In the mansion of Ruan Dacheng, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, a few Huangshan pineapple teas wafted with the changing aroma of Na. Ruan Dacheng, who had long returned to the camp of the Donglin gentlemen, was dressed in a Taoist robe, sitting leisurely on the couch, shaking a paper fan, and chatting with his old friend Ma Shiying, who had not seen him for many years, very graceful.

In history, he was a notorious eunuch, and even Ma Shiying became a eunuch, and later fell into the water and became a traitor. But with Zhu Cihong, a Ming monarch who can educate traitorous ministers into loyal martyrs, Ruan Dacheng also took the luck of "loyal ministers and gentlemen", and no one regards him as a eunuch anymore......

And now the main line of party struggle in the Ming court is the "North and South Party", and no one cares about the eunuch party and Donglin anymore. For example, Shi Kefa, Hou Sui, the two "big Donglin" and Qian Qianyi, the leader of Donglin, are not a party. And Ruan Dacheng, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, was a former eunuch because he was from Tongcheng, so he was very close to Qian Qianyi, and the two were both leaders of the Southern Party.

Ma Shiying, a native of Guizhou, and Zeng Ying, a native of Sichuan, were originally separated from the north-south party struggle...... Because the north-south partisan struggle mainly revolves around tax collection. The Beiren Party controlled most of the army, and wanted to seize the land in the north through the Northern Expedition, of course, it had to squeeze the scholars and merchants of Fujian and Guangdong in the four rivers and two lakes.

The Nanren Party represented the landlords and merchants of Fujian and Guangdong in the four rivers and two lakes, and of course they did not want to pay more taxes.

However, because the area around Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan was too large, there was no tax to collect, so the Sichuan gentry and bureaucrats in exile did not object to the imperial court's exploitation of the four rivers and two lakes in Fujian and Guangdong...... As long as the Sichuan and Gui armies they control can make a little profit from it.

However, the military department controlled by the Northerners' Party, the Military Division's Office, and the household department controlled by the Southerners' Party have always been stuck in Yunguichuan and are not very willing to pay money.

And Zhu Cihong is an "atypical gentleman" who treats the country as a company. I simply refuse to spend 100 million to pacify Yunguichuan, and then collect more than 1 million a year - this number is not enough to maintain a garrison of 100,000 people in Yunguichuan! Maintain a garrison of 100,000 troops at least 2 million a year......

It is equivalent to letting Emperor Zhu spend 100 million to buy a company that loses 1 million a year!

Of course, this kind of loss-making trading Emperor Zhu sometimes does, for example, his investment in the northwest will not be profitable. And he is ready to spend 200 million yuan to get the investment of the Qing Dynasty, and there will be no too high rate of return. After all, it is the Xiaoice River period, and it is not the era of industrialization, the coal and iron resources in the north do not have much value, and the natural economy is subject to the climate, and it is normal to lose money or make small profits.

But the situation in Sichuan is really different!

Although there was a deficit in the finances of Sichuan and Chongqing in later generations, it was only when the central and local governments divided the taxes, and the central government had already taken the bulk of the tax revenues...... And the more than one million handed over by Sichuan in the Ming Dynasty is the total amount of taxes!

The northwest is losing money, and the north is making small profits, and Zhu Cihong also admitted it. Sichuan, the land of abundance, is about to lose, can Zhu Cihong's emperor still afford it?

Therefore, before the war to recover Sichuan began, Ma Shiying and Zeng Ying became "comrades-in-arms" with the Nanren Party...... Today, Ma Shiying took Zeng Ying to visit, just to find out the hole cards of the imperial court from his old friend Ruan Dacheng.

After Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying finished their greetings, they finally started to get down to business. I saw Ruan Dacheng with a serious face: "Brother Yaocao, now the Liukou is scraping at least 15 million taels a year in Sichuan, and the people can still live comfortably...... Or you will come according to this number. ”

Fifteen million ...... That's a tenfold increase in taxes!

"Too many!" Ma Shiying shook his head, "It's too much......

"Is it much?" Ruan Dacheng shook his head, "Yaocao, when you take over the mission of the governor of Jiangnan, you will know what it means to be more...... Now Jiangnan has handed over as much as 20 million dollars in silver a year, and Jiangnan Province does not include Ying Tianfu! Sichuan is so big, is fifteen million too much? ”

"Mr. Yuanhai doesn't know," Zeng Ying, the governor of Sichuan and Guizhou, shook his head again and again, "The foundation of the Sichuan army is the regimental training of the Sichuan gentry, everyone has been fighting for so many years, and finally there is a tenfold tax increase, this, this, this ......."

Ruan Dacheng spread his hands: "But you can't beat the rogue!" ”

"But we didn't let the rogues out!" Zeng Ying said, "If we hadn't been in the west all these years, the rogues would have been killed a long time ago...... The imperial court can't forget the hard work of our Sichuan army! ”

"Why did you forget?" Ruan Dacheng was stunned for a moment, "There are a lot of people in the Sichuan Army who have been promoted to become rich, right?" The imperial court also paid the Sichuan army! ”

Ma Shiying said: "Your Majesty said that the land of the Liukou can no longer be returned to the original owner...... The Sichuan gentry and meritorious soldiers can only take land from the military fields of the Liukou in the future. ”

"I see...... Ruan Dacheng thought for a moment, "then how much land can be allocated?" ”

Zeng Ying didn't answer, but glanced at Ma Shiying, and Ma Shiying said: "There are about 15 million mu." ”

Ruan Dacheng asked again: "How much is left?" ”

"At least 35 million acres." Ma Shiying said.

"The total amount is 50 million mu, and one mu of rice equivalent to three coins of silver is 10 million taels, and the current price of rice is two or three buckets...... Ruan Dacheng said, "Sichuan still has a salt tax, and there will always be three million, right?" After deducting the salt tax, that is 13 million taels, and two buckets of rice per mu is enough.

About 20 percent of them are used by local governments as tax collection expenses, and the actual payment is only 10 million and hundreds of thousands of stones. ”

Now the Ming Dynasty's field endowment and field rent (Juntun Tian) can be grain and silver, and regardless of fire consumption, the people only need to pay to the county, and the transportation cost is not high.

After the government gets the grain or silver, it will either be escorted into the warehouse or sold for cash. Depending on the road and water transportation conditions in the area, there will be different fire consumption standards. It can reach up to 30%, and the less is also half a percent, and 20% is just an average. And if the local government or the military department is good at management, it can get a lot of oil and water from it...... This is a legitimate income, so you don't have to worry about finding fault with the imperial history.

Ruan Dacheng said: "In addition, now that Sichuan's industry and commerce are withering, the imperial court will no longer ask for any commercial tax sharing, and this income is also given to the local government." In Sichuan, there can be two or three million a year...... In Sichuan, there can be millions of benefits a year! Governor Zeng, think about it carefully, can this deal be done? ”

"Buying and selling?" Ma Shiying smiled bitterly, "How did this become a deal?" ”

Ruan Dacheng shook his head, "Brother Yaocao has been in Guizhou for a long time, and I don't know that our emperor is running the country as a business...... So the officials below must also be able to operate! ”

"This, this...... How do you run it? Zeng Ying looked embarrassed, although he had been the envoy of the Eastern Sichuan Festival, he was not good at management, and Ma Shiying had always been doing logistics for him.

Ruan Dacheng smiled: "This thing is easy to do...... Let's calculate how much capital we have in our hands first, and then figure out how to do it. ”

"Money?" Zeng Ying didn't understand much.

Ma Shiying didn't quite understand, so he said to his good friend: "Jizhi, don't sell it, say it quickly." ”

"Okay," Ruan Dacheng said, snapping his fingers, "first of all, land!" There are 15 million acres that can be divided into ...... It's the capital, right?

The second is salt, now the salt in Sichuan is self-operated, and after the recovery, it will definitely be contracted to the commercial business, which is another capital.

Again, it's an official position! Not to mention the prefecture and prefecture level, just the county and subordinate prefectures, how many counties and subordinate prefectures are there in Sichuan? ”

Zeng Ying was taken aback when he heard this, "Wait, Ruan Shilang, you mean ...... when you say county and prefecture."

"The official position is also the capital!" Ruan Dacheng said with a smile, "This dynasty is not afraid of local officials now, there are fewer local officials in provincial and state capitals, and local officials in counties and subordinate prefectures are everywhere...... Sichuan is also a war zone, and the situation is even more special, so it is natural to use local heroes and powerful officials to appoint officials. Governor Zeng might as well discuss with Governor Li and Admiral Yang, draw up a charter, and use these official positions to raise merit and compensate for the losses of the great gentry and heroes. ”

"Use state and county official positions to raise military merits and make up for the gentry?" Zeng Ying always felt a little inappropriate, "The court is not afraid that they will be greedy and bribe-taking, gathering and harming the people?" ”

"Don't be afraid," Ruan Dacheng said, "There is a gang of vicious imperial historians to ask and confiscate!" ”

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