Han Shizu

Chapter 1740

Kaifeng in early summer has ushered in the most beautiful season, everything is flourishing and thriving, and the air seems to be full of hope.For the citizens of Tokyo, what is more gratifying is that food prices, which have been rising for several months, have finally slowed down.

Since the winter of last year, food prices in Tokyo have gradually risen. There are two reasons. The Yulin rebellion is the first, and a large amount of food has been swallowed by the black hole of the Northwest War.Of course, the main reason lies in the abnormal weather last year. The large-scale frost caused a nationwide harvest failure.

The price of food in Dahan has always been stable. In this regard, the control is very strict, and it has always been kept at a low level in the past. Since the first year of Kaibao, the price of food in Tokyo Doumi has only increased by five cents in more than [-] years.

Even at the end of autumn last year, the price of a bucket of rice was only [-] cents, less than [-] cents, and the increase in grain prices could not even keep up with the inflation of copper coins.It is also such a low food price that has created the prosperity of the two capitals, otherwise it would be impossible to feed so many people.

There is a very popular truth. Many people know that the lower the food price is not the better. The lower the food price, the lower the income of farmers, the more difficult life is, and the lower the enthusiasm for production and labor.

And Dahan has maintained a low level of food prices for more than 20 years, which is naturally based on the exploitation of farmers. There is almost no doubt that Dahan has developed commercialization and urbanization in the past [-] years, and the two capitals are the world. The prosperity of all cities is achieved by drawing blood from the countryside.

Kaibao is already twenty and two, and the big man has been stable for so many years. If it is the basic board of the Liu Han regime in the northern Daozhou, it will take longer.The long-term Kang Ping, in addition to bringing stability, also means the accumulation of various problems and contradictions.

In the past, non-stop foreign wars, high military expenditures, huge administrative costs brought about by territorial expansion, land annexation, honorary powers, including the Northwest rebellion that has not yet completely passed, these are all things that the big man gradually entered after entering the "Golden Age of Kaibao". The problems that have emerged, and things that have been noticed by Emperor Liu to the central ministers, have been adjusted according to the time and situation.

Among them, some were alleviated and some were improved. Although it was still difficult to achieve a temporary effect, at least they were contained, and the prosperity of Kaibao continued to this day.

The issue of farmers has always been suppressed in the past. The imperial court has always advocated putting agriculture first. The fundamental purpose is to maintain the stability of the countryside, ensure agricultural output, and ensure the supply of taxes and materials.

After the first year of Kaibao, the imperial court implemented some policies to benefit the people, such as gradually reducing the Ding tax. After 15 years after Kaibao, the Ding tax has been basically cancelled, which can be regarded as lifting a shackle on the heads of the Han people.

However, other constraints have never been relaxed, especially for farmers. Although the imperial court has adjusted the two taxes many times, there are increases and decreases, but overall, the range is not large.It's just that compared with the taxation during the war period, there is a more obvious difference.

However, the great Han has been completely out of the war for more than 20 years, and some Daozhou are even farther away. The second and third generations of people have gradually grown up. The conditions are naturally unsatisfactory.

Dahan farmers have always done their duty, but they also know how their lives are going. In fact, in the past 20 years, they have not had an easy life, and it has become more and more difficult.

Only one summer and autumn tax is an extremely heavy burden, especially after the imperial court thoroughly formulates the tax collection through silver and copper coins, the oppression of the countryside becomes more and more naked.

The price of grain itself was maintained at a low price, but the tax amount set by the imperial court was constantly increasing every year. In order to pay the tax, the farmers of the Han Dynasty had to sell the hard-produced grain and livestock cheaply and exchange them for copper coins to pay the tax.

In this process, it is almost inevitable that there will be exploitation by officials and businessmen. Emperor Liu has noticed this problem a long time ago, and has repeatedly sent censors to supervise and deal with it severely. However, no matter how severe the method is, no matter how perfect it is Even the law can hardly stop the greedy people.

At the same time, copper coins are depreciating in value, but food prices are hard to raise. Farmers' annual income from farming is naturally decreasing, but the cost of living is constantly increasing. How can these days be better.

That is to say, the imperial court still has great vigilance on land mergers, restricts land transactions with high land transaction taxes, and punishes those officials and businessmen who violate the system and disrupt the law with severe punishments.In this way, the process of land annexation by the Han Dynasty was only slightly curbed, leaving ordinary farmers with a lot of room for cultivation.

However, this is only containment, the fundamental problem has not been resolved, land transactions are still allowed, and since ancient times, the great Han scholars and people have been enthusiastically pursuing land, even if the price is higher, as long as they have the opportunity to have capital, they will still be keen to buy land Tuntian.

In the past ten years, the number of land transactions in various parts of the Han Dynasty has increased significantly, including nobles, bureaucrats, and merchants. This is not fundamentally different from the land annexation that occurred in previous dynasties.

Prior to this, a large number of Han people went to Nanyang to wander. The fundamental reason was that those people had no land or property, or lost land and property. In order to make a living, they had to risk their lives.Otherwise, with such a high death rate, no matter how attractive the benefits are, it will be difficult to form a wave of such scale.

As for the difficult situation of farmers, the imperial court is not ignorant, let alone invisible, nor does it completely turn a blind eye.

At least, in good years, the finances will pay to purchase grain from the private sector at a price slightly higher than the market price for official storage.However, on the whole, the proportion of this part is not too high. However, this method is essentially cutting leeks. After all, there are too many cheap copper coins in the hands of the court, and food supplies are real.

On the other hand, during the disaster year, tax cuts and relief were provided to the people of the disaster-stricken states and counties.

The above two points also cannot change the essence of the hardships of the Dahan peasants.In view of this situation, both the Emperor Liu and the Zhengshitang have realized that the problem of peasant agriculture has reached the point where it has to be changed. Otherwise, if it is allowed to simmer, turmoil will inevitably occur when conflicts erupt.

This is the law of the cycle of chaos in the dynasties of the past dynasties. Even with the strength of the court, it will not be easily overthrown, but this situation will also shake the rule, and it needs to be avoided.

In fact, long before Zhao Pu left office, he was already planning to change the agricultural policy to benefit the peasants and stabilize the largest group of Han people, the peasants.

Of course, things like tax cuts cannot be easily implemented, especially since agricultural tax is still the largest tax revenue for the imperial court.However, food prices are a good place to start.

Last year’s crop failure and the Yulin rebellion affected the food supply of the two capitals, causing food prices to rise continuously. By February 22, the price of food in Tokyo had already reached [-] cents per bucket of rice, and by the end of March, it had reached sixty cents. Ten, more than tripled than before.

And the food prices in the two capitals have always been the weather vane of the world. Even if the reaction is slower, the food prices in the whole country will also rise, and then the entire agricultural product will be affected.

In the past, when food prices were unstable, the imperial court often took measures to balance it out, but this time, they did not act rashly, but kept holding back and letting the market adjust, even if there were some hoarding and even national disasters The chaos of wealth has not been rectified immediately.

Taking the price of rice as an example, it is not a problem at all to use part of the wealth accumulated by the imperial court to stabilize the price. However, under the advice of Zhao Kuangyi and Shen Yilun, the imperial court chose to wait and see.

In this way, the scholars and people in the two capitals, as well as the common people in the city, will suffer, while the peasants will be like rain, the price of food will rise, and they will be able to sell more money, so their situation will naturally be alleviated.

Of course, too low food prices will not work, and too high will obviously cause problems.And it has tripled in half a year, which is not normal, and it cannot be healthy.Therefore, when the food prices in Tokyo remained high, the livelihood of the people was stymied, and even the poor were almost unable to support themselves, and the city was full of complaints, the imperial court finally took action to stabilize the food prices.

(End of this chapter)