The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 211 Establishment of the Grain Tax Bureau and Reform of the Tax System
After dealing with the Wang family's matter, Jiang Han left Cao Er with a battalion of soldiers to "escort" the Wang clan to Pingwu County, while he himself returned to the government office overnight.

With numerous military affairs to attend to, he had to immediately set up the framework of the Long'an Prefecture government.

After taking a bath, Jiang Han returned to the government office feeling refreshed.

Zhao Sheng had been waiting for a long time. Upon seeing Jiang Han return, he immediately stepped forward to report:
"General, with the manpower of the Wang family and the Li family of Jiangyou, we should be able to complete the work of surveying the land and sorting out the household registration within two months."

"I plan to distribute the first batch of land before the New Year so that the people who follow us can have a good New Year."

Jiang Han nodded in satisfaction, then posed the next question:
“After distributing the land, we should start thinking about collecting taxes and rents. We can’t keep relying on ‘recovering stolen goods to help pay taxes’ to make a living.”

“I plan to draw personnel from the military to set up a ‘Grain Tax Bureau’ specifically responsible for verifying taxes and auditing accounts.”

"How is Li Liyuan doing under you?"

Zhao Sheng no longer leads troops. As Jiang Han's territory expands, he has increasingly shifted to a civilian role, currently holding the position of Military Advisor, similar to a logistics minister.

Jiang Han was in charge of a large number of administrative affairs in the army, such as the transportation of grain and fodder, inventory management, and military equipment.

Therefore, Jiang Han also handed over all the literate and arithmetic-skilled scholars under his command to Zhao Sheng for management, which naturally included Li Liyuan.

Upon hearing Jiang Han's question, Zhao Sheng immediately replied:
“Li, the clerk, has always done a good job. He is diligent and keeps accurate accounts. He is a valuable asset.”

"The commander-in-chief is planning to use him?"

Jiang Han nodded.

He went to great lengths to prevent traitors from appearing in the army.

All important positions must be held by people he trusts.

He dared not easily appoint anyone with even the slightest blemish on their resume, fearing that these people might one day harbor wicked intentions and be turned against him.

For example, Li Liyuan, although he joined the group earlier than Zhao Sheng, Jiang Han always remained wary of him.

The reason for this lies in their background and motives.

Li Liyuan's defection to him was essentially for revenge, and his Li family had a history of conflict with him back in Yan'an Prefecture.

Therefore, Jiang Han became more cautious and refused to give Li Liyuan a more important position.

But now two or three years have passed. In these years, Li Liyuan has followed the army all the way, fighting thousands of miles, and has never made any mistakes.

Especially in dirty and tiring work such as "torturing and plundering wealthy households," they have always spared no effort and raised a lot of money and food for the army.

Jiang Han felt it was time to promote him and entrust him with important responsibilities.

He then shouted at his personal guards outside:

"Someone, go and invite Secretary Li here."

Before long, Li Liyuan strode into the hall. Upon seeing Jiang Han, he respectfully knelt down.
"General, you wanted to see me."

Jiang Han raised his hand:
"Get up. In our army, we don't stand on such formalities."

Upon hearing this, Li Liyuan slowly stood up, but still bowed and stood respectfully to the side.

Although the commander said that, he dared not actually accept it willingly.

Li Liyuan was well aware that his position in the military was rather awkward, so he always acted cautiously and conscientiously, never daring to overstep any boundaries.

Jiang Han got straight to the point:
"Li Liyuan, that's how it is."

"Now that we have our own territory and have the manpower to distribute the land, the next step is to prepare to collect taxes."

"I plan to establish a department called the 'Grain Tax Bureau' to be in charge of grain tax matters."

"Its function is similar to that of the Jin Ke of the Ministry of Revenue in the Ming Dynasty, but its specific functions need to be reformed."

"I called you here today to hear your opinion."

"After all, you once worked in the government office in Yan'an Prefecture, so you should know better than us how the grassroots tax system of the Ming Dynasty actually works."

Upon hearing this, Li Liyuan's heart stirred, realizing that the commander-in-chief was testing him.

He didn't answer immediately, but lowered his head and pondered for a long time. After sorting out his thoughts, he slowly spoke:

"I understand what you mean, Commander."

"However, I only served as a grain collection clerk back then, accompanying tax officials to the countryside. What I saw and heard may be somewhat one-sided."

"Please forgive any errors or omissions, General."

Jiang Han waved his hand:
"But it doesn't matter."

Li Liyuan nodded:

"Alright, then I will speak from my own experience."

"Around the autumn of the second year of Chongzhen's reign, I was ordered to accompany the team to collect taxes from Liaodong and traveled all over the 130 li of land under my jurisdiction."

"At that time, our group first arrived at Lijiazhuang in Fushi County."

According to the official records, the village should have had more than 130 households, but in reality, only 30 elderly and weak people remained. The rest either fled the famine or starved to death, and the fields were overgrown with weeds.

Li Liyuan's voice carried a hint of bitterness.

"However, the collection of Liaodong taxes was urgent, and the treacherous Zhang Nian gave a death order."

"According to the Lijia tax system of the Ming Dynasty, the tax burden of the more than 130 households in Lijiazhuang should be shared equally by the remaining 30 elderly and weak people."

“Tax collectors were excessively demanding, resorting to beatings and torture at every turn in order to complete their quotas.”

"In the end, all thirty elderly and weak people remaining in Lijiazhuang were forced to their deaths, and no one survived."

"Afterwards, we went to Xingzichuan again, where the people still had a surplus."

"But the tax officials who accompanied them exploited loopholes in the registration system to levy exorbitant additional taxes on firewood and arbitrarily impose levies."

"Not to mention the 'Linjian Tihu' (a type of wild vegetable), they completely plundered the farmers of Xingzichuan."

"With no food reserves left for the winter, many farmers threw themselves into wells or jumped off cliffs."

"Within a radius of 130 li, only the fields of Wangzhuang and the local gentry and wealthy families have not been taxed."

Li Liyuan recounted without reservation what he had seen and heard when he was collecting taxes in northern Shaanxi, which made Jiang Han shake his head repeatedly.

The financial collapse in the late Ming Dynasty was mainly due to the unreasonable tax system and the constantly eroding tax base.

The tax system in the Ming Dynasty was very strange. The regular tax on land was very small. What really weighed on the people were the numerous and increasingly burdensome corvée labor and levies.

These corvée labor levies were standardized into "corvée silver" or "male corvée silver" after Zhang Juzheng's reforms during the Wanli era.

The gentry class of the Ming Dynasty was exempted from paying precisely this heaviest portion of the "polder tax."

Furthermore, their regular taxes have almost ceased to be paid due to repeated exemptions by the imperial court.

This led to the systematic erosion of the Ming Dynasty's tax base.

Feudal princes, officials, and gentry enjoyed tax-exempt privileges through land donations and annexations.

Ultimately, all the burdens were shifted onto the shoulders of ordinary people who had no power or influence.

From a macro perspective, the tax system design of the Ming Dynasty had major problems.

This is a legacy left by the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang rose to power from humble beginnings and was very careful with money and grain. Based on the idea of ​​"keeping wealth among the people," he set the regular taxes very low in order to avoid burdening the people too much.

How low is it?

It's roughly the total tax revenue collected nationwide in a year, which, under normal circumstances, is just enough to cover the country's annual expenses, no more and no less.

The problem is, how can a country have good weather and abundant harvests every year?

In particular, the Ming Dynasty was plagued by frequent natural and man-made disasters.

In case of emergency, the regular tax revenue simply won't be enough.

Poverty breeds cunning, and so later emperors and officials devised many crooked ways to make money.

The worst of these is "apportionment".

Logically speaking, apportionment has existed in every dynasty and is nothing new, but the Ming Dynasty took the practice of apportionment to its extreme.

They creatively adopted the method of "living beyond their means".

Simply put, the money spent this year is first issued as IOUs, then calculated at the end of the year, and then allocated to the military commands and garrisons of various provinces, prefectures, and counties, with additional levies to be made next year.

In this way, this year's deficit can be made up next year. There will also be funds available for major events such as disaster relief and river repair.

The problem is that many things cannot be solved in a year; and new unexpected situations may arise in the new year.

The answer given by the Ming Dynasty to this question was: it doesn't matter.

This year's deficit can be doubled and made up from the people next year.

This resulted in the people of the Ming Dynasty living a harder life year after year.

Until the end of the Ming Dynasty, the three major campaigns of Wanli and the war in Liaodong completely devastated the Ming Dynasty's finances, so it had no choice but to increase the tax by three levies.

With the arrival of the Little Ice Age, this vast empire collapsed suddenly.

Furthermore, many people believe that the Jiangnan region was the main source of revenue for the Ming Dynasty, while the tax revenue of the northern provinces was not high.

However, in terms of tax revenue during the Ming Dynasty, there was a serious problem with the ratio between the South and the North.

Although the per-mu tax grain of Suzhou and Songjiang prefectures was among the highest in the country, their per-household tax grain was similar to that of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan provinces.

Even when calculated on a per-household basis, income in the north is generally higher than in the south.

(Source: "The Compilation and Research of the Wanli Accounting Records of the Ming Dynasty")
This explains why Shaanxi was teeming with rebels during the late Ming Dynasty.

Frequent natural disasters and extremely low yields per acre, yet in the end, the taxes paid are higher than anyone else's. Who can stand that?

How could the people of Shaanxi not rebel?
Therefore, for Jiang Han, establishing a professional, efficient, and fair tax agency is key to consolidating his foundation and avoiding repeating the mistakes of the Ming Dynasty.

He needs to avoid the deep-seated problems of the Ming Dynasty's tax system.

Therefore, Jiang Han plans to bring America's IRS system to this era ahead of schedule.

He had no intention of using any of those bullshit policies, such as "equalizing land tax and poll tax," "returning the tax to the public," and "officials and gentry paying taxes and performing corvée labor as one."

According to his research, these policies were all fabricated by the descendants of the Wild Boar Skin.

These policies are essentially nothing more than wild boar skins, means to enslave and exploit the Han people.

Take the "Equalization of Land Tax and Poll Tax" as an example. The descendants of Yezhupi have repeatedly claimed on various occasions that the "Equalization of Land Tax and Poll Tax" abolished the poll tax that had existed for two thousand years and was a great benevolent policy.

Based on this alone, Yongzheng could easily defeat countless Han Chinese emperors.

Strictly speaking, what Emperor Yongzheng abolished was the poll tax, not some ridiculous head tax.

Moreover, it's not that it's abolished, but rather that the burden has been shifted onto ordinary people in a different way.

The same principle applies to "the loss of firewood being returned to the public."

As for the "officials and gentry paying taxes and performing corvée labor together," it goes without saying that this thing was never formally legislated or implemented nationwide.

Jiang Han looked at Li Liyuan and stated his request:

"My idea is, first and foremost, to reduce corvée labor and abolish all exorbitant taxes and levies, so as to alleviate the burden on the people;"

"Secondly, and most importantly, all privileges must be abolished!"

"Under my rule, everyone, whether gentry or wealthy, must pay taxes; no one can be exempted."

"I plan to have you lead the team to establish this Grain Tax Bureau."

"What are your thoughts? Tell me, let's discuss it together."

After pondering for a long time, Li Liyuan also gave his opinion:
"Reporting to the Commander, I believe that, firstly, in the long run, we need to reform the tax system, optimize the tax structure, and form a 'pro-commerce and pro-agriculture' model."

"We've only ever heard of peasant uprisings, never of merchants rebelling."

"Regular taxes can temporarily follow the old practices of the Ming Dynasty, but commercial taxes must be increased significantly."

"The commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty was one-thirtieth of the total tax; it's simply unheard of!"

“I have heard that the Quanzhou Maritime Trade Office only earns 10,000 taels a year, while the wealthy families along the coast make a fortune through maritime trade.”

"Back in the Song Dynasty, maritime trade and taxes supported most of the imperial court."

"The territory of the Song Dynasty was far smaller than that of the Ming Dynasty, but its revenue and grain were ever-flowing, which was due to its maritime trade and taxes."

"Therefore, the tax system must be reformed."

Jiang Han nodded, signaling him to continue.

"Judging from the current situation, the main reason we established the Grain Tax Bureau is to prevent concealment and false reporting, and to improve the efficiency of tax collection."

"In my opinion, the problem of concealing and falsely reporting information is not only prevalent among wealthy and powerful families, but also among ordinary farmers."

"We are new here and don't know much about the situation in various places, so we need to be wary of people making false or concealed reports."

"The current task of the Grain Tax Bureau is to conduct on-site investigations and estimate the yield of the fields in order to ensure the fair collection of grain taxes."

Li Liyuan knew very well that farmers were never all simple and kind.

Some people may be under pressure to survive, so they habitually conceal information, trying to save as much as possible;
But some people are simply lacking in discipline and education, and they want to take advantage of others.

After listening, Jiang Han had already made up his mind.

"Alright, since you've thought it through, I'll hand over the Grain Tax Office to you."

"You must get the scaffolding set up for me before next spring's planting season."

"The Grain Tax Bureau is independent of other departments and is managed by me and Zhao Sheng. The accounts must be cross-checked."

"It has two departments and one battalion under it, namely, the Tax Collection Department, the Audit Department, and the Tax Police Battalion."

"The Tax Collection Office is an administrative department, headed by one person, which you will concurrently hold, and ten tax collectors under him, who are responsible for the specific collection matters."

"The Audit Office is a supervisory department, staffed with one Auditor and ten Accountants, responsible for auditing accounts and preventing internal corruption."

"Tax Police Battalion, for law enforcement agencies."

"I will assign two hundred militiamen to you to be responsible for collecting taxes, escorting money and grain ledgers, and suppressing tax resistance."

Jiang Han looked at Li Liyuan and said in a deep voice:
"Go ahead and do it this way for now. If there are any problems, report to me immediately and we will make adjustments."

Li Liyuan's spirits lifted; he knew this was the greatest trust he had ever received since joining the group.

He immediately knelt down to accept the order, his eyes filled with enthusiasm.

After seeing Li Liyuan off, Jiang Han turned to Zhao Sheng and sighed:

"Sigh, in the end, it's still a matter of not having enough manpower."

Zhao Sheng comforted him, saying:
"General, let's take it slow. We'd rather take smaller steps than make any mistakes."

"If someone with ulterior motives manages to infiltrate, we can't afford to be betrayed by an inside agent."

Jiang Han nodded:

"Then I'll have to trouble you with your help during this time."

"We're just starting out now, so we don't need to implement any six-department system."

"I think it's enough to set up two departments first: a Ministry of Revenue and a Ministry of Works."

"You will be in full charge of the Ministry of Revenue, in charge of money, grain, and civil affairs."

"The Ministry of Works is in charge of construction, military equipment, and other related matters."

"After a while, I will select some experienced artisans from the army and assign them to the Ministry of Works."

"While it's the dry season, let them repair all the water conservancy facilities within Long'an Prefecture to avoid delaying next year's spring planting."

Zhao Sheng nodded in agreement and then prepared to leave.

But Jiang Han suddenly remembered something and called him back.

"By the way, our current troop strength is still insufficient."

"After spring planting next year, I plan to send troops to Baoning Prefecture and try to take over the entire northern Sichuan."

"I plan to recruit another batch of militiamen, mainly responsible for defending the city and logistics."

"Go and call those two lads, Yu Chengye and Li Dingguo, over here."

"It's time to let them lead the troops."

(End of this chapter)