After Wen Tiren was greeted, Emperor Chongzhen asked him to read Zuo Yingxuan's memorial and asked, "Wen Qing, due to famine, war, etc., there should be many uninhabited lands in the Ming Dynasty, right?"

This uninhabited land naturally refers to the fields that can be cultivated. Wen Tiren immediately replied: "Your Majesty clearly sees that there are still some fields, because they are not much and are not even enough to pay taxes, so the landlord often abandons this part of the fields."

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he frowned and said, "There is such a thing? The land tax in the Ming Dynasty is not very high!"

"When you go to Your Majesty, the official tax is indeed not high." Wen Tiren obviously knew a lot about this area, so he could answer immediately, "But because all the miscellaneous taxes in the Ming Dynasty are based on fields, and labor is also distributed by fields. These are far more than regular taxes and are exhausting the people, so the farmers who abandoned the fields are mostly because of these!"

The original Emperor Chongzhen did not know much about these things. Hu Guang, who came through his soul, did not understand these ancient taxes. Therefore, this content was a bit blank.

The reason why Emperor Chongzhen summoned Wen Tiren to come was not because of this, but because he was based on another idea. At this time, he frowned and asked, "I'll tell me about the hunger in this tax.

"Your Majesty, this matter should be traced back to the beginning of Taizu's founding." Wen Tiren naturally agreed to preach to him, "Because of his origin, Taizu was very kind to the peasants, and hated corrupt officials, so..."

When Emperor Chongzhen heard the beginning, he couldn't help but be speechless. It seemed that the blame would be taken by Emperor Taizu of Ming again. But indeed, some of the good systems he thought at the time were actually all pitfalls, but now he can't stop them. Others say that he cheated his father, and he was cheating his descendants, so he was also speechless!

"Taizu stipulated that the land tax was about one tenth, which was considered very low. Logically speaking, this land tax was not enough for the normal use of the Ming Dynasty. However, Taizu had other laws: to make our Ming army self-sufficient, the imperial power did not go to the countryside, and the villages and forts were self-governed. In addition, during the Hongwu period, the court used the Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes to deal with various expenses. Moreover, our Ming officials were the least in history, and they hired officials."

Wen Tiren almost knew what kind of attitude Emperor Chongzhen was in dealing with things, so he knew that this kind of words was straightforward and simple, and it was okay to say something that was not etiquette in some places. When he said this, he secretly confirmed the face of Emperor Chongzhen and knew that he was not wrong. The emperor was listening carefully and continued: "I have estimated that now I have about 20,400 officials in the Ming Dynasty, and about 51,000 officials. The officials counted only more than 70,000, but they wanted to govern the entire world of the Ming Dynasty. Although it saved costs, I was a little overwhelmed in doing things!"

Or in order to prove that what he said was not alarmist, Wen Tiren added: "Most of the more than 50,000 officials were also serving in the army at the same time, of which only about 15,000 were working in the prefectures and county offices. And there were 1,138 counties in the Ming Dynasty. This means that the largest county in the Ming Dynasty would not have more than 30 salary positions."

Emperor Chongzhen probably knew about this matter, but he was a little surprised as soon as this number came out. You should know that even if the largest county has up to 30 positions, they have to manage all local administrative affairs in a county, including taxation, case trial, public security, management of transportation, education, public works and social relief, etc. These are all things that require a lot of energy and cannot be done by a single person.

Although a county in ancient times was not large in population and was far from comparable to later generations, the number of officials in this management was too small, and it could not keep up with any government unit today. In ancient times, the inconvenient transportation, inconvenient communication, etc. also increased the difficulty of management.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but feel a little headache. There are so many things that the Ming Dynasty wants to reform!

At the same time, Wen Tiren continued to introduce: "The tax system set by Taizu has not changed, but the court and the local government have no money and food, so they cannot do things. So there were various additional assignments and labor services, and later they could also give up the silver and labor services. There was no customization for these, and because of this, the court... the court and the local government have no money, they will conduct additional assignments. If there is something to do, it is also to allow the people to serve."

After hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen knew one thing: the labor service of the Ming Dynasty was free of charge, and he also had to bring his own tools and rations, which really cost the government's money to the minimum.

In fact, Wen Tiren paused for a while, but hesitated a little, but hesitated in the end. For example, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty also took the lead in this kind of extra sect, and the extra sect was allowed by the emperor. Even if the local governments added some extra fees on their own, they thought there were examples to be taken, and the court allowed them by default.

These are actually so-called heavy taxes. The matter here is very complicated. If you have to spread it all, you may not even be able to explain everything clearly.

"Your Majesty should know that the annual salary of the prefect is about 62 taels, while the annual salary of a prefect is about 27 taels. There are even fewer officials under them. Such salary does save a lot of expenses from the court. But when they don't have enough money, they will add more money by themselves and make various gains. And these basically become the expenses of those with land."

Wen Tiren said this and bowed deeply, saying, "I know that Your Majesty will have reforms when you understand these things. This matter is of great importance and is far more than causing harm to some people abandoning their land and fleeing. Please make up your mind and I will do my best!"

Emperor Chongzhen nodded when he heard this. The pit left by Taizu must be filled. The best solution is naturally to exempt agricultural tax, but for this period, land tax was the most important source of national taxation and should be exempted. Haha, that is only when dreaming at night.

However, there is one thing that can be done. Emperor Chongzhen thought so, and Wen Tiren said seriously: "Wen Qing, the business tax collection must be accelerated. What I mean, the taxes of the court must be transferred from land tax in the future, otherwise severe taxes will harm farmers and the Ming Dynasty will be unstable!"

"Your Majesty's great view, agriculture is the foundation of a country. To revive the Ming Dynasty and show its power overseas, you must have a stable foundation." Wen Tiren immediately agreed, even pointed out the emperor's dream, and then took out a memorial from his sleeve and said, "Your Majesty, this is a memorial received by the cabinet, which is contrary to the mainstream. However, I think what the memorial says is exactly what Your Majesty said just now."

Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed when he heard this and quickly asked the eunuch to present the memorial.

I still owe one updates, but I don’t have them today. I have to work overtime tomorrow. If it goes well, it may only take half a day. I will pay back the updates I owe tomorrow.
Chapter completed!