The border trouble in the northwest was finally solved, and the Ming Dynasty was peaceful from then on, and it stands to reason that Yang Cong should stop and rest at this time, but after he returned to Beijing, he encountered a more headache.

This question should be a good thing in his understanding, but many people don't think so.

So, what's wrong with the capital?

It's very simple, Zhang Juzheng wants to fully implement the new policy, Zhang Bangqi, the first assistant to the cabinet, said that it still needs to be considered, Xu Jie, a cabinet scholar, said that there is a lack of consideration, and Mao Bowen, a cabinet scholar, said that I don't express my opinion, you think about it yourself!

In other words, none of the other three cabinet scholars agreed with Zhang Juzheng's new policy, and Xu Jie even euphemistically raised objections.

Zhang Juzheng had no choice but to seek the support of his mentor.

Yang Cong held the outline of the new deal compiled by Zhang Juzheng in his hand, and he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion in his heart.

What Zhang Juzheng proposed was the famous "one whip law" in history, and this "one whip law" could not actually be regarded as a "new deal", because the first assistant of the cabinet Gui Cao in the Jiajing Dynasty had implemented the "one whip law", but the effect was not very good, and then it was slowly abolished.

This "whip method" is obviously a good way to make Daming reborn, why is the effect not good?

The reason is actually very simple, because the "one whip law" touches the interests of the landlords and gentry and the official family, and these people represent the entire ruling class of the Ming Dynasty, if you dare to touch their interests, they will naturally find ways to obstruct them.

In other words, the implementation of the "One Whip Law" is to make enemies of the entire ruling class, and whether it can be implemented smoothly is a question, regardless of whether the effect is good or not.

This can be seen from the attitude of the other three cabinet scholars.

Zhang Bangqi said euphemistically, forget this thing;

Xu Jie said euphemistically that this thing is not suitable for implementation;

Mao Bowen said euphemistically, I don't participate in this thing!

This has also been proven by history.

Gui Cao was exhausted after less than a year of implementation, and had no choice but to return to his hometown, and the historical Zhang Ju was implemented for ten years, tired to death, and then liquidated by the entire ruling class, and all descendants suffered!

So, what has this "whip law" changed, which makes vested interest groups hate it so much?

This is a bit complicated, Zhang Juzheng wrote tens of thousands of words just for a summary, and Yang Cong also read it for a long time before he saw a rough idea.

To put it bluntly, this "one whip law" is the reform of the tax system, the core of which is to merge the levy, merge the land levy and the levy of various names, and convert it into silver and collect it uniformly.

This seems to be a change in the collection of taxes, so why does it touch the interests of the ruling class?

This is going to talk about the way taxes were levied before the Ming Dynasty, and the taxes in the early and middle Ming Dynasty were mainly composed of two parts: field tax and servitude, in addition to miscellaneous taxes such as salt tax and tea tax, but those are not the point.

In the early and middle Ming Dynasty, the tax revenue was mainly based on the field endowment, and the amount of land was paid in kind, and it was collected once in summer and autumn.

In terms of conscription, as long as the male is over 16 years old and under 60 years old, he must be responsible for three kinds of conscription: lijia, junqing, and miscellaneous servitude.

As for the salt tax, tea tax and other miscellaneous taxes, not to mention, those are collected by a special yamen, and they are actually calculated separately from the field tax and the forced labor.

The taxes of the Ming Dynasty were actually not heavy, for example, the standard was 20 taxes, that is to say, if you planted 20 acres of land, you only need to take the income of 1 acre of land to pay the field tax, and other conscripts do not need money, you can do it.

So why did Zhang Juzheng change all this and implement the "One Whip Law"?

Could it be that he wants to compete with the people for profit and exploit the common people!

No, on the contrary, he wanted to compete with the officials for profit, reduce the burden on the common people, and at the same time increase the income of the imperial court.

Why?

It's very simple, because after nearly two hundred years of development, many things in the Ming Dynasty have deteriorated, and the ruling class is desperately using this tax system to squeeze the people and make profits for themselves for their own interests.

For example, the field endowment, twenty taxes and one is indeed not much, but all the people who pay are the common people, and the ruling class such as the landlords and gentry and the official eunuchs basically do not have to pay, because they can come up with all kinds of ways to exempt taxes, and this time most of the land in the Ming Dynasty has been annexed by the ruling class, and if these lands are not taxed, the tax of the Ming Dynasty is equal to less than half.

Zhang Juzheng's "One Whip Law" has a special method to target this phenomenon, because the basis of the implementation of the "One Whip Law" is to clear the land.

This alone, the landlords and gentry and the official family and other ruling classes can't stand it, the land in their hands is basically not taxed, they all change the way to make their land disappear in the Ming tax system, you suddenly come to clear the land, isn't it in vain for their previous efforts!

Another example is conscription, don't underestimate this conscription, there are many cats in it, and the interests involved are numerous.

The simplest thing is that most of the land in the hands of the common people has been annexed by the ruling class such as the landlords and gentry and the official eunuchs.

There are many kinds of people, and it is generally believed that most of them are tenant farmers, that is, those who rent their land, produce grain, and then hand over most of it to them.

In fact, it is not the case, there are many landlords and gentry and official eunuchs who slowly do not invite tenant farmers, because it costs too much food.

Even if the tenant farmer's requirements are low, he has to feed his family, and a tenant farmer can plant more than 100 acres of land at most, and the family eats more than 10 acres of grain a year, which is all money!

So, how do you save this money?

It's very simple, use conscription to force the common people to farm for themselves, and it's free to serve as a conscription, and you even have to bring your own food!

This conscription is divided into three kinds: Lijia, Jun, and Miscellaneous, among which the servitude of Lijia is basically in the hands of the landlords and gentry and the official eunuchs, although the junzi and miscellaneous are in the hands of the government, it doesn't matter much, as long as you stuff some money, it is not enough to let the people obediently farm for them.

This is a strange phenomenon.

The common people did not have much land in their hands, but they did not have much time to take care of their own fields throughout the year, because they had to perform all kinds of miscellaneous labor, and when it came to the cultivation season, they basically had to plant all the land of the landlords and gentry and the official eunuchs before they could plant their own land.

In this way, not to mention the tiredness and half death, the land of their own family has been delayed, and the people can be described as miserable.

If nothing else, let's just talk about this.

The common people must be extremely in agreement, because labor is not worth much, and a year's regular labor is much lower than that of the field endowment, and the money they pay is worth at most a dozen days' rations, you know, they work for the landlords and gentry and the official eunuchs, and they have to prepare their own food, and they eat their own food, and they will be completely exempted from a year's labor if they pay for a few days, and they will certainly not object.

The landlord gentry and the official eunuch family are different, Nima, use the money to offset the forced labor, and all the money collected has to be handed over to the imperial court, who will give them free work?

Zhang Juzheng, aren't you stealing money from us!