bullyxtreme Chapter 033 Talk to the Cannon if You're Not Convinced
Chapter 033 Talk to the Cannon if You're Not Convinced
Chapter 033
Chen Ying was well aware that Emperor Chongzhen's original intention in abolishing the post station system was to save money, but he overlooked the interconnectedness of the post station system.
This decision was like cutting off a blood vessel to alleviate blood loss. In the short term, it did save about several hundred thousand taels of silver, but it was a drop in the ocean compared to the huge fiscal deficit.
Nothing changed. Because the post station system was abolished, the Ming Dynasty certainly did not pay the post station workers severance pay, thus artificially creating hundreds of thousands of unemployed and displaced people. More importantly, it weakened the frontier early warning system and accelerated the loss of communication with local areas.
From an economic perspective, the impact was even more profound. Emperor Chongzhen may not have seen the harm of abolishing the postal stations, but did the court officials truly not see it?
The answer is no. Countless people could see it, but they pretended not to, because abolishing the post stations was beneficial to them. Without the post station system, information from the imperial court would no longer flow smoothly, and their families could act with impunity and do whatever they wanted in the localities, even though local officials could send messages to the imperial court through private systems.
The problem is that the post stations are protected by post station laws. Even notorious bandits and ruthless robbers dare not touch the post station workers, because if they do, it means that everyone within a ten-mile radius of the post station will suffer.
In the mid-Ming Dynasty, there was a notorious bandit in Huguang known as "One Dragon," with three thousand henchmen. Even the government troops couldn't handle him. This man was ruthless and dared to steal any kind of money, even the tributes from princes. But he had an ironclad rule: he would avoid post station workers, even if they were just teenagers.
"Those who rob post stations shall have their entire family, including nine generations of relatives, executed without ever being pardoned."
This is an ironclad rule deeply ingrained in the hearts of the people of the Ming Dynasty. The problem is that there is no such concern when it comes to robbing and killing private messengers. Even if there are eyewitnesses, no one will report it. But when it comes to robbing and killing post station workers, the surrounding people, let alone seeing the scene, will immediately report it if anyone is near the scene before or after the incident. It is simply impossible to do it quietly.
Emperor Chongzhen inadvertently removed a crucial cornerstone, which hastened the collapse of the Ming Dynasty. More importantly, he damaged the credibility of the Ming court and fostered local corruption.
Although Emperor Tianqi decided to reject Xie Xuelong's proposal, the problem that had been troubling him remained unresolved.
He turned to Chen Ying and asked, "Bo Ying, do you think our Ming Dynasty has many officials?"
"This humble servant does not know how many officials there are in the Ming Dynasty, but in my hometown of Yongcheng, there are actually not many!"
Chen Ying continued, "Your Majesty, taking Yongcheng County as an example, Yongcheng County has a registered population of over 450,000. If we include unregistered tenants, vagrants, and merchants, the number is probably no less than 500,000. In the county government, how many officials are there? One county magistrate, one county assistant, one registrar, one clerk, and two inspectors. All in all, there are six."
"Six?"
The Tianqi Emperor didn't actually know how many officials were in a county.
Chen Ying explained, "What are these six officials in charge of? Taxes and provisions, criminal cases, public security and theft prevention, education and agricultural promotion, water conservancy projects, disaster relief... 500,000 people! Your Majesty, six people in charge of 500,000 people, do you think that's too many or too few officials?"
Apocalypse was stunned; he had never thought of it from this perspective before.
At this point, Chen Ying thought of the reasons for the fall of the Ming Dynasty in later generations. Many people believed that the fall of the Ming Dynasty was due to natural disasters and man-made calamities, which led to widespread suffering and ultimately resulted in rebellion and chaos throughout the country.
In fact, when Chen Ying was in college, his political science teacher put forward a non-mainstream view that the Ming Dynasty's demise was due to systemic problems.
Although the government, princes, and local gentry oppressed the people, causing them immense suffering, in reality, even during the so-called Kangxi and Qianlong prosperous era, the burden on ordinary people was still heavier than during the Ming Dynasty.
Even during the Chongzhen reign, the heaviest period of taxation in the Ming Dynasty, it was only three taxes and one fen and four li of silver. Of course, the tax rate in the Jiangnan region (such as Suzhou and Songjiang) was higher due to historical reasons. The tax rate on official land could reach more than 0.436 shi (about 4.36 dou) per mu, which was far higher than the national average. The three taxes plus the regular tax accounted for about three qian and four fen of silver per mu.
Of course, the additional levies imposed by local officials were illegal, much like thugs extorting protection money from the people. Although this increased the burden on the people, the problem was that even with the additional levies imposed by the officials, the people could still receive at least half of the harvest.
However, the problem is that during the Qing Dynasty, especially after the Yongzheng Emperor, the land tax was converted into poll tax, and 0.45 taels of silver were levied per mu of land. Of course, those with connections could register under the name of the Eight Banners nobles or bondservants, and enjoy tax exemption or tax reduction. In addition to the regular tax, there were also levies. The so-called "never increase in taxes" was just a word game.
So here's the question: since the burden on the people of the Ming Dynasty was lighter than that of the Qing Dynasty, why didn't the people of the Qing Dynasty rebel? Chen Ying also asked his teacher this question, but history is like a little girl who can be dressed up however you like, and the victor is king.
Peasant uprisings during the Qing Dynasty were a recurring theme throughout the entire dynasty.
It can be said that there was no year without rebellion. During the Kangxi era, Wu Sangui rebelled and almost occupied two-thirds of Jiangnan. As for Wu Sangui's reputation, it can be said that it was already infamous. So why was he still so powerful?
This wasn't because Wu Sangui had great personal charisma, but because the people were forced into a corner. They had no better choice, so even if Wu Sangui became emperor, it would be better than the Manchu Qing dynasty.
Some people may ask why local armed forces did not rebel during the Ming Dynasty. The answer is simple: because of the system. Zhu Yuanzhang, who came from humble origins, knew very well that it was normal for county officials to oppress the people. In order to prevent officials from bullying the people, he stipulated that officials should not harass the villages.
Officials were supervised by local gentry, and no matter the period, Ming Dynasty officials dared not overly oppress the common people because Zhu Yuanzhang enabled the gentry and scholars to check and balance each other.
More importantly, the Ming Dynasty reserved 30% of the money and grain for local governments to manage their affairs, but the Qing Dynasty only reserved 10%. Taking Chen Ying's supervisory bureau as an example, the wages, food and iron materials for more than a thousand workers were all provided by Sun Chuanting, the county magistrate, by using the warehouse materials of Yongcheng County Government to provide disaster relief.
In contrast, during the Qing Dynasty, local governments reserved less than 10% of their funds and grain to pay the salaries of court officials and clerks. Moreover, officials and local gentry could collude and do the same thing.
Although the Ming Dynasty had local governments and patrol offices throughout the country, after the later abolition, only 1,352 patrol offices were retained. In addition, the garrisons were not allowed to interfere with local affairs, and the garrisons and local officials were two separate systems.
The Qing Dynasty was different. In addition to more than one million Green Standard Army soldiers, there were also flood control soldiers in various places. The original purpose of the flood control soldiers was to prevent floods. 8532 flood control points were set up throughout the country, and 15 flood control soldiers were stationed at each flood control point. The so-called flood control soldiers were actually there to suppress peasant uprisings.
This flood control army was combined with the landlords' private soldiers, and its number was a mystery. Even the imperial court did not know how many there were. Whenever the local people wanted to rebel, the flood control army was the first line of defense, followed by the Green Standard Army, and then the Eight Banners Army.
It can be said that under this system, popular uprisings rarely gained momentum, unlike in the Ming Dynasty. If someone in the Ming Dynasty wanted to rely on peasants to besiege the cities, even if they occupied all the areas outside the county seat, the county officials would remain unaware.
Even if the county magistrate knew about the peasant uprising, he could only organize the militia to defend it. Not only could the county magistrate not mobilize the garrison troops, but even the prefect could not mobilize the army. By the time the county reported to the prefecture, the prefecture reported to the province, and the province then joined forces with the military command, and the Ming Dynasty's troops were mobilized, it would take anywhere from three to five days to ten days or half a month for the peasant uprising to take hold.
But the Qing Dynasty was different. The flood control soldiers were the first line of defense. If hundreds of people in a county rebelled, the flood control soldiers could suppress them. If the number exceeded a thousand, the Green Standard Army could also suppress them.
During the Kangxi era alone, more than 450 peasant uprisings occurred across the country, but unfortunately, they were all successfully suppressed by the Qing Dynasty.
The demise of the Ming Dynasty was not due to its mistreatment of the people, but rather its excessive generosity. The system established by Zhu Yuanzhang ensured that from the founding of the Ming Dynasty to its fall, the official tax rate remained at 1/30, or 3.3%. Regardless of whether it was the Wanli, Tianqi, or Chongzhen emperors, if they wanted to increase taxes, they could only do so under the guise of Liaodong tax or anti-suppression tax; the official tax rate remained unchanged.
But the Qing Dynasty's regular taxes... Take the Guangxu era as an example, farmers in the Jiangnan region had to pay 150 catties of grain per mu, which was equivalent to about 1.03 taels of silver (calculated based on the price of 1 tael and 4.6 qian of silver per shi of grain). By the thirteenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the regular taxes and miscellaneous taxes combined amounted to only a little over four dou of grain, which was equivalent to 25% of the Qing Dynasty's regular taxes, not even counting miscellaneous taxes.
In addition to the regular taxes, the Qing Dynasty often imposed additional taxes, such as fire loss (an extra one to two qian levied for every tael of silver collected) and sparrow and rat loss (calculated based on actual material losses), which may have resulted in an even higher actual burden.
However, the Qing Dynasty adopted an elite-based system of governance similar to that of the United States, completely disregarding the lives of ordinary people. They often colluded with landlords, powerful clansmen, and compradors, effectively strangling the lives of the common people.
The Tianqi Emperor frowned and said, "Since there aren't many officials, but Xie Xuelong said that the Ming Dynasty has too many officials and that redundant officials should be dismissed..."
Chen Ying smiled bitterly: "The Censor-in-Chief is in the capital, overseeing the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers, those dignified officials in their official robes. But in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, there are over 1,400 counties. How many counties are like Yongcheng? Each county has only a few officials, who have to govern hundreds of thousands of people. It's not that there are too many officials, it's that... there are too few officials."
"Then why are the salary expenses so huge?"
Chen Ying noticed Wei Zhongxian giving him a meaningful look, and he said calmly, "Your Majesty, the salaries of Ming Dynasty officials are actually not very high. It's just that our Ming Dynasty's tax revenue is too low. During the Northern Song Dynasty, from the Xining to the Yuanfeng period, the annual tax revenue reached more than 60 million strings of cash, and during the mid-Southern Song Dynasty (such as during the Chunxi period of Emperor Xiaozong), the annual tax revenue was more than 100 million strings of cash. How much is our Ming Dynasty?"
"In the first year of the Tianqi reign, land tax revenue amounted to 2149 million shi of rice and 430 million shi of wheat!"
In fact, Chen Ying knew without asking that the average tax revenue during the Tianqi era was around 26 million shi (a unit of dry measure), equivalent to between 22 million and 24 million taels of silver. By the Chongzhen era, the average tax revenue had dropped to 20 million shi, a decrease of 6 million taels of grain per year.
"Our Great Ming Dynasty, with its two capitals and thirteen provinces, is more than twice the size of the Northern Song Dynasty and more than six times the size of the Southern Song Dynasty, yet its tax revenue is only one-sixth of that of the Southern Song Dynasty!"
The Tianqi Emperor stared at Chen Ying and said, "Do you know that those officials keep saying that we shouldn't compete with the people for profit... then why was the Song Dynasty able to levy so many taxes?"
"Commercial tax!"
Chen Ying explained: "During the Song Dynasty, taxes were levied on wine, commerce, deed, and surcharges. Wine, tea, and silk from the Sichuan and Chongqing regions alone accounted for one-third of the country's tax revenue."
Wei Zhongxian secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted to levy commercial taxes on the gentry in Jiangnan. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been condemned as a treacherous villain. Wei Zhongxian knew very well how little money the common people had.
Offending those gentry would mean losing hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver from just one household. Even if he plundered an entire county, he wouldn't be able to get hundreds of thousands of taels of silver from the common people. Offending hundreds of thousands of people would make him unable to sleep soundly.
"But the Donglin Party..."
The Tianqi Emperor was furious at the thought of the Donglin Party. These big talkers were all talk and no action, but when it came to actually doing something, they were utterly useless.
"Your Majesty, why not conduct a pilot program?"
"What kind of pilot program?"
Chen Ying was not serving as a reform advisor to the Tianqi Emperor. He wanted to build a heavy industry conglomerate for the Ming Dynasty, using others to generate wealth. He carefully considered his options and said, "I will conduct a pilot project at the Shahe Garrison. If Your Majesty allows me to smelt iron, supervise the manufacture of cannons, carriages, agricultural tools, textiles, and other industries, I can get the Shahe Garrison to pay 100,000 taels of silver in taxes to the court within one year, 300,000 taels in two years, and 500,000 taels in three years."
"What? One hundred thousand taels?"
The Tianqi Emperor looked at Chen Ying with disbelief: "Boying, do you know what you're saying? The Shahe Garrison Command has a full complement of only 1,120 households. Even if you include your artisans and laborers, how many people can actually do the work? And each person has to pay seventy or eighty taels of silver in taxes every year?"
Wei Zhongxian suddenly raised his half-closed eyelids and carefully examined Chen Boying below. So far, Chen Boying's words and actions in this dialogue between the emperor and his minister have been in line with Wei Zhongxian's original intentions.
If his small Shahe Garrison Thousand-Household Office could generate 100,000 taels of silver in tax revenue, then with over 3,000 thousand-household offices nationwide, wouldn't he...? I simply can't even imagine.
"Your Majesty, I dare not speak presumptuously. The Shahe Garrison currently has a population of over 5,600, including over 300 children and 5,300 able-bodied men skilled in crafts. In ordinary garrisons, these people would be nothing more than a burden to be paid, but in my hands, they are treasures. They can smelt iron, make tools, weave cloth, and grow new crops."
Chen Ying continued, "When I was in Yongcheng, I manufactured over 27,800 iron plows. Each plow cost two taels of silver in labor time. Based on the commercial tax rate of one-fifteenth, this alone would amount to... 3,336 taels of silver in taxes. And this was only for Yongcheng, and only for the iron plows. If Your Majesty permitted me to supervise the manufacture of cannons, muskets, gunpowder, and iron smelting, I could employ at least ten thousand people within a year..."
Emperor Tianqi fell silent. He knew very well that Chen Boying wanted to use the Shahe Garrison as a pilot project to experiment with a new approach. The Ming Dynasty was now plagued by deep-seated problems, and raising taxes would only cause strong discontent among the people. However, both Liaodong and Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan were in the midst of fierce battles, requiring millions of dollars in military expenditure.
The ministers proposed countless open-source solutions, but none of them were effective.
The Tianqi Emperor looked at Chen Boying with a scrutinizing gaze: "Can he really succeed?"
Chen Ying was also a little nervous. He did this with his own selfish motives. The Ming Dynasty had many problems, and reform was not impossible, but he dared not act without absolute power.
The problem is, if he had tens of millions of taels of silver and hundreds of thousands of troops under his command, he would dare to make a move.
If you disagree, talk to the cannon.