Later generations analyzed that there were many reasons for the fall of the Ming Dynasty. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info goes on and on. But the most direct and obvious is the financial system of the Ming Dynasty.

Perhaps Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was born as a small peasant and had a one-sided understanding of the highly professional policy of finance. In short, the financial level of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be very simple.

Especially compared with the Song Dynasty, the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be a hundred years backwards.

In the era of Song Zhenzong, the national fiscal revenue was 160 million taels of silver, while the annual fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty during the Longqing period of Emperor Muzong was only 30.78 million taels, which was only 19% of that of the Song Dynasty. More importantly, agricultural taxes accounted for 81% of the total government revenue in the Ming Dynasty, and miscellaneous taxes on industry and commerce accounted for only 12% of the total revenue. Not only is it few, but the quality is also poor.

Although it is said that the Song Dynasty had developed commerce, there were many commercial taxes. But in fact, the commerce of the Ming Dynasty may not have been as developed as the Song Dynasty in its early years. However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, capitalism had sprouted in the south of the Yangtze River, and commerce had reached a scene comparable to or even surpassed that of the Song Dynasty.

But in the Ming Dynasty, compared with the Song Dynasty, the commercial tax was even more scarce. Not only that, but in addition to agricultural taxes, the proportion of industrial and commercial miscellaneous taxes is getting lower and lower.

Not only that, but the Song Dynasty's fiscal revenues had long been monetized, but Emperor Taizu set back the tax system by hundreds of years and restored the inefficient system of collection in kind and the labor system.

"The heralds and prison guards in the yamen are all assigned by the villages in turn, and even the repair of stationery, paper, and even tables, chairs, benches, and public houses are also collected from the villagers in a sporadic manner."

"The whole country is covered with short supply lines coming and going, and a frontier military town may receive alms from one or twenty counties; A county share can also pay money to more than a dozen institutions"

In the twentieth year of Wanli, Shen Bang, the magistrate of Wanping County in Beijing, claimed that he had to pay to 27 different institutions every year, but the total amount was less than 2,000 taels of silver.

Under such a system of fiscal taxation, the entire empire's finances were filled with the short-sightedness and waste of primitive small peasants. It is not only a waste of manpower and material resources, but also a lack of consideration of commercial finance in the entire system, which has caused congenital deficiencies under the design of the imperial structure.

In 1377, Emperor Taizu sent officials from various ministries, eunuchs and eunuchs to inspect 178 tax bureaus and fixed their tax amounts.

In 1385, Emperor Taizu ordered that the annual tax and grain courses of each province and each province be engraved on stone tablets and erected in the household hall. In 1393, the income from the field reached 32,278,900 stones, and Emperor Taizu was very satisfied with this, announcing that the newly cultivated fields in the northern provinces would never be cultivated. Since then, the fixed tax has been fixed as an unwritten law, and there have been occasional minor adjustments later, but the basic fixed amount has never been abandoned.

Since then, the entire Ming financial system can only be tinkered with on this basis. The household department was not so much the financial department of the empire as the general accounting department. Not only the six ministries of the Ming Dynasty, including the rest of the central departments, have their own tax powers, but even some basic tinkering household departments do not have authority.

Although Li Banghua became the chief minister, his authority was like that of the prime minister, but in fact, before everyone figured out Zhu Cihong's temperament, Daming was still operating according to the original model.

Therefore, in fact, the slightest change in tax policy requires the authorization of the emperor.

This is also the reason why Li Banghua and several people asked to see Zhu Cihong this time.

As for the reform demanded by the two, Zhu Cihong will certainly not object. He just didn't have the time to do it.

However, Zhu Cihong looked at the expressions of the two and understood that they were shocked.

Daming's finances, if you want to say the biggest drawback, that is, unfairness.

This unfairness is not only reflected in the structural imbalance, but also in the serious lack of scientific adjustment. There is a huge imbalance in the actual expropriation.

Especially in terms of the object of expropriation, it can be called deadly.

And this is the tax exemption of the gentry.

In later generations, most people may think that even high-ranking officials and eunuchs still have to pay taxes. No matter how many ways to avoid taxes and evasion, at least legally, everyone has to pay taxes.

But at another time, this is not the case in Daming.

According to common sense, since they are the people of the Ming Dynasty, it is natural for everyone to pay taxes and levy labor. But obviously, the official gentry of the Ming Dynasty were not like this.

Emperor Taizu issued an edict at the time: "The family of Shilu and the common people are equal to the noble and low, and those who tend to serve in the service will also do the affairs of the common people." If a wise man and a gentleman are noble to their families, and their bodies are restored, then there is no difference between gentlemen and savages, and it is not the way to persuade scholars to treat virtuous people. From now on, those who have land in the homes of the officials will be exempted from forced labor in addition to the rent tax. ”

That is to say, during the Hongwu period, the gentry did not need to serve as conscription.

In the twenty-fourth year of Jiajing, the "Preferential Exemption Regulations" stipulated that the first grade of the Beijing official was exempted from military service with 30 stone and 30 ding, and the following was reduced to 6 stone and 6 ding per person from the ninth grade; halving of foreign officials; lifting, prison, and student preferential and free food two stones, two people; Seven out of 10 of this product is exempt.

Finally, in the 38th year of Wanli, the "New Regulations on Preferential Exemption" stipulated that the current Jiake Jingguan was exempted from 10,000 mu of land for the first grade, and the following decreased, and 2,700 mu for the eighth grade; halving of foreign officials; Six-tenths of this product is exempt; The maximum amount of land can reach 3,350 acres, and the field of 1,200 acres can be 1,200 acres; Eighty acres of students and prisoners.

Of course, one might say. This exemption is only a quota, and it may not be available to everyone. For example, Hai Rui, didn't he even afford a funeral when he died?

However, this involves the complex grassroots ecology of Daming. For example, why was Fan Jinzhongju so happy that he went crazy? Is it really just a chance to get into the Jinshi exam? That's definitely not, even if you can directly become an official, in fact, it's hard to say what kind of official you can be. After all, there are too many people waiting for the official.

All of this is here: 1,200 acres of land that has not been raised to raise people.

As long as you have this tax-free status, even if you were poor and didn't have 1,200 acres of land before, you can have it as long as you want to.

Of course, it does not mean that the person has the ability to forcibly seize the law without breaking the law, but when he is a person, he can immediately become a master, and some of the neighbors in the hometown smile and dedicate the field to a man who lifts the land and hangs it in the name of the master of the lifter.

For the sake of tax exemption.

After all, under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, there was really an endless amount of conscription waiting for the people to bear. On the contrary, if the fields were to be put in the name of the gentry, these endless troubles would disappear in an instant. The people who donated the fields naturally still farmed by themselves, and only needed to pay a share of the income to the lord. And the old man who has the field in his name can also get an income out of thin air.

The only thing that was damaged was the Ming tax.

Even more insidious are the small people who have nowhere to limit their fields to the burden, and they will have to be thinner after the tax increases.

Everyone understands that the gentry are obviously more powerful than the common people, and should bear the taxes more than the rest of the common people. But in Daming, this logic has turned around.

Tax exemption was granted as a privilege to the Ming gentry. Even if the court wants to raise taxes, it can only be added to small farmers.

But you have to move this piece of cake......

Li Banghua and Fu Shuxun both fell silent.

They are all high-ranking officials in Beijing, Li Banghua is in the first rank, and Fu Shuxun plus the gift official is also in the first rank. There is a preferential treatment of 10,000 acres of tax-free land behind him, and if this stubble is gone, it will be a tangible benefit.

Even, even if they reluctantly want to implement it, it is conceivable how much effort they can make.

How could Zhu Cihong not understand their minds?

"I've made up my mind." Zhu Cihong said: "But ...... I am neither a violent and mean person, nor a reckless and unscrupulous person. How can you not understand the truth that every move in the country's major policies must be thought twice before acting? All you Aiqing can do with confidence. If you still think it's inappropriate after listening to what I'm going to say, I can hold it off. ”

Li Banghua and Fu Shuxun bowed their heads slowly: "The old minister listens." ”

Zhu Cihong said leisurely: "I have few officials in the Ming Dynasty, and my salary is low, which is really rare in all dynasties. I don't want to sit back and watch this. This Ming tax is taken from the people and from the people. If you want to use it for the people, you must naturally have a well-functioning management system. And the treatment of officials is the most important thing. I have done this since I was in charge of the Linqing Division. Ladies and gentlemen, don't you have anything to say? ”

Hearing Zhu Cihong's words, Li Banghua and Fu Shuxun were both happy and worried.

Li Banghua immediately sighed: "This is a big thing, and it is a great good." My emperor is merciful. ”

Fu Shuxun was entangled at first, he had a headache when he thought of additional expenses, but since it was a salary increase, it could naturally improve efficiency and solve the tax problem. Fu Shuxun quickly figured out the priorities, and said with a smile: "My emperor is wise, this is my great luck." ”

There's no employee who isn't hungry for a raise.

Especially when the wages are too low, and they are rarely low in all dynasties.

When the Ming Dynasty Xuande, the monthly salary of the courtiers stopped giving rice one stone, and the foreign officials were only three stones. During the Hongwu period, it was better, and the rice was all given, but sometimes it was also discounted with money, and the special banknotes were always worth a stone of rice as usual, but the Ming treasure banknotes were later issued too much and worthless, so they were increased to ten times per stone of rice.

During the orthodox years, there was a rule that if there were more than five grades, two parts of rice and eight banknotes in ten parts, and three parts of rice and seven banknotes in six grades or less, ten parts of rice. Later, it was changed to two stones in the foreign official month, and all the others issued treasure money. According to the proportional calculation, the first product of the month is 17 stone and 4 buckets, and the other converted treasure banknotes are 596 yuan, which is calculated with the consistent value of three coins, and there are only 1,788 yuan.

The foreign official of Zhengqipin Zhixian can actually take two stones of rice and outflank fifty-five yuan, which is only one hundred and sixty-five texts. With such a low salary, no one can live normally by relying only on wages. In fact, the minister was forced to embezzle in disguise. This, in turn, makes it more difficult for the court to collect taxes.

Whether in public or private, Li Banghua and Fu Shuxun are very much in agreement.

Now that there is a salary increase, referring to the level of the Ming Dynasty after the previous military rank system, the expressions on the faces of Li Banghua and Fu Shuxun look much better.

"Leave the rest aside, let's pilot it here in Gyeonggi first." Zhu Cihong smiled, called a few people, and commanded in a low voice.

……

Later generations complained about inflation, money is becoming less and less valuable, more and more like a piece of waste paper, and it is too hard to wipe your buttocks. Speaking of which, the things that Zhu Cihong wipes his ass every time are actually produced by the Treasure Money Division. Treasure Banknote Division. It is one of the four divisions, that is, the Salary Division, the Bell and Drum Division, the Treasure Money Division, and the Mixed Hall Division, which is in charge of making thick and thin straw paper. The straw paper used by the emperor was made by the internal officials and supervisors, and it was here that it came from. Although the name of the treasure banknote division has the word treasure bank, this is actually not the place where the treasure banknote of the Ming Dynasty is made.

The yamen who is really responsible for the affairs of the treasure banknote is called the treasure money lifting department, which is under the household department.

Today, Xu Huanwu entered the inner city and stopped at Mingyufang in the west of the city, near Xinkaidao Street.

This is a Chinese-style courtyard house, the courtyard is not large, and it is very old. Only an old man slept against the wall in the porter.

In the corner, an old plaque reveals the identity of the place.

This is the Treasure Money Lifting Division. The place where the currency of the Ming Dynasty is made.

Xu Huanwu stood in front of the door and waited for more than a hundred breaths until the people behind him were annoyed. The old man realized that someone had come in. When he saw the living man, the old man looked surprised. But soon, the old man reacted. At this moment, the old man seemed to realize that he was the porter of the yamen, and he stretched out some majesty with a straight face, but at this moment his stomach was growling uncontrollably.

Seeing this, Xu Huanwu smiled: "Uncle, it's past noon now, and you haven't eaten yet?" Gui, bring some food to the old man. ”

"Oops, it turned out to be a soldier in the army." At this moment, the old man finally saw the military uniform on Na Gui's body, and his face changed, but then he was puzzled: "I don't know what this soldier is doing here?" ”

"What are you doing...... Xu Huanwu looked at the plaque on the top of the treasure banknote lifting division, and said, "Of course there is." Come on, replace the courtyard here. ”

Immediately after, a huge door number was replaced.

"The Central Bank of the Ming Empire."

Xu Huanwu held a letter of appointment in his hand, and from now on, this is his new job.

……

October 1, 276 of the Ming Dynasty was a peaceful day for the Ming Dynasty.

In Yali, Wanping County, the morning sun rose, and Wu Yingke slipped up. As the county magistrate of Wanping County, he is so busy every day that he can't breathe.

Especially this time, the successive victories and the big wedding of the saint, Wu Yingke is even more busy.

However, when Wu Yingke went to the office, he suddenly found that Fei Ding, the secretary of the house, had a bitter face: "County Zun, something happened." ”

When he saw that it was Fei Ding from the house, Wu Yingke was shocked. If something happens to this joint, it can't be a problem with the autumn grain, right? Suddenly, Wu Yingke asked eagerly: "What happened?" ”

"This month's Yulu has come down with the previous rewards, but ...... But ......," said Ferdin, bitterly, "fifty percent of the bill!" (To be continued.) )