"Since ancient times, the Xiongnu who entered China, have they been able to last long? The Ming Dynasty has accumulated profound virtues, and its descendants will celebrate the rejuvenation. The great emperor today is wise and powerful, which is a blessing to the Ming Dynasty and a blessing to the vassal country. Moreover, Emperor Shenzong will never forget in our country for a hundred generations.
Because of the kindness of the strong and the weak, I endured it with shame, and now, I hate it more than I can say..."
Zhu Yongxing put down the credentials of North Korea and let out a long breath. Even though the Ming Dynasty had its faults and problems, it was still admired and yearned for by the vassal states. The dirt on the culture can be washed away, and the problems that arise can be solved.
But it should never be replaced by barbarism and backwardness.
Moreover, Chinese culture itself has strong vitality and is a culture that constantly renews and evolves itself, rather than a culture that is rigid and retrogressive.
To restore China's traditional culture and thought, of course, it is definitely not to go back thousands of years ago and start over at the level of Confucius and Mencius. It is to inherit and carry forward the tradition that was originally interrupted by the Manchu rule.
return!
If you blindly adopt fundamentalism and retroism, and blindly believe that the more ancient Confucian classics or other Chinese cultural classics are, the better, and the more ancient, the more authentic. If so, the essence of this so-called revival of traditional culture is the same as the so-called "revival of traditional culture" that emerged under the rule of the Qing Dynasty.
There is no essential difference between "Sinology"! It is exactly destroying the vitality of Chinese culture.
Because, under the dark rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty that restricted thought, sincerely believing in and studying Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dynasties itself became a forbidden area and a life-threatening matter. The so-called Sinology obtained by digging into old papers was relatively safer.
It was during the Manchu period that the Japanese began to look down on China, right? Zhu Yongxing is not sure, but what we should consider now is not the future problems of the Japanese, but the future development of China.
Next year will be the first year of Zhaowu, and the matter of opening Enke has been decided. There will be two major subjects, civil and military, not to mention martial arts. The art of war will be tested, including offense and defense, camp formations, land and water warfare, archery, martial arts, etc. Liberal arts subjects
In addition to the Jinshi subject, there are also special subjects (including law, calendar, music rhythm, surveying, water conservancy, farming, architecture, and utensil manufacturing). The Jinshi subject does not take the eight-part examination, but uses current theory to select talents.
In Zhu Yongxing's view, this talent selection system is not perfect. It is only temporary. When it comes to talent evaluation and thousands of years of traditional habits, it can only be changed gradually. If the imperial examination was abolished all at once, it would be a disaster.
It is a major event that the Ming and Qing wars will be reversed.
"Your Majesty, this is the latest statistical data from the Ministry of Revenue." Zha Rulong presented the document and added: "Shang Shu Yi believes that based on the current financial situation, it will not be implemented until next year at the earliest."
"I know this is not a policy that can be implemented in the short term." Although Zhu Yongxing had expected it, he still sighed lightly.
The war consumed too many resources, and policies to benefit the people on a larger scale had to be postponed until after the war was over. Perhaps even after the war was over, the Northland was devastated, and recovery would not be possible in a short time.
"It is not feasible to exempt the head tax for the time being. What about sharing the land into the land?" Zhu Yongxing asked casually while flipping through the documents.
"The Ministry of Revenue believes that it is not appropriate to implement it immediately." Zha Rulong said euphemistically: "Moreover, the Ministry of Revenue believes that it is very difficult to implement the operation of dividing the land into acres."
"Difficulties? Of course there are difficulties." Zhu Yongxing frowned slightly and said, "Are you worried about the opposition of those wealthy gentry?"
"Your Majesty, it's not all true." Zha Rulong thought for a while and said: "Wei Chen and others also studied it carefully and felt that instead of causing problems, it would be better to cancel the poll tax in one fell swoop after the victory of the Northern Expedition."
"I want to see the information you researched." Zhu Yongxing was a little confused. Is there really any major problem with sharing the land with a small family?
The Manchu Qing Dynasty's policy of "dividing a small family into an equal share of the land" was called "good laws and good government, and the unemployed and poor people will live forever in the great harmony". It was attributed to the "virtue" of the Qing rulers who loved the people like their own children, and was the "most benevolent government".
The rulers of the Qing Dynasty flaunted their benevolence and recorded it in the annals of history. Therefore, various documents, such as Qing San Tong, Qing Huidian, etc., spared no effort to exaggerate it.
In fact, the method of apportioning households into acres of land is not an original invention of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. It was transformed from the "One Whip Method" promoted by Zhang Juzheng. It is to spread part of the household's silver into acres of land for expropriation, which reduces the household's expropriation and burdens the land.
The burden, that is, transferring the household silver into land apportionment, is borne by the landowner.
However, there are unavoidable disadvantages in "sharing the tax from the small to the acre", that is, the taxes cannot be distributed evenly, which makes it impossible to effectively ensure the smooth collection of taxes, let alone reduce the people's burden and alleviate the needs of class contradictions. Therefore, it has been criticized by the powerful.
Resistance from rich households to poor people has made the implementation of the "share a small family into an equal share" policy slow and difficult.
Moreover, the policy of "divide every ding into an acre" cannot maintain a fixed tax amount and inhibit people from evading taxes. When the Qing Dynasty implemented the "never increase tax" measure in the early days of the Qing Dynasty, it hoped to ensure that the ding amount was fixed.
The government levied silver to avoid the loss of population and strengthen the control over the people. However, because the "never increase taxes" measure ostensibly fixed the number of people, it actually failed to attach the people to the land.
"Never increase taxes" does not mean "no increase or decrease, set as a constant amount", but actually increases the number of people. Since the number of people in the policy of "dividing one person into one mu" is based on "never increase taxes"
On the basis of quotas, therefore when the "dividing a small person into an acre" policy was implemented, the people bore a heavier tax burden.
In other words, under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the amount of Ding Yin in most provinces increased instead of maintaining a fixed number. In other words, from "never increasing taxes" to "sharing Ding Yin into acres", the Manchu rulers always
Under the banner of "setting it as a fixed amount, neither increasing nor decreasing" and "God's grace is so great that it has never been seen in ancient times", the people of all provinces were required to obediently assume feudal obligations. The so-called "a wise king" is actually just a better understanding of how to ease class
It is a contradiction to ensure the basic living conditions of the people.
After the implementation of the policy of "divide every ding into an acre", the dingyin added to the land by the government is actually borne by the poor tenant farmers and hired laborers. The dingyin is merged into the land tax and collected together, and the land becomes the voucher for tax collection. On the surface, there is no land and less land.
The poor people thus got rid of the expropriation of Dingyin. In fact, in order to make a living, they had to rent land from landlords or sell their labor force and became tenant farmers and hired laborers of landlords. The tenant farming economy in the Qing Dynasty had become a common phenomenon in the early Qing Dynasty.
This also shows that a large number of farmers have lost their land and become tenant servants.
From the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions where the commodity economy is developed, to the remote Guizhou region, from Jiangnan to Jiangbei, hiring long-term and short-term workers for agricultural production has become a common phenomenon in society. In this way, tenant farmers and hired laborers have become the real workers of most of the land. They may
Earn a living by paying land rent or by receiving wages. However, it is obvious that landlords account for the vast majority of product distribution, and tenant farmers and laborers are still hovering at the poverty line. Therefore, the real burden of these taxes and grains is still the tenant farmers and laborers.
According to the statistics of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng implemented the "dividing a small family into an acre", and people were forced to leave their homes due to heavy taxes. During the Qianlong period, a large number of refugees flocked to the northeast or southeast coast, and their destinations increasingly tended to the original natural environment.
Poor area. Runing Ancient Pagoda was originally a place where the Qing government exiled prisoners.
This shows that the rulers hope to reduce the burden of taxes and servitude through the policy of "dividing every ding into an acre", but the Anji people's method of fixing taxes has not achieved the desired results. They are unable to control the collection of taxes to stabilize society.
The "acre" policy did not reduce the people's burden. On the contrary, it prompted a large number of farmers to flee to other places, and the refugee problem became more and more serious.
Qian Mu's "Political Gains and Losses in Chinese Dynasties" contains a sharp assessment of the Manchu Qing's boast of benevolent governance:
"The Qing Dynasty had the so-called method of sharing grain among landowners. They only collected land rent and no longer required landowner tax. This was their own praise for the so-called benevolent government. In the fiftieth year of Kangxi, the national census at that time was 2,400
620,000 people. From this year on, the Qing government issued an edict to never add Ding Fu—that is, a population tax. The population was still surveyed and reviewed every five years, but Ding Fu would never be added again."
"Actually, this provision is not a benevolent policy. In the two-tax system in Chinese history, the Ding tax booth was transferred to land rent in the early days, and later the peasants were required to serve as servants or pay for immunity. This was a mistake later.
Wang Jinggong established the immunity money. After a while, the people had to work as servants again, so the Ming Dynasty proposed another whipping method, and then included the servants into land rent."
"When the Manchus came into China, everything was regulated, and the land tax was levied according to the rules of the Wanli period. So the servants were already included in the land rent, but now they still have to have servants. In the reign of Emperor Kangxi, land and rent were unified again.
, this is still evolving according to the inertia of Chinese history, going around and around, at most it restores the old status of the Wanli Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty, but it cannot be more than that. How can this be regarded as benevolent government?"
"What's more, after the land and land were unified, taxes actually increased. Therefore, this method quickly lost its role in pleasing the people. And basically speaking, if the population tax is added to the land tax, the population will increase in the future, which will form people's opposition to
The state is not responsible. Until now, the average Chinese people, unless they have land and houses, seem to have no responsibility for the state. This is not really a good system. In short, there are really few worthy systems in the Qing Dynasty.
We praise you again today.”
Zhu Yongxing closed his book and meditated. Although the research data was not that detailed and not that accurate, he still saw the general outline of the problem. It seemed that he was also confused by the Baoyi people's praises and the use of tiger skin as a banner, and proposed
The so-called benevolent government of "spreading the land from one person to another" is really a bit hasty.
Just like overestimating the fighting power of the Eight Banners, I will inevitably be deceived or misled by the history tampered by the Manchus!
Zhu Yongxing smiled bitterly. He understood the reason. The form of the tax system can be changed, but if the basis of feudal exploitation cannot be fundamentally changed, the preferential policies will not benefit the tenants. Whoever has the land and who takes the initiative will be able to
They have the right to make decisions, unless the state uses force to stipulate the amount of land rent and uses violent machinery to ensure the implementation of the policy. But at present, it is not appropriate to intervene.
Moreover, there has always been a Ding tax in ancient China, but generally a household has a certain amount of land. Population growth means an increase in the Ding tax and an increased burden. This objectively limits population growth and runs counter to Zhu Yongxing's hope of a large population.
of.
Therefore, if you want to increase the population significantly, you must make it no longer restricted by land resources, or increase the land resources significantly. Abolition of the poll tax, weakening personal control, and speeding up population mobility are one way; and opening up borders to the outside world
Expanding territory, that is, invading and plundering, is another method.
The alarm bell rang for Zhu Yongxing again, letting him know that even a time traveler is not 100% correct and sometimes makes mistakes.
Moreover, any reform measures cannot be achieved overnight, nor can benefits be shared equally. It must go through a long period of exploration and adjustment to make the reform measures more suitable for social and economic needs. He proposed that the starting point is good.
, it is indeed necessary to solve the tax problem of farmers, reduce the burden on farmers, and at the same time increase the national fiscal revenue. However, as an agricultural country, if it cannot completely solve the land problem, the stage of social development will be there, and it will not be able to achieve a higher level.
breakthrough.
Putting aside the "benevolent government" of the Manchu Qing Dynasty - "dividing a young man into an equal share", Zhu Yongxing seriously considered the policy of "officials and gentry working together to pay the grain and serve as errands".
Why did ancient dynasties perish and why they could not escape the bad luck of three hundred years of reincarnation? In fact, the big reason was the result of land annexation, which was the result of robbing the poor and giving to the rich.
For example, in the Ming Dynasty, those who controlled a large amount of land did not need to pay taxes, but the taxes were passed on to the people with little land. In the early period of the dynasty, the problems were not prominent, but in the middle period, the conflicts began to become acute. Because the privileged class was still a minority in the early dynasty, they did not need to pay taxes.
The land that pays taxes does not account for the majority. As time goes by, the problem begins to intensify, and there are more and more privileged classes, such as people with fame, officials who have become officials, relatives of the emperor, land awarded to someone by the emperor, and landlords.
Scholars, wealthy people, etc. If it goes on like this for a while, problems will explode, the dynasty will be overthrown, and then a new round of reincarnation will begin.
If Zhu Yongxing wants to end this reincarnation curse, he must solve the land annexation, but he must not violate China's thousands of years of land policy tradition, so the only two methods left are unified taxation and outward expansion.
Land can still be bought and sold freely, but the previously privileged classes such as officials, gentry, state officials and clans must pay taxes as a group, and the court will no longer use land as a reward. Those who have meritorious service and clans will be distributed with grain, silk, and money according to their title levels. Then state violence will be used
Backed by machinery, strict land rent taxes were formulated to protect tenant farmers from overly harsh exploitation.
As long as the people have food to eat and there is no invasion by powerful foreign enemies, the long-term peace and stability of the country is relatively guaranteed.
"Let the Ministry of Household Statistics calculate the land owned by the officials and gentry. I want to know how many people don't pay taxes now." Zhu Yongxing knew that the number would not be too big. War, killings, and escapes, the situation in the mid-Ming Dynasty where the privileged class was everywhere had completely changed.
Because of this, this may be an opportunity to implement policies. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!