Wu Zheng couldn't help but speak, "Maybe there are too many royal families, and the national treasury is already in a shortage of difficulties in carrying more than one million royal families."

Mo Zheng rarely disapproves of Wu Zheng's words. He shook his head clearly and said, "Maybe this is one of the reasons, but it is definitely not the most fundamental reason. More than one million royal families sound like a lot, but if they are placed in a population of nearly 200 million, it is not as good as one out of a hundred."

Wu argued: "But it is this royal family that is less than one hundred and one, occupying 60% of the land in the world."

Mo Zhinian shook his head and said, "I don't know where Bo Ye got the 60% or 70% of the land, but I know that at least there is no such situation in Jiangnan. If this is the case, Bo Ye thinks that the people of Jiangnan can agree? According to Lao I estimate, there are 20% to 30% of the land occupied by the vassal kings in various places."

Wu Zheng was a little stunned. The old man did have some stuff in his stomach, but Wu Zheng didn't understand. Even if the people in Jiangnan did not agree, what could it be? It was like Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng rose up?

"I have heard of it, so Mr. Mo might as well continue to talk about it."

"Yes. In my opinion, the financial difficulties of the court are that as the population and land grow, taxes will decrease. The most fundamental thing is that the taxes are collected too little."

The so-called words are not astonishing as ever, and Wu Zheng has gained some knowledge today.

In the old man's mouth, the fundamental reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty was that there were too few taxes. Isn't this a big deal in the world?

You should know that the slogan of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng's peasant uprising was to equalize the land and exempt taxes.

Wu Zheng said sarcastically: "It's a blessing that you didn't let you take charge of the cabinet, otherwise the Ming Dynasty might not be able to support the previous year."

Mo Zhinian could naturally hear the sarcasm in Wu Zheng's words.

He said calmly: "Old Master Rong Lao said it. Bo Ye must know that during the reign of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, the Forbidden City was built, the large-scale houses in Wudang Mountain, the three eunuchs were guaranteed to 7 voyages to the West, the five hundred thousand army attacked Mongolia five times, and hundreds of thousands of troops conquered Lingnan repeatedly. Among these things, one of them was taken out alone. The cost caused was far higher than the total of the tax revenue of Emperor Chongzhen, the Liao pay, the additional sects for the Liao pay, the additional sects for the local extra sects. But why did the people remain stable during the reign of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, and the people complained about the burden, but they could bear it? Why did the desire to increase taxes caused such a great opposition when Emperor Chongzhen was about to increase taxes?"

Wu Zheng was attracted by Mo Zhinian's words, which was indeed a strange thing.

Sizong Zhu Youjian was not a foolish monarch, but also had the desire to revitalize. At least from Zhu Mai, Wu Zheng obtained this confirmation that Zhu Youjian was diligent and frugal.

According to the truth, the Ming Dynasty should quickly turn the dilemma around. Why was Li Zicheng forced himself to hang himself? In the end, it took advantage of Jianlu in the north.

Mo Zhinian, who was encouraged by Wu Zheng's eyes, continued, "The most fundamental reason for the defeat of the Ming Dynasty was the loss of control of the world's taxes. The tax quota determined by Emperor Hongwu became the real reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty."

Wu Zheng asked in confusion: "Since ancient times, the court has reduced taxes, aren't it all good governance and is supported by the world?"

Mo Zhengan smiled and said, "In the tenth year of Hongwu, the emperor condemned officials of various ministries, students of the Imperial College and eunuchs inspected 178 tax departments and fixed their tax quotas, which laid the main cause of the subsequent collapse of the Ming Dynasty's financial crisis. In the eighteenth year of Hongwu, the emperor ordered the number of tax and grain courses collected in each province and prefectures to be published on stone slabs and established them in the hall of the Ministry of Revenue. In the twenty-six years, the land tax revenue reached 32.278.900 stones. Emperor Hongwu was very satisfied with this and issued an order for new land reclamation in northern provinces to never afford the law. Since then, the fixed taxes in various places have been fixed as an unwritten law. Later, although minor adjustments were occasionally made, the basic fixed quotas have never been abandoned."

"During the Yongle Dynasty, the income from agricultural taxes and grain reached an unprecedented level, 34.612.600 shi. However, the reason for its increase was not the increase in the tax quota, but the reason why Annan, as a newly acquired province, included its quota. Later, after the Ming Dynasty lost its rule over Annan, the annual income returned to less than 30 million shi."

Wu Zheng asked: "What do you mean is that the court has fixed the maximum tax quota in each province, which has made the annual income of the court fixed?"

"Yes, my uncle is wise. In other words, no matter the population increases later or the newly reclaimed land, it cannot enter the annual tax amount of the court. For the court, the difference between the tax of 10 million and 20 million people is almost negligible."

"But in the past century, hasn't anyone reported to the court for a significant increase in population and newly reclaimed land?"

"My uncle asked the idea. During the Xuande period, the landlords in Huguang, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and other places were very dissatisfied with the extra expenses attached to their land taxes by the court, so they deliberately owed taxes, so that the amount of taxes exceeded the total taxes in the local three years. For this reason, Emperor Xuande made concessions and issued an order to completely reduce taxes and grains in these areas, with tax exemptions of more than three million stones. However, this vacancies were not added to other provinces. Since then, the maximum annual income of the court has been maintained at around 27 million stones every year."

"So that's it. What you mean is that after Emperor Hongwu established the total tax amount, the court's taxes for the subsequent tax have only decreased but not increased?"

"It is precisely this reason. When local officials submitted a memorial to the court, they just wanted to restore the original amount of land acres as the current report amount, and the new acres were rarely reported. The result of this was that the tax was separated from the actual number of arable land. Since ancient times, the tax quota has never been before. No matter which dynasty of the Tang Dynasty or Song Dynasty, they have never implemented this tax policy as rigidly and rigidly as our dynasty."

"When it comes to population, the newly growing Dingkou in various places needs time to grow, which is difficult to directly help increase taxes. The excess population often becomes migrant population and it is even more difficult to impose taxes on them. Even if these populations are registered and evaluated, the local government is unwilling to report truthfully because they are worried that the increase in the number of reported population will prompt the court to readjust the local annual tax quota and increase the local tax quota from then on. At most, they readjust the per capita tax burden. Due to the increase in taxpayers, the tax burden of each household is reduced, which makes it easier to collect taxes. At the same time, local officials of the government have gained a reputation for benevolence and play a good role in their assessment in the future."

Wu Zheng probably understood it. Although he was half-believing and half-doubted about Mo Zhinian's statement that taxes were out of control and led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty, he had a new understanding of Mo Zhinian's erudition and strong memory.

It seems that this so-called Hangzhou rich businessman should be more than just a rich businessman, right?
Chapter completed!