I

The girl's body made the emperor a little nostalgic, and he was half an hour late for work.

The female officer in charge of the ceremonial department had already been waiting with the memorial in her arms. Li Xiangjun picked out a copy and placed it there: "Your Majesty, the household registration population of each province has been reported."

It is said to be a national census, but in fact it is reported based on household registration, otherwise the floating population cannot be counted at all.

Zhao Han opened it and took a look, and suddenly felt happy:

Jinling Prefecture (directly governed): 2.63 million. Beiping Prefecture (directly governed): 390,000 people.

Jiangxi Province: 9.15 million. Anhui Province: 7.04 million. Jiangsu Province: 7.78 million. Zhejiang Province: 6.41 million. Sichuan Province: 9.3 million.

Hunan Province: 6.22 million. Hubei Province: 5.33 million. Guangdong Province: 6.08 million. Guangxi Province: 3.82 million. Fujian Province: 5.94 million.

Shandong Province: 2.66 million. Henan Province: 2.45 million. Hebei Province: 1.03 million. Shanxi Province: 1.84 million. Shaanxi Province: 1.66 million.

Liaoning Province: 1.14 million. Yunnan Province: 3.02 million. Guizhou Province: 2.88 million.

Excluding children under 12 years old, the country's population totals 86.77 million, more than 20 million more than the last count.

The population of Sichuan has soared by 2.3 million. There are three main reasons: first, the recovery of southern Sichuan; second, a large number of children over the age of twelve; third, many people in the mountains have registered and settled.

Guangdong and Fujian both have an increase of more than one million, which is because a large number of ethnic minorities have settled there, and Hainan Island and Taiwan Island have also registered households with the same name. Take Hainan Island as an example. Counting the registered Li and Miao ethnic groups, the population exceeds 1.2 million.

As for Liaoning, not only Mongolia and Jurchens are included, but even Koreans are included.

Baozhou, a border area with North Korea, was also placed under the jurisdiction of Liaoning.

The population situation in Jiangxi is particularly embarrassing. Although the number of registered residents is the second in the country, many people are working as officials, doing business, or serving in the military. Moreover, young and middle-aged people continue to immigrate to the north, and there are many teenagers who have just been included in the statistical age. One-fifth of them are between the ages of 12 and 18, resulting in a shortage of rural labor force. Families with a lot of land cannot recruit tenants at all, so they can only buy them with money. foreign slaves.

The next day, there will be a court meeting.

Zhao Han smiled and announced to the officials: "The country's two prefectures and eighteen provinces have a population of 86.77 million, which is more than the previous Ming Dynasty when the population was at its highest. Thank you for your hard work, gentlemen!"

In fact, Liaoning has not yet been officially established as a province and is temporarily under the jurisdiction of Shandong, but its population statistics are separate.

"Your Majesty is working hard to govern the world with benevolence, so that all people can thrive."

"The presence of the Holy Emperor in the DPRK is a blessing to the people of China!"

"Our Datong New Dynasty has a population of nearly 90 million at the beginning of its founding. Twenty years later, there will definitely be billions of people. It will truly be a prosperous age that has never been heard of in ancient times!"

"..."

For a time, hundreds of officials sang praises, and most of them came from the bottom of their hearts.

This is China after years of wars, natural disasters, famines, and plagues. The registered population is larger than that of the Ming Dynasty in its heyday. Moreover, the population in the north is scarce. Even if nothing is done now, the population will explode if it develops. It is estimated that the population will exceed 100 million (over 12 years old) in a few years.

A prosperous time comes when there are many people. How can we prevent officials from being elated?

Zhao Han said: "Beiping Prefecture still has too few people. In the Ming Dynasty, Beijing alone had a population of one million, but now the entire Beiping Prefecture has less than 400,000 people. No matter what, 100,000 people will immigrate to Beiping Prefecture next year, and the population from the south will be The densest areas of migration.”

"I obey the decree!" The officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs came out holding the wat board.

Ai Julius and other Hanlin Academy missionaries were stunned when they heard the data. Are there so many people in Europe?

The topic of today's North Korea meeting is about the contradiction between man and land. It mainly discusses the problem that during the Han and Tang Dynasties, the Guanzhong region had a large population and a serious shortage of cultivated land per capita. For example, not long after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty came to power, he distributed royal land to the common people for farming, and then allowed the common people to move freely. A large number of farmers in Guanzhong moved to outside the Guan for cultivation.

After discussing the land system of the Tang and Song dynasties, Zhao Han finally came to the conclusion that in fifty years time, China's land will not be enough for cultivation, and it will be necessary to expand overseas. For example, Luzon has a hot climate and a long rainy season, but with careful cultivation, tropical rainforest can still be reclaimed bit by bit.

This stuff is not only told to hundreds of officials, but also published in newspapers to let the people know about it, and it is long-term indoctrination to form a consensus on overseas development.

At the end of the court meeting, Zhao Han said to Fei Chun and Wu Yingji: "You two stay and go to the cabinet together."

These two men were in charge of finance and taxation, and they jointly wrote a memorial requesting reform of the fiscal and taxation system.

Zhao Han dispersed and went to the cabinet to hold a financial meeting. Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua, Song Yingxing, Fei Chun, and Wu Yingji attended.

Zhao Han asked the three cabinet ministers: "Do you all agree?"

Li Banghua said: "I feel that the original color should not be completely eliminated. A small amount can be retained for emergencies."

In essence, they are taxable items, such as rice, wheat, and wood. Zhese means discounting items, such as silver and cloth.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the tax rate was introduced, mainly to reduce administrative pressure, and at the same time to reduce storage pressure, allowing grain taxes to be converted into silver coins and cloth to be handed over. But the scale was not large, because silver was not a currency in circulation. The currency at that time was called Ming Dynasty Baobao.

It wasn't until Zhang Juzheng's whipping technique that folded colors became the mainstream and true colors became auxiliary.

Fei Chun said: "The reason why I pursue the true color and the folded color simultaneously is because there are not enough coins in circulation, and many mountain people have never even seen money. Nowadays, countless silver and copper coins are minted every year, and a large amount of copper and silver flows in from Southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan. The people have already There is no shortage of money. Therefore, I suggest that in Jinling Prefecture and Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hui, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, and Hubei, the full-scale tax payment should be completely abolished. From now on, all taxes should be paid in silver dollars and copper coins. As for other provinces, they can pay taxes slowly. Take your time and it is expected to be gradually completed within ten years.”

Zhao Han asked: "Will Datong Bank's money and grain exchange business also be cancelled?"

Fei Chun said: "It cannot be completely abolished, otherwise the farmers will be exploited. But it must also be abolished, only part of it should be retained, and one money and grain exchange point should be left in each county. Your Majesty, there was no way before, but in the future we can fully use the money. Qianliang Bank Too much, and the salary expenses are huge. People have to be hired every time the food is collected, and the transportation of food will also cause a lot of consumption."

Wu Yingji also said: "Your Majesty, the same is true for over-taxes. True collection must be prohibited, otherwise the annual consumption will be too great."

The commercial tax of the Datong court basically continued the tax system of the Ming Dynasty, and was divided into two types: residential tax and over-tax.

Residence taxes include stall tax, landing tax, deed tax, wine and vinegar tax, collapsed house tax, etc. They are collected by local government offices and will not be handed over to the central government. They can be understood as local taxes.

Overdue taxes, such as taxes, assigned taxes, etc., need to be deported to the central government.

When collecting commercial taxes at the banknote customs, there are many different tax rates, such as one for thirty, one for fifteen, and one for ten, depending on the actual situation. When the merchants' capital turnover is limited, they will actually give you goods to sell, and they will pay taxes directly with cloth, wood and other commodities.

This has led to various banknotes having their own warehouses specifically used to stack the extracted goods - this is also called true color.

The emperor and the central government in the Ming Dynasty had repeatedly fought over taxes, and finally the Jiajing Emperor made the decision: the silver taels would be returned to the court for use in frontier military expenditures; the genuine materials would be owned by the royal family, and the emperor would use them to reward ministers (and also facilitate the royal garden construction).

Wu Yingji said: "With the elimination of the true nature of banknotes, the staff of banknotes can be reduced by one-third, and the number of employees (temporary workers) can be reduced by more than half. It can also reduce losses during storage and transportation."

Zhao Han nodded and said: "This is what we should do. From now on, both the seaport banknote checkpoint and the inland banknote checkpoint will only accept silver dollars and copper coins, and try to streamline the manpower at the banknote checkpoint."

Wu Yingji added: "All inland banknotes should be collected at the inland banknotes, which can greatly increase the speed of customs clearance and continue to reduce the number of banknotes."

Ship billing is a tax based on the tonnage of merchant ships, regardless of what kind of goods are on board.

This method of taxation benefits commodities such as cloth, spices, and jewelry, while bulky commodities such as coal and wood suffer even more.

This means that when merchant ships pass through the inland bank customs, only tolls are collected, regardless of the type and weight of the goods. The bank customs directly becomes an inland toll station.

Large-scale checkpoints are all on inland rivers, and there are also many small land-based checkpoints located on official roads in high mountains. The imperial court wanted to dredge rivers and maintain official roads, so it was reasonable to charge some tolls.

Uniform collection of tolls can improve tax collection efficiency, reduce administrative expenses, and facilitate the circulation of goods. Zhao Han discussed in detail with three cabinet ministers and agreed to the suggestion that Chaoguan only collect tolls.

As for commodity tax, the Ming Dynasty system was followed.

This is how commodity tax was collected in the Ming Dynasty. Merchants trafficking goods must obtain a business license and indicate the scope of business and trafficking location. Then pay the handling fee, apply for a commodity customs voucher (road guide), and use the customs voucher to traffic to the destination. When you arrive at the place, you cannot sell directly. You must deposit the goods in the official store to file taxes. You must also check whether the goods shipped are consistent with the customs coupons. Only after paying taxes and obtaining receipts can you be allowed to enter the market.

If there is no customs coupon, it is smuggling!

Wu Yingji added: "Since the Wanli year of the Ming Dynasty, small rural merchants and hawkers who went to the city to sell vegetables and chickens were taxed at the city gate. During the Chongzhen period, all types of commercial taxes increased by one-fifth, and additional commodity taxes were imposed There are too many to count. Although Your Majesty has banned exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, they are still collected in some remote places. Please issue another imperial edict to inform the world that ordinary people do not have to pay taxes when selling some goods."

"There are still local officials collecting exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes from Qian Ming?" Zhao Han was very surprised and angry about this.

Wu Yingji said: "This phenomenon is extremely serious in northern and southern Sichuan. It was discovered by the anti-corruption inspector. Because it mainly involves commercial tax, the truth was reported to the relevant yamen without alerting His Majesty."

Zhao Han said angrily: "Immediately draw up a decree to list all kinds of regular taxes, and classify the rest as exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes. Anyone who dares to collect them in violation of regulations is guilty of corruption and perverting the law!"

This situation also made Zhu Yuanzhang so angry that the local officials actually levied taxes on ordinary people who came to the city to sell dates.

Of course, Zhao Han is not as conscientious as Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang did not levy commodity tax on wedding and funeral items, pens, inks, paper and inkstones and other cultural items, but they are all taxed here in Zhao Han.

The six people discussed it for a full day and finally decided on the tax reform plan. As for the details, they still need to continue to discuss it.

Industrial and commercial taxes, tolls, and business taxes are all confirmed in a unified manner to remove the final obstacle to revitalizing commerce.

The money and grain exchange business of Datong Bank has also been reduced from two or three towns to one service point in each county.

National taxes and local taxes have also been subdivided again, reducing the local retention of agricultural taxes and increasing the proportion of agricultural taxes remitted to the central government. Setting up local Changpingcang is no longer a matter for local officials. The money and grain exchange offices of Datong Bank in various counties are equivalent to the Changpingcang established by the state.

Adjusting the bank's money and grain exchange business this time will definitely catch a lot of grain rats, probably enough to be beheaded.

After the tax system is adjusted, provincial governments will need to provide financial support to areas with particularly difficult financial conditions, such as impoverished mountains, to avoid not being able to pay official salaries in the future.