Chapter 144 Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes
Those who have more land pay more, and those who have less land pay less.

Chongzhen did not have much objection to the abolition of the Liao salary, which would certainly have been impossible in the past.

But now, Chongzhen had tens of millions of taels of silver in his hands, and the salt merchants in Shanxi and Shaanxi were like two large silver notes, waiting for Chongzhen to take at any time. The people's millions of taels of Liao salary were now somewhat disdainful.

As for Zhang Juzheng's "One Whip Law", since he was the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he was naturally very familiar with it and of course understood that it was a very good tax system.

However, my grandfather Wanli personally abolished Zhang Juzheng's "One Whip System", which led to the fact that even though Emperor Chongzhen knew that this was a good tax system, he did not dare to use it easily.

Because this means that Chongzhen denied Wanli.

In feudal society, in the Ming Dynasty where filial piety was the rule, a grandson overturning his grandfather's decision with his own hands was somewhat unfilial and easily criticized by people all over the world.

However, Wang An laughed at this: "If the Ming Dynasty is finished, what is the point of fame?"

"Is the title of an unfilial son better than that of a king who lost his country?"

Chongzhen shuddered all over, and suddenly he felt enlightened.

Yes, if even the country is destroyed, what is the point of worrying about ridiculous filial piety and false reputation?
Needless to say, the benefits of the Single Whip System were great. It was only implemented for a few years during Zhang Juzheng's reign, but it was able to provide the court with a surplus of four million taels of silver each year.

However, there was one thing Chongzhen did not quite understand. He asked Wang An, "I know the one-whip law, but how can you tell the land tax to be paid according to the amount of land you have?"

Wang An explained: "The so-called "dividing the land tax into tertiary income" means abolishing the "capitation tax", commonly known as the head tax."

"The poll tax will be evenly distributed among the land, and no additional tax will be levied separately."

In fact, it is the same as the Liao salary. According to the population of the Ming Dynasty, the originally planned collection of ding silver will be evenly distributed among the fields in the world. In this way, without collecting additional ding silver, the original tax can be completed and the burden on the lower-class people will not be increased.

Just imagine, a landlord who owns thousands of acres of fertile land pays the same head tax as a tenant farmer who makes a living by farming for the landlord. Isn't this a heavy burden for the people?
After the land tax was distributed according to the acreage, the taxes that should have been borne by the poor peasants at the bottom of the society would be distributed to the landlords through the land.

These landlords are truly wealthy people. As long as the imperial court is determined, there will be no situation where they cannot collect money.

The poor peasants, who could not afford to pay the taxes in the first place, and many of them had their families broken up by the taxes, can now breathe a sigh of relief.

Although it was impossible to change the general environment of natural disasters and man-made calamities in the late Ming Dynasty, it at least gave the people hope, so that they would not immediately join the rebel army and rebel against the court, thus giving the court some buffer time.

When Chongzhen heard Wang An's explanation of the land tax system, he immediately slammed the table and stood up, "Brother, you are really a genius. In my opinion, this land tax system is not inferior to Zhang Yuanfu's one-whip method!"

"Hehe..." Wang An laughed awkwardly twice, feeling a little guilty.

The so-called equalization of land tax was first proposed by Huang Bing, the governor of Shandong Province in the Qing Dynasty, and was recognized and supported by Emperor Yongzheng.

It was based on the idea of ​​"never increasing taxes while the population grows", and coupled with the fact that the Qing Dynasty obtained potatoes and sweet potatoes at that time, the population grew explosively.

Wang An, feeling guilty, immediately changed the subject and said, "But if we want to maintain domestic stability, reforming taxes and reducing the burden on the people is only one of the things we need to do. The most important thing is to ensure that the people have enough food to eat."

"Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty is suffering from floods in the south and drought in the north, frequent natural disasters, and wars and banditry. If the people are hungry and displaced, even if the Ming Dynasty government exempts all taxes, it will no longer matter to them." Chongzhen nodded after hearing this, as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water on his head, and immediately calmed down and said, "So the most important thing is to make sure the people have enough food..."

However, this is the most difficult thing to do. At this time, in the northern territory of the Ming Dynasty, even if natural disasters are put aside, the man-made disasters have made it impossible for the people to even farm in peace, let alone have enough to eat.

After figuring out the key, Chongzhen hurriedly grabbed Wang An and said with sincerity in his eyes: "Brother, please teach me, what good strategy can I use to save the country?"

Wang An frowned and said, "Little brother, please don't be so ridiculous, okay?"

"We just assumed that I was the emperor, but we didn't say that you were the real emperor! How to save the country is something the emperor has to worry about. Why should I be involved in management?"

Chongzhen's face suddenly froze, and his brain worked rapidly, trying to find a good excuse to prevaricate. He had to get the good policy of governing the country out of Wang An's mouth today no matter what.

However, before Chongzhen could think of a solution, poor Wang Anbian had already shut himself up. He sighed and said, "I know you love your country, so I'll just treat it as a casual chat with you."

"Have you ever heard of sweet potatoes and potatoes?"

Then, Wang An began to talk.

The saying that the Qing Dynasty had the so-called Kangxi and Qianlong prosperous eras also became one of the important bases for many Qing fans to advocate the establishment of slavery.

But in fact, if we examine it carefully, the only manifestation of the so-called Kangxi and Qianlong prosperous era was the population explosion. However, no one cared whether the people at that time lived like animals or lived with dignity.

The reason why the Qing Dynasty was able to achieve the so-called Kangxi and Qianlong prosperous era was actually mainly due to the equalization of land tax and the popularization of sweet potatoes and potatoes. In addition, the end of the Little Ice Age enabled the people to barely maintain food and clothing, thus achieving a population explosion.

The output of sweet potatoes and potatoes can reach several thousand kilograms per mu, and can even exceed ten thousand kilograms in two seasons a year.

Compared with the main crops of the Ming Dynasty, rice and wheat, it is much higher, so the population that can be fed naturally increases exponentially.

However, few people know that sweet potatoes were introduced to China as early as the 26th year of the Wanli reign, and were already grown in small quantities along the coast of Guangdong and Fujian.

Potatoes came a few decades later, but had already appeared in coastal areas during the Chongzhen period.

However, the people of the Ming Dynasty at that time only regarded potatoes as a kind of flower and ornamental plant, and no one tried to eat them.

Wang An was also very sad that these two magical crops did not receive attention from the Ming Dynasty.

But it’s normal to think about it. After all, it’s impossible for any new thing to be promoted quickly. There is always a process from exposure to popularization.

After all, it takes farmers half a year or even a year to grow a crop from planting to harvest. Without official endorsement and vigorous promotion, no one would take the risk to try to grow a crop that has never been seen before.

It can even be said that the people at that time did not even know whether potatoes and sweet potatoes were edible or poisonous. Moreover, when they were first introduced to Daming, few people even knew about these two crops, let alone large-scale cultivation.

(End of this chapter)