Chapter 875 cannot be copied mechanically
“People at that time did not have any concept of landlords. Generally, households with an area of more than 100 acres and a consistent payment of more than 100 acres were called "upper households", while those with no more than 50 acres were called "upper households". The fourth and fifth class households are called 'lower households'."
"There is another major problem, which is the population ratio. In Ye Shi's survey, only 0.5% were in the first class and 0.5% were in the second class. Three percent of households, three Eighty percent are in the fourth category, 10% are in the fifth category, and 44% are in the fifth category, and the remaining 38% are customers. "
"So everyone thinks that among these people, Who should be counted as landlords? "
This question is indeed interesting. It is obviously unreasonable to count all official households as landlords, because then landlords will account for 62% of the country's population. No. It is in line with the principles of pyramid society.
However, if the fourth and fifth class households are counted as owner-cultivators, their average land holdings range from 20 to 100 acres, with an average of more than 30 acres.
Poor lower-middle peasants with an average family of more than 30 acres?
What really belongs to the employment relationship is the 38% of customers. In fact, half of the long-term fixed lease of national land should be excluded, and the remaining part is only 2% at most. ten.
This is even more interesting. 12% of households exploit 20% of customers, and 68% of farmers earn their own living. Between these two relationships, which one is more important? Should this be regarded as the main social relationship in Chinese feudal society?
Seeing that the friends were thinking about it, Zhou Zhi knew that the effect was achieved, so he smiled and said: "As I said again, we can't use the present to fit the past, but we can't use the past to fit the present either! The specific situation It still requires detailed analysis.”
"If we compare it to modern times, I am afraid that only the upper households at that time can be called landlords. And the remaining families, although they seem to have a lot of acres, can only be regarded as homesteaders because of the productivity of underground labor."
< br>"After saying so much, I actually want to express that China has its own special situation. It has a vast territory , the unification lasted for a long time. In most historical periods, the development of various places has always been uneven. Therefore, the type of linear development of human society mentioned by Xizhe has never been single in our China, and has always existed at the same time. ”
“This kind of existence does not only refer to geography. The difference is that capitalism may have sprouted in this place, while slavery and feudalism are still in that place; even in the same city, the slave-master-servant relationship, the feudal dependence relationship, the commodity society employment relationship, and the self-sufficient small farmer family Various social relations such as relationships also exist at the same time.”
“You can’t even arbitrarily say which relationship is the main local social relationship without detailed investigation.”
“Therefore, to govern such a country, we must take into account the unique actual situation , any so-called successful experience cannot be copied mechanically.”
"Going back to the question just now, we can find that it is incompatible to apply the "Principles of Social Economics" that we have access to now to the "General History of China"."
"For example, about feudal society The definition of land ownership in the West is specifically attributed to the name of the feudal lord. Conquest, and since the Qin Dynasty, China has adopted the system of prefectures and counties, or the system of prefectures and counties as the mainstay, supplemented by the feudal system."
"According to the improved definition, the characteristic of feudal society is the economy. It is a natural economy based on land, combined with agriculture and handicrafts, and the family as the production unit. It is an economic structure that is closed, independent and self-sufficient.”
“Most of the key means of production in this structure are in the hands of landlords or feudal lords, so it can form a class relationship in which landlords exploit peasants. ""The problem lies in this last sentence. In China, since the Tang Dynasty "Jun" Since the "Tian Ling", the state has stipulated in the form of law the standard of "Dingmu" throughout the world. Therefore, "most of the key means of production are in the hands of landlords or feudal lords, so they can form a class relationship in which landlords exploit peasants." If so, there is a problem.”
"Even Lao Ma himself said that his investigations and theories are only suitable for Western Europe, so we definitely need to combine our own circumstances, conduct our own investigations, and finally get our own theories."
"But according to the As far as I know, all the promising governments in the past dynasties have made "suppression of annexation" a major issue. "Zhang Lu likes to study history and knows all this: "Doesn't this just show the seriousness of exploitation?"
"First of all, we must understand the root cause and purpose of their "anti-annexation". "Zhou Zhi smiled and said: "'Suppression of mergers' has never been about solving the disadvantages of exploitation, so the two are combined. Forcibly linking them is unscientific in itself.”
“Because of the drawbacks of the system, the annexed families are exempt from tax and labor. The farmers are attached to them in order to avoid the country’s taxes and labor. This has led to The national tax and labor sources were exhausted."
"So the imperial court cracked down on mergers. The fundamental purpose is to maintain the population and land base of farmers, so as to obtain enough taxes and servants to maintain the normal operation of the country. " Zhou Zhi said: "This is their fundamental purpose. In the final analysis, it is to maintain rule. 'Anti-merger' is just a means, not an end."
"Once there is a better way to maintain national income and ensure that there is always money in the national treasury, they will immediately throw away the method of 'suppressing annexation'." Zhou Zhi smiled and said: "In the 20th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang was completing the national treasury. After clearing the land and making the fish scale household register, the first thing to do is to conduct a nationwide recruitment campaign. Taxes doubled the court's income."
"Zhu Yuanzhang is already a very caring monarch. It is better not to overestimate the ruler's kindness and true intention."
"Isn't the purpose of establishing fish scale household registration to suppress mergers?" Zhang Lu continued to ask.
“The fish scale household register does not prohibit buying and selling. Although it increases the trouble of transfer procedures, from a institutional point of view, if buying and selling is not prohibited, of course mergers cannot be suppressed.” Zhou Zhi said: “The existence of the fish scale household register The meaning is that no matter how the land is transferred, no matter whose hands it is transferred to, it cannot be lost.”
“What’s the use of this?”
"This will lay the foundation for the farmers to work on the acres and for the officials and gentry to pay the grain together." Zhou Zhi said: "This is the successful experience of the Qing Dynasty. With these two items, production is calculated by acres, taxes are calculated by acres, and all land is included in the list of expropriations , we can ensure that the treasury’s tax revenue is inexhaustible, and we can maintain the operation of the country."
After that, he said angrily: "In the end, it became the reason for them to dare to sign unequal treaties."
"In fact, Tan Ding Is it another kind of complete "repression and annexation" that the landowners and the officials and gentry all receive food together? As the Jiachuan saying goes, "Everyone rides the horse," and the rules are the same."
"There are still specialties, such as. The bannermen's 'hardcore crop'." Zhou Zhi shook his head: "But overall, the Qing court has money in its pockets, and the government's situation is better than that of all previous dynasties."
(End of this chapter)< br>