A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 488 Tax System Military System
  Wang Che ordered the establishment of a customs in Gusu and a customs in Dengzhou to collect taxes on materials entering Daqian from overseas. Of course, in this period, there are very few maritime trade transactions, and the main source of tax revenue is cane sugar.

"Your Majesty, after the customs is established and the customs tax is raised, where will it go?" Chen Yan, the magistrate's order, asked.

"The customs belongs to the Taifu. After the customs revenue is escorted to the capital, it is converted into gold and silver in proportion, and then divided into the Taifu and Shaofu respectively." Wang Che thought for a moment and said.

"Your Majesty, how much is the customs tax?"

"It's ten taxes and two taxes for the time being. We will discuss the taxes later when we have other supplies." Wang Che said.

The reason for the ten taxes and two is because the income from cane sugar is too high. If you cultivate cane sugar in Dagan, the field tax is [-]%, but there is no tax on Ryukyu Island. The cost of planting is very low, but the income is high, so the court set a ten tax Tax [-].

The imperial court's current taxes need to be shared with local governments, except for customs taxes, which are exclusively owned by the state.

Daqian's tax system is to collect taxes locally. After collecting the taxes, [-]% will be retained by the local government, and the remaining [-]% will be escorted to Beijing. Because the court collected a combination of physical taxes and money, a large number of warehouses needed to be built.

The imperial court built a granary in Luokou to store grain, and an arsenal in Shanglinyuan in Luoyang to store armor and swords. In addition to Luoyang, the imperial court also built arsenals in Huai'an, Chengdu, and Jinyang to reserve military supplies.

The armor coverage rate of Daqian's army is very high. After years of development, it has reached [-]%. The reason for such a high armor rate is that the number of imperial officers and soldiers was not large.

Daqian has always implemented an elite military system. There are [-] troops stationed at the frontier, then [-] troops stationed in the capital, [-] troops stationed in the five capitals, plus [-] naval troops, [-] Yulin guards, [-] Zhenbei Protectorate, and the Western Region Protectorate. Household five thousand.

In addition to these armies, the imperial court also had a peasant-soldier system. There were peasant-soldiers in various places. Although they usually worked in agriculture, they needed to train for more than a hundred days every year. Peasant-soldiers were different from recruiting soldiers. Peasants-soldiers were hereditary. The court originally allocated peasant-soldiers to peasants-soldiers. The property can only be inherited by the eldest son and cannot be divided. If the eldest son died in battle or died young, his son or brother would inherit.

Peasants and soldiers serve at the age of eighteen and retire at the age of forty-five. They do not have to perform hard labor, and their taxes are only one-third of what ordinary people pay, which is thirty taxes per one.

At that time, the land granted to Cheng Ding was [-] acres, but the land granted to these people was [-] acres. With three hundred acres of land, he was considered a small landowner. As the head of the family, he was naturally proficient in bows and horses. Although they were peasant soldiers, the strength of these soldiers was not weaker than the regular army of the imperial court.

Under normal circumstances, these peasant soldiers do not work in agriculture but hone their martial arts skills day and night. The same is true for their brothers. Three hundred acres of farmland is enough to support three or four strong men. The imperial court recruited these farmers and soldiers every year to familiarize them with the army and learn various flag formations.

The families of these farmers and soldiers were allowed to be equipped with bows, arrows, horses, and iron-clad armor. This was the same method used by the imperial court when it divided the feudal clans. Once recruited by the imperial court, these farmers and soldiers would quickly gather to form an army.

Peasants and soldiers do not receive wages in normal times, only during wars. In this way, it saved the court a lot of expenses and at the same time ensured that the peasants and soldiers were always in an elite state. This allowed the court to maintain an elite force at a lower cost.

Even if the imperial army was defeated, the imperial court could recruit peasant soldiers into the army in a short period of time. Peasants and soldiers who have made meritorious service can be directly promoted to generals.

In real history, apart from those professional recruits, the most capable soldiers were the good family soldiers composed of these small landowners. Soldiers during the Han Dynasty were basically like this. This kind of soldiers later evolved into the government army system. From the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the prosperous Tang Dynasty, this government army system reached its peak. Then it began to collapse, and was finally replaced by the recruitment system.

The peasant-soldier system implemented by Daqian was a system that Zijue made some improvements to the government-soldier system and maintained it as much as possible while combining it with the recruitment system. This system can ensure that the soldiers are elite, have strong combat effectiveness, and can be driven like an arm. The disadvantage is that it costs money.

If it weren't for Daqian's good tax collection, opening up the Western Regions, and minting imperial silver coins, he wouldn't be able to support him at all.

Wang Che stayed in Gusu for a few days, and after preparing the customs, he left Gusu and headed for Jinling. Wang Che did not take a boat, but deliberately took the land route. He wanted to see the real situation of the people.

Jiangnan, Jinling Prefecture, Qixia County, Jincang Village.

A large black bird flag with a red background fluttered in the wind. Liang Tao was standing on the hillock at the entrance of the village watching. When he saw the flag, he was overjoyed. Immediately afterwards, he saw a fast horse galloping towards him. The person on the horse was none other than his younger brother Liang Yue, who was on duty in the inspection department.

Just as Liang Tao was about to ask what the urgent matter was, he saw Liang Yue holding a gong and banging it quickly.

"The inspector has an order. The Saint's Chariot will arrive at Jinling Mansion tomorrow. The inspection soldiers, peasants, soldiers, and athletes must all gather together to check for bandits and water bandits. Then they will gather at the county government office before midnight tomorrow!"

Liang Tao was overjoyed after hearing this, and immediately followed his younger brother and shouted. The news that the saint was coming to Jinling Mansion tomorrow spread throughout the village. Not long after, a messenger on a horse held up a big red flag with a golden bird embroidered on it. Flag also comes here.

The herald raised the flag, then raised his horn and blew it. The low sound of horns echoed through several surrounding villages. It didn't take long for a dozen big men carrying bows and arrows on their backs, holding horizontal knives on their shoulders, wearing iron leather armor, and riding horses to rush over. Behind these big men, there were a dozen assistants wearing wallets and holding spears and bows and arrows. soldiers.

These peasants and soldiers either came from official families or were rewarded for their ancestors' meritorious service. Every family has at least [-] acres of farmland, which is the most fertile land around. Some people are even still upright or village elders.

When the Spring and Autumn Taxes were collected, these people would be assisted by the policemen to collect them. When the canals were irrigated, they were the first to use them. Even if there were any problems with any household, these peasants and soldiers would discuss and mediate with the village elders and Li Zheng. Even when eating, they were the ones sitting at the top.

As for the conflict between two villages and two surnames in the township, it just depends on which village has more farmers and soldiers. At this time, the people of Daqian were full of martial virtue. With these peasants and soldiers around, the county government officials and government officials did not dare to bully the people, and the nobles and powerful men did not dare to invade and oppress the people.

After seeing everyone arrive, the messenger immediately took out a document with the seals of the Five Capitals, Nanjing Jinling Prefecture, the Zhennan Governor's Prefecture, and the Jinling Prefecture Superintendent of Soldiers and Horses, and announced that all peasants and soldiers under the jurisdiction of Jinling Prefecture should immediately go to Jinling. government report.

At the same time, Liang Yue took out the document approved by the Yamen of Zhennan Dudufu and the Yamen of Jinling Prefecture to recruit [-] auxiliary soldiers from Qixia County.

Suddenly the crowd burst into cheers, and the peasants and soldiers immediately called on their brothers to run for election. After passing, they followed them to Jinling Mansion to report.

(End of this chapter)