Chapter 492 Taxes
The hot summer weather was unbearable. The group of travelers including Lu Yu and the others began to rest in the shade of the trees after walking for a while.
This official road is an east-west horizontal road in Hebei Province. It is an important road between Heshuo and Qingxu Haidai, so the road has always been well maintained.
For example, the big cypress tree that is providing shade to Lu Yu and the others is said to have been planted during the Guangwu period, two hundred years ago.
The green trees planted by the people of the past cannot provide any benefits to the current generation, but they can provide shade for generations to come.
Being willing to plan for the future and being able to plan for the future may be the inheritance of this nation.
Sitting in the shade, enjoying the breeze, someone in the team started chatting.
However, Lu Yu and the others did not speak at this time. They just drank water and listened to these travelers chatting about the world. These people naturally have a lot of experience when traveling all over the country, so Lu Yu and the other three also heard a lot of useful information.
What caught Lu Yu's attention the most was what two well-dressed travelers were talking about. One of them was from Weijun and the other from Zhongshan.
The Wei Jun man and the Zhongshan man should have some experience and knowledge, so the topics they talked about were relatively deep.
Among them, the Weijun people talked about one thing, which was the tax collection reform that Weijun was currently carrying out. This government affairs was only carried out in Weijun, so the Zhongshan people asked a lot about this.
Today's Hebei people, especially those traveling from south to north, attach great importance to the Weijun people in the business travel team. This is not just because the people from Weijun are Wang Ye'an, but also because these people generally have extraordinary knowledge.
This change is related to the missionary work that was carried out only within the jurisdiction of Wei County.
The Taishan Army has always attached great importance to missionary matters. As early as the old Taishan period, missionaries were set up to teach Taishan children how to read and write.
After that, every time the Taishan Army built a base area, it would promote literacy and policy education.
Common education slogans such as "Land to the tiller", "Work for a good life" and other slogans are to educate grassroots Guizhou leaders to be kind and productive.
In terms of literacy, Taishan Army also did well. Children are usually brought together to learn to read. Adults generally have their own lives to run around, so they listen to missionaries preaching every day.
Spring and autumn are the busiest times for farmers, and production and farming are generally given priority at this time. Once winter comes, the township government will collectively teach the Guizhou leaders how to read.
It’s just that these missionary activities require too many literate groups, so that they can only be promoted in the Wei County area at present. After the literacy rate in Wei County increases, it can be gradually extended to surrounding counties.
This development path is vividly called spreading the pie by Zhang Chong.
Therefore, Wei County now enjoys the dividends of this policy for a short period of time.
Compared with merchants from other counties, merchants from Wei County often make surprising remarks. They understand and agree more with the policies of the Taishan Army.
Therefore, when this Weijun businessman began to talk about the tax reform implemented locally, the others gradually stopped talking and listened attentively to what this man said.
These businessmen from various townships and communities certainly understand that since this policy will be implemented in Wei County, it will be implemented in other places in the future. And taxes are closely related to everyone, how can they not listen carefully?
I just heard this person sigh first:
"Our king is really a saint alive. Once this policy comes out, we ordinary people will really feel at ease."
Then this Weijun businessman introduced the changes in Weijun area to everyone in detail.
Unlike what everyone thought Wei Jun was doing was light corvee and light service, the leaders of Wei Jun and Guizhou according to Xing Shang were doing heavy taxation.
In the words of the merchant himself, when the Han Dynasty was in Hebei, the tax on their communities was twenty to one. But now, after the Taishan Army comes, they are taxed one out of ten.
Now everyone is surprised. The tax has increased. Why do businessmen still say this is benevolent government?
But after Wei Junxingshang himself finished speaking, everyone suddenly realized.
But at this moment, Liu Deran in the corner smiled inwardly, filled with a sense of superiority to these ignorant Guizhou leaders.
Of course he knew why the Taishan Army imposed heavy taxes in Wei County.
Why don't you look at what Taishan Army did in the township community? Which one doesn't want people, and which one doesn't want money or rice?
Those ignorant servants think that sharing the land means a good life? But don’t you look at it, without the protection of local sages, those tax collectors won’t suck the blood and marrow of you humble people?
Liu Deran has long said, why did the Han Dynasty pay a tax of thirty to one in the past? It's because they can't control the rural communities. The rural sages in these places protected the villages from being bullied by the tax collectors.
How do tax collectors collect taxes? That is by measuring acres of land. One of the methods is called Bu Zhang method.
In ancient times, the number of acres was calculated based on the step distance. One Chinese acre was twenty-four paces long and ten paces wide. In Han Dynasty, the tax rate was one per thirty.
So for a ten-acre field, the tax collectors only need to walk eight steps with their feet, and then say that the food in these eight steps belongs to the state.
However, this method of collecting taxes is still too crude. Some private land developments do not follow this mu system, so tax collectors have almost no way to collect taxes on these privately developed fields.
So the method of counting land and making up atlases to verify fields began to appear.
But this is not easy to do, because local powerful people will fight against this behavior. After Ruguang Wu established the world, he implemented a nationwide land inventory, but he soon suffered local rebellions.
In the end, the matter was settled.
And this incident can be regarded as evidence of what Liu Deran said about the protective role of rural sages on the villagers.
And it should not be said that it is difficult to make up this kind of album.
It costs money, time and effort.
There must be a capable team to execute it. In the past, the Han Dynasty could only use local officials to do this, but these people were generally from local wealthy families and rural sages, so how could they push this matter carefully?
Therefore, Liu Deran believes that the low taxes of the Han Dynasty are all due to the local virtuous people.
But what now? It's your fault, the chiefs of Wei and Guizhou, for their misfortune. Because the village sages who protected them in the past were all defeated by themselves.
Just like the big cypress tree he is sitting on now, due to two hundred years of growth, some roots have grown out and spread to the roadbed.
At this time, you don’t want to cut down the roots, but you want to tear up the whole tree.
When you people happily cut down trees, you finally find that there are no towering trees to protect you travelers from the wind and rain.
How stupid!
In addition, even though Liu Deran was full of disgust for the Taishan Army, he still had to admit that they were indeed much more powerful than the Han Dynasty.
The methods used in the past to suppress the tentacles of the Han Dynasty were completely useless against the Taishan Army.
The Taishan Army started directly by dividing the fields.
All land was returned to the township government and then divided among township commune officials. These people are supervised by superiors and dare not abuse their power, and they are also familiar with local conditions. Therefore, the Taishan Army effortlessly established local household registration and land registers.
So the Taishan Army knows exactly how many fields you have at home, how can you hide?
Moreover, if the Taishan Army engages in such a mess, it will need more money and food. So where does this extra money and food come from? Or do you suck it from the little people like you?
Although Liu Deran has never been exposed to local affairs, his junior brother Lu Yu has.
In the words of his junior brother, in the past, the ratio between officials and civilians in Hebei was 60 civilians supporting one military and political official. Under such circumstances, everyone at the top and bottom could accept it.
But now, the number of petty officials in your Taishan Army has increased many times compared to the Han Dynasty. Missionary work is good, but do you want officials? It's good to help each other, but do you want officials? It is better to persuade farmers, but do we need officials?
Which of the policies of your Taishan Army does not require these lowest-level officials to work? How many people do you need in the end?
From what Liu Deran himself saw, Youzhou was fine, as not many policies had been implemented there. But Jizhou is different. It is managed by the Taishan Army like the old place, and various policies are implemented in turn.
In the past, a rural commune consisted of several rural officials such as the three elders, Shifu, and Youyou. Among them, the three elders are not included in the establishment and do not receive salary rank.
Now, in a Taishan Army township office, the total number of people is more than a dozen, all of whom are salary-ranked staff members. This is a four to five times expansion.
So at this moment Liu Deran smiled and despised these Hebei and Guizhou leaders:
"Let you people and the Taishan bandits work together, and the hard times are ahead!"
But suddenly, what Wei Junxingshang said hit Liu Deran in the face, making him extremely embarrassed.
But the merchant smiled and said these words in a contemptuous tone:
"We are not those noble people who don't distinguish between grains and grains. We think that the Han Dynasty pays us thirty taxes and one tax. That's it. Let's talk about our former tenants in the community first. These people did not pay taxes to the Han Dynasty, but they The land was rented to the landowners. They were forced to take away all the tenants' rations. But now these people own the land with the help of our Taishan Army, and they only need to pay one-tenth of the land. You don’t need to pay anything else. Is this a great policy?”
All the merchants nodded happily and shouted:
"Great Virtue!"
The merchant in Weijun was very happy, shook his head again and said:
"Let's talk about those self-cultivated households in the past. These people must have their own land, and they can enjoy thirty-one taxes. But it's really nice! Yes, you only pay thirty-one taxes for your land, but You also have various other things. Do you want to pay the money, do you want to pay the oral money? And then add in the various kinds of apportionment, my father is the one who asked me to get it. I was forced to die when I paid the Qiang tax. I don’t understand what the rebellion of the Westerners has to do with us Northerners! Why should we sell our sons and daughters to support you?”
At this point, the businessman was still a little choked up.
After all, the common people of Hebei suffered too much in the past. Which of them has not suffered from this disaster? Who in the family has not had a relative forced to death by the harsh government from above?
Therefore, all the merchants were stunned for a while, but Liu Deran and the other three were quite embarrassed.
Na Weijun Xingshang continued:
"But since our Taishan Army came, one is one, and two is two. As soon as we came, we were given land. This is a direct grant. Then we set a horizontal line for us. No matter what happens next, we will receive ten percent of it." There will be no exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes in the future. And let me tell you, the village officials in the township offices are much better than before. They are really polite to us and do things well!"
This sentence made everyone burst into laughter. Of course they understood what the Weijun man in front of them meant.
As the Taishan Army cleaned up local township officials, they caught a lot of trouble. In the end, those who are left and those who are promoted are all conscientious.
This kind of conscience is compared with that of those tiger and wolf officials in the past. In the past, the petty officials in those places were greedy and incompetent. They were simply silverfish.
At this time, someone below interrupted:
"It hasn't been taken care of by the Taishan Army, but I think this kind of thing won't grow. I've never seen a cat that doesn't eat fish, and I've never seen a rat that doesn't steal rice."
After the Weijun merchant heard this, he imitated the missionary from his hometown, waved his hand down, and said loudly:
"We have asked this before, but what did the missionaries in our village say later? They said that if someone punishes you once, they can punish you twice. Whoever dares to steal will be killed with the knife of our Taishan Army! It depends on whether you steal it faster or we chop it faster!”
After saying this, the crowd cheered loudly.
People like them are not afraid of getting through life, but they are afraid of having no hope for life. And now, these days are getting better and better.
But at this time, discordant voices emerged. But he could no longer tolerate these "stupid" concepts of businessmen. Liu Deran stood up directly and mocked:
"You are cattle and horses, but you think that people who eat cattle and horses like you will take pity on you! How stupid you are. In the past, you had the support of local clans and village sages. Even if you encountered a tax collector, you could unite together to resist taxes! But what about now? You are divided into households one by one, and the Taishan Army will whip you now One out of ten taxes, but later it was found that it was not enough, and people wanted to increase taxes. What can you do? Even if the higher authorities do not increase taxes, but if the petty officials want to defraud, extort, and line their own pockets, what can you do? How about that? Why don’t you pray for the villagers to come back again?”
Seeing that everyone was speechless by what he said, Liu Deran consciously won the conversation, and then said with a heartbroken expression:
"But can the sages come back? They can't come back! It's your choice, great wise men!"
But Liu Deran was quickly scolded by the Weijun merchant.
He first looked up and down Liu Deran's clothes, saw that he was dressed like a scholar, and then said clearly:
"You big turban, what do you know! It's okay for people like you to chant sutras, but you understand us farmers? You still act like you are doing your best for us. Do you know how we in Wei County collect grain taxes? ”
With the intention of showing off, the merchant turned around and said to everyone:
"Then what the big turban said, don't the people in the Taishan Army know? So from the beginning, they eliminated the opportunity for the grassroots officials to get involved. Once the Taishan Army is assigned the task of collecting taxes from above, someone will come down to the township commune. Help collect. Some people weigh the rice, some make the records, and some people pay the grain to the warehouse. Finally, they have to give orders from bottom to top. ”
"Take our commune as an example. When people from their hometowns become commune officials, they will invite the whole commune to a meeting to talk about why this tax is collected. It is used to build water conservancy projects and provide for the army. Yes. With water conservancy and an army, we can make better progress and avoid being plundered by thieves. So should we hand over this rice?”
Everyone shouted:
"It's time to pay!"
When everyone cheered, the Weijun businessman became angry again and pointed directly at Liu Deran:
"After handing over this rice, it will be used on our heads in the end. What can't we hand over? If it were like the Han Dynasty, eating it to those corrupt officials until they were full of fat, I wouldn't hand over a grain of rice. But people like Taishan The army won’t give these people a chance! Do you know how they harvest rice?”
Liu Deran was also curious at this time, and he listened silently.
"Our commune allocates directly to each household, that is, it is clearly calculated how much rice each household produces. After people measure the rice, it goes directly to the grain depot. Here, the commune officials have no chance to participate at all. They don't get any benefits. Bian, why are those little officials so greedy?”
Seeing that Liu Deran was about to speak again, the man interrupted directly:
"I know you, the big turban, are not convinced. Are you going to say, why can't we be greedy after the rice is in the treasury? But what does this have to do with us? We just pay the quota. The Ren Taishan Army even consumes money on the road. We’ve all been spared. Do you agree with this? Can you do this when the Han Dynasty is here?”
Liu Deran was so angry that he was speechless, and then the merchants laughed even more heartily.
But at this time, Zheng Yi, who had been silent, suddenly said something meaningful:
"Human, it has been the same for thousands of years. Don't think too much of the Taishan Army. If you just do what you say, will the Han Dynasty reach this point?"
Now all the merchants were unconvinced and were about to argue with this person again.
But at this moment, a puff of smoke rose from behind, and everyone no longer had the intention to argue. They hurriedly packed their things and avoided the main road.
Soon, a regimented military brigade came from the west.
Just by looking at the word "Ganling" written on the flag, you can tell that this is a local suppressing force of the Taishan Army.
No one knows why this town soldier appears here.
(End of chapter)