A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 676 Not Optimistic at All

dinner,

It’s still a family dinner.

At this time, night fell and the lanterns started to turn on. The Wu family restaurant was filled with food, and the wives and concubines of each house had come with their children, waiting for Alang Wu Huaiyu to come and serve the meal.

Compared with most ordinary people who are still accustomed to a two-meal system, the Wu family has long had a three-meal system.

Ordinary people have two meals, breakfast at sunrise and dinner at sunset. There are also many Buddhists who do not eat after noon.

The Wu family is different. Wu Huaiyu believes that healthy eating is very important. You should eat breakfast after a little exercise in the morning. You should eat well in the morning and be full at noon. However, you should not eat too greasy food at night.

Other people eat at four or five o'clock in the afternoon, but in the Wu family's summer, they usually don't eat until around seven o'clock, when it's not completely dark yet.

Today’s dinner is also mainly vegetarian.
In summer, there are still a lot of fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables. Even though they are seasonal vegetables, the cooks in the Wu family kitchen are very good. They can fry, stir-fry, stew, and cool with various cooking methods, so the dishes can be different every day.

Eggplant, potatoes and green peppers, today’s three simple dishes made of Di Sanxian satisfied Wu Huaiyu very much. It was salty, fragrant and delicious with rice.

Potatoes and eggplants have been deep-fried, and the skins are browned. The most important thing is to make a sauce with soy sauce, oyster sauce, starch, salt, water, and sugar.
Saute the minced ginger and garlic in the base oil until fragrant, pour in the three fried vegetables, then pour in the juice and stir-fry evenly, and a delicious Di Sanxian dish is ready.

Not to mention Wu Huaiyu likes to eat, Wu Chengsi and several other children also like to eat, especially the potatoes inside, and they all rush to eat it.

There is also an advantage to having children eat together more often, that is, they are not picky eaters and they eat deliciously.

Wu Huaiyu's little brothers and sisters, as well as the nephews of Huaiyi's family, all like to come to Huaiyu's courtyard to eat.

"Let me tell you something, don't buy any more land recently."

Huaiyu said to Xuanfu,
"What's wrong?"

"The policy may change, so don't buy it now."

One of the biggest hobbies of the wife of the Wu family, apart from playing polo and hunting, is buying land. She recently became pregnant with her third child, Fan Xuanfu, and can no longer play polo or hunting, so the only option left is buying land. Slavery is a hobby.

"Xianggong Wei made a land restriction order in the court," Huaiyu explained simply.

"Restricting fields? Impossible, right?" Fan Xuanfu felt that Wei Zheng had a problem in his head.

“It’s hard to say whether it will work or not, but since we have so much land now, we’d better manage it first and don’t rush to buy it yet.”

Regarding this matter, Wu Huaiyu did not think about whether the policy itself was reasonable or not. He mainly considered the thoughts of Li Shimin, the real leader.

The limited field was somewhat attractive to the emperor, so whether it was successful or not, the emperor would definitely want to give it a try.

Li Sanniang held her daughter Jiangning County Lord in her arms, "I've also heard something about this. Alang, if you really want to follow Prime Minister Wei's proposal, then Alang can only occupy [-] acres of land, but our family actually occupies a hundred times that amount of land." Ah, what will we do then?”

Fan Xuanfu was very dissatisfied with this. He had finally saved so much land. Although most of it was in the border areas, which were not considered popular by the aristocratic families, it was still land after all. With more land, he always felt at ease. This is the foundation for the future inheritance of the Wu family.

"I don't believe that the powerful nobles in the world can spit out the dirt in their hands." Lady Fan didn't believe that Wei Zheng could succeed.

Li Qing felt that maybe there would be no need to withdraw the over-occupied land by then, but if the tax on the over-occupied land was increased according to Wei Zheng's tax tiers, that would be terrible.

Originally, the land tax was four liters per mu, but as a result, the highest tax for the ninth grade was one dou three per mu, more than three times, and the fire consumption was increased by one liter and eight.

"The highest grade, the land tax is one mu and three per mu, and the fire consumption is two liters and six, which is actually not unacceptable." Wu Huaiyu said while picking up a piece of potato.

"It's nearly a fight more than before. It's doubled. Isn't it still much?" Fan Xuanfu couldn't accept it.

Wu Huaiyu felt that it didn't matter.

Think about those tenant farmers who have worked hard for a year. They first have to hand over the summer grain in [-]-[-] shares, and then remove the seeds, labor, livestock, fertilizer, etc. There is really nothing left.

To be able to reach the highest level of tax means that there is a lot of land. There is more than one dou per acre, and there is still a lot of leftover. After all, even if one acre of land produces two dan, if it is divided in half, it will still cost one dan. If you pay more than one dou, there is still a lot left over. It is still better than that of tenant farmers, not to mention that there is a lot of land and the base is large.

An ordinary household can only farm a few dozen acres, and only get thirty or forty shi of grain a year, while a big landowner can only get [-] kilo of grain from [-] acres of land.

"I can't bear to give it up, why? Buying land for free, raising cattle, horses, and rakes for free?"

Huaiyu didn't argue with them. It's normal for women to have shallow eyelids. They only want to get in and don't want to get out.

It is indeed not easy to be a big landowner like Wu Huaiyu and still think about how to develop sustainably.

"It's all the same land. You say there are good and bad fields, and it's understandable if you divide them into upper, middle and lower tax levels. But for the same land, the result is that there are nine levels of tax just because there is more land and less land. , How can such a thing happen?" Another concubine, Mrs. Yun, also said.

"What is not understandable about this? Households are divided into nine classes, and the ninth class pays taxes."

Wu Huaiyu feels that Wei Zheng's concept is quite advanced. After all, in later generations, individual taxes were paid. After passing the threshold, comprehensive income is subject to seven-level progressive tax rates, with the lowest being 40.00% and the highest being 20.00%.Wei Zheng's local tax, even for the highest ninth grade, is only from four liters to three liters per dou. Adding the fire consumption of two liters and six, it is only five liters per dou. If three liters of Yicang grain are added, two liters of Ding grain will be added. , just after two fights.Taking the landlord’s share of the income from renting out tenants per stone, it is just over [-]%.

If the landowner farmed for himself, the actual tax rate would be even lower.

However, Wei Zheng's idea is indeed a bit too advanced today. In the past, there were various surcharges, grain loans, etc., and I never heard of excessive progressive tax rates.

Although this feeling is more reasonable and consistent with the nature of tax.

However, those who can exceed the quota are the big landowners. Those who pay more, the more land they have, are naturally the big nobles and big bureaucrats, so the voices and strength of opposition will inevitably be the greatest.

Just like now, the Wu family is eating and chatting at the dinner table. Except for Wu Huaiyu who understands and is willing to support, no one else supports it.

They all think why.

"Alang, you have to write to the saint and resolutely oppose this nerdy idea like Xianggong Wei."

"That's right, this isn't nonsense."

Huaiyu just smiled when he listened to his wives and concubines talking.
Regarding this matter, he felt that Wei Zheng's starting point was good, but if he used this method to limit his land, he would definitely not achieve his goal.

The reason is that Wei Zheng both wanted and wanted,
I want to limit the land, but I don’t dare to limit it too hard, so I loosen it up a little here and there. As long as a prince is willing to pay more taxes, he can own up to 18 acres of land. Even if some of the land is in In Bianzhou, two acres, three acres, or even four or five acres can be converted into one acre. In theory, if all the land is in border states, a prince can own up to [-] acres of land.

So what’s the point of this land restriction order?

To put it bluntly, there are so many dukes in the imperial court, and there are only a few princes and princes above the duke level who can actually purchase 18 acres of land.

Then wouldn’t this restriction be meaningless?
Another thing, saying that a state has a limit of [-] acres of land, or a limit of how many acres is within a district, is purely lax. For example, Wu Huaiyu owns land that exceeds the limit, but it can be exchanged with other nobles. In the end, the land is still in the hands of each noble.
In the end, the people did not have much more land in their hands, so what was the point of limiting the land?
If you want to do it, you might as well really make up your mind to do it and show some courage.
For example, land is strictly limited in the mainland. For example, the Duke of Wu Huaiyu has a land quota of [-] acres. In the interior of non-border states, the land occupation is not allowed to exceed [-] acres. If the land exceeds [-] acres, he will be ordered to sell it to the government or the common people.

Border states along the border, and those in wide townships, are allowed to reclaim wasteland for cultivation in addition to the limited land, but each state cannot exceed its original land quota, and it is not allowed to purchase fields other than wasteland. Excessive progressive tax rates will be applied to these excess lands. Progressive tax rates.

The total amount of reclaimed land in each border state shall not exceed nine times of its original land area, nor shall the number of acres be reduced to one acre.

For example, Wu Huaiyu is only allowed to own [-] acres of land in the interior. In the border areas, he can own up to [-] acres of land. However, in the same border state, he is only allowed to own a maximum of [-] acres of land, and it can only be cultivated. For waste land, you cannot buy mature land, and you have to pay excessive progressive taxes.

The highest tax rate is calculated at two to three dou per mu. Newly reclaimed wasteland will be exempt from tax for three to five years, and then the tax rate will be progressive.

Of course, this excess progressive tax rate is not calculated based on the highest level. For example, Wu Huaiyu owns [-] acres. There are nine levels of tax calculation. Each level of [-] acres has a different tax rate. The highest level is only [-] acres.

However, Wu Huaiyu felt that even Wei Zheng and Li Shimin would not dare to mention this radical approach.

I can only think about it, but in fact, I still have to deal with reality.

Wu Huaiyu has bought enough land in the past few years. The fertile land in the hinterland of Gyeonggi and the Central Plains is not easy to buy now, and the price is relatively high. It is good to buy border land, but the cost of reclamation and operation is high.
Wu Huaiyu plans to suspend large-scale land purchases and start operating slowly first. Plant sugar cane in Lingnan, cotton in Youyan, corn in Shuofang, rapeseed in Longyou, rice in Jianghuai, wheat in Guanzhong, and medicinal materials in Shannan. operating period.

I bought so much land that I couldn’t even keep up with the slaves.

In fact, Wei Zheng's restriction of land was not as good as restriction of slaves, which would be more lethal to annexation.

Nowadays, the agricultural income from the land is low, and if it is rented out, the cost recovery will be even slower. One stone of grain only costs thirty or fifty yuan, which is not cost-effective.

Next, we should develop the industry and commerce sector.

Just like Huaiyu, who has thousands of acres of fertile land in Qinghe Township and only has thousands of kilo of grain a year. If it were not for raising pigs, growing medicinal materials, etc. to increase income, there is really no money to be made. However, the Wu family only supported the development of Longqiao and Chang'ao. In these two towns, the shops and workshops here have now grown to a large scale, and business has begun. The annual income is already astonishing, far exceeding the income from the thousands of acres of fertile land many times.

Pharmaceuticals, mining, smelting, even papermaking, kiln burning, and wine making are all much better than growing grain.

Wei Zheng is indeed a bit bookish and always carries a bit of utopian idealism. He always seems to think that everyone has a piece of land to farm and is self-sufficient, so that the people in the world will be rich and the country will be stable.

But Wu Huaiyu knew very well that this was unrealistic and not in line with productivity.
Since the Tang Dynasty did not have so much land, each village could really be allocated a hundred acres of land, and all of it was farmed. Where would the production and circulation of other commodities come from?

Men farm and women weave, but they can only maintain the most basic food and clothing.
But what about others?

Oil, salt, tea, wine, vinegar, sauce, needlework, scissors, kitchen knives, hoes, hammers, pots, bowls, basins, and even bricks and tiles furniture, all of which can be grown in the ground.
If you want to read and write, you also need paper, ink, pen and inkstone.
Only when the people are no longer trapped on the land can we truly liberate productivity and become richer. Otherwise, if they all stay in the land, they will only become poorer.

Rather than unrealistically thinking about allocating a piece of land to everyone, it is better to allow transfer and develop industry and commerce at the same time.

Of course, it is also appropriate to appropriately restrict some land annexation, while strengthening the protection of the basic rights and interests of landless people and finding some solutions for them. For example, it is necessary to give tenants the status of customers, let them return to good people, reduce their dependence on the powerful landlords, and avoid It is necessary to be over-exploited and oppressed.

In fact, it is worth trying to levy deed taxes on land sales and transfers, over-occupancy of land, and levy excessive progressive tax rates. It can not only limit mergers, but also the court can get some actual tax revenue from it.

Instead of restricting farmland, it is better to legislate to strengthen the basic rights and interests of tenants. Restricting rent and interest will directly benefit the small people.

(End of this chapter)