The legend of the king of crossing

Chapter 102 Land System

Since Taizu conquered the country, he formulated the idea of ​​governing the country with literature, which has always been the mainstream thought of the Zhao family governing the country.In view of the domineering warriors of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty "took the Tang Dynasty as a mirror" in terms of political system, "guarded the internal while ignoring the external", and "strengthened the stem and weak branches". It must be distinguished from "military control"). From this perspective, it is still the mainstream even in modern times. It is precisely because of the idea of ​​governing the country with literature that the political environment of the Song Dynasty is relatively enlightened.

From ancient times to the present, which of the rulers at the beginning of the dynasty was not a person who had a deep heart for killing?None of the heroes who have worked together in ancient and modern times survived the disaster, and they could not escape the fate of cunning rabbits and running dogs.The founding emperor of the Han and Tang Dynasties, Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, killed Han Xin, Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, used excuses to get rid of Liu Wenjing, and Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, almost killed all the heroes of the founding of the country.

The Song Dynasty is definitely an exception.Taizu Xiande, although born as a martial artist, did not use violence to control violence, and made the oath of "not to kill scholar-bureaucrats", which is absolutely unprecedented.The emperors of all dynasties in the Song Dynasty took this as a commandment and dared not violate it. Under the conditions of this traditional policy, the political enlightenment and freedom of speech in the Song Dynasty had reached an unprecedented level.Under such a political system, both economic culture and people's living standards have reached the peak of feudal society.

The large-scale peasant uprisings in the Song Dynasty did not exceed the scope of a province. This is very rare in all dynasties, which is enough to prove the relative stability of its society.

However, everything has advantages and disadvantages. The long-term rule of the country has also led to the decline of military power. Generation after generation of emperors have basically adopted the idea of ​​​​"giving up small money to protect the big country" and blindly giving in, which eventually led to the people of the Song Dynasty contented with pleasure, thus It was completely destroyed by the powerful Mongolian cavalry.

If it is said that Qin died due to tyranny, Han due to war, Sui due to military service, and Tang due to separatism, then Song died due to ease.

As I have been in the Song Dynasty longer and longer, my analysis of the Song Dynasty has naturally become more and more objective.

I can boldly say that the Song Dynasty is actually on the eve of the development of capitalism.If there really was an opportunity to develop capitalism in Chinese history, then I think it must be the world depicted in the "Surfing the River During the Qingming Festival", not the mechanics waiting for their employers on the Suzhou Bridge .

It's a pity that this newly sprouted bud was blown away by the cold wind from the north without a trace!

Of course, at the end of the Song Dynasty, the Zhao family’s family property was basically empty, the regional population decreased sharply, the treasury was also increasingly empty, the bureaucratic system was corrupt, the emperors became more and more stupid, and their opponents were the most powerful Mongolian cavalry in history. These signs It is the same as when the country was destroyed in the past dynasties.

The only difference is my presence.

During the heyday of the Song Dynasty, the treasury’s huge fiscal revenue was not obtained only by increasing the exploitation of farmers, but was the result of the rapid development of the national economy, the extremely prosperous industry and commerce, and the increase in productivity. As a traditional agricultural country, a large number of small farmers directly The collection of agricultural tax has always been the basis of state rule, but in the Song Dynasty, such a situation is really unique, and the proportion of tax revenue is no longer the absolute position of agricultural tax.However, at the end of the Song Dynasty, military expenses had to be raised by the public land law. This is a serious setback and sorrow.

I can only face these things calmly, and I can't travel forward again.

With regard to land policy, the Song Dynasty adopted a land policy that was completely different from other dynasties - "not suppressing mergers". This approach can be said to be the earliest market economy in the world.With the increasing corruption of the bureaucratic system, a class of monopolists of land resources and bureaucratic landowners has formed. They do not obtain a large amount of land through legitimate means, but obtain it with privileges, which has caused extremely unfair phenomena.

After two days of careful consideration, I decided to first formulate a program document for land reform, and then start a trial run on Fujian Road, where the land has already been measured.

According to my will, Xiao Qi preached loudly at the end of the Great Court Meeting in early May: "Xuan Taishi Jia Sidao, Jiang Wanli of the Ministry of Commerce, Liao Yingzhong, Ma Tingluan of the Ministry of Rites, Ma Guangzu of the Ministry of Households, Ye Mengding of the Ministry of Officials, Zhu Pisun, and the Ministry of Industry Tang Han, Chen Zongli from the Ministry of Criminal Justice, Wen Tianxiang and Lu Xiufu who gave lectures in the Chongzheng Palace, went to the Piandian to wait for the order after the court meeting."

I asked Xiaoqi to bring chairs, let everyone sit down and said: "My dear friends, you are the pillars of my dynasty. I called you here today to discuss the land system of my dynasty with you. Xiao Qi , Serve everyone tea."

Except for Jia Sidao whose face was calm, the rest looked flattered. After sitting down, they hurriedly drank Shifeng Longjing and said in unison: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

You must know that it was impossible for the ministers to sit down and drink tea in the upper court, even in the side hall, this was the first time.

I cut to the chase and said, "I intend to re-establish a complete land policy on the basis of the Public Land Law, and refine the land system into land ownership system, land use system, land planning system, land protection system, land expropriation system, and land taxation." system, land management system and land supporting system, etc. Let me first talk about the land ownership system. At present, the land in our dynasty is divided into two types: state-owned official land and private land. Among them, the occupancy rate of official land is about [-]%. The land occupancy rate is [-]%, and ordinary farmers are about [-]%. My idea is to allocate a certain amount of land to farmers according to the number of household registered farmers. The ownership of this part of the land belongs to the farmers. If they don’t collect it, the self-owned land of this kind of farmers can guarantee their basic livelihood. If they have enough time and energy, they can rent the land from the court. Of course, the tax on this part of the land will be higher. For those The same is true for the landlord class who own a large amount of land. The excess part of their family must pay more land tax according to the excess proportion. If they cannot cultivate so much land, they can sell the land in their hands to the imperial court, so that The forced repurchase in the public land law has become their voluntary behavior. For the refugees, the local government will register for them as soon as possible, and they will also enjoy the land distribution of our court. The use of this part of their own land is completely up to them, and the court must not interfere The ownership of the leased land still belongs to the state, and farmers can sign an agreement with the imperial court, whether short-term or long-term, and this agreement is protected by our court's law. What do you think about this?"

Ma Guangzu, Minister of the Household Department, said: "Your Majesty, I have three questions. One is, can the farmers' own land be bought and sold? The other is whether the farmers can also rent from other landowners instead of renting official land. The third is the state-owned land. What is the appropriate ratio to the private ones?"

"Since it is their own land, of course they can buy and sell freely, but once they sell their own land, the imperial court will not distribute it to them for free. The second point is also possible. Farmers can choose freely. It is also protected by the law, but if the renter they choose goes bankrupt for some reason, the government will not compensate them for the losses they suffered. As for the third point, I haven’t figured it out yet, let’s let nature take its course.”

Liao Yingzhong asked: "Your Majesty, if the land in the hands of the big landlord is not leased and cultivated, will it be abandoned?"

"There is such a possibility. However, even if the land is idle, the land tax must be paid. For those landlords who own a large amount of land, the tax on the excess part will even be higher than the value of their purchases. Leave it vacant; secondly, relevant regulations will be introduced on the land use system and management system to prevent land from being abandoned.”

Jia Sidao also said: "Your Majesty, I have a suggestion."

"Teacher, please tell me."

"The land reform involves too many areas. At that time, the veteran could only try it out on Liangzhe West Road. Your Majesty's reform is better than the public land law. The veteran thought that it should not be implemented nationwide at once. It should be tried on a certain road and then gradually promoted to the whole country."

"The teacher's words are very true. I have the same idea as my teacher and minister, so when the conditions are ripe, I will try it from Fujian Road."

"Fujian Road? Makes sense." Jia Sidao smiled.

"The above are my ideas about the land ownership system. What are your opinions and additions?"