明末 山東礦稅太監 陳增의 鑛稅 활동과 그 餘震

Abstract

Emperor wanli appointed the palace eunuchs as mining tax commissioners throughout the country as a way out of the severe financial difficulties faced the empire, and they were charged with power to sqeeze taxes out of mining and business concerns in provinces. Dynasty history listed a certain names of such corrupt eunuch officials, such as Koh Hwe in Liaotung, Jin jung in Hwesang,Yang Yung in Sumsuh, Yi Bong in Kwuang-tung, Yanf Yung in Yun-nam, etc, and among others Jin Jung was the most notorious eunuch commissioner in his times. Jin Jung was dispatched to his post in Shan-tung in l596, and since then he steadily expanded the territory of his tax collecting activities. As Jin Jung was a stranger to the legion, he recruited local aids who were mostly corrupt officials as well as local thugs. Among those who Jin Jung locally had recruited there was Jung Soo-hoon who was related to Jin Jung, and then turned into Jin Jung’s trusted deputy in Shan-tung. Thus stage was set to bring the extortion and exploitation to the highest point in Shan-tung province and its adjacent legions. In spite of the new policy of dispatching eunuch officials to provinces, the financial situation of the empire deteriorated steadily. The culprits were eunuch tax collectors who had progressively encroached upon the tax sources of the treasury of empire that they had taken over the sales taxes in the market places. Consequently, the function of Ministry of Revenue was further weakened, and the main storage of empire. Tae-chang-ko, was getting empty as the extortionate tax levies were appropriated by eunuch officials and greedy emperor. Therefore, the inevitable fiscal bankrupsy had accelerated the decline and fall of Ming dynasty.