Speaking of which, Zhu Zhanji finally gave his own direction for reforming the tax system.

It did give Zhu Di a feasible direction of innovation, but after Zhu Di carefully thought about and analyzed, he still frowned and asked: "Having said that, there is nothing wrong, but you kid just said that you want to transfer the pressure of taxation to other places, where can you transfer it?" With so much silver, no matter where it is moved, it is impossible to conjure it out of thin air. ”

The old man understands very well that since he said that he was going to transfer, someone must take over, and this part of the deficit will not disappear because of anyone's words or two.

Hearing that the old man had grasped the crux of the problem so quickly, Zhu Zhanji suddenly laughed again: "Grandpa, it seems that you are not joking when you say that you have the ability to deal with those government affairs." ”

Seeing that Zhu Zhanji's kid is still talking nonsense with him until now, Zhu Di is really anxious this time: "Stinky boy, from now on, if you want to talk more nonsense, you will be punished to stay in this Qianqing Palace for three months, and you can't get out of a single step!" ”

Looking at the old man's unprecedentedly serious appearance, Zhu Zhanji was really afraid.

In the blink of an eye, the joke on his face disappeared immediately, and then he said seriously and quickly: "If you want to say where to transfer, you must first think about where you should be transferred, and where you can withstand the pressure of these taxes without being forced to rebel!" ”

Following Zhu Zhanji's train of thought, Zhu Di really thought about it carefully, but he didn't have a clue when he thought about it, what group of people would be willing to take such a big deficit?

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, it is definitely impossible for the common people to bear this part of the deficit, because they are now bearing it.

So who else?

Royal house?

No way.

Can't afford it either.

Minister?

Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty implements a low-wage system, and if there is no extra money, it will not be able to meet their own living needs, if they do this, won't they force them to resign or embezzle?

So who else?

If it is placed in the Tang and Song dynasties, it can also kill a few ministers who represent the family, and obtain some short-term benefits by copying the family, but the Ming Dynasty followed the Yuan Dynasty, and the so-called real family background ran back to the grassland.

In addition, his father Zhu Yuanzhang emphasized agriculture and suppressed commerce when he was in power, and through this extreme policy, all the labor force of the Ming Dynasty was concentrated on the production of agricultural food, and the current situation of food shortage was solved in a short time.

However, the drawbacks are also obvious, and the development of business is extremely sluggish.

Even in the Yuan Dynasty, commercial tax was a large part of the imperial court's source of income, but in his Ming Dynasty, commercial tax was almost negligible.

It is equivalent to a large part of the tax less.

At the same time, the merchant group of the Ming Dynasty was very small.

Now if you want to pass on the pressure of these taxes, you really can't pick out any suitable people for a while.

While Zhu Di frowned and thought, Zhu Zhanji on the side also continued to speak: "In fact, if you want to find the people who can bear this part of the deficit, the method is very simple, first of all, you have to find who is the richest in the Ming Dynasty?" ”

Speaking of this, Zhu Zhanji also looked at the old man with a smile and asked guidedly: "Grandpa, do you think the Ming Dynasty is rich?" ”

Hearing Zhu Zhanji's question, Zhu Di didn't understand his intention to ask, but he still said truthfully: "Naturally, there is no money, if you have money, your father will not oppose your grandfather's decision to go to the north when he is in prison." ”

But Zhu Zhanji shook his head and said, "My grandson thinks that the Ming Dynasty is very rich. ”

Looking at Zhu Di's incomprehensible gaze, Zhu Zhanji explained with a smile: "In fact, to measure whether a country has money, you can't simply rely on the taxes collected by the household department, but also look at the products produced and manufactured within the country, that is, grain, cloth, etc., which can be calculated comprehensively." ”

"Although the Ming Dynasty was established for a short time, only two or three dynasties so far, plus my grandfather likes to do big things in this dynasty, and consumes a lot of money, but, since the establishment of my Ming Dynasty, my grandfather has worked hard to rectify the rule of officials, and the entire Ming Dynasty has been completely out of the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty in the decades of grandpa's governance."

"The food and other materials produced by the people are completely enough for the use of our dynasty, plus under the governance of your grandfather and my father over the years, the comprehensive national strength of the Ming Dynasty has actually been rising, and all kinds of domestic materials are also accumulating, but where did all this money go?"

"If it is placed in the dynasties of the past dynasties, the imperial court will take these national forces into the hands of the imperial court little by little through taxation, servitude, coinage, etc., and gather the strength of the people of the world to do great things. But in my court, not to mention the coinage, it is almost the same as nothing, and the taxes are not too much. This is like the principle that people need to accumulate land for farming, and if they grow a crop of leeks, they will cut a stubble. ”

"But I cut it to my grandfather and grandfather's love for the people, and the speed of cutting leeks is obviously not able to keep up with the speed of leeks grown by the strong earth."

That is, we often mention, hiding wealth from the people. But the problem now is that the wealth that should have belonged to the people has not fallen into the hands of the people, just like the leeks we grow at home, we are reluctant to cut them, but we have not accumulated any soil power at all, where did these grown leeks go, that is, the wealth? ”

"Gentry!"

"This is also a drawback of the tax system of our dynasty, although the exemption of those gentry from taxes has indeed promoted the growth of scholars, but the disadvantages are too big for the entire Ming Dynasty to bear."

"Grandpa, you think, people have to pay taxes for farming, not only poll tax, but also land tax, that is, if you have an acre of land, you have to pay taxes on one acre of land. As for the gentry, they did not have to pay land tax, so that they could buy the land that was originally in the hands of the people with impunity. But the people, after carefully calculating the accounts, found that after paying the land tax and poll tax for a year, they could not leave much grain from their hard work in a year. ”

"It is better to sell these lands to those gentry, and then grow grain for those gentry themselves, so that the income from their labor is enough to pay the poll tax, and they do not have to pay the land tax, and they can have more money to sell the land, and the most important thing is that what they do every day is no different from the original, they are all farming."

"If you're your grandfather, do you still want to farm your own land? Definitely not planting! ”

"But here in the imperial court, the taxes that should have been collected have become the income of those gentry, and the land resources that are reluctant to use have become the income of those gentry."

"So Sun Er said that the Ming Dynasty is actually not poor, even stronger than seventy percent of the previous dynasties, but the poor are the courts, and the rich are not the real people, but the gentry!"