Go to Xiongxian and see what is going on there. Intuition tells Zhu Cixuan that something is wrong with Xiongxian.

The registered population is 236,800, and only 50,060 people pay taxes.

This kind of problem would never have occurred before. Since Zhu Ciying suppressed the enemy, the court began to fight on the one hand and resettle these refugees on the other hand.

To put it bluntly, how to resettle is to break the land occupied by the landlords before and reshuffle it.

From a certain perspective, the rampant bandits may not be a bad thing. It can redistribute the wealth concentrated by the landlords.

If there were no rebellion by Li Zicheng and others, the court wanted to reform. Since the interests of the big landlords were affected, they would definitely not give up. Why did the several reforms and reforms in history end up in failure?

It is because reform touched their interests that the final outcome of any reformist faction is not good.

Everyone knows that Shang Yang assisted Qin Xiaogong and actively implemented reforms, making Qin a prosperous and powerful country, known in history as "Shang Yang's reforms".

Shang Yang's reform involved the reallocation of interests. "Reward farming and war, and implementing the military merit system" opened up a channel for civilians to enter the upper class, making Qin prosperous and increasingly powerful. However, it broke the hereditary system of aristocrats that lasted for hundreds of years, and thus offended the aristocratic forces. During the period when Qin Xiaogong was seriously ill, Shang Yang monopolized military and political power, which intensified the power struggle within Qin.

Therefore, after the death of Qin Xiaogong, Gongziqian and other noble forces conspired to commit crimes and falsely accused him of rebellion. King Huiwen of Qin ordered the pursuit. Shang Yang fled to the border and wanted to stay at the guest house. The host of the guest house did not know that he was Shang Jun. Seeing that he did not bring a certificate, he sued Shang Jun for the law. The guests who stayed at the guest without certificates were punished. Shang Yang thought of going to Wei, but Wei refused to enter because he had deceived Prince Huo.

After returning to Qin, Shang Yang was forced to sneak back to his fief Shangyu and mobilized the troops to attack Zheng County. Qin Huiwenjun sent troops to attack, but Shang Yang died in Tongdi. His body was taken back to Xianyang and was scattered after being shown to the public. Qin Huiwenjun also ordered the execution of Shang Yang's family.

Shang Yang is the best example. In addition, Wang Anshi's reforms were made, which were reforms during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty. Wang Anshi launched a political reform movement aimed at changing the poverty and weakness since the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Next is the Zhang Juzheng reform of the Ming Dynasty. As one of the few prime ministers in the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng played a crucial role in the rule of the Ming Dynasty. The "one-whip method" of Zhang Juzheng's reform solved the problem of insufficient treasury in the Ming Dynasty, and once revitalized the weak Ming Dynasty.

However, these reforms in history have mixed praises and criticisms. For example, Shang Yang's reforms were strictly enforced. Shang Yang strictly enforced the law and abused torture caused widespread resentment. The Old Book of Tang even called Shang Yang a cruel official.

Wang Anshi's reform was even more criticized. During the implementation of the reform, Wang Anshi's reform, due to the inappropriate measures and the bad operations in actual implementation, the interests of the people have also been damaged to varying degrees, such as the Horse Protection Law and the Qingmiao Law.

As for Zhang Juzheng, although the One Whip Law was conducive to increasing tax revenue, it also made the people at that time miserable. Some even had to sell land and children to raise enough money for tax revenue. The biggest failure of Zhang Juzheng's reform was that it failed to solve the problem of vassal kings and land annexation.

Not to mention these historical reform figures, even Zhu Cilang himself would find it difficult for him to solve the problem of the vassal kings and land annexation.

If there were no bandits to rebel, Zhu Cilang's idea of ​​reforming the bad policies of the Ming Dynasty was not impossible. At least it would not work for a short period of time. It would be possible that such a slow process would be finally successful in more than ten or even decades.

The problem is that when bandits rebelled, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong burned, killed and looted everywhere in the Central Plains. They robbed the big people and strengthened themselves by relying on the big people to gain strength.

This invisibly reshuffles the rich and poor. In this way, it will bring convenience to the court's reform. As long as the officers and soldiers can defeat the bandits, the subsequent reform tasks will be much simpler.

Even if the reform touched the interests of those big landlords, it was better than being beaten by bandits to kill all these big landlords.

Therefore, even though Chongzhen reformed, he implemented a policy of resettling refugees and sharing land equally. He strictly prohibited the land from annexing the land, and strictly restricted the land annexing policy. The land was nationalized, and the people only had the right to plant and operate but no right to buy and sell.

This prevents land annexation policy to the greatest extent. Although the big landlords still resist, it is better than being killed by bandits one by one after another after a mess.

At least in terms of policy of resettling refugees and equally dividing land, local governments dare not cheat. This is why Xiongxian has a registered population of 236,800, and only 50,060 people paying taxes.

In a large county with a population of more than 200,000, there are more than 180,000 people who do not need to pay taxes. Isn’t this a problem?

The final result is that the poorer the poorer and the richer the richer. Take a Xiong County as an example. The 50,000 people who pay taxes will bear the total tax of 236,800 people in the county.

Isn't this the same thing that force them to death? No matter how hardworking and capable they are, they are simple and honest, they still have to owe taxes after a year of hard work. Once they encounter a disaster, their lives will be even more difficult.

The final result is that officials force the people to rebel, and history repeats itself again. If the remaining 180,000 people do not pay taxes, will they be rich?

No, the real wealth of those vested interests is those who protect themselves in the names of wealthy families and evade taxes, and still cannot escape the fate of being exploited by the landlords.

Those who truly benefit will always be those privileged classes, those royal relatives and nobles, those high-ranking officials and nobles, and those big landlords.

So Zhu Cilang wanted to take his father, Emperor Chongzhen, to see what kind of scene the people there were.

In fact, you don’t have to reach Xiongxian, you can see it outside Xiongxian County. Those hardworking and simple people are sweating and working hard in the fields.

The yamen runners from the county, holding long whips to show off their power and collect taxes.

They were like a group of robbers, rushing into the homes of the already dilapidated people and snatching away the only valuable things in their house, ranging from a ox to a chicken and a goose.

The people cried and shouted to their parents, knelt on the ground and begged hard. These yamen runners beat the people like bandits, and then left.

Emperor Chongzhen saw all this, and he was immediately furious: "Luo Yangling!"
Chapter completed!