Chapter 54 The corvee in the Ming Dynasty was a hundred times heavier than the land tax! call……
Seeing that Grandpa Huang did not show anger, Zhu Youwei felt relieved.
Fortunately, Grandpa Huang did not explode.
She looked at her father, Zhu Biao, and saw that he was listening with a serious face.
The same goes for Ling Han, and even Jiang Wei.
Zhu Youwei felt even more relieved.
It seems that they have long been accustomed to Chen Han talking like this.
Chen Han talked eloquently: "As for the tax system, Zhu Yuanzhang also used his narrow vision to only focus on land taxes and ignored the importance of business in a country, thus doing many bad things with good intentions."
When Zhu Youwei heard this, even though she was prepared in her heart, she stuttered and turned pale.
She finally realized why Ling Han told her that even if Chen Han's words judged her grandpa Huang and her relatives, she didn't need to care.
Because Chen Han didn't know that he had arrived in the Ming Dynasty.
But what Zhu Youwei is more worried about now is what should she do if her grandpa is angry? She looked back again.
At this time, the expression on Zhu Yuanzhang's face was not very natural, but at least he was not too angry.
Only then did she finally feel relieved.
Fortunately, Grandpa Huang must have experienced the power of Chen Han's mouth more than ten days before today, so he didn't take it to heart and even accepted it calmly.
After seeing her grandpa's expression, Zhu Youwei couldn't help but admire her grandpa.
To be honest, if someone criticizes me like this in front of me, I will be more or less angry inside.
No wonder his grandpa is a great hero of his generation. His mind and magnanimity are enough to make everyone admire him.
If Jiang Wei could hear such words, he would burst into tears.
Princess, you don’t know that during the previous period, when your Majesty was angry, he would directly pinch the soft flesh of my waist to resist his anger.
I sacrificed my body to appease His Majesty's anger.
It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang's resistance was indeed much stronger at this time.
The most important reason was that he saw that his eldest son Zhu Biao looked much better after he did not stay up all night reviewing memorials and had a good rest.
He also summoned the imperial doctors who treated Zhu Biao.
Imperial doctors also say that taking more rest can indeed increase the yang energy throughout the body and resist the entry of disease and pathogens into the body, so it is a very useful method.
So Zhu Yuanzhang was grateful to Chen Han in his heart.
Zhu Yuanzhang was quite shrewd and had no way to judge whether what Chen Han said was true. Another reason for his preconceptions was that since the construction of Yashan Village.
He saw the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War fighting over some money.
I also heard the cabinet members sent from the bottom, Xia Yuanji, Ge Youmin, and the county magistrates, reflect on the heavy pressure that the rural tax system puts on the people.
With these premises in mind, Chen Han said that his tax system and his ideas were not advanced, as well as his prejudices against traders. In fact, they were all justified, and he had nothing to say.
So now that Chen Han is so rebellious, he won't do anything because he has already been prepared.
Therefore, he didn't care so much about Chen Han's harsh saying this, Chen Han said again: "The emperor Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed born as a peasant, so he also knew that the common people had to bear a heavy burden.
The taxes enacted after the founding of the People's Republic of China were also very low. According to the Two Taxes Law, the court levied taxes in summer and autumn. Each household paid taxes according to the number of acres of land and the Hongwu period, it was stipulated that 5 liters, 3 and 5 scoops of grain should be collected per mu for official fields, and 2 liters per mu for civilian fields, equivalent to shi and shi respectively. This standard was relatively low.
But Zhu Yuanzhang may not know that in addition to paying land taxes, people also have two types of labor and corvee, as well as the so-called annual office, sitting office, and miscellaneous office, all kinds of hard labor and miscellaneous taxes.
It is true that the land tax collected by the court was not much, but the court also did not give any office expenses to local officials, but where did the money come from?
Of course, it is extracted from the people.
From the office supplies in the government to the people who run errands for the government, the government provides them free of charge to the people. "
What Chen Han then stated was that Xia Yuanji told Zhu Yuanzhang and his son the same thing before.
Zhu Yuanzhang's face was as dark as water after hearing this.
"Zhu Yuanzhang naively thought that by setting the salaries of officials extremely low, he could limit their luxury enjoyment, but he probably would not have thought that how could those officials treat him badly?
If the court did not provide it, they turned around and asked the people to directly provide them with free labor or free daily necessities in the name of servants or corvees, or in the name of annual office or miscellaneous office.
It is a common phenomenon among ordinary people to go to officials' homes and stay for free.
Most of the food, drink, and toiletries in officials' homes are provided by the common people.
It seems that the salary of officials is very low, but it cannot be said that they have the power to collect these exorbitant taxes.
Using chicken feathers as arrows, they exploited the people at every level, and the people lived in misery. Zhu Yuanzhang was still enjoying the flattery of the officials: Your Majesty, the land tax you set is so low, you are like a king like Yao and Shun.
Then Zhu Yuanzhang accepted it happily, thinking that he loved the people as his own son.
Zhu Yuanzhang's starting point was good. He hoped that the people's land tax would be low, the officials' salaries would be low, and corrupt officials would be killed. But he ignored that the system settings were interrelated.
The land tax of the common people is low, and the salaries of officials are as low as dust. If officials cannot survive, how can they not exploit the people?
In the end, corrupt officials are killed and good intentions end up doing bad things.
It seems that the land tax is not heavy, but these exorbitant taxes, corvees, and errands are much heavier than the land tax.
Harsh government is fiercer than tigers, which refers to these servants and corvees. These things are a hundred times heavier than land taxes.
Contrary to land tax, it is the commercial tax of the Ming Dynasty. Land tax accounts for about 80% of the national fiscal revenue. Other commercial taxes, miscellaneous taxes, etc. are only supplements to fiscal revenue.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang may not know that the merchants in the Ming Dynasty were actually extremely wealthy. By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the merchants were even more wealthy than the country.
They are extravagant and lustful, but the people live in water and heat. "
It is difficult to compare the Ming Dynasty alone. If we compare the Ming Dynasty and the Song Dynasty together, you can know how big the gap is between the two dynasties. "
In his heart, Chen Han, like most modern people, has a love-hate feeling towards the Song Dynasty.
What I love about it is its high GDP, but what I hate about it is that its military is so stretched that it makes people’s blood pressure soar when they hear it.
But when it comes to the economy of the Ming Dynasty, we have to mention the tax system of the Song Dynasty...
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(End of this chapter)
