Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 547: Reform is not a joke
After Wang Shaozheng and Cao Sanxi spoke, the meeting hall suddenly became noisy. The ministers present expressed surprise at such a thing, and then put forward various opinions in tit-for-tat.
Some said that we should strictly implement the road permit system of Taizu's time to fix farmers to the land. This is really absurd. How can you work in the city whenever you want? Do we still need the laws of the country? Not only should the road permit system be restored, but the government offices in each city should also conduct strict inspections on factories and repatriate farmers who abandon their land and enter the city.
Some people said, how can you do this? In this way, there will be insufficient workers in the factory, insufficient production, insufficient products, reduced profits, and less tax revenue for the state. Now the situation is very clear: agricultural tax revenue is only more than 10 million yuan a year. The annual income of the entire court is now close to 200 million. Of this, an absolute part comes from commercial taxes. How can you lose the big and pick up the small?
Some said that the country should not oppose farmers working in factories, but should increase the head tax on these people to balance the income of farmers and workers. Others said that your method is actually the same as the previous method of restricting the flow of farmers. The final result is to destroy those emerging factories and cause public resentment across the country...
The meeting was very noisy. Even Fang Zhenghua, who was in charge of recording the meeting, frowned, as if he was trying to think of a solution. However, although the ministers were clamoring and putting forward various ideas, Zhu Youdong was relieved that no minister said anything stupid like "We won't grow food anymore, we'll buy it all from Southeast Asia."
Zhu Youdong was mentally prepared for the impact of industry on agricultural production. In order to cope with this impact, he found a food supply base and a commodity dumping ground for Ming Dynasty before releasing the steam engine technology. Even so, he did not expect that the impact would be so fierce!
How could this happen? Before I traveled through time, I read those Ming Dynasty novels. Some authors created an invincible system and completed the technology tree in an instant. Even so, society still developed healthily without any problems. How come when it came to me, I made a lot of preparations and just opened a gap, and almost caused the society to collapse?
There is no doubt that land abandonment is only one aspect, and there are many subsequent problems. Cao Sanxi has already mentioned the financial problems, and in other aspects, such as the drastic population flow, the newly reborn Huangce Library of the Ming Dynasty will slowly get out of control. For example, the changes in production and lifestyle will cause the people in some provinces of the Ming Dynasty to have drastic changes in their thinking. Some traditional customs will naturally be abandoned, and the conflict between the old and new people in terms of concepts will also be very intense.
At the same time, since Zhu Youdong had laid a vast land for the supply of raw materials and the dumping of goods for the Ming Dynasty in advance, the success rate of opening factories in these years was very high. Therefore, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat would quickly and truly take shape. Then these two classes would soon put forward their own political demands...
He clasped his hands together and rubbed his face vigorously a few times, then lifted the table with his fingers.
After knocking on the table for a while, he looked at Fang Zhenghua. Fang Zhenghua knocked the gavel hard to maintain order, and the whole venue quickly quieted down.
"My Lords, a glimpse of the leopard through a tube can reveal a glimpse of the leopard. The abandoned farmland and bad bank debts actually indicate that the entire Ming Dynasty will usher in a drastic change after entering the steam age. This change is a qualitative change in social production relations, which is completely different from the social upheavals of previous dynasties.
I asked you to study the Political Economy compiled by Fangshan School a long time ago. You should know that productivity determines production relations, and production relations determine the nature of society. Now, because of the huge increase in productivity, production relations have also undergone drastic changes. If the country does not quickly adjust and respond to this, it will sooner or later encounter chaos. "
"Your Majesty, I respectfully request your instructions."
"First of all, I want to make sure that everyone has a unified understanding of farmers entering factories to work: it is better to open up than to block. As the saying goes, the world is bustling, and profits come and go. The income of workers is two or three times that of farmers. How can this be suppressed by force? The income of workers is so high, and the profit of factory owners should be even more considerable. How can they be willing to go back to being small landlords? If we ignore human nature, blindly impose high pressure, and force people to return to the land, then there is no doubt that in a few years, there will be wars everywhere."
As soon as he said this, several ministers who had just proposed to increase the intensity of the blockade stood up and said, "Your Majesty is right. It is our ministers who have not thought it through."
"Eh." Zhu Youdong waved his hand: "In a meeting, everyone should express their own opinions. I don't have the habit of punishing people for their words."
After letting several ministers sit down, Zhu Youdong continued: "But in any case, agriculture is the foundation of a country. For a country as huge as our Ming Dynasty, if we don't farm ourselves, no country can provide us with enough food. Therefore, although the abandonment of grain fields is only a sign now, it must be guided as soon as possible.
The most effective way to guide farmers is through economic means. Why do farmers abandon their land and go to factories? Isn't it because the income from farming is far less than that from working? Then we can find a way to increase the income from farming a little bit, so that it is not too far behind that from working. "
"Your Majesty has hit the nail on the head, but how can we increase farmers' income? Since the Hongwu period of our dynasty, the land tax has basically remained unchanged. The additional levies added by previous dynasties were cleared and cancelled when Your Majesty took office as regent in his early years. Nowadays, almost all the additional levies have been abolished."
After Wang Shaozheng finished speaking, Zhang Yicheng stood up and said, "Could it be that the emperor wants to change the land tax from today's 10% to 30% as it was during the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty? If so, it would be a good story."
"No, no, no." Mr. Zhang is such an honest man. Zhu Youdong waved his hand and said, "I don't want to reduce the land tax any more. On the contrary, I want to increase it. From now on, the land tax will be five silver coins per mu per year for upper land, three and a half silver coins per mu for middle land, and two silver coins per mu for lower land."
"Ah? Your Majesty, if you calculate it this way, it's almost 50% tax, which is doubled! Isn't this forcing all the farmers to give up their land and work?"
Just as Zhang Yicheng exclaimed, Cao Sanxi's eyes turned and asked, "The emperor wants to abolish the head tax and corvée tax?"
"Hahaha, that's right. I've even thought of a name for this reform. It's called 'sharing the land tax with the land'."
Zhu Youdong knew the situation in his heart when he saw the ministers who were suddenly enlightened, lost in thought, or dumbfounded. Then he said urgently, "My Lords, you all know that the land tax in this dynasty has always been very light, but the main reason why farmers have a hard life is the head tax and corvée. I have now abolished all the head tax and corvée, and the burden on farmers has been reduced by half. At the same time, my Ming Dynasty used to collect taxes in kind, and there were many temporary levies. With more taxes, there are more opportunities for officials to manipulate. The court said that it collected more than 10 million in land taxes every year, but in fact, we all know that in the past few years when the administration was not rectified, the actual land taxes paid by farmers were probably more than 50 million. Even though the functions of the Censorate have changed in recent years, and the manipulation of officials in various places has decreased after the reconstruction of the Yellow Book Library, in fact, the land taxes paid by farmers are probably close to 30 million taels."
"And now." Zhu Youdong knocked on the table: "After I merged so many taxes into one, even if this farmer is illiterate, he knows how much tax he should pay every year. If the officials dare to collect more, the farmers will dare to resist. If the matter gets out of hand, the anti-corruption envoys from all over the country will go to investigate and deal with it.
Everyone has long concluded that corvée is a multi-faceted harm to small farmers, so there is no need to talk about it. Let's talk about the head tax. Anyway, we can't keep farmers on the land now, so why not just cancel it? Grand Tutor, do the math. After the head tax is distributed according to the acreage, will the farmers' income increase? How much will it increase?"
"Swish, swish..." With the help of Cao Sanxi, Wang Shaozheng quickly found a few pieces of white paper and started to calculate. After a while, he raised his head and said, "Your Majesty, Governor Cao and I have roughly calculated that after such improvements, a tenant farmer with a family of four can save 15 to 18 silver dollars a year. If the family has a few acres of thin land and rents a small amount of other people's land, they can earn 20 to 23 silver dollars a year."
"Well, that's about right. The income of a pure tenant farmer is lower than that of a worker, but the difference is not too big. In this way, people will naturally make their own choices. Some people just want to be more free and stay in the countryside. Some people think long-term and think about what to do if they lose their land and work in a factory... In short, as long as they don't all rush to the factory, it's fine."
"Your Majesty is wise, but I still have some doubts. After the abolition of the head tax and corvée, although the burden on farmers has been reduced, the court's control over them will obviously weaken again. Population mobility will inevitably increase, and it will be easier for people to work in factories. Then, won't the household registration be chaotic? I absolutely have no intention of prohibiting the movement of people, but Your Majesty has rebuilt the Yellow Book Library with great difficulty. If frequent population mobility leads to disordered household registration, the foundation of the country will be unstable again."
"I have already made arrangements for this." After a mysterious smile, Zhu Youdong said, "My lords, have you forgotten? When I was still the grandson of the emperor, when the Yellow Book was first rebuilt, there was one more thing compared to the household registration of the great ancestor, called the ID number. With this thing, no matter where a person goes, his place of origin and household registration are clear. In the future, wherever they go, they must have an ID card. As long as they check it, won't everything be clear?
However, with the increase in personnel mobility, the functions of local governments must also be adjusted accordingly. I think the Ministry of Personnel should carefully consider whether to establish a new Public Security Bureau and temporarily attach it to the Ministry of Households. At the local level, this Public Security Bureau can be attached to the Ministry of Households. Its functions are of course mainly to maintain public security, but it also needs to carry out household registration management, ID card inspection, floating population registration and other work. "
"Your Majesty, this is a good idea. However, Your Majesty, since corvée labor has been abolished, the positions of constables in this government office are either short of people or have become hereditary. I mean, since a new department has been established, should we also give it some clerks?"
"Sure, it's more than just clerks. We can even set up some official positions. As for the source of personnel, didn't the Grand Marshal just say that there were too many military households and the construction site couldn't accommodate them? Let's transfer some of the military households to do this work."
"I obey your order. Your Majesty is wise. With just a few words, you have solved many problems that I have been pondering for."
"Hehe." Zhu Youdong chuckled and said nothing: This is just the beginning. After the establishment of the bank and the currency reform, the Ming Dynasty has implemented the public ownership of fire consumption. Now, taking advantage of the rise of factories and the emergence of signs of people abandoning wasteland, the land tax has been smoothly implemented. Next, I still have the big move of officials and gentry paying taxes together!
However, reforms must be done cautiously and step by step. After three years, when the imperial examination system is overhauled and the number of state officials increases greatly, the status of a civil servant will not be so valuable. At that time, I will release the big move of requiring officials and gentry to pay taxes together, and everything will be done smoothly, right?
Alas, I, as a time traveler, have failed. Since I left for Nanjing at the age of six, it has been almost twenty years, and I have been carrying out reforms in small steps, one by one. Compared with those time travelers who made drastic reforms as soon as they came across, and who would just give an imperial decree and have the people follow it obediently, I am really too timid and a failure!
