"The disasters in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, North Zhili and the Huaihe River..." Zhu Youjian said with a smile, "What does it have to do with you Suzhou scholar-bureaucrats who enjoy preferential treatment? Have your fields been flooded?

No drought, everything is fine. What are you anxious about?

And I work as an official and gentry in the eight prefectures of Northern Zhili and pay grain and tax together, collecting five liters of imperial grain per acre. What do I do with you Suzhou Juren who don't pay grain and even exempt commercial taxes? What does South Zhili do to me?

It is beyond our reach, and your Suzhou Prefecture has always had a tradition of resisting taxes and grain. I have never thought of raising your taxes!

I just want to add more, are you willing to give it to me? The officials sent by Grandpa Temple and Wei Zhongxian to your Suzhou to collect taxes did not end well... As an emperor, I don’t want you to slap me in the face!

But why do you bother to stand up for Zhu Guoshou and Li Chunzhen, the gentry from Northern Zhili? These two Northern Zhili people are not as smart as you Suzhou people. They paid the autumn grain last year and the summer tax this year honestly.

, you dare not beat my officials for resisting taxes! Zhu Guoshou, Li Chunzhen, what I said is right, right?"

The people of Suzhou are so kind, that's because the Ming army in Nanzhili has long been abolished, and whether it is the Nanjing Jingying, Caojiang Navy, or the navy all along the coast, they all have one vote to take the lead and not pay taxes.

In the hands of honorable ministers and hereditary military attachés.

Of course they would not suppress the people in Jiangnan who resisted tax... So the officials sent by the Beijing court to supervise taxes in South Zhili had a hard time.

But Northern Zhili is not Southern Zhili, the real emperor is at his feet, and this emperor has more than 100,000 loyal soldiers who dare to fight and are good at fighting. Moreover, the emperor also has an excellent record of defeating the northern captives, the eastern slaves and opening up new territories.

It proves that the sword in hand is quite sharp. Now in Beizhi, who dares to test the edge?

"No...absolutely not!"

"My family has paid taxes..."

Of course Zhu Guoshou and Li Chunzhen did not dare to fight the tax collectors sent by Zhu Youjian... because most of those who dared to do so are now dead!

Therefore, the law of the eight prefectures of Northern Zhili, whereby officials and gentry pay grain and tax together, was implemented relatively smoothly. Because the government and gentry uniformly paid grain and tax was implemented, the land tax in Northern Zhili was evenly distributed to every acre of land.

The tax on five liters of wheat per acre is not high in any case! Although the harvest in Beizhili has not been good in recent years, one acre of land can cost 89 to 1 stone of grain, which is 80-100

Liter, the tax of 5 liters is only one tax per twenty, which is not heavy at all.

Therefore, the officials and gentry in Northern Zhili paid grain and taxes together, which did not provoke any civil unrest, and the situation was basically relatively stable.

Another reason why the gentry here in Beizhili did not dare to make trouble is that most of the land in Beizhili was actually occupied by nobles and hereditary military attachés, and there was not much land belonging to scholar-bureaucrats - this is also why Zhu Youjian

The reason for the "integration of officials and gentry" in the eight prefectures of Beizhili was implemented in one step... If he let the "officials" of Beizhili go, there wouldn't be much land left to collect taxes normally.

After losing most of their "knife handles", the nobles and hereditary military attaches have turned into toothless tigers, and they dare not resist Zhu Youjian's imperial power. The nobles and hereditary military attaches all knelt down, and they had no intention of

Who do the scholar-bureaucrats from so many lands think of as evil people?

"Zhu Guoshou, Li Chunzhen," Zhu Youjian said in a serious tone, "then tell me, is the tax of five liters per mu considered heavy?"

"Not heavy, not heavy at all..."

"It's just a tax of one on twenty, how can it be heavy?"

How can the two governors of Northern Zhili dare to say it is important? If you say it is important, then what happened to the land tax borne by ordinary small farmers before "officials and gentry paid grain and tax together"? Henan, Shanxi, Shandong, Shaanxi and other places

, what about the land belonging to small farmers whose grain payment is higher than five liters per mu?

Zhu Youjian looked at Zhang Pu and Yang Tingshu again, "Do you think it's more or not more to pay five liters of wheat per acre of land?"

"It's really not much..."

"Not much..."

Zhu Youjian smiled: "So it's okay not to mention the tax issue in Zhili, Northern China!"

"Your Majesty," Zhang Pu did not give up and said to Zhu Youjian, "but Shaanxi has suffered from severe drought for many years, the land has dried up, and the harvest has been more than halved... The imperial court is unwilling to reduce or reduce taxes in Shaanxi. It is really

It’s a bit unreasonable!”

Zhu Youjian chuckled: "The severe drought in Shaanxi is the suffering of people in Shaanxi. Does it have anything to do with you Suzhou people? Does it have anything to do with you gentlemen from the south of the Yangtze River?"

Yang Tingshu frowned and said: "Why did your Majesty say this? The world is one family, how can we distinguish each other?"

"The world is one family?" Zhu Youjian laughed, "According to what you said, Shaanxi and Suzhou are brothers?"

"Yes..." Yang Tingshu always felt that something was wrong, but he still said bravely, "Your Majesty is the king and father, and everyone in the world is a subject. Of course, the people of Shaanxi and Suzhou are brothers...

"

"Yes, I remembered. You are the Yang family of Hongnong, and your ancestral home is Shaanxi!" Zhu Youjian nodded, "Then I ask you, if your brother is going to starve to death, will you, a rich man in Suzhou, give him food?

"

Ah? Is there still such a problem?

"Of course I have to give him something to eat..." How could Yang Tingshu say no? Great Confucian, it's about respecting brothers and sisters. How can you watch your younger brother starve to death?

Zhu Youjian smiled and said to Zhang Pu again: "I heard that you have a bad relationship with your brothers and that they are going to starve to death. You must be very happy, right?"

Zhang Pu was born by a maid, and he was very young. He was a bad boy at home, so he was bullied by his brothers and his aunt since he was a child... Fortunately, there is an inspirational story about counterattacking in exams in the Ming Dynasty! Zhang Pu

He is a typical example. He has a good mind, is diligent and eager to learn, and has no problem with scholar and promotion. He also gained the reputation of "Lou Dong Er Zhang" and became the successor of Donglin and the leader of Fushe.

However, after he counterattacked, he did not take revenge on his brothers. If his brothers were in trouble, he would still have to help.

"Why did your Majesty say this?" Zhang Pu was dumbfounded by Zhu Youjian's words. "Students are students who read books from sages. How can you hate your brothers and hope that they will starve to death just because of their minor faults? What if the students'

When brothers encounter difficulties and have no...no food to eat, students will definitely help them."

Zhu Youjian smiled and asked: "The brothers in Shaanxi are starving to death now. You people in Suzhou have plenty of rice. Should you give some to the people in Shaanxi?"

These are two different things!

Zhang Pu and Yang Tingshu didn't dare to agree on behalf of the people of Suzhou, otherwise they would become the public enemies of Suzhou?

Seeing that the two great scholars were speechless, Zhu Youjian smiled and said: "It is true that I am the emperor and father of the Ming Dynasty, but the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty do not love each other and do not regard each other as brothers! Why?

Otherwise, how could Shaanxi be short of food? How could Jiubian be without pay? In places like Nanzhili, Huguang, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Sichuan, there are more than 400 million acres of farmland on the books, including paddy fields.

At least half, and they are all good fields with two crops a year. If one acre can produce one dou of imperial grain to save the people of Shaanxi and the soldiers of Liaodong, why is the state's affairs like this?"

One mu per dou, 400 million mu is more than 40 million shi... plus the land tax of several northern provinces, plus the salt tax, plus the commercial tariff, etc., how much can it cost in a year?

There are 60 million!

If Zhu Youjian really had that much income, the severe drought in the future might not be a problem!

In Chengyun Hall, all the officials were silent.

Because what Zhu Youjian just said was not for the officials, but for officials like them - the south must pay a land tax of one acre per dou!

This is a big opening for a lion!

And... this is impossible! Because if the officials and gentry are not allowed to pay grain and taxes together, a dou per acre will fall on the common people, which is just a stone per acre!

If the officials and gentry are required to pay grain and taxes together... Zhu Youjian still has too few soldiers!

Zhu Youjian sighed and said to the ministers in the hall: "If you don't pay taxes, I can't do anything about it... If the drought can be alleviated, everyone will be happy. I have Beizhili."

The eight prefectures' unified food collection service is enough to support 100,000 elite royal troops. If Yuan Chonghuan can use the money and food raised from the salt service to practical purposes, it will only take five to ten years to pacify Liao and eliminate the captives.
Chapter completed!