The emperor and his ministers discussed the matter in Wenyuan Pavilion for an entire afternoon and finally finalized the Land Administration matter.
In Chongzhen's eyes, the land of the feudal dynasty had similar properties to the house he had before he traveled through time.
The common people work hard all their lives just for those few acres of land.
But the land was controlled by princes, royal family members, and wealthy landlords, who used the land to exploit the farmers all their lives.
The lower class people worked hard all their lives to own their own land, but in the end, they still couldn't afford it.
Although the middle class people did not have the worry of food, they still had many other worries. In order to prevent their land from being seized by others, they tried every possible means.
In the end...I became a tenant farmer.
Now he specializes in price-capped fields and public-rent fields for those landless tenants.
The land price and rent of the Land Bureau are the market guidance prices.
As long as the market price and rent of land are higher than the price charged by the land bureau, ordinary people will not buy or rent land from those people.
Turning to look at the Land Department.
With more people renting and buying land, does the Land Bureau have enough land?
Chongzhen also considered this issue.
The Land Bureau obtained its land through various sources. The first was abandoned fields and unused imperial farms. The second was confiscated property (this was the main source and the foundation for the long-term development of the Land Bureau!). The third was purchasing it from the market at a high price.
Have land, have money, have people, have power!
The land issue is no longer a problem.
If so, it's a human problem.
The supervisory agency is already there. Although the Jinyiwei is not very useful, it can still be used based on the current situation.
"Your Majesty, we must not rush into matters concerning the princes and royal family! The Jiangnan area is the granary of the Ming Dynasty, and it is also the most stable area now. If we rush into matters, something terrible will happen," Li Banghua reminded.
Chongzhen nodded and said, "Don't worry, I have already thought about it. In the first year, all taxes of the princes and royal family will be paid, and then all will be returned. This is called tax refund."
"Tax refund?" Three cabinet ministers and a cabinet chief looked at the emperor in unison.
"Since we are going to retreat, why should we take it back? Your Majesty, isn't this a waste of manpower and resources?" Li Banghua said without hesitation.
Wang Chengen had no time to stop him. He could only wait for Li Banghua to finish speaking and then glare at him fiercely.
The Minister of Revenue Fang Yuegong slapped his forehead excitedly: "I know!"
"What did you know?" Li Banghua looked at him with a frown.
"I know why your majesty wants a tax refund. Tax refunds are for the purpose of collecting taxes!"
This sentence made the others even more confused, but after seeing Chongzhen's smile, they knew that Fang Yuegong had guessed right.
As a new member of the cabinet, Qiu Yu knew that it was his turn to take the stage, so he asked with a shameless face: "Please explain it in detail, Minister Fang. I really don't understand."
Fang Yuegong first bowed to Chongzhen, and then said leisurely: "Think about it, everyone. If your majesty ordered the princes and royal family to pay the land tax according to the law, and claimed that the tax would be refunded after the payment, what would be their first reaction?"
"It's a lie!" Qiu Yu said immediately.
It's not his fault for being outspoken. Any normal person would think this is a scam.
The court is so short of money, is there any reason to return the money that has been collected with great difficulty?
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
Fang Yuegong chuckled, "Minister Qiu is right. No one else would believe it. But they dare not disobey the order of His Majesty, so these people will use various methods to conceal their land and pay less land tax."
Others nodded one after another. This was a common practice among vassal kings, royal family members, and nobles.
"But..." Fang Yuegong changed the subject, "In the second year, your majesty will compare the land tax they paid in the first year with the amount of land recorded in the fish scale book when they ascended the throne. If the two do not match, it will be a crime of deceiving the emperor..."
"Then these princes will be at your disposal..."
Li Banghua was stunned and looked at Chongzhen.
Chongzhen smiled and nodded, indicating that Fang Yuegong was right.
"Then...what if those princes and royal family members pay the land tax truthfully?" Li Banghua asked in disbelief.
"If the land is not much, then just ignore it. If the land is too much, I will ask the land bureau to take back some of it. As for these obedient princes and royal family members, I still have to be nicer to them!"
After these words were spoken, everyone from Li Banghua to Wang Chengen expressed praise for Chongzhen's behavior.
"Your Majesty's imperial skills have reached the pinnacle!"
"Your Majesty is highly talented and ambitious. We are far behind."
"Your Majesty, this plan not only solves the problem of land annexation, but also eases the conflicts between the princes and the royal family. It is indeed a brilliant strategy!"
"Your Majesty...is wise!" Wang Chengen didn't know many words, so when he saw others talking in a nonsensical way, he had no choice but to follow suit.
Chongzhen waved his hand at everyone's flattery and said, "I am the ruler of a country, and I have many concerns when considering things. The current chaos in the Ming Dynasty is just a superficial problem of the princes and the royal family. The real problem is not here. Just like in Liaodong, the real problem is not that we can't beat the Jiannu, but that some people don't want to fight."
After returning to the topic of Liaodong, everyone was silent for a moment.
Li Banghua asked tentatively: "Your Majesty, what do you mean by this?"
Chongzhen did not answer. After thinking for a while, he asked: "Everyone, why do you think the Jiannu were able to annex Liaoxi with only a few hundred thousand people, and then attack Liaodong, and continue to devour the territory of our Ming Dynasty?"
When the Qing army entered the pass, the total population of Manchuria was less than 300,000, and the number of troops that could be mobilized was only over 100,000. Among them, there were about 60,000 in the Eight Banners of Manchuria; 20,000 in the Eight Banners of Mongolia and Chahar; about 30,000 in the Eight Banners of Han Army; about 9,000 in the Three Shun Kings and One Shun Gong (the Three Shun Kings were Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi, and the One Shun Gong was Shen Zhixiang, the nephew of Shen Shikui, who was originally under Mao Wenlong's command); plus tens of thousands of Mongolian vassal states, the total number was no more than 140,000 or 150,000.
Of course, this is a total mobilization of troops, among which there are many old, weak, sick and disabled (all adult males of all ages in the Manchu, Eight Banners of Mongolia and Outer Mongolia are required to undertake military obligations, with the maximum age being 75 years old). Those who can be truly called elite are at most 100,000.
"Your Majesty, what you mean is that someone is harboring enemies to protect himself?" Li Banghua said after hesitating for a moment.
"Yes! This game has lasted too long, maybe ten years, maybe twenty years, or maybe even longer..."
Everyone was silent.
It took only less than twenty years for the Jianzhou Jurchens to develop from a tribe that was chased and attacked by Li Chengliang to a tribe that chased and attacked the Ming Dynasty.
Some people may say that Li Chengliang was keeping the enemy for his own benefit, but during the ten years when Nurhaci was becoming powerful, Li Chengliang was dismissed from office. When Li Chengliang was appointed as the general of Liaodong, he was already 76 years old and could not control the situation even if he wanted to.
It can be said that the ten years when Li Chengliang was away from Liaodong happened to be an important period for Nurhaci to grow and develop. Li Chengliang guarded Liaodong for nearly thirty years, stabilized the situation in Liaodong, suppressed the major tribes, and ensured the peace of the border of the Ming Dynasty for thirty years, which can be regarded as an unprecedented achievement in the Ming Dynasty in the past two hundred years.
"Forget it, let's not talk about the past. Let the past be the past! What you and I discussed today is a top secret of the court and must not be leaked."
After saying this, Chongzhen waved his sleeves and walked away.
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