two counties in Suncheon, one county in Yongpyeong..., we sampled a total of 8 counties. According to the comparison, the actual number of cultivated land in each county inspected exceeded 12% of the number of cultivated land on the register. The actual population of each county is more than three times the number of registered population.

Of course, the Gyeonggi area is the best place in my Ming Dynasty, and the social environment here is much better than that of the surrounding provinces, so there may be many people who have fled from the surrounding provinces.

But even so, it is estimated that the population of my Ming Dynasty should not be less than 150 million. As for the so-called annual ration of four stones per person, Zhang Ge Lao's estimate was inevitably too high.

Even among the poor people in the vicinity of Gyeonggi, there are many families whose people cannot meet the needs of three stones a year.

According to this minimum standard, Daming will consume at least 450 million stone grain every year. At first glance, Daming's grain income is still surplus, but in fact it is not.

The grain production of our Ming Dynasty is uneven, with less grain in the north and more grain in the south. It has become a common practice to transfer grain from the south to the north, and the amount of grain transported to Tongzhou every year is as high as 4 million stones.

In the past, when the transportation was smooth, it cost about two stones for every stone of rice transported north. But now the north is dry, the canal water is insufficient, and it is difficult to sail into Shandong, often to transport one stone of rice to Tongzhou, the road cost five or six stones.

Every year, 4 million stone is transported, and more than 20 million stone grain is consumed. In other words, even if the wind and rain are smooth, my Ming grain harvest is just enough to meet the expenditure.

This year, we are preparing to fight against the Mongolian Chahar Department, and we have encountered a severe drought in Shaanxi, and this year's food gap can be compressed to less than 10 million stones. ”

Guo Yunhou's words suddenly quieted down everyone in the Wenhua Palace, and at this moment, several pavilion elders wished that they had not heard this report.

They shouldn't have heard the data if it had been the norm in the past. After all, the Ming Dynasty talked about governing the world by virtue and benevolence and filial piety, but it never mentioned the idea of governing the country with data.

Because there is no summary and collation of data from various places, the imperial court generally listens to the reports of the governors and governors of various places for the situation in various places.

If any of the feudal officials dare to say that there is a problem under their rule, it must be your fault, and those who should be arrested and killed should be killed. Then the court began to change people, until someone solved the problem, or survived the problem.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty have always believed in the treatment of the government and the treatment of the head and the foot pain. It is precisely because they do not have the data submitted by various places in their hands that the officials of the Ming Dynasty have never had an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the Ming Dynasty.

Everyone is blind and touches the elephant, and they only see one corner and do not see the whole picture. Occasionally, someone jumps out of this part and wants to point out the problem to everyone, but he will also be despised and hit by these people who can't see the whole picture.

When a ship sinks, the passengers on board will not necessarily resent the person who let the ship sink, but will most likely be angry with those who tell him that the ship is sinking.

Zhang Jiangling may have been the one who saw the big picture, but when he tried to wake up his colleagues and the emperor, he was hated by those who had become accustomed to seeing the big picture.

The data put forward by Guo Yunhou made the cabinet have to face the problem in advance, and they can no longer continue to pretend to be invisible.

This kind of experience is completely different from the past, and some people feel very excited, they feel that the court still has time to solve the problem; Others are frustrated because they can no longer pass the blame on their subordinates.