"First of all, what should I say about the gentry to pay for food in one piece?"

The silver coin swirled around Jiang Xinghuo's fingertips.

"And then let's talk about whether it's feasible."

"The so-called integrated payment of grain by the gentry refers to the contradiction between the imperial court, the gentry and the common people in the payment of taxes and grain, mainly on the 'lawless gentry', and the focus of the reform of the gentry's integrated payment of grain is to deprive the 'lawless gentry' of power and force them to pay grain on errands like ordinary people."

Hearing this, Xia Yuanji, who was still a little worried, twisted his three strands of long beard, and his face suddenly became strange.

What do you mean by an "outlaw gentry"?

What is a "legal gentry"?

Isn't this thing all in the thought of the imperial court?

"The gentry's measures to accept grain in one body mainly include several points."

"The first point is that it is strictly forbidden for the lawless gentry to collect other people's money and grain and take the lead in resisting grain."

Package, also known as collection, is to collect taxes on behalf of the people, generally speaking, it is the gentry who collect interest after paying taxes for the common people.

Sounds good, right?

However, in the actual operation process, not only is the interest extremely high, but it is so high that it needs to be repaid by selling children and daughters and bankrupting the family.

Moreover, if you encounter a black-hearted gentry, they will often collude with local officials and deceive the people that they have paid, but in fact, the people who owe taxes are still in the state of not paying in the account books of the government.

This is equivalent to eating at two ends, and when the matter can no longer be hidden, the black-hearted gentry who have eaten the interest for several years and even the fields and cattle can continue to make some mistakes up and down and deny the accounts, send the people's families in or exile them to the army, and the only remaining property of the people will belong to the gentry.

This phenomenon appeared in the late Tang Dynasty and was still very active in the Ming Dynasty.

It is also the most common and headache phenomenon in the process of money and grain payment.

"How can you forbid it?" Zhu Gaoxu asked.

Jiang Xinghuo smiled slightly.

"All those who have meritorious gentry who have received money and grain but are in arrears, as well as those who take the lead in resisting grain, no matter how much, will be stripped of their fame and will be included in the list of 'lawless gentry' from now on, and their immediate descendants will not be allowed to participate in the imperial examination. and if they are in arrears to the extent that they are in arrears, they shall be punished as the crime of perverting the law for bribes, and the arrears shall be recovered and the interest rate generated according to the time of arrears shall be taken into account. ”

Hearing this first measure, Xia Yuanji couldn't help but shudder.

It's too ruthless.

In fact, this is the Ming version of the "List of Judgment Defaulters".

Money, huh? Directly change the fame!

And if you are on the blacklist of the imperial court, your direct descendants will not have to participate in the imperial examination in the future.

Before Xia Yuanji came back to his senses, Jiang Xinghuo continued.

"The second point is that it is strictly forbidden for officials and gentry to collude in litigation."

A feudal society is a society ruled by man, not a society ruled by law.

The county magistrates are all rogue officials, and the judgment of the case must of course take into account the actual situation of local forces.

Otherwise, if you offend the local gentry too much, you will easily be erected into a puppet county magistrate who will not go out of the yamen, and you may also be sued by the local gentry and the forces in the court.

In feudal society, classmates, fellow villagers, and fellow students. The local gentry and wealthy families, who can't touch a royal history with relatives?

And if you want to finish the past few years of your county lord smoothly, you can get a little little benefit for yourself.

Naturally, power rent-seeking began.

What power is the county lord most likely to seek rents and has the lowest probability of making mistakes?

Judgment of the case.

For this kind of thing, the result of the judgment completely depends on the mood of the county magistrate and whether he collects money.

Then, quite simply, a conveyor chain of interests is generated.

Because a house was built on a homestead, there was a dispute over a two-foot aisle in the middle, and A and B went to the yamen to file a complaint, both of whom were civilians.

A wants the county master to judge the aisle to himself, but A doesn't know the county master, what should I do?

Find a local gentry of repute, and Ding will help you contact the county magistrate and collect a small benefit from it.

So.

A - D - the county master, the benefit conveyor chain is formed.

The county magistrate awarded the aisle to A, and the power rent-seeking was completed.

Civilian B, who is also here to sue, can he say anything?

Can't say anything.

Let's not talk about the difficulty of the Pingtou people's overstepping lawsuit and the time, energy, money, connections and other resources required, just talk about one thing, even if it is a overstepping complaint, can you pick out the county master's can't you?

This is still the simplest problem, the county magistrate can't collect a few dollars in the aisle, and even the biggest possibility is that the county magistrate sells personal favors to the gentry.

The county magistrate confiscated a penny, how can the court investigate?

Xia Yuanji couldn't help asking: "This kind of thing, in thousands of counties in the Ming Dynasty, happens every day, and the Ming court has no evidence, can you check it?" ”

"You don't need to check it every day." Jiang Xinghuo said with a smile, "When the tax is collected in the autumn, just open a venue for the people to sue, of course, some of them really can't get evidence, and it's useless to sue, but if there is really evidence, it can always be found out is not that all unjust, false and wrongful cases can be investigated, but there is such a way to give feedback to the court justifiably, it is better than nothing." In addition, it would be nice if a certain gentry could act as a mentor or middleman, collude with the government and oppress the common people, and be included in the list of 'lawless gentry'. ”

Hearing Jiang Xinghuo's explanation, Zhu Gaoxu also understood.

Co-authoring doesn't wait for the people to sue every day.

It's just that when the autumn harvest is checked, let's make an opening together.

In this way, you may not be able to see how much effect there is.

But at the very least, this unhealthy trend can be curbed at least under the table, unlike the transactions between the gentry and the county officials that are now openly placed on the table.

In a society governed by people where the productive forces and communication conditions are not developed, ironically, as long as such a small opening is opened, it is as if a glimmer of light is revealed in the darkness of thousands of years, and it can already be called "the government is clear and the sea is clear."

"The third point is to prevent problems before they happen, strictly supervise students, and strictly prohibit students from boycotting exams and schools."

Well, here is to say that the students are actually the most vulnerable link of the gentry group.

Because the identity of the students is the same as that of ordinary people, but they are different.

The difference is that they have a bright future ahead of them.

And because the students are generally not particularly old, and it is easy to be taken to the ditch when reading dead books, most of the people who can come into contact with them are teachers and classmates, most of whom are from the gentry class.

Therefore, it is easy to be induced by others to be the gunman and to be the vanguard of this army.

And once these reading seeds make trouble, the impact is usually relatively bad.

"Once the gentry are really promoted to pay for food as a whole, then it is almost inevitable that the students will boycott the examination and the class boycott demonstration, because the reform will damage their interests, and more strictly speaking, the interests of those lawless students will be damaged, so they will organize a protest together."

"For this kind of behavior, the solution is also very simple, just include it in the list of 'illegal students' and stop the examination qualification forever."

The second blacklist!

'Outlaw gentry' and 'lawless students', as soon as these two blacklists come out, they are really proper weapons of killing.

In addition to the above three points, the imperial court also issued a decree to regulate the relationship between tenants and landlords, and prohibited the gentry from giving them umbrellas and the like, and demanding that the magistrates be retained. Of course, the most important thing is that the gentry themselves are required to pay taxes on their own grain and taxes, and these measures are all aimed at the behavior of the 'lawless gentry'. ”

Jiang Xinghuo emphasized the words 'lawless gentry', and then said.

"To do things, of course, we can't do things one size fits all, we must focus on striking at the enemy, and at the same time, we must make as many friends as we can win over, and we can't push everyone to the opposite side."

"Contrary to the measures to deal with the 'lawless gentry', the court needs to commend and affirm those gentry who pay taxes and serve in accordance with the imperial court policy. In the initial stage of reforming the tax system, the imperial court opposed those gentry who went beyond the regulations of the imperial court, affected social order and stability, and infringed on the interests of the imperial court and the common people. And for the law-abiding gentry, it is necessary to give protection and support. ”

After listening to this, Zhu Gaoxu immediately applauded.

"It's still Mr. Jiang who is smart, so that the problem can be easily solved."

But Xia Yuanji was silent and did not speak.

Xia Yuanji's heart was a little drumming.

As a book, he knows very well that if the "gentry pay for food in one" can be implemented, it will indeed be a big killer.

Combined with the "progressive tax on household registration" and the "notary tax on separation", it can effectively suppress the power of the gentry.

However, the question is, can it be implemented?

——————

"It's really clever to pull one faction and fight another."

Jian Yi paused: "But Your Majesty, the most fundamental problem has not been solved. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Ru Yu also said: "No matter how well the system is designed, it will be out of shape when it comes to the bottom, just like I just said."

"You mean, it's going to be the new Seedlings Law again?" Zhu Di asked.

Jian Yi and Ru Yu nodded together.

Now, with the explanation of the specific measures of "the gentry receive food in one", they no longer doubt whether Jiang Xinghuo can put forward a good plan.

The question now is, is it still the same concern just now, the plan is very good, how to implement it?

"Can you tell us more about the Seedlings Method? I'm a little puzzled. Zhu Di said.

Jian Yi said: "It should indeed be said that the ministers believe that the Qingmiao Law and the 'gentry receive grain in one piece' proposed by Jiang Xinghuo today face the same problems at the root. ”

Ru Yu said: "If Your Majesty understands the before and after of the Qingmiao Law, you must be able to understand why the ministers always have doubts, this is definitely not untargeted. ”

Subsequently, Jian Yi and Ru Yu began to teach the emperor a make-up lesson on the history of this change.

Many people's first impression of the Seedlings Method is that 'Wang Anshi first founded this method'.

In fact, Wang Anshi's Seedlings Method is not his first creation, and the Seedlings Method itself is not a pioneer, but an adjustment to the Changping Method.

What is the Changping Method?

In the good year, the surplus grain of farmers was purchased at a parity to prevent merchants from hurting farmers by lowering prices; In disaster years, the reserve grain will be sold at a fair price to prevent businessmen from raising prices and hurting the people, and preventing 'cheap grain from hurting farmers and expensive grain from hurting the people'.

Who founded it?

Warring States, Li Kui.

So this is not an innovative invention at all, as for the green seedling method, it was invented by Li Shen, the transportation envoy of Shaanxi in the Northern Song Dynasty.

When Li Shen was serving as a transit envoy to Shaanxi, in order to solve the problem of food for the soldiers, he first asked the common people to estimate their grain output next year, and then to see how much was left to supply the army, and then asked the common people to borrow money from the government to buy seeds.

"History of the Song Dynasty, Biography of the Lie, Volume 89": There are many soldiers in the department, and there is little bitter food. Participate in the review and set its que, so that the people can hide the wheat millet to win, first loan money, and repay the official after the grain is ripe, called "green seedling money". After several years, there is envy of food.

This is actually a win-win situation, people sometimes encounter a shortage of money, but there is no place to borrow, that can only borrow from loan sharks, year after year life will only become more and more poor.

Therefore, it is better to borrow from the government, at least the interest rate of the government's loan is lower.

The government also won, because the money placed in the treasury did not increase in value, but now it is flowing, and it can increase in value by two percent, which is additional income.

Wang Anshi's method of change is not like the traverser Wang Mang came up out of thin air, such as the Qingmiao method, but it was extracted from the successful experience of Li Shen.

Why can Li Shen succeed in Shaanxi, but Wang Anshi's promotion to the whole country has become a problem that many people have been criticized?

In essence, Wang Anshi does not understand what money and banking are. Of course, he couldn't have understood.

In other words, in essence, the Seedlings Law treats the reserves of the entire government treasury as a bank's loan funds, and then collects and lends money, similar to small loans in modern society.

However, unlike microloans, there are no bad debts, no collateral, and no fraudulent loans.

Why don't there be bad debts?

The government came to collect it.

Why don't you need a mortgage?

As long as you borrow this money, your family's future is on the stake.

Why is it impossible to cheat loans?

If you cheat the government out of money, the government will want your life.

- What a perfect bank!

But the problem lies in the fact that this deformed "pseudo-bank" forcibly created by the administrative power of the Great Song Dynasty violates one of the most important principles of financial transactions.

Well, this principle is called "voluntary trading, willing risk".

It doesn't matter if you haven't heard of it, you've always heard of "the stock market is risky, and you need to be cautious when entering the market", right?

'Iron-blooded Great Song' can't do anything else, but cultivating civil officials and doctors is really not said.

During the period of Shenzong's reform, the civil officials and doctors at that time did not fail to see the shortcomings of the Qingmiao Law.

Although it stands to reason that this does not need to increase the burden on the peasants, and that 20% of the government's wealth can be increased through financial behavior, this is a good method, but many people opposed it at the time.

"The great harm is like the green seedlings, the law of exemption from military service, the yin and the trapped people, the law of tea and salt, and the flow of poison." —— "Renewal of Capital and Governance Tongjian, Song Ji, Song Ji Seventy-nine"

"The first emperor loved the people deeply, but Wang Anshi legislated too much, and stimulated rewards and punishments, so the officials were anxious, so that they harmed the people." —— "Renewal of Capital and Governance Tongjian, Song Ji, Song Ji Eighty-three"

Also opposed to the Qingmiao Law were Su Shi, Sima Guang, Fu Bi, and Han. Han Haonan and others.

The reputation of these officials is rarely notorious in history, except for Han Haonan, they are often famous ministers or capable ministers, why do they all oppose the Qingmiao Law? Can it be explained in just one conservative and backward word?

So what's the problem?

Wang Anshi thinks that this is a good law, the reason is that Li Shen has been successful after practice, and secondly, it is also of great help to the people, because it can help them get money, and there is no problem with the whole idea and logic, whether it is the original intention or the concept, it should be effective.

In Jian Yi and Ru Yu's view, this is the same as Jiang Xinghuo's "gentry pay for food in one".

The ideas are all good, and they are all for the people.

But can a good idea be put into practice?

"The gentry pay for grain in one" and the Qingmiao Law, from the perspective of Jianyi and Ru Yu, who are important ministers of the state, have two same problems.

It is completely possible to use the green seedling method to analogize "the gentry pay for grain in one".

First, the borrower is a farmer

Those who can borrow money from the government are not rich people, nor are they rich landlords, but poor peasants. What's wrong with them?

Are farmers financially literate?

Definitely don't understand.

So how can he assess how his surplus of food will be worth so much money in the end?

Not to mention farmers, even economists may not be able to measure the exact grain price, because grain prices will naturally fall in good years and rise naturally in famine years, and grain prices will fluctuate violently with the market.

The common people felt that this year's harvest was good, and they took out loans based on last year's grain price, but this year, everyone was good, and the grain price fell.

If only grain is handed over and not converted into money, then the impact of good years and poor years will not be great. Now that it is all converted into money, it will become that ordinary people need to bear the losses caused by food price fluctuations.

If you think about it, the money that was used to level the price of food is now used for lending, so is the fluctuation of food prices too big or smaller? It's like if you export your products, you have to bear the fluctuation of the exchange rate, so is it better for the exchange rate to become sharp or flat? This is clear as soon as it is said.

The second, the executive officer.

Because this is implemented by Wang Anshi, those officials who want to be promoted naturally want to increase the value of the principal. There is only one way to appreciate the principal, and that is to expand the number of users who lend money, so that people can borrow more money.

As long as the money is released, 20% of the interest will definitely be paid, why?

Because no ordinary person dares to owe money to the state and not pay it back, he may dare to owe money to Qian Zhuang and not pay it back, but he categorically does not dare to pay back the country's money.

As a result, some people are forced to take out loans without taking out loans.

Wang Anshi also has an assessment of the implementation of the Seedlings Law.

Knowing Chen Liuxian County, to a few months, Qingmiao order, sneak out of the money, list its order in the county gate, already, the countryside of migration, each three days no response. Then he withdrew the list and said: The people don't want to do it! - History of the Song Dynasty, Biography of the Song Dynasty, Volume 217

Because he didn't take out a loan, Jiang Qian, the county magistrate, had to resign and leave.

That's the teammate pressure monster.

These officials will use coercive means to get the people to borrow.

Su Shi once wrote to Wang Anshi about the Qingmiao Law, and his inference is this.

Lending money to the people and dividing the interest rate in half is to save the people, not for profit. However, when the cashier is made, the officials are treacherous, although there is a law, it cannot be forbidden, and the money goes into the hands of the people, although the good people will inevitably use it in vain; and its payment, although the rich people will inevitably exceed the limit. In this way, I am afraid that the whip will be used, and the affairs of the state and county will be very troublesome. - History of the Song Dynasty, Biography of the Song Dynasty, Volume 98

At that time, Wang Anshi was also silent after hearing it, but in the end he carried it out. Why did it still be executed? At that time, Wang Guanglian, the Hebei transfer judge, finally succeeded in the private practice of the Qingmiao Law, and Wang Anshi decided to continue to promote it.

Su Shi's worries were not superfluous, and the situation soon took a turn for the worse.

In the prefectures of, the superintendent of the green seedlings was very anxious for money, and often whipped to get enough, and went to the mulberry to exchange money for money, and when the drought occurred, he suffered from this hardship. - History of the Song Dynasty, Biography of the Song Dynasty, Volume 74

Because of the lack of collection, the officials forced the people to repay the money, and the people could only find other items that could be exchanged for money, otherwise they would be punished, and then further accelerate the poverty of the people.

"Peasants" and "officials" are two factors that cannot be ignored, which is why the famous ministers of the Northern Song Dynasty Shenzong period opposed the Qingmiao Law.

This is also the reason why Jian Yi and Ru Yu oppose "the gentry receive food in one".

It's not that the original intention of the policy design is bad, but because the two Shangshu know very well that the power of the imperial court can't go to the countryside, and no matter how good the original intention is, the implementation of the policy will definitely be out of shape.

In the end, perhaps the gentry will put the blame on the common people.

When Jian Yi and Ru Yu finished speaking, Zhu Di was also silent for a moment.

This is indeed an unsolvable problem and the biggest obstacle at the policy implementation level.

But Zhu Di was not too worried.

Under the gaze of the two scholars, Zhu Di slowly spoke.

"Mr. Jiang will always have a way."

(End of chapter)