However, all the officials present lowered their eyebrows and lowered their eyes at this moment, with calm expressions, as if they had not heard what Li Huan said.
It's just that these people look calm on the surface, but they can't be calm inside.
As central ministers, these data can be said to be related to the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. To say that these central ministers are not aware of the changes in these data is to really underestimate these people.
However, even if they knew it, what could they do? They knew better than anyone else the root causes behind these data changes.
In the final analysis, it is land annexation, and the root cause of all this is the people themselves, or the interest groups they represent.
It was the tycoons, gentry, officials, and nobles from all over the Ming Dynasty who worked together to force the Ming Dynasty from its peak to decline step by step.
Zhu Houzhao, who was sitting there, glanced at the officials, and it could be said that he saw all the officials' expressions and reactions.
With Zhu Houzhao's current cultivation level in the innate realm, he could even clearly feel the changes in the auras of everyone present.
I originally thought that after listening to what Li Huan said, the important ministers present would have some emotional fluctuations.
What disappointed Zhu Houzhao was that, except for a very small number of officials, most of the dozen or so people present showed no signs of disturbance at all.
You don't need to guess to know that what Li Huan said is not a secret to them. In other words, these people are well aware of this data and are not surprised at all.
At the same time, Li Huan took out another yellow book from the box. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that this yellow book was a newly revised yellow book.
Then I heard Li Huan say loudly: "I inspected Yutian County and personally supervised the census of the population and acres of Yutian County. It has been found that Yutian County has more than 800,000 acres of land and more than 200,000 acres."
After the words fell, Zhu Houzhao stood up directly, stared at Li Huan, and said with a trembling voice: "Li Qing, how many Dingkou and farm acres did you think were found in Yutian County?"
Obviously Zhu Houzhao was shocked by the data revealed by Li Huan. Although Zhu Houzhao had been mentally prepared and knew that it was normal for the local government to conceal Dingkou and Tianmu, in Zhu Houzhao's view, even those in the local area
Even if the Dingkou was concealed, the landowner would have a certain degree of confidence. It would be good to be able to conceal a few percent, but what Li Huan said now made Zhu Houzhao find it unbelievable.
Judging from the results of the investigation in Yutian County alone, it is not a matter of concealing a few percent of the report, but a matter of cutting it in half. Moreover, Yutian County is not too far from the capital. It cannot be said that the sky is high and the emperor is far away. At least the imperial power still exists.
Some influence exists.
But even in this case, Yutian County still concealed almost half of the land and acres.
Looking at the world at large, Zhu Houzhao suddenly felt a surge of anger rising spontaneously.
Taking a deep breath and suppressing the anger in his heart, Zhu Houzhao said in a deep voice to one of the officials: "Cheng Yuan, let me ask you, according to the records of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the total number of people in my Ming Dynasty is
What is the geometry of an acre? What is the geometry of a tin?”
The person who was named was none other than Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Revenue. This person could also be regarded as the second-in-command in the Ministry of Revenue besides the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue. He definitely knew the situation of the Ministry of Revenue very well.
Now after listening to the emperor's words, he stepped forward and said respectfully to the emperor: "Back to your majesty, the last nationwide inventory of land and acres was in the fourth year of Hongzhi, and it has been nearly twenty years..."
Zhu Houzhao frowned, interrupted Cheng Yuan and said, "I'm asking you how many acres and acres we have in Ming Dynasty."
As if he heard the anger in the emperor's words, Cheng Yuan hurriedly said: "In the fourth year of Hongzhi's inventory, our Ming Dynasty has a total of more than 413.8 million acres of land, and more than 5340 acres of Dingkou.
Ten thousand."
After listening to Cheng Yuan's words, a stern look flashed in Zhu Houzhao's eyes. Finally, he looked at the officials present with a half-smile and said: "I never thought that the last land and Dingkou inspection in Ming Dynasty would be when my father was in power.
It has been twenty years. After twenty years, the number of acres and acres must have changed."
Zhu Houzhao said slowly: "The land and Dingkou are the foundation of the country. We live high in the temple. If we don't even know how many acres and Dingkou the Ming Dynasty owns, wouldn't I, the emperor, be derelict in my duty?"
Already."
When Wang Yangming heard this, he immediately stepped forward and saluted the emperor: "Your Majesty, I pray that your Majesty will issue an order to take advantage of this opportunity of tax reform to conduct an inventory of all the land in the world."
Li Huan said without hesitation: "I second the proposal!"
While speaking, the emperor's eyes turned to Yang Tinghe, Liu Yu and other officials.
These people also reacted at this moment, and saw Yang Tinghe also facing the emperor with a serious face and saying: "Your Majesty is far-sighted, and I am far behind. Inventorying the fields in the world, Dingkou can give your Majesty a clearer understanding of the current situation of the Ming Dynasty."
, I have no objection!”
Then he saw a crowd of people bowing together and saying, "I second my opinion!"
Zhu Houzhao nodded slightly, his eyes fell on Li Huan and Wang Yangming, and said decisively: "Li Qing, Wang Qing listens to the order!"
When Li Huan and Wang Yangming heard this, they immediately looked solemn and stood up with bows.
Then I heard Zhu Houzhao say: "I ordered you two to take charge of the tax reform, thoroughly implement the tax reform all over the world, and thoroughly inspect the land and Dingkou in the world, no matter who is involved or even the royal family, we will also investigate.
We need to know clearly how many acres and tenths of land we have in Ming Dynasty."
Previously, Li Huan and Wang Yangming only selected a few provinces centered on Gyeonggi Province to implement tax reforms in order to seek stability and discover various problems that would arise during tax reforms.
The reason why Li Huan personally went on inspection, and even presided over a detailed inventory of the population and land in Yutian County, was to obtain first-hand intelligence information.
Now that Li Huan was back, Zhu Houzhao just looked at the box of yellow books that Li Huan brought back and felt a connection with Li Huan. Without waiting for Li Huan to ask, he directly announced in front of everyone present that the tax reform would be implemented in the two capitals of the Ming Dynasty.
It will be fully implemented in 13 provinces.
Li Huan and Wang Yangming looked at each other, bowed and said in a deep voice: "I will take your orders!"
Officials such as Yang Tinghe, Cheng Yuan, Liu Yu and others looked at this scene with no intention of standing up to oppose it. Instead, they looked on with cold eyes.
Even after Zhu Houzhao waited for a while, no one came out to object. He couldn't help but glanced at Yang Tinghe and others in surprise, and saw that Yang Tinghe and others looked submissive. He suppressed the surprise in his heart and said slowly: "Everyone from the Qing family
If nothing happens, please step back."
After everyone left, Li Huan, who was specially stayed by the emperor, was walking with Zhu Houzhao in the imperial garden.
In the past, Zhu Houzhao would be accompanied by Gao Feng, Qiu Ju and others. On the one hand, he wanted everyone to serve him, and on the other hand, he wanted Gao Feng and others to protect his safety.
But now Zhu Houzhao sent Gao Feng and others far away, leaving them more than ten feet away behind him, while he and Li Huan only moved forward slowly.
Zhu Houzhao, who had his hands behind his back, stepped forward and said to Li Huan as if he were talking to everyone: "Li Qing is inspecting the local area this time. I think he has a very deep understanding of the local area. I want to ask Li Qing whether this tax reform will go smoothly."
Implement it?"
When he said this, Zhu Houzhao stopped, with a somewhat solemn look on his face. It was obvious that Zhu Houzhao had doubts about whether the tax reform could be successful.
This is not surprising. Looking at history, every famous reform has not been smooth sailing. Especially the data about the acres and Dingkou of a local county in Yutian County that Li Huan brought back not long ago made Zhu Houzhao clearly realize how corrupt the foundation of the Ming Dynasty was.
To what extent.
It can be said that almost half of the acres of land in the Ming Dynasty were concealed. What a benefit this was.
In the final analysis, any reform is a distribution of interests. When interests are involved, it is not just a play. If you are not careful, big troubles will occur.
It is precisely because of this that Zhu Houzhao, the emperor, showed some worry and looked at Li Huan, as if he wanted Li Huan to give him some confidence.
Li Huan stopped, half a step behind the emperor, and looked at the emperor with a firm look in his eyes and said slowly: "No matter how unspeakable things may happen in the process of reform, it is related to our country, the Ming Dynasty, and I will rule it out."
Despite all difficulties, we must push forward reform."
Li Huan didn't know whether the world would be turbulent because of tax reform, but Li Huan knew that if tax reform was not implemented, the Ming Dynasty would probably collapse in less than a hundred years.
Moreover, the taxation reform that Li Huan prepared for the Ming Dynasty was only the first step in the tax reform. There would also be a series of changes such as the return of fire to the public, the unified payment of grain by officials and gentry, the reform of commercial taxation, and the abolition of the maritime ban.
Li Huan can imagine that even if those vested interests do not stand up to stir up trouble under the changes that divide the family into farmers, his subsequent series of changes will inevitably destroy those vested interests who are unwilling to lose their interests.
Force rebellion.
A turmoil affecting the Ming Dynasty was almost foreseeable, but we just didn't know when those people would jump out and resist under his step-by-step pressure.
Looking at Zhu Houzhao, Li Huan said with a serious face: "Your Majesty, you can rest assured. If you can use a momentary turmoil to exchange for the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years, I think it is feasible."
Even Wang Yangming, who was Li Huan's natural ally, was not aware of Li Huan's next series of changes. In the huge Ming Dynasty, apart from Li Huan himself, only the emperor knew what Li Huan would do next.
It was precisely because he knew that Li Huan's next series of changes would go straight to those local powerful people, gentry, officials and even royal family members and nobles, which can be said to be the vested interests in the world, that Li Huan had to offend him many times, and Zhu Houzhao was able to
He seemed so worried.
Looking at Li Huan's resolute look, Zhu Houzhao suddenly took a deep breath, with a smile on his face and said: "What Ai Qing said is true, for the sake of the people of the world to have a way to live, for the sake of my Ming Dynasty, even if
Even if the whole world rebels, I will stand with Aiqing and support Aiqing in carrying out the reform."
Li Huan knew very well that the Ming Dynasty was already in decline. If Zhang Juzheng had not come forward in the future to turn the tide and extend the life of the Ming Dynasty for nearly a hundred years, I am afraid that within a few decades, the Ming Dynasty would be like the dynasties in history and be regarded by those who came after it.
replace.
In history, the Qing Dynasty actually showed some decline in the last years of Kangxi. That is to say, when Yong Laosi came to power, he forcibly implemented the method of apportioning people into acres, reverting fire expenses to the public, and the officials and gentry all paid for the food. They forced the government with the face of a tyrant.
Pull the Tatar Qing carriage, which was rapidly falling into the abyss, back on track and change the history of the Hulu national destiny that lasted for hundreds of years.
I have to say that the tax reform of Yong Laosi really continued the national destiny of the Tatars for hundreds of years. You must know that in the last years of Kangxi, what Yong Laosi took over from Kangxi was a mess. The Ministry of Households was in deficit of millions of taels of silver, and the world
Corruption among officials is rampant. If it were the old man Shiquan who came to power, I am afraid that the Tatar Qing Dynasty might really fall directly into his hands and follow the footsteps of the Meng Yuan Dynasty.
However, thanks to the tax reform, from the state treasury deficit in the last years of Kangxi to the succession of old man Shiquan, Yongzheng, an emperor regarded as a tyrant by the world's literati, left an abundant treasury with a surplus of 50 to 60 million taels to old man Shiquan.
Since the Qing Dynasty can rely on tax reform to break the curse of the Hulu that will not last for a hundred years, then there is no problem in relying on tax reform to extend the life of the Ming Dynasty.
The emperor and his ministers were walking in the imperial garden. At this time, Zhu Houzhao seemed to have put aside the worries in his heart, and he seemed much more relaxed.
Suddenly, Zhu Houzhao seemed to have remembered something. He paused and looked at Li Huan and said, "How is Li Qing going to deal with the officials in Yutian County?"
Hearing the emperor speak, Li Huan couldn't help but flash a cold look in his eyes, and said with murderous intent: "Kill."
As he spoke, Li Huan looked at the emperor and said: "Although killing is the worst way, I have to admit that sometimes only killing can solve problems, and only killing can shock people's hearts."
Zhu Houzhao was not surprised or surprised at all by Li Huan's murderous words.
If Li Huan really released those officials in Yutian County, that would really make the emperor feel strange.
Nodding slightly, Zhu Houzhao looked at Li Huan and said: "Li Qing, just go ahead and do it. I will block all the obstacles in the court for you. As for the place..."
Li Huan laughed loudly and said: "With His Majesty in the court as my backing, just leave it to me to deal with some local clowns."
Having said that, why didn't Zhu Houzhao know that the overt swords and hidden arrows in the court were relatively the best to deal with, and the real troubles and dangers came from the local areas.
Just thinking about the changes that Li Huan had prepared for the local powerful, gentry, officials and other vested interest groups, Zhu Houzhao could imagine how those people would react if their own interests were compromised.
With a sigh, Zhu Houzhao looked at Li Huan solemnly and said slowly: "The Qing family has said that they will work with me to create a prosperous Ming Dynasty, and our reputation will be passed down through the ages. I am waiting for that day, and the Qing family will be careful in everything!"
[I’m asking for monthly tickets at the end of the month.]