Chapter 716： sleepless night

Chapter 716 Sleepless Night

This evening, in addition to the three official documents for dispatching materials to Beijing, Zhu Pingan was arranged to draft more than ten other official documents, all of which carried out the spirit of the court meeting tonight.

Because of the urgency of the matter, these official documents had to be printed and issued early in the morning, so Zhu Pingan worked overtime until late at night, and Zhu Pingan was able to drag his tired body and lay himself on the small bed in the low hut.

This has been two nights of overtime work in a row, and each time he worked overtime until around midnight, Zhu Ping'an was so tired that he didn't want to move a finger.

However, although he was extremely sleepy and exhausted, Zhu Pingan couldn't fall asleep in bed.

Although the night was already deep, the low value hut was still like a steam oven. It was very hot and stuffy. It was probably about to rain, so the inside and outside of the value hut were very hot.

Not only hot, but also noisy.

The frogs in the paddy fields opened up by Emperor Jiajing outside the hut were croaking presumptuously, and the cicadas on the tree trunks were also croaking endlessly. One after another, covering your ears doesn't help.

Why are there so many frogs and cicadas in the palace? Zhu Pingan was lying on the bed speechless for a while, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

After falling asleep with great difficulty, Zhu Pingan was awakened by another nightmare. In the dream, a family was ruined because of the increase in taxes on materials and silver in Beijing.

covered in cold sweat.

It's too real.

Zhu Ping'an closed his eyes now, and all the scenes appeared in front of his eyes. The desperate and stern eyes of the hostess, as if it happened in real life.

Hey

Zhu Ping'an couldn't help but got up and got out of bed, sat in front of the window in the dark, stared at the long night outside the window, and became dazed.

At this time, Daming is already a giant ship in disrepair in the sea, and it is already showing the tendency of overturning in a hundred years.

The emptiness of the national treasury that has erupted now is a microcosm of a financial crisis. The immediate cause of the overthrow of the Ming Dynasty was not so much the peasant uprising as the financial crisis.

The financial crisis of the Ming Dynasty was like opening a Pandora's box.

Because of financial crisis

Therefore, when natural disasters and famines occurred, the Ming Dynasty did not have the financial resources to provide disaster relief, which led to the lack of credibility of the Ming Dynasty and led to the rebellion of Jimin in order to survive;

That's why there was a shortage of military pay, insufficient weapons and equipment, and insufficient training for recruiting soldiers. The Ming army's combat effectiveness declined.

The financial crisis has spawned refugees and mutinous soldiers, leading to successive and growing domestic uprisings.

The financial crisis caused the Ming army to be insufficient in combat effectiveness, unable to quell domestic rebellions, and unable to eliminate foreign invasions.

So, after a vicious circle of more than a hundred years, at the time of the Chongzhen Dynasty, the giant ship of the Ming Dynasty, which was riddled with holes, finally capsized.

At this time, Zhu Ping'an couldn't even imagine that the most developed and prosperous country in the world - Daming would be reduced to such a financial crisis.

A huge empire, it has more than one billion mu of arable land, has a population of nearly 300 million, has a huge development of industry and commerce, and the emergence of capitalism, with industrial output accounting for more than 2/3 of the world.

However, its tax revenue cannot meet its administrative operations and arm hundreds of thousands of troops.

Northern Hu Alta Khan's invasion of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses made the northern border of the empire like a sieve, riddled with holes.

It's unbelievable.

This kind of tax revenue is too abnormal.

Is there a problem with the tax system?

Yes, but not all.

We must know that when the Ming Dynasty was first established, it was the period of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. At that time, the Ming Dynasty had less cultivated land, less population, and less developed industry and commerce than now, but the tax revenue at that time was completely sufficient to meet the operation of this huge empire. , Whether it is large-scale construction, large-scale foreign wars, or disaster relief, it is more than enough.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang sent Meng Yuan to exile in Europe several times during the Northern Expedition; during the period of his son Chengzu Zhu Di, he repeatedly raised troops abroad, with an army of 500,000 expeditions to Mongolia five times, and an army of hundreds of thousands to the South for many times in Vietnam, and the construction of the Forbidden City , and there was a large-scale construction project in Wudang Mountains, and Zheng He, who was famous in history, made seven voyages to the West, and there was no financial crisis.

You must know that the taxation system of the Ming Dynasty has basically not changed since the founding of the country.

Why has the cultivated land increased, the population has increased, and industry and commerce have developed, but the taxes levied according to the tax system since the founding of the People’s Republic of China cannot satisfy the operation of the empire, resulting in a financial crisis?

Zhu Pingan from modern times clearly knows the root cause.

However, it is a pity that not many people in the Ming Dynasty know this. Of course, some people may have seen it, but due to various reasons, perhaps because of concerns, or because they know the cause but have no solution, they did not say it.

The people who participated in the court meeting tonight were either cabinet ministers or ministers from various ministries, but the several measures in the court meeting tonight were all palliatives, not the root cause.

Moreover, some measures, such as taking Beijing material silver, are short-term cures, but in the long run, the gains outweigh the losses.

The current problems of the Ming Dynasty, one of the biggest problems is the serious land annexation.

The land annexation in the Ming Dynasty was too serious. Although there were more and more cultivated land, there were fewer and fewer land owners. The cultivated land in the Ming Dynasty became more and more highly concentrated in the hands of a few people.

The royal family’s Huangzhuang had a bad start. As soon as Emperor Jiajing’s cousin Zhu Houzhao succeeded to the throne, he set up seven Huangzhuangs. Later, more than 30 Huangzhuangs were established one after another. previous dynasties.

The royal family, bureaucrats and gentry are not far behind.

To be disrespectful, Xu Jie, my teacher, is not very clear how many fields he has now, but Zhu Pingan knows that when Xu Jie was the chief assistant, he occupied 240,000 mu of fertile land in his hometown in Song Dynasty, and had tens of thousands of tenants; With Yan Song, the current chief assistant, he occupies countless cultivated lands in Jiangxi, Nanjing, Yangzhou and other places.

According to the information that Zhu Pingan consulted in modern times, about half of the fertile land near the capital of the Ming Dynasty belonged to the royal family, bureaucrats and gentry after the land merger.

The land is highly integrated with the royal family, bureaucrats and gentry.

It is necessary to know that most of these owners of land annexation belong to the privileged class of Ming Dynasty. According to the taxation system, they have privileges.

The royal family, princes, relatives, and honored officials enjoy the privilege of being exempted from taxes, food and servants; officials' families are exempted from corvee; Ding.

There are also landless people who become their farm tenants, and they can be exempted from serving as state servants under their shade.

Therefore, more arable land and more population, but less taxes.

The original taxation system of Ming Dynasty could no longer deal with these facts such as land mergers.

A whip method of Zhang Juzheng’s reform in the future, which is a bit more advanced than the current tax system, has brought back some vitality to Daming, but it is still a minor repair.

At least, a hundred years later, the Qing Dynasty's "spread into the mu" was much more advanced than a whip.

Of course, in addition to agricultural taxation, commercial taxation also has many problems

But the question is, what's the use of knowing so much? !

Zhu Pingan sat in front of the window, looked out of the dark window, and silently recited "Zuo Zhuan. Cao GUI Debate" by Zuo Qiuming in the Spring and Autumn Period. "Exhaustion", but what Cao GUI said to his fellow countrymen, "Meat eaters are contemptible, and they can't seek far."

I don’t want to sit in the audience and watch a show, I want to perform on stage

Hey.

Zhu Pingan shook his head again and smiled wryly, knowing that it was unrealistic. This is not a novel. As a little sixth-rank official, I am not qualified to perform on stage.

However, Zhu Ping'an's eyes looking out of the window became more determined.

(end of this chapter)