After returning to the Fengyang Imperial City, Zhu Cihong summoned Zhu Dadian.

Zhu Dadian is the right servant of the household department and the right capital of the imperial history, the governor Caoyun, the governor Fengyang and the coastal defense, the authority is very great, the burden is also very heavy, since Chongzhen took office in eight years, he also wants to do some achievements, want to go further, but the current situation, difficult!

Zhu Cihong asked: "Zhu Qing, Fengyang Bawei Yiyi, can you collect grain according to regulations this year?" ”

Zhu Dadian's face was embarrassed: "Your Highness, at present, there is a natural disaster and drought, the land is wasted, and the military families are fleeing...... The minister really couldn't collect so much grain. ”

Zhu Dadian is also under a lot of pressure now, others see the majesty in front of others, but they don't see the bitterness and pain behind him.

Zhu Cihong frowned and said: "In the fourteenth year of Hongwu, the imperial court set up a left-behind division in Fengyang Mansion, under the jurisdiction of eight guards and one family, and there must be 46,000 sergeants, Chongzhen eight years, the thieves broke Fengyang, and the Zhongdu left behind the division to stay in Zhu Xiangguo to lead the army to resist, only gathered 3,000 people, so many less military households, what about their land?" ”

Although Zhu Dadian knew, he didn't dare to say it, and if he said it, he would offend too many people.

Zhu Cihong snorted coldly: "Although the military households have been squeezed and run away, the land is all there, and there is a lot of land to grow grain, but why can't the grain be harvested?" Why is Bireel so much worse? ”

Zhu Dadian naturally did not tell him that in order to evade rent, many generals attached their land to the names of the gentry, and some had even sold it.

Zhu Dadian polished it for a while, so he had to report: "Your Highness, most of the land here is tax-free land that cannot collect tax grain. ”

More than half of the tuntian fields of the large military households in Fengyang Prefecture were occupied by officers at all levels of the guards, and even the fields in the private households were also occupied by the local literati gentry and powerful landlords, and only less than 30% of the military and civilian people could own their own military fields and civilian fields.

Strictly speaking, the officials and gentry of the Ming Dynasty are not completely exempt from taxes, strictly speaking, whether they are officials or gentry of the Ming Dynasty, they all need to pay grain, but the land tax of the official gentry is preferential and exempt, and the preferential exemption is also a certain number of acres.

It is with this kind of preferential exemption that the gentry can include the encroached military land and civilian land in the preferential exemption, even if it is a few thousand acres of land, there may only be dozens of acres of land on the tax-exempt registration book, which is a common operation in all dynasties.

Some powerful officials and gentry have too much land in their hands and do not have enough connections to register them in the preferential and exempt land, so they will do everything possible to avoid the collection of taxes and grain, pass on all the taxes to the tenants, and increase the tenants' rents.

Because of this, it is very difficult for all dynasties to clear the land, and the initiators will even have their lives in danger, and there are too many interests involved.

"What a tax-free field!" Zhu Cihong said coldly: "Zhu Dadian, this palace orders you to check all the tax-free land in Fengyang Mansion before spring ploughing!" According to the distribution system set by the imperial court in the past, the officers were divided as much land as they wanted, and all the excess land was confiscated! The land of the fleeing military households has also been confiscated! As long as the land is wasted, no matter what it looks like, it must be inventoried! The inventory task was sent to the thirteen counties of five states and the eight guards, if the inventory has not been completed after the spring ploughing, the following chief officials will be dismissed and beheaded! ”

Zhu Cihong now wants to take back all the army's tuntian, and use the income of the tuntian as the army's grain and grass.

The surplus tuntian can also recruit new soldiers to divide the field, a soldier represents a family, as long as the field is sufficient, Zhu Cihong can not only raise a large number of troops, but also feed a large number of people.

There are also those hidden fields of the gentry, and the grain paid can be used to enrich the granaries of the local government for disaster relief.

Zhu Dadian was sweating coldly on his forehead, he was not afraid of being dismissed and killed, although the workload of clearing the fields was large, but with his authority, it could be completed within the specified time, he was afraid that the crown prince's actions would make the entire gentry and guards riot.

Cutting off people's financial routes, such as killing his parents, the crown prince will offend many people if he does this, and the powerful people of the entire five states and thirteen counties of Fengyang Mansion will be offended.

Zhu Dadian was completely moved by the crown prince's great feelings for the country and the people, and even burst into tears, but he complained bitterly in his heart, thinking that although the crown prince was extremely smart, he had too little social experience, and he was still a stunned young man, so he could find a way to kill himself.

Zhu Dadian whispered: "Your Highness, do you know about the matter of Fengyangwei commanding Hou Dingguo in the seventh year of Chongzhen?" ”

Zhu Cihong sneered, how did he not know this, on the way to Fengyang, he knew everything about Fengyang Mansion, Chongzhen seven years, Fengyang Wei commanded Hou Dingguo to rely on the momentum of the garrison eunuch Yang Ze, bullying the military households, the soldiers killed Hou Dingguo in Linhuai Xiguan Village, and then defected to the Liukou, and a month later turned around to help the Liukou capture Fengyang.

Zhu Dadian wanted to use Hou Dingguo's matter to remind himself not to force the people in the guard too much, which might make them join the enemy.

Zhu Cihong said coldly: "Whoever dares to jump in front of this palace depends on whether his neck is hard enough!" ”

Zhu Dadian secretly took a breath, and said in his heart that this crown prince is determined to clean up the Fengyang Eight Guards, thinking about the big things that this young master has done in Beijing, I am afraid that he is not a loser.

Zhu Dadian is even speculating now that the two major events that the crown prince did in Dongchang and Suzhou when he went south may be to kill chickens and monkeys first and give Jiangnan officialdom a disadvantage.

After Zhu Dadian left, he immediately began to arrange for the officials and officials to be investigated, and at the same time, he revised a copy of Shi Kefa, which was sent to Zhang Guowei and Anqing in Nanjing, respectively, so that they could prepare to be appeased, so that the crown prince would not be killed in Fengyang, so that none of them would be able to escape after the court condemned them.

Zhu Cihong knows very well what he is doing, if he wants his strength to be strong, he must have a strong foundation, his foundation is not the imperial court, but the territory he really controls, and how many guns he has in his hand.

At present, the Jiangnan region is the most perfect territory, but this plate is a little hot and difficult to take, especially since there are 200,000 rogues around to spy on it, once he moves a knife against the entire Jiangnan gentry and nobles, it will inevitably cause a strong counterattack, and the rogues will also take the opportunity to enter.

Zhu Cihong could fully imagine that as soon as his order to check the land in the provinces south of the Yangtze River was issued, the gentry in various places would turn around and invest millions of family assets in the rogues to support their uprising.

Therefore, Zhu Cihong could only start from Fengyang Mansion first, establish a stable foundation, and then gradually push to Nanzhili and the entire Jiangnan region, suppressing Kou while developing, boiling frogs in warm water, and completely controlling Jiangnan.

First solve the food problem, and then solve the tax problem, what kind of soap, glass, such things, all on the side, even the problem of food and clothing for the people has not been solved, he has no heart to engage in these things.

Zhu Cihong knows that things have to be done step by step, and it is easy to pull eggs if you take too big a step.