Chapter 94: All are parasites exchanging interests
Chen Biao pointed at a lotus pod as a chessboard and told Zhu Yuanzhang an Indian legend about an exponential explosion.
The King of India rewarded the Prime Minister who invented chess with wheat. The Prime Minister said to put one grain of wheat on the first square of the chessboard, two grains of wheat on the second square, four grains of wheat on the third square... and so on, putting twice the amount of wheat on each square.
Before Chen Biao finished his story, Zhu Yuanzhang interrupted him and asked, "So little? Isn't this easy?"
Chen Biao peeled the remaining lotus pods and stuffed them into Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth. "Raising wheat is like giving birth. Let's assume that each member of the royal family only has two children, and your lord has nearly thirty... Aren't you going on a business trip again? I'll count them slowly ."
Zhu Yuanzhang embarked on his business trip with a lot of doubts in his mind.
On the way, he summoned Li Shanchang, who was the best at accounting, and changed the story to one where Chen Biao won the chess game against him and asked for a reward.
Li Shanchang smiled and said, "That's not too difficult. My lord, you should learn the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art."
After saying that, Li Shanchang took out a small abacus from his waist and started to fiddle with it, while Chen Lin held a pen and paper and recorded the numbers.
Ye Zheng's second disciple, Chen Lin, had already returned to Yingtian. Zhu Yuanzhang certainly wouldn't take Chen Lin to Chen Biao immediately, but kept him by his side to check his behavior.
Li Shanchang liked Chen Lin very much and asked Chen Lin to be his assistant.
One of them calculated and the other recorded. At first, they looked relaxed, but the more they calculated, the more they smiled.
Compared with the two people's uncontrollable smiles, Zhu Yuanzhang's face became paler and paler as he listened to and looked at the increasing numbers written by Chen Lin.
Including the Chu-Han River, there are seventy-two chessboard squares. Li Shanchang only counted half of them before stopping.
"My lord, Biao'er is joking with you." Since there were outsiders who didn't know Chen Biao's identity, Li Shanchang used joking to cover it up, "Biao'er is naughty, don't be angry, if you want to be angry, go to General Chen Guorui."
Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned and said: "Ah, oh..."
Li Shanchang laughed even harder: "My lord, you really should learn some arithmetic."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded vigorously: "Learn, learn."
The weather was already hot, and his back was now wet with sweat.
The number of wheat grains that Li Shanchang is calculating now would probably take hundreds of years to grow.
He believed that the Ming Dynasty was ruined by "raising pigs".
Because Zhu Yuanzhang had already considered that if his Zhu family became emperor in the future, it should not be a problem to provide for the descendants of the Zhu family in the inner treasury.
How could I be so stupid!
The demise of the Ming Dynasty began in my generation?!
Wait a minute! I can't do arithmetic, but my ministers can! I made such an outrageous decision, and my ministers didn't try to persuade me!
Zhu Yuanzhang dismissed Chen Lin and left Li Shanchang alone. He said, "Mr. Li, this is not the reward Biaoer asked for. It's the future matter Biaoer mentioned."
Li Shanchang said dissatisfiedly: "Don't let Biaoer talk about the future anymore!"
Zhu Yuanzhang said, "I'll tell him to stop right away! Just listen to me first. Biao'er said, 'I'll have more than 50 children in the future!'"
Li Shanchang took a deep breath and said, "My Lord! Please have fewer children! Do you know how expensive it is to raise a prince from the royal family?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said awkwardly, "Hear me out first. Biao'er said that I will order that all descendants of the royal family be supported by the national treasury. I was thinking that even if I am stupid, you, Lord Li, are good at arithmetic, so you should be able to persuade me, right?"
Li Shanchang was stunned for a moment, then frowned and thought hard.
Zhu Yuanzhang panicked: "No way? Lord Li, do you still need to think about this?"
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's hurt expression, Li Shanchang couldn't help but chuckle and said, "The me now will definitely do it, but I don't know if the me that Biao'er is talking about will do it."
Zhu Yuanzhang was puzzled: "Why?"
Li Shanchang sighed, "My Lord, the reason I'm advising you not to support members of the imperial clan isn't actually related to the imperial family. The idea of supporting members of the imperial clan with the national treasury mainly means that their land doesn't have to pay taxes, right?"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "Yes, distribute land to the royal family, and do not pay taxes on the land."
Li Shanchang explained the taxation systems of past dynasties to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Contrary to the impression of later generations, officials only received their salaries and did not pay taxes, but they still had to pay taxes on their family land and shops.
However, powerful officials who controlled local areas were able to manipulate many "hidden fields." For example, after buying the land of a poor person, they would still register the land with the poor family, or even a dead person, making it appear that the powerful officials did not pay taxes.
But legally, officials still need to pay taxes.
Officials were able to evade taxes openly starting from the Northern Wei Dynasty.
In order to ensure the livelihood of officials, the Northern Wei Dynasty granted them "official fields" according to their ranks. Officials received their salaries from the output of the official fields.
Official lands were not subject to taxation and soon became a tool for powerful individuals to annex land. Countless powerful individuals registered their own lands with official lands, and officials openly robbed the people of their fertile lands.
Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said, "Zhitian, I know this."
Li Shanchang said, "The Yuan Dynasty government didn't collect taxes, so it was more common for official land to become an accomplice to land annexation. Biao'er must have told the master that the officials and powerful people in the Yuan Dynasty lived very well, perhaps even better than during the Tang and Song dynasties."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "Biaoer taught me a lesson."
Li Shanchang couldn't help but smile when he heard Zhu Yuanzhang calmly say, "Biao'er taught me a lesson." He continued, "Human greed is like a snake swallowing an elephant. People only want more and more, and they will never want to give up the benefits they have obtained. After my lord ascends the throne, perhaps the officials and gentry will not only want official land, but also want more, such as not paying taxes at all."
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned: "I won't agree."
Li Shanchang asked, "What if it's an exchange of benefits? All the officials agree that the royal family doesn't have to pay taxes, and will be supported by the national treasury for generations. My lord, all you need to do is exempt the high-ranking officials from taxes?"
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyelids twitched.
Li Shanchang said, "My Lord, I was born a minor official. Many of the officials' dirty work is done by minor officials. I know them very well."
Zhu Yuanzhang said aggrievedly: "Maybe you will stand on the side of the officials in the future?"
Li Shanchang said, "If this situation really happens in the future, whether I will side with the officials will definitely depend on the Lord's intentions. If the Lord strongly demands that the royal family be exempt from taxation for generations, I will definitely not disobey the Lord's order."
Li Shanchang laughed self-deprecatingly and said, "My lord, you understand me. You and Biao'er are lords of high moral character, and I, Li Shanchang, am a minister of high moral character. I am not a very noble person by nature."
Zhu Yuanzhang said happily: "I am so embarrassed when you praise me like this."
When Li Shanchang saw Zhu Yuanzhang laughing out loud, he couldn't help but smile even more .
He could now tell Zhu Yuanzhang very directly about the twists and turns in officialdom and his own not-so-noble thoughts. Such a relationship between the monarch and his subject is rare in history books.
It’s a blessing for the good man.
Zhu Yuanzhang said, "I understand. I want the royal family to become parasites, and all the officials will exchange their interests with me, and everyone will become parasites together. Therefore, my proposal is very outrageous, and they will not explain the interests to me so that they can bargain with me. Honest officials will at best remain silent. Because they know that if they speak, they will stand in opposition to the officials of the world."
Li Shanchang nodded: "Human nature is cowardly."
Zhu Yuanzhang sighed, "This is not cowardice. If the emperor wants to be a parasite, then there is no need to talk about the interests involved. What's the point of talking about it? I understand."
Li Shanchang frowned. "My Lord, the princes are exempt from tax or have the power to collect taxes. This is a policy that has existed since ancient times. My Lord will definitely continue this. So my Lord, please have fewer children."
Zhu Yuanzhang complained, "Do you think I don't want to have fewer children? I've consulted many famous doctors, and they all told me that the sterilization soups in the novels are all fake!"
Li Shanchang was stunned and said, "Fake, fake?"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded vigorously. "There's no such thing as a contraceptive soup in this world. There's no such thing as a contraceptive soup for men or women! At most, it reduces the chances of conceiving! But all the herbs that reduce the chances of conceiving are poisonous. Alas."
Li Shanchang asked, "Then, then there is no safe method of contraception?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Biao'er said that you can calculate the difficult dates for pregnancy based on a woman's menstrual period, and use a sheep intestine tool to reduce the probability of pregnancy. I'll try it later."
Li Shanchang frowned: "How come Biao'er even knows this?"
Zhu Yuanzhang shrugged. "I'd like to know, too. Well, you've kept this to yourself. With Biao'er's personality, not to mention the princes, even the imperial estates would have to pay taxes. You officials, don't even think about getting exempted."
Li Shanchang bowed and said, "We can discuss this slowly after my lord ascends the throne. However, my lord, I know you don't like official land, but official land cannot be comprehensive. The salaries of officials in previous dynasties were not high, and they need additional income to support their families."
Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said, "When we get back, ask Biao'er. I'm tired of hearing this. It gives me a headache."
Li Shanchang: "..."
He was moved for only a short while, and now he wanted to punch Zhu Yuanzhang twice.
You're the emperor! Don't count on Biao'er for everything! What's the use of you? Is all you know how to fight?!
…
"A-choo." It was such a hot day, but Chen Biao sneezed several times.
He rubbed his nose and said with certainty, "My father must be planning something bad to harm me again!"
Yan Qian held back his laughter. Tang He, who had been injured in the battle and was serving as the commander-in-chief, almost rolled on the ground with laughter.
"If the boss tries to harm you, I will help you beat him up!" Tang He boasted.
Chen Biao gave Tang a polite but perfunctory smile.
My dad always chases you and beats you up. I don't trust you.
Chen Biao rubbed his nose again and ignored Tang He, who only dared to be arrogant when his father was not around. He carefully looked through the ancient books brought by Yan Qian.
He wore cotton gloves to prevent the oil and sweat from his hands from damaging the fragile ancient books.
The ancestral manuscript kept by the Yan family was hidden in the old house, and Yan Qian just retrieved it today.
Yan Qian encountered trouble when retrieving his ancestors' manuscripts.
The Yan clan knew that Yan Qian had been demoted due to the Shao family's involvement, and they thought that Yan Qian was using the ancestral manuscript to curry favor with the powerful. Yan Qian tried to persuade them, and finally asked Ji Renshou to help write a letter, using Ji Renshou's reputation as a guarantee, and only then did he take out the ancestral manuscript.
Chen Biao admired the Yan family's cautious attitude towards their ancestors' manuscripts.
Yan Qian looked at Chen Biao nervously.
If even the immortal boy Biao'er cannot understand the manuscripts of our ancestors, then there is probably no one in this world who can understand our ancestors.
Yan Su's manuscripts are rich in pictures and texts. The pictures do not look like they were drawn with a brush at all. They are neat and precise, like the homework of engineering students in later generations. The scale of each drawing is marked in Shanghai.
Chen Biao was not an engineering student, so he could only guess the research done in Yan Su's manuscript based on the text description on the drawing and the perspective drawings drawn by Yan Su .
Yan Su described on the first page of the manuscript that his research was to replicate the legendary self-propelled version of Zhuge Liang's wooden ox and flowing horse.
