A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 594 The Radical Prince
"Chengqian, what do you think?"

On the way back to Zhuangzi, Li Shimin asked the prince.

Cheng Qian was silent all the way, which really had a great impact on him. He did not expect that the lives of ordinary people in Fanchuan, thirty miles outside Chang'an City, would be so difficult.

"Father, are all people in the world like Old Man Zheng and his family?"

"Absolutely." Li Shimin said.

Huaiyu added, "Most landless people are like this. They work hard day after day and barely survive. If they don't work for a day, they will go without food. When encountering some disasters and famines, they have no resistance and often can only borrow money at high interest rates. In the end, if you don't get married, you can only sell your wife and daughter, or even become a slave..."

"Didn't my father and the Supreme Emperor's rebellion have overthrown the tyrant Sui Hunjun? Now that they have unified the country, shouldn't the people be living a good life?"

Li Shimin couldn't answer.

Huaiyu said, "Your Highness, our emperor, the Tang Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty, overthrew the tyranny and ended the turmoil. The people are much better than before. Moreover, when the saints rule the world and continue to promote benevolent policies, the people's lives will get better and better." .”

"But, the teacher just said that no matter how the landless people change, they will still be like Old Man Zheng and his family."

After entering Zhuangzi, Li Shimin and Cheng Qian were still a little unhappy.

"Huaiyu, what do you think the court should do?"

Wu Huaiyu did not answer immediately. This question was too big to answer.

"I think everything is still about land and the tax system,"

The equalization of land system sounds wonderful, but in the Northern Dynasties wars were frequent, population losses were serious, and there was a lot of land. If conditions allowed, land was equally distributed. Even cattle, slaves, and women were all given land at that time, but now most people The Tang Dynasty unified the world, but the equalization of land was difficult to implement. There were even serious problems in the Sui Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, I was an envoy to Duzhi and sent people to clean up the registered land. I found that the landlords and bureaucrats in the Tang Dynasty accounted for only [-]% of the total population, but the land they occupied accounted for [-]% of the total land.

Among them, the large landowners, who accounted for only [-]% of the total population, occupied [-] to [-]% of the land.

Under the land equalization system, there are very few people who can actually be granted full land of one hundred acres. Most of them are in Kuanxiang, where there are few people and a lot of land. In the heart of the Central Plains within the pass, especially in the suburbs of cities, only a small number of them occupy thirty or forty acres of land. By [-] to [-] acres, it already belongs to an upper-middle-class household and is a rich farmer.

Most of them only occupy three to five acres or twenty to thirty acres of land, and they mainly rely on renting. They are semi-owner farmers, and their lives are not guaranteed.

There are still [-]% of the world's population who are actually landless. Some are engaged in handicrafts in urban areas, while the vast majority live in scattered rural areas and make a living by renting land.

Many of these landless people were not naturalized. They deserted their nationality and lived in the countryside. They were attached to powerful families. They were also called fugitive households, hermit households, or tribes and tenants of powerful landlords.

For example, in the early days of the Republic of China, Old Man Zheng and others had the opportunity to return to their hometown of origin, or settle on the spot, or even have the opportunity to share the land equally, but they basically refused.
The reason Lao Zheng also made it clear is that there are only a few acres of land in Guanzhong, so if there is more land, they have to move to the border areas. Lao Zheng and the others are also afraid of the bitter cold and barbarians in the border areas, and relocation is not easy. More importantly, What's more, after naturalization and land grant, you have to serve and pay taxes, and the tax is not light.

If you stay in Guanzhong and you don't get much land, but the taxes are the same, it's better to become a tenant to the landlord's family.

So in the final analysis, the equalization of land system is still a serious problem. Most of the land is in the hands of powerful landlords from aristocratic families. They occupy [-] to [-]% of the land. There are also a small number of self-cultivators or semi-owner farmers who do not have much land.

In addition, the imperial court also had many official fields, official fields, xuntian, imperial village, etc., which also occupied a lot of land.
This led to the equalization of land system, which meant that land was divided several times in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and then there was no land to divide.

The so-called one hundred acres of land, eighty acres of land, twenty acres of permanent property, is a big pie.Even if they were lucky enough to catch up in the end, it would be difficult for those who were allotted the land to actually repay the land after their death, because there are still children and grandchildren after death, and the land is actually inherited.

Moreover, every time the land is divided, part of it is for eternity and will not be handed over after death. If the land is divided again and again, eventually there will be no land left to divide.

There are also some people who were originally divided into land, but due to debts and other reasons, they finally sold the land illegally and were annexed by powerful landlords. For example, when Wu Huaiyu first came, he met the Wu Cheng family on Bailuyuan. His family was originally a landowner. He was allocated dozens of acres of land, but he was later asked to sell them.

In fact, the equalization of land system can no longer be implemented and is in name only.

The basic tax system of the imperial court was linked to the land equalization system. One person was granted a hundred acres of land, and then one person was rented two stones, two feet of silk, three liang of cotton, and served for 20 days.

With one hundred acres of land, the tax burden is not bad, but if there is no one hundred acres of land, or less than one hundred acres of land, the actual tax burden will naturally increase.

If you are completely landless and are still naturalized as a civil servant, then the tax burden will be huge.

These rent transfers require at least four acres of land to produce enough mulberry, millet, millet and wheat, plus 20 days of free labor. If Old Man Zheng makes a living by renting land and has to hand over half of the harvest, then this rent transfer The burden must be the share of the income from the eight acres of the tenanted land.

"The equalization of land is difficult to implement, and the rent-to-yong system is even more incompatible with the current situation."

Li Shimin looked at Huaiyu and said, "When you were Prime Minister, you mentioned the Two Taxes Law to me and replaced the tax-yong modulation with the Two Taxes Law. Do you think you have the conditions to implement it now?"

The biggest fundamental difference between the two tax laws replacing the tax-yong modulation is that the current tax-yong modulation uses D as the basic unit for taxation. If there is a D, there will be taxes and services, but the two tax laws are different.

The two taxes are household tax and local tax. The tax standard for household tax does not distinguish between the head of household, young men, and middle-aged men. Household tax is only levied based on local assets, land, and the rich and poor.

Then the local tax, like the current Yicang Grain, was levied on a per-acre basis based on the grade and quantity of the field.

Household tax and local tax are levied in summer and autumn.

There are huge differences between the two tax laws, but the advantages and disadvantages are also obvious.

Rent and tax are levied according to Ding, which is simple to levy, especially during the turmoil in the early days of the country, and easier to operate. The prerequisite for the collection of the two taxes is to first investigate and clearly identify the households with assets, and accurately measure the acres and land advantages. Level etc.

This was difficult to do in the early days of the country.

Of course, this condition exists now, but the biggest resistance is actually that after these two tax laws use assets and land as the levy standard, it means that in the future it will mainly be the aristocrats, bureaucrats and landlords who pay taxes. In the past, this group of people did not pay taxes. Or pay very little tax.

Even if there are thousands of hectares of fertile farmland, it can only be harvested with one stone or two stones at most.

"Your Majesty, the Two Taxes Law has been levied on a trial basis in the past two years. The household tax of the Zhenguan Dynasty is very different from the household tax of the Wude Dynasty. Not to mention that after the Zhenguan Dynasty unified the collection standards for Yisang grain, it is actually a new local tax.
However, the household tax is currently levied at 40 yuan in small years and 80 yuan in one year every three years. Both are fixed amounts and are supplementary taxes, so the amount collected is not much.

The tax rate on free grain is not high, and the tax on fertile farmland is only two liters per mu.

If the imperial court abolishes rent and regulation, then after the two tax laws are officially implemented, the household tax and local tax rates will definitely increase a lot. "

When Wu Huaiyu was Prime Minister, he advocated the implementation of the new grain regulations for free warehouses, which required two liters per mu, and officials and gentry all paid the grain together. This matter actually aroused opposition from many people.

After all, in the past, Yicang grain was collected from time to time, and when it was collected, it was mostly collected by household level, and the maximum was only five liters. However, Wu Huaiyu insisted on collecting it by mu, and the harvest was two liters per mu. A big noble and landowner like Pei Ji , you have to pay tens of thousands of stones a year.

In the past two years, people in Yicangliang have been constantly writing to cancel it, or change it to a tax limit of five dan per household, etc. This itself offends the interests of these noble landowners.

If Li Shimin wants to directly cancel the rent-yong modulation and completely change it to the two-tax law, then the land tax may be increased to six or seven liters per mu, or even one dou per mu.

Whether it is household tax or local tax, this is equivalent to an additional tax levied on the rich. They did not have these taxes before, or the difference is huge, and there will definitely be a lot of opposition.

The grain in the ground warehouse is two liters per acre, and it has been two or three years, and it is still noisy and noisy.

“My suggestion is to proceed step by step, first select a place to pilot, summarize and accumulate some experience, and discover some problems, and then gradually promote it to more places after summarizing and improving it.

Another point is that for these people who have no assets and land, whether they are black households who have fled their registration or tenants of landlords, they should be uniformly naturalized and classified as customers. All customers will not be taxed and levied according to the rent and tax regulations, but Only according to the two tax law, household tax is levied according to the household level. If the lowest-level household is exempt from household tax, those without land are also exempt from land tax."

"Those whose families have grown-ups are required to serve 20 days of service, but they are allowed to retire and serve instead."

Li Shimin pondered.

The prince was also thinking.

"Father, I feel that for poor people like Old Man Zheng, if the court insists on taxing them, they really won't be able to pay it, so they would rather leave their country and run away. If the tax is based on assets and land, then the rich will be taxed. For landowners, the tax is not very high. Even if one acre is levied at six liters and one dou, compared with the two or three shi per acre, it is only a small part. Instead of taxing the poor by ding, it is better to tax the rich. Taxing people by acres not only ensures tax revenue, but also ensures the survival of the poor.

The teacher once taught my son Chen that the wooden barrel has a short board. How much water a wooden barrel can hold does not depend on the height of the longest board of the barrel, but on the height of the shortest board of the barrel.

Whether the empire can be long-term and stable also depends on whether the people at the bottom can fill their stomachs. If the people at the bottom can't survive, then even if the Sui Dynasty shocked Mobei, conquered Qinghai, and expedition to Linyi, it will last for several years. Attacking Liaodong, millions of armored soldiers died in only two lives. "

Cheng Qian's words surprised Li Shimin, but he still said, "If we want to fully implement the two tax laws, as your teacher said, we will encounter strong opposition from the nobles and landowners."

"Erchen believes that as long as you choose the right path, you must continue to go forward even if you encounter setbacks."

"But they are firmly opposed to it?"

"Then punish the leading opponents and kill the chicken to scare the monkeys."

Li Shimin shook his head in shock when he heard this, "Wrong, it's absolutely wrong. Even as an emperor, you cannot act so arbitrarily. If someone objects, you have to find a way to convince them instead of just suppressing and punishing them. "

After a cup of tea at the manor, the emperor's guard also arrived.

Wu Huaiyu summoned the stewards of the village and asked them to invite all the former tenants of Zhuangzi to the village.

Old man Zheng came to Zhuangzi with some fear. In fact, his head was still buzzing. A royal guard knight came to him and said, "Uncle Zheng, the saint and the prince have summoned me, please."

Old man Zheng trembled slightly and followed him to the front hall.

Sure enough, he saw that the three people who had eaten bread at his house had now changed their clothes, especially the one in the middle who had changed into a yellow robe with four dragon patterns.

"The common people pay homage to Your Majesty," Old Man Zheng panicked and fell down. He simply lay down on the ground and prostrated himself.

Wu Huaiyu stepped forward and helped him up, "Old man Zheng, please get up."

The emperor gave him a seat.

Huaiyu took out a box and gave it to Old Man Zheng. This was the contract for his original land lease, and there was a lease deposit of one thousand yuan in it.Huaiyu returned the lease and mortgage to the old man, and the original tenancy deed of 36 acres of land was also given to the old man.

"Mr. Wu wants to cancel the lease?" Old Man Zheng's face changed drastically and his voice trembled.

"It's not about canceling the lease, it's about signing a new lease. Don't you want to rent more land? You said before that you wanted to rent another twenty acres of land, right?
I'll simply give you another 24 acres, making up a total of [-] acres. Let's change the rent amount. It's according to my Wu family's practice. After the summer grain harvest, we will add as much as we harvest every two to five, each taking half. In good years, we can't rent more than one mu at most. One stone,
If there is a bad harvest, the rent will be reduced in proportion. No rent will be charged for autumn crops, and no other gifts will be received.

No security deposit is required, but subletting is not allowed.

It is very conscientious to harvest only half of the summer staple food, and no more than one stone, without other by-products, let alone autumn crops.

Many of the rice fields in Fanchuan can produce more than two dan, and this is only summer food.

Now the maximum harvest is one stone, which means that if the summer grain harvest is more than two stones, the rent will be less than half, and the tenants will be able to keep more.

Old Man Zheng originally rented 36 acres of land, 24 acres of irrigated rice fields, and six acres of dry land for growing mulberry and hemp. Now Wu Huaiyu rented him another [-] acres of rice fields.

Not even a rent deposit is required.

The old man couldn't believe it when he renewed the contract and made a new agreement without giving gifts or treating guests.

But when the contract was pushed in front of him and he was asked to press his fingerprints, he came back to his senses and hurriedly pressed his fingerprints.

"There are many places to employ people in Zhuangzi. I would like to invite you, Uncle Zheng, to work in Zhuangzi. How about I give you two stones of rice a month and a set of clothes and shoes for spring and winter?"

"I'm just a tenant, I don't know anything." The old man was excited but frightened. A young and strong long-term worker now only has ten kilo of grain a year and two sets of clothes.

"You have lived here for more than ten years and are very familiar with every plant and tree here. Now that our Wu family is taking over this village, we need familiar locals like you to help deal with everyone,"

Old man Zheng didn't expect that the pie would really fall from the sky. After repeated confirmation, he happily agreed.

The salary is very high, two shi of rice a month, and two sets of clothes a year, which is 24 shi of grain a year, which is equivalent to the income of more than ten acres of land. He used to farm [-] acres of land on a shareholding. Rice, after paying the rent all year round, what is left is just a little more than this, and it is still the sweat of the whole family every day.

"In the future, I will invite a gentleman from Chang'an to come over and set up a village school here. The second son of your family can also be sent to study. There is no tuition fee."

The old man happily knelt on the ground again and wanted to kowtow to Huaiyu.

"Old man, please get up quickly, I don't want to do this."

The old man stood up and said, "There is no way to repay a great kindness. If Mr. Wu doesn't dislike it, just leave the little girl by your side to serve him with tea and water. She is now twelve or thirteen years old."

"If the old man is willing, he can hire her to be a maid in Zhuangzi. She will be provided with food and accommodation, and will take care of clothes for two seasons. In addition, how about five pecks of rice as wages per month?" Huaiyu said.

"I don't dare to ask for wages, just let her serve."

"We still have to pay wages,"

On the same day, Wu Huaiyu personally met with all the original tenants in Zhuangzi and renewed the lease with them. Not only did he not take away the gifts, but he also returned the original rent deposit and even lowered the rent. He also received money from these tenants and the villagers in the upper and lower villages. , hired some people to work on Zhuangzi,

Anyone who is hired will also be given one month's worth of money and food in advance.

In the joy of everyone, Crown Prince Cheng Qian also stood up and announced that the saint was kind and gracious, and specifically exempted Zhuangzi from renting this summer.

After Pei Jizhuang was confiscated, this season's summer grain had to be handed over to the government. After the summer harvest, the land officially belonged to Master Wu Huai. Now the emperor has exempted everyone from this season's rent, and the Wu family does not collect autumn rent, so everyone has quite a lot of money this year. One year rent free.

Old man Zheng took the lead and knelt on the ground, shouting long live the prince and the emperor.

For Mr. Zheng, the exemption of summer rent means the exemption of more than 30 kilograms of rice field rent. Although the rice is not valuable now, it is enough to feed the family for a year.

How could the poor people not be happy to suddenly have a year's supply of grain?

Old Uncle Zheng still has three taels of gold rewarded by the prince, and a thousand villagers' money that was returned to the village. Now he has lost thirty shi of grain free of rent. Old Uncle Zheng is already thinking that maybe after the autumn, he should invite someone to come and buy some of his money. Thatched huts are replaced with rammed earth walls and tile roofs, so you no longer have to worry about leaks during the rainy season.

After building a courtyard house, he will become a person of status, and his waist and liver will be straighter. Yes, he will soon become the head steward of Wujiazhuang, with a salary of 24 shi of grain a year.

Maybe I am not in a hurry to build a house now and should use the gold rewarded by the prince to buy land?
That's worth more than twenty thousand dollars. It's hard to buy rice fields in Fanchuan, but it should be possible to buy ten acres of wheat land on Shenhe Plateau or Shaoling Plateau.

My own land,
Over the years, Old Man Zheng had imagined more than once that as long as he was willing to work hard and work hard, sooner or later he would be able to save a sum of money, buy his own land one acre, and then become a self-cultivated farmer. Good people no longer need to be exploited by landlords, nor do they need to worry that they will no longer rent their land to them.

He came here from his hometown. Over the years, he worked as a long-term worker for many landlords, as a contractor, and as a tenant. However, he still kept many of the grievances he suffered in his heart.

landowner,

I want to buy land, even if it's ten acres of dry wheat land on the plateau, it's worth it. It's my own land, and I don't have to pay rent anymore. How great.

With these thoughts in my mind, I could no longer suppress them.

If we buy ten acres of land this year and two or three acres every year in the future, we will have dozens of acres of land in the future. We will no longer have to rent other people’s land, pay rent, or frequently work for the landlord for free. We even have to give gifts during the New Year.

Unexpectedly, I, Old Man Zheng, will make a fortune and start a business when I grow old. In the future, my children and grandchildren will not have to endure the hardships of herding cattle and sheep since childhood.

(End of this chapter)