Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"The matter of digging the canal involves another issue that I think should be reformed, namely corvee labor." Zhang Shikang ignored Hai Zhongqi and continued to speak to Emperor Chongzhen.

“Since ancient times, every dynasty has had corvée policies to varying degrees.

But the people of the world have suffered from corvée and labor service for a long time.

Have you not heard that Meng Jiangnu cried and the snow fell down at the Great Wall in August?

Haven’t you seen that Chen Sheng, Wu Guang and Liu Tingzhang all started their rebellions because of corvee labor?

Even Lord Hai understood the harm that corvee labor brought to the common people. I believe that all the civil and military officials in the court knew that corvee labor was an additional exploitation of the common people and a bad thing that could easily accumulate public resentment.

Since everyone knows the harm of corvee labor, why not abolish it?" Zhang Shikang asked in return.

The door of the county magistrate's house was broken, so he conscripted laborers to repair it. There was no pay, and they had to pay for their own travel expenses.

The Yellow River burst its dike, and the government conscripted labor to build the dike. Everything they do has to be freed from the people. This is pure nonsense. If Zhang Shikang was a laborer, he would have rebelled too.

"Shikang, how can corvée labor be abolished? If it is abolished, many things will be left unattended.

If the army is recruited for a fee, how can the government afford it?" Emperor Chongzhen was also somewhat dissatisfied.

He certainly understood that corvée was bad for the people, just like all the kings of past dynasties.

But why not cancel it? You can’t afford to cancel it.

It's such a simple question.

“Your Majesty, the court now has more than 100 million taels of silver in cash. If we include other assets seized, it would be more than 200 million taels of silver.

Is it possible that the silver will just rot in the treasury for the next few years?

Please forgive me for being frank, but silver only has value when it is circulated, and reasonable circulation is definitely not a bad thing for the court.

The most ideal solution is to change corvée labor to a mercenary system.

Let me give you a simple example. For example, if a county magistrate wants to repair a door, he needs to hire a craftsman. The craftsman gets extra income, which he can use to buy food, oil, salt, or other daily necessities, or use to buy things for his family, or invest in his children so that they can go to school.

Buying firewood, rice, oil and salt will increase the tax revenue of related industries. Sending children to school also requires buying pens, ink, paper and inkstone, which can also increase tax revenue.

In short, as long as silver is in circulation, the court can collect more and more taxes, which is a virtuous circle.

Everyone knows the benefits of sharing wealth with the people, but this benefit was never reflected in my Ming Dynasty before. The people of my Ming Dynasty were extremely poor and taxes could not be collected.

But now that the tax reform has been basically completed, the next focus is to allow the silver to circulate.

Once the employment system is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, all walks of life will have a virtuous cycle, and the court will be able to enjoy the dividends of sharing wealth with the people. "

Zhang Shikang said a lot in one breath.

He had been thinking about this matter for a long time. For example, in terms of disaster relief, he had thought of the famous work-for-relief program in later generations.

The most outrageous thing is the pit-digging campaign, which involves hiring a hundred people to dig a pit and then hiring another hundred people to fill it up.

This story may seem outrageous, but from an economic perspective, it actually created jobs for 200 people.

The employment system he mentioned also has this reason.

On the other hand, the corvee policy was indeed unreasonable.

The most basic issue is the problem of currency circulation. Before this, most of the court's silver was hidden in the cellars of the bureaucracy and gentry.

Now that the money has been concentrated in the national treasury, if it is not circulated, the economy of the Ming Dynasty will not improve. In professional terms, this is deflation.

Zhang Shikang's words made everyone fall into deep thought, and Hai Zhongqi also climbed up from the ground.

At that time, there was no systematic economics at all, and everyone was just thinking about solving problems when they occurred.

The court fell silent for a moment because of Zhang Shikang's idea, and everyone was thinking.

After a full cup of tea, the cabinet chief Li Banghua spoke first:

"My Lord, I understand what you said, but the cost of doing this is really too high.

But if the canal digging campaign you mentioned is limited to 3 million people, and you have to pay them wages and provide them with food and drink, it will cost tens of millions of taels, and it will be impossible to do it!"

"Brother Li, what do you think is the reason why I went to so much trouble to ask the Zheng family to bring so much food from overseas?" Zhang Shikang asked in return.

In those years when wars were raging everywhere and people were living in poverty, Taicang managed to accumulate millions of shi of grain, and the Zheng family also gritted their teeth and promised to deliver another 200,000 shi of grain to the court every month in the following year.

It is not the people of the Ming Dynasty who suffer; it is the people overseas who suffer.

Zhang Shikang has no time to manage overseas affairs now, but this grain and silver deposits must be used to restore Ming Dynasty's production to the maximum extent.

"It turns out that you, Shikang, had already started planning. I was wondering why you wanted to get so much food." Emperor Chongzhen said with enlightenment.

"But Your Majesty, changing the corvée system to a mercenary system is still too involved. Not only will it involve digging canals, but other areas of the court's expenses will also increase." said the Minister of Revenue Hai Zhongqi.

“Shi Kang said that if a virtuous cycle can be achieved, the court’s tax revenue will also increase significantly.

If it becomes difficult to maintain at that time, just change it.

The Marquis of Guanjun has a good plan for making money, and I think it's worth a try. "Emperor Chongzhen was bolder this time.

In fact, he didn't quite understand why he had to do this. He didn't know much about economics and didn't understand why he had to spend so much money to give money to the people.

But he was not too worried. The court had no money, and he believed that Zhang Shikang would definitely find a way to get more money. He never doubted this point.

Emperor Chongzhen said so, and other cabinet ministers also weighed it over, so Hai Zhongqi had to accept it reluctantly.

All the money was obtained by you, the Champion Marquis. I will come to you again when it is gone.

Seeing that everyone finally stopped objecting, Zhang Shikang said:

"The specific canal digging plan should be drawn up by the Ministry of Works, including where to start digging, how to connect the canals, how many civilians to recruit, etc. The Ministry of Works must give the results as soon as possible, and construction must begin immediately in the spring of next year.

I only have three points to make. First, the wages are set at one tael of silver per month, but each family is only allowed to have one laborer participate. If there is only one strong laborer in the family, he cannot be recruited."

Digging canals is hard work, and the monthly salary given to ordinary servants of wealthy families is not much, but this disaster relief is an attempt to use work as a substitute for relief, and meals are provided.

I think many people would take the initiative to participate, but trust is a big problem in the early stages. The court has never had a precedent of paying for conscripted labor.

But time will tell.

"Secondly, we must strictly supervise corruption during the construction period. Once confirmed, we will directly behead them without negotiation."

All the salaries that should be increased were increased, and Zhang Shikang’s words were also very clear: from then on, the court would have absolute zero tolerance for corruption.

He would also send factory guards to be responsible for external supervision. Go ahead and be greedy. If you dare to be greedy, I will skin you alive.

"Third, and most importantly, we need to let the people know that digging the canal may seem like the government is saving them, but it is also them saving themselves!"

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