Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 341: Taxation per acre, wireless telegraph! [Subscription requested]

Fengxian Hall.

Zhu Yuanzhang was discussing matters with Zhu Biao, Li Shanchang, Xu Da and several cabinet ministers.

"Before the end of the year, we will try out the policy of equalizing the land tax in Zhili, and after the summer tax next year, we will promote it to the seventeen provinces of the Ming Dynasty."

Seeing Li Shanchang dozing off as usual, and Zhu Biao and Xu Da also looking nonchalant, Wu Bozong, Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, clearly already knew about this, stepped forward and asked, "May I ask what 'dividing the land tax into territories' means?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Biao'er, you come and explain."

"Yes, Father," Zhu Biao replied, turning to face the Grand Secretaries (the Hongwu Emperor's cabinet did not have a chief minister or a deputy minister). "The 'diding ding ru mu' (appending the ding ding ru mu) is also known as 'diding ding hui yi' (unifying the land and ding). As the name suggests, it involves adding the land ding tax to the land tax, and then collecting it from the people according to the amount of land each household has."

Upon hearing this, Grand Secretaries Wu Zongbo, Wu Chen, He Zhen and others could not help but look at each other in surprise.

Wu Zongbo then asked, "Your Highness, this Ding tax (head tax) has always been levied by the local government, while the land tax is submitted to the court. If they are mixed together, will they all be handed over to the court?"

In the Ming Dynasty, land tax and capitation tax were actually collected by local governments, but the land tax was collected on behalf of the government. After collection, most of the tax was turned over to the court, and a small portion was retained by the local governments.

The Ding tax was entirely collected and used locally.

As for how to combine the land tax and the capitation tax, no one had any doubts - this was common sense for court officials.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the imperial court would regularly survey the land in various places and update the fish scale book. Then, based on the total amount of land in each place and the agricultural conditions of that year, local officials would be required to collect a certain amount of land tax.

The Ding tax is determined by the local yellow book.

The Yellow Book records the population. Local governments update it every year, while the imperial court checks it every five or ten years.

The imperial court set all local land taxes. While the Ding tax was set and collected by local governments, the imperial court also had oversight. During periods of encouraging childbirth, the imperial court would not allow local governments to collect too much Ding tax, and would even exempt it. However, whatever Ding tax was collected was retained by local officials.

That's why Wu Bozong asked this question.

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "Even if we distribute the tax according to the land tax, it will be in accordance with the rules of land tax - local officials will retain a small portion, and the majority will be handed over to the court. As for how much the local government retains, it is determined by the court based on the civil affairs of the area that year."

After figuring out the issue of "equalizing the land tax and the capitation tax", Wu Bozong, He Zhen and other cabinet ministers could not help but exchange glances.

Zhu Yuanzhang's purpose in implementing the "equalization of the capitation tax per mu" policy was clear: to make the wealthy and powerful landlords who owned more land bear more of the capitation tax, thereby reducing the capitation tax burden on farmers with less land.

Then, Cabinet Minister Wu Chen stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Your Highness, if this policy is implemented, I'm afraid the local gentry and wealthy families will complain."

"In addition, there are still many wastelands in the various provinces of the Ming Dynasty that need to be reclaimed. It is time to encourage land reclamation. If there is too much land, more taxes will have to be paid, which is probably not conducive to promoting land reclamation."

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao had reached a consensus on the idea of ​​dividing the land tax by land several years ago, but it was not implemented because the time was not right.

Now that this policy is to be implemented, Zhu Biao naturally supports it.

Zhu Yuanzhang was more suitable to directly argue with the cabinet ministers, so Zhu Biao was the first to speak.

He had anticipated Wu Chen's question and said, "There is still a lot of wasteland in the Ming Dynasty that needs to be reclaimed. But compared to turning wasteland into farmland, the Ming Dynasty needs to increase its population as quickly as possible."

"Also, while the system of dividing the ding levy by mu will make those with more land bear a higher burden of the ding levy, it will only slightly dilute the profits of farming and will not leave the landlords with no profit."

"Also, since the imperial court is now vigorously developing industry and commerce, it will reduce the land tax and the capitation tax in the future, depending on the situation. This way, the annual taxes that landlords need to pay will not increase much."

"Finally, wasteland won't disappear; it can be reclaimed at any time. However, the Ming Dynasty's need for population is even more pressing—expanding overseas and developing industry and commerce all require population."

"If we take a long-term view, we should focus on encouraging population growth now. In a few decades or even a hundred years, the population of the Ming Dynasty will continue to grow, and the average amount of land owned by the people will be insufficient. Someone will naturally go and reclaim the wasteland."

After hearing Zhu Biao's words, several cabinet ministers were thoughtful.

In fact, although these cabinet ministers all had a lot of land at home and some were even big landlords, they were far from being like those in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, who only cared about the interests of their own families and the groups they belonged to - they didn't dare to do so.

If we consider this matter impartially, it is indeed as Zhu Biao said that encouraging childbirth is more important than reclaiming wasteland at the moment, and it is also more conducive to the long-term development and stability of the Ming Dynasty.

"Do you have any objections to this policy of 'dividing the land tax into territorial units'?"

Wu Bozong, He Zhen and others immediately bowed and said, "We have no objection."

"Okay." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled slightly. "Then let's discuss the specific rules for implementing this policy."

"Yes."

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were both deeply impressed by the Qing Dynasty's reforms of equalizing the land tax, returning the fire consumption tax to the public, and integrating the gentry into the government to serve and pay taxes. However, in the Ming Dynasty, only the equalization of the land tax was needed.

The existence of huohao mainly stems from the fact that silver gradually became the main currency in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. At that time, the imperial court did not mint silver coins, and the people mostly used small silver coins, which naturally generated huohao during use and transportation.

Today, the Ming Dynasty mainly uses banknotes and copper coins, and gold and silver are not legal tender. Although banknotes and copper coins will be used up, the loss they cause is insignificant compared to the use of silver.

If there is no fire consumption, there is naturally no need to have the idea of ​​"fire consumption being shared by all".

As for the gentry serving as officials and paying taxes, the gentry of the Ming Dynasty have always been required to pay regular taxes and levies. Exemption of officials in office and retired from military service is necessary to maintain the operation of the country.

In other words, the Ming Dynasty at that time did not offer as many preferential treatment to the gentry as it did later, so the reform of "gentry serving as officials and paying taxes together" was naturally out of the question...

When the emperor and his ministers had almost finished discussing the rules for the trial implementation of the "taxonomy based on land use" in Zhili, the eunuchs outside the palace came in to report.

"Your Majesty, the Duke of Science and Technology requests an audience and has good news."

Good news?

Zhu Yuanzhang was moved when he heard this. Considering that the discussion on "dividing the land tax into tertiary incomes" was almost over, he said, "Let him in."

"Yes."

The eunuch responded and went out, quickly bringing Liu Kuan in.

When Liu Kuan was outside the hall, he knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was discussing matters with the cabinet ministers inside. He was not surprised when he came in and saluted politely.

After the ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang asked expectantly, "Liu Kuan, what good news do you have to report?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, after more than a year of work, the Wireless Telegraph Research Institute has finally developed a wireless telegraph machine with practical value!"

The cabinet ministers did not know what wireless telegraphy was and were a little confused after hearing this, including Li Shanchang and Xu Da.

But Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were both very happy.

Zhu Yuanzhang even asked in disbelief, "But is it true?"

Liu Kuan was a little speechless, but still replied: "I would never dare to lie about this matter."

Zhu Yuanzhang then asked, "Where is the thing? Can it be brought into the hall for demonstration?"

Liu Kuan said, "Li She and other officials and craftsmen from the Radio Research Institute are waiting outside the hall with two wireless telegraph machines. They can come in and demonstrate to Your Majesty at any time."

Zhu Yuanzhang was even happier and said, "Let them in!"

The eunuch went out again, and soon Li She and nine other officials and craftsmen entered the Fengxian Hall.

Li She and others were very excited to come to see the emperor with their research results. Fortunately, they were mentally prepared and did not make any mistakes when performing the ceremony.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang and others did not pay attention to the details of their greeting at this time - when they came in, almost everyone's eyes fell on the two wooden boxes they carried in.

The two wooden boxes were more than three feet long, more than one foot wide and high, and were made of huanghuali wood. There were many exquisite cloud patterns and auspicious beasts carved on the surface, but they were not painted.

Because it was a box, they couldn't see what was inside.

After coming to his senses, Zhu Yuanzhang went down to check - he was not afraid of danger. First, Liu Kuan could not harm him, and he did not dare to; second, this thing must have been inspected at least twice outside the palace and outside the hall, otherwise the guards would have been derelict in their duty.

When they came to the two boxes, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Open them quickly and let us have a look."

"Yes."

Li She, the institute's ambassador, responded and carefully opened the lid of one of the boxes.

Everyone saw that after the lid of the box was opened, it did not turn over, but stood upright on one side.

Although this small design was ingenious, it was not a big deal. Everyone was more curious about what was inside the box. Unfortunately, Lao Zhu was in front, so they couldn't move forward.

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)