King Fu was silent for a moment and said: "The military minister doesn't understand, but the minister has something to say to the emperor about this food problem." ”

Apocalypse said, "No problem, come, let's talk while eating." ”

King Fu ate two mouthfuls of food and asked, "May I ask the emperor, how far is the shortage of grain in this world, why do you even have to take care of the land and property rewarded by several generations of emperors?" ”

Although King Fu asked politely, his dissatisfaction was also obvious, and Tianqi thought for a while and said, "Actually, Uncle Sanwang has asked this question to many ministers, and I have also explained. Let's put it this way, in fact, there is no shortage of food in the world, what is lacking is reasonable distribution. ”

King Fu said: "This farmer farms the land and pays grain, the official buys grain, and the gentry and nobles ask for rent and live from ancient times, why is it unreasonable?" ”

Apocalypse said: "Everything has a degree, and if it is not excessive, it is not as good as the natural peace of the world, and the current situation is too much so that it seems unreasonable." ”

King Fu said: "The minister is stupid, please make it clear to the emperor." ”

The apocalypse said: "The people of the Ming Dynasty are the kindest and most obedient people, if you want him to plant the land, he will plant the land, if you want him to kill the enemy, he will be a soldier, if you want him to respect you, he will kneel down for you." But there is one thing, you can't leave him alive, otherwise there will be thousands of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang immediately rising up. ”

Seeing that everyone was listening, Apocalypse continued: "A farmer can plant about ten acres of land a year, and if he has more, he will not be busy. The harvest of these ten acres of land can harvest about fifteen stones of grain, I wonder if I am right? ”

King Fu said: "When there is no disaster, a good field can harvest two stones, and the difference is only one stone, and the average yield is one and a half stones." ”

Tianqi also said: "Even if there are five people in a family, the old man and the children each need one and a half to two stones of food a year, and the main labor needs about four stones, that is, their family needs twelve stone of rations, I don't know what Uncle Sanwang thinks?" ”

Seeing that King Fu nodded, Tianqi continued: "This is still a normal harvest, in the event of drought and flood disasters, the harvest will be discounted, some are seven percent off, some are five percent off, and some even have no harvest. At this time, the landlord mainly collects rent, and the ruthless collector collects two to three percent and collects half of the ruthless, does this peasant still have a way to live? ”

King Fu thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, if you encounter a half-year-old minister who owes half of the income, you can also exempt them from rent, but this is not a long-term solution, and what about this court official who eats on rent?" Can they starve to do things for the emperor? ”

Tianqi said: "They all have land that cannot be starved, and only those who have to pay rent after the disaster are starving, and I heard that some farmers have little left in their homes after paying rent, and there are not a few who eat wild vegetables and gnaw tree bark to live." ”

King Fu thought for a while and said: "The emperor's mercy is rare, but even if the emperor asks his ministers to withdraw from the field, can this field increase production?" There will be no such disaster? ”

Tianqi smiled: "Although I am known as the Son of Heaven, I don't know the immortal method after all, and I can't do it to avoid natural disasters and increase the production of fields." However, I have already said at the beginning that the Ming itself is not short of food, what is lacking is reasonable distribution. Let those who have a lot of land withdraw the excess land for the sake of reasonable distribution by the imperial court. ”

King Fu listened to the apocalypse and wanted to take back all the land in the country, smiled bitterly and said: "It seems that the emperor wants to do a big thing, but this matter is too big, the emperor has to face many, many people with land, and the Ming Dynasty is maintained by these people, and the emperor is sure to suppress them?" ”

Tianqi said: "I am not so arrogant to suppress all the landlords, even the three uncles did not say that they had to retreat, but from next year onwards, every acre of land in the country will be taxed, in order not to be talked about, I decided to start paying taxes to the court from my imperial village, hoping that several uncles can be like me." ”

King Fu said: "The emperor can take the lead in raising taxes, and no one dares to say anything in this world, but how much is the emperor ready to collect?" ”

Tianqi said: "The previous tax collection system has been abolished, and from next year onwards, all fields and acres will be ten taxes and one one, which is collected by the imperial court." There are two other points to be explained: first, the minimum exemption system, if the income per mu is lower than the peasant households' rations, they will be exempted from taxation and allowed to emigrate, and the peasant households who have requested exemption for three consecutive years will be forced to emigrate; The second is the cap exemption system, that is, no matter the good year or disaster year, the tax of the imperial court and the rent of the landlord cannot add up to 30%. ”

King Rui said at this time: "As the emperor said at the beginning, a family of five collects fifteen stones of grain per year on ten acres of land, and if it is a private field, it can still be passed by paying one and a half stones, and if it is a rented field, it must be handed over three stones to the landlord, and the remaining ten stones of grain can be saved to live." ”

Tianqi said: "Yes, in a good year, you can save two or three stones a year, and you can buy an acre of land after two or three years, so that farmers also have a little hope, and people will find life interesting when they have hope." ”

King Rui said: "Since it is a good year, everyone is better, who is willing to sell the land?" ”

The Apocalypse said, "This is what it means for the great families who want a lot of land to retreat from the land." This land is bought by you, and it is only a name if you want to quit, and you usually collect rent, but if a farmer wants to buy it, you have to sell it to him at a reasonable price. In this way, everyone is in favor. ”

King Fu said: "The minister still doesn't understand, the peasant households sell their land to big households when they don't have money, and when they have money, they must buy it back, and these big households don't do anything all day long and only do good deeds?" ”

Apocalypse said: "The price is allowed to fluctuate by one percent. For example, one mu of land worth 10 taels is worth 10 taels, and in disaster years, farmers must sell at least 9 taels, and no one is allowed to lower the price, and in good years, farmers want to buy back at most 11 taels, and they are not allowed to raise the price. I thought about it, if the big family didn't cooperate, I would use the official land to adjust, and whoever got in the way of it, I would raid his house and leave him with nothing. ”

King Fu smiled bitterly and said: "Henan has many disasters, according to the emperor's algorithm, next year, a letter above and below a guarantee minister can collect a maximum of 100,000 stone rent, and it will be about 100,000 taels in exchange for silver, what can I do with 100,000 taels now?" ”

Tianqi said: "If King Xin wants to build a mansion, it will cost 1.5 million taels to repair a house with land, which is simply incomparable with Uncle Sanwang's less than 300,000 repairs back then. ”

King Fu said: "The minister doesn't know, please explain to the emperor." ”

Tianqi said: "It is because of the large inflow of silver in the past ten years, and the large households with a lot of land have taken the fields where they grow grain to plant mulberry in order to earn silver, and after making silver, they have bought grain and grain, and on the surface, the price of silver and grain has not changed, but in fact, they have stored most of the silver and grain in their warehouses as soon as they go back and forth, and some people do not take out the rotten and moldy grain at home, you say they are not hateful?" ”

King Fu said: "It's really hateful, but according to what the emperor said, if there is more silver, grain should be expensive, why is it still one or two silver and one stone of grain?" ”

"Because they buried their silver in their homes, and when it came out it was a man-eating tiger," said the Apocalypse, "I have predicted that if the great families take all the money out to buy grain and put it up, all the people of the world will starve to death." ”

Seeing the apocalypse going around and going around, I don't want to talk about the point, how to make money after returning to the field is the concern of King Fu and Zheng Guifei. King Fu cried a few times and didn't get an answer, Zheng Guifei couldn't help but ask, "May I ask the emperor, do you have any ideas after saying so much today?" Also, what is the livelihood you promised to find for King Fu, can you tell me about it? ”

Tianqi said: "I only want to say two ideas today, one is to hope that several uncles will agree to withdraw the land under their names, and this retreat is not in vain, that is, to put your land out and sell it, and the silver sold is still yours. The second is that I am going to set up a commercial bank, as long as the people who have withdrawn from the land are eligible to participate in the shares, and dividends will be distributed according to the shares in the future. ”

King Fu, King Rui and the others were very interested when they heard this, and Concubine Zheng asked, "What is this firm going to do?" ”

Apocalypse said very domineeringly: "I can make money by doing business and doing anything. ”

King Hui said at this time: "Yes, merchants with low commercial taxes in the Ming Dynasty can make money, but there are also a lot of exploits on them, of course, who dares to exploit the emperor?" ”

Apocalypse laughed and said, "Having said that, my trading house only did two things at the beginning, one was to open a money bank, and the other was to build roads and markets. ”

King Fu thought for a while and said: "This money is from the bank, but can this road be built with money?" Building a market seems to be doing a good deed, right? ”

Apocalypse said: "The road is repaired to facilitate merchants to pull goods, and there will be a steady stream of money by setting up a card at the entrance and exit." ”

King Hui looked at the apocalypse and said, "Your Majesty, there is no one else who can take the path." ”