Daming: The system rejected my request for salted fish

Chapter 993

Wei Wu's implementation of the land-based tax system in Jiangnan was a completely new process, which was the most troublesome.

Those wealthy businessmen, landlords, gentry and nobles will definitely try their best to obstruct it, and it will be much more difficult than in Shandong.

In fact, Wei Wu himself had thought about this, but he was still confident that he could get this done.

After all, he is a person from the future, and he knows how those people in Jiangnan will obstruct him.

So after Zhu Yuanzhang asked, he immediately gave an answer.

"Uncle Zhu, you know I'm not from this era, so I probably know what methods the gentry in Jiangnan will use."

"For example, they exploited loopholes in the land system, incited the people to oppose the government, used clan power to resist, implemented the policy passively, or made false reports."

"These are the tactics that the gentry will use in the future. I just need to counter them. It's no big deal."

After hearing Wei Wu's words, Zhu Yuanzhang became even more curious and immediately asked:

"Tell me in detail what you know. We need to know more specific details."

In fact, it is no wonder that Zhu Yuanzhang cared so much about it. After all, land reform is not a problem for a certain place.

Now, only Shandong has successfully implemented it, and that is based on the favorable conditions of time, place and people created by Wei Wu.

Next, except for Jiangnan, other places will start one after another. The more we know now, the easier it will be to operate in the future.

Wei Wu naturally understood what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking, so he immediately gave an answer.

"First, there are land loopholes. They use live deeds to avoid taxes, temporarily transferring land to others in the name of short-term pawning."

"There are two methods: 'flying and registering'. Flying and registering land in the name of poor farmers or tenants to evade taxes."

"Guijing is the false transfer of land to people who enjoy tax-free privileges, such as those who have achieved academic honors."

Having said that, Wei Wu paused for a moment before continuing:

"The second was to incite the people to rebel against the government, for example by having local scholars write petitions claiming that the tax increase was the result of the imperial court increasing taxes."

"At the same time, they sent their servants to secretly incite the people, even violently besieging the county government office, in an effort to manipulate public opinion and force the government to compromise with them."

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not say anything, he could not help nodding his head, because he understood that these were all very likely to happen.

At the same time, Wei Wu did not stop and continued to talk about the methods that the next Jiangnan gentry might use.

"Next, they will use clan power to resist. They will disguise private land as clan land. After all, clan land is public property and is tax-exempt."

"Secondly, they organized clans to collectively resist the land survey, and then threatened tenants with the possibility of having their leases reclaimed, preventing them from cooperating with the government in measuring the land."

"Without the cooperation of the tenants, it would be impossible to measure the land, let alone check the quantity. Then the tax system would have to be stopped."

Having said that, Wei Wu cleared his dry throat, and Zhu Yuanzhang immediately had someone bring tea to him.

After taking a sip, the dryness felt much relieved, and Wei Wu continued to speak:

"The last resort is passive execution or false reporting."

Speaking of the last method, Wei Wu did not explain immediately, but looked at Zhu Yuanzhang first.

"Uncle Zhu, in the Ming Dynasty, the gentry served as grain collectors to collect grain from the people, and the government was mainly responsible for supervision and coordination. This was your decision, right?"

"That's right!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded in response, and then explained the purpose of his decision.

"Wealthy local families served as grain collectors, collecting taxes and grain from the people and turning it over to the government in a unified manner, in order to prevent lower-level officials from exploiting the people."

"It can reduce official corruption while ensuring the efficiency of tax collection. But judging from your tone, I'm afraid there's a problem!"

Although it was a bit of an embarrassment to Zhu Yuanzhang, Wei Wu still nodded honestly.