The Legend of Shushan Xuanjian

Chapter 491 Financial and Tax Crisis
At the bottom of the thorns in the gate and alley of my hometown, the kings and ministers of the Central Plains are surrounded by jackals and tigers.

Ande works in farming and rests in fighting, and there are no officials in the world to ask for money.

——"Day Dream" by Du Fu

……

At the end of the ten-day break, Bai Fu returned to the household department.

Shi Sunyan, the Secretary of the Household Department, and other officials of the Household Department were overjoyed when they heard about it, and they made appointments with Bai Fu for a small gathering.

Ever since Bai Fu rescued these humble scholars in front of Huihe soldiers, they all regarded Bai Fu as the leader of the Shilin, and their relationship was very close.

Bai Fu readily agreed, and after going down to court, everyone walked together and came to the Bashu Guild Hall.

After three or two cups, the atmosphere of the banquet became lively.During the mingling of toasts, Sun Yan took the lead in toasting.

Sun Yanji said: "In the battle of Qujiang, Brother Bai shocked the wealthy family, which can be regarded as a relief for us. Let the children of the noble family never dare to underestimate us poor scholars."

All the scholars praised him.

Bai Fu smiled and waved his hands, unwilling to continue this topic, and changed the topic in a few words.

Bai Fu said: "My these are trivial skills, not worth mentioning. You are in the center of the imperial court, and you can't underestimate yourselves.

The counter-insurgency has just ended, and everything is waiting to be done.The imperial court helps the world and the country, and it still depends on the monarchs to manage the world. "

After Bai Fu finished speaking, he could not help being taken aback when he saw the crowd beating eggplants like frost, and said, "But what's wrong?"

Yun Yanying, the head of the household department, has been a Jinshi of Tianbao for thirteen years, and is the oldest among all the scholars.He sighed and said: "Brother Bai, I am not alarmist. Although the rebellion is certain, the disaster caused by the war has just begun. The next series of chain reactions may drag Datang into the abyss. The future situation of the world ,Not optimistic."

Bai Fu was startled, and hurriedly asked for advice humbly.

Yun Yanying sighed, and said: "Brother Bai, I'm not bragging, we have lived in the household department for a long time, and deal with the finances and taxes of various states and counties every day, so we may have a deeper insight into this war.

Thirteen years after Tianbao, the total population of Datang was 890 million households, nearly 300 million people.

But after the rebellion, the population declined rapidly, leaving only 190 million households and 300 million people.The number of households is only [-]% of what it was a few years ago, and the population is less than [-]%.

What's more troublesome is that there are 110 million households and 460 million people, who are old, weak, sick, monks, nuns, relatives of the emperor, etc.These people do not need to pay rent adjustment tax.

In other words, there are currently only 76 households and 2307 million people to bear the huge taxes of the entire empire.

Taking this year as an example, the imperial court's fiscal and tax revenue has dropped sharply to about [-]% of what it was during the Tianbao period, while military expenditures have been even greater than before. "

Bai Fu was shocked and asked, "Zhan Luan killed 4000 million people? It's unlikely, right?"

Yun Yanying said: "Brother Bai said that it is impossible for so many people to die in the war. The reason why the population gap is so large before and after the rebellion is not that so many people actually died in the war, but because the imperial court lost control over the local states and counties. , Many refugees are separated from the household registration statistics of the imperial court, and they cannot know the real number of the population, so they cannot collect rent and tax adjustments according to the population."

Seeing that Bai Fu understood, Yun Yanying continued: "During the counter-insurgency period, the national treasury was exhausted, Wu Qi, the secretary of Beihai County who joined the army, was appointed by the imperial court as the supervisory censor, as the Jianghuai renter, and responsible for raising wages.

In order to protect military expenditures, the imperial court began to levy heavy taxes on merchants.Some time ago, His Majesty sent his envoy Zheng Shuqing to Jianghuai and Bashu to collect [-]% property tax from merchants at one time.

In addition to these two areas, other states and counties also collect trade taxes from merchants in markets and checkpoints, and all goods worth more than [-] yuan must pay. "

Bai Fu was dabbling in business, and hurriedly asked about the impact of this matter on merchants.

Sun Yan had already interjected: "In the past, the imperial court was more tolerant towards merchants, and the business tax burden was very low, which was not an important tax type for the imperial court. Therefore, merchants from all directions came to the court, and goods from all over the world gathered. There are countless. Clothes, food, utensils and play, a dazzling array of silk and satin, everything that one expects to find.

Once the imperial court imposes heavy taxes on merchants, business will inevitably be sluggish, and the market will be deserted. "

Yun Yanying nodded, and said: "In addition to imposing heavy taxes on merchants, Yushi Zhongcheng Fifth Qi Lord has created a new post-Zuyongshi.

Zuyong envoys sit in the Jianghuai River and search for all sources of taxation, such as salt from Wu, hemp and copper from Shu.After the rent was collected, the salt, hemp and copper were sold on the spot, and they were exchanged for local specialties, transported to other places and sold at a high price, and then turned over the proceeds to the court.

Since then, various positions have appeared one after another, such as transfer envoys, salt and iron envoys, Duzhi salt and iron envoys, Changping minting salt and iron envoys, Zuyong young crop envoys, water and land transport salt and iron envoys, and two tax envoys.

These envoys are special envoys appointed by His Majesty outside the normal law and order offices, and are above the Ministry of Household Affairs.Although these special envoys are not particularly high-level, they have great authority. They have the power to handle special affairs conferred by the imperial court, and they can bypass the officials of the three provinces and six ministries and directly handle errands.

The establishment of special envoys not only broke the rules of the imperial court, but also caused huge redundant staff and low efficiency of government affairs, which aggravated financial difficulties. "

Speaking of this, Yun Yanying paused for a moment, sighed and said: "Besides, in order to make up for the sharp drop in land tax and household registration tax, Master Fifth Qi is about to introduce measures: establish a private salt monopoly and re-mint coins.

In my opinion, these two measures will eventually destroy the relaxed business atmosphere at the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty and return to the tradition of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. "

Bai Fu humbly asked for advice, and said, "Brother Yun, please explain in detail."

Yun Yanying recalled infinitely: "From the founding of the Tang Dynasty to the Tianbao period, the business was enlightened. The imperial court did not participate in the operation of salt and iron, and only collected a certain amount of tax.

This year, in order to increase wealth and income, Master Wu Qi introduced the Salt Discussion Law, ordered the monopoly of salt-producing areas, and recruited homeless people to mine salt from salt wells and salt stoves.The mined salt is uniformly purchased by the Imperial Salt Institute and is not allowed to be sold privately, and then sold by the government at a higher price.

People who used to make salt as a profession and vagrants are willing to make a living by doing this, because it can save them from various corvees.

The mining and selling of table salt are under the jurisdiction of the Salt and Iron Commissioner, and the acts of making and selling salt without permission are punished as crimes.

Master Fifth Qi served as the envoy of the state to discuss salt and iron, and promoted the monopoly of the salt industry in various states.

Lord Fifth Qi’s salt official camp is basically similar to Sang Hongyang’s salt monopoly, and it is also his most successful means of collecting money.Before the monopoly, each bucket of salt was only worth ten renminbi, but after the monopoly it rose to 110 renminbi, a full eleven-fold increase, and the difference in price was the government’s fiscal revenue.

According to predictions, the implementation of the official salt operation for one year can increase the income of the imperial court by 40 yuan, which can greatly alleviate the financial crisis.

"People don't benefit from taxes, but the country uses them to spare." In addition to paying rent adjustments, the common people don't need to increase taxes, but it increases the revenue of the state treasury.Since then, salt tax has accounted for nearly half of the country's tax revenue and has become the main source of fiscal revenue.

Fifth Master Qi was promoted to Duzhi Langzhong and Yushi Zhongcheng, canceled the revenue and expenditure rights of the Ministry of Households, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Taifu, and unified the fiscal revenue to His Majesty for dispatch and use, which initially changed the previous chaotic expenditure and serious treasury losses. , The current situation of corrupt officials and cheating by powerful officials has reversed the situation of lack of finances and taxes in a short period of time, and supported the court from the financial support to continue the counter-insurgency cause.

In all fairness, from the point of view of raising military pay, Mr. Fifth Qi really contributed a lot.

However, the government disputes salt and competes with the people for profit. Over time, problems abound, which not only causes bloated bureaucracy, but also increases the cost of salt prices. As soon as the world is stable, the people will have to rush around for salt, which is unspeakable. "

……

　bibliography

　　1. "Financial Code of the Central Empire", Guo Jianlong, Lujiang Publishing House, published in September 2018

　　2. "Chinese Currency History", Peng Xinwei, Renmin University of China Press, published in February 2020

　　3. "Who Minted Coins in the Past 3000 Years: A Minimalist Chinese History of 50 Coins", Wang Yongsheng, CITIC Publishing Group, January 2019

　　In February, Rao slept in a drowsy state, not only sleeping in short nights and short days.

　　The air of peach blossoms warms the eyes and intoxicates, and the sunset in Chunzhu leads each other in dreams.

　　At the bottom of the thorns in the gate and alley of my hometown, the kings and ministers of the Central Plains are surrounded by jackals and tigers.

　　Ande works in farming and rests in fighting, and there are no officials in the world to ask for money.

　　——"Day Dream" by Du Fu

　　……

　　
　
(End of this chapter)