Li Rumei's incident was just a small sideshow. After the greetings were finished with the senior commanders, it was time to get down to business.
As the real boss of the Ming Dynasty's military, Gao Pragmatic not only has a special status, a perfect resume, and great military exploits, but the more critical point is that he can determine the future of any army in the Ming Dynasty-no matter good or bad, Gao Pragmatic
A pragmatic moment.
How did he do it? Because he had the support of the emperor and strong control over the Ming Dynasty's financial power.
It is difficult to build a powerful army, but it is easy to destroy a once powerful army. After this once powerful army has been destroyed, and you want to restore it to what it was like in its heyday, or even better than before, then
It’s just getting more difficult. However, although there are many difficult places, the most difficult place can be determined. In the final analysis, it is all about the economy.
Inspecting the Imperial Guards was an order given by Gao Jingshi, which kept the Imperial Guards busy for a long time. Now that the posture was set up, Gao Jingshi just took the two veterans for a brief inspection without even asking the Imperial Guards.
Each military department conducted a simple drill. His own explanation was: "The purpose of the temporary inspection is to see whether the Guards can be ready for expedition within the specified time, rather than to test the technical and tactical training results of each town in the school."
Then, he ordered Ma Gui to dismiss the review and went to the White Tiger Festival Hall to hold a meeting of senior officers. The so-called meeting of senior officers meant that the generals attending the meeting were at least one-standard associates - something that can be done in the Imperial Guard.
The lowest position in the local area for those who join the association is deputy commander-in-chief.
At the beginning of the meeting, Gao Pragmatic confused almost all the participating generals with one sentence: "If the Imperial Guard system is implemented in every town in the world, what do you think?"
This question was so sudden that everyone was confused. Everyone looked at each other and looked at each other. For a long time, no one dared to answer. In the end, Ma Gui, the current commander, could not pretend to be dead. He coughed lightly and tentatively said
: "Yuan Fu, the Imperial Guard is the elite of the world, and no one knows how strong it is, but its cost... If it is implemented in every town in the world, no one will worry..."
Gao Pragmatic smiled, glanced at Li Chengliang intentionally or unknowingly, and said: "The Imperial Guard relies on the financial support of the Beijing Camp Production and Construction Corps. If this system is promoted nationwide, all towns will naturally be in line with the Beijing Camp and distinguish wars.
The soldiers and the Production and Construction Corps. I just don’t know whether the commander-in-chief of the various regions will choose combat soldiers or the Production and Construction Corps.”
This is actually a bit straightforward: I want to extend the model of Jingying military reform to all towns in the Ming Dynasty. Soldiers will be singled out to train and fight, and all other military households will be organized into production and construction corps to be responsible for their respective military towns.
Supply of combat soldiers. Now I am here to have a meeting with you because you were all border army generals before you came to the Guards. Do you think your family will choose to be in charge of combat soldiers or the production and construction corps?
Gao Pragmatic's question is a bit difficult to ask. After all, for a family of military commanders, I originally controlled both of them. Why do I have to choose one or the other now?
However, high pragmatism must let them choose, and all the military generals and families of the Ming Dynasty must choose once. This must be said to be a misunderstanding of ancient finance by many people in later generations. In the eyes of many people, national mobilization power is equal to fiscal revenue, and also
It is equal to taxation, and the main source of military expenditure is taxation. In fact, this is not the case. This is just the situation in modern "normal countries".
This kind of mobilization system in which citizens pay money to the state, and the state in turn purchases materials, labor, and military service from the citizens, is based on a developed commodity economy. In a "self-sufficient" natural economy as the economic basis, there is a lack of currency.
Unlike the feudal society of commodities, the modern mobilization system with credit currency as its core has no social basis for its existence.
The formula that is more in line with the reality of feudal society is that the state's mobilization power is equal to corvee plus taxation, plus other fiscal revenue.
Corvee includes labor service and military service. In layman's terms, it means that citizens work for the country for free without wages and serve as soldiers. The economy of most feudal societies is mainly based on traditional agriculture of "depending on the weather to eat", with two major categories: self-sufficiency and seasonal labor.
Characteristics. Therefore, farmers, the main citizens of feudal society, lacked money the most and had time the most. Therefore, it was in line with the society at that time to let farmers dedicate their time as the main "tax payment" model, work for the country for free, and serve as soldiers.
Practical.
The military service in ancient corvee service is equivalent to the modern "compulsory military service system." The typical feature of this military system in terms of "military equipment" is the saying in "Mulan Ci" that "you can buy horses in the east market, saddles in the west market, and saddles in the south.
Buy bridles in the market and long whips in the north market."
You see, not only are there no wages, but you also have to spend your own money to buy horses, weapons and many other military equipment. In fact, the famous "mansion soldiers" of the Tang Dynasty not only had to provide their own horses and most of the weapons, but even military rations when they went on an expedition.
You have to bring your own.
What needs to be emphasized is that this kind of "subsidy" type of work and military service is based on "distribution of land" as the social basis. The original intention of the feudal system in terms of finance is: I will "distribute land" to you, and you will do it for me for free.
Live and fight.
"Corvee" in exchange for "enfeoffment" of land was the main basis for the mobilization of feudal society. This situation was most typical in the European Middle Ages: the king "enfessed" the land to the big lord, and the big lord "divided" the land to the small lord.
Lords and minor lords "settle" land to knights, and knights "settle" land to peasants and serfs.
In return, the big lord fought for the king and managed the large administrative area for free, the small lord fought for the big lord and managed the small administrative area for free, the knights fought for the small lord and managed the grassroots for free, the peasants and the serfs fought for the knights for free and provided military rations.
In China, it is slightly different. The main difference is that in most of the Han areas after the Qin Dynasty, there was only one "big lord", the emperor. The emperor directly governed the "small lords" represented by clans and township parties in the Han area, and the "small lords" represented by the government soldiers.
Yeomanry soldier.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In short, in feudal society, there is no need for military expenditures in the form of currency in theory to fight wars. Because after the land is "enfeoffed", the soldiers do not need to pay wages.
Most of the military equipment and a considerable part of the food are provided by the soldiers themselves.
Of course, there are also some people who are unwilling or unable to serve in person, and there are solutions, such as paying people to serve on their behalf. In European history, the prototype of taxation began with "exemption money" to replace labor and military service. In China,
In ancient times, this "service money" gradually transformed into a tax similar to the "capita tax". With the development of the commodity economy, eventually monetary taxation gradually replaced unpaid labor as the main way for citizens to contribute to the country.
Taxation refers to the property that citizens regularly hand over for free. It has the characteristics of compulsory, gratuitous and fixed. It is customary to call it the "three properties" of taxation. However, the feudal regime also has many non-compulsory, paid and unfixed characteristics.
The common denominator of the various types of income is that they do not have the "three characteristics" of taxation at the same time. These are the so-called "other fiscal incomes" mentioned above. Some are regarded as "taxes" by modern people but were not considered "taxes" in ancient times.
”, mainly include the following items.
One is the income generated from various economic industries such as land, mines, factories, trading companies, etc. owned by monarchs, lords, and governments.
From the perspective of modern people, this seems a bit like state-owned land and state-owned enterprises, but in the feudal society of "family world", these incomes are not "state income", but the private income of the monarch and lord. It can be used for both the monarch and lord's personal income.
The enjoyment of family life can also be used for the country's financial expenditure. Politically, it can be said that "there is no distinction between family and country", and in finance, it can be said that "there is no distinction between public and private".
This kind of income used to be the main or even the entire source of financial revenue for most feudal regimes. For example, in the early years, the income of the British king mainly came from the real estate income provided by the royal territory, as well as the returns obtained from the transfer of certain privileges. For example, the autonomy granted to towns or
Farmers were allowed to use the mountains and forests, which were not considered taxes at the time, but private income for the monarch, and could also be used for administrative expenses.
The Ming Dynasty is also comparable in this regard. For example, it has a large number of imperial villages, guard fields and government-run factories. It is especially worth mentioning the "internal funds" of the Ming emperor and the industry of the vassal princes. Of course, now due to the high
Due to pragmatic reforms, these situations have undergone some changes, which will not be repeated here.
The second is to issue currency, including precious metal coins and banknotes.
In the eyes of modern people, this is actually a seigniorage tax, but in ancient times it was not considered a tax, especially for precious metal coinage, which had no mandatory and gratuitous tax characteristics at all. The Spanish Empire in the 16th century, the Kingdom of Lydia in the 6th century BC, and
Around 1000 AD, in kingdoms such as Mali in West Africa, the government monopolized major gold and silver mines as the main source of fiscal revenue.
In this regard, the Ming Dynasty obtained income by issuing "Da Ming Bao Banknotes" and mining silver mines. After the Bao Banknotes became waste paper, all that was left was mining. Now Gao Pragmatic "seizes" the Ming Dynasty Bao Banknotes with Ming Fed banknotes.
The mines began to allow free buying and selling - but not including the two precious metal mines of gold and silver. What Gao Pragmatic strived for was the free trading of copper mines, because these days copper is needed to make cannons.
The third is income obtained through fines, confiscation of homes, war plunder, war reparations, etc.
These incomes are not fixed and have never been regarded as taxes. They are usually the main income before the establishment of a new feudal dynasty and in the early days of its establishment. In this regard, the Ming Dynasty had frightening factory guards who raided houses, and there was a famous proverb - "Bandits"
"Historical service is like a comb, military service is like a grate, and official service is like a haircut." Of course, the later Tatar Qing and Dashun regimes mainly relied on war and plunder to solve financial problems.
The fourth is income obtained through "selling official positions", "selling land" and other channels.
"Selling officials" was common in ancient China and was often legal; "selling land" was rare in ancient China, but in modern times it has become the main financial revenue of many local governments. There was almost no "sales of land" in the Ming Dynasty, but
There is also a complete system for openly "selling official positions" (not necessarily having a position, such as selling one's status as a supervisor).
The change brought about by high pragmatism is that some wealthy people in Ming Dynasty know how to invest in "real estate". For example, if Jinghua wants to open a new port, some people already know how to hoard land around the port in advance; if Jinghua wants to open a mine in a certain place, the surrounding areas will also
There will be people hoarding land...etc., etc. This is what everyone learned from Jinghua's own supporting development in the past.
The fifth is borrowings from domestic and foreign countries. This was very rare in ancient China, but it is relatively common in Europe.
Feudal society did not have the concept of state in the modern sense. For the feudal society of "family world", since the state is privately owned by the monarch and local political power is privately owned by the noble lords, then the living expenses and daily administrative expenses of the monarch and lords should naturally come from
Withdrawal from their private property.
As for economic construction and war, since the subjects have been allowed to bring their own rations, tools and weapons and equipment to work for the monarch and perform military service "for free", in theory the monarch does not need to spend anything.
In addition, the monarch can also obtain large amounts of wealth to subsidize the finances through various channels such as seigniorage, war plunder, and "selling offices." Therefore, according to the economic status and morality of feudal society, it is unreasonable and unreasonable for the monarch to tax his subjects in large amounts.
Moral.
In the European Middle Ages, the common sense at that time was that "the king should live on himself" and "the king should live on his own land" was a recognized principle. This meant that in the feudal relations of the Middle Ages, kings and lords should mainly rely on the income of their own territories for their livelihoods.
, a feudal country should mainly rely on the private income of feudal lords to pay for daily financial expenses.
At least until the end of the 13th century, the income from the king's domain still accounted for the vast majority of the European royal income and the fiscal expenditure of European feudal countries. Medieval people generally believed that a well-governed country should not be based on taxing its subjects. Taxation once
Considered an infringement of private property.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! However, with the emergence of centralization, the expansion of the bureaucracy and standing army, and the increasing public expenditure, the king's "private income" alone is no longer enough to support the government.
As a result, the finance of the feudal country changed from "the king lives on himself" to "the king lives on his subjects", and taxation gradually became the main source of national fiscal revenue. For specific information, you can refer to "Income and Tax Collection in the Middle Ages" and "About the Middle Ages"
"Taxation since".
But even in modern times, early bourgeois regimes did not mainly rely on taxation to solve the problem of military expenditures. The main sources of military expenditures were "land sales", borrowing, indiscriminate issuance of banknotes, foreign military aggression, etc.
In China, because it entered the era of centralization as early as the Qin Dynasty and established a huge professional bureaucracy and standing army very early, China made taxation one of the main sources of national fiscal revenue very early.
Since the Warring States Period, there have been four main tax systems in China's feudal society: the rent-tax system in the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties (land tax and head tax were levied), the rent-tax system from Wei, Jin to Sui and Tang Dynasties (land tax, head tax and labor tax were levied),
From the middle Tang Dynasty to the middle Ming Dynasty, there was the Two Tax Law (asset tax and land tax), and from the middle Ming Dynasty to before the Opium War, the One Whip Law and Land Ding Law were combined into one (the land tax was levied).
It can be seen that from the perspective of development, China's early taxation was based on various materials such as grain and cloth. Later, with the development of the commodity economy, it was gradually changed to currency. China's taxation changed from physical tax to monetary tax. It was in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.
The later "One Whip Method" began.
For a unified dynasty like China, the combination of corvee and taxation constituted the two pillars of the mobilization power of China’s feudal regime. The yeoman farmers were the main source of corvee service, military service, and taxation for the Chinese feudal regime. Once a large number of yeoman farmers went bankrupt, the country’s mobilization power
It was basically finished, and it was usually time to change dynasties. Therefore, in order to ensure that the peasants would not go bankrupt in large numbers, many dynasties in China advocated "light corvee and low tax". Correspondingly, it became immoral to impose heavy taxes.
Now that the truth is clear, then according to the formula of "national mobilization force equals corvee plus taxation and other fiscal revenue" in feudal society, if we look at the Ming Dynasty's financial and mobilization system, we will know how the Ming Dynasty collapsed in history. At the same time,
We can also know what Gao Pragmatic's appearance has changed, and what he still needs to change.
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PS: All three members of the family had the flu. The young man got vaccinated and was cured the next day. Our husband and wife are all sick now.