Rebirth of Wu Ba Spring and Autumn

Chapter 116
After discussing with Ji Zha, Ji Ran, Fan Li and others for a day and a night, Qingji finally worked out ten reform decrees, promulgated them together, and advertised them in all cities, large and small, and even the capital of the state of Wu. Everyone knows!

Undoubtedly, as soon as these ten decrees came out, there was an uproar in Wu State, and the government and the public were shaken!

No matter if they are officials, ministers, ordinary people, or peasants, they are all worried that Qingji's reform will harm their own interests.

In a small mountain village in Meili, under a thick banyan tree, a group of five big and three thick men were sitting around.

They are all local farmers, wearing short clothes, with yellow faces, and all kinds of farm tools are placed beside them, obviously they just finished a busy day of farm work.

At this moment, the farmers were sitting together, and under the banyan tree was a young scholar with a bronze sword on his waist and a wooden crown on his hair. He looked quite elegant!
"Sir, what is written in the government's decree?"

"Is it the conscription order issued by the king, or is the government going to add corvee?"

"But don't add corvee or taxes. This year's field is not very good, and the country has been fighting for years. The children came back with great difficulty. It's just spring plowing!"

What the common people hate the most is heavy taxes and corvees, as well as endless wars!

Because, whenever there is a war in the country, they, Li Shu, are the first to bear the brunt.

At that time, men of the right age will respond to the king's call, enlist in the army, and go to the front line to fight, and then the fields will be abandoned and the farming season will be missed!
After all, how could so many fields be plowed with only a few old and weak women and children in the family?
Furthermore, once the country goes to war, it is inevitable that frequent tax increases and even forced labor will be imposed. This makes the common people who have already tightened their belts to live, it is really miserable!

And every time the government announces government orders, most of them are about conscription or additional corvee taxes. How can this make all the farmers not worry?

Seeing this, the young scholar just smiled, and immediately said with a strong Jin accent, "Don't worry, second and third sons!"

"This is not the king's conscription order, nor is it a government order to increase corvee or taxation, but a decree about the large-scale reforms that our country of Wu is about to carry out!"

"Reform? Decree?"

The farmers, who could not read a single word, were very puzzled, and they were at a loss, expressing that they did not know what it meant.

Only then did the role of the scholar you come to light!
Scholars from Jin, Qi, Lu, Wei, Song and other countries all over the world entered Wu one after another because of Qingji's order of seeking talents and the corporal's thirst for fame and fame, just to get an official position.

Unexpectedly, Qingji did not easily let the scholars enter the hall and get their positions because of a policy theory.

Qingji asked the scholars to go to various villages or places in the state of Wu for study tours. After three months of exploring the customs, write a policy theory, so that they can get official positions according to their abilities!
Although the group of scholars were not very happy in their hearts, they couldn't go back home in despair after running for thousands of miles.

Therefore, the vast majority of scholars have gone deep into various towns and villages in the state of Wu to conduct on-the-spot investigations and strive to become one with the local people.

No, once the ten decrees of Qingji reform were promulgated, it was due to the fact that there were too many illiterate people among the people.

So another edict was issued, ordering the scholars to interpret the deep meaning of the decree for Li Shu everywhere, so as to dispel the doubts in the hearts of the people about Wu's new law!
"Second and third sons, almost every one of the ten decrees issued by the government is closely related to us."

The young scholar talked eloquently, and said: "First, the four peoples are divided into industries, scholars, farmers, and businessmen! The second and third sons have been farming for generations, and living together, it should be the category of 'agriculture', and there is no need to make unnecessary changes."

"Secondly, encourage domestic and foreign commerce and reduce tariffs. It has little to do with the second and third sons, so there is no need to repeat it!"

"The third and fourth are reforms on commercial tax, land rent tax, oral tax and household registration tax. The latter three are closely related to you."

"Land rent tax, one tax per fifteen; mouth tax (poll tax) and household registration tax, both are at the standard of thirty one tax! In case of a famine, the land rent tax can even be exempted!"

Hearing this, all the farmers present were quite puzzled.

"Sir, what are the fifteen ones and thirty ones? What's the explanation?"

"It's not difficult to understand."

The young scholar smiled slightly and said, "I'll use fish as an example. For example, if I have fifteen fish, when I pay the land rent tax, I should pay the value equivalent to one fish. Thirty taxes are the same! "

"I've made a comparison. In the past Wu, and even Qi, Lu, Wei, Jin and other countries in the Central Plains, the population tax and household registration tax were around ten to one, and there were even some inexplicable exorbitant taxes."

"And now, Your Majesty has issued a decree that the government collects only four types of taxes in peacetime: commercial tax, oral tax, household registration tax, and land rent tax, and nothing else!"

"If someone dares to draft other miscellaneous taxes, the second and third sons can sue layer by layer, even before the king!"

Upon hearing this, all the farmers couldn't help whispering to each other.

They have basically figured out the concept of the fifteenth tax one and the thirty tax one!

It doesn't matter whether you compare it with fish or with the harvest of a year's field, it's the same.

According to the scholars, in the past, the taxation of Wu State was heavy, and one fish was taken out of ten fish, and maybe even more!
But now, after the tax system reformed by Qingji, only one fish out of fifteen or thirty fish has been removed, and all kinds of exorbitant taxes in the past have been abolished, which is obviously beneficial to the people of Wu.

How can this not make them applaud?

An old man with gray temples wiped his tears and said with emotion: "Your Majesty is really a sage king through the ages, an unborn king! How lucky is it that our country of Wu has such a king?"

"That's right! In the past, our country of Wu was strong and prosperous, but it was only because of our military strength. We and the Wu people have to pay heavy taxes every year and serve complicated corvees. It's really miserable!"

"Isn't it? Some children don't dare to have more children!"

Talking about the past, the people present couldn't help feeling sad, and couldn't help but smile wryly.

Wu's military strength is exceptionally strong, which is due to the strong blood of the Wu people, who are united enough and united as one!
However, this does not mean that Li Shu of Wu Kingdom lived happily and in peace!

Because every war will add a few new graves or burials to their hometown, and then more than half of the fields will be abandoned, and the harvest will drop sharply.

Even in the years when the weather was supposed to be good and the crops were plentiful, farmers would lose all their savings because of a sudden war.

The little rations left may not be enough to pay all kinds of exorbitant taxes of the country!

Therefore, at some point, even if it is not a famine year, the people of Wu State will not be able to eat enough.

(End of this chapter)