Fiscal collapse: Imperial relatives and bureaucrats collapse the Ming Dynasty.
The reasons for the fall of the Ming Dynasty are complex and varied, and it is difficult to explain them in a few words. But no matter from which angle it is analyzed, the collapse of the Ming Dynasty's financial system is a focus that cannot be ignored.
Because, the fall of the Ming Dynasty was the direct result of the financial crisis. When the financial difficulties reached the point of irretrievability, the Ming Dynasty was like a castle made of sand, which would collapse even if the breeze blew.
So, why did the Ming Dynasty's finances collapse? To answer this question, we have to start with the historical background of the early days of the Ming Dynasty.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang faced a difficult situation at home and abroad. The external situation is grim, the remnant Yuan forces are eyeing each other, the internal rule is full of hidden dangers, the Song court is partial to the south of the Yangtze River, and China has been in a state of ** for a long time.
In order to solve these problems, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to divide the feudal kings and appoint his sons to guard the border passes and stabilize the situation. Although the vassal kings stabilized the border passes and also deterred the ministers, they also became a threat to the imperial power because of their heavy troops.
Later, Emperor Jianwen Zhu Yunwen issued an order to cut down the feudal domain, which led to the outbreak of civil war.
Zhu Di, the king of Yan, ascended the throne as the emperor, and in order to stabilize the feudal system, Zhu Yuanzhang's original system was partially transformed. Although the feudal lord lost his military power and personal freedom, he retained economic privileges, such as regular money and land rewards from the imperial court, and tax exemption on the land awarded.
Since then, the vassal kings after Yongle no longer have much to do, but to concentrate on reproduction. According to the system, for each additional child they had, they could apply for the corresponding salary from the imperial court.
The Ming Dynasty always adhered to the system of hereditary succession of vassal kings, and the prince's sons-in-law inherited the title of prince, and the other heirs would be demoted to the rank of county king. Similarly, the son-in-law of the county king will also inherit the title of county king, and the other heirs will be demoted to the rank of town general, and so on.
During the Hongwu and Yongle periods, the total number of Ming dynasty clans was not large, and the expenses were not large. However, in the Wanli period, the number of the clan suddenly increased to 200,000, including more than 30 princes and more than 600 county kings, which made the consumption of the royal family a major part of fiscal expenditure, accounting for more than 50%.
The court expenditure of the Ming Dynasty was huge, accounting for a considerable part of the fiscal revenue, and after the reduction of royal expenses, military expenditure increased, and finally the financial problems of the late Ming Dynasty became prominent.
In order to increase revenue, the Ming Dynasty could only adopt an open source strategy and broaden revenue channels through a variety of ways. Therefore, during the reign of Ming Muzong, in order to adjust the policy, the sea ban was lifted, and the private sector was allowed to engage in commercial activities overseas.
However, when the imperial court tried to impose customs duties and commercial taxes, the southern gentry collectively opposed it. Because the gentry had abundant resources, monopolized ** channels, and obtained a lot of profits through overseas **, they strongly opposed the taxation behavior of the imperial court.
Some people may say that the imperial power of the Ming Dynasty was supreme and the emperor collected taxes, so did he still have to look at the face of the gentry? It's a really difficult question. On the one hand, the gentry had a legitimate reason for opposing taxation, that is, the Confucian advocacy that "the state cannot compete with the people for profit".
We usually have the impression that only the poor people are the "people". But in fact, in ancient times, people who were not out of office, had no official titles, and were innocent also belonged to the category of "people", including landlords, big businessmen, and ** who returned to their hometowns.
In the traditional concept of Confucianism, competing with the people for profit is a taboo for the state. Therefore, since the Ming Dynasty admired Confucianism, the emperor could not do as he pleased. On the other hand, most of the ** in the late Ming Dynasty came from the south.
We can imagine that if the court is controlled by the southern department, and these people are the backstage of the southern gentry, if the emperor goes toe-to-toe with them, won't he become a loner?
Emperor Wanli is a typical example, because he tore his face with hundreds of officials in order to fight for the country's capital and collect mining taxes, and he didn't go to work directly.
Zhu Yuanzhang advocated the freedom of salt and iron, and the imperial court no longer monopolized the operation, but realized the management of salt and iron and other materials under the mode of civil system, commercial income, commercial transportation, and commercial sales. Merchants need to pay a huge amount of silver taels to obtain the right to operate from the government, and at the same time share the profits with the supervisors** and dignitaries.
Although the imperial court basically did not have taxes on wine, tea, salt, and iron, in this way, it was able to ensure financial revenue, and at the same time, it also made it more convenient for the people to obtain these materials, which further improved the living standards of the people.
During the Ming Dynasty, the tax system was mainly divided into three categories: land rent, regular service, and miscellaneous labor. The land rent is a positive tax, and all the land belongs to the royal family, so the cultivation of royal land needs to be taxed.
Regular service is the conscription that is undertaken by the Lijia as a unit, while miscellaneous service is the conscription that has nothing to do with the regular service. Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that official households and scholars with meritorious names could be exempted from miscellaneous labor, but the land properties in the names of official households and scholars still needed to pay land rent.
However, many grassroots gentry would use various means to conceal their land and population, refuse to perform regular service and pay taxes, and even openly default on land grain. In most cases, the officials and gentry would negotiate with the magistrates to negotiate a mutually acceptable amount, and then the bureaucrats would divide the bulk of the tax revenue.
Despite these provisions, many decrees are difficult to enforce in practice.
During the Ming Dynasty, the annual tax revenue of Chaocheng County in Shandong was about 2,000 taels**. Among them, about 1,000 two sessions were sent to the higher-level local yamen, 400 two sessions were sent to other ** yamen, and the county will intercept 150 taels, and only 400 two sessions will enter the household department.
In the first year of Wanli (1573), Zhang Juzheng presided over a reform, and his original intention of the reform was to find out the hidden land and population of the country through the rectification of the rule of officials, and then arrange the conscription according to the size of the acres.
Whoever has more land will pay more taxes and serve more heavy labor. If anyone dares to resist taxes, they will be severely punished. In terms of effect, Zhang Juzheng's reform has strengthened the centralization of power and enriched the finance of the country to a certain extent.
However, because his reforms violated the fundamental interests of the large landlord class and the wealthy aristocracy, after Zhang Juzheng's death, except for the "One Whip Law", all other reform measures were abolished, and the reforms ended in failure.
Zhang Juzheng couldn't handle it, and naturally no one dared to touch the gentleman's cake anymore. In this way, the burden of labor and taxation is all on the poor people.
But what about poor peasants ** who can afford it? They can only choose to flee, even if there are still a few acres of thin fields, they dare not plant anymore. At that time, the poor peasants in Jiangnan were okay, they did not farm, they could go to the handicraft workshop in the city to work and earn a hard money.
The poor peasants in the north were miserable, they did not dare to farm, and they had no work to do, so they could only become homeless in the end. In this case, although the amount of land endowment in the Ming Dynasty increased every year, the income from land tax did not increase significantly.
The pressure of the common people is increasing, and the people's grievances are boiling.
During the Apocalypse of the Ming Dynasty, in order to resist the invasion of the Later Jin, a huge amount of money was spent to build the Guanningjin defense line, which caused the financial pressure of the Ming Dynasty to increase sharply. In order to cope with financial difficulties, the Ming Dynasty had to levy additional taxes"Three salaries", that is, Liao, Salary and Training.
Although theoretically, the pressure on the common people is not great after it is evenly distributed to the whole country, because the powerful and rich people avoid taxes through various methods, the poor bear most of the pressure, and even cause a group of yeoman farmers to go bankrupt and become homeless.
In this regard, the Emperor of the Apocalypse decisively kicked out the Donglin Party, which opposed the competition with the people, and replaced it with Wei Zhongxian. However, Wei Zhongxian mainly made money and put most of the money into his pocket, which led to the prevalence of **.
In the end, the imperial court allocated 10 million yuan, but only 7 million were left when they left Beijing, and the money in the hands of the front-line soldiers was not even forty percent, which made the officers and soldiers fall into poverty, which was no different from being called Huazi.
After Chongzhen ascended the throne, he found that open source was not working well and decided to reduce expenses by reducing expenditure, including layoffs. While layoffs may seem like a reasonable solution, the experience of successive dynasties has shown that this approach often does not work well.
The reason for this is that, traditionally, layoffs have typically laid off the lowest and least vocal people. For example, during the Qianlong period, in order to rectify the problem of the low combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners, Qianlong ordered the establishment to be streamlined, so that the bannermen who were powerless to go out of the banner to fend for themselves.
However, because Qianlong had every opportunity and did not have time to personally take charge of this matter, the specific operation of the dismissal work was entrusted to the top level of the Eight Banners. However, these high-level bannermen may let their relatives or related flag-bearers go out to fend for themselves, while those low-level flag-bearers who have no background will be dismissed.
The flag men left behind may be those who are not capable or do not want to contribute to the country, so the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners cannot be improved. Therefore, while layoffs are a solution to financial problems, fairness and effectiveness need to be considered in the implementation process.
As the old saying goes, there are clouds, and nothing new is under the sun. During the Chongzhen period, the ruler ordered layoffs, and the first layer of ** showed his skills, which eventually led to the abolition of the post station system, and Li Zicheng, who used to make a living here, lost his job.
Frustrated, he angrily threw himself into the rebel army led by Gao Yingxiang.
When the source of income and the reduction of expenditure have ended in failure, can the Ming Dynasty follow the example of modern times and offset the deficit by issuing paper money? But the fact is that since the Ming Dynasty did not have the right to mint money, this method was impossible to achieve.
In all dynasties, China's legal tender is copper money, because the country is not rich in gold and silver, when the copper money is insufficient, iron money has become a substitute. Copper and iron coins have value in their own right, and their liquidity is fine, but they have one disadvantage in common: they are heavy and have low value.
This feature makes it very inconvenient to trade in large quantities. Imagine how inconvenient it would be to go to the supermarket with only coins and need to carry hundreds of steel hammers.
In order to solve this problem, 16 wealthy merchants in Chengdu during the Tiansheng period of the Northern Song Dynasty invented paper money, which is the "Jiaozi" mentioned in middle school textbooks.
In the initial period of Jiaozi, in order to ensure its liquidity, the issuer also set up a reserve. The total denomination of the first batch of Jiaozi is 1.26 million yuan, and the reserve is 360,000 copper coins, with a reserve ratio of 28%.
This reserve ratio has established credit for Jiaozi in the market. The people found that Jiaozi was light and easy to carry, and at the same time had credit protection, so they used gold and silver to exchange and use it for physical transactions, so that Jiaozi circulated rapidly throughout the country.
Later, Song Huizong recognized the benefits of paper money and renamed "Jiaozi" to "Qian Yin", which means a certificate for exchanging coins. However, because the paper money issued by the government of the Song Dynasty had no reserves, it was issued at will, and it was forbidden for the people to exchange copper coins at will, so the value of the paper coupons of "money citation" continued to **.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, each "Qian Yin" was only worth 100 wen in cash, but in the Southern Song Dynasty, it dropped to 50 wen. This is the consequence of the absence of reserves and the overissuance of banknotes.
After the fall of the Song Dynasty, Kublai Khan also saw the benefits of issuing paper money, so he issued the "Zhongtong Banknote".
At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to ensure the circulation of the "Zhongtong banknotes", the imperial court reserved some ** as reserves. With the reserves, the issuance of the "Zhongtong banknotes" went smoothly and was quickly accepted by the people.
However, similar to the Song Dynasty, due to the over-issuance in the later period, the depreciation of paper money, the lack of reserves, and the inability of the people to freely exchange silver money, resulting in the "Zhongtong banknotes" becoming waste paper.
Faced with this situation, Kublai Khan and later the Yuan Dynasty emperors carried out three "money exchange" reforms, issuing "Zhiyuan banknotes", "Zhida banknotes" and "Zhizheng banknotes" in turn.
This kind of banknote exchange reform is similar to the reform of gold yuan bills in the ** period. If the court does not keep its word once, the people will not trust it. However, the Yuan Dynasty carried out three such reforms, and the results were naturally predictable.
In the later part of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to solve the fiscal deficit, the imperial court ordered that the copper coins of the previous dynasty were not allowed to be used without minting copper coins, and forced the people to use paper money for trading, but the people did not buy it.
Eventually, copper coins completely replaced paper money and became the main currency in circulation in the Yuan Dynasty, and the imperial court also lost its coinage rights, and the financial system collapsed. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the minting of copper coins, that is, Hongwu Tongbao.
However, he also inherited all the problems of the Yuan emperor in issuing paper money. The "Ming treasure banknotes" issued by the Ming Dynasty have no reserves, and they are overissued at will, and it is also stipulated that when the people pay taxes, the use of treasure banknotes cannot exceed 30%, and the remaining 70% need to be delivered in kind.
The monetary policy of the Ming Dynasty was like a roller coaster, **printing money**, which led to the rapid depreciation of paper money, and even before Zhu Yuanzhang's death, it was reduced to waste paper. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty was also extremely stingy in the issuance of copper coins, and the number of copper coins minted was far lower than the circulation of the Song Dynasty in ten years.
This made people reluctant to use paper money, and at the same time lacked copper coins to use. Eventually, the people spontaneously used Tang and Song copper coins, or smashed silver ingots as circulating currency. During the reign of Zhu Qizhen of Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, the ban on silver was cancelled, making it legal tender.
This bottom-up change established the silver standard system of the Ming Dynasty. The circulation of silver is only related to the amount of storage and mining capacity, so it cannot be over-issued out of nothing.
Therefore, the silver standard invisibly protects the stability of the private economy. In the Ming Muzong period, in order to obtain sufficient ** to meet market demand, the sea ban was lifted, and the Moon Port in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province was allowed to be external**.
The effect of this policy was obvious, and a large amount of Japanese** and European-mined cheap** from the Americas flowed into the Ming Dynasty. On this basis, Zhang Juzheng implemented the "One Whip Law", which combined the land endowment, forced labor and other miscellaneous levies of various prefectures and counties into one article, combined the collection of silver taels, and paid them according to the conversion per mu.
This policy greatly simplifies the tax system, eliminates the cost of shelf life storage and transportation of agricultural products, and facilitates the collection of taxes.
* The widespread circulation of currency laid a hidden danger for the fall of the Ming Dynasty. Although China is a poor silver country, but when ** became the main currency in circulation, the Ming Dynasty actually gave up the right to mint money.
During the Chongzhen period, Japan's Tokugawa shogunate implemented a closed country, and the Thirty Years' War broke out in Europe.
As a result, the Ming Dynasty fell into severe deflation. This problem has had two disastrous consequences: first, the value of copper coins has dropped dramatically, and people need to pay more copper coins to pay taxes, which makes the tax burden heavier.
Secondly, in order to protect their wealth, people hoarded a lot, which led to a large reduction in taxes. The former further exacerbated social contradictions and triggered more peasant uprisings.
The latter led to a decrease in fiscal revenue and a fiscal collapse on the verge of collapse.
1.In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou led the elite border army to fight a decisive battle with Huang Taiji. In order to ensure victory, Hong Chengchou advocated caution. However, the imperial court's finances were tight, and Chongzhen was unable to support his plans, constantly urging him to act quickly.
Three years later, the same situation reappeared, and Chongzhen ordered Sun Chuanting to go out of the customs to fight Li Zicheng in a decisive battle. Sun Chuanting asked for an extension, but Chongzhen had already used up all his private money and could not give him more time.
In the end, Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting fought under pressure, but both were defeated, and the military power of the Ming Dynasty was completely lost. Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an and marched north. In the face of the attack of the Dashun army, the morale of the Ming army in Shanxi and Beizhili was low, and Chongzhen ordered the emperor's relatives, ** and others to donate money for military expenses.
However, there were few responses, and even Chongzhen's father-in-law, Zhou Kui, said that he was destitute. Enraged, Chongzhen tried to raid his family, but the main sources of wealth of the Ming Dynasty came from the clan, the nobles, the factory guards, the gentry and the military generals, as well as their supporters, the wealthy merchants.
Chongzhen tried to raise funds by raiding his home, but this was equivalent to having his own left hand cut off his right hand, which was impossible to achieve. Chongzhen was unable to raise funds, and the Ming Dynasty's finances completely collapsed and eventually perished.
2.In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou led the army to fight a decisive battle with Huang Taiji. In order to ensure victory, Hong Chengchou advocated cautious action. However, the imperial court's finances were tight, and Chongzhen was unable to support his strategy, and frequently urged him to speed up the process.
Three years later, the same situation reappeared, and Chongzhen ordered Sun Chuanting to go out of Tongguan to fight Li Zicheng in a decisive battle. Sun Chuanting asked for an extension, but Chongzhen had exhausted all his private money and could not give him more time.
In the end, under the urging of Chongzhen's two strict orders, Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting fought under pressure, but they were both defeated, and the military strength of the Ming Dynasty was exhausted. Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an and led the army north.
In the face of the attack of the Dashun army, the morale of the Ming army in Shanxi and Beizhili was low, and Chongzhen ordered the emperor's relatives, ** and others to donate money for military expenses. However, there were few responders, and even Chongzhen's father-in-law, Zhou Kui, said he was destitute.
Chongzhen was angry and planned to confiscate his family, but the main sources of wealth of the Ming Dynasty came from the clan, the nobles, the factory guards, the gentry and the military generals, as well as their supporters, the wealthy merchants. Chongzhen tried to raise funds by raiding his home, but this was equivalent to having his own left hand cut off his right hand, which was impossible to achieve.
Chongzhen was unable to raise funds, and the Ming Dynasty's finances completely collapsed and eventually perished.
The fall of the Ming Dynasty was significantly different from that of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties. The collapse of the Han and Tang dynasties was caused by the seizure of power by warlords who usurped the throne and changed the change of dynasties. Although the two Song Dynasty were very skilled in collecting money, they were eventually destroyed due to the weakening of their military strength.
The Ming Dynasty, by contrast, was doomed by a fiscal crisis and bureaucratic abuse of the tax system.