I am Da Song

Chapter 93 Preparations for Tax Reform

At noon, heavy snow fell.

After Zhao Huan got up, Yushi Zhongcheng Qin Hui and Shenwu Youjun Commander Yue Fei were summoned at the same time.

There was plenty of charcoal in the palace, and the warm room was like spring. Zhao Huan even wore only a moon-white singlet in the palace.

This kind of warm room is not only available in the imperial palace, but also in the mansions of scholar-bureaucrats.It is a popular custom among literati and bureaucrats to enjoy plum blossoms in the warm room and eat roasted mutton when it snows.

Qin Hui's body, which had been frozen all night, was relieved in the warm room. After saluting to Zhao Huan, he took the initiative to say: "I confiscated all the property of the six thieves last night, and got a total of 600 million guan and 32 shi of grain. 27 catties of charcoal. In addition, there are more than [-] maidservants and more than [-] servants."

"More than nine thousand servants?" Zhao Huan was surprised. This number was a bit beyond his imagination. There were thousands of servants in Song Dynasty?

Qin Hui explained: "It's not like the trilogy of wealthy families like the Wei and Jin Dynasties, but the customers. Ouyang Xiu once said that today most of the people with one family's land and one hundred hectares support dozens of customers. Among the six thieves, many fields are connected. Yan Zhe used to have more than [-] hectares of land."

As he said that, Qin Hui glanced at Yue Fei. The current great general of the Song Dynasty, his family was bitterly cold when he was young, and he used to farm for customers and others.

With that said, Zhao Huan understood somewhat.Da Song's clients do not have a strong personal attachment relationship with the main family, and they can independently choose the main family to work.These people are similar to the British farmers before "sheep eat man".It can be freely circulated, and can go to the city to work. It is already a bit of the embryonic form of a worker under the budding of capitalism.

This is because the Song Dynasty firmly implemented the national policy of "not suppressing mergers" and "rich houses and fields connected to fields", and the scholar-bureaucrat class controlled more than 70.00% of the country's land.

This is certainly a bit painful for the lower-level farmers, but the economic model based on private ownership of land is very advanced. The agricultural level has developed by leaps and bounds in the Song Dynasty, and the economy has never been more prosperous.

This makes the level of prosperity of Tokyo in the Song Dynasty in 1127 almost comparable to that of London, England in 1640 hundreds of years later. (PS may also far exceed, after all, London in 1640 was dirty and smelly, with no toilets or baths)
If these customers attached to the big wealthy family are properly guided, they might not be able to become the working class of the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Huan then asked: "In Tokyo, are there many clients who farm, produce, and do business for scholar-bureaucrats?"

Qin Hui immediately replied: "It's hard to count. Last night, I also confiscated the residences of more than 2 ministers including the former Shangshu Zuocheng Zhang Bangchang, and the former Zizheng Palace scholar Feng Xi. The population is still being counted, but the household registration in the inner city can be increased by at least [-] Thousands of people."

Zhao Huan looked at Yue Fei, the commander of the Shenwu Right Army, and said: "In the Song Dynasty, the poor and customers who did not have land did not need to pay land taxes, but they had to serve corvee and pay taxes. After I changed the recruitment to conscription, If the soldiers are not paid, it is inevitable that some people will worry about how to make a living, so conscription becomes more and more difficult. I plan to cancel all family taxes for the soldiers, so as to increase the number of conscripts.”

Taxation, that is, poll tax.

If one person joins the army, the whole family will be exempted from head tax.

It can be seen as "never adding taxes" and "spreading money into the mu", or it can also be seen as Zhao Huan personally cultivating a "short-lived privileged class" like scholar-bureaucrats.

In the Central Plains of all dynasties, scholar-bureaucrats did not pay taxes or serve in the army.

Wang Anshi promoted the service recruitment law, which was extremely advanced, so that the treasury of the Shenzong Dynasty was sufficient to support the expenses for 20 years. The most important point was that all privileged classes had to pay service money.

This violated the interests of the scholar-bureaucrat class, so the scholar-officials retaliated wildly.

With the lessons learned from the past, Zhao Huan no longer intends to be tough with the scholar-bureaucrats.Since violations of the privileges of scholar-bureaucrats will cause rebounds, the privileges of scholar-bureaucrats should be extended, and the privilege of exempting from paying tax (poll tax) should be gradually distributed to ordinary people in batches, so the so-called privileges are no longer privileges.

Yue Fei was overjoyed when he heard this, and said: "If this is the case, the applicants in the inner city must be like crucian carp crossing the river. Especially those customers in the city, they don't need to pay land tax, and after joining the army, their families don't need to pay taxes. People are bound to scramble to join the army and serve the country.”

Yue Fei is a soldier, he only cares about how to make the army strong and how to win the war.

As for court struggles, he would never ask about state taxes.

As the censor Zhongcheng, Qin Hui has the authority to help the ruler, offer his gains and losses, and remonstrate and rectify the wrongdoing. Although Zhao Huan had never dared to argue with Zhao Huan in the palace because of Zhao Huan's murderous intent, he now has to speak up.

Cautiously advised: "The minister is not afraid of the scholar-officials' opinions, but so many people are exempted from paying taxes, will the country's finances be unable to make ends meet?"

The financial strain of the Song Dynasty is well known to the world.Except during Wang Anshi's reform period, the national treasury was so rich that it was accumulated until 20 years later.Most of the time, there are fiscal deficits.

Now that a large number of poll taxes have been reduced and exempted, after the withdrawal of the Golden Army, the country's finances will predictably suffer a severe deficit.

However, Zhao Huan didn't care much about it. It would be enough to adjust the focus of tax collection for the fiscal deficit at most.The Qing Dynasty left a good example for Zhao Huan.

This feudal dynasty is far from the Song Dynasty in terms of technology, culture, innovation, etc., but when it comes to making money, no one can match it.

Indemnities of hundreds of millions of taels of silver were thrown out.While paying reparations, a new army can also be formed.How much silver does it cost?

The key point is that since the Qing Dynasty "split Ding into the mu", it no longer collects poll tax.

If the Qing Dynasty could do it, Zhao Huan could also try it in the Song Dynasty.The national taxation of the Song Dynasty was originally based on industry and commerce.

As for how to rectify the direction of taxation, Zhao Huan already has a plan in mind, so he said calmly and confidently: "I have a plan for taxation, and I will discuss it with the prime minister after the siege is lifted. With the process of gradually recovering the world, the new taxation system will be spread everywhere.”

Then Zhao Huan looked at Yue Fei and said solemnly: "Shenwu Youjun is the top priority of this tax reform. Since the beginning of Shenwu Youjun, Shenwu Youjun also needs Shenwu Youjun as the mainstay. Therefore, Shenwu Youjun will determine the entire Great Song Dynasty. In the future, you must do your best to train the Shenwu Youjun into a king's army with strict military discipline, bravery and combat skills."

Yue Fei immediately straightened himself up and saluted, and said: "I will live up to the high expectations of the officials. Now the Shenwu Youjun has begun to look elite. In the battle yesterday, the entire army beheaded more than [-] Jinren and captured more than [-] people."

Zhao Huan suddenly became interested, and saw that the atmosphere of the city defense was very different, and he even captured more than [-] Jin people.

Although these captives may not all be Jurchens, one must know that even Meng'an, another clan of the Jin Kingdom, rarely surrendered.

At least in Zhao Huan's impression, since Song and Jin started the war, no army has captured so many Jin troops.

Zhao Huan ordered the servant at the side: "Go to the Privy Council and ask, how many girls are really prisoners in the city?"

(End of this chapter)