After the establishment of towns and villages, each county will have a large number of officials, dozens or even hundreds, and with the addition of county officials, the number of officials in a county will reach as many as hundreds, and this will inevitably exert great pressure on local finances.

"If the bureaucracy changes, so will the tax system. The abolition of the privileges of the gentry, the taxation of all fields, and the payment of grain tax according to the number of acres of land, would increase the local tax several times. In addition, the reform of the clan system will save a lot of rice, and it should not be a problem to feed these officials. Zhu Youzhen said.

Yuan Keli thought about it, and it is true that taking Henan as an example, in addition to the quota paid to the imperial court, most of the remaining field taxes collected every year are supplied to the clan, and the amount exceeds the taxes paid to the imperial court. The saved rice alone is enough to support the local officials, so there is no need to worry about it at all.

"As for the power to appoint and dismiss officials, it will be handed over to the local government, after all, the number of officials will be extremely large, and the officials will not be able to control it at all. In this way, the right to appoint officials above the town mayor (eight ranks) is vested in the prefecture, and officials below the town mayor such as the village chief can be appointed and dismissed by the prefecture. Ordinary officials do not matter, the prefect and county must be appointed in other places, and cannot serve in their own township. The appointment and dismissal of officials, rewards and punishments shall be supervised by the Inspection Department. As for other rules, if you have a good way, you can put it forward for discussion. ”

"Let's talk about the tax system, we must change the previous quota for each county to pay taxes according to the number of acres of land. After equalizing the land, each peasant has his own field, and in the future, he will only pay the field tax and do not need to pay the poll tax and other miscellaneous taxes, but he needs to serve the conscription, and the type of conscription and the place of service are restricted, and the projects that benefit the country and the people such as road construction and ditch digging can be conscripted into conscription, and in other circumstances it is not allowed to conscript, and it is strictly forbidden to conscript conscription for private service, and the offender will be dismissed from the office! The time of conscription is only required to be in the winter agricultural season, and the time is not allowed to exceed one month per year, and the government must take care of food during the service. At other times, it is not allowed to recruit conscription, and if there is a need for the people's manpower, they can spend money to recruit them.

The amount of field tax is not allowed to exceed 40% of the harvest, and the payment of field tax is mainly based on the grain produced, and it is not allowed to collect only silver and not grain. Granaries were set up in each town and county to manage the grain and rice. Each prefecture has a treasury to store the grain paid by the local counties, which is under the jurisdiction of the local government. A number of central warehouses were set up at the main transportation routes of each province to store the taxes that should be handed over to the imperial court, and the household department sent personnel to directly receive them, and the local government had no right to intervene.

Then there is commercial taxation, the imperial court has set up a tax department, each province has also set up a tax department, and the prefecture and county have set up a tax division of the tax department to be responsible for the collection of commercial tax. The commercial tax only collects silver and copper coins, not physical goods. Distinguish between national tax and local tax, the national tax is released from the treasury of the Ministry of Households, and the local tax is returned to the local government to be used for officials' salaries and other expenses. All merchants have to pay business taxes, even my royal trading house, the Royal Textile Mill, and the Royal Sea Trade Company!

Farmers only need to pay the land tax, and urban workers need to pay the poll tax, such as craftsmen, shop boys, factory workers, etc., and the tax amount can be paid by the employer after the amount of the tax is agreed. Strictly investigate the hidden population in cities and towns, all migrant workers are required to pay taxes, and those who resist taxes are severely punished.

In terms of expenditure, military expenditures, rice from the clan, salaries for officials, food for students, and so on all need to be paid for by taxes. In the past, paying expenses was complicated. Taking Guozijian as an example, Guozijian has to supply 3,500 stone of millet from Shuntian Prefecture every year, 1,000 stone of wheat from Baoding Prefecture, and 20,000 catties of fish from Laizhou Prefecture. The expenditure process involves many provinces, which is very troublesome and can easily cause confusion. In the future, the expenses of each unit shall be borne by the direct authority. The county school expenses are the responsibility of the county treasury, the government school is under the government finance, and the national sub-supervision is the responsibility of the household department. ”

In the past, the tax system of the Ming Dynasty was very troublesome, resulting in all kinds of opacity, and the imperial court was unable to control local taxes at all, so it could only stipulate a fixed amount for each prefecture and county. However, the local government collected taxes indiscriminately, and most of the overcollected taxes went into the pockets of officials and officials, while the taxes handed over to the imperial court were rarely paid in full.

The establishment of a special tax department to be responsible for tax collection can deprive the local officials of the power to collect taxes, although the local tax department is still under the jurisdiction of the local government, but it is also under the direct control of the imperial tax department, and if people are regularly sent to check it, a large amount of corruption can be avoided. These are all tax systems formulated by Zhu Youzhen in combination with later generations, Wen Tiren has never been a local official, has not stayed in the household department, and is a little confused. Hong Chengchou and Yuan Keli, who have rich experience in government affairs, listened to it with brilliant eyes and praised it again and again.

"After this reform, it can greatly reduce the burden of the people, increase the income of the imperial court, and greatly eliminate the corruption of local officials, which can be described as good governance." Yuan Keli praised.

Zhu Youzhen took a sip of tea to moisten his throat and continued: "Then there is the military system, which needs to be reformed even more. At present, the original military household system can no longer be used completely, and the military household system can be completely abolished, and even military registration can be abolished, all military households will be classified as private households, and military land will be uniformly collected, and the private land can be divided equally among each household. In order to compensate hereditary officers, their descendants of the current generation can be allowed to enter the Jingshi Martial Arts School without examination. Young officers of the health center, after passing the training and examination, may serve as town and village officials.

In the future, the military system was changed to a conscription system, and every year each province was recruited, and each prefecture and county was given a certain number of places. The period of conscription service can be set at three to five years, and if they can perform meritorious service well, they can enter villages and towns as officials after retirement, and priority is given to recruiting retired officers and soldiers in the recruitment of village and town officials.

As for the number of troops, this will be considered slowly later. ”

There was civil unrest everywhere, and the gentry were likely to be in rebellion, and now was the time to use the army, and it was impossible to determine the number of troops.

"Your Majesty, since the military registration has been cancelled, why not simply cancel the distinction between household registration?" Hong Chengchou said suddenly.

The household registration of the Ming Dynasty includes the registration of scholars, farmers, soldiers, craftsmen, stoves, music and so on. Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang set up a strict household registration system in order to make the people of the world perform their duties and live and work in peace and contentment, and no one was allowed to change his household registration, and his ancestors were not allowed to change from generation to generation, and the household registration system also firmly restricted the people. However, now, this household registration system is far behind the times, and there are many problems. Taking military registration as an example, in order to avoid military service, many military households chose to flee from the guards and became homeless and became black households, as did artisan households and salt-making stove households, and the phenomenon of escaping was very serious. Another example is Jiangnan, where industry and commerce are developed, many peasant households have lost their fields and choose to work in workshops, and many peasant households choose to donate their fields to the gentry in order to escape the heavy taxes of the imperial court, and they themselves have also sold themselves to the gentry as slaves. All this has caused serious problems, creating a large number of hidden people.

During the Hongwu period, the official statistics of the national population were 65 million, but in the year of the Apocalypse, the official statistics of the population were only 51 million. According to the estimates of later generations, the population at the end of the Ming Dynasty was at least more than 100 million! At least half of the population is recluse! And this large number of hidden people naturally did not pay any taxes to the imperial court. The taxes they paid went into the pockets of the gentry, wealthy merchants and landlords!

What Aiqing said is that in the future, the distinction between household registration will be abolished, and there will be no longer a distinction between civilian and military households, especially the abolition of untouchable slave registration, and no slaves will be allowed to exist in the Ming Dynasty in the future! All prefectures and counties must strictly check the population and keep a register of all the populations under their jurisdiction. The countryside divides the land according to the household registration book, and all workshops in the town can only employ people with household registration! Zhu Youzhen said categorically.

Strictly inventory the population and put an end to any concealment, so that the tax revenue of the imperial court will increase. Of course, this kind of population inventory will not be difficult. After the equalization of the land, the tenants who were subordinate to the gentry would take the initiative to stand up and take the throne. As for the slave labor in those workshops, it is the focus of the inventory. However, if they can change from lowly slaves to ordinary households, their children and grandchildren will have the opportunity to become officials, and the vast majority of people will naturally take the initiative to stand up and register their household registration.

The official system, the military system, the tax system, and the household registration system are the focus of future reforms, and there are still many other things that need to be changed, which can be slowly changed in the future. But even so, Yuan Keli was already very confused, and he really had too much information in his head at once.

"That's probably it, you Aiqing have time to think about it and slowly fill in the omissions." Zhu Youzhen put down the teacup and ended the topic, he was really tired.

However, these system reforms are only a preliminary plan, and it is not so easy to implement, and the current local officials of the imperial court will inevitably oppose it, because it greatly violates their interests!

Yuan Keli completely understood, why Zhu Youzhen said that he wanted revolution, in these reforms, the interests of the gentry have lost too much, the fields are gone, the right to be exempt from paying commercial taxes is gone, the identity of the gentry is not even gone, and they can't even save their lives, isn't it to reform their lives again! And such a big change is impossible to implement under normal circumstances. It can only be enforced by firearms, knives and guns, and with iron and blood.

If the contents of today's deliberations are spread to the ears of the gentry of the world, I don't know how much turmoil it will cause! Imagining the consequences that would be triggered, Yuan Keli suddenly shuddered. He made up his mind that not a word of tonight's events could be revealed!

After a few people retreated, Zhu Youzhen stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the sparkling canal water, and couldn't help sighing. There are too many things that need to be changed. However, when the external problems were resolved, there was enough time for reform and revolution. I'm still young, and I have time!

"Your Majesty, do you want to go ashore and take a look, I heard that some of the scenery in this Huai'an is very good." Seeing Zhu Youzhen's melancholy look, Wang Chengen suggested.

Zhu Youzhen shook his head, how could he be in the mood to go ashore to play. Besides, what's so fun about this Huai'an, if you want to play, you also want to go to Yangzhou, the most prosperous city in the world in Yangzhou, the scenery of Slender West Lake is beautiful, and the Yangzhou thin horse, not more fun than Huai'an?

"Rest for the day, and we'll leave tomorrow." Zhu Youzhen commanded.

"Yes." Wang Chengen respectfully agreed, went to pass the decree, and sighed in his heart as he walked, Your Majesty is really a generation of Ming Jun, full of thoughts are the people of the Ming Dynasty, and there is no time to play.

The plan did not change quickly, and on the second day, before the fleet set off, a fast horse suddenly came to Huai'an and reported the news of the rebellion of the Red Turban Army in Henan.

"There is a woman named Red Lady who ran the rivers and lakes to sell the solution, gathered people in Zongdian in Qixian County to make trouble, defeated the Qixian County, defeated the 20,000 Kaifeng army commanded by Guo Bijin, and now the red turban thieves have developed to tens of thousands, and the soldiers are divided into routes to attack Taikang Chenzhou and other prefectures and counties. Zhu Qing said how to deal with it. Zhu Youzhen said.

Yuan Keli was stunned for a moment, when he set off from Suizhou, there was no red lady to make trouble, but he didn't expect that in more than half a month, there would be such a big mess in Henan! Suizhou and Qixian are less than a hundred miles, will the red turban thieves attack Suizhou and attack their hometown!

Although he was worried about his family, Yuan Keli did not panic, pondered for a moment, and said: "Your Majesty, didn't the Marquis of Pingbei serve as the chief soldier of Henan, with the great martial arts of the Marquis of Pingbei, he should be able to quell the rebellion of the Red Turban Thieves." ”

"It's easy to quell the chaos, but I'm afraid the situation in Henan will be very complicated. Zhang Shize shoulders the responsibility of reforming the clan system, and if he leads troops to quell the chaos, I am afraid that it will delay the reform of the clan and the domain. Zhu Youzhen said.

Is it important to quell the chaos or to reform the clan system? Yuan Keli was about to open his mouth to refute, and then closed his mouth again. He suddenly understood the emperor's thoughts. The emperor was worried that there would be other reasons behind the rebellion of the red turban thief.

Why did no people rebel early and no people rebelled late, and after the news of Pingbei Hou Zhang Shize's arrival in Henan passed, there were people who rebelled, is there any hidden meaning behind this? Will there be any gentry or vassal kings who are worried about being stabbed and secretly fueling the troubles?

If the situation is really so complicated, the rebellion will inevitably come in waves, and it may even be everywhere, with thousands of soldiers and horses in Zhang Shize's hands, if he wants to pacify the rebels supported by the gentry and even the vassal king, it may not be so easy.

"Your Majesty, please give up the southern tour and turn to Henan to quell the rebellion!" Yuan Keli said immediately. There are still 10,000 soldiers and horses in the imperial camp, plus Zhang Shize's 5,000 people, which is enough to quell the rebellion, and the emperor himself went to Henan, which is enough to make those behind the scenes dare not move.

"What does Da Sima think?" Zhu Youzhen looked at Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou thought for a while and said: "Just a few days ago, I received news that Jiangxi rebels defeated Jiangxi Governor Yuan Chonghuan and attacked Ji'an Mansion from southern Jiangxi, and the number of rebels also reached more than 100,000. Now that there is a large-scale riot in Henan, the minister suddenly has a bad feeling, and I am afraid that there will be more chaos. In order to ensure the period, His Majesty should not continue to go south, but can temporarily stationed in His Majesty's Huai'an, and at the same time dispatch the Praetorian Guards from the three sides to Henan to quell the rebellion. ”

Zhu Youzhen asked: "Based on what Da Sima sees, how many soldiers and horses should be dispatched?" ”

Hong Chengchou said: "At present, Jiannu is far away, Mongolia has surrendered, and the border towns don't need too many troops. 10,000 soldiers and horses can be transferred from Yansui, Xuanda, Jizhen, and Liaodong, and 40,000 troops can enter Henan, which is enough to sweep away all anti-thieves! ”

"Okay, just do what Da Sima said, Henan is a thief, and the border army will be dispatched to suppress it. Take the opportunity to quell the chaos and completely implement the restructuring in Henan! But you need a person in charge, let's see, who will be sent to supervise the military and political affairs of Henan? ”

PS: 4,000-word chapter. It's five hundred chapters, I don't know if I can write another five hundred chapters.