A few days after the settlement of the Eight Guards, most of the military fields of the Eight Guards were confiscated, and the gentry hidden fields in Fengyang Mansion were also slowly being investigated.

Zhu Cihong summoned civil and military officials from various prefectures and counties in Fengyang Prefecture, as well as the generals of the Tianwu Army, and held a court meeting in the imperial city of Fengtian Palace.

On the left side of the Fengtian Palace, there are Wenchen headed by Zhu Dadian, and on the right side are the main generals of the Tianwu Army, and most of the people present are their own henchmen, and all the real power of Fengyang Mansion can be said to be in their hands.

At present, the five prefectures and thirteen counties of Fengyang Prefecture are basically the newly installed personnel of Zhu Cihong, Yang Tinglin is the prefect of Fengyang Prefecture, and the prefects and counties of the following prefectures and counties are all selected from the Guozi Prison Supervisors in the Tianwu Army.

Under the civil official, Zhu Dadian was a little nervous, the crown prince executed hundreds of officials in one go, and his methods were chilling.

After everyone saluted, Zhu Cihong sat on the top dragon seat and said loudly: "Today's exceptional court meeting is for the allocation of Fengyang Mansion Tuntian to recruit troops. ”

Everyone listened carefully, Tuntian's recruitment was easy to understand, all dynasties and generations had done it, and the Ming Dynasty's guard system was even more so, and everyone felt that the crown prince should reintegrate the Fengyang Eight Guards.

Zhu Cihong said: "The palace decided to re-implement the new policy of tuntian in Fengyang Mansion, recruit soldiers and civilians to reclaim land and tuntian, all young and strong people who join the army, each household is divided into 50 acres of land, and after joining the army for five years, the permanent right to use the land belongs to them." ”

"On the land that has been divided, the government will make irrigation water wheels for them, and send ploughing cattle and farm tools, but they will have to pay rent two buckets per mu per year."

Fifty acres of land seems to be a lot, but at this time, it is only enough to maintain the livelihood of a family of five or six people, and there is only a little surplus after paying the rent.

Zhu Cihong's move, although similar to the system of the guard, but very different, he now has the right to use the land, can not be bought and sold, let alone given to the chief, once found, immediately confiscated, this can prevent land annexation to a certain extent.

In other words, in the future, this land will belong to the imperial court, only rented, not sold! And it is a long-term lease, and this rent is naturally two buckets of grain per acre.

Zhu Dadian said: "Your Highness, like this, I'm afraid I have to invest a lot of silver." ”

If you want to let the land grow crops in the drought and natural disasters, it is necessary to build water conservancy and develop farmland irrigation.

If the water conservancy is rebuilt, it will inevitably cost a lot of money, which is also the reason why the gentry and the powerful would rather let the land be barren than reclaim, not to mention that now a cow is eight taels of silver, the cost is too high, who is willing to invest.

Zhu Cihong said: "No matter how big the investment is, we must do it, without food output, more and more people will starve to death, and more and more rogues will be suppressed!" ”

"Dredging old canals near rivers and lakes, digging new ditches, erecting waterwheels, and digging deep masonry wells away from them."

Fortunately, there are many rivers and lakes in Fengyang Prefecture, and as long as the operation is good, it is no problem to irrigate millions of acres of fertile land.

Zhu Cihong's goal is to train at least 50,000 troops in Fengyang Mansion and feed hundreds of thousands of people through the military camp within a year or two.

Zhu Dadian ate and said: "Your Highness, this, the amount of silver consumed is really too big, and the minister doesn't have so much silver!" ”

Zhu Cihong said meaningfully: "Zhu Qing doesn't have to worry, you don't have to worry about the problem of money, the palace will allocate three million taels first, if it is not enough, the palace still has it." ”

Zhu Dadian was stunned, and some other officials were also dumbfounded, feeling very incredible, how much silver did the crown prince steal this time! How do you feel that the three million taels of silver are like a play in his mouth.

Even the generals of the Tianwu Army who copied the house did not know how much silver and grain they copied from the bottom, and each ministry copied their own, but they only knew that the amount of silver they copied out exceeded one million taels, and the grain was even more innumerable.

Huang Degong said: "Your Highness, these lands have been distributed to the newly recruited soldiers, so will the 20,000 brothers of our Tianwu Army be divided?" Do you need to farm too? ”

Zhu Cihong muttered: "You don't divide for the time being, in recent years, you have focused on training and suppressing the cowards, and when you get to Jiangnan in the future, this palace will give you the best land in the world!" ”

Zhu Cihong also considered whether to give the Tianwu Army a priority allocation of one million acres of fertile land, but after careful consideration, he finally vetoed it, and now he has divided the land, and how can he roll up his sleeves and grab land with the local tyrants and inferior gentry there when he goes to Jiangnan?

Everyone listened happily, I heard that the land south of the Yangtze River is the fattest, and the girls raised are also very smart, and I really look forward to asking for a few beautiful wives in the future.

Zhu Dadian sighed in his heart, the crown prince finished grabbing Fengyang's land, and now he plans to go to Jiangnan to grab Xungui's land, which is really speechless.

Yang Tinglin, who had been silent, was also surprised by the crown prince's intentions, and he suddenly spoke: "Your Highness, is this two buckets of rice per mu too much?" The minister recently checked the Yellow Book, and the rent paid by the people for their own fields was only one bucket, and even a few liters in some places. ”

Zhu Cihong waved his hand and said: "Not much, because in addition to collecting two buckets of rice per mu, the palace will abolish all taxes of tunhu, including all miscellaneous taxes such as poll tax!" ”

"What, Your Highness, what are you?"

Zhu Dadian asked Zhu Cihong incredulously, and even the generals who were a little bored on the side looked at Zhu Cihong in surprise.

Even the big-headed soldiers know that the imperial court relies on taxation to maintain the operation of the country, although they don't know where to use it, at least their military salary is in the taxes collected by the imperial court, and now the crown prince wants to abolish all taxes on hoarders, where will the tax money come from without taxes?

Zhu Cihong sighed and said: "Under the natural disasters and droughts, the people's lives are becoming more and more embarrassing, and my Ming Dynasty's taxes were originally the lightest in the previous dynasties, even if my father increased the levy this year, on average, each household will pay a few catties more grain, but why are so many people unable to survive?" ”

"I think everyone knows that in their hearts! Officials in various places used various names to levy and extort money in addition to the regular tax, and seven or eight common practices were derived from the positive tax of one name, and the original imperial court collected an extra liter of grain, but when it arrived at the place, it became a bucket or even four or five buckets! This yamen collects a stubble, that yamen collects a stubble, not only the civil officials, but also the military generals, where can the people withstand this kind of exploitation? ”

Zhu Cihong said: "Eighty percent of the taxes paid by the people have gone into the pockets of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and the court has taken the blame for them in vain. ”

Zhu Cihong continued: "The exemption of miscellaneous taxes is currently only used in the hoarders in Xintun, and it will gradually be promoted to the south of Zhili, and now at this time, grain is the most valuable thing, with food in hand, are you afraid that you can't buy things?" ”

Everyone slowly digested the words of the crown prince, and the more they thought about it, the more they felt reasonable, for example, in Guide Mansion, Henan, a homeless person had a basket of rice and a basket of gold in front of him, if he could only choose one, the homeless person would choose rice 100%.

Because at this time, in many places, money could not buy food, so they could only starve to death by guarding gold, but rice could replace many things.