The Legend of Shushan Xuanjian

Chapter 233 Hidden dangers of the empire
The sick bones are separated from the gauze and the hat is wide.

The humble did not dare to forget about the country, and the coffin must be closed.

The gods of heaven and earth support the temple, the father of Jinghua Wangheluan.

When you are a teacher, you will pass through the present and the past, and you can take a closer look at the lights in the middle of the night.

——Lu You in "Sickness and Books"

……

Although Mrs. Guo Guo is the biggest beneficiary of this feast of land, but as a ruler, many things must focus on the overall situation.

Xuanzong thought about it, but he was still not at ease.Today, the Tang Dynasty is in peace, and he is in control of the power. Looking at the world, no one has the prestige and strength to challenge himself.But the aristocratic families are all century-old foundations with deep foundations, which should not be underestimated.

Frost, ice to.Could it be that they smelled something?
When he retired from the court on this day, Xuanzong left Li Linfu alone and asked about it.

After listening to Xuanzong's concerns, Li Xiang took out a memorial from his sleeve and handed it to Gao Lishi.

Li Linfu replied unhurriedly: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I have also noticed this matter. I will report to you after I have compiled all the statistics of the Luoyang land property transactions of the aristocratic family. But since you asked, I will first Report the situation collected so far to you.

Judging from the evidence verified by the minister, the aristocratic family that followed Taifu Xu to the south this time was only a family with which he was on good terms.In the Luoyang area, most of the wealthy families are still doing business as usual.Although Wenxi Pei, Hedong Cui and other powerful clans moved southward, they were all a branch of their families, and their roots were not shaken.

In addition, the minister also sent additional manpower to secretly investigate the Guanlong nobles in Chang'an.The Dugu family, the eldest grandson family and other powerful families did not make any changes.

It can be inferred from this that this southward migration was not a unified action of the Guanlong nobles. "

Xuanzong looked through the memorial and found that there were indeed no powerful families such as the Dugu family and the Changsun family, so he was relieved.

Xuanzong asked: "In Luoyang area, aristocratic families sold a large number of land properties. Is this abnormal?"

Li Linfu said with a smile: "In my opinion, this is a good thing."

"Oh, let's talk about it." Xuanzong asked curiously.

Li Linfu replied: "Since ancient times, land annexation has been the source of disasters. Once farmers lose their land and become refugees, they are not far from the mob. It is like sparks falling into a firewood pile, and the soldiers will be in trouble every minute. The Yellow Turban Uprising at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, The chaos in the world at the end of the Sui Dynasty could not be worse. The root cause is that a large amount of land was annexed by the powerful landlords, which caused the people to live in dire straits.

Now, some aristocratic families moved south to reclaim the south of the Yangtze River and the South of the Five Ridges, turning the barren land into fertile soil, and at the same time, freeing up the land in the Central Plains. Wouldn't it be great?

Officials from the six ministries discussed that for this land transaction, there is no need to pay silver taels to the imperial court, but only a certain proportion of land should be handed over to the treasury according to the area of ​​the land to be traded.The Ministry of Households then registers these lands and redistributes them as the imperial court's sub-fields.

The land owned by the imperial court was leased to refugees for farming.The grains obtained on the ground were handed over to the state treasury in proportion, and the rest went to the refugees to support their families.

In this way, the ancestral system of Emperor Gaozu in the seventh year of Wude can be restored-zuyong modulation:
Rent: An adult male can get [-] mu of land from the government, a disabled man can get [-] mu of land, and a widow can get [-] mu of land.Among these fields, two tenths are Shiye fields, and eight tenths are Koufen fields.When the recipient of the land died, his world land was inherited by the head of the household, while the Koufen land had to be returned to the government and redistributed to others.The land recipients pay taxes to the government according to the standard of two grains of millet per man per year.

……

Since then, the national treasury has been filled, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and the world is peaceful. "

Xuanzong listened, nodded in praise, and finally felt relieved.

……

Some families were happy and some were sad. In another compound in Chang'an, the imperial servant An Qingzong reported the soaring land in Luoyang to An Lushan in detail.

After hearing this, An Qingxu said dejectedly: "If Dad hadn't donated all the silver mines to the imperial court, half of Luoyang would belong to our family for this land feast."

An Lushan's eyes shone with the light of a hungry wolf, and he hit him with a whip, cursing: "You useless wolf cub, the whole of Luoyang will belong to our family in the future!" After finishing speaking, he threw the whip on the ground and walked away. .

……

Although Luoyang has recently received visitors from all directions and merchants, no matter how the market is turned upside down and in full swing, Master Xu and his party have always packed their luggage without haste and are doing the final relocation work.

During this period of time, Taifu Xu gave Bai Fu everything he had learned in his life.

On this day, after Xu Taifu finished talking about the financial system of the Tang Dynasty, he covered the book with a long sigh:
"Financial crisis is the real crisis in my Tang Dynasty! The hidden dangers in the empire's finances have not been eliminated, but are constantly accumulating. Once the balance is out of balance, the world will be in chaos. According to my analysis and prediction of the imperial court's financial revenue and expenditure in recent years, this day should not be far away That’s why I strongly advise the famous families to move to the south as soon as possible to avoid disaster.”

Bai Fu was very surprised, and asked, "Financial crisis? Isn't it the 'Sha Po Lang' auspicious astrology?"

Mrs. Xu laughed loudly, took a sip of tea, and said:
"From the early years of Kaiyuan, His Majesty appointed a series of virtuous ministers to govern the country. Yao Chong, Song Jing, Su Ting, Zhang Jiazhen, Zhang Shuo, Zhang Jiuling and others paid homage successively. Full of literary talents... These sages assisted the Holy One and jointly created the prosperous Kaiyuan!
However, these prime ministers also have a common Achilles heel: they will only persuade His Majesty to save financial expenses, but will not help the court increase fiscal and tax revenue.Because they know that increasing the tax burden means exploiting the people.This is something that sages who are familiar with the study of Confucius and Mencius must not do.

And the reduction of bureaucracy, reduction of military operations and other actions to save financial expenses, with the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, and His Majesty's ambition to expand the territory, the role of throttling is becoming more and more limited.

Therefore, for the court's finances, the most important thing is to open source!
During the Tianbao period, the average annual fiscal revenue was about 980 million yuan in rent, more than 740 million dendrobium millet, 180 million pieces of silk, more than 35 million tons of cotton, and more than [-] million pieces of cloth.These money and food are far from enough to maintain the operation of the entire empire, let alone to promote the prestige of our country and conquer the four barbarians, even if it is far away, it will surely be punished.

As a result, another group of "capable ministers and officials" who knew how to make money came into His Majesty's sight:
The prime minister Pei Yaoqing, the censor Yu Wenrong, the water and land transfer envoy Wei Jian, Yang Shenjin, the son of the Taifu minister Yang Chongli, the household registration envoy Wang Yu, the prime minister Li Linfu...

In my opinion, except for Pei Yaoqing, everyone else is a minister who let the empire's finances drink poison to quench their thirst and go to the cliff.In order to gain the favor of the Holy Majesty, they did not hesitate to exploit the place and squeeze the people, and more importantly, they completely destroyed the formal financial system of the imperial court.

With the rise of Tubo in the west and the tense border affairs in the north, Datang's finances could no longer support the border troops.

The Holy Majesty had no choice but to set up Jiedu envoys to delegate the military power, financial power, and administrative power of the border to the same person, and let him find a way to feed the army and prepare for war.

　1. Note:
　　The story about the Land Feast in Luoyang is a fabrication to set off the plot of the story and the character of the characters.

　　For real historical facts, please refer to Mr. Guo Jianlong's book "Financial Code of the Central Empire":
　　"The Tang Dynasty adopted a system of public ownership of land: when a person was born, the government gave him a piece of cultivated land; in exchange, once he became an adult, he had to pay land taxes to the government; when he died, the government took back the cultivated land so that it could be distributed to others. Under this system, the government is the largest landlord in the country, farmers are just lifelong tenants, and taxes are rent.

　　During the period of Tang Xuanzong, the central finance was even more tense.With the tense border affairs in the north, Tang Xuanzong's finances could no longer support enough soldiers, so he had to make compromises and established the position of Jiedushi.Prior to this, the central government always divided the military power, financial power and administrative power of a locality in the hands of different officials.However, with the collapse of the central government's finances, the emperor often had no money to support the border troops. Therefore, he combined the military power, financial power, and administrative power in the border areas to the same person, and asked him to find a way to collect taxes. These taxes feed armies to fight wars.

　　The establishment of the Jiedushi destroyed the normal bureaucratic system and could not produce effective checks and balances. Instead, the Jiedushi held great power and had the power to resist the central government, which eventually led to the Anshi Rebellion. "

　　2. Bibliography

　　"The Fiscal Code of the Central Empire", Guo Jianlong, Lujiang Publishing House, September 2018 Edition
　　
　
(End of this chapter)