In the tenth year of Jiajing, the censor Fu Hanchen called the method of "calculating the grain tax of a province and assigning labor service to that province" the "One Line Method", which was later called the "One Whip Method".

Before the Single Whip Law, taxes and labor service were separate.

In addition to paying land tax, farmers also had to pay lijia regular labor service, equal labor service and miscellaneous labor service.

The collection of land tax and miscellaneous labor was handled by the village head and the grain chief, and the collected silver and physical goods were transported by the baojia personnel.

After the whip method.

Taxes and corvée labor were simplified into one, with taxes being levied on the land and based on the acreage.

Land tax and corvée were no longer handled by village heads or grain chiefs, but were instead collected directly by local officials and paid into the treasury.

at the same time.

Except for a few areas such as Suzhou and Hangzhou where land tax was collected in kind for use by the royal family, land tax and corvee labor in other areas were all levied in the form of silver.

After Zhang Juzheng's death, all reform policies except the Single Whip Law were abolished.

besides...

Since the Tianqi period, local governments have added corvée and taxes on top of the Single Whip Law, making the Single Whip Law a mere formality.

Seeing that no one responded to Li Banghua's words, Chongzhen raised his head and asked, "This year is the seventeenth year of Chongzhen. I heard that some places have already collected taxes until the twenty-fourth year of Chongzhen. Is this true?"

All the civil and military officials in the court stammered and were unable to speak.

Whether it is unpaid payment or multiple certificates, it is their "masterpiece"!

Now when I bring up the past, I have a bad feeling.

"Your Majesty." Left Censor-in-Chief Shi Bangyao stood up and said, "After verification by the Censorate, similar situations have indeed occurred in various prefectures, states, and counties, and they are very common. As for the cause, we need to verify it with the Ministry of Revenue."

The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of money and grain, and they are the primary responsible department.

Under the gaze of everyone, the Minister of Revenue Fang Yuegong came out and bowed.

It's not that he doesn't want to avoid this problem, it's that he has no way to avoid it.

"Your Majesty, this is a long story, and I need time to explain."

Chongzhen glanced around the hall and said in a flat voice: "Minister Fang, please make it short."

Fang Yuegong bowed again, and then said, "Before Your Majesty exempts the whole country from taxes and corvee labor for one year, money and grain are scarce, and the treasury is empty."

"Faced with this situation, the imperial court began to levy three additional taxes."

"Some people's fields were damaged by disasters, and they couldn't pay the normal taxes and labor service, let alone the three taxes, so they were in arrears."

"Before the Single Whip Law, taxes and corvée were not combined into one, but were handled by the village head and grain chief. If there were vacancies among the people, the village head and grain chief could find ways to fill them."

"After the Single Whip Law, taxes were levied on the land, based on the acreage, and collected directly by local officials and paid into the treasury. When there was a shortfall, officials could only find ways to increase the levy in order to complete the court's tasks."

"Generally speaking, the arrears occurred first, and officials had to collect more in order to complete the court's tasks."

"That's pretty much it."

After Fang Yuegong finished speaking, he walked back to his seat.

"Is that so?" Chongzhen asked the Left Censor-in-Chief Shi Bangyao.

"Your Majesty, what Minister Fang said is true." Shi Bangyao raised his eyes, "But as far as I know, there are two types of people who owe payments. One is the poor common people, and the other is the wealthy gentry."

"Although the gentry were rich, they tried every possible way to evade the imperial court's taxes. So they bribed local officials to exempt them from paying taxes. As more gentry evaded taxes, the gap in the tax bill became larger. In order to complete the imperial court's tasks, the officials had no choice but to impose additional taxes on the people."

"If the tax collected this year is not enough for next year, then the tax collected the year after will be increased. Over time, some places have seen the situation where the tax collected for 24 years is collected for 12 years of our dynasty."

After Shi Bangyao finished speaking, the entire Qianqing Palace became unusually quiet.

His words were very insightful and pointed out the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty.

Everyone knew what was going on, but no one dared to say it out loud.

Because in the face of taxation, all problems are not problems.

Without taxes, the treasury would have no income.

The royal expenses, officials' salaries, soldiers' weapons, and monthly pay were all gone.

How can this court continue to function?

Chongzhen said in a long voice: "That is to say, at the beginning, some people could not survive because of the disaster; no matter what the reason for the increase in taxes, as long as the taxes are increased, the consequence is that more and more people can't survive."

"Is it right?"

"Your Majesty, yes." Shi Bangyao said respectfully.

After the problem was made clear, the ministers were not as repressed as before. They exchanged their thoughts with each other through eye contact in private.

Chongzhen was not idle either. He stared at the Minister of Rites Qiu Yu.

Half reminder, half coercion.

Qiu Yu was a little stunned by Chongzhen's stare, and hurriedly stood up and said: "In this case, why not take advantage of this disaster relief opportunity to collect the unpaid taxes and return the overpaid taxes?"

"I second the motion."

"I second this motion."

Several repeaters nearby started a new round of repeating work.

Fang Yuegong rolled his eyes at Qiu Yu. He was in a very bad mood because he had just been confronted by Shi Bangyao.

Of course he knew that the gentry also owed taxes.

It was not easy to explain directly in front of so many people. I wanted to explain to the emperor privately after the court meeting, but Shi Bangyao interrupted me.

Seeing Qiu Yu's attack, Fang Yuegong immediately counterattacked: "Minister Qiu, what you said is wrong!"

"This matter is not as simple as imagined. It is easy to refund the overpaid taxes, but it is much more difficult to collect the overdue taxes!"

Qiu Yu looked unconvinced: "What's so difficult about it? Those who don't pay will be thrown into jail and caned according to Ming Dynasty law. I don't believe they won't pay."

Fang Yuegong asked back: "What about those who don't have money?"

"Of course those who don't have money don't have to pay for the time being, because they don't have money!"

"According to Minister Qiu's words, being rich is a crime?" Fang Yuegong had something else in his words.

"What do you mean?" Qiu Yu is younger than Fang Yuegong. He took a step forward and stood in front of Fang Yuegong, as if he was going to hit him.

Fang Yuegong smiled calmly: "I don't mean anything. As the saying goes, it's not the lack of food that is worrying, but the inequality of food. Since we have to collect taxes, we must treat everyone equally. It's not the gentry's fault that the people's grain production has decreased. The gentry are just following the example of the poor people and not paying taxes."

"Why don't the common people have to be punished, but the gentry have to be punished?"

Qiu Yu was stunned. After thinking quickly, he replied, "Then lock them all up and torture them."

Fang Yuegong gave Qiu Yu a thumbs up and said, "Minister Qiu is indeed a man of great talent!"

(The thumbs-up gesture to express praise began in the Han Dynasty.)

Before Qiu Yu could understand, Fang Yuegong continued, "Originally, those poor people could still earn money by doing long-term or short-term jobs to supplement their family income, or even pay taxes."

"Now, after being imprisoned and tortured by Minister Qiu, I am completely useless. Not only can I not make money, but I need to buy medicine to heal my wounds and have someone take care of me."

"Minister Qiu is truly a genius of the time and a pillar of the country!"

"Fang admires me! I admire me!"