Confucius said that if it was gone, it would be gone, and the reaction in Shandong was very different.

The news that Zhao Yan confiscated the Confucian Mansion is not very secret, and there are still many channels to learn about this news, of course, it is currently limited to Shandong.

When the people around the Confucian Mansion learned that the Confucian Mansion had been confiscated, they were definitely applauded.

And the squires of the Western Three Mansions were very worried when they learned that the Confucian Mansion had been copied.

In the ninth year of Chongzhen, Zhao Yan touched his hand to Qingzhou Mansion, and now the land in Dongsanfu is nominally owned by Zhao Yan, although Zhao Yan distributed these lands to the people who immigrated to Dongsanfu.

And now, Zhao Yan has reached out to the West Three Mansions.

As soon as the Confucian Mansion was confiscated, almost all the land in Yanzhou Mansion belonged to Zhao Yan. It's not a blushing, the squires of Shandong naturally know that they can't be compared with Zhao Yan, and there is no reason to be blushing, but they are afraid of Zhao Yan's westward expansion of the land.

Although Zhao Yan has mastered the administrative power of the entire Shandong, there is not much land in the Western Three Mansions, that is, the land of some guards is in his hands.

Previously, Zhao Yan exchanged the land of Liaodong for the land of Qingzhou Mansion, and this one-to-one exchange was a great loss for those landlords and squires.

If Zhao Yan uses the same method to come to Xisanfu to exchange land, it will not be a loss.

The land of the West Three Mansions is not comparable to Qingzhou Mansion. If it is barely acceptable to exchange the land of Qingzhou Mansion for the land of Liaodong, then it is absolutely unacceptable to exchange the land of the Western Three Mansions.

For a time, the landlords and squires of the Western Three Mansions were very uneasy.

…… Zhao Yan Zhao Jiabao is very idle, and now in addition to dealing with some government affairs that others can't call the shots every day, that is, he goes to your science and technology academy and barracks, and sometimes goes to the school to give a speech.

So Zhao Yan is very leisurely, and there are a lot of events to raid his home.

There are only thirteen fugitives left in the core personnel of the Confucian Mansion so far, and most of these people are in other provinces, so it is not so easy to arrest.

Zhao Yan feels about the same, it doesn't matter if he catches it or not.

"Master, what should I do with these lands in the Confucian Mansion now?" Zhao Quan asked Zhao Yan, "These five million acres of land, if they are managed well, can also create a lot of income every year, but the cycle is relatively long." ”

"After all, the land of Xisanfu is not the land of Liaodong, with such a high value, it is too troublesome to operate it by yourself, and I don't have the energy to do it. Auction off all these lands! But you can't take it out in one go, otherwise the land price will plummet. Zhao Yan thought for a while and said, "Also, when auctioning, it should be noted that no matter who buys these lands, they will have to pay taxes every year." ”

"In this way, will it cause too much land annexation?" Zhao Quan asked hesitantly.

"In the industrial age, land annexation was tolerable to a certain extent, and now that we have the vast land of Liaodong, the demand for land is not so great. All we want is the elimination of the tax-exempt class, and as long as he is willing to pay taxes, it doesn't matter if he owns millions of acres. Zhao Yan said.

Zhao Quan studied the economic operation deeply and quickly understood what Zhao Yan meant.

The real contradiction is not because of the amount of land. As far as the overall situation of the Ming Dynasty is concerned, land annexation is very serious, and most people do not have land.

But in Shandong, there is enough land, as long as you are willing to immigrate, you have land. Among the three major plains in Northeast China, two major plains will be used for agricultural production, and the Sanjiang Plain, known as the Great Northern Wilderness, will establish an ecological reserve. But there is much more to the land in the north, and the southern part of Siberia, although colder, is no less suitable for agricultural production.

At the same time, a certain degree of land annexation is conducive to promoting the process of industrialization, and the factories need a lot of workers, and the source of workers is the transformation of the agricultural production population.

Therefore, now the three eastern prefectures have allowed land to be bought and sold, and as long as the peasant households change jobs, the land in their hands can be sold. But this kind of buying and selling is different from the previous land buying and selling.

In the past, the land was bought and sold by those of the middle and upper classes, and the methods of annexation were very bad, often forcing the yeoman farmers to the point of desperation.

In Shandong, however, such a situation is not possible, where there is no wanton expropriation, no political axe driving people to a dead end, and at the same time, there is no money for medical treatment, there is no such phenomenon as selling land when you are sick, and there is no such thing as usury.

Therefore, the land purchase and sale in the eastern three provinces is very modest.

Of course, the land in the eastern three provinces is really not very valuable, because the employment conditions in the eastern three provinces are very good, and if you hire someone to be a tenant, the land rent is very low, because the situation in the eastern three provinces cannot form a high rent. Tenants rent land for agricultural production, but Zhao Yan has land in North Korea and Liaodong, and if the land rent is too high, it is better to go to North Korea and Liaodong, so the land rent is very low.

If you hire long-term workers, the current salary of long-term workers in Shandong is at least one tael per month, and they also have to cover food and accommodation, and the "Labor Contract Law" issued by Zhao Yan stipulates that you can only work nine hours a day, and you need to pay for overtime.

As far as the cost of a labor force is concerned, ordinary business methods can only protect the capital.

Therefore, the price of land in the eastern three prefectures is relatively low, and some of the demobilized people who are unwilling to give up their land even rent their land to others for cultivation in an almost free way.

Although the land rent is low, the land price is not low.

With the development of the economy, people in the three eastern provinces have money in their hands, and they are not very willing to sell land. And the purchase of land is not without profit.

If you plant some fruit trees and breed some animals with high economic benefits, the profits are very considerable.

There is no other reason, just because many people in the Eastern Three Prefectures have money in their pockets.

Medical treatment and school are free, and there is surplus food and money at home, so the consumer demand will naturally increase, but there is a lack of many higher quality farm products in the market.

There is basically no need to worry about grain in Shandong, and you can eat as much as you want with dried sweet potato flour, as long as you can hold on. But if we talk about some fruits, they are very few.

Many fruits and high-grade agricultural products are very popular in the market, which has become the driving force behind the land annexation of the three eastern provinces.

Fruits, fishery, and meat, which are the three major categories of high-grade agricultural products.

In this case, the price of land has also risen sharply. In order to chase profits, people are buying land, and the price of land is high.

When the price of land is high, the cost is also high.

However, at present, agricultural products are selling well, and there is still a large profit margin for a while, but with the increase of output, the profit margin will also decrease.

In the end, the winners will be those groups whose management methods are more scientific and sophisticated, or who find new scarce products, while those who are very rough in management will be eliminated.

This is a very inevitable law.

With the continuous improvement of education, people's horizons will also continue to improve, so those who graduate from school will rarely go back to become farmers, but should be farmers who own large-scale land and use the most advanced technology for production.

Therefore, land annexation is also an inevitable process in the eastern three provinces.

The situation of fifty acres of land per person cannot be maintained forever. People will not be trapped on those fifty acres of land forever, so Zhao Yan does not restrict the land annexation of the Eastern Three Prefectures now, but if it exceeds fifty acres of land, the agricultural tax will increase a little.

In the future, Dongsanfu will definitely not be a commercial grain base.

The northeast and south will become commercial grain bases, not very fertile Shandong land, cash crops will occupy a dominant position, and the reason why Confucius was copied by Zhao Yan is because they rely on the land, contrary to the laws of the market, a great waste of land resources, so that Zhao Yan can not bear it.

Zhao Yan is not opposed to the land annexation of the Western Three Provinces, as long as you pay taxes.

"Then it's King Lu's turn now, first send someone to negotiate with King Lu and see what his attitude is." Zhao Yan said to Zhao Quan.

"The old slave will send someone tomorrow." Zhao Quan nodded.

"If he is willing to pay taxes, his ban can be lifted so that he can get out of Jinan City." Zhao Yan added that King Lu's land did not need to be confiscated, after all, King Lu did not act like Confucius. If he is willing to pay taxes, then the two are at peace. If he does not manage it well, the three million acres of land will soon be annexed by others.

…… In the mansion of King Lu in Jinan, the obese King Lu was stunned to meet the officials sent by Zhao Quan.

"This king has to pay taxes?" King Lu listened for a long time and asked.

"King Lu, if you pay taxes, you won't lose money, with the current economic form of Shandong, if your land is sold, it will be much higher than the land price when you bought it before. Even if you don't sell it, the price of what you grow will be higher. The officer said.

"What about the others? Is it the king alone to pay, or is it to everyone else? King Lu asked unwillingly, having accepted this ruthless fact in his heart.

Zhao Yan even Emperor Yanjing dared to pull off the horse, not to mention that he, the 'little vassal king', King Lu was still very clear at this point. Although he is very unwilling, if everyone has to pay it, he will naturally balance his heart.

"What the general means is that Shandong does not allow the emergence of a class that has a large amount of land in its hands, but is exempt from taxes, and this year all landlords in Shandong, regardless of whether they are famous or not, whether they are princes and nobles, must pay agricultural taxes. If you are willing to accept it, King Lu, you will be free to enter and leave Jinan City tomorrow, and you can go wherever you want. ”

"Is this what General Jianwei meant?" When King Lu heard that he could leave Jinan City, he immediately asked excitedly, for fear that this was fake.

"Of course it's the general's meaning."

"So the king is willing to pay the tax." King Lu said excitedly, money is not too important to King Lu, even if the three million acres of land are sold, it is enough for him to enjoy a lifetime, but the biggest regret is that he was born in the royal family and cannot get out of this Jinan City.

It's like going to jail!

Being able to get out of Jinan City is a dream for King Lu.

…… King Lu's cooperation made Zhao Yan let him go.

However, how to draw this tax must be carefully discussed and come up with a specific standard, so as not to cause blurred boundaries and unclear collection.

To this end, Zhao Yan convened a meeting of the Ministry of Administration.

"This meeting is to discuss the reform plan of Shandong's agricultural tax. Within this year, we will eliminate Shandong's tax-free privileged class. Farmers of 50 mu and below are exempt from tax, and landlords of more than 50 mu are exempt from taxation. Zhao Yan said to the officials of the Administration Department.

"My lord, if we are exempt from taxes for 50 mu or below, we will lose more than 300,000 yuan of grain income every year." Zhang Buyun said.

"But we overcharged on more than fifty acres, and the losses can be made up." Zhao Yan said that the agricultural tax is almost invisible to Zhao Yan now, but those landlords must be taxed, otherwise the gap between the rich and the poor will easily widen.

Once the gap between the rich and the poor widens, the contradiction will be very acute.

"For 100 acres and below, we receive five cents of silver per mu, and for 500 mu and below, we receive seven cents of silver per mu. For 1,000 mu or less, we will collect 1 penny of silver per mu, and for more than 5,000 mu, we will receive 1 penny and 5 cents per mu......"

"It's too little, 100 acres are only 5 taels of silver a year, and 500 acres are only 35 taels."

"It's a lot, if it's 5,000 acres, one mu is one dollar and five cents, that's 750 taels of silver. If you grow grain, at the current price of eight cents per stone, there is only 4,000 taels of income a year, and after deducting the cost of long-term labor, you will get at least 2,500 taels, plus 500 taels of other costs, and then deduct 750 taels, then there will only be a surplus of 1,200 taels. ”

"Now Xisanfu grows cotton, not wheat."

“……”

The meeting was very hot, and the standards appeared one by one.

Zhao Yan listened to it and knew that these standards might not be reliable. After all, it is easy for officials to detach themselves from reality, and they may overestimate some things or ignore certain things.

It is true that agricultural taxes are difficult to determine.

If it is set too low, it will feel like it is a loss, and if it is set too high, it may be that the operator will suffer a lot.

"My lord, I think that how to set the agricultural tax depends on how much land we can tolerate a family owns, and within the tolerable amount, we will give relatively preferential policies, and in groups that exceed the tolerance limit, we will give high tax policies." Zhang Buyun quickly saw the problem.

"Well, that's good." Zhao Yan felt very correct when he heard it, and suddenly turned around.

Under the condition of a tolerable number of acres, even if preferential conditions are given, the gap between the rich and the poor will not be too wide. And those that exceed the tolerance range of acres, the tax burden must be set high.

If they can survive under high tax conditions, prove that they are smart in their business methods, and can create higher profits, then this is what encourages them to continue to exist.

"My lord, what is your boundary?" Zhang Buyun asked.

"500 acres!" Zhao Yan thought about it and said, 500 acres should be about the same, after all, the agricultural productivity is not high now, and there are too many acres, so it will inevitably take long hours to do it.

This limit can be expanded when productivity increases. With the development of science and technology, if you use machinery to cultivate, one person can manage thousands of acres of land.

Of course, this limit refers to the normal value of agricultural taxes.

If it exceeds this normal value, it is called policy suppression.

With this boundary of Zhao Yan, the meeting ended quickly, and the plan for the collection of agricultural tax came out.

The "Shandong Agricultural Tax Collection Act" has also been determined, the bill stipulates that the land is less than 50 acres of farmers are exempt, 51~100 mu, 4 cents of silver per mu of agricultural tax, 101~200 mu, 5 cents of silver per mu, 201~300, 6 cents of silver per mu, 301~400, 7 cents of silver per mu, 401~500 mu, 8 cents of silver per mu.

Within 8 cents of silver is relatively normal and preferential, that is to say, the agricultural tax on one acre of land is almost exactly one-tenth.

100 acres is only 4 cents of silver, that is, one-twentieth of it.

Of course, the rise in production costs is also a factor that cannot be ignored, but the increase in the price of agricultural products is also one of the factors.

With the increase of precious metals, it is really difficult to grasp this aspect, so it is simply set lower.

501~1000 mu, 1.3 cents of silver per mu of agricultural tax.

1001~2000 mu, 1.5 yuan per mu of agricultural tax.

2001~3000 mu, agricultural tax of 1.7 yuan per mu.

3001~5000 mu, agricultural tax of 1.9 yuan per mu.

5001 ~ no cap, 2.1 yuan per mu of agricultural tax.

When it comes to 2.1, it will be bloody, and the production cost is so high that it is beyond imagination. However, if you use extensive planting, there is still a good income from growing grain. If you grow cash crops, you can make money by choosing the varieties well. But to seize the land in your hands under such a high tax, it is more technically difficult.

Extensive cultivation is necessary, and intensive cultivation has no future.

Under intensive cultivation, human resources are scarce.

For 500 acres of land, if the extensive planting farm model is used, the labor intensity is not only reduced, but also the tax of 40 taels can definitely be paid, and it can also be very nourishing.

Why did the population increase during the Qing Dynasty?

That's because of poverty!

The faster the population multiplies in the conditions of poverty. The Ming Dynasty developed for nearly two hundred years, and the population was only about 200 million, only half of that at the end of the Qing Dynasty, indicating that the people's living standards were far better than those of the Qing Dynasty.

Westerners have not had a high population, and that's because their farming model is different from China's.

It is true that the size of the population determines the war potential of a country. But with the current population of the Ming Dynasty, it is enough to overwhelm all opponents.

So what matters is not the size of the population, but how many resources each person can share.

Limit those who have too many resources, and protect those who have too few resources.

The so-called 'the way of heaven is to make up for the deficiency when there is more loss, and the way of man is to give more than enough for the loss'. This is not the "Nine Yin True Scripture" made by Jin Yong, who is full of stinky feet, but the Taoist "Tao Te Ching", which talks about the way of governing the country, that is, the problem of the gap between the rich and the poor.

Under Zhao Yan's model, the tax-free class still exists, but the order is reversed from today. Now the Ming Dynasty is 'more than enough to lose', and Zhao Yan is to 'make up for the deficiency', which is the difference between heaven and earth, high and low.

Once the gap between the rich and the poor is too wide, a lot of contradictions will appear, and even under the condition that people can easily eat and clothe, the people's sense of happiness will not be high.

It's like in primitive society, a chief can feel very satisfied with a few clay pots, but in the 21st century, if you only have a few hundred clay pots, you will be poor. You can't afford to buy a house, and you can't get a wife, and you still feel very unhappy when you can eat enough.

It's a matter of productivity.

Different eras have different productive forces, and the goals that people pursue are also different.

In the case of developed productive forces, it would be foolish and ignorant to pursue only food and clothing and to praise the ruling axe of darkness.

In the case of the gap between the rich and the poor, people don't have to worry about money, and everyone else does their best, but they can travel at will, develop their hobbies at will, and cultivate their talents. People don't have to sell their dignity for money, and they don't do all kinds of unsightly behaviors for money.

Once the "Shandong Agricultural Tax Collection Act" is announced, it means that Zhao Yan has begun to walk on the opposite side of the landlords in the world, which is an inevitable problem.

But Zhao Yan was also ready to suppress it by force.

(To be continued)