The changes in the Ming Dynasty became more and more obvious. Even the common people at the bottom of society felt the changes, changes around them.
Newspapers, banks, post offices, libraries, youth institutions, elder care homes... currency circulation, road transportation, cultural education... new terms and new things always involve the lives of ordinary people.
The She'an rebels were destroyed. It was said that several local chiefs united and surrendered, and led the Ming army to attack the stronghold and capture the city, capturing and killing leaders such as An Wei.
Liaodong has been pacified for over half a year now. I've heard that several more Mongolian tribes have naturalized in the Ming Dynasty, and the overseas Mekong Province is still recruiting immigrants. It's a great place to harvest three crops a year...
These are all major events, and their impact on ordinary people is only to enjoy peace and security. However, there are also many that concern themselves or their families.
The village had a free school, and families whose children passed the primary school graduation exam were exempt from the Ding tax.
The so-called Ding tax, also known as the head tax, was the most important type of tax in feudal dynasties besides the land tax.
During the Han Dynasty, there was a complete Ding tax system. Children started paying taxes at the age of seven, and at the age of fifteen they had to pay the same amount of taxes as adults. They were not exempted until they reached the age of fifty-six.
Considering the level of health care and life expectancy in ancient times, this Ding tax was almost paid until death.
During the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, the poll tax system was somewhat relaxed. However, in reality, Zhang Juzheng's "One Whip Law" bundled the poll tax and the land tax together, converted them into silver, and collected them together with the land tax, so it was not truly abolished.
The emperor had been eager to implement the "taxation system" for a long time. However, after repeated consideration and research, he realized that the Qing Dynasty's so-called "never increase taxes" was just a pretext.
In history, the "exorbitant taxation and extortion" in the late Ming Dynasty was due to actual difficulties and helplessness, but the root cause was the problem of "harsh taxation on farmers and lenient taxation on merchants" and the administration of officials.
In history, Ming Dynasty officials took pride in boycotting and relied on tax resistance to win the hearts of the people and cultivate their reputation, especially in the Jiangnan region, where even the heaviest taxes were discounted.
For Ming Dynasty officials, the risk of tax resistance was too low. At most, they would be dismissed and go home. But they became famous overnight, which was even better than the hype in later generations.
Officials colluded with local gentry and wealthy people, and worked together. Tax resistance and arrears became common tactics. Those who embezzled public funds for their own benefit were actually considered good officials who disobeyed orders for the people.
But starting from the third year of the Tianqi reign, these accumulated malpractices that had begun during the Xuande period were gradually eliminated by the emperor's thundering measures.
If anyone is interested, they can calculate how many officials and gentry have been severely punished, had their property confiscated, and been exiled over the years?
From the first and second-rank officials in the imperial court to the landlords and gentry in the countryside, it is not an exaggeration to say that countless heads were killed in the first one or two years.
Taxes could be collected in full, occupied and hidden land was cleared out, the bad policy of "being harsh on farmers and lenient on merchants" was gradually reversed, and the national finances were relaxed.
The more this happened, the less anxious the emperor became to implement the "dividing the poll tax into acreage." In his mind, he began to plan the surprising move of abolishing the poll tax.
However, before it was abolished, exempting the Ding tax as a means of encouraging people to receive education still had great value.
The Liao salary will no longer be levied, and there will be no need for training salary and suppression salary.
The most important thing is that under the harsh laws, the administration of officials became much cleaner, the burden on the people was not heavy, and the emperor also wanted to not show mercy all at once, but to leave some room.
Of course, the reconstruction of Liaodong, the expansion of the navy, etc., still made the court's finances not so loose. Collecting more money would not force the people to rebel.
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