I

  Chapter 627 624【Population increase and tax reform】

  The girl's body made the emperor a little reluctant, and he was half an hour late for work.

  The female officer of the Supervisor of Ceremonies had already been waiting with her memorial in her arms, and Li Xiangjun singled out one to place: "Your Majesty, the household registration population of each province has been reported."

  It is said that it is a national census, but in fact it is reported according to household registration, otherwise the floating population cannot be counted at all.

   Zhao Han opened it, and suddenly felt happy:

  Jinling Mansion (directly administered): 2.63 million. Beiping Prefecture (directly administered): 390,000 people.

  Jiangxi Province: 9.15 million. Anhui Province: 7.04 million. Jiangsu Province: 7.78 million. Zhejiang Province: 6.41 million. Sichuan Province: 9.3 million.

  Hunan Province: 6.22 million. Hubei Province: 5.33 million. Guangdong Province: 6.08 million. Guangxi Province: 3.82 million. Fujian Province: 5.94 million.

  Shandong Province: 2.66 million. Henan Province: 2.45 million. Hebei Province: 1.03 million. Shanxi Province: 1.84 million. Shaanxi Province: 1.66 million.

  Liaoning Province: 1.14 million. Yunnan Province: 3.02 million. Guizhou Province: 2.88 million.

  Excluding children under the age of 12, the total population of the country is 86.77 million, which is more than 20 million more than the previous statistics.

  The population of Sichuan has soared by 2.3 million. There are three main reasons: first, the recovery of southern Sichuan; second, a large number of children who have reached the age of twelve;

  Guangdong and Fujian have both increased by more than one million. This is because a large number of ethnic minorities have settled down, and Hainan Island and Taiwan Island have also registered households with the same name. Take Hainan Island as an example. Counting the registered Li and Miao nationalities, the population exceeds 1.2 million.

  As for Liaoning, not only Mongolia and Jurchen are counted, but even Koreans are counted.

  Baozhou, the border area of ​​North Korea, was also placed under the jurisdiction of Liaoning.

  Jiangxi's population situation is particularly embarrassing. Although the number of registered citizens is second in the country, many people are working as officials, doing business, or serving in the army. Moreover, young and middle-aged people continue to immigrate to the north, and there are many teenagers who have just been included in the statistical age, accounting for one-fifth between the ages of 12 and 18, resulting in a shortage of rural labor force. foreign slaves.

  The next day, the court meeting.

  Zhao Han smiled and announced to the officials: "The population of the two prefectures and eighteen provinces in the country is 86.77 million, which is even more than the peak population in the previous Ming Dynasty. You have worked hard!"

  Liaoning has not yet officially established a province and is temporarily under the jurisdiction of Shandong, but the population statistics are separated.

   "Your Majesty has devoted all his energy to governing the world with benevolence, so that all peoples can prosper."

   "The Holy Son of Heaven is in power, and the people of China are blessed!"

   "Our Datong New Dynasty, at the beginning of the founding of the country, has a population of nearly 90 million. Twenty years later, the number of people must be as many as trillions. It is really a prosperous age that has never been heard in ancient times!"

   "..."

  For a while, all the officials sang praises, and most of them were sincere.

   This is China after many years of wars, natural disasters, famine, and plagues. The registered population is larger than that of the heyday of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the population in the north is scarce. Even if you don’t do anything now and let it develop, the population will increase dramatically. It is estimated that the population will exceed 100 million in a few years (over 12 years old.)

  A large number of people is a prosperous age, how to keep the officials from being elated?

Zhao Han said: "There are still too few people in Beiping Prefecture. In the Ming Dynasty, Beijing alone had a population of one million, but now the entire Beiping Prefecture is less than 400,000. In any case, next year we will immigrate 100,000 people to Peiping Prefecture. most densely migrated areas."

   "I obey the order!" The officials of the household department came out holding wat boards.

  Ai Julian and other missionaries of the Imperial Academy were dumbfounded when they heard the data. Are there so many people in Europe?

  The topic of today's court meeting is to talk about the contradiction between man and earth. It mainly discusses the problem of severe shortage of cultivated land per capita due to the large population in the Guanzhong area during the Han and Tang Dynasties. For example, not long after Emperor Wu of the Han came to power, he distributed the royal land to the people for cultivation, and then allowed the people to move freely, and a large number of farmers in Guanzhong moved to outside the Guan for reclamation.

   Discussing the land system of the Tang and Song dynasties, Zhao Han finally came to a conclusion that after 50 years, China's land would definitely not be enough for cultivation, and it would be necessary to expand overseas. For example, in Luzon, although the climate is hot and the rainy season is very long, as long as you cultivate carefully, you can still reclaim the tropical rainforest little by little.

  This stuff is not only told to all officials, but also published in newspapers to let the people know, and long-term indoctrination forms a consensus on overseas development.

  After the court meeting ended, Zhao Han said to Fei Chun and Wu Yingji: "You two stay and go to the cabinet together."

  The two are in charge of finance and taxation, and they jointly wrote a memorial, requesting reform of the fiscal and taxation system.

  Zhao Han went to the cabinet to hold a financial meeting. Five people, Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua, Song Yingxing, Fei Chun, and Wu Yingji, attended.

  Zhao Han asked the three cabinet ministers: "Do you all agree?"

  Li Banghua said: "I feel that the true colors should not be completely eliminated, and a little can be kept for emergencies."

  The true nature is the taxable items, such as rice, wheat, and wood. Folding color refers to discounted items, such as silver taels and cloth.

  In the early Ming Dynasty, the discount tax appeared, mainly to reduce the administrative pressure, and at the same time reduce the storage pressure, allowing the conversion of grain taxes into silver taels and cloth handover. But the scale is not large, because silver is not a currency in circulation, and the currency at that time was called Daming Baochao.

  Until Zhang Juzheng's one whip technique, folding color became the mainstream, and true color became auxiliary.

Fei Chun said: "I am pursuing the true color and changing the color, because there are not enough coins in circulation, and many mountain people have never even seen money. Nowadays, countless silver and copper coins are minted every year, and a large amount of copper and silver flow in from Nanyang, North Korea, and Japan. There is no shortage of money. Therefore, I suggest that in Jinling Mansion and Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hui, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, and Hubei, the true nature of taxation should be completely abolished, and taxes should be paid in silver dollars and copper coins in the future. As for other provinces, it can be done slowly. Slow down, it is expected to be gradually completed within ten years."

  Zhao Han asked: "Is the money and food exchange business of Datong Bank also cancelled?"

Fei Chun said: "It cannot be completely cancelled, otherwise the farmers will be exploited. But it must also be abolished, only a part of it will be kept, and one money and grain exchange point will be left in each county. Your Majesty, there was no way to do it before, but in the future we will be able to fully use the money. Money and grain line Too much, the salary expenditure is huge, and people have to be hired every time the grain is paid, and the grain transshipment will also cause great consumption."

  Wu Yingji also said: "Your Majesty, the same is true for taxation. It is necessary to prohibit the actual collection, otherwise the annual consumption will be too great."

  The business tax of the Datong court basically continued the Ming tax system, which was divided into two types: residential tax and overtax.

  Residence taxes include door tax, land tax, deed tax, wine and vinegar tax, collapsed house tax, etc., which are collected by the local government and will not be handed over to the central government. It can be understood as a land tax.

  Taxes related to taxes, tax cuts, etc., need to be deported to the central government.

  When the customs collects commercial tax, according to the actual situation, there are various tax rates such as one for thirty draws, one for fifteen draws, and one for ten draws. When the merchants' capital turnover is not enough, they really let you pick up the goods, and pay taxes directly with commodities such as cloth and wood.

  This has led to banknotes in various places, all of which have their own warehouses, which are specially used to store the extracted goods-this is also called true color.

  The emperor and the center of the Ming Dynasty had repeatedly fought for taxes. Finally, Emperor Jiajing made a decision: the folded color and silver should be returned to the imperial court for border military expenditure;

  Wu Yingji said: "Abolishing the true character of the banknote customs, the staff of the banknote customs can be reduced by one-third, the number of employees (temporary workers) can be reduced by more than half, and the loss during storage and transshipment can also be reduced."

  Zhao Han nodded and said: "This is what should be done. From now on, regardless of the seaport or the inland bank, only silver dollars and copper coins will be accepted, and the manpower at the bank should be reduced as much as possible."

  Wu Yingji also said: "Inland banknotes, all ship material banknotes should be collected, which can greatly increase the speed of customs clearance, and can continue to reduce the number of banknote officials."

  Ship bills are taxed according to the tonnage of merchant ships, regardless of what kind of goods are on board.

  In this way of taxation, commodities such as cloth, spices, and jewelry take advantage, while bulky commodities such as coal and wood suffer even more.

  It means that when merchant ships pass through the inland Chaoguan, only tolls are charged, regardless of the type and weight of the goods, and Chaoguan directly becomes an inland toll station.

  The large bank gates are all on the inland river, and there are also many small land bank bank gates, which are located on the official roads in the mountains. The imperial court wanted to dredge rivers and maintain official roads, so it was reasonable to charge some tolls.

  Unified collection of tolls can improve tax collection efficiency, reduce administrative expenses, and facilitate commodity circulation. Zhao Han discussed in detail with the three cabinet ministers and agreed to Chaoguan's proposal to only charge tolls.

   As for the commodity tax, the system of the Ming Dynasty was followed.

  The Ming Dynasty collected commodity tax in this way. Merchants selling commodities must obtain a business license and indicate the scope of business and the location of trafficking. Then pay the handling fee, apply for a commodity customs coupon (road guide), and transport it to the destination with the customs coupon. When you arrive at the place, you can't sell it directly. You have to deposit the goods in the official store for tax declaration, and you have to check whether the goods shipped are consistent with the customs certificate. After paying the tax and obtaining the bill, you can be allowed to enter the market.

   Without closing the coupon, it is smuggling!

Wu Yingji also said: "Since the Wanli year of the Ming Dynasty, small merchants in the countryside have to be taxed at the gate of the city when they enter the city to sell vegetables and chickens. During the reign of Chongzhen, all kinds of business taxes increased by one-fifth, and the additional commodity taxes were exorbitant. There are countless. Although His Majesty has banned exorbitant taxes, some remote places are still collecting them. Please issue an imperial decree again and tell the world that there is no need to pay taxes for the small people who sell some goods."

   "Are there still magistrates collecting exorbitant taxes?" Zhao Han was very surprised and angry at this.

  Wu Yingji said: "This phenomenon is extremely serious in northern and southern Sichuan, and it was discovered by the inspectors of the Integrity Government. Because it mainly involves commercial taxation, the relevant government offices were informed of the facts, and His Majesty was not alarmed."

  Zhao Han said angrily: "Immediately draw up an edict, listing all kinds of regular taxes, and designate all the rest as exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes. Whoever dares to collect in violation of regulations will be corrupt and pervert the law!"

  This kind of situation also made Zhu Yuanzhang so angry that the local officials even collected taxes on the small people who went to the city to sell dates.

  Of course, Zhao Han is not as conscientious as Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang does not levy commodity tax on wedding and funeral items, pens, inks, papers and inkstones and other cultural items, but they are all taxed here in Zhao Han.

  The six people discussed for a full day, and finally finally decided on the tax reform plan. As for the details, we need to continue to supplement the discussion.

   Industrial and commercial tax, tolls, and business tax, all of which will be uniformly confirmed to remove the last obstacle to revitalizing business.

  The money and grain exchange business of Datong Bank has also been reduced from two or three towns to one office in each county.

  National tax and land tax are subdivided again, reducing the local retention of agricultural tax and increasing the proportion of agricultural tax deported to the central government. Setting up local Changping warehouses is no longer a matter for local officials. Datong Bank's money and grain exchange offices in counties are equivalent to the Changping warehouses established by the state.

  The adjustment of the bank's money and food exchange business this time will definitely catch a lot of food mice, and it is estimated that all of them will be beheaded.

  After the adjustment of the tax system, the provincial governments should provide financial support to areas with particularly difficult financial conditions, such as poor mountains, so as not to be unable to pay official salaries in the future.

  (end of this chapter)