Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 266 Subsequent Package Plan
"Grandpa Emperor, this is the monthly salary standard for civil servants, clerks, and runners that was set after repeated discussions between my grandson and the ministers. Please review it, Grandpa Emperor."
Since appointing Zhu Youdong as regent, Wanli has lived a comfortable life in recent years.
Although he lost the power to directly manipulate the country, on the one hand, Wanli had always regarded this as a hard job. On the other hand, no matter how many times Wanli said it, Zhu Youdong still sent all kinds of memorials to the Qianqing Palace, and the minutes of each State Council meeting were also submitted to Wanli for review at the fastest speed.
In short, His Majesty the Emperor did not have the sense of loss that an ordinary retired official would have.
Moreover, in recent years, under the leadership of Zhu Youdong, the country has shown clear signs of revitalization.
The national household registration check has been completed, although the final figure of 103 million did not meet the psychological expectations of the grandfather and grandson. But Wanli knew that his grandson, who looked radical but was actually very cautious, did not touch the military households in this census. Moreover, when faced with a benchmark with strong political significance such as the Kong family in Qufu, he also let it go lightly.
If all these are clarified, the population of the Ming Dynasty must be more than 110 million, which is double the 55 million counted in the Yellow Book in the 30th year of the Wanli reign.
This involves the foundation of the country. The Yellow Book Library, which has gradually gotten out of control since the Xuande period, finally has hope of being completely restored.
As long as the foundation of the country is restored and the country's prosperity continues, it is no longer a dream!
All of this was resolved during the Wanli period. There is no doubt that my reputation will not be bad after my death!
Therefore, Emperor Wanli was generally in a good mood in the past two years.
But when it comes to raising salaries for civil servants, Wanli was a little unhappy.
The emperors of the Zhu family had been stingy for hundreds of years, and suddenly there came a tyrant who was extravagant and would not feel comfortable if he did not spend the money in his pocket. Although under the leadership of this tyrant, the country has clearly seen signs of revitalization. But Wanli was still a little reluctant to spend it instinctively.
"Dong'er, Grandpa knows that the court suddenly became rich after selling the salt mines a few days ago. And the income from salt tax will be much higher in the future. But...it's easy to raise the salary, but if the court runs out of money one day, it will be very difficult to reduce it."
"Grandpa Emperor, this is what I think. The salt tax will be fixed at 12 million yuan every year in the future. This alone is enough to increase the salaries of the civil officials this time. Moreover, this amount of salt tax can be maintained for at least ten years."
"What about ten years later?"
"Hahaha, Grandpa Emperor, ten years from now, I plan to reduce the salt tax quota by at least half, so that the people of the Ming Dynasty can easily get enough salt!"
"Hmm? Are you planning to take advantage of the land tax and business tax?"
"Yes, there is no one more wise than Grandpa. Grandpa, the national household census has been completed, and all the preparatory work for rebuilding the Yellow Book Library has been completed. Starting from next year, I plan to spend two to three years rebuilding the Yellow Book Library. After that, I will revise the Fish Scale Atlas. I can guarantee that within five years, the money the country receives from the land tax and head tax will be at least 30 million every year. According to the fixed rule of 20% of the land tax as gold and silver, the Ministry of Households will send at least 6 million to the inner treasury every year. At present, the industries under my control have paid more than 3 million yuan in dividends to Grandpa . Within five years, I will work hard and strive to send 10 million silver dollars to the palace every year after five years."
"Ah..." Wanli sighed and said, "If the national treasury is full, why would Grandpa need so much money in the inner treasury? But Dong'er, since you promised Grandpa that there will be a steady flow of money in the future, Grandpa agrees to increase the salaries of civil officials and clerks this time. But why do we still need to pay those officials?"
"Grandfather Emperor, this is what your grandson thinks." When Zhu Youdong said this, he waved his sleeves lightly, and the eunuchs and palace maids around him quickly went out.
When only the grandfather and grandson were left in the room, Zhu Youdong lowered his voice and said, "Corvée labor is a double or even multiple injury to the common people. So, my grandson's plan is to reform the land tax and implement the land tax distribution system after the reconstruction of the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Atlas is completed!"
"Is the tax rate based on the land area?"
"Yes, Grandfather Emperor. There are too many taxes and corvées in our Ming Dynasty. With so many taxes and corvées, ordinary people can't distinguish them at all. In this way, no matter how I rectify it, it will be easy for the herdsmen and clerks below to take advantage of it. Therefore, my idea is to use the identity card, yellow book and fish scale map as the basis to convert all the head tax, corvées and so on into land. To simplify it, the country will only collect land tax from landowners in the future."
"Hiss~~ Dong'er, you mean that those scholars who have land in their names must pay taxes, right?"
"Yes, Grandfather Emperor. With the establishment of the Ming Royal Bank, the coinage right has been completely taken back. In this way, the fire consumption will all belong to the state.
After all provinces across the country have bank branches this year, the situation where more than a dozen national departments are collecting taxes and building treasuries has a basis for resolution. Within five years, my grandson will gradually build banks in at least every prefecture. In this way, all parts of the country will have a unified purchasing and collection agency. Then my grandson will implement the tax distribution system based on the amount of land, and officials and gentry will work together and pay taxes. Of course, my grandson will not collect taxes in kind, and all taxes will be collected in cash in the future. Those who don’t want to serve in the army can just pay. Therefore, we must take advantage of this great opportunity to raise the salaries of civil officials and clerks, and the civil officials will not object, to first make a budget for the work of errands.”
"Dong'er, I understand the issue of paying the officials, and I can agree to it. However, since it is all a monetary tax, we have to be careful of low grain prices hurting farmers, or grain prices soaring after a disaster."
"So my grandson must first build a bank, especially after at least every prefecture has a bank, before we reform the agricultural tax. Grandfather, with a bank, we can specify the maximum and minimum prices for grain. In a bumper year, no matter how badly the grain price falls, we can purchase grain at the minimum price to prevent farmers from being hurt by low grain prices. In a disaster year , the bank will sell grain at the maximum price, but this maximum price must be much lower than the market price. In this way, we can effectively protect the victims of the disaster."
"Okay!" Wanli, who had lost a lot of weight after a few years of recuperation, stood up suddenly: "Dong'er, how did you come up with this idea? A bank solved so many problems in one go!"
In fact, although there was no so-called "bank" in the dynasties of the Chinese Empire, the previous dynasties had economic regulation institutions like the central bank. Zhu Yuanzhang, who did not understand economics very well, split the power of the Ministry of Revenue into pieces in order to control his officials. As a result, the economy of the Ming Dynasty was always in an embarrassing situation where the private economy was developed, but the fruits of economic development could never benefit the country...
But there is no need to say more about these.
"Dong'er, Grandfather Emperor has approved what you just said. You can go directly to Li En to use the seal later."
"Yes, grandson thanks you very much, Grandpa. Grandpa, I have a little thing to report to you."
"Hmm? Hehe, you are the regent now. You actually brought it up to grandfather in a serious manner. It must be no small matter. Tell me."
"Yes, Grandfather Emperor, the Prince of England, Zhang Shize, has recently excavated some ancient tombs. The things unearthed from the tombs are really quite shocking."
