Millions of beggars are eating the big households in Xiangyang Prefecture. The losses to the big households can be much greater than the tax of one dou or two dou per acre!

Now as long as the rice soldiers are willing to leave, let alone one or two dou, even five or six dou in tax, they will grit their teeth and agree.

But the question is, can Zhu Youjian stay in Xiangyang all the time? Will he not go back to Beijing? Will he make Xiangyang or Wuchang his capital in the future?

If that's the case, there is no need to worry about Huguang's tax revenue. As long as Zhu Youjian leads one million begging soldiers in Huguang, it will not be a problem to pay 60 million yuan a year for the more than 200 million acres of land in Huguang, and it can be done smoothly.

Along the Yangtze River, it radiates to the south of the Yangtze River and Sichuan. It is not a dream to earn 100 million a year!

On the books of the Ming Dynasty, Huguang had 220 million acres, Jiangxi had 40 million acres, Zhejiang had 46 million acres, Southern Zhili had 77 million acres, and Sichuan had 13 million acres on the books, but in fact it was no less than 50 million acres. In addition, Nan

There are still a lot of hidden fields in Zhili, and a lot of them have been flooded in the Huaihe River Basin. If you check carefully, it should be over 100 million.

The Yangtze River Basin or the provincial administrative regions near the Yangtze River Basin alone have more than 450 million acres of fertile land, and two buckets per acre can cost 90 million shi!

It is not difficult to raise over 100 million, but how to manage the army in the north?

The basis of Zhu Youjian's rule is the eight heavenly troops of Zhangqian, Dianqian, Yuqian, Datong, Xuanfu, Yanshan, and Daning. In addition to the imperial troops stationed in Sichuan and Guizhou, the imperial guards in Sichuan and Guizhou are based on Qianhu.

The remaining seven armies are based in Beizhili, Datong, Xuanfu, Yanshan, and Daning. In addition, the five noble concubines Wanhu Orduo who Zhu Youjian relies on are also stationed in the northern grasslands.

If Zhu Youjian moves the capital from Beijing to Wuchang, he will have to stay away from the more than 100,000 elite troops stationed in Datong, Xuanfu, Yanshan, Daning and Beizhili for a long time. And it will be quite a long time to stay away from his most basic armed forces.

The danger is that there may be a Jingnan War or the Anshi Rebellion.

Moreover, the war between the Ming Dynasty and the slave thieves has not yet ended, and the northern grasslands have not been pacified. Therefore, it is impossible for Zhu Youjian to move south to Wuchang. Unless he can eradicate the slave thieves, subdue the grasslands, and level the northwest, otherwise the imperial court will not be able to move south to Wuchang.

Qian seems to be just a way to avoid the enemies in the north, which is a great loss of prestige! Once the prestige is lost, the more than 100,000 loyal soldiers in the north will become disloyal. It is too dangerous!

But Zhu Youjian still has a way!

As long as the gentry in Huguang agree to a tax rate of one dou per acre, then the annual land tax of 20 million shi will not be evaded. Not only the agricultural tax will not be evaded, but also the commercial tax cards on the Jingjiang, Hanshui and Xiangjiang rivers can be restored.

, and another one or two million taels of business tax will be collected a year!

Since the imperial court was not located along the Yangtze River, receiving this amount was not a small amount.

Zhu Youjian laughed and said: "Don't worry, uncle, I have already found a way to collect the full amount of land tax from the various prefectures in Huguang!"

Zhu Yiming asked with interest: "Your Majesty, what are you going to do?"

Zhu Youjian laughed and said: "Of course it is decentralization! There are only two reasons for the difficulty of tax collection in this dynasty. One is that the court has been far away from the center of wealth in the world since it moved northward during the Yongle period. Production in the Central Plains declined completely after it moved southward during the Song Dynasty.

Well, in this dynasty, it was far inferior to the southeast, Huguang and Sichuan. And the production of the Yanyun land in the north was even inferior to that of the Central Plains, let alone the wealthy lands along the Yangtze River.

The purpose of the imperial court in Yanyun was to control the territory of Jiubian nearby, but what was the result? Liaozhen still fell, Jiubian was still weak, and even the military strength of Xuanfu and Jizhou was weakened to the extreme. With Xuan, Jizhou is close

, it is difficult for the imperial court to control them, so how can they control the southeast, Huguang, and Sichuan as if they were pointing with their arms?

The second reason that made it difficult for the court to collect taxes was that local power was decentralized, and the lower-level officials who were close to the people had little power and found it difficult to shoulder their responsibilities.

The grandfather believed in his descendants but not in officials, so he used the vassal king to control the four directions. At the same time, he removed the power of the prime minister internally and divided the power of the ministers externally. The power of a province was divided into three parts by him. They were mutually restrained and each was not under the control of the three divisions.

, the situation is also the same. Although the governor was later established to oversee the local area, the governor was too far away from the prefectures and counties, making it difficult to effectively control. Moreover, the local system of this dynasty favored the establishment of three departments at the same time. There were still many constraints on the governor's ministers, making it difficult for them to perform effectively.

In addition, the governor of a province is, after all, a feudal official. All aspects must be considered in selection and appointment, not just paying taxes. Therefore, the weight of the governor cannot solve the difficulty of taxation.

And my reform in Beizhili is to delegate power to the prefect. Let the prefect take charge of the affairs of the prefecture, mount the horse to run the army, and dismount the horse to govern the people. The power is in hand and the responsibility is on the shoulders! It is like the prefect of the Han Dynasty and the discipline of the Tang Dynasty."

Under Zhu Youjian, there are eight prefects of Beizhili, as well as the governor of Datong, the governor of Xuanfu, the commander-in-chief of Yanshan (there is no governor in Yanshan now), the governor-general of Yanning and the commander-in-chief of Daning, the governor-general of Jiliao, the commander-in-chief of Pingliao, etc.

The fourteen local official positions are actually like the governor of the Han Dynasty and the governor of the Tang Dynasty. They not only have military and political power, but also have great personnel power.

Of course, Zhu Youjian would not grant his military power to the lower officials without reservation. The extent to which the military and political control of these fourteen officers can be grasped depends on the situation.

For example, the military power of the eight prefectures of Beizhili is the regimental training of the prefecture, and the governors of Datong and Xuanfu towns only control their own patrol signs.

The General Soldiers of Yanshan, the Governor of Yanning, the Governor of Jiliao, and the General Soldiers of Pingliao have the greatest power. They are truly responsible for running the army on horseback and governing the people on horseback. These four governors or general soldiers are all former enemy generals. It is impossible to do without heavy power.

, so we can’t talk about reform.

The real reform of the official system is actually the eight prefectures of Beizhili, the second town of Xuanda, and the Chongqing Prefecture. Although Niu Jinxing of Chongqing Prefecture does not have the power of the military and political affairs, Zhu Youjian has ordered Li Jin to fully cooperate with Niu Jinxing.

, which is equivalent to giving him the right to mobilize troops.

In addition, although the head of Xuanda Second Town is called the governor, he is actually the territory of the same prefecture. In the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, Zhu Youjian removed the prefects of Datong and Xuanfu, and let the two governors directly manage the borders of the two towns.

Prefectures and counties within the walls (the health centers within the walls of both towns were changed to prefectures and counties).

So what Zhu Youjian wants to implement now is the local prefect responsibility system!

The position of the prefect is not as "high" as that of the governor, and he can directly touch the county. If the military power given to the governor is given to the prefect, and then the personnel power is given to the prefect, then the efficiency of tax collection can be greatly improved.

Originally, if the large landowners under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate incited the people to resist taxes, it would be difficult for the county magistrate to deal with it. They could only report it to the prefect, who would then report it to the governor and the prosecutor's office. Then the governor and the governor would make a decision and then transfer it to the general military office.

After the soldiers are transferred, the soldiers will be sent to suppress it together with the officers under the command of the general army.

In such a big circle, the wrangling and buck-passing are definitely indispensable. How can high-ranking officials like the inspector and governor immediately mobilize their troops as soon as they receive the report from the prefect? ​​Doesn't this mean that high-ranking officials follow the orders of junior officials?

Moreover, those who can incite the people to resist the tax are wealthy families, and they have many ways to mess up the issue of troop deployment.

In this case, the magistrates and county magistrates below generally provoke less wealthy families. The wealthy families do not pay taxes, so let the common people pay more!

There is no need for the governor to send troops to force the common people to fight. The county magistrate's three squads of yamen officers are enough.

Therefore, the "Prefect Responsibility System" in the eight prefectures of North Zhili is quite effective. Even though the eight prefects don't have many regiments on hand, they only had 1,000 people when they first took office. But these 1,000 people are enough to suppress the local wealthy families who resist taxes.

Generally, they will not stand out on their own, but let the common people be used as cannon fodder. And these common people are not stupid, and they will be honest when they see that the prefect has soldiers in his hands.

Even if you are still willing to sacrifice your life, you still have to pay more!

For local wealthy families, the risks and costs of training and fighting against 1,000 regiments that can be dispatched at any time are too great! It is better to just raise taxes honestly.

Zhu Yiming finally understood Zhu Youjian's plan, but he still felt that something was wrong and frowned. After all, the Eight Prefectures and Xuan and Daer Towns in Beizhili were under the eyes of the emperor. There were Zhangqian, Yuqian, Xuanfu, and Datong.
Chapter completed!