Bi Ziyan said: "Your Majesty, if you don't collect taxes for ten years, will it be a little too much?" ”

Zhu Youxiao said with a smile: "How is the tax revenue of the imperial court now compared to before? ”

Bi Ziyan replied: "In terms of agricultural tax, it has increased slightly, and the commercial tax has exceeded the agricultural tax, but now the commercial tax has encountered some resistance in some places. ”

A tax department with 100 tax policemen in charge of a state is indeed a little small in some areas where commerce is more developed. Zhu Youxiao asked: "Then Bi Qing means to recruit more tax police?" ”

Bi Ziyan hesitated for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, what was determined back then was a hundred tax policemen in the tax department, but the state is divided into large and small, rich and poor. Some states have more than enough tax cops for a hundred, while others appear nervous and can't take care of enough places. ”

Zhu Youxiao said strangely: "Isn't that very simple? According to the size of the state, rich and poor, recruit different numbers of tax police, such a question still has to be decided by me? ”

Bi Ziyan said: "Your Majesty said that day that there are 100 tax policemen in the Tax Department, this is a holy decree, of course, we must strictly follow it." ”

Zhu Youxiao fell in love with this evil feudal society, especially since he was the emperor. He thought for a while and said, "In the future, I should pay attention to the fact that I said that there were 100 tax policemen in one state at that time, but I said it casually without careful consideration. You should have raised objections at the time, so that there would be no deviation in the current tax police. ”

Bi Ziyan said: "Your Majesty's golden mouth and jade words, a word is decided, and the ministers should of course obey it." ”

Zhu Youxiao understood what he meant, and said with a smile: "In the future, I will not talk about specific matters at will, you can formulate regulations and determine the number according to the actual situation, is this good?" ”

Bi Ziyan said: "Your Majesty Shengming, the ministers will obey." ”

Zhu Youxiao asked: "If you don't pay taxes for ten years, do you need to consider revising it?" ”

Bi Ziyan said: "This is Your Majesty's grace, and naturally it does not need to be modified." And it can really encourage land reclamation and increase food production. ”

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said: "Let Li Chaoqin worry about the affairs of the agricultural cooperative, he has managed it well during this time." The household department is responsible for registering the land reclamation. Tax evasion, let Dongchang help check it first, and at the same time recruit tax police, this matter will be heavily fined, just fine a ......, oh, by the way, Bi Qing, how much do you think is appropriate? ”

Bi Ziyan said: "Overkill must be overcorrected, and the minister thinks that a penalty of 20 times should be more deterrent." There must always be a few people who have been punished to the point of bankruptcy, so that it can have the effect of warning others. ”

Zhu Youxiao originally wanted to be fined two to three times, but he didn't want to be twenty times the average commercial tax rate, and twenty times the average commercial tax rate was half a percent, and twenty times that would mean that the entire industry would be fined. The tax rate of mining industries such as coal mines has been adjusted last time, and it is generally 10%, and if the penalty is 20 times, then you really have to go bankrupt to pay off the tax.

Zhu Youxiao was a little unbearable, but he also understood that if things were not done well at the beginning and a good rule was established, then a mess would be expected later, so he sighed and agreed with Bi Ziyan's opinion.

Fang Congzhe said: "Your Majesty, the sky is changing, and our own grain is not enough, so can we reduce the grain sold to the Mongols?" ”

This refers to the issue of Shi Yuanya's trading company exchanging grain and utensils for the wool of the Mongols. Zhu Youxiao said: "According to the report of Jinyiwei, the grain we sold to the Mongols did not flow to Jiannu, so there is no need to worry about the enemy." And we are now trying to use this method to bind the Mongols, and we can't reduce them. By the way, how are we catching big fish off the surface of Ezo Island? ”

Wei Zhongxian said: "Shengshang, the fishing fleet has already set off, but the Shengshang said that the matter of making soap, and the students in the research institute are still perfecting the manufacturing process. ”

Zhu Youxiao nodded and said: "Fishing is used in three aspects, one is the manufacture of candles, the second is the manufacture of soap, and the third is to provide food. There are many parts of the body of large fish that can be eaten, and after being salted, they can be transported as food. ”

He concluded: "We will do everything we can to ensure food reserves. Think of the next year as a disaster year and be prepared. The people regard food as the sky, and everything else is false, and only food is real. If there is no food to eat, then it is not far from rebellion. ”

Ye Xianggao said: "Your Majesty, of course it is good to prevent trouble before it burns, but it will not reach the point where Your Majesty said that there is no food. It is better to ban grain brewing throughout the country, so that some grain can also be saved. ”

Regarding the prohibition of alcohol, Zhu Youxiao has always been opposed, because he knows that the end result of the prohibition of alcohol in the United States in later generations is actually not good, but it only leads to the mass production and trafficking of moonshine. So he thought for a while and said: "Can we just raise the tax rate on grain and wine, and increase it by a large margin, such as increasing it to several times or dozens of times the original, and at the same time vigorously crack down on private winemaking, which should reduce the use of grain wine, and some people will use other things to replace grain to make wine, so the same result." ”

Ye Xianggao said: "Your Majesty's proposal, the minister thinks it is very good." It's just that the matter of checking moonshine must be done seriously, otherwise it will end up fattening those who make moonshine. ”

Wei Zhongxian said: "Saint, the slave and maid must do this well and not let a jar of moonshine appear on the market." ”

Xu Guangqi said: "Your Majesty, the food problem is nothing more than two aspects: increasing production and saving. Among them, increasing output is the main thing, so the minister thinks that if the two points of increasing output and expanding reclamation are done well, then the basic problem will be solved. ”

Ye Xianggao said: "In history, there was a famine, in fact, a large part of the factor was that the food was not running in time, and it was not really a shortage of food. Therefore, Lao Chen thought that only by closely monitoring the grain reserves in various localities and being ready to transport grain from the grain-producing areas to the harvest-bearing areas at any time could the situation of starvation deaths be prevented. ”

This is indeed true, in fact, most of the famines in China's history have led to large-scale deaths due to the lack of good distribution of grain. Zhu Youxiao understood this, but he also knew that in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, because of the influence of the Xiaoice River period, the grain harvest was poor, so it is the most important task at present to prepare in all aspects to prevent the phenomenon of starvation to death.

In the end, the ministers discussed everything from increasing production to expanding the area of cultivation and breeding, reducing grain waste, importing grain from abroad, and replacing part of the grain with fish and meat...... Each line has a special person in charge of a multi-pronged approach to ensure the production and transportation of grain, and to ensure that all the people in the world have enough food to survive the great harvest that may occur.