The number of officials in the Shaowu Dynasty increased by nearly twice that of the previous Ming Dynasty.
Many of these subordinate officials were included in the list, received salaries, and came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel.
The holding of the provincial examinations allowed many talented people to participate in the yamen, and the hereditary inheritance of subordinate officials was suddenly cut off.
At the same time, subordinate officials were promoted through provincial examinations. Although they created some scholars who did not know how to work at the grassroots level, it improved their quality and further contributed to the local chief officials' control over the local area.
Moreover, subordinate officials are appointed locally, while the officials after the provincial examination are randomly assigned by the government and appointed as officials in other counties, which can effectively prevent them from forming cliques for personal gain.
Therefore, there is a popular saying: officials are like officials, and the administration of officials is more abundant than in the previous dynasty!
This also laid the foundation for the implementation of the Shaowu Dynasty's New Deal.
Reducing rents and interest rates, promoting rural elders, promoting officials, direct tax collection, and promoting crops...
Each one of these, piece by piece, has created this prosperous world today.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Personnel, the average number of officials per county has expanded from a hundred in the Ming Dynasty to more than two hundred, nearly three hundred.
Among them, there are not only inspections, noon work, monks, Taoists, Yin and Yang officials, etc., but also six-room book offices, officials, and folk elders.
Government and provincial government offices also gradually expanded in number in order to be able to manage such a large bureaucracy.
As a result, there are about 5,000 civil and military officials in the central government, and more than 400,000 in local areas.
In fact, government agencies also hired a large number of white servants to work, and their number was three to five times the total number of officials.
Generally speaking, there were 200 million people in the Ming Dynasty, and the number of people who ate the imperial food was about 3 million, including the army, officials, officials, white servants, etc.
The ratio of officials to civilians is about seventy to one.
And you must know that in the pre-Ming Dynasty, only 200,000 people ate the imperial rations, so they were harshly criticized by the literati. The financial burden was too heavy. The emperor constantly made severe deductions and often used banknotes, pepper, etc. to pay off debts.
The total salary of these people exceeds 60 million a year.
Among them, the army includes the Beijing camp, frontier troops, and patrol battalions, totaling about 700,000, and it costs 30 million to support them.
Thinking of this, Yan Chongxin, who has always been with money and food, couldn't help but tremble and said:
"The number of officials in my dynasty is far greater than that in the previous dynasties. Throughout the thousands of years ago, only my dynasty has the most officials!"
"The annual income is 60 million, which is unprecedented!"
Zhao Langxing, the Minister of Rites, heard this and sighed: "What Zhongtang said is absolutely true."
"In recent years, many gentry among the people have talked about abolishing officials to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. There are too many officials in the court, which makes people uncomfortable!"
"But speaking of it, it is rare that so many officials can still be safely placed in the hands of Zhongtang, and their salaries have not been in arrears!"
When Yan Chongxin heard this, he looked slightly interested and said: "There are many officials, and a certain person in the cabinet is often uneasy. After thinking over and over again, I finally got something."
"This Ming Dynasty was entirely maintained by commercial taxes."
Last year's autumn taxes gradually arrived in the capital, and the amount was in line with the cabinet's estimate.
What is more phenomenal is that the commercial tax in Shaowu's 18th year exceeded the agricultural tax for the first time, which was extremely shocking to the cabinet.
The local government paid 90 million silver yuan, but the grain tax was only about 40 million yuan. If converted into grain, one stone and eight silver cents, that is 50 million stone.
Compared with the pre-Ming Dynasty, it has almost doubled.
The cabinet carefully studied and found that in addition to more thorough tax collection, most of the growth points lay in the development of Taiwan and the three northeastern regions, especially the Liaodong region, which was vast and sparsely populated, and most of the food eaten by the capital came from the region.
Among the commercial taxes, wine, tea, iron, and salt are miscellaneous taxes. On salt alone, 20 million yuan is paid a year, which is really outrageous.
The rest of the customs duties shared with the local governments are also paid in taxes, ranging from 20 million to 10 million.
Adding in some scattered pieces, the total reached 53 million silver coins.
Therefore, in Yan Chongxin's eyes, Suiyuan and Chahar had more tax revenue, while Annan had nothing but food. If he had to choose between Annan and Suiyuan, he would rather choose Suiyuan.
Yan Chongxin explained the key points of taxation to several people and was filled with emotion.
If commercial taxes are removed, then just looking at the grain tax of 40 million, it is simply impossible to support such a large army and bureaucracy.
This results in a bureaucracy that relies on commercial taxes.
"It's impossible to emphasize agriculture and suppress business." Su Ziweng, the Minister of Household Affairs, agreed, and then said angrily:
"Many ignorant people say that the court neglects agriculture and favors business, and competes with the people for profits. If there is no struggle, how can the court survive?"
"Are we going to be like Emperor Chongzhen of the pre-Ming Dynasty, who asked hundreds of officials for alms to support the army?"
"Okay!" Yan Chongxin reassured: "They are all young and careless people. Naturally, the imperial government will put taxes on them, so they will feel uncomfortable."
"Don't listen to his nonsense."
Zhao Langxing on the side was speechless.
He finally understood that these two people came here to sing Double Yellow and perform for himself.
A few days ago, his family was fined 2,000 silver yuan for failing to pay customs duties. These days, they have been showing off to the Ministry of Household Affairs, which is not pleasing to their eyes.
Yan Chongxin glanced at Zhao Langxing and saw that he pursed his lips without saying a word. He smiled in his heart and nodded slightly to Su Ziweng.
Su Ziweng also cooperated: "Let me tell you, the imperial court has over ten million left every year. Just in case, the commercial tax should be collected more."
"In the middle hall, how about following the example of the former Song Dynasty and implementing official camps?"
"Official wine, official salt, official vinegar, official tea, official cloth, according to me, the commercial tax revenue can be at least 30 to 50 million taels. If it exceeds 10 million taels, it will be considered a real prosperous age.
!”
"No." Zhao Langxing couldn't sit still anymore: "Zhao Song has redundant officials and soldiers, and they have to supply the barbarians. Naturally, they will detain the people harshly. Now that our emperor loves the government and loves the people, it is absolutely impossible to do this."
"I'm afraid that once implemented, the people will be unstable."
His family runs a large number of vinegar and wine shops. If these were nationalized and the imperial court personally operated the monopoly, it would be a waste of money.
"Sit down!" Yan Chongxin smiled slightly and asked unhurriedly:
"Why are business taxes twice as high as those of the previous dynasty, but the people don't respond?"
"I don't know, I don't know." Zhao Langxing calmed down.
"I was also confused, and His Majesty personally explained that these are direct taxes and indirect taxes."
Yan Chongxin shook his head, stood up and cupped his hands in the direction of the Forbidden City, expressing his admiration for the emperor:
"The so-called direct tax, the so-called agricultural tax, is taken personally from farmers. Naturally, everyone hates it."
"But indirect taxes are different. For example, if the price of cloth is higher, the clothes will be worn for a few more days. When they can no longer wear them, they will stamp their feet and buy them again. At that time, they will only scold profiteers. Why blame the court?"
"Besides, those who can afford it will always have some money in their pockets, and those who can't afford it will naturally not buy it."
"Therefore, commercial taxes must not only be collected, but must be collected continuously. Agricultural taxes, on the other hand, should be as light as possible and the tax should be as light as possible. Only when the people have money in their pockets can commercial taxes be collected."
Zhao Langxing suddenly realized.
He was silent for a while and then said: "I understand, I understand."
Yan Chongxin nodded slightly and showed a genuine smile.
Afterwards, he hurried to the capital and reported the matter to the emperor.
After Zhu Yixi listened to his explanation, he sighed: "After all, I have read books and know the appropriateness. Just explain it clearly."
"Some scholars, who have been officials for many years, have forgotten the principles in the books of sages and have their eyes covered by money. They really need to learn more."
Yan Chongxin flattered him: "Your Majesty took pity on him and allowed him to reform. He is truly a sage through the ages."
In response, Zhu Yixi shook her head and continued to cut a flower tree in front of her.
The scissors in her hand were flying very fast, and in a short time, the whole tree was pruned into pits, as if it had been gnawed by a dog, which was extremely ugly.
When Yan Chongxin saw it, his eyelids trembled and he pretended not to have seen it.
Zhu Yixi, on the other hand, looked at it carefully and seemed extremely satisfied.
Seeing that his expression did not change, he said: "Pruning trees is not about the present, but about the future."
"Remove those branches and leaves, leaving space for new branches, so as to make them more beautiful and moving. Temporary beauty and ugliness are nothing. The most important thing is the future."
When Yan Chongxin heard this, he looked as if he had some understanding.
In fact, Zhu Yixi was not in a very calm mood. He just pruned flowers and trees to calm himself down.
If it was back then, if an official yelled something about competing for the interests of the people, he would have slapped him in the face and demoted him to the bottom, just to relieve his anger.
But now that he has been on the throne for a long time, he has matured and learned to be steady.
Zhao Langxing, the Minister of Rites, appears to be a single person, but in fact there is a large number of civil and military officials standing behind him. Dealing with him will not be effective at all.
This group of people can be referred to as the vested interest group.
They are different from the gentry in the late Ming Dynasty. This group of people is composed of officials and businessmen.
People from the family are promoted to serve as officials, and then the clan members engage in business, connect and support each other, and thus become powerful.
After all, the imperial examination requires not only brains, but also money.
The most typical representative is the Shanxi Shanxi merchant group.
Huizhou merchants were poor and had to go out to do business, while Shanxi merchants benefited from border trade and focused their main talents on business.
This kind of person reminds Zhu Yixi of the new aristocratic group in Britain.
What is a new aristocracy? It is an aristocracy that no longer relies on land, but relies on business to make a fortune, and its thinking is broader.
According to common sense, when there was a rebellion in Scotland, Charles II wanted to raise taxes to solve the military spending problem. This is a normal thinking.
But the new aristocracy refused and demanded restrictions on taxation rights. If they disagreed, they immediately rebelled.
The so-called issue of Catholic faith is just an excuse, mainly about interests.
What is the Ming Dynasty of this behavior?
The gentry in Jiangnan who did not pay taxes.
The salt tax is one million a year, and the tea tax is hundreds of thousands. They are just playing tricks on the lake.
Nowadays, agricultural taxes have been reduced and the centralization of power in the Shaowu Dynasty has increased. The gentry had to surrender and most of them paid land taxes.
At this time, the businessmen who were heavily taxed were not happy.
Especially the rich and powerful government officials and businessmen, who could have made 100% of the profits, now have to pay 30% to the court. Who can bear it?
With the continuous development of the commodity economy, the imperial court's mercantilist thinking from top to bottom has led to a curved increase in the status of merchants, and their demands have naturally emerged:
"Tax cuts!
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Ideologically, they used the slogan of managing the world and governing the country, and vigorously demanded that the court pay attention to commercial development and reduce the burden on merchants.
In terms of behavior, they asked the court to pay attention to the interests of merchants, such as reducing taxes and reducing checkpoints...
On the surface, this is a very normal request.
But this conflicted with the interests of the imperial court.
Since the shogunate era, commercial taxes have been levied aggressively.
For example, salt from Sichuan entered Chu and grain from Chu entered Wu. Relying on the golden trade route of the Yangtze River, the shogunate continued to collect commercial taxes and supported an army of 100,000 people.
Otherwise, it would be extremely difficult to rely solely on the ravaged Hubei region.
In order to appease businessmen, Zhu Yixi continuously introduced policies to create a good business environment and eliminate official governance.
For example, when he ascended the throne in Nanjing, he abolished low-level households and miscellaneous households and called them all civilian households.
On the surface, it looks like low-income households are benefiting, but in fact, a large number of businessmen have gained substantial benefits.
Because in the pre-Ming Dynasty, except for a small number of merchants in the Jiangnan area, it was difficult for a large number of merchants to pass the imperial examination.
The policies introduced by the emperor cleared the way for his descendants to take the imperial examinations.
The economic base determines the superstructure, no longer.
Every policy of the central court has profound meaning.
At the same time, when an untouchable household becomes a civilian household, it means that it no longer enjoys the tax-free policy, and everything it does will be taxed.
In other words, from now on, brothels will also have to pay taxes.
Officials hate lowly households, not only because of their low status, but also because they do not pay taxes, do not perform corvee labor, and are unprofitable.
The underlying reason for the abolition of low-income households during the Yongzheng period was to expand tax sources and collect taxes.
Dan households wandering along the coast, lazy people, beggars, etc. in the Jiangnan area were also included in the household registration and paid taxes.
Otherwise, the Manchu emperors and the nobles of the Eight Banners would not be able to take care of them. How could they care about the humble households that have existed for hundreds or thousands of years?
The fact that all dynasties have ignored it also shows that it is unprofitable.
When it comes to taxation, if the agricultural tax is light, the commercial tax will be heavy. It’s either one or the other, and there is no balance at all.
But now, Emperor Shaowu has chosen to put less emphasis on land taxes and more on commercial taxes, which has made a group of businessmen who are used to a relaxed life and whose strength is gradually growing uncomfortable.
Officials' demands for re-business are supported by a group of businessmen, or they themselves are engaged in business.
Faced with these people, no matter how we deal with them, we are just forcibly suppressing the conflicts and making them more intensified, which is not worth it.
"The previous Ming Dynasty relied on land taxes, so it was very careful about the gentry. Our dynasty relies on commercial taxes, so we must also be careful about this group of merchants."
It was precisely because he thought so deeply that Zhu Yixi was angry.
Cut taxes today, fight for power tomorrow, overthrow the emperor the day after.
This can be traced in Western history.
In the East, due to the long-term autocratic monarchy, the monarch will die if he compromises.
For Zhu Yixi, if the so-called sprout of capital is to seize his power and overthrow his family rule, then it's okay not to have this sprout.
Power is like poison, once you enter it you can't get rid of it.
"However, there are pros and cons."
Zhu Yixi suddenly breathed a sigh of relief again.
Since the country relies on commercial taxes to survive, it will inevitably not abandon commercial taxes and continue to increase the amount to maintain financial health.
At the same time, since ancient times, farmers have made up the majority in China, which means that most scholars come from the landlord group. This group of people may be mercantile, but they will never get rid of Confucianism.
After all, Confucianism to the present Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is the product of the transformation of the landlord class.
"Suppression and development are not contradictory."
The emperor muttered to himself, and then said: "You did a good job."
Yan Chongxin was overjoyed: "This is what I should do."
"Business taxation is so important that the country and the dynasty look up to it, so how can we lightly touch it?"