This undercover visit, which seemed to go fairly well, made Old Zhu quite happy. Even though it was just a cursory glance, Old Zhu genuinely felt that overall it was not bad; the country was peaceful and prosperous, and the people were living in peace and contentment.

As for a few minor issues, Lao Zhu didn't think they were significant. After all, striving for absolute perfection and flawlessness is unrealistic.

As long as it's generally good, that's obviously enough. Even a workaholic with a strong desire for control, Lao Zhu wouldn't be greedy for perfection.

Old Zhu understood this principle, and Zhu Yunying naturally understood it as well. As long as the people of the Ming Dynasty were doing well, that was enough. Although the overall situation was relatively better in Yingtian Prefecture, the capital, under the emperor's nose, and with far superior conditions compared to some remote villages, it was still a good thing.

However, Zhu Yunying felt that the Ming Dynasty was indeed quite good at the moment.

It might not be a golden age, but it could be considered a well-governed era. After all, the Ming Dynasty had only been established for a short time, and its foundation was relatively weak, which naturally meant that it needed more time to develop. Zhu Yunying had that much patience.

However, Zhu Yunying also understood that this would require more of his own efforts, as well as the joint efforts of the civil and military officials and the people of the Ming Dynasty.

In a fairly good mood, Zhu Yunying returned to the palace and naturally went about his business. Occasionally he would go out on a private visit, but that was only once in a while; he needed to remain in the palace most of the time.

Old Zhu was in a good mood and looked at Zhu Yunying, asking, "Ying'er, what are the proposed regulations for the tax system you mentioned last time?"

There are some points in history textbooks that we can learn from.

The Ming Dynasty at that time basically operated under the Two-Tax System. However, in addition to these taxes, there were also corvée labor services. These included the regular corvée labor of the village head, the equal corvée labor service, and miscellaneous corvée labor services, all of which were quite common.

Zhu Yunying did not hesitate and said to his father, "I have two ideas. One is called the Single Whip Law. Basically, it is to combine the land tax, corvée labor and other miscellaneous levies of various prefectures and counties into one, collect them in silver, and pay them based on the amount per mu."

Old Zhu paused for a moment, then saw the benefits: "If that's the case, it would probably simplify the tax system, make it easier to collect taxes, and make it harder for local officials to cheat."

"Yes, this does reduce taxation costs and increase the imperial court's tax revenue. Moreover, previously taxes and corvée labor were unrelated, but now that the corvée labor law has been unified, it will indeed save our Great Ming some trouble. The Great Ming has more and more silver, and in the future we won't just have to think about tax grain, but also gold and silver."

"Furthermore, there are indeed some land consolidations nowadays, which can help our people get rid of the land and have more ways to make a living."

After thinking carefully for a long time, Old Zhu said, "In this way, some places will not be good. As you know, there are some places that even we, as the emperor, cannot control. Furthermore, once the Single Whip Law is implemented, some corrupt officials will act recklessly, which will inevitably lead to increased corvée labor and taxes, and harassment of the people."

In this era, it was perfectly normal for imperial power not to extend to the countryside. Moreover, in some places, it was almost inevitable that officials would protect each other or have collusion of interests, and that officials and gentry would form alliances.

Zhu Yunying looked at Old Zhu and said with a smile, "I think there's another thing called 'integrating the poll tax into the land tax.' We should integrate the poll tax into the land tax and abolish the poll tax. Furthermore, we should reduce restrictions on household registration so that people can migrate freely..."

Old Zhu was about to jump up, somewhat angry, "If you do this, our household registration system will be ruined!"

Well, if the poll tax were to be converted into a land tax, it would indeed fundamentally shake the household registration system established by Zhu De.

“Grandfather, this will certainly get people moving around. But for this land tax system, we still need to find out how much land each place has and distribute the tax equally per mu. Those who have more land tax must have more land, and those who have fewer land tax must also have land. From now on, those with more land will pay more, those with less land will pay less, and those with no land will not pay.”

Upon hearing Zhu Yunying's words, Old Zhu immediately realized, "Are you planning to take drastic measures against those wealthy and powerful people?"

Zhu Yunying smiled and nodded, saying to his father, "When my grandfather was conquering the world, he certainly needed the support of those powerful gentry. After establishing his rule, he did treat them well. But now that the world is at peace, we can be tougher. Anyone who dares to bare their teeth, we'll slaughter their entire family!"

Old Zhu wasn't unhappy about his grandson's murderous words. "In that case, it's a good thing."

“Yes, the burden on poor families is lighter. But the wealthy and officials are basically in a terrible situation.” Zhu Yunying said with a smile to Old Zhu, “Officials and gentry pay taxes together, so we are not afraid of those people causing trouble.”

Old Zhu thought for a moment and said, "This 'land tax reform' seems to require officials and gentry to pay taxes, but if the common people don't have land, they can only become tenants of landlords. At that time, landlords might also want to increase the land rent."

Zhu Yunying was not surprised at all that his grandfather could think of these things, as he knew that his grandfather was a genius.

Indeed, this was the case. While the "equalization of land tax and poll tax" policy seemed to harm the interests of landlords and officials, these landlords often had other ways to address the issue. For example, at that time, they could shift the tax burden onto tenant farmers, leaving the tenant farmers still under considerable pressure.

Zhu Yunying naturally understood that the land tax reform was a good tax system, but such a policy was not necessarily perfect and still had many loopholes.

Zhu Yunying was naturally aware of this principle. He also knew that while the land tax reform seemed quite good, such a policy could not necessarily solve all the problems. It was just a reference point for Zhu Yunying.

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