118 million Shi Lu rice, this number is so huge, all the officials in the temple were shocked.

"How is this possible?" An official blurted out.

yes, how is that possible? After all, the current annual income of the state treasury is only 3 million taels of silver, plus more than 4 million stone grains. And these grains should be used to support the nine-border army and the officials and families of Beijing, and the silver should be distributed to the officials in Beijing, and it should also be used for disaster relief, etc.

Of course, these are not all the land taxes of the Ming Dynasty, in fact, a large part of the income is withheld by the local government, which is equivalent to the land tax, which is used to pay local officials and office expenses. However, all the income added up is only more than 20 million taels of silver. There were household officials present, and they knew very well how much the state earned in a year.

And the rice used on the clans has more than 100 million stones, how is this possible? It's unimaginable!

But if you think about it, why is it impossible? After all, the number of clans can be found only by checking the roster of the Zongren's Mansion, and the amount of Lu for the princes, generals, and lieutenants is a fixed number, as long as they know how to arithmetic, they can calculate how much Lu rice should be distributed in a year.

On the spot, an official who was proficient in arithmetic pinched his fingers and began to calculate, and soon came up with the data, which was not much different from what Liu Mao said.

"This, this ......" Everyone was stunned, still unable to accept the incomparably large number.

"Of course, this is only a figure calculated according to the number of clans and the standard of Lulu," Liu Mao continued, "but in fact, the provinces and localities simply cannot afford to pay such a huge amount of Lu rice, because even the land tax of the whole province is not enough, and there is no way to pay it at a discount, and this has also led to a huge gap between the rich and the poor of the same clan." ”

"For example, the princes and county kings have a large amount of land, more than millions of acres, less tens of thousands of acres, just these land grants income is enough for them to squander the luxury Roshan wine pool, and many vassal kings also set up private money customs, open shops and compete with the people for profit, these princes are all rich and rival the country.

And those low-level Fengguo lieutenants are the most numerous, if they can receive enough Lu rice, they can also support their families, but after the local government has been peeled and embezzled, the amount of Lu rice is very small, and many people can't even eat and wear. And the imperial court did not allow them to become officials, nor did they allow them to do business to support their families, many low-level clans were poor, and they lived like flowers, and there were not a few beggars along the streets! ”

Liu Mao described in detail the living conditions of the clansmen, and the huge gap between the rich and the poor was even more shocking. At that time, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang made a rule in order not to let his descendants go hungry, as long as it was his descendants, no matter how far the relationship with the contemporary emperor was, they would all be raised by the state, no need to farm or work, and they would enjoy glory and wealth when they were born. But I'm afraid even Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang didn't expect that many of his descendants are now the same as him back then, and they can only make a living by begging......

"The clan system must be changed!" Cao Sicheng stood up again and said excitedly. At this time, his mind was full of shocks by the huge number of 100 million Shi Lumi, and he had no mind about King Zhou.

"The clan system must be changed!" Many officials stood up and said in unison.

I didn't realize it before, why Daming is getting poorer and poorer, it turns out that the root cause is in the clan! 100 million Shilu rice every year, if you raise soldiers, you can raise 10 million troops, what are you afraid of? If it is used for disaster relief, no matter how big the disaster is, it can be helped!

Of course, these officials never realized that the gentry occupied far more wealth than the clans, and much more. Almost seventy percent of the fields in the Ming Dynasty are under the names of the gentry, and these fields do not need to pay any taxes, and the remaining thirty percent of the fields are in the hands of ordinary people, and the income from the fields must pay national taxes and be used to feed these clans......

Of course, this did not prevent officials from expressing anger against the clansmen.

For a time, a consensus was reached in the court to carry out a thorough reform of the clan system.

In fact, in the previous life, Zhu Youzhen also changed the clan system once, allowing ordinary clans to become officials. But that reform was only a minor fight, and did not fundamentally affect the clan system. The main reason is that Zhu Youzhen at that time cherished his reputation too much, and refused to bear the bad reputation of ignoring the affection of flesh and blood, and there was the ancestral system set by Emperor Taizu, Zhu Youzhen at that time did not have the courage to overthrow the ancestral system, of course, he did not fully realize the harm brought by the clan at that time.

Now, after experiencing the hatred of losing the country and wandering for hundreds of years, Zhu Youzhen has realized the reason for the loss of the country.

The clan, the official gentry, are all the great harm of the Ming Dynasty!

The current Zhu Youzhen can't do anything to the gentry, after all, the number of gentry is too large, the court is controlled by the officials in the court, and the gentry control the countryside is controlled by the gentry, this Ming is not so much his own emperor, but a huge class of officials and gentry, and he can only take his time to deal with them.

And for the clan that has no power and poses no threat to the imperial court at all, Zhu Youzhen is no longer soft.

Besides, I didn't care about my flesh and blood, but I wanted to liberate the huge clan bottom. They have no food and clothing, they are poor, but they are limited to the ancestral system and cannot work as officials to make money, I am thinking about them, presumably Taizu knows it, and he will not blame me! Zhu Youzhen said to himself secretly.

Next, the courtiers had a heated discussion about reforming the clan system, and the early dynasty lasted until noon, and everyone was hungry, and Zhu Youzhen had to issue an order to prepare some snacks in the imperial dining room to let these energetic officials temporarily wrap their stomachs.

It was not until the afternoon that the final decision was made.

The first is to stop the indiscriminate issuance of titles, whether it is a prince or a county king, the title is inherited by the eldest son, and the other sons will no longer be titled whether they are descendants or concubines.

Below the general, the right to inherit the title is directly canceled, and their descendants are directly reduced to civilians.

A large number of clans die every year, and the remaining rice alone is a huge amount. Decades later, there will only be a few princes and princes left in the entire Ming Dynasty, and there will be no more generals, lieutenants, and titles.

The second is to relax the control over the clans, so that from now on, the clans can become officials through the imperial examination, and they can farm, work, do business, and make a living, and there will be no more restrictions.

In this way, even if the descendants of those clans lose their titles, they can support themselves, instead of doing nothing and doing nothing like calling Hanako. Most of the low-level clans will be stronger than before, or even much stronger, and for the low-level clans, this means complete liberation.

The third is to check the number of acres of land in the clan, except for the fields given by the emperor over the years, all the fields illegally occupied by the vassal kings have been confiscated, or issued to the original owners of the fields, or used as official fields, and the field taxes of the past years must be paid. Investigate the illegal banknotes and close down the shops, and the vassal king must not compete with the people for profit.

This alone will at least find out tens of millions of acres of land, not to mention that the annual field tax paid on these fields alone is a large amount. In order to prevent the fields from being occupied by the gentry, Zhu Youzhen ordered Cao Sicheng, the imperial historian of the left capital, to lead the imperial historians of the Inspectorate to be responsible for the inventory of the feudal kings in various places, and sent Dongchang Fanzi to follow and supervise.

These imperial historians are all stunned young people who have just entered the officialdom, all of them are strong-blooded, impeaching this and that all day long, and they have not yet become official oils, so it is appropriate for them to do such things.

The three major items, as well as more than a dozen other small items, will greatly improve the financial situation of the imperial court.