A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 673: In the Zhengzheng Palace
Changan.

Li Shimin drank tea with the queen at the Zhengdian Palace. What he drank was green phoenix marrow produced in Jianzhou, but it was a special version of steamed green cake tea for the palace, also known as phoenix dumpling.

"Thousands of households in Sanyuan County can collect more than 3000 tons of grain at once. According to Wu Huaiyu's new law, if more than [-] counties in more than [-] prefectures in the world can implement the new two-tax law, the land tax alone will be able to collect at least [-] yuan a year. Wanshi,"

Empress Changsun peeled a pomegranate for Li Zhi. She did not interfere in government affairs, but she also knew some fundamentals of the country.

"Is there that many? Now the imperial court has a population of 300 million households, and the annual rent seems to be only 800 million shi. This was only available after Wu Huaiyu and Dai Zhou promoted free warehouse grain."

From 800 million stones to 3000 million stones, this number is indeed astonishing.

But if we take Sanyuan County as an example, in previous years, we collected 5 shi, but we actually only received 800 or 3000 shi. However, this year we collected more than [-] shi, so it is reasonable for the world's [-] million shi to rise to [-] million shi.

"My father, the emperor, my mother, and my son personally went to Miyuan and visited all the counties and villages. The changes in Miyuan are really amazing."

Prince Chengqian was cutting pomegranates for his younger sister, Princess Changle.

"From [-] dan to [-] dan all at once, it has doubled several times. Can the people afford it? Will it tire the people?" The queen was more cautious and was not attracted by the number alone.

"On the contrary," the prince excitedly told them what he saw and heard, "it turns out that thousands of households in Sanyuan County, because it is Ji County, most of the land is owned by nobles, nobles, officials, landlords and powerful landlords. In his hands, there are either public fields, county government's public fields, official fields, academic fields, post fields, and even the fields of various departments in the city."

"There are also many public fields, official fields, and military fields belonging to Yuancong Imperial Army and the Twelve Guards Military Mansion."

Cheng Qian told the queen some details. In the past, there was a lot of land but little land, so the burden of renting and transferring was very heavy. Now with the new law, the taxes on these small lands have also been reduced a lot.

The real main force in paying grain and taxes was the former noble officials and powerful landowners, who levied taxes on an acre basis.

The tax collected per acre is not too much, and they have a lot of land, so the actual burden is not worth mentioning. However, Queen Changsun felt that this set a precedent. After all, noble officials and soldiers in the past were not required to pay taxes. Now, if they do it this way, Will it cause their dissatisfaction?

Nobles, officials, and soldiers were the cornerstone of the Tang Dynasty, and they could not destroy themselves.

Li Shimin stroked his beard. Of course he knew that this new tax law touched on the fundamentals of the country, but if the tax system is not reformed now, within three to fifty years, this system will completely collapse, and the entire country will be endangered by then.
It is better to prepare for a rainy day now than to deal with serious problems in the future. I'm afraid it will be even more difficult at that time.

"Nobles, officials, and soldiers are the cornerstone of the country, but they also enjoy the status given by the Tang Dynasty, and naturally they have to bear corresponding responsibilities.
Nowadays, one acre of land is only taxed with a few liters of grain, twenty or thirty taxes per acre. If they don't even have this responsibility, then how can these people live in peace with the country? "

"In recent years, some people have forgotten the fundamentals," Li Shimin said.

According to the original system of the imperial court, civil and military officials were born in the third rank. If the prince of the county married, and lived together with the great meritorious servant, the fifth rank or above, and lived with the prince, married in the third rank, and were exempted from service, since they were living together, they were exempted.

Officials of fifth rank or above not only enjoy tax-free privileges themselves, but can also benefit from corresponding relatives who live together.

So some people tried every means to avoid taxes and servitude, so many large families with dozens or hundreds of people were not divided into households, and many four generations lived together. Some official families had six houses in one house, and they were not divided into households.

There are also people who deliberately purchase property in places other than their place of household registration, or deliberately move to other places instead of living in their place of household registration. In this way, they actually break away from the household registration management system and escape to evade taxes and avoid labor.

"When my father and son were in Sanyuan, they heard an interesting thing. Liu Rengui, who was appointed by his father to be a member of the household department of the school inspection department, had a brother, Liu Renxiang, who was still in his hometown in Henan. Their brothers took the initiative to separate. The family establishes a new household registration.
And this year, Liu Renxiang took the initiative to go to the county government to pay the rent tax per mu on the first day of the summer harvest. The local county officials were curious and said that you and Liu Yuanwai were brothers. Although your parents were not here, there was no need to rush to separate households, so that you could be exempted from classes. .

He also said that they in Henan have not yet implemented the new law, and are still renting grain. They do not need to pay grain per mu, but only need to pay free grain grain per mu.

Liu Renxiang replied that the big rivers are full of water and the small rivers are full, but the small rivers are not full and the canals are dry. He also said that his brother once taught in a letter that a family is the smallest country and a country is composed of thousands of families.He also said that Prime Minister Wu had his say, and rights and obligations are equal. "

"Oh, is this really the case?"

"Well, my son also heard from the teacher himself. I heard that the two brothers Liu Rengui and Liu Renxiang were lonely and poor when they were young. At that time, the family provided support and was willing to sponsor one of them to study in the family. Both of them were very smart, but in the end the family The elder Liu Rengui was selected from the clan, and Liu Renxiang went to the landlord's house to herd sheep.

Liu Rengui has been studying, and Liu Renxiang has been working as a servant in the clan, and they have suffered a lot. But later Liu Rengui's cousin married Ren Gui, and Liu Rengui joined Ren Gui to work, and Liu Renxiang followed.

But later, because Renxiang accepted other people's property for personal gain, Liu Rengui found out about this, so he personally beat his brother, told Ren Gui, and asked for Renxiang to be fired, so Renxiang turned against his brother.

But Rengui still sent money to his brothers every year. In these years, he also married his brothers and bought lands. He was full of eldest brother's demeanor and resolved the grievances between the brothers. From then on, brothers respected each other.Although Liu Renxiang stayed in the countryside, he followed his brother's advice to farm and study at the same time. He was also good at charity in the countryside, and he was known as a wise man in the countryside. "

"I really don't know about this. Since it was Huaiyu who said it, it can't be false. Liu Renxiang is very sensible. If everyone in the world were like their brothers, there would be no such thing as fraud. Zhuang Zhizhu is waiting for something,"

In the first year of Wude, the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the registered population in the country was only 180 million households. Compared with the 890 million households in the fifth year of Daye, it dropped by nearly 700%, a loss of more than [-] million households.

After 13 years of recovery, the population now stands at 300 million households.

It is still only one-third of what it was at its peak.

Of course, the war in the late Sui Dynasty did not actually last that long, and the population did not really decrease that much. The main reason was that during the Sui Dynasty, a large number of registered residents fled and went into hiding. Many people became members of the powerful nobles, and many even became slaves. Some people are attached to temples,

Regardless of whether they are tribes, slaves, or fugitives, they are not actually listed on the official household registration statistics.

Since Li Shimin came to the throne, in addition to dealing with the Turks, a close friend, his biggest headache has been how to collect more people with household registrations and how to restore the population with household registrations, especially those in the household registration system.

After the Sui Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty, the imperial court originally had 300 million households, but the non-class households accounted for 200 million.

There are only one million students.

This is a very fatal crisis,

The turmoil in the world has ended, and even the Eastern Turks have been wiped out. However, the tax revenue of the imperial court has not expanded. It has finally increased from 180 million households at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China to 300 million households now, but 200 million households are not subject to taxation.

However, land wealth is mostly concentrated in the hands of households without taxation.

The financial predicament has always been difficult to solve, and everything is stretched thin. Three years of savings can destroy the East Turks. In addition to the extraordinary military performance of Li Jing, Wu Huaiyu and others, and quick victory, the key lies in the financial plans proposed by Wu Huaiyu when he was a prime minister. Some money and food,
For example, in the Yicang Grain, two liters per mu were collected, and the officials and gentry paid the grain together. This was the most life-saving. Without this, the court would not be able to save money and grain for the war. The Central Salt Law also helped the court quickly transport grain and weapons to the border areas. .

Of course, the various envoys, offices, Changpingcang, etc., as well as the monopoly system of salt, tea, wine, etc., also raised a lot of money for the court.

But these treat the symptoms rather than the root cause.Wu Huaiyu and Dai Zhou initially implemented the national free warehouse grain grain payment of two liters per mu. There was considerable resistance at the time, but Li Shimin was crazy about poverty, so he implemented it ruthlessly and took advantage of the replacement of the old and new emperors to oust some of the emperor's old ministers. I got a batch and that opened up the situation.

The levy on a per-mu basis, with the gentry paying grain as one, has achieved remarkable results in the past three years, which further convinced Li Shimin to implement the new two-tax law.

In the past few years, the Ding rent collected by the imperial court has become less and less. Instead, it is free grain, which is much higher than the income from the regular rent. The grain income from the imperial public land, military villages, etc. is even more than the Ding tax from the regular rent.

This made Li Shimin understand long ago that if this mediocre modulation was not changed, it would be doomed.

Now the new tax law has begun to be piloted in Sanyuan,

There are not many public opponents, but Li Shimin knows that there are actually many opponents, but they are still waiting and watching.

Li Shimin is very satisfied with the progress Sanyuan County has made so far.

As always, Wu Huaiyu did not disappoint him.

Of course, this Liu Rengui can be regarded as an unexpected gain. Not only is he bold, but he also does things well. The most rare thing is that he has a high level of consciousness.

The matter between him and his brother Yoo In-sang can set a good example and deserves great praise at this time.

These two brothers are not only role models of brothers and sisters, but also examples of patriotism and loyalty to the emperor.

"This Liu Renxiang is very good. Cheng Qian, I will summon him to the capital and arrange for him to serve in your East Palace."

Li Chengqian quickly stood up and said, "My son, I thank my father."

Li Shimin thought about what kind of job to arrange. For civilians like Liu Renxiang, of course the emperor could use his privileges to directly grant official positions.

"How about arranging for him to be a ninth-grade Si Zangcheng in the Si Zangcheng Office under the Prince's Family Ling Temple?"

"The sons and ministers all obey the arrangement of the emperor."

Jialing Temple is one of the three temples in the East Palace. It is modeled after the Nine Central Temples. Its Jialing Temple is equivalent to the three central temples of Guanglu, Sinong and Taifu. It is in charge of the catering and warehousing of the East Palace. Under it are the Shiguan and Diancang. , Si Zang San Department,
The Si Zang Department is actually equivalent to the central Taifu Temple, and this Si Zangcheng is only from the ninth rank.

It is the same as orthography and proofreading, but the emperor did not arrange orthography and proofreading. This is because now the ninth-grade post of orthography and proofreading is basically only assigned to young Mingjing scholars who came from the imperial examination, or high-ranking officials. A descendant of a wealthy family.

Compared with the nobleness of correcting books and writing, Si Zangcheng seems to be more muddled.

"Liu Rengui can also leave his job as a school inspector. He is officially appointed as a member of the Ministry of Household Affairs. He will still assist Wu Huaiyu in trying out the new law in Sanyuan for the time being."

Brothers Liu Rengui and Liu Renxiang have now entered the eyes of saints, and their official careers will be smooth from now on.

Cheng Qian was secretly happy for Liu Rengui,

Of course, there is no reason why he works so hard. Although Cheng Qian is only 11 years old, he is also relatively precocious under the personal guidance of Wu Huaiyu.Liu Rengui was introduced to Cheng Qian personally by Wu Huaiyu, saying that he was a man of great talent and worthy of trust.

Liu Rengui also expressed his loyalty to the prince. In fact, as a person of Wu Huaiyu, Liu Rengui has now joined the East Palace.
Even though the prince is young now and there is no so-called princeling party in the court, now with Wu Huaiyu's efforts, the prototype of the East Palace Party has begun to take shape.

This time Cheng Qian was in Sanyuan. In addition to getting Liu Rengui, he also met Zhao Renben, Wu Junya, etc. They were all introduced to the prince by Wu Huaiyu.
If we add Su Dingfang, Pang Xiaotai, etc.,
Now this princeling, who has not yet officially appeared, is actually quite powerful.

"How do you think I should reward Wu Huaiyu?"

The emperor stroked his beard and said, "The results of the new trial in Sanyuan are good. Should we speed up the trial and start trialling the new law in all the nine counties in Yongzhou, Weihe and north now?"

These words seem to be talking to oneself,

Cheng Qian said, "Father, when I was in Sanyuan, I always heard the teacher say that haste makes waste. The new law affects hundreds of millions of people, so we must be cautious. I think we should listen to the teacher's opinions more."

Li Shimin looked up at his son. The 11-year-old prince already had a little beard on his lips, was taller, and his voice was changing.

This child has grown up, not only physically but also mentally.

"You will be 12 years old next year. I plan to follow Zhou's example and give you a crowning ceremony next year."

Crowning, tying hair and wearing a hat signifies adulthood. Common people generally wear crowns at the age of 20.

Emperors and princes are crowned from twelve to fifteen years old.

The princes were crowned when they were fifteen to twenty years old.

For an emperor or a prince, being crowned also means another important thing, that is, he can personally govern or start handling government affairs.

"I heard that you asked Huaiyu for [-] acres of land in Sanyuan?" the emperor suddenly asked with a smile.

"Your Majesty, this is indeed the case," Cheng Qian quickly replied, "In the case of Yuan Wai, a lot of land was confiscated, so I asked the teacher for [-] acres of land and a yard next to Wujia Fort in Longqiao. I wanted to It will be more convenient to go to the countryside to Miyuan to ask the teacher for advice when I have time in the future."

"What are your plans for these three hundred acres?"

"Grow wheat, corn, sweet potatoes, raise some chickens and ducks, and raise dozens of pigs and sheep, just like an ordinary landlord's house in the countryside. I don't intend to interfere in the management, but I just want to understand the real situation more conveniently and clearly. ,"

Li Shimin was a little surprised by this answer, but he was quite satisfied.

"Listening to both sides will lead to enlightenment, and partial belief will lead to darkness. Although you have not yet been crowned, in addition to studying the classics, you must also know more about people's livelihood. You cannot listen to one side. Understanding from multiple sources, especially active understanding, can be more authentic,"

(End of this chapter)