Chapter 838: The Royal Army Has Come Again (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

In Chapter 830 of the main text of *Saving the Great Ming* — The Great Ming Has Come, No Grain Levies? A three-year tax exemption or anything of that sort was not something Shi Kefa, Zuo Maodi, and Zhang Huangyan could decide on their own. The only ones who could remit the imperial grain levies were the Emperor and the Roving King. The Roving King Li Zicheng was already dead, and even if he were not, he had no say in the affairs of the Central Plain. So the matter could only be decided by the present Son of Heaven of the Great Ming, His Majesty the Emperor Zhu Cilang.

Shi Kefa was burdened with military affairs and could not be in two places at once. Zuo Maodi had to dispatch temporary county magistrates and county lieutenants to the three prefectures of Jibei, the Eastern Depot, and Western Yanzhou, and could not get away for the time being. So Zhang Huangyan rode at full speed to Xuzhou, and on the tenth day of the tenth month he ascended Yunlong Mountain and was received in audience by the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming.

When he went up the mountain for the audience, Zhu Cilang was in the middle of discussing with his new favorite, Xu Erlin, just what God was. The Xu family of Shanghai was a Catholic family of several generations. Although Xu Erlin had not been baptized, she had been steeped in it since childhood and firmly believed in the existence of the Creator.

And given Zhu Cilang's own experiences, it was of course impossible to ask him to believe in "atheism." So he too believed in the existence of a "Heavenly Principle"... and he also believed in the Mandate of Heaven!

Because he himself was one who possessed the Mandate of Heaven!

Anyone who had gone through what he had would surely believe that the "manifest destiny" had already fallen upon him, would they not?

Apart from their shared faith — they both believed in Heaven but not in any church — the two of them also had much common ground in philosophy, mathematics, and the natural sciences.

Because she had received a half-Chinese, half-Western home education from childhood and was herself extremely intelligent, Xu Erlin at her young age already had the makings of a top-tier scholar, and she also made Emperor Zhu see in her the shadow of his first love... and she even resembled her somewhat — the same curved brows, large eyes, straight nose, small cherry lips, fair skin, and when she smiled two little dimples appeared on her cheeks. She was just a bit too slender, somewhat like a girl who had overdone her dieting.

"Xiaolin, withdraw for a moment," Zhu Cilang said with a smile to Xu Erlin after receiving word from Huang Xiaobao. "Once We have finished seeing Li Yan and Zhang Huangyan, we shall go riding together... You are too frail; more exercise will do you good."

"Then this concubine shall take her leave first." Xu Erlin rose, performed a smiling curtsy of blessing, and then drifted gracefully away.

Zhu Cilang watched the girl's departing figure, smiled faintly, and then said to Huang Xiaobao, "Summon Li Yan and Zhang Huangyan!"

"Aye!"

"A three-year tax exemption? And you have even composed a song? How does it go?"

"Your Majesty, it goes like this: At dawn I beg for a pint, at dusk for a gill; of late the poor man can scarce stay alive. Open your gates early and welcome the Great Ming; young and old alike shall be made to rejoice. Slaughter the cattle and sheep, prepare the wine; open the city gates and welcome the Great Ming; when the Great Ming comes, no grain levies shall be paid..."

The one singing to Zhu Cilang was Li Yan. It sounded a bit like Henan bangzi opera, and the lyrics... were very familiar! Zhu Cilang thought to himself: This "Welcoming the Roving King" has been covered who knows how many times already! He wondered whether in the future it would be accompanied by shamisen or violin.

"Enough, enough..." Zhu Cilang waved his hand, then asked Zhang Huangyan, "Do Shi Kefa and Zuo Maodi both support this?"

"Your Majesty, neither of them has any objection."

"No grain levies..." Zhu Cilang asked, "Does that mean no imperial grain levies, no gentry grain levies, or no levies of any kind?"

"None of any kind," Zhang Huangyan said.

Zhu Cilang asked again, "Then... how are the expenses of the government offices in the three prefectures of Jibei, Western Yanzhou, and the Eastern Depot to be met? The three prefectures contain several dozen counties, do they not? How many officials and clerks does each county require? How much will it all cost?"

"The court will probably have to subsidize them!" Zhang Huangyan said.

So it would be a loss... Emperor Zhu detested losing money above all things!

"How much will be lost?" Zhu Cilang thought for a moment, then asked, "And how is it to be earned back?"

Earned back?

Both Li Yan and Zhang Huangyan could not help frowning.

"Your Majesty," Zhang Huangyan said, "if we can drive the eastern barbarians out of the Central Land, we will already have profited!"

Li Yan also said, "Henan and Shandong have suffered flood, drought, and war disaster in unbroken succession. The common people are as if plunged into fire and water, and their suffering is unbearable! Your Majesty is a benevolent sovereign — could you not show them a measure of compassion?"

Why is Henan in this too? Emperor Zhu thought to himself: You, Li Yan, certainly have not forgotten your hometown folk! Back when We were squeezing the Four Rivers, Two Lakes, Fujian, and Guangdong, you were clapping and cheering!

"Allow Us to think on it further..." Zhu Cilang gave no commitment, and at the same time raised another question: "How is the land to be distributed?"

Compared with the tax exemption, this was the real problem!

"Your Majesty," Zhang Huangyan said, "this subject has a method... In the recovered lands of Shandong and Henan, implement perpetual tenancy and government-set land rents."

Perpetual tenancy meant a tenancy system in which the tenant, on condition of paying rent according to contract, enjoyed long-term cultivation rights and the right to dispose of those cultivation rights.

Government-set land rent, meanwhile, meant that the government fixed a relatively low "fixed rent" to be implemented together with perpetual tenancy.

In other words, the meritorious landlords or any other landlords who obtained cultivated land in the recovered territories of Shandong and Henan could only collect a low fixed rent, and so long as the tenant paid rent according to contract, they could not evict the tenant.

"This method looks very good, but..." Zhu Cilang paused, "it is one that will satisfy no one!"

Zhang Huangyan's method somewhat resembled the rent and interest reductions of later times. It sounded fine, but neither landlords nor peasants would be satisfied!

The landlords would of course want to collect more rent and interest... while the peasants would want to obtain ownership of the land!

"Your Majesty," Zhang Huangyan, himself a great landlord, naturally understood what Emperor Zhu meant. He shook his head. "But at present, there is no better method!"

Zhu Cilang looked at Li Yan again. Li Yan said, "First announce three years of grain levy exemption; everything else can be discussed later!" He paused. "From what this subject knows, when the eastern barbarians first implemented land distribution by headcount, the common people's lives did indeed improve for a time. But later the Qing court trained a new army, carried out new policies, and opened up Guandong on a large scale... The money and grain needed grew ever greater, and the tax rates rose ever higher. At the start it was said to be four-tenths of a dou per mu, and by now it has risen to more than a full dou. That is only what the Qing court collects; the local officials inevitably take another share. In territories administered by the various Angbang Zhangjing yamen or by the Three Feudatories of the Regular Green Banners, the extortion is even more vicious! Therefore the common people of the Central Plain all yearn for our Great Ming Celestial Dynasty!"

Zhu Cilang snorted: "They are yearning for Li Zicheng, are they not?"

Li Yan smiled awkwardly: "When Li Zicheng was around, they yearned for the Great Ming... But when the eastern barbarians' fox tail was exposed, they began to feel that Li Zicheng had been good after all."

Each one more ruthless than the last!

Zhu Cilang thought to himself: He wondered whether in a few more years the common people of the Central Plain would be yearning for the Great Qing?

He thought this in his heart, but of course he could not say it aloud. Emperor Zhu considered for a moment, then asked, "The land distributed by the eastern barbarians under the headcount system — was it public land or private land?"

"Public land," Li Yan said. "Within the eastern barbarians' domain there is no private land... For the so-called Ten Banner scions of the eastern barbarians, not only is there no private land, even the houses they live in are not their own, but belong to their banner or to the Imperial Household Department."

"Then... let the land of the recovered prefectures and counties also be treated as public land for the time being. Within three years, do not change the property rights, and do not levy taxes or land rent. As for everything else, we shall discuss it after three years!"

Zhu Cilang had already made his decision.

He wanted to push this matter back a bit... As for the method proposed by Zhang Huangyan, he did not approve of it. It was not that he opposed perpetual tenancy and fixed rents, but that this matter could not be managed by him, the Emperor — otherwise no one would be satisfied, and in the end Emperor Zhu would certainly get all the blame!

In addition, Emperor Zhu had another worry. At present, agricultural productivity in the southeast — the Four Rivers, Two Lakes, Fujian, and Guangdong — was developing very rapidly. On the one hand this was because of the collapse of the "tribute-grain system" and the rise in agricultural marketization; on the other hand it was because industry, commerce, and the colonies were stimulating southeastern agriculture.

With several factors compounding, the competitiveness of southeastern agriculture, industry, and commerce was growing ever stronger. If Central Plain agriculture continued to maintain the smallholder model, the gap between the Central Plain economy and the southeast would probably grow ever wider in the future...

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