Chapter 259: Dividing the Fields, Dividing the Land, Putting Down Roots (Part 1)

The Great Merit Arch, West Garden.

The sound of the zither rippled and flowed, melodious and graceful, like a spring breeze washing over the listener; now and then a gliding note skimmed by like a swallow skimming the water, sending up flecks of ripples.

In an octagonal pavilion, Zhu Cilang and several of his trusted confidants were listening together to Kou Baimen, whom Zheng Sen had brought along, play the zither. Among them, the two Wu men, father and son, both had faintly furrowed brows — what did that fellow Zheng mean by this? Why bring a beauty to the Great Merit Arch? Was she meant as an offering to the Thousand Years?

Just as the father and son were fretting over whether Wu Sanmei could continue to hold favor, the zither music came to an abrupt stop. Kou Baimen's expression was cool and indifferent as she gave a slight nod of courtesy.

Zhu Cilang merely waved a hand lightly, without a single word, and dismissed Kou Baimen.

Kou Baimen was indeed very beautiful, truly worthy of being called the foremost beauty of the Qinhuai, but she was not Zhu Cilang's type.

Seeing Zhu Cilang dismiss Kou Baimen so casually, the Wu father and son finally breathed a sigh of relief. Then the two exchanged a glance, and Wu Sanfu said with a smile, "Thousand Years, you've summoned all of us here today — surely it isn't just to listen to this little lady play a tune together?"

Zhu Cilang smiled. "You are all Our trusted confidants. From now on, come often to the Great Merit Arch to move about. Let us listen to songs together, watch operas, drink a little wine — in short, do not grow distant."

He then shot a look at Zhu Chunjie, the Guard Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Zhu Chunjie smiled and produced a thick account ledger. "Thousand Years, this is the property ledger of the various eunuch-faction traitor households, just compiled by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Please look it over."

"Haha." Zhu Cilang beckoned, and Huang Xiaobao hurried forward, took the ledger, and presented it to the Crown Prince with both hands.

As Zhu Cilang flipped through it, he asked, "How many gardens have been confiscated? How much ready silver and ready gold? How many mu of farmland?"

Zhu Chunjie replied, "As of yesterday, there are 128 gardens confirmed to be within the territory of Yingtian Prefecture, of which 66 are inside the city of Nanjing."

"Hahaha," Zhu Cilang laughed heartily. "Everyone seated here has a garden now!"

Zhu Chunjie added, "The gold and silver confiscated total more than 26 million taels, of which gold accounts for more than 1 million taels."

Zhu Cilang said, "Five million taels of silver and five hundred thousand taels of gold go to the Ministry; the rest will all be divided up!"

This was truly a grand gesture! Wealth worth nearly 25 million taels was thus distributed by Zhu Cilang!

Of course, these 25 million-plus taels were only a portion of the "financial assets" held by the Nanjing meritorious noble and meritorious official households. There were still more than 30 million taels in debts and shares, all of which would be stuffed into Zhu Cilang's own pocket.

Zhu Chunjie continued, "The land amounts to more than 50 million mu! Of this, the land within the Southern Metropolitan Region is no less than 28 million mu, with the rest mostly in Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Huguang. Of the 28 million mu in the Southern Metropolitan Region, about 8 million mu are military farmlands, over 4 million mu are private fields and granted fields, and the remainder, the greater part, are concealed fields."

"Haha, 16 million mu of concealed fields!" Zhu Cilang laughed. "Excellent! By the way, how much registered farmland is there in the Southern Metropolitan Region?"

"About 77.4 million mu," Zhu Chunjie answered.

"And Zhejiang?"

"About 46.7 million mu."

"Heh heh," Zhu Cilang sneered twice. "The Southern Metropolitan Region is all plains, while Zhejiang is all mountains. Moreover, the Southern Metropolitan Region is more than one and a half times the size of Zhejiang Province. Yet the registered amount is only 31 million mu more — and this is the figure surveyed during Zhang Juzheng's administration!"

The Southern Metropolitan Region corresponded to the later Jiangsu, Anhui, and Shanghai. Although Jiangsu Province at this time was not as large as in later ages — part of northern Jiangsu still lay submerged beneath the sea and had not yet silted up — no matter how one calculated it, Jiangsu's arable land was certainly greater than Zhejiang's!

As for Anhui Province, it was a major grain province with fertile fields stretching a thousand li; in later ages, Anhui Province's arable land area was more than one and a half times that of Zhejiang Province. Now the Southern Metropolitan Region, comprising the two provinces and one city of Anhui, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, had arable land only seventy to eighty percent more than Zhejiang Province alone. The ratio of concealed fields to registered farmland was probably one to one!

"Thousand Years, obtaining more than 30 million mu of land is already excellent!" Wu Xiang was grinning from ear to ear. "Even with a hundred thousand men in the new Hardship Army, ten million mu would be enough. Another five million mu to reward the meritorious officials who follow the Thousand Years would also suffice. The remaining fifteen million mu can be placed under military farming. Collecting seven dou of rent per mu would yield an income of more than ten million shi!"

Excellent my foot! Zhu Cilang sneered inwardly: There are clearly 150 million mu of land, yet the books record only a little over 70 million, and of that at least ten-some million mu are tax-exempt military farmlands. Of the remaining 60 million mu, another seventy to eighty percent consists of various gentry fields, likewise exempt from taxation.

The river rolled on, its eastward current slow and steady. Perhaps because the ill-fated Chongzhen Emperor no longer held power, this year the climate of Jiangnan was somewhat more humid than in previous years, and the flow of the Yangtze, that golden waterway spanning the waist of the Chinese land, appeared especially full, churning and surging as it flowed ever toward the sea.

Within Yingtian Prefecture in Nanjing, on the southern bank of the Yangtze, a youth dressed in a red riding jacket was galloping along the riverbank, accompanied by a large group of sturdy men likewise clad in riding jackets. Behind them followed a great host of guards. The southern bank of the Yangtze was all lush green paddy fields, and many Jiangnan farmers wearing bamboo hats were busy in the fields, some weeding, some fertilizing, carefully tending the late-season rice in the paddies.

Rice in Jiangnan was mostly grown in two seasons, divided into early rice and late rice. A superior paddy could yield as much as three shi of rice in a year! One dan in the Ming dynasty was roughly equivalent to one hundred eighty or ninety jin in later times, so three shi was over five hundred jin. And that was milled rice, not unhulled grain.

For an age without chemical fertilizer and without pesticides, such yields were really not low.

And the Ming dynasty's "heavy taxes" in Jiangnan — taking Suzhou Prefecture, where taxes were heaviest, as an example: during the Hongwu years, when tax collection was enforced most vigorously, annual tax grain revenue was between 2.7 million and 2.8 million shi, accounting for less than one-tenth of the national total. The average per-mu tax was under three dou, roughly two dou and eight sheng. With a yield of three shi of rice and a tax of under three dou, a tax rate of under ten percent — could that be called "heavy taxation"?

By the Wanli years, although Zhang Juzheng had repeatedly carried out reforms, Suzhou's land tax had still fallen considerably compared with the Hongwu years, coming to just over 2 million shi. The per-mu tax was around two dou. With a yield of three shi of rice and a tax of two dou, could this tax be considered heavy?

Of course, Suzhou's taxes, and Jiangnan's taxes, were still very heavy compared with the rest of the country. By per-mu taxation, Suzhou's land tax was about seven to eight times the national average!

From this standpoint, it was indeed heavy taxation.

But the dry fields of the Central Plains and the northwest, even before the Little Ice Age, could not produce one shi per mu (in flour); usually they yielded only a few dou. Even if exempted from tax, the income from planting one mu of northern dry field could never compare with one mu of Jiangnan paddy.

From this angle, Jiangnan's land tax was not heavy at all.

Of course, the premise for it not being heavy was that the tax burden could fall evenly across Jiangnan's land, rather than most of the land paying no tax while a small portion bore the entire tax amount. And the lush green paddies Zhu Cilang now saw had originally all been tax-exempt! Because these fields were all land owned by the Duke of Wei's household!

Zhu Cilang reined in his horse and halted at a high point, gazing at the rich fields, lost in thought. His former head guard, Wang Qi, who was now the division commander of the Central Division of the new army, spurred his horse forward and drew close to Zhu Cilang, saying in a low voice, "Thousand Years, it is getting late; we should return. Outside Nanjing the area is still not very safe, and there are still many eunuch-faction traitors at large causing trouble."

Zhu Cilang sneered. "What traitors could your Central Division not handle? Lao Qi, say no more. Today We must finish surveying this land. If it gets late, We will not return to the city. There is a villa of the Xu family nearby; We will sleep there for the night."

"Thousand Years, why must you personally attend to such an unimportant matter?"

"Unimportant?" Zhu Cilang glanced at him. "Is there any matter more important?"

There is!

Wang Qi thought to himself: You still have a throne to usurp, Tartars to guard against, the Donglin Faction to win over, and Zuo Liangyu to deal with.

Zhu Cilang said coolly, "The land here will soon be distributed to the middle and lower ranks of the Central Division. The land for the four ranks of guards, warriors, officers, and squad leaders will all be allotted in this area. Guards will receive 50 mu each, warriors 70 mu, officers 100 mu, and squad leaders 150 mu. In total, about 600,000 mu of paddy land will be distributed."

(End of Chapter)