Chapter 683 782 Things Are Settled

“Those who have land pay taxes, and those who have no land do not need to pay taxes.”

Emperor Longqing muttered something in his mouth. Although it seemed to make sense, he soon discovered that there seemed to be something unjustifiable in Wei Guangde's words.

"For good loans, the state and dynasty taxes and servitudes are distributed according to the land tax, while the servitude and taxes are divided according to the head.

According to what you said, Ding servants also have to live in the fields. Is this unfair to the landowners? "

The words of Emperor Longqing are actually the common standard in this era.

It is true that the fields have owners, but their owners pay their talents according to the land, and the servitude is the subject's obligation to the court. How can the servitude be transferred to the landowners.

Although there was no Ding service in later generations, even in the era when Wei Guangde came through, citizens still had the obligation to serve as soldiers to protect their homes and country.

"Your Majesty, there is no absolute fairness in the world."

Wei Guangde shook his head and said: "The reason why I have this idea is just to reduce the financial burden of landless and small farmers. I think they have nothing and can only live with others and rely on labor to make money to support their families. Businessmen value profits. Why?" How much money may be given to them.

It's just enough to support a family, but it also has to bear taxes and servitude so that they can live in peace.

If you cannot live in peace, things will change easily.

Why do those reckless farmers respond in large numbers as soon as they raise their arms? Rather than starving to death because they have no money, they might as well make a big fuss and survive in death.

They have no property and no money, so the government will force them to rebel by charging them a small tax. However, those who have land don't actually care about paying that little money, because they can afford it, and they will not be like those rioters if they have a family to support. "

Seeing that Emperor Longqing was just frowning and thinking, Wei Guangde continued: "Your Majesty, I am just thinking about this matter. There must be many deficiencies. If Your Majesty had not asked, I would never dare to say it.

However, I feel that if our Ming Dynasty really realizes the idea of ​​dividing the land from one person to another, the civil unrest in various places can be reduced by half. "

After hearing what Wei Guangde said, Emperor Longqing rubbed his chin for a while and then said in a deep voice: "Then you have time to write a memorial, and I will think about it again."

"Your Majesty, it is not appropriate to bring this matter up yet."

Wei Guangde said hurriedly.

"Why?"

Emperor Longqing asked in confusion, since Wei Guangde thought this was a good idea, why was he unwilling to write it down and show it to him?

"Your Majesty, the matter of apportioning the land into the land must be decided after the implementation of the One Whip Law. It should be noted that one of the important advantages of the One Whip Law is that it incorporates miscellaneous taxes and labor service, and allocates them equally into the land tax.

It looks similar to spreading a small fortune into an acre, but it is actually not the case.

At the beginning of the People's Republic of China, fields were divided according to Dingkou. The emergence of landless and landless peasants was actually caused by the concentration of land from farmers to gentry.

Changes in landowners have led to an increase in population mobility between urban and rural areas, with invincible and landless farmers pouring into counties to seek livelihood.

If the amount of Ding is short of Ding and the amount of silver is lost, the financial corvee is based on Ding, making inspection difficult. The tax is determined based on acres, and verification is easy.

To implement the One-whip Law, it is necessary to verify the land area and the number of households. This is the foundation of finance.

What the minister is considering is to cancel the service of the peasants, calculate the tax according to the land, and determine the peasants according to the land. This needs to be mutually confirmed with the whip law. Only by finding a method that is beneficial to finance can it be implemented. "

Wei Guangde had only heard of the word "divide a small amount into an acreage", and he understood the meaning according to the meaning of the word, which is to set the small tax in the land tax as a custom. However, Wei Guangde did not know exactly how it was done in the Manchu Dynasty and how much it was set.

If there is too much, it will undoubtedly increase the burden on the people; if there is too little, it will be a loss to the government's finances.

After all, the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty has always been poor.

To put it bluntly, the purpose of reform is to collect more money, not less money.

As for some people who think that charging too much will increase the burden on the people, there is no point in it, because you are collecting money from the landlords, that can only be said.

Other officials may think so, but Wei Guangde does not.

The landowners have become very good at shifting burdens. If you charge too much, they will dare to make it difficult for the people to make a living.

Therefore, Wei Guangde felt that even if he wanted to divide the land from one person to another, he had to first go through a whipping method to find out the actual situation of the place, and then consider how to do it.

Emperor Longqing also understood. He knew that what Wei Guangde said about "dividing a small family into an equal share" could only be an idea in the short term, but there would be no specific implementation method, and he was not in a hurry.

On the contrary, I felt that Wei Guangde was reliable and prudent in his work.

He is using the effect of the whip method to calculate the gains and losses of the court after the tenants enter the land, and to avoid meaningless court disputes. This is the true expression of loyalty to state affairs.

"That's fine, I'm just waiting to see your memorial."

Emperor Longqing said casually.

After Wei Guangde said goodbye and withdrew from Qianqing Palace, he rushed back to the cabinet and informed Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen.

"Your Majesty will not take Li Fang's life, but will he be imprisoned for a while to vent his anger?"

Yin Shizhen frowned and said after hearing Wei Guangde's words.

"Your Majesty didn't say what exactly Li Fang said?"

Chen Yiqin said to Wei Guangde.

"I didn't say anything. I think it's some private matter for His Majesty."

Wei Guangde replied.

Yin Shizhen suddenly said: "Why don't I go to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment tomorrow to ask."

"Don't."

Wei Guangde hurriedly stood up to stop him and said: "Your Majesty doesn't want to say it, it must be a very confidential matter.

Although I don't think Li Fang would really do this, that's not important. What's important is that His Majesty thinks he said it. After all, only they must know about it.

If we really ask, we might be accused of spying on the secrets of the imperial palace, which is really unwise. ”

“Listen to Shandai, let’s stop here, we just need to take care of his daily life in prison.”

Chen Yiqin nodded and said, “Speaking of which, now I really doubt that Li Fang really said something he shouldn’t have said. "

Chen Yiqin's words made Yin Shizhan start to think, but Wei Guangde didn't think so.

If you don't want others to know, you must not do it yourself. Many things that you think are confidential, in fact, some unintentional actions have leaked the secret.

However, it is not ruled out that Li Fang said something taboo when he was drunk or under some circumstances, who can say for sure.

In the afternoon, Wei Guangde met Ma Sen, Wang Ting and others in the duty room, and handed them a draft of the charter for them to circulate. Naturally, it was about the result that Emperor Longqing wanted. The relatives of the emperor adopted a demotion system, and the amount of farmland was gradually reduced from generation to generation, and the amount of hereditary meritorious officials was fixed at 200 hectares.

"I have considered this matter, it is better to be early than late."

Wei Guangde said as they circulated it: "The sooner the dust settles, the court can collect taxes earlier.

If it is delayed for a year or two, the court will suffer in the end, and a part of the land tax that the meritorious relatives should pay will be reduced.

After all, as long as His Majesty is not satisfied, this matter may be delayed. "

When Wei Guangde spoke, several people looked at him, and even Wang Ting, who was holding the draft of the charter in his hand, looked up at him.

"Your Majesty's heart is half the court and half the nobles. Now he agreed to collect taxes from these people because of the court's financial difficulties, but if he thinks about it and thinks of the word delay..."

Wei Guangde didn't say anything else, they naturally understood what he meant.

To put it bluntly, the court is the world of civil officials, who help the emperor to shepherd the people, while the nobles are the foundation of the royal family's stable rule. It is easy to distinguish which one is more important.

Although the civil officials are powerful now, so what? They are just floating officials after all. The emperor is always changing people, while the nobles are hereditary and can be passed down from generation to generation, and can enjoy the court's benefits forever.

Whoever is most loyal to the emperor will naturally choose the nobles rather than the civil officials in his heart.

That is, Emperor Longqing has just ascended the throne and has not thought about these things. If Emperor Jiajing is in power, he would not even think about collecting taxes from the nobles.

Wei Guangde said this to put pressure on them, but it is also true.

"What Wei Ge Lao said is very true. Although we have a clear conscience in doing things, Your Majesty is deceived by the traitors after all. He does not know that we are dedicated to the country, and it is just a little more or less. It is better to first determine the rules and then slowly plan. "

Ma Sen agreed with Wei Guangde's words as soon as he opened his mouth, but his words also revealed a meaning, that is, what happened today is actually just the beginning, and the Ministry of Revenue will find ways to continue to collect money from the nobles and relatives.

"Master Ma is right. Now the nobles and relatives are extravagant and lustful, and the court is short of money. Now the rules for collecting taxes are set, and when the national funds are insufficient in the future, please ask Your Majesty to increase taxes. "

Wang Ting also agreed to set a precedent first, and then slowly tighten the rope in the future.

It's all because the predecessors didn't notice this and dragged this matter to this day.

However, Wang Ting forgot that the court's fiscal deficit actually only appeared occasionally during the Hongzhi and Zhengde dynasties. At that time, the income and expenditure could basically offset each other. The real large-scale deficit was in the middle and late Jiajing period.

At that time, Emperor Jiajing needed the nobles to stabilize his imperial power for him, so how could he allow them to be taxed.

In fact, the Jiajing Dynasty also tried every way to increase tax revenue, but it was just that it encountered an emperor who couldn't keep the door, and a group of people who had become powerful. The officials, various hidden rules are becoming more and more perfect, colluding with each other to embezzle the treasury silver, and now it has become too big to be eliminated.

As for Emperor Longqing, of course, we have to take the emperor's mood into consideration, so we have to pay attention to the timing, and talk about it when the court wants to do something big and has no money.

Wei Guangde was still sighing in his heart. If he really wanted to collect silver, he would follow the court system and collect the silver from scholars and nobles together, so that he had a legitimate reason.

He held the silver here and just wanted the nobles to pay. It was too beautiful and unrealistic.

Although scholars have less land, only officials have thousands of acres of land in their names. Generally, people with meritorious titles have hundreds of acres of land, or tens of acres at least. It seems that there is a huge gap compared with the nobles, but there are too many people.

How many nobles are there? How many people benefited from the two large-scale ennoblements from Zhu Yuanzhang to Zhu Di.

The imperial examination is different. Every three years, a group of people who should pay taxes but don't pay taxes will be produced. That is the key.

As for the deficit of the court, everyone here doesn't know what's going on. The Censorate is in charge of those things. It is called a clean stream, but it is actually turbid.

However, these sensitive topics, everyone here is a scholar, talking about the way of sages, only caring about governing the country and maintaining peace, and naturally will not be concerned about those money-loving people. Interested.

When people talk about land tax here, they are only talking about the people's money in the hands of the nobles, and will never touch other people.

The first draft was passed from Wang Ting to the Tuntian Censor, who quickly flipped through the first draft, but he knew in his heart that Wei Ge Lao's words just now had actually settled the matter and could not be changed.

Moreover, it seems that he has already waited for the approval of the Minister of Revenue and the Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Ting.

Well, the higher the official, the more powerful he is.

Although the Censor can complain about everything, but with Wang Ting around, what can he, a small Censor, do?

Isn't he worried about being bullied in the government?

If Wei Ge Lao exerted his power in the Ministry of Personnel, and Wang Ting turned a blind eye, he, a small seventh-rank official, might be sent out to be a county magistrate or something, which would be a loss.

Zhu Yuanzhang actually designed a good system, but he did not expect that in the Ming Dynasty, the officialdom had long been in collusion, and the supervisory power of the Censorate became a tool for officialdom struggle, losing its original meaning.

After reading the regulations, what to say?

The Tuntian Censor naturally knew the amount of farmland of those nobles. According to this standard, only the top nobles suffered a big loss, because they all owned thousands of acres of farmland.

For more marquises and earls, most of them only exceeded a little bit, and even a few families did not reach this amount.

Think about it, so it's better to do the work later, and it seems not bad.

The number set by Emperor Longqing was naturally well thought out, fully taking into account the interests of the nobles and relatives, and would not cause a fierce backlash.

"Lord Wei, Minister Ma, Lord Wang, I have no objection."

All those sitting here are second-rank officials of the court. He is a seventh-rank official and can only call himself a subordinate.

"Well, since everyone has no objection, can the Ministry of Revenue send the memorial to the cabinet tomorrow?"

Wei Guangde was very satisfied. Everyone was happy and no one had any objections. This was a good thing. The rest was to complete the procedures as soon as possible.

As the first step in the procedure, the Ministry of Revenue naturally submitted a memorial.

"I will arrange this matter when I return to the ministry today. It should not delay things, Lord Wang of the Censorate."

Ma Sen said.

For the memorial, it is too simple. Go back and summon the left and right assistant ministers, write the memorial directly, sign it, and send it tomorrow.

However, Ma Sen was a little hesitant about whether the Censorate should also sign it.

"If you two have nothing to do, you can go to the Ministry of Revenue together and sign the memorial."

Emperor Longqing's previous approval was to let him convene the Ministry of Revenue and the Tuntian Censor to discuss and then make a memorial, so it would be best if the new memorial had the signature of the Metropolitan Censorate.

"That's right."

The Metropolitan Censorate didn't have many tasks on weekdays. The Thirteen Censors and the Tuntian Censor didn't have much to do in the courtyard. If they were assigned to patrol the city, the affairs would be more complicated.

After the matter was settled, Wei Guangde sent them out of the duty room. He calculated that he was busy dealing with these things today and didn't deal with many memorials.

When Wei Guangde returned home after the court, although there were still many visitors at home, it was not as busy as the first month.

When Wei Guangde got off the sedan chair and returned to the mansion, the housekeeper Zhang Ji came over and said, "Master, at noon, Lord Tan of the Ministry of War and General Qi of the Beijing Camp sent someone to send a note saying that there would be something to discuss in the evening."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Wei Guangde said impatiently.

Zhang Ji should have sent someone to inform him earlier about this. If he was delayed by other things and did not return home, he would have left him alone.

Although Qi Jiguang was not a big shot, Tan Lun was a high-ranking official. He could not do such things that offended others.

"Today, a Liaodong merchant caravan came and said they brought two thousand-year-old wild ginsengs. I was in a hurry and forgot about this. Please punish me, sir."