The rise of the poor

Chapter 716 Sleepless Night
This evening, in addition to the three official documents for dispatching Beijing material bank, Zhu Pingan was arranged to draft more than ten other official documents, all of which implemented the spirit of tonight's court discussion.

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-rise hut.

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

However, even though he was extremely sleepy and exhausted, Zhu Pingan couldn't fall asleep while lying on the 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, and the inside and outside of the value hut were very hot and stuffy.

Not only is it hot, it's 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 finally falling asleep, Zhu Ping'an was awakened by a nightmare again. In the dream, there was a family whose family was ruined because of the increase in taxes on materials and silver in Beijing.

A cold sweat.

It's all too real.

Now that Zhu Pingan closed his eyes, 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 Pingan 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 a hundred years later.

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 the 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;

Therefore, it led to a shortage of military pay, insufficient weapons and equipment, and insufficient training for recruiting soldiers.

The financial crisis gave birth to refugees and mutinous soldiers, leading to continuous and growing domestic uprisings.

Due to the financial crisis, the Ming army's combat effectiveness was insufficient, and it was unable to quell domestic rebellions and eliminate foreign invasions.

In this way, the vicious circle of more than 100 years, at the time of the Chongzhen Dynasty, the giant ship riddled with holes in the Ming Dynasty finally capsized.

At this moment, Zhu Pingan could hardly imagine that Daming, the most developed and prosperous country in the world, would be reduced to such a financial crisis.

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

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

The invasion of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses by Beihu Alta Khan made the northern border of the empire like a sieve, riddled with holes.

It's unbelievable.

Such 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 into exile in Europe for several Northern Expeditions; during the period of his son Chengzu Zhu Di, he repeatedly raised troops abroad. An army of 50 made five Northern Expeditions to Mongolia, and hundreds of thousands of troops went to Vietnam many times to build the Forbidden City. There was another large-scale construction project in Wudang Mountains, and the seven voyages of Zheng He, who was famous in history, did not see any 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 increased, and industry and commerce 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 reason.

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.

Those who participated in the court discussion tonight were either cabinet ministers or ministers from various ministries, but the several measures in the court discussion tonight were all symptoms, not the root cause.

Moreover, some measures, such as sending Beijing material silver, are palliative in the short term, but in the long run they are not worth the candle.

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

The annexation of land 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. Emperor Jiajing’s cousin Zhu Houzhao established seven Huangzhuang as soon as he succeeded to the throne. Later, more than 30 Huangzhuang were established one after another. The amount of cultivated land in Huangzhuang far exceeded that of the past Dynasty.

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 24 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, thousands of miles away, belonged to the royal family, bureaucrats and gentry after the land merger.

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

You must know that most of these owners of land annexation belong to the privileged class of Ming Dynasty, and 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, there is more arable land and more population, but less taxation.

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

Zhang Juzheng's whipping method in the future reform is a bit more advanced than the current tax system, and it has restored some vitality to Daming, but it is also 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, how could he have the qualifications to perform on stage.

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

(End of this chapter)