In the spring, sacrifice heaven and earth, and persuade farmers to plow.

However, the weather is not beautiful, and when the farmers planted the seedlings, there was only one light rain in Jinling Mansion. Jiangnan, Jiangxi, and Hunan are similar, and this year's spring drought has been confirmed, and it is slightly better than last year.

In another time and space, this should be the fourth year of Shunzhi.

During the Shunzhi period, there were many disasters. Historical records are: floods and droughts, earthquakes are heard frequently, winter thunder and spring snow, meteorites rain and soil.

In this regard, following the advice of civil officials, Emperor Shunzhi repeatedly issued edicts against himself.

Before the Lantern Festival ended, the first batch of immigrants this year, with a total population of 80,000, moved from several southern provinces to the north.

Under the propaganda of the imperial court, the wind and rain in the north have been smooth in recent years. Moreover, the tax exemption in the first year of immigration and the halving of taxes in the next three years have made the relatively difficult people excited, and more and more people spontaneously signed up to migrate north.

"Lu Ting posted a notice!"

In the city of Nanjing, passers-by shouted, and the people nearby ran to check.

A scholar shook his head and said, "Since March 1, the horse farm has been open to the public. Those who want to learn riding or horseback riding can go to the racecourse and pay a fee by the hour......"

The people were surprised that it was a royal horse farm, and they could actually pay money to play.

Zhu Yuanzhang built a number of horse farms in the Purple Mountain, especially the area around the horse herd, which had been encroached upon as cultivated land by the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Now, the farmers near the horses have been collectively relocated to Hebei, and the horses and horse farms have been completely restored. In the horse farm, a school field for the Praetorian Guards was set up, and the palace guards took turns to go out of the city to practice.

In normal times, one-fifth of the racecourse is open to the public, and you can enter and play after paying the ticket. If you pay more, you can rent horses, or even hire a jockey to teach riding, but of course the hire fee is certainly not cheap. Only when the emperor came to the racecourse was it cleared and closed three days in advance.

The large mountains and forests west of the horse farm are designated as royal hunting grounds, which are open to the public for half a month every autumn, and they also have to pay silver to go in to hunt.

The large mountains and forests west of the hunting ground, that is, the Meiling Palace and the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, are all transformed into royal gardens for the royal family members to go into the mountains in summer for recreation.

Morning meeting.

Zhao Han smiled and said to the ministers: "But the belly slander is a big construction? ”

"Weichen doesn't dare!" The officials hurriedly denied it.

Zhao Han said: "In the years of natural disasters, we must be able to work for relief. Initially, in Nanjing, official buildings (official dormitories) and yi buildings (affordable housing) were built, and a large number of unemployed vagrants were employed. After the official building and the righteous building were completed, the Forbidden City was repaired, and at the same time, they continued to migrate northward, so that there were no more unemployed people in Nanjing. In the past few years, natural disasters have continued, and the water conservancy around Nanjing has been almost repaired in the form of work-for-relief. ”

Zhao Han glanced at the ministers: "According to the theory of heaven and man's induction, it is caused by my lack of virtue. I will not issue this edict, I think I am a virtuous king. God may still want to test me, but this year there is another spring drought. The horse farm has been built, and after the spring ploughing, a hunting ground and garden will be built in the Purple Mountain. This is also a cash-for-work grant, giving nearby farmers a variety of livelihoods, and the hunting grounds and gardens are enough to build for several years. Rest assured, the money will come out of the treasury and will not be used. ”

"Your Majesty Shengming!" The ministers shouted.

In fact, many people slandered in their stomachs, saying that it was the emperor's internal money, but this year's royal expenses have risen again, and Emperor Zhao personally made a decision for 1.5 million taels per year.

This figure has reached the royal expenses of the Ming Hongzhi Dynasty.

Zhao Han smiled and said, "Fei Chun, tell me, what was the annual revenue of the treasury last year?" ”

The income of the previous year will not be counted until the end of February of the following year.

Fei Chun immediately got up and arched his hand and said: "Last year, the treasury revenue, excluding the local taxes, was more than 25.57 million taels of silver. ”

As soon as these words came out, there was an uproar in the palace, and the former Ming had never been so rich.

Forty percent of local tax revenues, mainly agricultural taxes and industrial and commercial taxes, can be retained at the provincial, government, prefecture and county levels, and the remaining sixty percent can be handed over to the central government. However, 20% of the revenue from special taxes such as customs duties, salt taxes, tea taxes, and tobacco taxes go to the local government, and all the rest are handed over to the central government, and the royal budget is also taken from them.

Excluding local interceptions, the central government can also collect more than 25 million taels of taxes, mainly because of the rapid growth of industrial and commercial taxes and tariffs.

Moreover, the northern and southwestern provinces are still in a state of exemption from land taxes. In the rest of the provinces, the oppression of the people is not heavy, otherwise they can harvest more. In the future, when the whole country recovers its vitality, the annual income will definitely exceed 30 million taels.

You must know that in another time and space, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has exceeded 20 million taels during the Shunzhi period, and the three dynasties of Kang Yongqian are about 30 million taels.

The Qing Dynasty was able to collect so many taxes, purely regardless of the lives of the people, do you believe that the Qing Dynasty continued to collect three salaries?

When the Manchu Qing Dynasty first entered the customs, they were exempted from the three salaries and additional commissions. With the fierce resistance in the south, the Manchu Qing military expenditure was insufficient, so they resumed the Liao salary, but the name was changed from "Liao salary" to "nine cents of silver".

Although the training salary has always been said to be exempt, until the early years of Kangxi, many places continued to collect it. In the last years of Shunzhi alone, the annual levy of training salaries reached more than 5 million taels of silver.

Nearly 90% of the 20 million taels of revenue in the Shunzhi Dynasty came from the peasants' grain endowment and levy.

Only 60% of Zhao Han's annual income of 25 million taels comes from agricultural taxes. After all, many provinces are still in the period of grain tax reduction, and local officials can't collect more if they want to.

"Today's court meeting, it's better to talk about business." Zhao Han said.

Song Yingxing took the lead and said: "Your Majesty, agriculture is the foundation, business is the end, this eternal principle is also. Because the merchants are profit-seeking, the more money they gather, the more they can manipulate the market, and the wealth of the small people is exploited by them. Therefore, emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business must be set as a national policy, and businessmen must not be allowed to run rampant in the world. ”

When the ministers heard this, they said yes one after another.

Song Yingxing also said: "However, the world cannot be without business, business is not necessarily strong country, business is weak, and business is weak." In the former Ming Dynasty, the decline of commerce began in the Wanli period. The government and the opposition took away the merchants, and even imposed taxes for no reason and detained the families of the merchants. Businessmen were exploited by this, and many families were ruined and many people died. Therefore, the circulation of goods is inconvenient, the price of goods in the city is increasing day by day, and the people are still suffering in the end. ”

In the Ming Dynasty, commerce reached its peak during the Wanli period, and it began to decline in the middle and late Wanli periods.

On the one hand, there is a decrease in the import of silver from the Americas, and on the other hand, there is no regard for merchants as human beings. From the emperor to the magistrate, and then to the later military generals and rogues, when they ran out of money, they asked for it from merchants, and the commerce of the Ming Dynasty was far inferior to that of the Jiajing period.

At the same time, big businessmen collude with the powerful to pass on their losses to the small people, and even trade power for money to become richer. And small and medium-sized businessmen, there are countless bankrupts.

Wu Yingji had been promoted to the head of the household department, and he continued: "What Song Diange said is extremely true, no agriculture, no stability, no work, no prosperity, no business, no wealth. Xunzi divides the people of the world into four categories: Shinong, industry and commerce. If you can do this, the country will be forever, the country will be rich and the people will be strong. ”

Qian Qianyi suddenly came out: "This argument of righteousness and benefit is also." Zi said, rich and noble, people do what they want. Poverty and cheapness are also hated by people. Everyone pursues wealth, and among all industries, only business can lead to prosperity. If they all go into business, who will farm the land? Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize agriculture and suppress business. As far as a merchant is concerned, he should seek profit from righteousness, and not seek ill-gotten gain. After the gain, the merchant should also give to the people, so that he can have both righteousness and benefit. ”

Except for Song Yingxing, who said it a little more reliably, the rest are very correct nonsense!

Zhao Han asked, "What Dr. Qian said is to use benevolence, righteousness and morality to restrain businessmen?" ”

"Yes, yes." Qian Qianyi replied.

"But there are a few businessmen in the world who are benevolent businessmen and righteous businessmen." Zhao Han asked with a smile.

Qian Qianyi said: "The more benevolent and righteous the merchants, the more the court should educate them. ”

Zhao Han said: "What do Mr. Pang and Mr. Li think? ”

Pang Chun said: "You can't let it go, and you can't change it overnight. Set rules for businessmen, they follow the best, and punish them severely if they don't! ”

Li Banghua said: "Restrain big businessmen and treat small businessmen well." ”

"Good!"

Zhao Han immediately laughed, and was very satisfied with Pang Chunlai and Li Banghua's speeches.

You don't need to make a big sense, just say how to do it.

Zhao Han asked the officials to continue to speak, and everyone followed this meaning, but the words became more and more unnutritious.

Zhao Han concluded: "Listening to what Zhu Qing just said about suppressing business, it is that businessmen are not allowed to wear silk, and businessmen are not allowed to live in mansions. What's the use of this? Gorgeous clothes and beautiful houses, everyone wants. The administration of the imperial court must not go against human nature. It is like curing water, and it should not be blindly blocked. Governing business is like governing water, when emulating Dayu, remember that it is better to block than to sparse. If the merchants want to wear fancy clothes, let them wear them; Merchants want to live in beautiful houses, so let them live in them. The desire of the merchants will become more and more inflated, so it is necessary to dredge the river and guide the merchants to follow the methods of the imperial court. ”

"It's not right to hoard and disrupt the market. It is also not right to annex and buy land. It's still not right to keep beautiful slaves. These are river embankments, and the water of the merchant's desire cannot overflow. This flood has to be diverted outward, and opening the sea is a strategy. Every year, so much cloth is woven, and so much porcelain is burned, and it is up to merchants to sell it. Not only to sell domestically, but also overseas. In this way, the more prosperous the business and the more prosperous the work, the more the people will make a living. ”

"We must also beware of changing rice to mulberry and rice to cotton. The mulberry fields and cotton fields in the south of the Yangtze River cannot continue to expand. How to suppress? Mulberry fields and cotton fields are taxed more, and farmers know what is more profitable to plant, so they naturally follow the rules......"

Zhao Han talked a lot about how to restrain and guide commerce, and the ministers of the court and the central government also knew that it was impossible to be like before.

Haven't you seen the annual increase in commercial taxes and duties?

With so much white money going into the treasury, whoever dares to blindly suppress the merchants, the emperor and the cabinet ministers will definitely jump up.

The court meeting dispersed, and Zhao Han went back to work.

Soon I saw Li Banghua's recital, the content of which was very simple: control the number of troops and reduce the number of sailors.

With the addition of cavalry divisions, the Datong Army had a total of seventeen divisions. Counting the navy, naval divisions, and coast guards at important ports, the regular army of the Datong New Dynasty was 200,000.

This may not seem like much, but the consumption of military expenses is extremely large, because military rations have not increased, but military salaries have been rising. The most ordinary soldiers have a certain amount of military rations (including food and lodging) every month, one tael of military salaries per month, and free clothes in summer and autumn. And since the non-commissioned officers, the military salary has been rising.

There are also patrol and inspection troops in various places, similar to the armed police, adding up to nearly 100,000 people, especially the three southwestern provinces.

In major cities across the country, there are also a large number of police forces, which are also regarded by Li Banghua as an army. At the very least, the police, who guarded the gates and walls, could certainly be considered an army.

Therefore, Li Banghua suggested that the army should not be expanded again, and it would be best to reduce one or two armies.

Datong sailors should be more tailored, there is no big enemy in the country, raise so many inland sailors to do hair?

Zhao Han thought about it carefully and decided to temporarily lay off half of the sailors. As for the Patrol Division, the Armed Police Force will be abolished as appropriate depending on the local security situation.

The laid-off soldiers emigrated to the north with their wives and children. It must be resettled, and each veteran can get two acres of good land more than ordinary immigrants.