After a brief interlude, the trio returned to the main topic. But if the main topic wants to be discussed, the result is still inseparable.

“…… The emperor urged us to use troops in northern Sichuan, and the lower officials calculated that if it was for half a year, 15,000 soldiers would be killed, 140,000 taels of military salaries, and 40,000 stone of military rations; There are more than 1,000 war horses, 5,000 stones of beans, and 500,000 bundles of forage. At present, there are 50,000 taels of silver in the treasury of the royal government, more than 20,000 taels of land tax, 6,000 taels of salt tax, more than 50,000 taels of miscellaneous commercial taxes levied by several tax cards, and more than 10,000 taels of silver.

As for food, it's even harder to raise!

Xiaguan obeyed the orders of the two adults, and let people check Qiong, Mei, Han, and Mianzhou Cangtun, and now there are 20,000 grain in Fengning 2nd Warehouse in Chengdu Prefecture, 15,000 grain in Qiong and Mei, 3,000 in Mianzhou, and no particles in Hanzhou. My lord, the grain in Chengdu Fengning Ercang, Zongfan, and the hundred officials can all be in it, so you have to leave some of them, not all of them...... Liao Gong, if the army is not paid, it will disperse ......"

Speaking of food, Chen Qichi began to stumble when he spoke, and Liao Daheng and Liu Zhibo both knew the reason.

The country is doing nothing, and there is no shortage of financial plans. The war is all over the book, and there are holes everywhere.

Chen Qichi only counted the military salaries and the supply of grain and grass after the troops were dispatched, and did not calculate the repayment of arrears before the troops, the funeral rewards after the troops, and the supplementary maintenance costs for the damage of ordnance and horses. If the army is paid three months' salary according to the custom, it will be 60,000 taels of silver. If the war does not go well, Bazhou cannot be conquered for half a year, and the money and food will inevitably be unsustainable, so we have to withdraw our troops.

Liao Daheng and Liu Zhibo, who were sitting at the top, were silent under Chen Qichi's inquiring gaze, and there was a dead silence in the back hall of Fuya.

I don't know how long it took for Liu Zhibo to break the embarrassment with a long sigh:

"When the official left Beijing and resigned, he was also full of ambition, thinking that since he was an official, he would benefit one party. Who knew that when he took office, he knew that the state affairs were so difficult, and the place was even more erosive! This official now admires the prince more and more, if it weren't for the caravan to kill the thief Zhang Guangzu in Yazhou and Pengshan, I am afraid that this southwest Sichuan land has been full of flames; If it weren't for the defeat of the local tyrants in Changping Mountain, I'm afraid that the two prefectures of Baoning and Shunqing would have already written a bloody letter for help! ”

A hot breath had been accumulating in Liu Zhibo's abdomen for a long time, and finally rushed out of his voice. The more he spoke, the more excited he became, and he simply stood up and walked back and forth in the back hall, saying as he went:

"This official has been studying the sages since he was a child. Meng said: What you want is good, and what you have is faith. Fullness is beauty, fullness and brilliance are greatness, greatness is holiness, and holiness is God.

The prince of the world first advocated the protection of the country and the people, and the peace of the world, and the Sichuan people flocked to it and benefited it! Respect the heavens and the ancestors, worship Confucianism and obey the Tao, quell the violence and peace, rest with the people, distribute food to the south of the Yangtze River, and provide relief to the victims. Kindness, faith, beauty, and greatness!

As the saying goes, there will be saints in 500 years.

The son of the world was originally the proud son of heaven, but God abandoned it! Now that all the people of Shu are suffering, isn't it God's will to make people! ”

At this time, Liao Daheng and Chen Qichi were surprised to see that Liu Zhibo was facing the sky with his back to the sky, his fists clenched, his eyes closed, and large tears flowing down his resolute cheeks.

It seems that the fiasco of Fu Zonglong and Yang Wenyue in Henan deeply pierced the nerves of this imperial historian. The successive victories of Zhu Pingjian, the son of Shu, in Sichuan, as well as the successful reforms in various places and fields, made Liu Zhibo have some blind faith in Zhu Pingjin.

According to Yasheng, above the four kinds of people, goodness, faith, beauty, and greatness, are saints and immortals.

And Liu Zhibo's grief just now is precisely because Zhu Pingjin was born in a family of vassal kings, according to the ancestral family law of the Ming Dynasty, under normal circumstances, he will never have the opportunity to exert his talents and become a saint!

Liao Daheng and Chen Qichi looked at each other and exchanged glances, and they both saw the unconcealed consternation in each other's eyes.

Liu Zhibo was sent by the imperial court to monitor the locality, and the objects of surveillance included not only the three divisions and governors, but also the local vassal kings. Liu Zhibo's change in attitude, is it true or tentative?

The judgment of Liu Zhibo's true thoughts is related to the collusion between the two interest groups of Liao Daheng and Zhu Pingjin, the realization of Zhu Pingjin's promise to Liao Daheng, and even the net worth of Liao Daheng!

Thinking of Liu Zhibo's initiative to mention the salt tax to the prince in the palace a few days ago, and thinking of his brother-in-law's warning that Liu Zhibo would come later, Liao Daheng suddenly became vigilant. Fortunately, the prince looked at him at the time and did not immediately express his position, and there was still room for this matter to turn around. He immediately decided to throw out the prepared plan and see Liu Zhibo's reaction.

Chen Qichi's participation in politics as a feudal secretary and his ability to represent the left and right political divisions is of course because he can gain the trust of Liao Daheng. Seeing Liao Gong signaling to him, Chen Qichi hurriedly got up to comfort Liu Zhibo. Liu Zhibo also calmed down and realized his gaffe, so he apologized to the two and sat back in the official chair.

Liao Daheng pretended to be very moved and tentatively said: "Lord Liu's heart of worrying about the country and the people is really admirable to the old man!" Although the food and wages are not good, it is imperative to retake Bazhou. Fortunately, there is no endless road. Why don't we wait for the three of us to come up with a good way today, which can not only raise enough food and salary, but also ensure the use of the soldiers in front; It can also pacify the land of Shu, so that it will not be disturbed on all sides and swords and soldiers will rise everywhere. How is it? ”

Both of them said yes, and Chen Qichi jumped out first to come up with an idea. He first made it clear that before February next year, it would be impossible for the Sichuan Treasury to raise enough food and salary needed to send troops to Bazhou. To raise food, there can only be two places, one is the palace of the king of Shu, and the other is the gentry.

After introducing the ideas of the two officials to these two aspects, Chen Qichi began to praise Liu Zhibo's idea of salt tax collection as much as possible. He said that as long as the prince agreed to cover the salt tax, he could immediately advance tens of thousands of taels of silver and tens of thousands of stone of grain to the Shu Wangfu to solve the urgent needs of the moment. With the Shu Wangfu taking the lead, it is easy to persuade the gentry to donate, so whether or not they can convince the prince is the key to solving the problem.

Chen Qichi's method is actually Liu Zhibo's idea, and Chen Qichi is just expressing his approval. Liu Zhibo saw that Chen Qichi agreed, so he shook his head suspiciously and said: "This official has also heard about some things in Yazhou, so he rashly proposed the salt tax, who knows that the prince does not agree!" ”

It turned out that the deeds of the Yazhou Kingdom ministers who completed the collection of taxes in a state were not only known to Jiang Ding Town, who liked to inquire, but also Liu Zhibo, who was responsible for supervising the officials of the whole province.

……

Compared with Chengdu Mansion, which is all over Wangzhuang, and compared with Renshou County and Pengshan County, which can be smeared at will after the catastrophe, the actual control method of Shu Wangfu in Yazhou is unique. That starts with the control of the person, and then it is achieved through the control of the person. For example, in terms of tax system, it is very close to the tax package proposed by Tian Qian.

Zhu Pingjin took the opportunity of quelling the chaos and first took down the ministers of the Zhizhou Kingdom. After controlling the kingdom, Luo Yuhong and Hong Qihui implemented strict tax collection and management in Yazhou after the chaos in the name of the Yazhou government.

The landlords and yeoman farmers who donated the land to the palace naturally shared the rent with the donors according to the ratio of 10% and 40%, and did not have to pay taxes. However, out of cherishing the land and guarding against future risks, many small and medium-sized landlords or yeoman farmers would rather choose the higher tax rate of the imperial court land endowment rather than change the name of the land owner to the Shu Wangfu.

The Shu Wangfu's donation policy was widely resisted, forcing Hong Qihui to respond forcefully. Under the pretext of the new chaos in Yazhou, he continued to use the name of the previous miscellaneous items of the government, and under Luo Yuhong's prompting, he created new taxes such as public security management fees and urban construction fees. At the same time, tax collection and management were strictly enforced, and any gentry who resisted taxes could be thrown into prison on various charges imposed by the government.

The many names of the government's miscellaneous items immediately filled the gap between the effective tax rate of the land and the statutory low tax rate, and the effective tax rate was close to 105, which was slightly higher than the 10% rent of the royal government. Although this tax rate is much higher than the legal tax rate of the imperial court, because there is no additional head such as grain and miscellaneous labor, there is no intermediate exploitation such as hand drawing, selling grain for silver, and fire consumption, and there are no additional expenses such as inviting guests to dinner, bribes, etc., and the final cost is much lower than in the past. Small and medium-sized landowners who were not able to take advantage of the relief policy immediately saw the benefits of the new tax law and were quick to welcome it. There was still some commotion during the summer grain collection, and when the most influential, Zhang Dahu was cleaned up, the whole state was already stable when the autumn grain was collected.

Public security management fees and urban construction fees are new taxes that are levied only on urban residents living within the protection of the city walls.

The security administration fee is traditionally levied at the four city gates. Unilateral charges, collected in but not out, and three cents will be levied on a person who goes in.

The urban construction fee is levied according to the area of the homestead in the city, and one cent of the homestead is levied three cents of silver per year. There is also a basis for this tax, because a few years ago, Jingshi levied taxes according to the size of the house, which is called the shelf tax, that is, the real estate tax.

The urban residents of the Ming Dynasty included gentry, merchants, handicraftsmen and their employees, servants and so on. Some of these people belonged to the middle class or wealthy class of the Ming Dynasty, and they were willing and able to afford to live in safer cities protected by walls by paying taxes. Those who do not want to do so are those low-income lower-level employees and homeless people, called Hanako. If there is income, the increase in the cost of living will naturally be passed on to the employer or the transaction chain. The homeless people with no income, called Hanako, were gradually cleared out of the city. Market vendors, who had to go in and out of the city frequently, quickly moved to the fringes of the city. Hong lost no time in building a shop market on the edge of the city and renting it to the hawkers, so that the suburban area quickly became lively and prosperous.

The success of Yazhou's tax model is not only the success of Hong Qihui, but also the success of Wang Guochen.

Wang Guochen and Hong Qihui had already negotiated, and after collecting taxes, he would take one out of ten of the minister's money to maintain the daily expenses of the government and yamen. To collect taxes, he only needs to issue notices and stamp official seals, without using his hands and feet, let alone labor. Lying down and taking money, there is nothing better in the world than this.

If something is good at the top, it will be good at the bottom.

As soon as Wang Guochen engaged in tax collection in the state capital, Mingshan County, a major tea-producing county, immediately followed up. Yingjing's movements were slower, but once he acted, his attitude was more resolute than that of Wang Guochen. Huang Ru, the magistrate of the county, simply returned the big seal to the state government, and then joined forces with Bi Wenchang, a wealthy businessman in Yingjing, and became the largest business name in the local mine. For the coal mines produced in Yingjing, the royal government levies a mining tax, which is also one out of ten, and a security deposit of five cents. Lushan County was the slowest to respond, and Nazhi County also had some doubts about the killing of Ning Sen, the deputy envoy of the Linguan Inspection, so it wasn't until Liu Daozhen knocked on the door outside the county government with Tianquan Tusi soldiers that he knew what it meant to be "Tiangao Emperor Yuan!" I had to hand over the letter and was invited to Tianquan City as a guest, allowing the policy of the royal government to be fully promoted in Lushan County.

……

The success of Yazhou's tax collection is like a magnet, attracting the attention of people such as Du Zhifu and Jiangding Town in Shunqing Mansion. It is also like an example, so that Liu Zhibo and other officials can see the hope of solving the old and difficult problem of taxation.

In a private message to Liu Zhibo, Hu Heng of Shangnan Branch Patrol introduced the situation in Yazhou in detail and clearly pointed out the essence of the problem, that is, the government has cede the right to collect taxes and the palace has taken care of it.

Hu Heng not only suggested that Liu Zhibo adopt this risk-free method, but also cited scriptures to argue that the imperial court's tax system has been around for a long time. For example, since Wanli, the tax customs, banknote customs, mine supervision and other places have implemented the tax package compensation system. No one cares how much is done, but if you pay less, you must make up for it with your private money.

Hu Heng also hinted to Liu Zhibo that if there was a political risk for the government to let the Shu Wangfu take over, it would be better to let the Shu Wangfu find a private firm to contract. In this way, even if someone takes advantage of this to stir up trouble, the government also has an explanation.

As an official with a strong sense of responsibility, Hu Heng's information and suggestions are undoubtedly "endless mountains and rivers with no way out, and bright flowers and flowers are another village." ”

He carefully calculated the types of taxes that could be used to cover it, and felt that it was too difficult for the Shu Wangfu to be covered.

It should be noted that according to the current standard of land endowment, the annual grain amount in Sichuan is nearly 1.1 million stones, plus miscellaneous items and three salaries, totaling about 3 million taels of silver. Spread evenly to the acres of Sichuan fields, each mu of land has to bear two dollars and three cents of silver. Coupled with the cost of taxes, the palace is likely to lose money. rashly proposed the land tax package, he was worried that it would be difficult for the Sichuan civil official group to accept, and he was even more worried that the prince would refuse on the spot because the tax was too high.

But Liu Zhibo never thought that the prince was not interested in his proposal.

Could it be that the tax is inclusive, and the benefits are clear but not real?

Liu Zhibo was confused.

Note 1: From "Mencius's Heart". In this passage, Mencius divided people's character into six levels: goodness, faith, beauty, greatness, holiness, and god.

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