Zhu Yuanzhang, who commanded the wind and rain, lived a long and arduous life.

The county magistrate was responsible for collecting land taxes from the people. He was an official outside the official system and not an official registered by the Ministry of Personnel. His salary was paid by the county magistrate himself.

The county clerk was calling out names in a loud voice, holding a register. Every time a name was called, the people would bring over their grain.

Yes, before taxation was fully unified, the basic tax in the Ming Dynasty was still in grain, not converted into silver.

Zhu Xiong Ying had learned about tax collection from historical records, but this was the first time he had actually witnessed ordinary people paying taxes.

He couldn't help but be curious.

Zhu Yuanzhang stood outside, his hands behind his back, gesturing for Zhu Xiong Ying to continue watching.

"Take a good look, take a good look at the ills of the Ming Dynasty."

Zhu Xiong Ying looked around and saw the county clerk signaling a junior official to bring up a piece of dendrobium.

Hu is a type of container. Before the Tang Dynasty, Hu was a common name for stone.

The dendrobium orchid has a hollowed-out center. When the people whose names are called are called, they bring up grain and pour it into the dendrobium orchid, so that the government can inspect the quality of the grain.

After the grain was poured into the dendrobium, a minor official rubbed his fists together, his face flushed, and rushed over from dozens of steps behind, kicking the dendrobium.

The dendrobium swayed, scattering a lot of grains on the ground.

The people felt sorry for them.

Zhu Xiong Ying looked on in astonishment: "What are they doing?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Linjian Tihu."

The fallen grain belonged to the government and was considered a loss during transportation. The people were not allowed to pick it up and could only watch it with heartache.

Zhu Xiong Ying's face showed some anger: "Isn't this making the people pay more grain taxes?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked somewhat conflicted and sighed, saying, "I once reviewed a memorial from Shandong. The local official in Linyi, Shandong, was a seventh-rank county magistrate. His sedan chair bearers were his brother-in-law and brother-in-law, and his cooks were his wife and sister-in-law."

Even with his official robes patched up, his elderly mother still had to go up the mountain to dig for wild vegetables!

"The government's salary is low, and there isn't enough money to hire too many minor officials, so this is the only way they can make a little money... Alas, it is the common people who suffer in the end."

The old man felt a sense of helpless exhaustion. Although he knew that this was exploiting the common people, the government also needed to eat. Whether it was the loss from melting silver or this kind of shredding, it was all tacitly approved by Zhu Yuanzhang.

While feeling sorry for the common people, Zhu Yuanzhang also couldn't afford to destabilize the local government.

This dilemma had been troubling Zhu Yuanzhang for a long time.

“Is there any way to stop this from happening? You’re a smart kid. When you have time, think about it with your grandpa. Let’s do something practical for the people together.”

So that's why the old man brought me here.

Zhu Xiong Ying glanced at Zhu Yuan Zhang, whose face was full of heartache and worry.

The old man's concern for ordinary people was truly ingrained in his bones. His childhood experiences made him extremely close to the people, and he genuinely treated them as his own children.

Seeing the people suffer, the old man felt more pained than anyone else.

Zhu Xiong Ying felt something. He had read historical materials before and knew that farmers who farmed the land were an exploited class, but he didn't feel it much back then.

Seeing firsthand the exploitation of the common people, Zhu Huai was still somewhat shaken.

The ways in which ordinary people are exploited are endless. First it was the gentry, and now it is the government. In the end, it is only these people at the bottom who suffer.

at the same time.

Xu Yingxu and Xu Zengshou were walking on a country path at this time.

There was a slight mishap with their tenant farmer's grain delivery, and the two brothers, having nothing better to do, went to resolve the dispute. They had just finished and were now preparing to return home.

"Second, second brother!"

Xu Zengshou suddenly stopped, abruptly pulled Xu Yingxu behind a large willow tree, causing Xu Yingxu to stumble.

"Are you fucking crazy? Are you trying to protect yourself from thieves?" Xu Yingxu said, somewhat displeased.

Xu Zengshou pointed tremblingly at the crowd ahead: "Second brother, you, you look, look carefully, am I blind? Isn't that, isn't that the guy surnamed Zhu?"

"So what if I run into him!" Xu Yingxu cursed.

"Shh! Second brother, can you help me figure this out? The old man next to Zhu Huai, is he... he... he... he... is he the emperor of our Great Ming Dynasty?"

It was springtime, the sun was shining brightly, and the countryside was incredibly beautiful.

Behind a large willow tree, as thick as a person, Xu Zengshou stared wide-eyed at what lay ahead in disbelief.

Xu Yingxu was curious and looked in the direction Xu Zengshou was pointing.

The profiles of an old man and a young man came into view.

The boy was very familiar; it was Zhu Xiong Ying. How could Xu Yingxu not recognize him?

Let's look at the elderly again.

Swish!

Xu Yingxu's face stiffened slightly, and he rubbed his eyes, just like Xu Zengshou.

next moment.

He exclaimed in surprise, "That, that, that's our Emperor!"

Xu Zengshou stood there, stunned, muttering, "I knew it, I knew this Young Master Zhu seemed so familiar before. Second Brother, do you remember fishing by the Yongding River?"

hiss!

Xu Yingxu's eyes widened suddenly, and his lips trembled as he said, "I...I remember!"

Last winter, the old man and the Duke of Xinguo were fishing by the Yongding River, with a man and a woman beside them, as well as the abbot of Tianyun Temple.

At that time, the two brothers didn't take it seriously. Quan thought that the old man was out fishing to relax, and they didn't pay much attention to the young man and woman beside him.

Now he understands everything!

No wonder I felt a sense of familiarity when I first met Zhu Xiong Ying!

Aren't these the young man and woman who were with the old man by the Yongding River?

Xu Yingxu trembled slightly and asked incredulously, "Why is Young Master Zhu standing with the old man?"

Xu Zengshou was completely stunned, pointing ahead with trembling hands and saying, "He, he even patted the old man on the shoulder?"

not far away,

Zhu Xiong Ying was patting the old man on the shoulder, serving him tea, and gesturing for Zhu Yuanzhang to drink.

"My goodness!"

Xu Zengshou was completely dumbfounded.

Who is next to Zhu Xiong Ying?

The Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, a ruthless emperor who killed without blinking an eye, not long ago he ruthlessly wiped out the entire family of Wen Yuzhang, and not long ago he slaughtered the entire family of Zheng Yong!

In the eyes of his ministers, and even any bureaucrat, the old man was absolutely a murderous and tyrannical monarch!

Even the old man's own son would probably be somewhat afraid of him, so who else would dare to do something so outrageous to Zhu Yuanzhang?

But now, Zhu Xiong Ying seems to have taken it all in stride!

"Young Master Zhu, who exactly is he?"

Xu Zengshou asked blankly.

Xu Yingxu said, "How should I know... Uh, let's go, let's go back and tell our elder brother!"

The two brothers couldn't wait to leave.

At this moment, Zhu Xiong Ying obviously did not notice the Xu brothers not far away.

He was pondering the old man's words.

If you want to completely eliminate the waste of private tax revenue, it's actually quite simple. Just like Jiaozhi, implement a single-whip reform, without distinguishing between taxes and duties, and without requiring payment in kind.

In addition to offerings to the palace from various localities, taxes were collected uniformly in silver.

It might work in Jiaozhi, but it's not practical for the entire Ming Dynasty.

If, when he first transmigrated, the old man hadn't taken him to see the hardships of ordinary people and the state of the Ming Dynasty, he could have spoken eloquently about Zhang Juzheng's Single Whip Reform.

Anyway, the policy must be good.

The problem is that, after experiencing so much, Zhu Xiong Ying has also clearly seen the current state of affairs in the Ming Dynasty.

Good policies may not necessarily suit the current national conditions.

There is no doubt that the common people are easy to govern. They will certainly implement any policies the court has.

The difficulty lies in the gentry and bureaucratic classes that have been formed over thousands of years.

These deep-rooted problems cannot be changed overnight; even Zhu Yuanzhang did not have the ability to snatch food from the tiger's mouth.

"Grandpa, do you think we can look at this from a different perspective?"

Zhu Yuanzhang casually said, "Tell me what you think, whether it's good or bad, practical or not, we'll listen."

"Speak freely and boldly."

Zhu Xiong Ying paused for a moment, organized his thoughts, and then said, "The root cause of the problem is that local officials are short of money, right?"

The old man nodded: "Yes."

Zhu Xiong Ying continued, “Local county governments need money to pay the salaries of officials who have been transferred to other provinces. The salary of a county magistrate is only a little over two hundred shi of grain per year. The taxes collected by the county government need to be sent to the national treasury, and then the Ministry of Revenue will make a budget and allocate them to the provincial administration offices. The provincial administration offices will then allocate them to the local county governments.”

"In short, there is no budget for the salaries of officials outside the county government. This money must be entirely self-sufficient for the county government."

"Therefore, they needed to find a way to reasonably deduct a portion of the tax revenue to maintain the basic expenses of the county government. Thus, the practice of 'leaving a small amount of money' came about. This money was also a guarantee that they would allocate to officials outside the county."

"So, from another perspective, if the county government doesn't need to extract grain taxes from the people to cover the salaries of officials working outside the county, does that mean they don't need to take food from the people anymore?"

Zhu Yuanzhang listened attentively, smacked his lips, and said, "That makes sense, but besides tax revenue, what other ways can the county government generate new revenue?"

The revenue of the imperial court and even local governments can be summed up in four words: "increase revenue and reduce expenditure".

It is difficult to find a way to support the local government's revenue-generating policies in light of the current situation in the Ming Dynasty.

The Hongwu Emperor was also suppressing commerce and preventing the government from participating in it, which made things even more difficult.

Even if there were local commercial taxes, that would be the responsibility of the local tax office.

The tax office was subordinate to the imperial court and had no connection with local governments, so the money did not go into the pockets of local governments.

Zhu Xiong Ying looked at Zhu Yuan Zhang, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping herself.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "Speak your mind! I know you're probably up to no good again, thinking about business, aren't you?"

Zhu Xiong Ying scratched his head and replied, "Yes and no."

"Throughout history, taxes have been collected at the city gates and on the canals. However, this meant that not only did officials line their own pockets, but merchants also had many ways to evade taxes. In the end, it was considered good if only one-tenth of the taxes were actually turned over to the state."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Xiong Ying with a sly look in his eyes, wondering what kind of nonsense the brat would come up with!

Zhu Xiong Ying continued, "Doesn't our Great Ming Dynasty have postal stations?"

“Now the post stations in various places have considerable income, and the government cannot contract out all delivery work.”

"Many goods and mail are actually transported by merchants."

Although it may be suspected of being commercially driven, it is insignificant in the face of the greater good of the people!

Zhu Yuanzhang sometimes frowned and sometimes smiled.

Zhu Xiong Ying smiled. Although he could not immediately and directly change the commercial status quo of the Ming Dynasty, this subtle influence would eventually change the thinking of the court officials.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not say anything immediately, but simply nodded calmly: "We believe this matter is feasible, but it still needs to be considered by all the officials before it can be done."

After saying this, the old man beamed with joy, looking at Zhu Xiong Ying and saying, "In any case, you have once again rendered a service to our Great Ming Dynasty."

Tell me, how would you like us to reward you?

Zhu Xiong Ying scratched his head: "It's still far from certain, and it might not even be implemented. I'll wait until it truly benefits the country and its people before I say what I want. If I say it now and the policy doesn't work out in the end, wouldn't I make a fool of myself?"

Zhu Yuanzhang chuckled and said, "You've thought things through quite thoroughly, buddy. Alright then! Let's talk about it when we get back!"

Zhu Xiong Ying and Zhu Yuan Zhang sat on the shallow grass on the edge of the field.

Zhu Yuanzhang silently noted down Zhu Xiong Ying's suggestion.

He looked at Zhu Xiong Ying with some satisfaction.

This little guy,

When we were that age, we weren't nearly as capable.

The old man's eyes were filled with satisfaction.

Then the old man pointed ahead with some emotion and said, "Grandson, do you know? When our rebel army first stormed into Yingtian City, this was a wasteland overgrown with weeds. It was nothing like the vast fields of crops we have now."

"This is Jiangnan! Such a bustling Jiangnan, backed by the nine canals of the Yangtze River, the most developed place for river and land transportation, and the place with the highest grain harvest."

"But the Yuan court managed this place in a mess. The people were displaced and no one wanted to farm. Wasteland stretched out one after another."

"The Yuan people divided people into superior and inferior classes. Among the Mongols, there were even different ranks, with Han Chinese placed in the lowest class, slaves! Haha, we're all human beings, what's this distinction of high and low, noble and base?"

"Yes, our Ming Dynasty also has social classes, but no powerful or wealthy person has ever dared to harm the common people under our noses!"

"But the Mongols were different. Han Chinese could be killed at will by the Mongols without any consequences."

"Our nation has inherited a civilization spanning thousands of years. Any ruler who betrays the Han people will perish. For thousands of years, dynasties have been proving this point. There's a saying..."

Zhu Xiong Ying replied, "Those who follow the right path receive much help, while those who stray from it receive little help."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "That's right, that's the only sensible thing Old Meng ever said in his entire life!"

Zhu Xiong Ying was speechless.

The old man has been spending too much time with the emperor. Zhu Huai knew that the current emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, hated Mencius the most, but he didn't expect that the old man would also be indifferent to Mencius.

He looked at Zhu Xiong Ying meaningfully: "The people are the root of our Great Ming Dynasty. Governing the country ultimately comes down to governing the people."

"Governing the people is an art. We're getting old, and we don't know how much longer we can govern. But seeing how capable you are, we can rest assured."

Zhu Xiong Ying hurriedly said, "Grandpa, what are you saying? You'll live a long time to come, you're not old at all!"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "Don't try to make me happy. I can feel my body getting worse day by day. I'm getting more and more sleepy now."

"I can feel that I'm almost out of energy, and I have at most five or six years left to live."

Zhu Yuanzhang was never afraid of life or death.