Since Li You arrived in the Ming Dynasty, he first copied the property of the Eight Great Masters of Shanxi, and now he has copied the property of Qian Longxi, Wen Tiren, Zu Dashou and others, and got him tens of millions of taels of silver. However, such a method can only be done occasionally, and may be able to solve the financial crisis of the Ming Dynasty in a short period of time. However, in the long run, it is necessary to adjust the current financial means of the Ming Dynasty to make the financial health of the Ming Dynasty healthy.

Since ancient times, there were only two means to solve the financial problem. Either less expenditure or increase income. After Chongzhen ascended the throne, the Donglin Party, which represented the interests of Jiangsu and Zhejiang merchants and landlords and powerful people, took advantage of the opportunity to eliminate the power of Wei Zhongxian to lure Chongzhen, who lacked political talent, to abolish or reduce the tax burden of overseas trade taxes, mining taxes, salt taxes, tea taxes and other taxes, making the source of fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty more single, all of which were suppressed by ordinary farmers, and the court's fiscal revenue was greatly reduced.

Take the tea tax as an example. The standard for collecting tea tax in the Ming Dynasty had long been established. The tax was collected for every 100 kilograms of tea, and later it increased to 1,000 kilograms of tea. This is clearly recorded in the Ming Huidian. "Officials give tea to the prefectures and counties. Whenever merchants buy tea, they pay the official and pay money to the officials. For every 1,000 kilograms of tea, they pay 100 kilograms of tea." According to this standard, tea producing places such as Jiangnan and Sichuan should pay a lot of taxes to the court every year.

However, some major tea-producing provinces collect taxes that are ridiculously low. For example, Sichuan’s taxes exceed 5 million kilograms, but the total annual income of tea levied does not exceed 20,000 taels; this is quite large. Zhejiang’s tea tax is only 6 taels, and Yunnan’s 17 taels. It is said that the tax amount is assessed using the Daming Baochao that has almost depreciated into waste paper.

The taxes that should be paid changed from tens of thousands of taels to just six taels. The Donglin Party and the merchants in Jiangsu and Zhejiang got benefits, but the lack of expenses of the court overwhelmed the poor farmers. In addition, various natural disasters at that time caused a large number of farmers to go bankrupt and formed a large number of refugees. The Ming Dynasty soon fell under the attack of refugees and Jiannu.

The gentry in Jiangnan did not get much benefit. Decades later, they were slaughtered by Jiannu who went south. The wealth they had accumulated with great effort was cheaper than Jiannu. However, they did not know whether they regretted what they did at that time. If they were more generous and provided enough military pay to the court to stop Jiannu, would their fate be better?

If death was not coming, these people would probably be reluctant to give up their money, right? Li You shook his head secretly. He had seen many businessmen like this who wanted money but had to live in so many mission worlds, and there were not only merchants in the Ming Dynasty.

Li You can underestimate their short-sightedness, but he cannot underestimate the strength they have now. The gentry of Jiangsu and Zhejiang is extremely powerful in the court and has been operating locally for hundreds of years. It has long been spreading to all classes of society. It is extremely difficult to attack them before they are ready. So Li You decided to make a long-term plan and aim at another wave of forces that have put the Ming Dynasty on a heavy burden, that is, the Ming Dynasty royal family.

In the third year of Longqing in the Ming Dynasty, the population of the royal family exceeded 18,492. In another 26 years, by the 23rd year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the population of the royal family in Yu Di had reached more than 157,000. It is estimated that by the end of the Ming Dynasty, the population of the royal family had exceeded 200,000, which was probably the fastest-growing clan in the world. As Wang Shizhen said at that time, this was also "unprecedented in the ages."

The huge number of royal families brought huge financial expenditures. The Ming system stipulated that the royal family gave the standard, the prince's salary was 10,000 stone, the prince's salary was 2,000 stone, the prince's general, 1,000 stone, the auxiliary general, 600 stone, the auxiliary general, 400 stone, the auxiliary lieutenant, 300 stone, the Fengguo lieutenant, 200 stone, the princess and the princess' consort, and the princess's consort decreased step by step.

For example, in the 31st year of Jiajing, the total national tax and grain income was 22.85 million shi, while the annual income expenditure of each royal palace reached 8.53 million shi, accounting for 37% of the national tax and grain income, becoming the largest expenditure in the country. Just supporting these royal families that were of no benefit to the court, the Ming Dynasty consumed almost 40% of the national income every year. What a terrible data! I'm afraid Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect that the problems of the royal family would develop into such a serious situation?

In addition, the royal family also occupied a large amount of land. Take the Fu King, who was loved by Emperor Wanli as an example. When he was in the vassal state, he obtained 20,000 hectares of land and attracted a thousand salts. These lands did not have to be paid taxes. The Fu Palace alone occupied so much tax-free land. How much would the entire Ming Dynasty have combined? If the gentry's duty-free land, hidden fields, monk fields, etc. were sent, how much land left to pay taxes in the Ming Dynasty? The state's taxes overwhelmed those poor people, and it would be unreasonable that they would not rebel.

In the late Ming Dynasty, many emperors also had headaches due to the problems of the royal family. They came up with various ways to reduce the money and grain of the royal family, such as stipulating that members of the royal family must register formal names in the jade letter to obtain titles and grain. However, due to the naming rules stipulated by Zhu Yuanzhang, after so many years of development, all the words that can be used were used, and many people could not find suitable characters to name themselves. The court just saved this money and grain.

In addition, the emperor also began to delay the payment of money and grain to them, and the actual amount distributed was far from the specified number, but this could not fundamentally solve the problem of the royal family.

Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that the Ming royal family would divide the feudals without tinting the soil, rank without placing the people, eat and pay without governing the affairs, and should not participate in the affairs of the four people. They would not interfere in local political and military affairs, leave their fiefdoms without authorization, do business, participate in scientific research and become officials, engage in handicrafts, and they would not be allowed to stay in the mansion to eat, sleep, and eat, and they could hardly do anything else. Zhu Yuanzhang planned to raise these people as pigs. After more than two hundred years of raising more than 200,000 wastes.

In a sense, these Ming royal families were even worse than the Eight Banners' children. At least the Eight Banners can be officials and soldiers. If they have some ambition, they can make a comedy. Except for a few strange families who use their economic strength and free time to make some contributions in art and technology, the rest of the Ming royal families have almost no deeds.
Chapter completed!