Iron tycoon in late Ming Dynasty 1750, the scheme of exterminating households and draining wages from the bottom of the cauldron, bringing down the second gentry
1750, the scheme of exterminating households and draining wages from the bottom of the cauldron, bringing down the second gentry
Those who contributed were all unruly people in the early days.
They did not pay taxes. In order to ensure tax revenue, the local officials apportioned the difference to the farmers, causing the taxes borne by the farmers to increase year by year. Over the past two hundred years, the actual taxes they borne were several times the amount stipulated by the court.
This in turn forces more people to donate their land so they can survive.
Good people will donate it. As for unscrupulous people, they will sell their land, use the money from the sale as a deposit, find people with tax exemption rights, rent more land, and be exempted from corvee labor.
If the existing system is not changed, the tax base will become smaller and smaller. It will be a matter of time before it collapses. There is no way around it.
Yang Fan said to Chongzhen: "What will happen if your Majesty exempts agricultural taxes and all taxes and corvees for farmers?"
Chongzhen blurted out: "The world is in chaos and the people are rebelling."
Yang Fan smiled and said: "People rebel against whomever they rebel against, and they rebel against whomever they rebel against."
Chongzhen said: "Of course the gentry is rebelling. From now on, the court will not collect any money. The corvee has also been exempted. Why are you still giving the land to the gentry? You must get your own land back. You can cultivate it yourself.
Isn't it good to sow? Why divide the accounts with the gentry? Let them get the big harvest for nothing."
Yang Fan smiled and said: "As soon as this policy is announced, the people of the world will definitely ask the gentry to get their land back. The gentry will definitely not agree. Because once they agree, a large amount of their land will be gone instantly. They will be beaten back to their original shape. They will be bloody.
Suppress the people. Tear off the mask of hypocrisy and directly become a bully, occupying the land and not giving it back."
"However, the people are not foolhardy. If they unite as one and focus on one thing, everyone will be scared. The people will not trouble the court. Any unrest will be limited to the countryside. Your Majesty only needs to sit in the capital and watch.
That’s fine.”
Chongzhen was surprised and frightened at the same time. This strategy was so poisonous that it made him tremble with fear.
If it can be carried out, it will definitely bring down the gentry in the world. The final result of this turmoil will be a complete break and hostility between the gentry and the people. Instead of the people relying on the gentry to fight against the court now.
It was bloody and bloody, and I don’t know how many people were going to die. This incident was full of Yang Fan’s style. Whether he was fighting or doing things, he always made people tremble with fear.
Chongzhen thought about it for a long time, worrying about gains and losses and unable to make a decision.
He had never done anything like this in his life. He was scared to death.
After a while, he continued to ask: "If the agricultural tax is really exempted, can the salt tax really be collected?"
Twenty million taels of silver a year. Just thinking about it makes him crazy.
The pie that Yang Fan drew for him really made his eyes turn red.
"Your Majesty can first complete the salt tax package system, receive the money, and then cancel the agricultural tax." Yang Fan said.
Chongzhen said with a headache: "In the early days of our dynasty, the salt tax was still meat in the court's bowl. But after the Tumu Fortress, it was gradually usurped by the families of civil servants. Moreover, the salt merchant groups within the two major business groups of Shanxi merchants and Hui merchants had a monopoly
Datou. These two major business groups relied on funding scholars and used debts and leverage to control many officials. I'm worried that even if the court auctions it, no one will dare to buy it and it will fail in the end."
Yang Fan sneered and said: "Then it depends on whether your majesty dares to do it. Your majesty can first implement it north of the Huaihe River. I will come there to take care of you. If the auction fails, I will pay for it myself and buy it at the starting price.
I sent my servants and slaves to various cities north of the Huaihe River to sell salt. I wonder who dares to stop me. Three years later, when they see that I have made money, they will definitely be jealous. They will auction it again, and I will withdraw."
Chongzhen said excitedly: "It's so good, I don't have anything to worry about anymore."
If Yang Fan, a fierce god, comes forward to tell the truth, he won't be afraid anymore.
Anyway, he had received the money. As for how Yang Fan sold salt, how he suppressed smuggling within his jurisdiction, and how he fought against salt merchants and smugglers, he didn't care. He just wanted to take the money.
Yang Fan is not afraid of these people at all. He uses the salt field sun-drying method to produce salt in his own salt field in Luzon. He also uses industrial salt production. After the production is expanded, it will be more than enough to supply the entire Ming Dynasty.
Yang Fan had no intention of contracting. What he wanted was that the quality of his own refined salt was infinitely better than the official salt. The output was even more terrifying. After all, it was produced with modern technology and the scale was huge. He could monopolize the production process.
He planned to wait for the tax farming system to be launched, cooperate directly with the tax farming merchants, replace the official salt with his own refined salt, and bankrupt all the salt farms in the Ming Dynasty.
His refined salt is priced at the same price as the official salt of the Ming Dynasty, so his modern salt production method is also hugely profitable. This thing is extremely cheap after industrialization.
After the emperor took the money, he naturally didn't care about the life and death of those salt fields. No one would redress their injustice.
Yang Fan could immigrate all the unemployed salt households to the northwest, give each person fifty acres of land, and exempt them from all taxes and corvees, and he wouldn't be happy to kill them.
All the salt merchants should get out. They have sucked the blood of the people of the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years. Yang Fan would be merciful if he didn't raid their homes.
If the salt merchants among the Shanxi merchants and Huizhou merchants took drastic measures to prevent the auction, Yang Fan would buy it himself.
We should start with the north of the Huaihe River. Yang Fan's power is within reach in these places. There is no big power in the north that he can fight against. It took Yang Fan three years to defeat all those who opposed him, and he auctioned it off again three years later.
By this time, there will be more and more interested parties, and the second auction will definitely be successful.
Yang Fan will not be on the front line to stir up hatred. Just be the only salt producer in the country. He will not be involved in selling salt. People cannot eat alone. They must give half of it to share with others.
In this way, a new salt interest group will be formed throughout the Ming Dynasty and replace the old one with them.
Of course, Chongzhen could also start to abolish agricultural taxes and corvee after achieving success north of the Huaihe River, and then gradually promote it nationwide.
The main reason why Yang Fan is willing to do this thankless task is that he is under great financial pressure.
Now we rely entirely on the modern transmission of industrial silver to fill the fiscal deficit. After calculating the accounts at the end of each year, my little girl is so frightened that her hands and feet are numb. She is terrified. The deficit is too big.
His railways, highways, military expenditures, education, water conservancy, and research and development all depend on his extra blood transfusions.
It would be great if Xiao Niangpi’s income can even out other expenses.
Salt and iron were the biggest profit-making industries in ancient times, and Yang Fan naturally wanted to have them all in his hands.
The price is to let His Majesty take away 20 million taels. As long as Chongzhen can do it. Within the first three years, Yang Fan is willing to transfer 20 million taels a year to him from Xinghe Bank.
And if he comes to sell salt, he will never lose money. In the sales process, he can earn far more than 20 million.
After everything that needed to be said was said, Yang Fan took his leave.
The rest depends on whether Chongzhen dares to do it. Anyway, the opportunity has been given to him.
If he dares to do it, at least the civil unrest can be controlled.
The court won't accept your money anymore. You can't blame the court. As for how to survive, you can think about it yourself. Of course, disaster relief is impossible. Chongzhen has no money and no food. Even if he had it, he wouldn't be willing to part with it.
If this thing is done, the gentry will be completely destroyed. Without the economic foundation and dependence on the peasants, they will be nothing.
Yang Fan walked away with his little girl in a cool manner, and Chongzhen couldn't sleep all night.