The second floor of the Miaohua Building on the side of the Tongji Gate.

Several men were hugging Xiao Niang and drinking flower wine.

Through the window, one of them saw Xu Qin with sharp eyes: "Isn't that Xu Qin over there?" Is it his son Xu Huizu on the side? ”

"It's the abolition of the Duke of Wei." Someone immediately said: "It is a miracle that he has survived until now." ”

"Today, he is benevolent, and he has not been grounded yet, and he is much more tolerant than the king of the abolition."

"Today, in a corner of Yunnan, I raised an army to fight against the rebellion, and I succeeded, it is a miracle through the ages--"

There were five men at this table, and two of them began to blow Zhu Gaoxu.

The man sitting on the south side looked to be about thirty years old, and then he patted the little lady in his arms sideways, and the little lady got up with interest.

The man waved again: "You go out first." ”

The little ladies in the box retreated one after another.

"Brother Yuntai is going to make a big deal out of it again?" Someone on the other side laughed.

"Listen to me." Someone else got up, walked over to look out the door, and then gently closed the door of the box.

is called Brother Yuntai is a student from Jiangnan, a native of Kunshan County, Suzhou, surnamed Shi, called Shi Pengfei, and the word Yuntai.

Shi is a local family, the richest man in Kunshan, since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, is a famous wealthy squire in Kunshan, and there have been many high-ranking officials and talents in history.

After Shi Pengfei saw the door closed, he said coldly: "Don't be too happy, I heard that the beginning of the year, there will be reforms today, the officials and gentry will pay taxes as one, and there will be no preferential exemption for our scholars." ”

When a few readers heard this, their expressions were slightly unnatural.

The Ming Dynasty was probably the best time for scholars, who at that time were simply a privileged class and enjoyed many privileges.

One of the most important is to be exempted from forced labor, according to the law of the Ming Dynasty, as long as the scholar becomes a talent, he can be exempted from the household Erding errand service, and the Ming Dynasty's forced labor is very heavy, generally a farmer with 20 acres of land at home, if the family does not produce a talent, within a few years, it will be bankrupt because of the forced labor. Moreover, this privilege caused the late Ming Dynasty, as more and more talented people were raised in a county, the common people would share more and more heavy and poorer labor.

The second privilege is to call slaves and maids, and only Xiucai and above in the Ming Dynasty can raise slaves and maids.

The third privilege is the preferential treatment of the law, if a student commits a serious crime, he must first be removed from his reputation before he can be punished, and if it is a misdemeanor, he can only be punished by the academy.

The fourth privilege is the preferential exemption of grain endowment, which is also an extremely important preferential exemption, which has been revised many times in the Wanli period, and the new example at that time is seen: the current Jiake Jingguan is exempt from 10,000 acres of land for the first grade, and the following is decreasing, and the eighth grade is exempt from 2,700 acres; halving of foreign officials; Six-tenths of this product is exempt; The maximum amount of land can reach 3,350 acres, and the field of 1,200 acres can be 1,200 acres; Eighty acres of students and prisoners.

Looking at the Wanli period, a first-class member can be exempted from 10,000 acres, and people can be exempted from more than 1,000 acres.

This led to the so-called dedication, that is, the landlords and wealthy people put their fields under the name of Juren and Xiucai, enjoyed tax exemption, and then gave benefits to Juren and Xiucai, and everyone enjoyed the privileges of the imperial court together.

By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the result was that those who had money and land did not have to pay taxes, and a large amount of taxes were pressed on ordinary people.

The fifth privilege is the system of serving as a cooker.

The five Jiangnan students present today all have the status of talented students, and four of them have been hung up by others.

According to the new tax law in the second year of Hongxi next year, there will be no preferential exemption for scholars, and everyone will have to pay taxes on their fields in the future.

"That's not going to be the case today, is it?" Someone immediately questioned: "How can you do such a thing to a scholar if you overturn the case for Fang Xiaoru and others today and reuse the reader?" ”

"What can't be done to seize the world by force today?" Shi Pengfei sneered: "Who in the world dares to object? ”

There was silence all around, and many people were quite happy just now, but when Shi Pengfei said it, they were not happy.

"And it's not just tax exemptions." Shi Pengfei said: "I heard that all the preferential treatment for scholars will be canceled. ”

"What?" Someone almost jumped up with excitement: "Someone is going to cancel it too?" ”

In the Ming Dynasty, there were three levels of shengyuan (xiucai): diansheng, zengguangsheng, and epiphytic.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the state and the county students were given a meal every month, and they were called a meal student to subsidize their lives, and the number of places was fixed, and there were 40 people in the early Ming Dynasty, 30 people in the state school, and 20 people in the county school, and each person was given six buckets of rice per month, and four taels of silver were given every year, and sometimes some oil and salt were also issued.

In the next generation, it is equivalent to being admitted to university and being supported by the state.

Hearing that this was going to be canceled, the scene was all fried.

"How can you do this today, isn't this to make the world's scholars rise up against him?" Some were indignant.

Shi Pengfei's eyes rolled: "When King Ming entered Beijing, how many scholars he killed, and the scholars in the world did not rise up to oppose it." ”

"Everyone is not concentric, so naturally it is useless?"

"When all the scholars are gathered, put pressure on the imperial court together."

"I'm afraid of the thunder that will lead to the wrath of today."

Everyone, some people proposed to go back and encourage all the scholars to rise up and make trouble, and some people were afraid that the emperor would kill like Zhu Di, the king of the Ming Dynasty.

At this moment, Shi Pengfei said: "I look at Jinshang, I cherish feathers very much, and I almost didn't kill a scholar after entering Beijing, and I am also merciful to Xie Jin, Xu Huizu and others, and I want to tell the world that I am benevolent, gentle in character, and loves the people like a son." ”

Someone raised his arms and responded: "He wants to be a Ming Jun, let's fulfill him, as long as we encourage the world's scholars to rise up and work together, the court will not dare to treat scholars like this." ”

"What Brother Yuntai said makes sense, forgive me and don't dare to kill people with a knife, isn't he afraid that future generations will say that he is a tyrant?"

At this time, Shi Pengfei stood up high, even stepped on the table and stool, and said loudly: "This matter is very important, everyone must work together, as long as all the scholars in the world support us, there is only compromise today." ”

"Brother Yuntai raised his arms and shouted, and the world responded, such a feat will inevitably remain for a hundred years."

"Well said, come, dry this glass."

The four hot-blooded young people in the box were instigated by Shi Pengfei, and they all swore a big oath to encourage the world's scholars to oppose the emperor's new policy.

They plan to string it in January and February next year.

These five people from three provinces, Zhejiang, Jiangnan, and Shandong, first returned to their own provinces, and then before the entrance examination in February next year, they encouraged the candidates and the world's scholars.

According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, it was originally a triennial imperial examination, but in history in the fourth year of Yongle (1406)

Later, it was not until the ninth year of Yongle (1411) that the examination was opened, and then Zhu Di may have added it again in the tenth year of Yongle in order to make up for it.

The original history may have been postponed due to reasons such as the Northern Expedition or the construction of the Imperial City of Beiping, but this time it was because of the rebellion.

After Zhu Gaoxu ascended the throne, he held the examination in the second year of the next year (1409), and it was still within three years.

The five of them drank alcohol and left Jingshi the next day and returned to their respective hometowns.

－－－

A few days later, Huang Huai and the others prepared several articles of association, including the "Daming Disaster Relief Plan", "Daming Water Conservancy Construction Plan", "Daming Granary Construction and Management Plan", etc., Zhu Gaoxu summoned six Shangshu and six servants to read in the Wuying Hall to check and fill in the gaps.

Xia Yuanji immediately shouted again, this requires a lot of money.

It was the first time for the six or so waiters to participate in this kind of small meeting, but no one dared to snort, and it was estimated that they were not used to it.

Xia Yuanji said and took out a pile of paper from his sleeve.

He was going to report to the emperor alone, but he happened to be summoned together today.

Zhu Gaoxu took it over and took a look, Xia Yuanji spent a long time sorting out the approximate annual expenses of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Gaoxu asked Xia Yuanji to get this expenditure when he first returned to Beijing in October this year, and it took more than a month before and after, and it was almost December, so it was done.

"The actual number of soldiers and horses in the Ming Dynasty is 2,284,966 people."

"The monthly military salary is 1,740,000 (most of the treasure money still used)——"

"There are 14,000 civil officials in the Ming Dynasty."

"Da Ming has two hundred and forty-one lords."

"The -—— of the Ming Domain"

Xia Yuanji wrote everything clearly, among which the nobles and the vassal kings were listed separately because of their high fortune.

Civil officials and military attachés were summed up during the Hongwu period, and Zhengde began to be counted separately.

Hongwu 31 years (1398), that is, the year before Zhu Di raised the army, the Ming Dynasty had only 28,000 civil and military officials.

Later, it began to increase year by year, and by the Zhengde period, there were 20,000 civil officials and 80,000 military attachés, and the total number of officials had exceeded 100,000.

Jiajing was rectified, and the total number of civil and military forces dropped to 80,000.

This time, Xia Yuanji sorted out, according to Zhu Gaoxu's request, the honors and nobles were classified, and the military attachés were counted in the national army.

Xia Yuanji calculated that if he used all the silver money, he would spend more than 20 million taels of silver (or more treasure money) for the whole year.

You must know that the price of grain will be 2.5 yuan a stone, which is equivalent to 100 million stone if it is calculated in terms of grain.

What is this concept? The original history of the Ming Dynasty in Yongle about the annual tax of more than 50 million stones, after the decline year after year, after Xuande basically maintained at 30 million stone (+-2 million) annual income, and most of them are more than 20 million.

Zhu Gaoxu's one-year expenditure is worth Yongle's two-year income.

But he really had no choice, and when he rebelled, he doubled the salary for all officers and soldiers and officials, and Zhu Gaoxu liked to issue silver money and did not like to distribute food.

The Ming Dynasty used grain to calculate taxes, and Zhu Gaoxu liked to use silver banknotes and exchange them for grain, which is a bit exaggerated.

But now is not a time of war, and officials and sergeants will not buy all the food when they get the silver, so it is impossible to have the concept of 100 million stones.

There are quite a few officials present today, all of whom are discussing in the Wuying Palace.

When everyone heard that Zhu Gaoxu's annual expenditure was nearly twice that of the national income in the first year of Yongle, their faces changed greatly.

Such a Ming Dynasty, can it live?

After reading it, Zhu Gaoxu threw it on the table and asked Xia Yuanji: "How is the annual tax revenue of the imperial court in Yongle?" ”

Xia Yuan Jidao, Yongle In the past few years, the imperial court's tax revenue has been about 50 million stones, and it was much less when Zhu Gaoxu raised his army.

Especially at the end of the year when Zhu Gaoxu wanted to win the war, the private autumn tax was much less.

(End of chapter)