Daming: The system rejected my request for salted fish

Wei Wu's words were like a roller coaster ride for Zhu Yuanzhang.

The first few sentences made his heart sink to the bottom, but the last few sentences made him feel happy again.

After Wei Wu finished speaking, he couldn't wait to ask.

"What's the solution?"

Looking at Lao Zhu's irritable look, Wei Wu laughed in his heart.

I'm afraid I'm the only one who can make this emperor express such emotions!

Of course, although he laughed, after thinking about his words, Wei Wu immediately said:

"First, we should abolish the preferential treatment for scholars. They can be exempted from corvée labor, and the government can even provide them with a monthly subsidy."

"But the land tax cannot be exempted. Otherwise, the land will inevitably be surrendered, which will result in a reduction in national tax revenue."

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang already had some ideas about this.

What he is most concerned about now is the issue of land annexation. Fortunately, Wei Wu talked about this point next.

"Secondly, abolish the Ding tax. No, not abolish it, but combine the Ding tax with the land tax."

"In the late Ming Dynasty, there was a decree that 'the number of people recruited should be increased according to the amount of grain,' but unfortunately, the imperial power declined and this decree failed to take effect."

"The Qing emperor later used this as a basis to formulate the decree of 'dividing the land tax into acreage,' which effectively curbed the situation of land annexation."

Divide a small family into an acre?

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this word, he roughly understood what it meant from the literal meaning and Wei Wu's explanation.

I just heard about it and haven't figured out the benefits of this decree yet.

Fortunately, at this time, Wei Wu spoke again to help him solve his doubts.

"The land tax system will be implemented, ending the millennium-long poll tax in China and levying taxes based on the actual amount of land owned."

"This taxation method can effectively reduce the tax burden on people without land or with little land, and promote rapid population growth."

Wei Wu was about to continue speaking when Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly interrupted him.

"Wait a minute, Xiao Wu, what do you mean by rapidly growing population?"

Hearing this, Wei Wu smiled slightly, and then explained:

"Uncle Zhu, I know you ordered people to verify the records in the Yellow Book compiled by Hukou, but those records do not represent the actual population."

"In fact, because of the Ding tax, many people without land and income went into hiding and became hidden households."

"Once the implementation of the land-based tax system, there will be no need to pay the tax, and these hidden households will be released."

"After these extra people integrate into society, they can work and support themselves, which is beneficial to economic development."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in understanding. Indeed, in this era, population is the labor force.

Then Wei Wu continued:

"Originally, in order to avoid official prosecution, they had no choice but to hide and be oppressed by landlords as tenants for a living."

"There's no need to hide anymore. Landlords who want their fields to be cultivated must hire them with real money."

"At worst, I can still support myself by doing some manual labor, chopping wood in the mountains, or fishing in the river and selling them in the city."

After listening to what Wei Wu said, Zhu Yuanzhang gradually understood the benefits of the land tax system.

This method of taxation does have a good effect on land annexation. The more land the landlords own, the more taxes they pay.

Then they will have less desire to occupy other people's land and will not do it by any means necessary.

Without the tax-free privileges of scholars, these landlords would have to pay taxes obediently, and the tax revenue of the national treasury would be guaranteed.

This should be what Wei Wu meant by making money in the long run so that the national treasury can collect taxes.

However, thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang became more interested in ways to enrich the national treasury in the short term.

"The land tax is indeed a good idea, but it will take time to implement. Let's talk about the short-term abundance of the national treasury first!"

Upon hearing Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Wei Wu immediately laughed.

Damn it, you landlords and rich people, your hard times are about to begin.