Hangzhou City, Wangchao Tower.

The two magistrates of the divided prefecture were sitting together drinking at the moment.

In the same year, Jinshi was also in the same city as a magistrate, and the friendship between Chang Lun and Gui Cao became deeper and deeper.

"Brother Mingqing, I plan to check the Renhe County Guantian after the beginning of the year." Gui Cao drank the wine and suddenly said.

Chang Lun was stunned and said, "This matter is not easy. ”

Gui Cao smiled: "If it's difficult, don't do it, what's the point of this official?" Look at our Governor Wang, rectifying the banknotes, building a port and opening the sea, and punishing drowning babies, which thing is not offending a bunch of people? The bodhisattva's heart, thunderbolt means, in exchange for this Hangzhou Dazhi. ”

Chang Lun reminded: "Cleaning up Guantian is a hundred times more difficult than opening the sea!" ”

Gui Cao smiled strikingly: "If it weren't for my lack of authority, I would have cleaned up the military field as well." I haven't done it for a few months because I am afraid that the governor's strategy of opening the sea will be ruined, and now the governor has suppressed the gentry in Hangzhou so much that it is a good time to clean up the official fields. ”

Zhejiang, like Nanzhili, is full of official fields, and now more than half of them have been embezzled.

Take the Jiangyin Xu family in Nanzhili as an example, their widow Yang wanted to marry her daughter to Wang Yuan as a concubine, and the promised dowry was "ten acres of Guanshan". Guanshan, like Guantian, belongs to the imperial court, and the Xu family not only invaded Guanshan, but also dared to use it as a dowry for their daughters.

In the Ming Dynasty, Guantian did not undertake forced labor, but the taxes were very heavy, and they were different from place to place.

Generally speaking, the tax on official land is about three times that of private land. However, according to the records of "Gusu Zhi", during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the amount of Suzhou official land was "seven buckets and three liters", while the amount of private land was only "five liters", and the difference between the two was more than thirteen times!

In the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties, because of the large number of servitudes, and the rule of officials was relatively good. Therefore, many yeoman farmers donated their private land to the imperial court, turning themselves into tenants of official land, so as to escape the heavy forced labor.

As soon as Zhu Di died, the rule of officials quickly deteriorated, and there were many exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and the heavy taxes on the official fields were unbearable.

In view of this, the "square meter law" was implemented in Jiangnan during the Xuande period, and the taxes on official and private fields were levied together with Zhengmi. And there is no need to transport grain by itself, only need to bear a certain amount of loss, converted into silver money or goods, which will be collected by the government in a unified manner.

It is a very good policy to facilitate the people, but it has successfully ruined the people's families.

By the Zhengde period, the "square meter method" had been played by the officials. There are various reasons for "increasing consumption," including as many as 1,000 kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and there are loopholes to exploit when grain is converted into money and goods, and the lives of the common people are even more difficult than before the tax reform.

In addition, this policy has brought about other negative effects, namely the blurring of the boundaries between official and private land.

A lot of official land was not forcibly occupied by the gentry, but was illegally sold by tenants who could not afford the land tax. As a result, the official land remained on the official scales, and the tenants had to continue to pay heavy taxes every year. But in fact, it was in the hands of the gentry, and the tenants continued to cultivate as usual, and at the same time paid rent to the gentry, while the gentry only collected rent and did not pay taxes.

Of course, the tenants could not afford to pay the double share, so the heavy taxes on the government side were owed, and only the land was rented to the gentry.

This phenomenon was so common that the government could not force tenants to pay taxes, so the chief of grain was responsible for the payment. After the grain chief was forced to ruin his family, the taxes on the official fields continued to be owed, and the imperial court would order them to be exempted every few years, and this phenomenon was in one sentence in the history books: the emperor exempted a certain place from X to X years.

Looking at the whole of Zhejiang, Hangzhou is the place where Guantian is encroached on the most!

Chang Lun pondered: "Brother Zishi, even if you check the official land, if you don't reform the tax law, it will return to the original state in a few years." ”

Gui Cao smiled: "So while I was checking the official fields, I wanted to change the tax law as well." ”

"How to change?" Chang Lun asked.

Gui Cao said: "The government and the people are one. ”

Chang Lun suddenly became interested and asked, "Let's talk about it in detail!" ”

Gui Cao explained: "Measure the land of the whole county, remake the fish scale book, regardless of the official field and the people's land, regardless of the fat field and thin field, and distribute it evenly according to the annual levy of money and grain. The silver and the silver shall be incorporated into it, and no other taxes shall be levied. The quota of grain and rice is converted into silver, and the average rice is converted into five dollars of silver for one stone, and the price of grain is not allowed to be changed! ”

"Shhh

Chang Lun gasped: "You are Qingtian, you are reforming the field tax system!" Once this law is implemented throughout the country, the Ming Dynasty will no longer have the distinction between official and private fields, nor will there be any distinction between good land and thin land. ”

To be honest, Guicao's method will inevitably be "one-size-fits-all" in tax collection, resulting in a heavier burden on Botian. However, it can put an end to many greedy ink deductions, and also block the indiscriminate apportionment of soap officials. If it can be implemented smoothly, not only will the people benefit, but the actual income of several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River may also be doubled - even if the implementation is not good, it can also increase by four or five percent!

Historically, this reform had to wait for the fifteenth year of Jiajing, Gu Dingchen, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, asked for a grain check, Zhao Ying, the prefect of Jiaxing in the sixteenth year, put forward a plan, and in the seventeenth year, Ouyang Duo and Wang Yi tried it out in Suzhou, and then quickly promoted it throughout the south of the Yangtze River.

Different places have different contradictions, and the main contradiction in Hangzhou is that Guantian has been wantonly occupied.

Therefore, Gui Cao, who should have created the "One Whip Law", actually took the lead in getting the "One Whip Law" out. This kind of tax reform is not complicated, and it is not difficult to create, but it mainly tests the determination, means and perseverance of the implementers.

Gui Cao said again: "It's a pity that the grain chief is an ancestral system, and without His Majesty's consent, it can't be abandoned lightly." Otherwise, I will directly abolish the grain chief, and the government will collect and pay taxes. Then the Lijia was abolished in rotation and replaced with a unified government employment. and then all kinds of servitude were converted into silver money and collected. Maybe the peasants elsewhere don't have enough money, but the money in Renhe County is definitely enough! ”

Chang Lun sighed and said: "Brother Zishi is talented, I might as well too!" ”

Gui Cao asked, "Do you want Qiantang County to come together?" ”

Chang Lun thought about it, suddenly raised his neck and drank a glass of wine, smashed the wine glass on the table, and said with the strength of the wine: "That's it!" The court investigated it, and it was a big deal to be dismissed. ”

Gui Cao raised his wine glass and said with a sneer: "Qiantang, Renhe and the two counties, the gentry and the powerful have all been subdued by the governor, this is the best time to inventory the land, you and I can't miss this opportunity." Come, congratulations to the people of the world! ”

"Cheers to the Ming Dynasty! Hahahaha! Chang Lun couldn't stop laughing.

Two bold guys, just like that, agreed to reform in the restaurant. It had been several months since they had been in office, and they had completely mastered the power of the county government, and the next day they began to select officials, first of all, to check the official fields in the fish scale book.

That thing doesn't need to be cleaned up on the spot at all, just be collected by the government according to the fish scale book.

What the?

You say the land was bought with real money? Bold, Guantian prohibits private buying and selling!

Have you been deceived, or have you done it knowingly? If you are deceived, then go to a liar. If you dare to knowingly commit a crime, then the official will beat you dozens of sticks first!

The gentry of Qiantang and Renhe counties were just frightened by Wang Yuan, and their land and property were confiscated by the two magistrates, which was really a wailing everywhere.

I can't resist yet, because the magistrate is checking the official field, and it was registered hundreds of years ago.

Not to mention Wang Yuan's town, even if Wang Yuan is not in Hangzhou, with the personalities of Gui Cao and Chang Lun, he dares to carry the pressure of his boss to enforce it.

Here, the inspector Tian found that the chickens and dogs jumped, and Wang Yuan started to run a school there.

The name is very straightforward, Hangzhou Industrial and Commercial College, also known as the "Industrial and Commercial Academy" by the locals!

Tuition is waived, books are provided, and room and board are provided by themselves.

The primary school duration is three years, and the teaching of Mongolian studies such as the "Three Character Classic" is actually primary school Chinese. There is also "Elementary Mathematics", which teaches the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Poor children, as long as they finish primary school, are talents who can write and calculate.

The duration of secondary school is three years, and "Intermediate Mathematics" and "Elementary Physics" are taught, and "Four Books" are elective. Once you finish middle school, you will definitely be rushed by the trading houses, factories, and fleets.

If you still want to continue your studies, then take the exam, and those with excellent grades will go to Beijing Institute of Physics for further study for free.

This kind of junior college, one in Hangzhou and one in Tianjin, is designed to train talents in industry and commerce.

Recommend a historical text: "Tang Shi Mingyue Song Shiguan", which is very good.