Yuan Keli saw Ye Xiang listening, and continued, "The mine supervisor does not understand the random selection of the site, and the strong men are extracted to forcibly open the mine, and the management is not good, causing many people to die in the mine, this is one of them; Second, the mine supervisors compared with each other, competed for territory, and collected taxes repeatedly, and most of the income tax money went into the eunuchs' private pockets. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoIn this way, the interests of the common people and businessmen are harmed. ”

After a pause, Yuan Keli drank another saliva and said, "When Weichen was the governor of Suzhou, he tried the 'Huzhou case', in which the ancestor of the Dong family went to the official department of the Dong Fen official to write the book, his family was rich and crowned with three Wu, and Tianlian Suhu Zhuyi was lost thousands of acres. There are more than 100 quality houses, each of which is owned by a large businessman, with millions of annual interest, no less than 1,000 domestic animals and servants, and more than 300 large voyages. What Weichen wants to say is that it can be seen that the rich people in all parts of the country who have been offended by the mine supervisors are inextricably linked in the DPRK and China, and this is the main reason why many ministers demand the abolition of the mining tax. ”

Ye Xiang shook his head, "The mining tax, if there is a mistake, it can be corrected, the tax rate can also be adjusted, and the personnel can be restrained. Besides, it is natural for the government to collect taxes, and it does not collect taxes on defense spending, infrastructure, officials, etc., where does the money come from? Well, how much mining tax has been collected over the years? ”

Yuan Keli and the household secretary Li Ruhua are both from Henan, and have a very good personal relationship, and their eldest grandson Yuan Fucheng married Li Ruhua's granddaughter, that is, the Mengxing princess of the prefect of Duyun Prefecture in Guizhou, as his wife, and is a family member, so he has heard a little about taxes, "From the 25th year of Wanli to the 34th year of Wanli in ten years, the mine supervisor made a total of more than 560 taels of silver and more than 12,000 taels of gold to the royal treasury, with an average annual income of more than 50 taels of silver and more than 1,000 taels of gold. The data for recent years is not clear, but it only fluctuates between this number from year to year. ”

Ye Xiang combined the analysis before and after, and was very angry, "A businessman earns one million a year, and the country's tax revenue is less than half a year, this is ...... It really doesn't make sense. Isn't there anyone in the DPRK and China who is aware of the seriousness of the problem, and what are the reasons for opposing it? ”

In the end, Yuan Keli was silent for a long time, and slowly spit out a few words, "Compete with the people for profit." ”

Ye Xiang listened to Yuan Keli's conclusion, a little incredible, how could this be competing with the people, his body involuntarily leaned back, holding his hands on his chest, staring at Yuan Keli tightly, feeling that he had become strange.

Yuan Keli felt the prince's guard and alienation, smiled slightly, and continued, "This is what the ministers said, and it doesn't represent what Wei Chen meant. Although the disadvantages of the mine supervisors are affected by the rich households, the DPRK and Chinese officials are often entangled in their interests. Another example is the sea ban, in essence, it is also forbidden but not stopped, when the Japanese are rampant, there are often local officials who tolerate and connive, and which rich families are convenient for the Japanese invaders, so Your Highness understands? ”

This is the damage to the public and the private, it is the entanglement of the interests of Chiguoguo, and the taxation of the imperial court affects the hidden interests of officials, so it will be opposed by all kinds Ye Xiang figured out this section, and he couldn't help but feel excited. Why, the focus of tax collection should be to find the rich, instead of blindly putting the burden on the peasants like Chongzhen did.

Ye Xiang thought about it carefully, and was extremely afraid, if he couldn't receive enough silver, then his so-called ambition would be a joke, so it seemed that the primary enemy he would face was not Jiannu in Liaodong, but the entire bureaucratic landlord group and other vested interests. This is "the outside must first be inside", it turns out that Zhu Youxiao may also think so, otherwise the literati would not give him the nickname "Xi", although the word Xi originally means hot or twilight, but it seems to allude to its reuse of Wei Zhongxian, which has a playful meaning.

"In addition to the mining tax, what are the other commercial taxes? How much does it cost to earn each year? ”

Yuan Keli thought for a while and said, "Or take the 10 years before the 34th year of Wanli as an example, the commercial tax at this time is the highest in the entire Wanli year, and the annual collection of silver is about 4.8 million taels, including 2.8 million salt tea, 50,000 city taxes, 900,000 checkpoint passing taxes, and 1 million business taxes." ”

Hearing this number, Ye Xiang couldn't sit still any longer, paced back and forth in the warm pavilion, and finally asked angrily, "What about the agricultural tax?" Previously, the Ministry of Household said that the annual tax revenue was only 3.8 million. ”

Yuan Keli seemed to understand Ye Xiang's mood, and also stood up, "I have to ask the household department specifically, Weichen only knows that the agricultural and commercial tax revenue in the early years of Wanli was about 6 million, of which the salt tax was about 2.5 million taels. ”

Ye Xiang heard this, okay, this tax is still less and less, and said angrily to Wang Chengen, "Wang Chengen, you go and ask, has the silver in the treasury been counted, it's been a few days, if I can't count it again, I'm going to kill someone, go now." ”

Wang Chengen didn't understand the financial situation, so he couldn't interject, and when he heard Yuan Keli's analysis, he also felt that there was a big problem. At this time, I listened to Ye Xiang's orders, and without saying a word, I hurriedly took the order.

After Wang Chengen left, Ye Xiang pulled Yuan Keli and asked, "According to Aiqing's estimate, how much should this tax be collected?" ”

"Wechen conservatively estimates that the agricultural tax alone can collect 20 million yuan, every year, and only a lot more."

When Ye Xiang heard this number, it was about the same as his estimate, rubbed his hands, and circled around the room again. There was no shortage of silver in all the expenses of the previous dynasty, and there was still output every year, and this thing would not evaporate out of thin air, so where did it go? In the hands of the rich, of course.

According to the standard of 2 billion mu of cultivated land in the country in later generations, even if the uncultivated land is discounted to 1 billion mu, and half a tael of silver is levied per mu per year, then the annual agricultural tax alone will be 500 million, which is too big. Excluding factors such as grain production, population, and price level, the estimate of 20 million is very conservative.

It seems that Ming is not wronged, and reform is imperative, Ye Xiang stood still after a few turns, stared directly at Yuan Keli's eyes, and asked, "If you are asked to be specifically responsible for taxes, are you sure?" ”

Yuan Keli came today for Xu Guoquan's matter, but he didn't expect that after a conversation, he took on a thankless errand. You must know that if the tax is levied in full, it is tantamount to going against the entire court, and the prince wants to make himself a lonely minister, but he still replied affirmatively without thinking, "Your Highness, the minister is unusually simple by the emperor of Daxing, and there is no way to repay it." It is the duty of a courtier to share worries for the king, although there are tens of millions of people, I will go. ”

"Okay, you like this, you go back to learn more about the current tax situation, analyze the pros and cons, and first come up with a practical and feasible statement. Remember, before a decision is reached, it is important to keep your mouth shut and not let anyone other than you and me know. ”

Yuan Keli naturally understood what was involved, and if there was no definite plan to let the DPRK and China, especially the Donglin Party members who had interests in the southeast, know that the plan that was beneficial to the country would definitely be stillborn. Because the prince still needs their strong support to successfully ascend to the throne, and the implementation of the plan must wait for the prince to hold the power. He saw that Ye Xiang was thinking about Zhou Xiang, felt that something big was expected, and seemed to feel that the prince had a lot of ambitions, so he bowed down and said respectfully, "Weichen respectfully obeys His Royal Highness's order. ”

Yuan Keli's handling of the "Huzhou case" shows his means, the beheading of the ministers shows that he is not afraid of power, and the construction of the city wall shows that he has the people in mind. Ye Xiang is not worried that he will not listen to his will when the time comes, because Ye Xiang will be just a small common man in the later life, and he also hates corrupt officials and bullies.

Daming has been suffering for a long time, and he must use fierce medicine to bring the dead back to life, and Yuan Keli happens to be the introduction of this medicine.

※※※※

Taichang Emperor Bintian, according to the etiquette, the officials should stay in the official office, but the official office of Shangbao was in the palace, and Yuan Keli left the palace and returned to the house in the west city of Beijing. As soon as he got home, he had just spared the shadow wall, and the Song family, who had been staring at the door, greeted him.

Yuan Keli had a son and three daughters, the three daughters had already married into women, and their husbands were all famous people at that time. Yuan Keli was originally married to the Song family and had no children, and the later Napan family gave birth to a son Yuan Shu in the 28th year of Wanli, and now he is married.

Yuan Shu was originally married to Li, is the granddaughter of Li Ruhua of the household department, nothing, and later took his stepwife Liu in Wanli 45 years to give birth to a son Yuan Fucheng, although he is only 20 years old, has been a father for the first time, because Yuan Keli just served as Shangbao Si Cheng, time is in a hurry, he did not follow into Beijing.

Yuan Keli has been full of children and grandchildren, but this time he only brought the original Song family to Beijing, saying "young couples, old companions", she has been with herself for many years, regardless of the ups and downs, she abides by women's morals, stands silently behind her husband and children when she is glorious, and encourages herself when she is lost. After a long time, they are now husband and wife, and the two have long been accustomed to nature.

Song is also nearly sixty years old, according to the regulations, she is wearing a round-necked plain dress, her sideburns have turned gray, and wrinkles have climbed to the corners of her eyes.

Song saw his wife rushing into the palace angrily before, and now he saw him coming back with high spirits, and his hanging heart finally became steady, "Master, you are back, I am really worried that the prince will blame you." ”

Yuan Keli saw that his wife looked concerned, gently held her hand and whispered, "It seems that what the father-in-law said is true, the prince will never be held hostage by the Donglin Party, haha." ”

Song saw that his wife was happy, although he didn't know why, he was still happy, and then remembered what was going on, and said, "Master, that thing is done, by the way, Xu Guoquan has been waiting in the hall for a long time, you can go and have a look." ”

"It didn't work out, no, it should have been done." Yuan Keli himself was confused, "I'll talk to you later, it's not too early to see the sky, you dare to let the cook get a few dishes, and get drunk with our martial arts for your husband." ”

After speaking, Yuan Keli went back to the main hall, leaving the Song family alone behind the shadow wall in a daze, she muttered in her heart, what the hell is going on, I haven't seen the master so excited that he is talking nonsense for a long time.

Yuan Keli's private house was purchased before it was degraded, two courtyards, not shabby and unassuming, the front hall is used for hospitality, and the backyard is for family members.

When Yuan Keli stepped into the door, he saw a tall and burly man with thick eyebrows and a wide mouth standing in the hall, not Xu Guoquan.

Yuan Keli saw Xu Guoquan's stunned appearance, smiled happily, stopped him from bowing and saluting, and said, "Virtuous nephew, sit down, and then leave after dinner." ”

After taking his seat, Xu Guoquan looked at the old man in front of him with a look of hope, and couldn't wait to ask, "My lord, has the Eastern Dynasty agreed to let me go to Liaodong?" ”

Seeing Yuan Keli shaking his head, Xu Guoquan couldn't help but feel frustrated, in all fairness, he was able to achieve the top spot in martial arts, and he really relied on his real talent and learning. Poor literature and rich martial arts is not an empty word, he has a solid family since he was a child, and he has only learned martial arts, and this time he entered Beijing not to return to his hometown, but because of the national disaster, he just wants to repay his life, not for fame and fortune.

"The virtuous nephew is not busy and disappointed, and listens to me. Keeping you in Beijing is indeed His Royal Highness's intention, not that someone is obstructing you. His Royal Highness thinks that since you are a martial artist, it is a bit overkill to send a book, and wants you to train with a man named Sun Chuanting. You stay in the capital these days, get ready, wait for the summons after the ceremony, and then show what you have learned in your life. ”

"My lord, does the Eastern Dynasty really want me to train my troops?"

"Of course." Then our Yuan Sicheng told him in detail about the conversation with Ye Xiang, of course, the tax part was not mentioned.

Soon the Song family sent someone to inform that the meal was ready, and Yuan Keli took Xu Guoquan to the table together, but found that there was no wine, so he gently tapped the table with his index finger and asked the maid who was waiting, "Where is the wine?" ”

As a woman, the Song family is inconvenient to participate in such a banquet, so she has retreated to the backyard, leaving a medium-looking maid to serve, she is the personal maid of the Song family, of course she knows the reason, "Master, Mrs. has explained, my emperor died, the etiquette regulations do not allow drinking, and the doctor also said, you are not in good health, you should drink less." ”

……