A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1147 Great Tang Western Province
Western Regions, Gaochang City.

Since Turpan is the deepest basin in the Tianshan Mountains, the heat is not easy to dissipate, forming a huge hot furnace that is unbearable for people.

Especially for the Tang army coming from the Central Plains, this was simply torment.

A soldier stuck the baked pancakes on the stone wall outside the house, and they were cooked in a short while.

If you wrap the eggs in wet paper and bury them in the sand, they will be cooked in more than half an hour.

Although it is so hot, the local people also have ways to escape the heat. They sleep on the roof at night. It is dry and rainy there, and the roofs are mostly flat. It is much cooler to sleep on the roof at night. It is too hot to sleep in the house.

During the day, we try to work in the morning and evening. When it is hottest at noon, everyone will go into the cellar to rest. Every family here has a cellar, and it is relatively cool inside.

Or rest in the shade of the trees by the canal.
If you are close to the Karez, you will enjoy a good life. The Karez is a special irrigation system in the Western Regions, which is generally composed of vertical wells, underground canals, surface canals and reservoirs.

Most of it runs underground, with a vertical shaft dug at regular intervals. Most of the water flowing in it is melted snow and ice from the Tianshan Mountains and groundwater, which is very cold. The karez is as cool as an air-conditioned room.

It is also much cooler next to the karez.

Wu Huaiyu couldn't stand the heat either, so he moved to the bottom of the Kaner Well during the day.
It is as cool as a mountain cave here. The cool canal water flows slowly, and watermelons, grapes and other fruits are soaked in the water.

"This Gaochang should not be called Xizhou, but Huozhou. I have never seen such a hot place, people can be roasted to death."

Wu Huaiyu's father-in-law Fan Xing came down sweating and handed Wu Huaiyu a bag of things.
"Eggs baked in the sand and pancakes baked on the stone wall, damn, I've learned a lot. They were all baked in less than 25 minutes."

Wu Huaiyu smiled, "There are watermelons and grapes frozen in the water, you can pick them out yourself."

Fan Xing's hometown was Anlu, which was considered hot in summer. In later generations, Wuhan was even known as the furnace. However, as a southerner, he could not stand the heat in Gaochang.

"What are you looking at?" Fan Xing picked up a watermelon and slapped it with his palm. The watermelon broke into two halves. He handed one half to Huaiyu and broke his own half, taking a big piece in each hand. He took two pieces left and right. The cool watermelon was refreshing and Fan Xing shouted with comfort.

Huaiyu showed the book in her hand to Fan Xing.

"The Account of Prices and Transaction Taxes of Precious Metals, Raw Silk, Medicinal Materials, Spices and Other Commodities" is a record of the transactions and taxes on precious metals, raw silk, medicinal materials, spices and other commodities during the rule of the Gaochang Qu Dynasty. The merchants involved in the transactions were mainly Sogdian Zhaowu Nine Surnames Hu merchants, and a few were Turks.

Gaochang was an important node on the Silk Road. Sogdian merchants brought goods to Gaochang from afar. Many of them did not continue eastward. They bought and sold goods in Gaochang and then purchased other goods to ship back to the West.
Gaochang became an important commodity distribution center for Sogdian merchants.

Gaochang Kingdom will naturally not miss this resource. If they come to my territory to do business, of course they have to collect taxes.

The Gaochang people's tax collection method was very interesting. They estimated the tax by weight and charged both parties of the transaction a certain percentage of the fee, called the weighing price. They set the collected amount every half a month and the tax was settled in silver.

The weight of each of these imitation Persian Sassanid silver coins is similar to that of the Tang Kaiyuan coins, but one coin can be exchanged for thirty-two Tang copper coins.

"Why are you looking at this?" Fan Xing was eating the watermelon in big mouthfuls. After taking a look, he lost interest.

"This is the money account we got from the Gaochang Palace. The records inside are very valuable," Wu Huaiyu said with a smile, "Look at this. For every 10 catties of raw silk traded, both parties need to pay one silver coin. For every catty of silver traded, one coin is paid. For every 4 ounces of gold traded, one coin is paid."

"From this we can know the value ratio of Gaochang's raw silk, silver and gold."

Generally it is ten kilograms of raw silk, one kilogram of silver, and four ounces of gold.

One ounce of gold and four ounces of silver.

In the Central Plains, one ounce of gold was equivalent to approximately five ounces of silver.

However, the jin used in Gaochang's account was the jin from the Wei and Jin Dynasties, which was equivalent to the small jin from the Sui and Tang Dynasties, less than one-third of the Tang jin, about 220 grams. One Gaochang jin of pure silver was used to make imitation Persian silver coins, each weighing about four grams and able to produce fifty-five coins.

The transaction tax for one pound of silver is one cent, and the tax rate is about 1.8 percent.

"Gaochang's price-based tax system is actually similar to the tax system of the Eastern Jin Dynasty."

From Jin, when people cross the Yangtze River, they sell slaves, horses, cattle, land and houses. If they have a written certificate, they have to pay 400 yuan to the government for 10,000 yuan, 300 yuan for the seller and 100 yuan for the buyer. If they don't have a written certificate, they will also be charged 4% according to the value of the goods, which is called scattered appraisal.

The tax rate in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was 4%, and the tax rate in Gaochang was about 2%.

Gaochang State levied taxes in silver coins, with the smallest unit being half a cent. Therefore, if the total value of goods exceeded twenty-five cents, a heavy coin would be levied.

It can also be inferred from this account book that one tael of gold in Gaochang was actually exchanged for twelve to thirteen and a half wen, and the gold-silver exchange rate was about one to four.

In Gaochang, a pound of raw silk cost five silver coins, equivalent to 160 Tang coins.

In the Central Plains, a piece of silk is worth about 200 yuan, and generally two kilograms of raw silk can be exchanged for one piece of silk. In Gaochang, a piece of silk is worth 320 yuan, but in the Central Plains, a piece of silk is worth 200 yuan. There is a huge price difference to be made.

In addition to this tax collection account book, Wu Huaiyu has also looked at many Gaochang account books these days.

From those numbers, we can get a glimpse of Gaochang's background.

For example, Gaochang collected land tax at the rate of two silver coins per two and a half acres. The annual land rent in Gaochang’s national account was 72,000 silver coins, so the land taxed in Gaochang was less than 70,000 acres.

According to the "Document from the Ministry of War on the amount of money spent on buying horses", the average price of a horse in Gaochang was 37 wen of silver, which was only 1,184 wen in Tang money. This price was really cheap, which was also related to the fact that Gaochang was located in the Western Regions, where there was no shortage of horses.

According to the account books, Wu Huaiyu saw that Gaochang State used about 4,000 horses for various official purposes every year.

The land rent in Gaochang could only buy 2,000 horses, and the shortfall was passed on to the people.

The common people in Gaochang were only given two and a half mu of land per adult, and their total income was only twenty or thirty wen.

However, Gaochang required every household to raise a horse for the government, and the value of the horse exceeded the income from their land.

Not to mention the need to pay land rent, various taxes and labor service, the people had no choice but to develop side businesses, such as spinning cotton as a family unit, or working for merchants in the city market, etc.

Many people even went bankrupt or fled and hid themselves.

According to the documents Wu Huaiyu saw, Gaochang has been implementing a policy of matching horses according to wealth in recent years. This is an obligation. Gaochang people not only have to pay for horses themselves, but also prepare feed and saddles by themselves. These horses are raised by Gaochang people, and the government has the right to call and inspect the horse breeding situation at any time.
Even this obligation to raise horses was not limited to any class. Whether it was common people or noble officials, everyone had to bear this obligation.
The standard has also changed from two horses for every five people in the early days to one horse for every two people now. Even the monks in Gaochang could not escape this, from one horse for every twenty monks in the early days to one horse for every ten monks now.

Data does not lie, and a lot of real information can be inferred from it.

"Don't you have a headache when you look at these numbers?" After eating half a melon, Fan Xing felt much cooler all over. It was really nice to take shelter in the well.

There was a big fire outside, and it even felt a bit cold if you stayed inside for a while.

Wu Huaiyu didn't find it boring. He would calculate while reading and even take a pen to write down some numbers.

“These numbers are very interesting,”

According to the accounts of the Gaochang government, there were more than 8,000 households, more than 30,000 people, and only more than 70,000 acres of land. However, according to the data in various account books, he inferred that

The amount of land in Gaochang far exceeded this number. Those that were not included in the land tax list were actually owned by the Gaochang royal family, nobles, powerful ministers, and so on. These were exempted from tax and were even hidden land.

The population is also largely hidden, also hidden among nobles and powerful people as well as in the names of temples.

These situations are actually the same as those of previous dynasties in the Central Plains. They are all Han dynasties and therefore have common problems.

There were serious annexations by the nobles and powerful, and the Buddhist temple economy was somewhat abnormally prosperous.

Judging from the account books, Gaochang has had financial problems in recent years. Military expenses have been increasing year by year. The company also has to pay tribute to the Turks and even support the Turks' military stationed in Gaochang.
Hiding fields and escaping from the household led to a reduction in rent and taxes.

This situation is similar to that of the late Ming Dynasty, but Gaochang is still doing well on the surface.
The most important thing is that Gaochang was not a purely agricultural country, and the national finances did not only rely on the land tax, they also had animal husbandry.
The textile industry,
The most important thing is that Gaochang's Silk Road trade has always been doing well.
This largest commodity distribution center in the eastern part of Tianshan in the Western Region is not simple. The tax on weighing silver and money alone far exceeds the land tax in Gaochang.

What's more, Gaochang Kingdom itself was also engaged in trade, buying low and selling high, making a lot of money from selling goods.

Of course, the one who made the most money was the Gaochang royal family's Qu family.

Qu Zhisheng gave Wu Huaiyu two gifts, the first one was worth one thousand taels of gold, and the second one was directly three thousand taels of gold.

You know, Gaochang’s annual land tax was only 70,000 silver coins, which was less than 300 taels of gold. However, Gaochang’s annual horse expenses alone cost 600 taels of gold.

Gaochang not only collected taxes and engaged in trade on the Silk Road, but also its lending and financial industry was very prosperous. Because there were many merchants and the trading volume was large, lending and mortgages came into being and became very prosperous. Mortgage lending was extremely profitable in any year.

After looking through the account books for several days, Wu Huaiyu came to the conclusion that Gaochang had been able to survive all these years thanks to the Silk Road.

This is why when Yanqi wanted to reopen the Loulan Road, Gaochang was immediately annoyed. Not only did they express strong dissatisfaction with the Tang Dynasty, but they also directly sent troops to attack Yanqi. Later, they joined forces with the Western Turks and captured five cities in Yanqi.

Because the Silk Road is the lifeblood of Gaochang. Gaochang can survive only by relying on the Silk Road. If the Silk Road is diverted, Gaochang will go bankrupt financially.

Fan Xing was a military general and he didn't care about those numbers, but Wu Huaiyu was not only the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition, but also the Grand Protector of Anxi and the Governor of Xizhou, as well as the Governor of Liangzhou, and he still held the title of Prime Minister.

He himself did not want to stay in the Western Regions. He planned to recommend his brother Huaiyi to the emperor as the Protector-General of Anxi after the war, recommending the wise regardless of relationship.

But who would have thought that the emperor would insist on letting him stay in the Western Regions.

In this case, after the war, Gaochang became Xizhou, and this burden fell on his shoulders. He had to manage Xizhou well.

Fortunately, the emperor still provided him with some conveniences, such as moving the Wang family and Qu family of Gaochang, along with the ministers and powerful people in Gaochang, to the Central Plains. This move was very powerful, and it moved away the old upper class of Gaochang and disintegrated it.

This makes it easier for the imperial court to take over.

Of course, there is another important point, that is, when they leave, they can take away the floating wealth, but they cannot take away the fields, pastures, and mines. These are important resources and can be redistributed.

Wu Huaiyu is already formulating new policies.

For example, they remeasured the land, checked the population, and then implemented a round of equal distribution of land in Gaochang.

Then, the new two-tax system was implemented to reduce the burden on the people of Gaochang. In fact, the new tax system was also intended to increase the fiscal revenue of Xizhou.

He even wrote to his family in the mainland, asking to transfer some skilled craftsmen from the Wu family who were engaged in cotton planting and spinning to promote the upgrading of the cotton spinning industry in Gaochang.

In the past, Gaochang's cotton textile industry was a major pillar of their business and was very profitable, but in recent years, it has been driven half-dead by the Tang Dynasty's cotton textile industry led by the Wu family.
As long as new technologies are introduced, Gaochang's cotton textile industry will inevitably be reborn. The conditions for growing cotton here are still very good, and there is a good market, which makes it convenient to sell to Transoxiana and even Persia and Rome.

Of course, after the industry is revived, the Wu family will definitely benefit, but the common people will also be able to get a piece of the pie, and the Xizhou government will also be able to increase tax revenue, so all parties will benefit.

After Wu Huaiyu's investigation, he found that Gaochang actually had very good conditions in all aspects. Relying on the karez, its five major oases and more than twenty small oases, the grain grown in its five oases was enough to meet its own food needs. Gaochang also had good animal husbandry conditions, and the Gaochang horse was also a high-quality breed with great development potential.

More importantly, it is an important node on the Silk Road, located between the East and the West. After its submission to the Tang Dynasty, it will have greater development potential and prospects.

Of course, there are also very high-quality iron mines in Gaochang. Gaochang’s iron smelting industry has always been very good and well-known along the Silk Road. If there is better smelting technology support from the Tang Dynasty, then this industry will be able to develop further.

In short, Gaochang's conditions are much better than Yiwulu's in all aspects.

The Tang Dynasty had been operating in Yiwu for ten years, and Yiwu had developed well. Not only was it self-sufficient in grain, but it also stored about 20,000 dan of grain in the Yizhou official warehouse and Yiwu military warehouse every year.
In addition, in the past ten years, Yiwulu has built a series of post stations, beacon towers, military forts, and warehouses.

Gaochang has better conditions. As long as there is no chaos, it will undoubtedly take off, especially after the original nobles and powerful people of Gaochang are gone. There are fewer blood-sucking insects, but there are also fewer mountains.

Wu Huaiyu also planned to apply to the court for some tax reduction policies in Xizhou, as well as some policies to attract immigrants.

Xichang has a good foundation, good conditions and great development potential. Compared with Shuofang, Youyan and Lingnan where he had previously governed, the conditions are much better.

Fan Xing was not very interested in those things. He was more interested in how to appease the Western Turkic tribes and when they would return to the capital.
He had received a new appointment, being promoted from Governor of Liangzhou to General of the Right Dragon Army of Beiya, replacing the former Qibi Heli.

However, he cannot return to Chang'an now, and can only return after the Western Expedition is officially over.

He hoped to return home early as there would be nothing to do here all day and it was still so hot in Gaochang.

"You said that if the Western Turkic tribes could really retreat obediently, I always feel that this matter may not be so easy to resolve," Fan Xing squatted by the canal and washed his face, which was cold. "Hehe, but I hope they can cause trouble. Gaochang's half-fought battle is still not enough to establish its prestige.

We have to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys."

(End of this chapter)