Chapter 1044: The fox’s tail can’t be hidden anymore
Zhu Qiyu naturally saw the changes in the expressions of the feudal lord below.
Of course he knew that these vassal kings would not follow the imperial village's business methods honestly. The various methods he was currently using were the result of his balancing many times and trying them out based on his vision in his previous life.
Some of these measures are directly related to the final income of the imperial village, such as providing improved seeds, cattle and other utensils, hiring propertyless refugees as tenants, and even decreasing the land rent year by year to prevent tenants from stealing.
Being cunning and sneaky, being passive and sabotaging work.
This whole set of models can be said to be interconnected, but there is a big flaw in it, that is, the power of renting is always in the hands of the owner.
Therefore, from the standpoint of maximizing interests, the best approach would be to fire out the tenants around the tenth year and then hire new refugees.
Because according to the method of decreasing land rent, the first ten years are the period when rent is heaviest. After the first ten years, land rent is still higher than ordinary private land, but it will gradually decrease after all.
However, the disadvantage of this is that in the long run, the effect of land rent reduction and exemption will decrease sharply. After all, for the tenants, the reason why they farm diligently is to eventually turn Zhuangzi's land into their own.
, even if it is only temporary, these tenants generally do not think so much.
But once you do this, it is equivalent to not doing the last cover up, directly cutting off the thoughts of these tenants, and they will naturally find ways to prepare a way out early.
Zhu Qiyu knew this very well, and he knew even more clearly that if the imperial village was really handed over to these vassal kings to run, then such a situation would definitely be inevitable.
After all, a vassal king is different from a court minister. For a court minister, if he violates the imperial decree, he can be dismissed directly. However, the vassal princes have a high status, so if they make mistakes, they will usually be reprimanded. In more serious cases, they will be shut up to meditate. In the most serious cases,
It means cutting salary, but if it is cut too hard, it will appear to be unkind, so the feudal kings will be more confident.
Fortunately, he has no real plan to let these feudal kings take over all...
Bending down, Zhu Qiyu asked the kings below.
"What do you think of this Imperial Manor?"
Asking again this time is naturally different from the previous time.
The faces of all the kings were a little cautious. Even though they were so eager just now, when they actually needed to act, they were cautious and tight.
You know, although there is nothing wrong with Wang Cheng's statement, after all, what they see now is just the account book. No one has really seen what the imperial village is like. To be disrespectful, who knows whether the emperor is here for
Did you deceive them and deliberately make false accounts?
Moreover, the kings just wanted to understand clearly, but in fact they were worried about their own Xiao Jiujiu. After all, this kind of business method is just a few different methods. After they learn it, can't they just go back and do it by themselves? Why bother?
Want to cooperate with the imperial court?
Therefore, all the vassal kings looked at each other with smiles on their faces and said.
"Your Majesty's method is naturally excellent."
"Yes, this imperial village can not only attract the refugees, but also enrich the internal treasury. It is actually a good thing that kills two birds with one stone."
"That's it. Your Majesty's benevolence and kindness bring blessings to all people, which is actually a blessing to the people..."
He offered a lot of flattery, but he didn't respond to the emperor's hints at all.
Seeing this situation, Zhu Qiyu simply said directly.
"The advantage of the Imperial Village is to cultivate it together and make the best use of the land. Therefore, I feel that in addition to the Imperial Village, the Wangzhuang and official fields in various places can also be treated in this way."
"This time, during the rectification of the military settlements, the imperial court cleared out a lot of privately cultivated land. Most of these acres were forcibly reclaimed by the army. Many of them are your property in the fiefdom, so they should be turned into official land."
"However, even if it is turned into official land, the court still needs to hire tenants to rent crops, and if you want a good harvest, you need to prepare grain planting, plowing cattle, iron plows and other utensils."
"So, I thought, since there are many properties that are originally under your names and are relatively familiar to you, I might as well leave them to the kings to run them. I just need to pay taxes to the court as scheduled according to the official land standards. How about that?"
Is this the emperor’s plan?
The kings present looked at each other in confusion. For example, King Yin, King Zheng, and King Ning, who had suffered heavy losses in the process of organizing the army, were already a little ready to make a move.
These privately cultivated fields were originally fields that had not been registered with the imperial court, so during the process of reorganizing the military settlements, they were directly confiscated once they were discovered.
If these fields can be managed by them according to the imperial village method, then the land rent will be doubled compared to the official fields, half of which will be given to the court as taxes, and the remaining half can be pocketed by them.
middle.
Moreover, if it is true that Huangzhuang's increase in production is true, then the extra 10% will undoubtedly belong to the feudal king himself.
Calculated in this way, although compared with the initial field rent that could be collected, it is only about 60% of the original amount, but it is still much better than nothing.
What's more important is that although no one dared to take care of these privately cultivated fields in the past, they would never be able to pass the Ming Road. If someone really wants to make a fuss about it, like Yu Qian, if they want to use it as a strong point, there is nothing they can do.
.
After all, they were the ones who violated the imperial code in the first place.
But if this path succeeds, then this field will be considered a clear path, which will naturally be very tempting to the feudal king.
However, just when they were about to agree, King Zhou and King Lu, who had not spoken for a long time, spoke almost at the same time.
"Your Majesty, no!"
After they finished speaking, the two realized that what they had said was serious, so they looked at each other, and finally King Lu continued.
"Your Majesty, official land is the property of the imperial court and should be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Household Affairs. How can I interfere beyond my authority?"
Later, King Zhou also continued.
"Your Majesty, what Brother Lu Wang said is reasonable. The official land should be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Once the matters are dealt with, it belongs to the government affairs of the court. If I accept the management, this will be unauthorized and is suspected of interfering in the government affairs. Your Majesty has good intentions. I, ministers and others
I understand, but this is really inappropriate."
"Furthermore, the system of the imperial village requires the coordination of many parties. If it is just to provide some grain and cattle, the ministers will naturally not refuse. However, Eunuch Wang Cheng just said that to ensure safety, someone needs to patrol day and night.
, Diverting canals and drawing water requires coordination with local government, and integrating land acres will also cause conflicts with the people. In addition, although these official lands are now registered, they are still farmed by the original tenants. There are many problems in this. Fei Chen, etc.
Can be solved."
"Therefore, it is quite inappropriate to leave it to the management of ministers. Your Majesty, please think again!"
When these words came out, the emperor had not yet reacted, but the other vassal kings below who had just had their thoughts suddenly woke up as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on them.
They only saw the benefits, but ignored one point, that is, why should the court give these benefits to them?
From the current point of view, the income of Huangzhuang is higher than that of ordinary official land. So if that is the case, why doesn't the emperor do it himself?
If it is said that due to the regulations of the imperial court, it is not unreasonable to want them to step forward to shoulder the pressure of the civil and military ministers.
After all, this official land belongs to the imperial court. Logically speaking, it should not charge such a heavy rent. Since the emperor wants to use the imperial management method, he is obviously making a wrong idea.
Speaking of this, the thoughts of all the vassal kings suddenly wandered. Apart from other things, the ability of the current emperor to make money is really unparalleled.
An imperial store monopolized the entire border trade and split the money 50-50 with the imperial court. It is said that the Ministry of Revenue did not make as much money as the imperial store, and had to come to the inner treasury every day to fight the autumn breeze.
Now we have built another imperial village, and by integrating the fields, we can actually get 15% more income.
If it is really pushed away, then this is not a small amount of money.
Although it is not as good as Huangdian, the most important thing is stability!
Not to mention, Huangzhuang plays a major role in the refugee problem that the court has always found very difficult.
From this standpoint, it is absolutely no exaggeration to call him a promising man.
However, having said that, although the idea of using them to withstand the pressure of courtiers is barely justified, there is a big problem in it.
That is, the imperial court has been struggling for so long and finally cleared the privately cultivated fields in various places. But now, it is returned to their hands. What is the purpose of this?
Not to mention ensuring that taxes can be collected in full, once these fields are returned to their hands, there are many ways to operate in secret.
The imperial court was so determined that even Yu Qian was implicated and had to go to the ten princes' houses to admit his mistake, and then all these acres were returned to the imperial control.
This is because the feudal princes are deeply entrenched in the local area. As long as the fields are still under their control, there are too many ways to unite the gentry or intimidate the tenants.
When the time comes, give a clear reason: there is a disaster in the area, the people below are lazy and have missed the farming season, the tenants are slacking off in work, cheating, and the harvest is not good anyway.
As for whether the court recognizes it or not, since the harvest is so great, it’s up to you whether you want it or not.
They are not officials of the imperial court, so they are afraid of being investigated. Not to mention the complicated local relations, it is very difficult to find out. Even if they are really found out, they can just bow their heads and admit their mistakes.
It is impossible for the emperor to be unclear about this.
Once these privately cultivated lands returned to the hands of the feudal lord, it would be equivalent to the loss of more than half of the price paid by the court.
To put it bluntly, the imperial court went through all this trouble just to return the fields to their hands. Is the emperor so kind?
There is a trap!
This is definitely not normal!
Suddenly, many vassal kings couldn't help but raise their voices. Yu Qian's incident some time ago was so inexplicably calm.
You must know that in the palace, the emperor tried his best to protect Yu Qian, hoping to put an end to the trouble. If they, the vassal kings, had not been pressing harder and harder, the incident in the Ten Prince's Palace would not have happened.
Moreover, there has always been a consensus from top to bottom in the imperial court, that is, the emperor treated Yu Qian with extraordinary treatment and trust, which was far beyond the level of ordinary ministers.
In fact, if it weren't for Yu Qian's status that could achieve the results they wanted, these vassal kings would not be willing to provoke him.
But after the incident happened, it calmed down strangely and quickly, which always made them wonder if there was some bigger conspiracy behind it.
Is it possible that the emperor is here to settle accounts for Yu Qian this time?
If the guarantee is not complete, once they take on this job, their backhand will be as big as a chicken or an egg.
After all, the imperial court would definitely not agree to hand over the official land to them for management, and now, these official lands have been taken over by local government offices.
If they had the emperor's permission, even just acquiescence, they could send people to "take" these fields back.
But what if the emperor's attitude is ambiguous?
After all, without the emperor's support behind them, they would not dare to rob.
If this is really the case, then in the end, it is very likely that they will not be able to get the fields back from the local officials, and they will have to endure the criticism of the whole court.
If we extend it further, we may not be sure that this is what the Ministry of Rites has been waiting for, the opportunity for vassal reform. It is also possible.
Can't agree!
Never agree!
After thinking about this, the several feudal princes below suddenly shook their heads like rattles and said one after another.
"Your Majesty, it is indeed inappropriate. How can we let ministers manage the official land of the imperial court?"
"Yes, this move is against regulations. Your Majesty, please think again."
Seeing their appearance, Zhu Qiyu couldn't help but frown. After thinking for a moment, he turned to King Zhou and King Lu and said.
"What my two uncles said is reasonable, but it is not without some workarounds."
"The official land is the imperial land, which is indeed different from the imperial estate, so it cannot be copied. However, in my opinion, it does not matter who will manage it. The key is that the taxes can be collected and paid on time."
"What's more, the people are suffering. Although they rent official land, they don't have good seeds, cattle, etc., and the harvest is not good. If these utensils are provided by the imperial court, they cannot support them with the current strength of the national treasury. Kang, the prince of various vassals, donated them generously.
It is naturally a good thing to be willing to purchase good seeds and farm cattle for the people to use."
"As for the establishment of the farm, it is for the convenience of diverting water for irrigation, and also to protect the harvest and prevent unscrupulous people from trampling on the fields. It is all for the sake of the people."
"However, after all, these require silver and cannot be provided for free. Let these people rent cattle and other things based on 30 to 40% of the annual harvest on top of the official land tax. The rent will still decrease year by year. Five to ten years
Later, when the amount is reduced to the point where no payment is made, the oxen, plows, etc. will be given to the tenants.”
"I think this statement is acceptable to the Ministry of Finance. What do you two uncles think?"
You know, in today's economy, a good cattle is not cheap. Many people who have private farmland at home have to save for three to five years before they can afford to buy a cattle.
The vassal kings built farms in order to increase production, so they naturally selected the best cattle, which were more valuable.
This is equivalent to the common people paying 10 to 20% of their farmland every year and renting cattle for farming. After a few years, the cattle become their own.
Compared with Huangzhuang, although the fields are replaced by cows, they are essentially the same. After all, a farm cow also has a lifespan, which is about twenty years. Excluding the years when it grows up, it is the most productive.