Chapter 180: Tax Exemption, Troop Recruitment, Land Equalization (Calling for Subscriptions, Calling for Monthly Votes)

"Thousand Years, the two prefectures of Dengzhou and Laizhou are divided below into subordinate departments, counties, and guards. There are three subordinate departments — Pingdu Department, Jiao Department, and Ninghai Department — eleven counties, and seven guard stations. At Dengzhou's water fortress there is also a Coastal Defense Regional Command. In the early years of the dynasty, the seven guards of Dengzhou and Laizhou alone could field nearly forty thousand troops at any moment! But today the seven guards have long since fallen into decay, with no soldiers or horses left — yet there are still many officials such as Guard Commanders and Chiliarchs! Every guard has basically ten or more commander households, that is, military families qualified to inherit the rank of Guard Commander. There are even more Chiliarch households! And there are also many military-register scholar-officials, among them no few great households that have produced jinshi and juren. Their roots and branches are tangled together, and they are extremely difficult to set in order.

I have been in Dengzhou less than a month and have had no way to begin. I have only repaired the walls of Dengzhou Prefecture city and the water fortress. I also recruited three thousand able-bodied men in Dengzhou city and formed them into my inspector's battalion. I further purchased three hundred serviceable matchlock muskets from Joseon, spending in all less than fifty thousand taels. The numbers are not large, but they are enough to hold Dengzhou city by relying on its natural defenses."

Su Guansheng, his face pale, sat in the pitching cabin of the Great Dragon Head and very dutifully explained the situation in Dengzhou and Laizhou to Zhu Cilang. He had served as an official in Dengzhou and Laizhou for many years and still had some foundation there, and he also had the division of troops led by Li Ruolian as backing. So he had smoothly taken over the administration of the two prefectures of Dengzhou and Laizhou.

However, the Dengzhou-Laizhou regime he led extended only down to the county level; he could not even control the seven guards.

Since the regime could not put down roots, it naturally could only rely on silver for mobilization. Zhu Cilang had earlier given Su Guansheng three hundred thousand taels, and he had used it well — spending less than fifty thousand taels to repair the city walls, recruit his inspector's battalion, and, through some channel or other, purchase three hundred muskets from Joseon. Speaking of which, it truly was shameful: these days the Japanese muskets worked, the muskets of the eastern barbarians' Han troops worked, the muskets forged in Foshan, Guangdong worked, and even the Joseon muskets worked — only the muskets issued to the Ming government troops basically did not work.

Zhu Cilang's stomach was also churning, with wave after wave of nausea. The experience of crossing the sea in a wooden boat was truly unpleasant!

He glanced again at Li Yan, who sat cross-legged on his right. This "White-Faced Young Master" had not gotten seasick; a faint smile hung on a face so handsome it was somewhat irritating, and there even seemed to be a hint of mockery in it.

No wonder Li Zicheng wanted to kill him — just looking at him is annoying! Zhu Cilang thought to himself: fortunately I am an enlightened ruler, with the capacity to tolerate others!

"Military Advisor, what do you think?" Zhu Cilang asked.

When they were at Dagu, Zhu Cilang had casually conferred on Li Yan the title of Military Advisor, which was in fact merely a nominal post.

Li Yan smiled faintly. "Governor Su is not building up Dengzhou and Laizhou — he is building up Dengzhou."

What he said was true, but it was also too blunt, and bound to give offense!

Su Guansheng's face darkened. "Building up Dengzhou and Laizhou is easier said than done! If the Military Advisor has some brilliant plan, he might as well share it with us!"

Li Yan glanced at Zhu Cilang, and the Crown Prince also smiled. "Military Advisor, if you have a good method, speak up."

Li Yan smiled. "My method is: exempt taxes, recruit troops, equalize land!"

"Hmph!" Su Guansheng gave a cold laugh. "Does the Military Advisor think he is still among the roving bandits? Why speak of equalizing land and exempting taxes?"

Li Yan shook his head. "It is not equalize-land-and-exempt-taxes, but exempt taxes, recruit troops, equalize land!"

Zhu Cilang frowned. "With an added 'recruit troops'?"

"What difference does that make?" Su Guansheng said, full of disdain.

Li Yan smiled. "There is naturally a difference!

Li Zicheng's equalize-land-and-exempt-taxes was in fact laissez-faire: he only exempted taxes and did not actually equalize land. Of course, wherever the Roving Bandit passed, the poor peasants would all refuse to pay the gentry's grain rent, and so it had something of the effect of equalizing land. But that was done spontaneously by the common people; Li the Bandit's court never used equalize-land-and-exempt-taxes to firmly grasp the population and the land. That was his greatest failure!"

"Then how is your exempt taxes, recruit troops, equalize land different?" Zhu Cilang asked.

"My exempt taxes, recruit troops, equalize land applies only to the guard stations, not to civilian fields!" Li Yan said. "That is the first point.

Second, my method is to first exempt taxes, then recruit troops, and only after recruiting troops to equalize land. Moreover, the equalization of land is not carried out spontaneously by the common people, but is implemented by the reorganized guard-station offices. Through equalizing land, the population and land within the guard-station territories will be completely brought under control.

In this way, the seven guards of Dengzhou and Laizhou will be firmly held in the hands of the Grand Marshal's Office of the Pacification Army! The seven guards should have three million mu of land and at least three hundred thousand people, with no fewer than thirty thousand able-bodied men who can take up arms!"

That sounded rather good — but could it really be done?

"Why exempt taxes first?" Zhu Cilang asked.

Li Yan said: "Exempting taxes first has two advantages. First, it weakens the finances of the guard stations. Although the guard-station land has been carved up and occupied by military officers and military-register scholar-officials, and the lower-ranking military households have all been reduced to tenant farmers, the expenses of the guard stations still fall on them.

If Thousand Years exempts the military households of the seven guards from taxes, the seven guards will have no income, and at the same time the tenant farmers of the seven guards will all be grateful for Thousand Years' benevolence."

"Hmph, I only fear the Guard Commanders below will not carry it out!"

Li Yan smiled. "Those parasites are all people whose eyes light up at the sight of money. As long as Thousand Years can make them feel there is profit in it, they will naturally carry it out."

"How?" Zhu Cilang asked again.

"By recruiting troops, of course!" Li Yan said. "Suppose the seven guards have three hundred thousand people; the able-bodied men should number thirty or forty thousand! Thousand Years can have the seven guard commanders help recruit troops — for every soldier recruited, give them ten taels of silver as commission. To get the silver, those people will certainly recruit troops for Thousand Years! And not only will they be able to recruit the able-bodied men of the seven guards of Dengzhou and Laizhou, they will also be able to recruit the bold fellows of the Dengzhou-Laizhou region. Shandong has been in chaos for years now; many stout men have taken to the hills as bandit kings or roam the jianghu, and all of them can be recruited through the local power brokers of the guard stations."

"Hmph, three or four hundred thousand taels!" Su Guansheng shook his head repeatedly. "You are certainly generous!"

"That is only given out temporarily!" Li Yan said coldly. "Once the thirty or forty thousand stout men of the seven guards of Dengzhou and Laizhou have all come to Dengzhou and belong to Thousand Years, Thousand Years can replace the officials of the seven guards and at the same time carry out land equalization. All the land seized by the commander and Chiliarch households and the military-register scholar-officials will be taken back and redistributed to those thirty or forty thousand stout men! If Thousand Years wishes to take back those four hundred thousand taels of silver as well, it would be effortless!

In this way, the seven guards of Dengzhou and Laizhou will become Thousand Years' territory! With these seven guard territories, the three departments and eleven counties of Dengzhou and Laizhou will be very easy to set in order!"

Ah.

This man is a talent!

Zhu Cilang now felt that Li Yan was not the least bit annoying — not only not annoying, but actually quite likable! No wonder Lady Hong liked him. Now even a big boy like Zhu Cilang had taken a liking to the handsome Li Yan.

The handsome Li must not go to Henan to fight a Mobile Corps Commander war and get himself killed — the great cause of the Ming dynasty's restoration still needs him!

"Governor Su," Zhu Cilang turned his head and said to Su Guansheng, "is the Military Advisor's plan feasible?"

"This..." Su Guansheng was stunned, and for a moment did not know what to say.

Li Yan's scheme was damnably brilliant, and at the same time damnably vicious. No wonder he had become a rebel!

Su Guansheng frowned. "Thousand Years, the plan is not bad, but how do we deal with the scholar-officials of the three departments and eleven counties of Dengzhou and Laizhou? Will they rebel?"

Rebel? Zhu Cilang thought to himself: if we really can pull thirty or forty thousand men from the seven guards of Dengzhou and Laizhou, my army will number sixty or seventy thousand.

If someone rebels, that would truly be wonderful!

"The scholar-officials are very easy to deal with!" Li Yan said with a smile. "Military colony land is government land to begin with; for the court to redistribute it and take control of it is entirely legitimate. But the land of civilian-register scholar-officials is civilian land, and the court has no grounds to equalize such land — otherwise the court would be no different from Li Zicheng. As for the civilian-register scholar-officials, Thousand Years need only give them a little sweetness!"

"What sweetness?" Zhu Cilang asked. "Exempt their taxes too?"

"That cannot be done." Li Yan shook his head. "Military land is exempted from taxes because it provides soldiers. On what grounds should civilian land be exempted? If all taxes were exempted, how would the court survive?"

Zhu Cilang nodded. "Li Zicheng's tax exemption was a blunder! After exempting taxes, his court had no income and his army had no pay, and could only survive by plunder. That is no long-term strategy."

Li Yan smiled. "But the Ming's method of collecting taxes is also unacceptable. It is too easy for the gentry to evade taxes, and the great grain-holding households use fraudulent registration to avoid taxation. The government can only shift the tax burden onto ordinary farming households, causing farmers to go bankrupt in great numbers and land to become ever more concentrated. The cause of the realm's great disorder lies precisely here!"

"Military Advisor," Zhu Cilang frowned, "are you advising Us to implement a policy of officials and gentry paying grain taxes like everyone else?"

Li Yan smiled. "I would not advise Thousand Years to do something that cannot be done! Moreover, Dengzhou and Laizhou are about to become the front line against the Tartars. How much tax and grain is paid is not important; what matters is that officials, gentry, and common people unite in heart to resist the enemy!

My method is: special examinations, local militia, and converting hereditary chieftainships to regular administration!"

(End of Chapter)