At the end of June of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the emperor issued a holy decree to increase the salary.

Zheng Xunrui looked at the edict on the table, and remembered the three salaries at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the three salaries at the end of the Ming Dynasty were Liao, Suppression, and Lian.

Liao's salary began to be levied in the 46th year of Wanli, nominally for the war expenditure of Liaodong, with an average of 9 cents per mu of land, and when Chongzhen was four years old, it was raised to 1 cent and 2 cents per mu of land, and an additional 6.67 million taels of agricultural taxes could be levied every year.

The emperor decreed that he began to levy and extort wages, which was to deal with the rogues, and increased by 5 percent per mu of land, which could be levied at 2.8 million taels for the whole year.

As for the training salary, because of Zheng Xunrui's crossing, it has not yet been collected.

Zheng Xunrui understood that this must be what Yang Sichang meant, the battle of ambush on all sides and four corners and six corners required a lot of money and grain, and the court couldn't come up with so much money and food, so the burden was transferred to the people.

Strictly speaking, the agricultural taxes of the Ming Dynasty were not particularly heavy, compared with the Qing Dynasty after that, it was not particularly much, and the officials of the Ming Dynasty have always called on the court not to compete with the people for profit, and must hide the wealth from the people, but also because Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, knew the hard work of the peasants, so the tax was not high. If the government at all levels strictly follows the requirements of taxation, the vast majority of peasant households will be able to bear it.

Unfortunately, this is not the case.

The large-scale famine during the Chongzhen period has forced the people to a dead end, and many places are thousands of miles away, even if the imperial court exempts the people from paying taxes in these places, the people will not survive, so the increase in wages is equivalent to drinking water to quench thirst.

The second is man-made disaster, the imperial court decided to levy and extort wages, and the increase in taxes per mu of land is five percent, but when it comes to the actual operation below, it will become about one cent, and local officials can be corrupt from it. There have even been cases where some localities have already levied salaries, but they say that the local people are poor and cannot collect them.

The agricultural taxes of the Ming Dynasty are indeed not high, but the exacting taxes and miscellaneous taxes are surprisingly high, because of the harassment of the rogues and the invasion of the Houjin Tartars. Local governments have tried every means to levy exorbitant taxes in the name of training troops or strengthening defense, and the amount of these exorbitant taxes is often several times more than the amount of taxes, which makes it impossible for the common people to bear it.

The peasant households could not bear the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and the annexation of land made their burden even heavier. How many acres of agricultural taxes can be exempted, after the Zhengde period, the scholar class basically did not pay agricultural taxes, which was the imperial court's preferential treatment of scholars, but unfortunately such a measure was fully utilized by scholars, and they began to annex land on a large scale, and farmers could not afford to bear the heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes. He willingly sold the land to scholars and merchants.

The total amount of taxes does not change, that is, the amount of grain and silver that the government needs to collect does not change. It is not because of the decrease in land annexation that those peasant households who cultivate land have to bear the consequences of land annexation, and their taxes have increased all the way, even exceeding 60% of the income per acre. Of course, the farmers have no way to survive.

The expropriation of wages will be the beginning of a new round of disaster.

Nanzhili also needs to bear a certain amount of salary, but this time the levy needs to be handed over to the imperial court, and Nanzhili cannot be withheld. Because this salary is specially used to exterminate the rogues.

Xu Wanghua looked at Zheng Xunrui and spoke.

"My lord, this must be the suggestion put forward by Lord Yang of the cabinet, increase the levy and exterminate the salary, and the money and grain for the northern extermination of the Liukou will come out, it is the autumn harvest season, presumably the imperial court will be able to collect the levy."

"Mr. Xu, what you said is right, this should be a suggestion made by Yang Sichang, the emperor's holy decree is also polite, saying that it is to let the people endure for a year and suffer for a year, thinking too simply, since the tax has increased, how can it not be collected after a year, does the emperor really think that it will be able to completely exterminate the rogue in one year."

"The subordinates also feel that this is the case, not to mention the north, but to say that the burden of the people in the south is no longer bearable, Hangzhou, Huzhou and Jiaxing Hongmen report, the local people's harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes are numerous, countless, the people don't even know what taxes are paid, and the local government does not explain, it is blindly forcibly collected."

"Yes, this situation has existed for many years, when the people in the north rebelled on a large scale, they were forced to be cornered, and the court could not come up with money and food to exterminate the Liukou, so it increased the burden on the people.

"What the lord said is that the people are cornered, and they don't want to join the ranks of the rogues, so that at least they can survive temporarily, it is better than waiting to die."

Before the words of the two were finished, Luo Changluo, the head of the household, came in.

"My lord, the imperial court edict requires Nan Zhili to hand over a total of one hundred and seventy thousand taels of salary."

Zheng Xunrui was stunned for a moment, looked at Luo Changluo, and didn't understand that the levy was levied in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, according to normal calculations, Nanzhili, including Huaibei and other places, should bear about 300,000 taels of silver.

Seeing Zheng Xunrui's expression, Luo Changluo spoke again.

"The explanation given in the edict of the household department is that the northern provinces of Beizhili, Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong have all suffered from large-scale famines, so the wages in these places are only about 30 percent, and the arrears are in accordance with the situation of prosperity in various places, and the showdown is carried out, and the southern Zhili has always been rich, and the grain output is higher than that in the north, so it bears the salary of 1.07 million taels."

After Luo Changluo gave an explanation, Zheng Xunrui's expression was very ugly.

"The emperor is embarrassed by Nan Zhili, that is, for my Zheng Xunrui, to the imperial court to go back, Suzhou, Songjiang, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Yingtianfu and other places, have suffered large-scale floods, the former money and grain used in the disaster relief, the imperial court did not take out a penny, and Nanzhili also undertook the relief of Huzhou and Jiaxing in Zhejiang, and the imperial court is not unaware of these situations, do you really think that I Zheng Xunrui is easy to speak, it is not so easy."

Xu Wanghua looked at Luo Changluo and made an addition.

"Lord Luo, the household department can list the detailed expenses, including the expenses of Nanzhili and Zhejiang and other places to relieve the people, so as to ask the imperial court to solve the deficit of money and grain, and at the same time mention Caoyun, although Nanzhili suffered such a big famine, but Caoliang is still continuously transported to the north, and there is no delay, all these expenses are calculated, and the annual tax number of Nanzhili is listed, and the two are compared, and the imperial court understands the meaning."

After Xu Wanghua finished speaking, Zheng Xunrui also made additions.

"The meaning of the fold should be clear, Nanzhili does have difficulties, it is impossible to complete the salary of one million and seventy thousand, if it must be completed, then it is okay, it can be deducted with grain, and the accounts will be unified at the end of the year, but the expenses of Nanzhili to help the people must be clearly informed to the imperial court, so that they can weigh it themselves."

Luo Changluo nodded.

"My lord, it's just how much Nan Zhili bears."

Zheng Xunrui thought for a moment and quickly spoke.

"According to the actual salary that should be paid, there is not a penny of silver, the imperial court levies the salary, the purpose is to exterminate the rogue, I can't object to this matter, otherwise it is difficult to justify itself, when the tax is levied, the six ministries of Nanjing and the Metropolitan Procuratorate will issue a document to warn the officials at all levels in the south of the Zhili that they are not allowed to levy any harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, if they want to increase the exorbitant taxes at will when collecting agricultural taxes, then wait to be severely punished."

When Zheng Xunrui was in Huaibei, he did make a ruthless move, rectifying many officials who arbitrarily increased excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and even had the situation of being dismissed and having their homes raided, but that was actually their own loss, and the burden on the people was indeed reduced according to the actual taxes, but the taxes that the government could receive were also greatly reduced.

Hongmen has begun to greatly push forward the collection of protection fees in Nanzhili, and the businessmen dare not object, so they can only pay obediently, this amount of income is dozens of times that of agricultural taxes, in fact, even if Nanzhili does not levy agricultural taxes, it is enough to maintain.

Of course, such a situation can only be achieved in Nanzhili, Zhejiang and coastal areas, where commerce and trade are extremely developed, and if you change to the north, there will be no way to maintain it.

After Luo Changluo left the house, Xu Wanghua spoke with a worried face.

"The subordinates listen to the meaning of the adults, and the next step is to adjust the agricultural taxes, and the government and the people will pay the grain together, and the subordinates understand the thoughts of the adults, but it is too difficult to implement the integration of the government and the people to pay the grain, and the imperial court has regulations, all the scholars who have a meritorious name will be exempted from part of the taxes, and if Nanzhili and other places are forcibly collected, it will definitely cause great turmoil."

"Mr. Xu, the imperial court is exempt from the part of the tax of scholars, officials above the third grade can be exempted from paying taxes on 100 acres of cultivated land, officials below the third grade are 50 acres, Jinshi is 30 acres, 15 acres of people, and 5 acres of students, but in today's situation, scholars and scholars with meritorious names have not levied agricultural taxes at all, which makes no sense at all."

"But Daming is implemented like this everywhere, if Nanzhili starts to collect it according to the rules, will it cause a backlash?"

"There are no rules, not a square circle, what burden is borne by the people, the people do not rebel is strange, from now on, all the taxes of Nanzhili are in accordance with the rules, exempt from all the amount of harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, according to the actual amount of taxes, the local government needs to spend the silver two, all by the household accounting and allocation, if the local continue to collect harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, then according to our methods in Huaibei to deal with, some greedy people excessive officials, not only to be imprisoned, but also to raid the family, I let their children and grandchildren be poor, Let's see if they dare to be greedy for ink. (To be continued......)