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"Prince Qin, in the past six months, there have been twelve cases in Jiangxi of local tyrants bribing officials, hiding registered permanent residence, concealing land and evading taxes, and evading labor service. After investigation by the Imperial Censorate, they have been punished according to law, but most of the cases occurred in Jiangxi, which is very telling." Shao Hua, as the Left Censor-in-Chief, is the highest official in the Censorate. This time, he was invited by Qin Mu to join the small-scale discussion.
Why has this problem not occurred in Huguang for the time being, but only occurred in Jiangxi
Because Huguang was swept away by Zhang Xianzhong, the local tyrants were swept away, and the war caused a large loss of population, resulting in a phenomenon of more land and fewer people.
In addition, the officials in various states and counties at that time were basically newly appointed by Qin Mu, so there was no complicated collusion between officials and gentry for the time being.
On the other hand, in Jiangxi, except for southern Jiangxi, the old powerful forces in Ji'an Prefecture, Nanchang Prefecture, Linjiang Prefecture, Raozhou Prefecture, etc. were less damaged by the war;
Although they had taken the opportunity to deal with many local tyrants when they launched a large-scale anti-bandit campaign against the city of Liancheng, it was impossible to deal with them as thoroughly as Zhang Xianzhong's locust army, and the local gentry was still quite powerful.
Moreover, most of the officials in various prefectures and counties were officials from the former Ming Dynasty, which made it easy for collusion between officials and gentry to occur.
Shao Hua said this not to report the work of the Censorate to Qin Mu, but to discuss the issue of "interest distribution" raised by Qin Mu.
The "distribution of benefits" we are facing this time is not a question of how to divide up the silver after a few thieves have stolen it.
Instead, it is about redistributing the interests of scholars, farmers, workers, merchants, and soldiers throughout the world. This is a huge and complex issue that involves all aspects;
The problem mentioned by Shao Hua is one of them. By doing this, the landlords and powerful people are encroaching on the interests of the common people and the country. If this phenomenon occurs more frequently, it will cause an imbalance in the overall interests.
What Qin Mu and his ministers are discussing now is how to formulate an effective system to ensure the balance of interests of all parties. This may sound unpleasant, but this is the essence of the matter.
Gu Jun'en said, "Looking at the whole world, the original bureaucratic system has not been destroyed, probably only a few provinces such as Jiangxi. North of the Yangtze River, including the south of the Yangtze River, the old bureaucracy has been almost destroyed by the war, and it will be more advantageous for our Great Qin to take over the governance. So I think that the problems of collusion between officials and gentry, hidden occupation of households, and concealment of land and tax evasion can wait until the world is pacified. It will not be too late to slowly start to solve them."
Qin Mu shook his head and said, "No, some problems are not strictly treated in the early stages, and there is no good system to protect them. When the problems become serious, there will be no cure."
Sima An pondered and said, "Looking back at modern times, the most successful reformer is undoubtedly Zhang Juzheng. Zhang Juzheng's reforms at least prolonged the Ming Dynasty's fortune for several decades. Many of his policies are worth learning from;
However, I think Zhang Juzheng's "one whip" is still a temporary solution, perhaps because Zhang Juzheng was facing a rigid Ming Dynasty. He dared not do it too thoroughly. King Qin, now that our dynasty has just been established, there is no strong resistance like Zhang Juzheng faced, and some things can be done more thoroughly. For example, the reform of tax rates. "
Qin Mu nodded and said, "Please tell me in detail, Mr. Sima."
"I will first talk about the tax rate issue. At present, our dynasty still uses the tax rate of the Ming Dynasty in Huguang and Jiangxi. This must be reformed as soon as possible, otherwise the larger the local area, the more difficult it will be to deal with. As the King of Qin said before, taxation is not only a source of wealth for the court, but also should play a role in equalizing and protecting the lives of the lower-class people. I deeply agree with this point;
In the Ming Dynasty, agricultural tax was 1 in 30, and commercial tax was 1 in 50. This tax rate itself had serious problems. Farming made little profit, but the tax was heavy; industry and commerce made much profit, but the tax was light. Although this was beneficial and promoted the development of commerce, it would undoubtedly widen the income gap between farmers and merchants, leading to an extremely unbalanced income distribution.
Although Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty severely restricted the status of merchants, it turned out that this did not solve the problem. After merchants accumulated a lot of wealth, their status was no longer substantially degraded. They could get everything they needed through collusion between officials and merchants.
The result of the Ming Dynasty's tax rate was a huge gap between the rich and the poor. The people had no food to eat, the treasury was empty, but the local tyrants were as rich as a country. Before Zhang Juzheng's reform, the annual income of the country was only more than 2 million taels, and after the reform, it was only doubled. Just look at the wealthy families in Jiangnan, where there are many with assets of millions of taels.
Although it is good to keep wealth among the people, it can only be said that wealth is kept among the people when the state needs it. In military affairs, it is important to strengthen the trunk and the weak branches, and the same is true in terms of wealth. The annual income of the imperial court is not as much as that of a wealthy family in Jiangnan. Throughout the dynasties, only in the Ming Dynasty did such a strange phenomenon occur;
Let's look at the Song Dynasty, especially the Southern Song Dynasty, where the annual revenue exceeded 10 million taels, half of which came from commercial taxes. If we compare the industry and commerce of the Song Dynasty with that of the Ming Dynasty, how could the Song Dynasty be inferior? It can be seen that it is nonsense to say that reducing commercial taxes is to promote the development of industry and commerce. "
Qin Mu agreed with what Sima An said, so he asked, "Mr. Sima, how much do you think the commercial tax rate should be raised?"
"It should at least be equal to the agricultural tax. If we look at it from the perspective of balanced income distribution, it should even be slightly higher than the agricultural tax."
"Okay, let's spread the news first, let the six ministers discuss it together, and then decide."
Yu Dayou then said, "King of Qin, the pre-Qin system of conferring titles based on military merit is indeed a good strategy for unifying the country."
Qin Mu has also recently studied the pre-Qin system of conferring titles based on military merit, and he also knows that Zhang Juzheng of the Ming Dynasty also implemented this system, but Zhang Juzheng failed.
Gu Jun'en immediately helped analyze: "Prince Qin, the reason why Zhang Juzheng failed is that he faced a corrupt Ming Dynasty, which led to the failure of this good strategy;
Another point is that the reason why the pre-Qin dynasty was successful was that before the pre-Qin dynasty unified the world, the territory was only Guanzhong and Sichuan, and the small area made it easy to check the implementation of the system.
However, Zhang Juzheng was faced with a territory ten times larger than his own. After the military merit system was enacted, it was difficult to verify its implementation, and it was inevitable that some people would engage in corruption and corruption, making this good policy difficult to work.
Yu Dayou spoke eloquently: "Shang Yang's system of conferring titles based on military merit is divided into 20 levels. All soldiers, regardless of their family background, will receive rewards according to the size of their military merits, even the royal family of Qin. Royal family members who have not made military merits are not allowed to be included in the clan's books and are not allowed to have titles;
If a soldier cuts off the head of an enemy soldier, he will be awarded a first-level title, one hectare of land, a house and a servant. The more heads he cuts off, the higher the title he will get.
The Pre-Qin Dynasty used this strict system to boost morale and improve combat effectiveness. Facts have proved that due to its strong desire for military merit, the Qin army was like a hungry tiger, devouring the heavily armed soldiers of Wei and the iron cavalry of Zhao wearing Hu clothing and riding and shooting.
The success and failure of the pre-Qin and Ming dynasties are in contrast to social conditions. The productivity in the pre-Qin period was relatively backward, and the continuous wars made the living conditions of soldiers very difficult. The treatment enjoyed by different titles was very different. Soldiers without titles could fill their stomachs;
Therefore, using the enemy's head to obtain a promotion to a noble title became a means of satisfying the basic living needs of the soldiers, otherwise they would have to endure hunger. In addition, gaining military merit was almost the only way for the Qin people to gain power. After weighing the costs and benefits, fighting bravely to kill the enemy and gaining military merit became the best choice for the Qin army.
In contrast, the Ming Dynasty's economy had developed significantly compared to the pre-Qin period. Ordinary soldiers had no problem with food and clothing, and could receive military pay, unlike the Qin army, which suffered from hunger and cold. Under such circumstances, the desire to gain military merit by killing enemies would be greatly reduced;
Because the desire for military merit is not strong, the motivation for morale is naturally not high. After weighing the benefits and costs, they will naturally not fight to the death, and in the end it becomes a means of killing innocent people and gaining merit.
This is secondary. The most important point is that Zhang Juzheng saw the advantages of this system and wanted to use it to improve the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, but he overlooked one point: the corrupt Ming Dynasty was not the pre-Qin Dynasty with a strict system.
The strict laws and regulations of the pre-Qin period were so detailed and severe that the punishments were unprecedented in all dynasties. The officials in charge of recording merits did not dare to break the law easily, which ensured the smooth operation of the system of conferring titles based on military merits.
In contrast, during the reign of Zhang Juzheng, corruption was rampant, military discipline was broken, and there was corruption for personal gain. The cost of falsely reporting military merits was extremely low, and officials who recorded military merits colluded with generals, which eventually led to the complete distortion of the system of conferring titles based on military merits. Instead of inspiring the morale of the Ming army, it became a way for officers and soldiers to seek personal gain.
After listening to Yu Dayou's analysis, Qin Mu felt a sense of empathy. Indeed, the system of conferring titles based on military merit was a good system, but it depended on the circumstances under which you implemented it and whether it was appropriate.
Sima An said: "King of Qin, the situation in our Qin is different from that in Zhang Juzheng's time. On the contrary, it has many similarities with the pre-Qin period. If we promulgate the system of conferring titles based on military merit, the region will be the same as in the pre-Qin period, with only two provinces, which is easy to check.
In addition, the world was in turmoil and the people were living in poverty. For most people, being able to eat enough was already a luxury. Therefore, it was very urgent for many people to obtain titles through military merit and improve their living conditions.
Furthermore, the Qin State was just established, the politics was relatively clear, the soldiers had a strong sense of honor, and the military discipline was relatively strict. As long as a set of supervision mechanisms were established in the army, it would not be difficult to ensure the smooth operation of the military merit system. At least before the unification of the country, the military merit system would definitely play a great role in promoting the war of unification. "
Whether it was the system of conferring titles based on military merit or the tax rate reform, to put it bluntly, it was still about redistributing benefits. These days, Qin Mu, Sima An and others discussed these issues whenever they had time.
From Sima An's words, we can see that he only intended to use the system of conferring nobility through military merit as a means of unifying the country. Whether he would continue to implement it after unifying the country is another matter.
Indeed, no system can guarantee peace of mind forever, and the best system is the one that suits the times. Now the primary goal should be to unify the world, and the system of conferring titles based on military merit is indeed quite suitable for the current war of unification.
What remained was just how to ensure the smooth operation of the system of conferring titles based on military merit. In response to this, everyone discussed it for a long time and came up with many measures to ensure that military merit was not misappropriated.
When everyone had dispersed to deal with their daily business, Li Shi hurried in and reported: "King Qin, the craftsmen sent by the Ministry of Works to explore the iron ore have arrived."
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.(To be continued..)
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