Chapter 366: Pigs are fattened, aren’t they just for killing?
The cold wind howled.
Fallen leaves blew down on the ground, and Lu Cang stayed in the courtyard bored, looking at the guards on the side from time to time.
The guards on the side also looked at Lu Cang warily.
Both sides glared at each other.
The prince has been in the room for a while, but they did not receive orders from His Highness. They did not dare to enter the room easily to check the situation, and there was always a rustling sound in the room. Although they could not hear what was said clearly, they could vaguely hear it. There were some disputes.
Compared to the vigilance of his attendants, Lu Cang was obviously much more relaxed.
He wasn't worried that something would happen.
Although this is called a salt shop, it is actually a large yard with workers guarding it both inside and outside. Normally even rats cannot get in. As for whether Xia Zhibai might have a conflict with His Highness the Crown Prince, he didn't think so.
After all, Zhu Biao is the prince.
Born noble.
Who dares to argue with the prince?
And who is Brother Xia? How can he not know how to behave? Even if there are sporadic noises in the house, it is just a normal communication. But as the sounds in the house get louder, his heart becomes more and more uneasy, because Xia Zhibai If it is really serious, it seems a little difficult to hold on.
He secretly glanced inside the room a few times, and then quickly looked away as if nothing happened.
The snow in the sky has been falling more and more tightly.
There was frost in the air.
The atmosphere in the room also dropped to freezing point.
Looking at the strong Xia Zhibai and the unyielding Zhu Biao, Li Jinglong only felt that one was bigger than the other. As far as he was concerned, he thought the prince's idea was right. After all, banknotes are just a piece of waste paper. How can the court return all the money it has worked so hard to collect to the people?
And if you say it to the outside world, no one will believe it.
Paper is just paper, how can it be used as money?
There were indeed Jiaozi and Huizi in history, but they all failed in the end. Paper money was also issued in the Yuan Dynasty, but it eventually became the source of disaster for the country. A thousand birds in the forest is not as good as a bird in the hand. Xia Zhibai described it no matter how fancy it is. , no matter how beautiful the description is, it has never been proven.
It was too extravagant for the court to pay real money just to satisfy Xia Zhibai's whim.
When the atmosphere gradually dropped to freezing point, Li Jinglong took the initiative to calm down and said: "I do have some opinions on this. Although Xia Xueshi's idea is good, it is somewhat unrealistic. Nowadays, Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes are still circulating in the world, so it cannot be regarded as a breach of trust. .”
"Moreover, the people have only recognized copper coins, silver, and gold. If they are suddenly asked to use banknotes, they may not be able to accept it for a while."
"The court is somewhat short of money."
"So it is even more necessary to use this money wisely and blindly carry out these attempts. Once it fails, it will be a huge blow to the imperial court's finances, and may even lead to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty's finances, with disastrous consequences."
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"Xia Xiaoshi, it is best to be cautious in major affairs of the country."
Li Jinglong raised his hand towards Xia Zhibai.
Xia Zhibai shook his head.
He did not back down because of Li Jinglong's words, but continued to be stubborn: "In important matters of the country, we should indeed be more cautious, but we must not look forward and backward, and hesitate to move forward. Since Cao Guogong thinks that my idea is inappropriate, how dare I ask Mr. Cao Guogong, with the existing system of the Ming Dynasty, is there any way to increase the fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty in the future? ”
After saying this, Li Jinglong was stunned.
He whispered: "Increase fiscal revenue in the future?"
"This"
"There should be." Li Jinglong was a little unsure. He touched his chin and thought carefully. Although he was not old, he was well-read in scriptures and had some understanding of matters related to governing the country. After pondering for a while, , said slowly: "Today, the imperial court's fiscal revenue mainly comes from agricultural taxes and commercial taxes."
"So if you want to increase it, you can only do it from now on." "As the population increases and commodities develop, the tax the court can collect from it will also increase."
Li Jinglong expressed his opinion.
Xia Zhibai chuckled lightly and said with a bit of disappointment: "Money does not fall from the sky. The increase in population will indeed increase the income of the court, but you must not forget that the Ming Dynasty implemented light Taxes, and many places have a fixed tax system, so the money will not suddenly increase. As for the development of commodities, this is even more nonsense. What does the development of commodities have to do with the court? The Ming Dynasty cannot even collect salt and iron taxes. , do you still expect to collect other small commodity taxes? ”
"The real increase in revenue for the imperial court is actually the invisible corvee tax."
"But after reading so many books, you should be very clear. Since the Qin Dynasty, there has been a saying that 'tyranny is more fierce than tigers'. In all dynasties, people have fled to avoid the court's corvee and taxation. The most common method is , that is, committing yourself to the gentry and bringing your own land under the gentry’s account. ”
"In this way, they only need to pay a certain amount of protection fees to the gentry, but they can be exempted from the increasingly heavy taxes and levies imposed by the court."
“The more people there are, the fewer ‘common people’ are. The less money we pay, the more we pay in the end.”
"In the end, the court won't be able to collect much money."
"These extra taxes will eventually be paid to the honest and responsible people."
"The Ming Dynasty's finances left no room for it from the beginning."
"Whether it was the land 'clarification' or the tax design, the fiscal direction of the Ming Dynasty was stuck. Under the vigorous survey, all the 'cultivated fields' of the Ming Dynasty were included, even hundreds of years later All cultivated fields are included.”
“You can’t increase revenue, and you can’t reduce expenditure.”
"The last thing we can do is to abandon the 'one city' today and the 'ten cities' tomorrow, give up some things controlled by the imperial court little by little, and give up some expensive ones little by little, until we still can't maintain the expenses of the imperial court. At that time, we could only huddle in the capital and look forward to the peace and stability of the world. ”
"That's all."
Hear the words.
Zhu Biao's face turned pale.
Xia Zhibai's words were full of sarcasm and ridicule, but he heard it clearly.
Ming Dynasty's finances reached a dead end.
It's a slow death now.
Waiting for the final coffin closure!
He thought about it in his mind and tried to refute Xia Zhibai, but no matter what he thought, he couldn't find a reason to speak, because he had already mentioned what Xia Zhibai said before, and he also explained the reasons. .
"How can you be so pessimistic?" Li Jinglong frowned.
"It's not pessimism, it's objective!" Xia Zhibai corrected.
"Actually, His Majesty has given a solution today."
"What is it?" Zhu Biao looked over.
Xia Zhibai smiled mysteriously, showing a row of white teeth, and said: "Kill people and confiscate homes!"
"Since the imperial court cannot accept it, then the wealthy businessmen will be killed like pigs!"
"The pigs are fattened, aren't they just for killing?"
"The imperial court has no money, but its officials and gentry are extremely rich. As long as the imperial court finds some evidence of collusion and confiscates a batch of these officials and gentry, the imperial court will suddenly become rich, and this is what His Majesty has been doing. ”
(End of chapter)