Recreating the prosperous Tang begins with summoning players

Li Mi came to see King Yue today because of the reform of the Tang Law raised by the Ministry of Punishment.

"Your Highness, the Ministry of Punishment raised the issue of inappropriate punishment, and I still ask His Highness to make a decision."

The problems that the Zhengshitang cannot solve can only be kicked to the King of Yue.

Li Tan shook his head and said: "Bi Gong, you also know that Gu is not good at law."

In fact, the Ministry of Punishment also sent a plan on how to reform the penalty.

According to Zhou Hao's opinion, the part of corporal punishment should be standardized, and the prisoner should not be beaten to death easily.

And some powerful families break the law, but the execution of corporal punishment is too light, which is also part of the corruption of the local judicial system.

These problems can be solved by strengthening the administration of officials.

The main reform focus of the Ministry of Punishments is on the reform of imprisonment and exile.

The Ministry of Punishment believes that for those who break the law, the punishment of imprisonment and exile is the same, that is, deprivation of their personal freedom.

That being the case, why not just set up special prisons in the state and gather all the prisoners in the state into the prison for "reform through labor".

This opinion was endorsed by the Political Council.

But the next sentence from the Criminal Ministry started a debate in the Zhengshitang.

The Ministry of Punishment believes that since the prison sentence is to let the prisoner go to a designated place to serve corvée, then what is it for ordinary people who have not committed crimes to serve corvée far away from their hometowns?

These people obviously did not commit a crime, but they had to bear the same corvee as the criminals, and even died on the construction site like the criminals.

Since the people are innocent, either the local government is prohibited from initiating corvee labor, and they are not allowed to conscript the people to do projects at will.

Either pay wages to the people who perform corvee, and compensate them for the losses they have suffered due to corvee.

At the same time, the right of local governments to impose large-scale corvee should also be prohibited, and the people should not be conscripted to serve in corvee for a long time.

There is no logical problem with the deduction of the Ministry of Punishment, but whether to restrict the collection of corvee by the local government and whether to compensate the people who serve in corvee, this issue has aroused fierce debate in the Zhengshitang.

Corvée can be said to be the magic weapon for the ancient government to carry out large-scale projects.

However, the Tang Dynasty also learned the lessons of Emperor Sui Yang's large-scale collection of corvee and the subjugation of the country, which was much less than that of other dynasties.

But even if it is less than the previous dynasty, corvée is also an important reason for the bankruptcy of many farmers. Prime Ministers like Cui Guangyuan who started from the grassroots, of course know the harm that the local government has done to the people.

However, the prime ministers of the other faction in the Zhengshitang believe that the current Tang government cannot afford paid corvee at all.

The prime ministers, including Miao Jinqing and Zhang Hao, who are well aware of the court's finances, believed that if the local government was not allowed to levy corvee, many irrigation projects would soon be abolished, which would cause even bigger problems.

"Wait, Mr. Bi, we didn't discuss punishment just now, how did we talk about corvee?"

Li Bi shook his head and said, "Actually, at the end of the debate, it's not about the corvee, but about the court and the local government."

"This was proposed by His Highness's Zhongshushe people, and I didn't expect it to be so far-reaching."

Li Mi bowed to Li Tan and said:
"Your Highness can get the help of these capable ministers, and he will definitely be able to achieve the kingly dominance like Emperor Taizong!"

After flattering, Li Tan's mood improved a lot, and he signaled Li Mi to continue talking.

Li Mi said:

"Actually, it boils down to 'Who pays?'—that simple question."

"If the imperial court wants to abolish free corvee, who will pay for those local projects?"

"It costs money to build water conservancy projects, build roads, open up wasteland, build schools and support the elderly at the local level."

"In the early years of this dynasty, the government had official land, and the output of the official land was the income of the government. With the addition of some balances from taxation and rent, the government in various places could still maintain basic expenses."

"However, during the Tianbao period when the emperor was in power, the local governments could no longer afford the increasing expenditure. With the acquiescence of the court, the local government sold off the official land."

"Selling the official land, the local government can get a large amount of income, and the county magistrate in charge can get a large amount of money, which can be used locally to achieve better political performance and get rewards and promotions from the upper officials. The official land in the land was sold."

"The last time the Ministry of Household Affairs was cleared, the average amount of official land left in each county was less than [-] mu. When some local county magistrates took office, the first thing they did was to deal with creditors who came to the county government to collect debts."

"Nowadays, it is already very difficult to maintain the government's expenditure. Your Highness, do you know that some poor counties now conscript government servants to work in other rich counties, and poor counties get money from rich counties to subsidize the government."

Li Tan was dumbfounded. He didn't expect such a thing to happen in Datang. Isn't this the export of labor services?
Li Mi said bitterly: "Although the sale of official land can earn a large amount of income, but the government has no official land, so there is no continuous income. Therefore, starting from the year of Tianbao, the number of corvée imposed by various governments has increased."

Li Mi continued: "I know that paid corvee is good government, but even if it is good government, it may become bad government if it falls into place."

Li Tan nodded and said:

"Difficult!"

"As Bi Gong said, all governors and county magistrates are pursuing merit. If the court gives them more money, even if they don't recite corruption, they will be squandered and use their achievements for promotion."

"And if the local government is not given enough money, then these parents and officials who have no hope of promotion will be lazy in politics and completely disregarding people's lives, right?"

Li Mi nodded quickly.

The King of Yue said again: "Is this the meaning of 'If you control it, you will die, and if you release it, it will cause chaos'?"

Li Mi murmured a few words, and felt that the two words of the King of Yue had a long meaning, and it really revealed the hardships of government!

Li Mi admired His Highness King Yue even more.

His Royal Highness Yue Wang is not like his father, Li Heng is a good man, but not a good emperor.

Unlike his grandfather, Li Longji was considered a good emperor in the early stage, but he was not a good person.

If it is similar, this King Yue is more like his ancestor Emperor Taizong.

Li Tan is generous to people, but he will not listen to one side and believe in another, and has his own views on many things.

Li Tan asked: "Then what are the rules and regulations of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Financial Secretary?"

Li Mi took out another memorial and said: "This is a joint memorial from the Finance Department and the Ministry of Household Affairs, and it talks about the reform of the court and local finance."

Looking at the thick memorial, Li Tan didn't even need to look at it to know that it was another player's handwriting.

In fact, when he was in Longyou, Jiang Lun clamored to clarify the financial powers of the Dudu Mansion and the local government, and clarify the ownership of various revenues and expenditures.

Not surprisingly, this plan is similar to the content of the most popular post on the financial section of the player forum.

This plan was also developed by Jiang Lun, who was far away in Longyou, leading a group of players in the financial field.

First of all, the main body of the Tang Dynasty's taxation, land rent related to land, and Ding Yong related to population, must be grasped by the imperial court.

Population and land data are the most important data of the imperial court. If it is handed over to the local government, there will be concealment of cultivated land and hidden population.

This is due to human nature. It is unrealistic to expect all the subordinates to be saints, not even players.

The money from the salt industry franchise is now an important income for Datang, and the income from the salt tax is stable, and there is not much public dissatisfaction now, so it should continue to be promoted nationwide.

Iron continues to maintain steelmaking as the monopoly of the government's iron factories, but the blacksmith workshops are open to the private mixed franchise model.

Finally, there are two expenses, the customs duty and industrial and commercial tax of the Municipal Shipbuilding Department.

The tariffs of the Shibosi are still in the hands of the governors and Jiedu envoys of the states. For example, the tariffs of the Yangzhou Shipsi, that is, Huainan is the income of the Gaoshi Jiedushifu. Therefore, Gao Shi hates smuggling and wants to cooperate with Zhang Duanyang to crack down on smuggling. and pirates.

The industrial and commercial tax is also in the hands of local governments. For example, the industrial and commercial tax of Wannian County is the income of the county government, so Wang Chengwei can set up so many workshops and hire so many county soldiers and county police.

The financial secretary's reform plan is to divide the customs duty and industrial and commercial tax into two halves, with one half belonging to the imperial court and the other half belonging to the local government.

In this way, local financial power can be controlled, and local governments cannot be allowed to form separatist regimes.

But it can also allow officials in these areas in Huainan to exert their subjective initiative. The tariff income is related to the income they can control, so there is a lot of motivation to suppress bandits and smuggling.

The same is true for industrial and commercial taxes, which can also increase the motivation of local governments to set up industries.

Li Mi had seen the prosperity of Longyou's business and industry, so he naturally supported this plan.

But other prime ministers were somewhat skeptical of this reform plan, believing that it would lead local governments to encourage business and despise agriculture, causing even greater social problems.

Li Mi told Li Tanjin the attitude of the Zhengshitang, and the King of Yue said with a smile:

"True knowledge comes from practice. If this is the case, try it out in one area first. If it is quite effective, it will be promoted to the whole country."

Li Mi's eyes lit up, this method is good!

If there is a problem in the pilot area, it can be corrected in time. If the effect of the pilot is not good, it is better to cancel the pilot directly.

If the results of the pilot are good, then it will be promoted nationwide, and the Zhengshitang has no other objections.

Li Mi couldn't help but praised: "Wonderful!"

"Let's hand over the pilot areas to the Zhengshitang for discussion."

Governing a big country is like cooking small fish, how difficult it is to make small fresh food delicious!

Compared with the chaos and complexity of the court, the battle on the front line was much smoother.

Shi Siming retreated again and again, and his soldiers fled one after another. Now he leads an army of 20 into Anyang City, and the entire Xiangzhou is almost occupied by the Tang army.