When Huang Zongxi heard Zhu Heji's question, he immediately laughed. As long as this conference can be held, it will be his victory!

As for what they are discussing, it doesn't matter at all... Even if they discuss supporting Zhu Da Jianguo as the emperor, or even if they discuss selecting beauties for Zhu Da Jianguo to build a palace, it is no big deal.

Thinking of this, Huang Zongxi immediately replied: "Jian Guo, as long as this council is held, you can discuss whatever you want. Moreover, the gentry and students in Jiangnan have always supported the imperial court, and they also know that what the Supervisor wants to do is for

The country is for the people, and the world is for the common good."

Is it really that good? Zhu Heji sneered in his heart: "Don't you Jiangnan gentry want me to kneel down and ask for money? You think that the Gu family is eager to raise military funds to fight Kang Mazi, so you want to use this matter to manipulate

Gujia, so as to institutionalize the consultative council... and at the same time legalize your monopolization of local areas!"

Thinking of this, Zhu Heji laughed and seemed to be very satisfied with Huang Zongxi's answer. He smiled and said: "Then let's issue an edict. The regiment training envoys in the counties under the jurisdiction of Jiangnan and Zhejiang provinces, as well as those who have donated money to the Northern Expedition, will

Rich people with more than 10,000 taels can come to Nanjing Yingtianfucheng on November 1st to sign up for the Jiangnan Consultative Conference... The convening of the consultative conference, the training of participating groups, and the qualification review of the rich are all conducted by

Yingtian Mansion and Taishi Mansion are jointly responsible for the Attendance Department.

Mr. Lizhou, you are a great Confucian and a leader of scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, and you also helped Kangxi organize a consultative meeting, so you are familiar with the world, so you should take the overall responsibility for this matter!"

Huang Zongxi immediately bowed and said loudly: "The saint is dedicated to serving the public and the world, which is really a blessing to the people and a blessing to the country. I will do my best to hold this conference for the saint... I promise,

Next year, the people of Jiangnan and Zhejiang provinces can bear at least 70% of the funds needed for the imperial court’s Northern Expedition to the Central Plains!”

"Okay, this is very good..." Zhu Heji continued to praise on the surface, but in his heart he thought: "The Gu family just wants to dig up the roots of you Jiangnan gentry. Can the council agree to this?"

Parliament...dare to disagree?”

...

"Teacher, has the Supervisor agreed to hold a consultation meeting?"

"Father, you are very happy today. Has the matter of convening the consultation meeting been completed?"

Wuyi Lane, Taishi Mansion. As soon as Huang Zongxi walked into the gate, his beloved disciple Wan Sida and his son Huang Baijia were waiting inside. They could already tell from the expression on his face that something big and happy had happened.

Huang Zongxi did not hide it from his disciples and son, and laughed loudly: "Jian Guo is indeed a rare wise king... He can indeed be called a saint! Let's talk to each other among the three clans!"

After saying that, he strode towards his deep mansion.

When father, son, master and disciple met again in the third hall of Taishi Mansion, Huang Zongxi had already put on a loose Taoist attire, a black sand square scarf on his head, and no sword or sword hanging on his belt.

The hammer is empty.

Wan Sida and Huang Baijia, like Huang Zongxi, were all dressed as homely scholar-bureaucrats. While drinking tea, the three of them discussed matters about the upcoming Ming Dynasty version of the Jiangnan Consultative Council.

"Anqing has been captured... Kangxi has lost two of the three fortresses along the Yangtze River, leaving only the Guazhou Jiangbei Camp, which cannot be defended for long. In the beginning of spring, the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains will definitely be launched.

Then you will have to spend a lot of money."

"Father, my child has already had sex with the people below...money is not an issue!"

"Teacher, although Jiangnan and Zhejiang provinces have experienced wars and their vitality has been severely damaged, the old foundation is still there. If you press hard, you can still get 20 million taels of silver."

"Really? Are there really that many?" Huang Zongxi was a little surprised by the figure reported by his disciple Wan Si. "When the previous dynasty was at its peak, the tax and grain quota for Southern Zhili and Zhejiang was only 8.5 million shi...

..The commercial tax and salt tax add up to one million taels at most. How can you just come up with 20 million taels of silver now?"

Wan Sida, who had been the governor of Jiangnan for a while, took the teacher's question and before answering, he sighed: "Hey, it's not because of the years of war and the ferocious monsters in Jiangnan that our Jiangnan Shilin has been devastated...

..Now Jiangnan and Zhejiang provinces have less gentry land and more civilian land. According to what students know, the farmland in Zhejiang Province is more than 40 million acres, and the farmland in Jiangnan is almost the same amount. There are a total of 89 million acres!

Moreover, there are a large number of mulberry fields, cotton fields, and tea fields, and the income is several times that of rice. Among the rice fields, there are also many paddy fields that are harvested twice a year. In the land of fish and rice, one acre of land is allocated less than two coins of silver, and the total is

We already have 16 million taels. If we allocate another four million taels to the merchants, wouldn’t we have 20 million taels?”

After Huang Zongxi heard this, he couldn't help but sigh: "Even if the three-rate increase in the previous Ming Dynasty was paid in full, it would only be more than 20 million taels. This was distributed to the whole country. As a result, rebellions were forced everywhere. Now in Jiangnan

, the two provinces of Zhejiang can actually afford 20 million...really there won't be any trouble?"

"No," Wan Si shook his head. "In the past, there were many people and few fields... In Jiangnan and Zhejiang, one acre of land rent was far more than two yuan! Now there are fewer people and more fields.

Naturally, the grain received by the gentry was much less, and after the great chaos, small farmers also had more land in their hands. In addition, the gentry's land in the previous Ming Dynasty did not pay taxes, but this dynasty does not yet have this rule."

What he said is true. In the late Ming Dynasty, most of the land actually did not pay taxes or bear apportionment. Therefore, the 20 million and 300 yuan were paid on a small number of land. This caused widespread bankruptcy of small farmers. In addition,

The impact of natural disasters has left people in dire straits.

After years of chaos in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the power of the gentry in the world was severely damaged, and most of the land they owned was scattered into the hands of farmers. Moreover, the Qing Dynasty was harsh to the common people, and also to the scholar-bureaucrats in Jiangnan, and to those in Jiangnan who owed taxes and failed to pay them.

The scholar-bureaucrats were also unceremonious and directly deposed their titles. In the memorial case of the 18th year of Shunzhi, more than 13,000 people had their titles revoked at once!

In the same year, eighteen more Jiangnan scholars were beheaded in the Wailing Temple Grain Resistance Case!

These two major cases, coupled with the subsequent Tonghai case, Ming history case and coastal boundary relocation, have made everyone in Jiangnan Shilin feel in danger. Who dares to resist tax evasion?

Although the current ruler of Jiangnan has changed, the prestige of the scholar-bureaucrats will not be restored for a while.

Therefore, the current tax base is much wider than that in the late Ming Dynasty!

In addition, due to the decrease in population but not such a decrease in land, the portion of the total land output used to support people is also less than before the Ming Dynasty, and the portion responsible for taxes and apportionments can naturally be larger.

In fact, this is a question of dynastic periodicity... Both the Qing Dynasty and the Xinming Dynasty are actually in the early stages of dynastic periodicity.

In the early years of the dynasty, the government was flourishing, so it was naturally easier to do things than in the last years of the dynasty. But if the court just messed around, it would be easy to overturn. If the government just ruled from the top and did nothing... now it is three thousand years later.

We are in the midst of great changes!

Therefore, Zhu Heji had to work hard and create an industrial revolution in his lifetime, so that the future of the Chinese dynasty could be guaranteed.

And if we want to bring about the Industrial Revolution...of course we have to dig up the roots of the Jiangnan scholar-bureaucrats!

The Qing Dynasty was so cruel that they wanted to chop off the heads of the scholar-bureaucrats!

Zhu Heji was a saint, so he didn't want to chop off the heads of the scholar-bureaucrats, he just wanted to cut off their lives!

And what is the lifeblood of scholar-bureaucrats?

Of course it's the monopoly on land and the monopoly on education...and the latter is especially crucial!

Moreover, the two can be closed into a circle. Monopolizing the land also controls the financial resources at the grassroots level. With money, you can run your own private education. If your children are well educated, they can take the imperial examination and become high officials.

.....When you become a high official, you can monopolize more land!

In this way, the scholar-bureaucrats can not only gradually monopolize the grassroots, but also solidify the class step by step.

If the grassroots are completely controlled by them, then the so-called centralized feudal country will actually be emptied by them... And once the class is solidified, the heroes at the bottom can only hope to stand up if they want to stand up.
Chapter completed!