Meng Zezhi became happier the more he thought about it. With a big wave of his hand, he issued four orders in a row.
First, Qian Boyu was canonized as Jing Haibo, and Liu Wenshan (the one who killed the Japanese pirates) was named Ping Haibo.
The second is to reward the soldiers with 1000 taels of gold and 10,000 taels of silver, which will be distributed by Qian Boyu.
The third is to put those gold and silver into the treasury, and all the rest are included in the inner purse.
The fourth is to exempt this year's land tax, and at the same time encourage wasteland reclamation. It is stipulated that the reclaimed wasteland will be exempted from land tax within ten years.
When they heard that Emperor Ning Wu wanted to exempt Tian Fu, all the ministers were shocked. It should be known that Tian Fu accounted for 70% of the annual financial revenue of the Dayang Dynasty. The most important thing is that Tian Fu is exempted. Wouldn't the consumption envy that they can receive behind their backs will greatly shrink.
Even if someone stood up to object: "Long live, this matter is absolutely necessary, the court's annual expenditures for officials' salaries, army salaries, and river workers alone amount to five million taels of silver."
The Dayang Dynasty raised one million soldiers, but the annual military salary expenditure was less than 2 million taels, mainly because the Dayang Dynasty implemented the military colony system, that is, the land was allocated to the army for planting, and basically the soldiers stationed on the border were all To be able to support themselves, only the navy and a part of the city guards need to allocate salaries from the household department
"If there are festivals or natural disasters again, it will cost tens of millions of taels of silver a year, and the annual tax revenue in the country is only 8 million taels, and now it is already enough food. , and please think twice!"
"Sir, please long live and think twice."
"It's okay if Aiqing doesn't say it." Meng Zezhi twitched his expression: "When you say it, it reminds me of something."
"Because of the tyranny of Mengyuan and Yuan Dynasty, which led to predatory destruction of private commerce, when Emperor Taizu established his country, in order to restore commerce, he was known to the Ministry of Household, military and civilians for weddings and funerals, boats, carriages, silk cloth, etc., all tax-free. It is also fixed that for all commercial taxes, one will be taken from thirty.”
You know, Emperor Guangde repeatedly reduced or exempted agricultural taxes, and it was only as low as one out of twenty-five. The peasants were poor and could not get enough to eat, but the merchants and local officials colluded and became rich.
Meng Zezhi knew this, otherwise, how did he get the extra money (matches, soap) of more than 200,000 taels per month
"Now, more than 30 years have passed, and business has generally recovered. It is time to re-collect taxes on merchants. Now, from now on, the business tax will be changed to one out of ten."
One out of ten? How much do you have to pay this year
Civil and military officials were enthusiastic: "It is absolutely impossible, not to mention the ancestral teachings that cannot be violated, rashly increase business taxes, compete with the people for profits, spread it out, and let the people in the world feel..."
"Striving for profit with the people?" Meng Zezhi's tone was not good: "Or do you want to compete with officials for profit?"
The ministers choked.
"What are the facts, you know well." Meng Zezhi said, "So, I am not discussing with you, but telling you my decision."
"Hooray..."
"Not only that, from now on, people's tax will be paid according to the number of acres of land under their name. Those with more land will pay more, those with less land will pay less, and those who have no land will not pay.
There are two basic components of the government's collection of positive fu from the common people, one is the land fu, and the other is the poll tax. The former was taxed according to the property status, while the latter was taxed according to the per capita.
At the same time, registered or retired officials and scholars who have achieved fame are not required to perform military service and corvée service, and even the shops and fields under their names are not required to pay taxes.
Officials and gentry pay grain together to make them pay taxes and serve as errands. Of course, they don’t want to do military service or corvée service.
Meng Zezhi's move undoubtedly greatly harmed the interests of officials and the landlord class.
"Hooray..."
Meng Zezhi interrupted them directly: "I also know the hardships of all the loving ministers, so I have decided that starting today, civil and military officials will increase their salaries by ten times their regular salaries every year. Add eight times the official salary to the administrative expenses, and military attachés add five times the official salary to the administrative expenses.”
Take the high-ranking officials as an example, the annual salary is only 180 taels of silver and 180 stone of Lumi. The price of goods in Beijing is not low, and it is a problem to support a family with this money.
Hearing this, the ministers were stunned.
The stick was hit, and the sweet dates were also given, so it was time to bow first and then soldiers.
"However, my ugly words are ahead of me. From today onwards, I will stop accepting any kind of ice, charcoal, and envy. If I find out and accept bribes or embezzle more than 1,000 taels, I will be dismissed from my post and travel thousands of miles." Those with more than 1,000 taels will be beheaded. Those with more than 10,000 taels will be executed by the three clans. There are also tax evasion and tax evasion.
"This, such a severe punishment..." All the civil and military officials turned blue and white.
Meng Zezhi glanced at them meaningfully: "If you have a clear conscience, you will naturally not feel that this is a harsh punishment."
The ministers were speechless.
"Also, from now on, 70% of the money obtained from Sea Trade will be returned to the state treasury, and 30% will go to the internal purse."
Note that the silver money mentioned here does not include those rare treasures.
"Private overseas trade is strictly prohibited. Violators have no family property and are sent into exile. Tributes from vassal states are still mainly based on exploration and cooperation."
After Emperor Taizu established the country, the practice of the previous dynasty was followed. Only vassal states and the imperial court are allowed to conduct tributary trade with time, place and quantity. That is, the merchant ships of the vassal countries came to China with tributes and their own goods, and after the imperial court accepted the offerings and spent money to buy the goods, they repaid the goods needed by the vassal countries in the form of "national gifts". The tribute period of various countries ranges from three to five years, and the tribute (certificate) issued by the court must be held in advance.
The reason for this is that the tree he planted with great effort has barely recovered its capital, and naturally he doesn't want to be picked by others.
Second, it is to prevent the influx of merchants into the sea. Because the output of domestic bulk goods is limited, once they taste the sweetness, they will inevitably recruit people to expand production. But where did the workers come from, they didn't want to go to the countryside to find them. Once the peasants who are farming the fields flood into the factories, and the fields are uncultivated, the consequences will be unimaginable.
So things have to have a gradual process, at least within fifteen years, Meng Zezhi does not plan to let go of maritime trade.
"As for the matters such as stalls entering the mu, the cabinet will first draw up a document and submit it according to the actual situation of the people in our court."
Meng Zezhi only had to come up with ideas, and the people below would take care of the errands.
"Yes." Lu Zengxiang responded immediately after leaving work.
When the officials dispersed, Meng Zezhi kept Qian Boyu for lunch.
"By the way, is this trip to sea going smoothly?" Meng Zezhi asked.
Qian Boyu immediately put down the tea bowl, got up and replied, "Long live the report, it's going well. We are so many and powerful that pirates hardly dare to approach. It was just that when they were passing through the country of Majubaxie on the island of Java, the occupying army mistakenly thought it was a pirate. Those who came to help the enemy, fought immediately, and we broke in with thirteen people."
"The leader of the local occupying army was worried about our army's retaliation, and sent an envoy to send 10,000 taels of gold to apologize. I thought that this time I went to sea for business, and it was really inappropriate to have a bad relationship with the Western countries. In addition, the other party also suffered heavy casualties. So on their own accord, they declined their compensation."
"In addition, more than 30 sergeants and boatmen unfortunately died on the way, and two warships and a treasure ship were lost due to the storm."
"It's fine if you don't suffer." Meng Zezhi nodded: "As for the dead soldiers and boatmen, they are also meritorious people, so be sure to treat their families well."
"Long live, don't worry, this minister is measured." Qian Boyu replied.
"That's good. Uncle has been away from the capital for so long. You might as well stay at home for a few more days and spend more time with your grandfather and aunt. There is no rush before going to sea." Meng Zezhi sent him to the gate of the palace.
"Thank you, Long En." Qian Boyu couldn't help but be overjoyed. Emperor Ning Wu's implication was clearly that he planned to entrust the matter of sea trade to him.
Sure enough, these seven months have not been in vain, and he was successfully promoted to the confidant of Emperor Ning Wu, not to mention that he also won the title of Earl Jinghai, and he now bears the title of the prince of Zheng Guogong. It is not a problem to downgrade and inherit the title of Duke Zheng.
—Six years have passed.
In the past six years, the civil and military officials did not dare to mention the draft, so Meng Zezhi tacitly did not use Lu Li to stimulate them.
With the promotion of high-yield crops such as corn and sweet potatoes, and the unremitting efforts to open up wasteland, the national average grain yield per mu has finally broken through the 400-pound mark, and the arable land area has reached 9 million hectares.
"Long live the revelation," the cabinet chief assistant Lu Zengxiang said after leaving the class: "In December of the seventh year of Ningwu, the verification, the world's household registration was 8.68 million, and the mouth was 51.52 million. The annual income was 3.36 million pieces of cloth brocade, 900,000 catties of silk cotton, tea 3,420,000 catties, 2,197,000 taels of salt... People tax, 960,000 taels of silver, 1,910,000 taels of grain; business taxes, 6,420,000 taels; sea trade, 14,680,000 taels... A total of 23,920,000 taels of silver."
"As of December of the seventh year of Ningwu, a total of 8.31 million taels were spent on official salaries, military salaries, and river workers, and 3.61 million taels were spent on 23 items such as the repair of the tribute courtyard and palace expenses... Verification, the state treasury was 77.92 million taels of silver and 77.92 million taels of gold. 1.42 million taels, 6.41 million shi of grain, and 430,000 pieces of brocade…”
After reading these, Lu Zengxiang finally said: "Congratulations, long live, only eight years of Yuji, there will be peace in the sea today, and we will meet each other."
The ministers immediately followed him and said, "Long live congratulations, the world is under great governance, and a prosperous world can be expected."
"It's too early to say this." Meng Zezhi was not satisfied with these, he said: "Since the government has hidden overflows, next year's Ding Tax will be exempted together with Tian Fu."
"Yes." The ministers were indifferent, not as excited as they were six years ago. Thinking about it, it's only a hundred thousand taels of silver. The most important thing in the treasury at this moment is money.
"As for cloth and cotton, 30,000 pieces are left, and the rest will be handled by the Ministry of Ocean Trade."
The Ministry of Maritime Trade is a new yamen established five years ago. As the name suggests, it is in charge of all matters of maritime trade.
"By the way, a former firearms bureau has fiddled with a novelty called 'cement'. It is easy to manufacture and has a large output. It can be used to build bridges, pave roads and build houses. It is as solid as a rock. Since the treasury is full now, I Thinking of using this cement to re-pave the official roads across the country."
If you want to be rich, you must build roads first. This is a matter of experience.
As he spoke, he clapped his hands, and immediately four guards came in with a thick cement board.
The ministers touched and stepped on the cement board, making sure that no matter how hard they tried, the cement board was safe and sound, and a surprise appeared on their faces.
Just after the exclamation, everyone's faces gradually became serious.
Will the country's official roads be re-laid again? This amount of work is not ordinary.
He Qingyun pondered and asked: "Long live, do you mean to send corvés to build roads or?"
"It's not necessary, the people are already suffering enough. Anyway, the treasury is not short of money at the moment, the cost of cement is not high, and this road cannot be repaired overnight. In addition to improving traffic conditions, my original intention is to also I saved the idea of giving farmers a good place to make money during the slack season. Therefore, it is better to use the recruitment system for this road construction. As for the specific wages, it depends on the situation." Meng Zezhi said.
He also thought that the corvée would also be abolished in a few years.
"In this way, it can be regarded as hiding wealth for the people." Lu Zengxiang very much agrees with this kind of thing that kills two birds with one stone.
"Then it's settled." Meng Zezhi made a final decision: "The matter will be handed over to the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Industry and the Firearms Bureau."
"The minister waits for orders."
Meng Zezhi finally said: "However, I have to remind you Aiqing that a gentleman loves money, and he takes it in a proper way. It is better not to take what should not be taken."
Hearing this, recalling the tragic situation in Caishikou a few years ago, all the ministers invariably expressed a solemn expression: "Chen, please remember."
So another eight years passed.
In a hurry, the official road was repaired, the coastal fort was repaired, and even the Gongyuan was renovated, and even Meng Zezhi's mausoleum was completed.
Meng Zezhi thought about it again and again: "If this is the case, let's repair the Forbidden City as well. After Emperor Taizu came to the throne, this place has not been repaired much, and many places have been broken."
Hearing this, all the ministers blushed and felt ashamed of the emperor. If Emperor Ning Wu hadn't said it, they would have forgotten that there was such a thing. On the other side, he couldn't help but sigh, except that Emperor Ning Wu was a little out of character, he was generally good.
No, they are the ones who are being fed.
After all, the bulk of the revenue of the national treasury at the moment is the sea trade, and the sea trade was created by Emperor Ning Wu...
Thinking of this, the civil and military officials suddenly had mixed feelings in their hearts.
They said in a row, "It should be, it should be."
Then, in the twenty-sixth year of Ningwu, all nations came to court.