Li Fangying asked: "Where is the deviation?" What is the reason for the deviation? ”

He and Song Ji and Liu Xingchun have always been in Longmen, and they should have communicated enough about Jiangnan on weekdays, and now they have to ask this question, obviously they have a lot of opinions on Song Ji's Jiangnan policy, including Cao Fu, so they have to argue in front of Li Shi.

The three of them acted from different angles and at different levels in Jiangnan, and it was inevitable that there would be differences.

"This starts with the change of grain to silver・・・・・・"

Song was not moved, and began to review the process of changes in Cao Fu after Yinghua intervened in Jiangnan.

Jiangnan, which includes Anhui and Jiangsu provinces, has a water amount of 1.79 million stones, accounting for almost half of the grain. In the Ming Dynasty, it was a government-run civil movement, and in the Qing Dynasty, it was a government-run official movement, and the specific handling was all banner people, and the northern movement began in August and December every year.

Although the Ming and Qing dynasties all had governors of Caoyun and were in charge of Caoyun, unlike the Ming Dynasty, which set up grain chiefs and apportioned Caoyun affairs to the people in the form of forced labor, the official system of Caoyun in the Manchu Qing Dynasty was very perfect. From the governor of Caoyun to the grain road, to the state and county grain department (that is, the county), and then to the general secretary, also known as the general secretary, it constitutes a complete set of Caoyun management system.

The general manager of the state and county is responsible for the apportionment of the amount, the verification of entry and exit, and the specific implementation of the grain difference in charge of the map below. The grain gap is a big difference, and the recruitment of temporary workers when requisitioning grain is a small difference, and then it is a trinity with the secretary and warehouse of the grain cabinet and granary, and the extortion that Li Shi encountered in Yingde in Guangdong back then, compared with the exploitation suffered by grain households in Jiangnan, it is really a big deal. After all, he only pays silver, and he has to pay all the grain and silver here.

When the granaries of the prefectures and counties collected enough grain, they gathered to the mouths. Caoyun Yamen's grain escort was transported all the way north. Most of the grain members are flag soldiers, and when they collect grain, they ask for bribes and cards, forming a common practice, and these expenses are naturally passed on to the grain households and become miscellaneous.

After Yongzheng came to power, he boldly engaged in "turning fees into taxes", that is, returning fire consumption to the public, and this policy was also implemented in Cao Shi. The miscellaneous and bad rules that fell on the prefectures and counties and the people in charge of the affairs were brought back to the central government, and then returned to the lower authorities as appropriate.

Of course, the miscellaneous factions were accepted, and a new round of miscellaneous factions appeared under other names, and the burden on grain households was heavier. Hubei, Jiangxi, and the northern provinces, the Manchu Qing either pressed the border with heavy troops, or their rule was stable, and there was no major chaos. But in Jiangnan, Yinghua entered from the dragon gate, and the pressure had an air outlet, and there were signs of lifting the table in the Qing Dynasty.

After the "Hushu Peace Treaty", Yinghua grain merchants entered Jiangnan, and after a contest, the Jiangnan control policy implemented by Li Fu collapsed, and grain prices turned from soaring to falling all the way. At the same time, the Yinghua grain generation was extremely active, eroding all aspects of the trouble. It has become a trend for the general granary of the state and county to sell the grain and directly buy the grain in the big cities near Caokou to offset the grain, so as to earn the difference in freight.

Based on this irreversible reality, Li Fu had no choice but to go to the imperial court and suggest that no longer levy grain but directly collect silver, and buy grain in various cao mouths in the south of the Yangtze River and transport it to the north. Of course, the background of the convergence of the Yinghua grain merchants and the Jiangnan grain merchants to promote this policy is hidden behind, and the Qiangu staff who suggested for Li Fu to change grain to silver have eaten enough money from various grain merchants.

Considering that it is a matter of time to lose Jiangnan, and there can still be some accumulation of money directly levy, Yongzheng nodded very neatly. In the eighth year of Yongzheng, the Manchu Caoyun changed from levying grain to levying silver in the south of the Yangtze River. However, the levy amount does not change with the price of grain, but fluctuates up and down on the benchmark line of one or two stone stem rice in the third year of Yongzheng. Not all of the money collected was used to buy grain, and thirty percent of it was directly transferred to Beijing.

This year, that is, in July and August of the tenth year of Yongzheng, the general trend of the north and the south has become clear, and the Manchu transportation system has also collapsed. The Yamen of the Caoyun Governor was abolished, and the Caoyun Banner returned to the north. But it was only the official transportation system that collapsed, and the government-run system of collecting Cao Yin in Jiangnan was taken over by the Yinghua government, and the Cao boat households that actually handled the transportation were taken over by Yinghua Capital. Jiangnan Xingying manages Cao affairs by issuing permits, and Cao Yun has not changed much on the surface, but the operating mechanism on the inside has been completely different. …,

As soon as Song Jigang said this, Liu Xingchun interjected: "This deviation is there, Caoyin is still levied according to the old amount." One stone and one tael, now there is only six or seven dollars for one stone of rice on the market in the south of the Yangtze River, and the grain households are afraid that they can only sell it to the grain merchants for three or four dollars, and three stones can complete the amount of silver in one stone, and the grain households will of course complain! ”

Li Fangying echoed: "Jiangnan was initially decided, and all kinds of waste were waiting for the new, and Caoyin was inevitably reasonable, but the old amount was not changed, so it would be stiff." ”

Song Ji shook his head: "The accounts must be settled, and you can't just look at Cao Yin." ”

"The amount of silver in the two provinces of Jiangnan is three million taels, which is not much for my Yinghua treasury, even if it is reduced by half, for the grain households in Jiangnan, there is no big relaxation."

"The burden of grain households is not only the endowment, but also the silver distributed to the acre. When the eight provinces in Jiangnan were in the holy road for five years, the total amount of Caotian two endowments was seven million taels [1], which was still reduced after Yongzheng fought for the hearts of the people and at the same time ran a gold bureau in Jiangnan. ”

"Jiangnan will still be levied according to the old system this year and next year, and the officials will exempt the Tian Fu from 30 percent, and even as high as 6 or 7 percent in some places, and the 8 Fu Tian Fu will still have 3 million taels, and the amount of the Bafu Cao Yin is only 1.6 million taels, in contrast, the focus is naturally on the Tian Fu rather than the Cao Yin."

"Jiangnan Xinde, the government has just implemented the countryside, and the re-clearing of acres has not yet been launched, and the officials used are still local old people, favoring the gentry and wealthy households, which is more affordable to them, and the ordinary people do not benefit much."

Li Fangying snorted and said: "This is a problem of the rule of officials and the evil gentry, the old system in Jiangnan has not been demolished, it must be so, just like the story of Donglin at the end of the Ming Dynasty......"

Song Ji said with a smile: "That's why we have to go to the countryside with the government and forcibly promote the division of clan fields." ”

Li Fangying was stunned, his feelings were waiting for him here......

He was still unconvinced, and was about to talk deeply, Li Xian said: "These two things are a national dispute, and they are major events, and the Cao matter is relatively small, so you can start first, and listen to Song Ji after speaking." ”

Song thanked him, and then said: "My Yinghua court got Jiangnan, exempted from gold, reduced the field endowment, reorganized the government, divided the taxes on the ground, and greatly reduced the bad rules, on the whole, the burden on Jiangnan has been nearly half lighter than that of the Manchu Qing Dynasty!" But why is Jiangnan not praised locally, but has many words of grievance? ”

"The reason is that the government has not been able to go to the countryside, the people in the countryside are not clear, a small number of profits have taken away the profits, and the remaining profits have not yet fallen on the ordinary farmers. At present, it is the winter levy of Caofu, and the farmers only compare the Caofu, and they are too worried about the price of grain, and then think of next year's Tianfu, they will have to sell grain for silver, and they all feel that the burden is increasing. ”

Song Ji looked at Li Fangying: "What Qiu Chi asked, where is the deviation of Caofu's policy From this point of view, the deviation is not enough in the imperial court, and I didn't expect that the hearts of the farmers in Jiangnan would be concentrated on this, not Tianfu." ”

Li Xian secretly said that he was just talking about this small matter, and this guy said that he didn't know enough.

"As for why this is the ...... of this deviation"

Song is talking about it, how can he take care of the emperor's feelings.

Liu Xingchun interjected unceremoniously: "I think the problem lies in the price of grain・・・・・・

Song nodded, and then shook his head: "The price of grain is one of them, and we will talk about it later, in general, there are three points."

"One is that the north and the south are separated・・・・・・ and it will be difficult for me to benefit from Jiangnan for three years, but I have to subsidize a lot of silver."

In other words, when ordinary people hear this, they will definitely be right, the Manchu Qing Dynasty will collect seven million taels of silver in the eight prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River alone, and Yinghua will restore Jiangnan, why should they lose money!?

"As far as Cao Shi is concerned, Jiangnan Cao Yin is tied to Cao Shi across several provinces, and it is difficult to be directly assigned to the local government like the local government, and at present, Jiangnan Xingying has to subsidize various Cao Yun companies, which is to stabilize the people of various industries related to Cao Shi. This is not just the positive amount of Caoyin, the positive amount of Caoyin in Anhui and Jiangsu was three million before, counting the additional consumption and miscellaneous pies, close to eight million taels. In addition to the exploitation at all levels, there should be five million taels of people involved in the affairs of the two provinces, and the Jiangnan camp should be subsidized at least two million ・・・・・・ a year"...,

"But these two million are not the big head, according to the accounting of the division, the local transformation of Jiangnan, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces, not counting the cost of the volunteers, at least 10 million taels of local taxes. Gradually, the gap in the past three years has averaged 4 million taels per year... ・・・”

"The land tax is a local tax, and the imperial court tax is in industry and commerce, compared with the scale of the south, after everything is straightened out, it can reach 50 million in ten years. However, Jiangnan abolished the centigold, and the industrial and commercial tax needed to be built step by step for three years before it could be initially completed, roughly reaching 10 million yuan. One in and one out, all in all, within three years, the imperial court will send eight million to Jiangnan. ”

Hearing this number, Liu Xingchun gasped as if he had a toothache.

Everyone knows that the future of Jiangnan is bright, and only the three provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang have a population of more than 40 million, which is already rich in the world. After the restructuring, even if the central government's income is not as good as Guangdong, how can it be comparable to Fujian, and then the Yinghua national income will be hundreds of millions of taels of silver, hundreds of millions of taels... ・・・This is the income from not having to raise a magistrate and a local army, and only meddling in some local affairs, how much big things can be done!?

Unfortunately, this is the future after all.

The Anglo-Chinese country is now developing rapidly, and the government not only has to build infrastructure on a large scale, but also leads investment. To be able to fight this battle this year, we have buried the financial thread in advance and raised a huge debt of 20 million.

There are still a few days left in the tenth year of the Holy Dao, and the actual revenue of the Anglo-Chinese treasury is expected to exceed 60 million this year, so as to avoid the sudden decline of the war and the depression of related industries, the country has to start another project and turn the army into the people. In addition, the military and national debts have to be amortized, and the revenue and expenditure of the central budget for the 11 years of the Holy Dao are 70 million taels, and it is not clear whether they will actually be unable to make ends meet.

If you get Jiangnan, not only will you not get financial and tax benefits for the time being, but you will also have to subsidize a lot. Where does the silver come from? Debt? The national debt is almost a quarter of the budget, and it can no longer be raised, and new taxes are imposed? Customs, colonial and other taxes are good to say, if it is industrial and commercial and financial taxes, then you have to fight with the East and West Courts.

The strategy developed by the Planning Department and the Government Affairs Hall was to separate customs revenues to subsidize Gangnam, which was based on the expectation that the situation between the north and the south would ease and tariffs would increase significantly. In order not to be surprised, in August, the budget for next year was revised, 3 million yuan was saved from various sources, and the industrial and commercial and financial taxes were also increased.

Li Xi was also sighing slightly, that's right, this matter is actually about the hearts of Yinghua and Jiangnan. Song Ji and Li Fangying were both born in Jiangnan, but they were not 100% happy to ask Yinghua to make huge subsidies for Jiangnan in three years. At this time, the British and Chinese regarded the Jiangnan people as not Yidi, but it was difficult to completely regard them as their own people.

It was this kind of psychology that made him, Song Ji, the Hanlin Academy, and the Political Affairs Hall not think too deeply when they set the policy of Cao Fu, and they did not expect that the negative emotions such as uneasiness and dissatisfaction of the Jiangnan farmers converged on the matter of Cao Fu.

Song Ji explained the second point: "I just said that the government must go to the countryside first, and it has also been mentioned, that is, the industrial and commercial capital has reached the marrow of the south of the Yangtze River, but there is little control by the government, which is harmful to the endowment. ”

"Taking advantage of the general trend of the north and the south, although Yinghua Capital occupied Jiangnan and replaced the Manchu imperial merchants, officials and businessmen, which was beneficial to the people of Jiangnan, but because there was no official government, the harmful side of the people was also revealed, especially in the grain industry."

"My Yinghua Capital began to erode the Manchu Dynasty since Longmen entered the south of the Yangtze River, and after the Cao Yun was changed from grain to silver, the grain merchants were even more unrestrained. Nanyang rice merchants pushed grain generations deep into the towns and villages to suppress grain prices. In this way, grain merchants in the south of the Yangtze River collected grain from grain farmers at low prices and made huge profits by transshipment to the north. Every year, millions of stone of Cao Yun is the iron rice bowl in their eyes, and the price of grain is reduced by one cent of silver per stone, and they have tens of thousands of taels of stable profit ......"...,

"The price of rice in Jiangnan is almost one, and the people in the towns have benefited, but the grain farmers have complained. Jiangnan is different from Liangguang Fujian, where farmers account for at most half, and only half of the half grow grain. In the Jiangnan households, seven or eight out of ten farmers grow grain. Earlier, most of the profits made by the imperial merchants, the officials and the Manchu government in grain were eaten by the Yinghua grain merchants and grain generations, and our Yinghua grain industry was weighing heavily on the shoulders of more than half of the people in the south of the Yangtze River. ”

Liu Xingchun and Li Fangying both nodded at the same time, and only then did they realize the importance of the government going to the countryside. It is not that the government can solve this problem by going to the countryside, but to solve this problem, it is necessary to have an official government that goes deep into the townships and towns. Through the grass-roots government to obtain more rapid and accurate public information, through the grass-roots government to control the grain merchants to profit by various improper means, without the grass-roots government, the imperial court's various regulatory laws and regulations on the grain industry are also difficult to implement.

But the most critical problem that comes to the surface is that food prices are too low.

When Song talked about this, he also felt that the issue was very complicated, and only briefly talked about two points.

"First, I am a British and Chinese merchant goods, there is more Nanyang rice adjustment, and the grain merchants in the north take advantage of the situation to suppress it in order to make profits, and the price of rice will naturally be low, which is common sense."

"On the other hand, it is more extensive, the Anglo-Chinese goods hit the south of the Yangtze River, and the products of the south of the Yangtze River are mostly cheap raw materials such as silk cotton, and the silver continues to flow southward, and the local area of the south of the Yangtze River is gradually short of silver, and silver is expensive and cheap. The price of rice in Jiangnan is lower than that in Guangdong, which is probably the main reason. ”

This problem is more serious, Li Xi has not paid serious attention to it, and his heart is also shocked. Back then, he used to "colonize Jiangnan" and collectively referred to Yinghua's Jiangnan strategy, and now Jiangnan has succeeded, and Yinghua Capital has also taken root in Jiangnan, but it has given birth to many harms.

The Cao Fu incident has led to a lot of problems such as the separation of people's hearts, the restructuring of Jiangnan, the harm of capital, and economic operation, and everyone feels that their brains are a little unable to deal with it.

"That'...... What should we do? ”

Liu Xingchun didn't know much about economics, so he was dizzy when he heard it, so he hurriedly asked for advice.

Unexpectedly, Song Ji spread his hands and shrugged his shoulders: "I can only choose the easiest problem to start with and the most urgent need to solve, and analyze the root cause." ”

With a bang, Li Xi took out a folding fan, raised his eyes to look at the ceiling, and the three of them looked at each other, and the emperor of the capital was also scratching his head, it was December ・・・・・・

This fan is common to everyone, the fan surface is plain white, and it is written with the words "Ten Thousand Dangerous Peaks Climb Step by Step", which is the word of Li Xian looking for a rookie in calligraphy in the middle school, and Wang Youdun of the Tongshi Hall, the emperor is always reminding himself to guard against arrogance and rashness, and not to be rash.

Looking at the whirring fan, Li Fangying's eyes suddenly lit up.

He left the table abruptly and bowed solemnly to Li Shi.

"The grass people have a plan! If this strategy is implemented, the chaos in the south of the Yangtze River will disappear! ”

Li Xi and the others all stared at him, not knowing what amazing words he was going to make.

Li Fangying said loudly: "Your Majesty can edict the world and return the capital to Nanjing!" ”