People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 176: Investigating Yingtian Mansion, Tian Chang has an injustice
In addition to Kaifeng Prefecture in Bianliang as the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were three other capitals, namely Daming Prefecture in Beijing, Yingtian Prefecture in Nanjing, and Henan Prefecture in Xijing.

The three places are Daming County in Hebei Province, Shangqiu City in Henan Province, and Luoyang City in Henan Province.

As the accompanying capitals, Daming Prefecture, Yingtian Prefecture and Henan Prefecture enjoy greater power than other states. For example, various transportation envoys, Xing Prison envoys, and Changping envoys (Jinglue envoys are not permanent) are basically located in these places.

Yingtianfu connects Huai and Zhejiang to the south, Qing and Xu to the east, and Bianliang to the west. Transportation and trade are extremely developed, and it has also given birth to more prosperous commerce than other cities.

But along with commerce, there was also oppression.

Yingtian Prefecture set up a local commercial and tax bureau to collect community cards along the Bianhe River in Ningling, Yingtianfu, and Gushu, intercepting ships and collecting high taxes. From Yingtian Prefecture alone, you have to pay six points.

Moreover, the king of hell is more difficult than the little devil. Each tax collector has to take care of the affairs. After all the layers of exploitation, he basically left Huainan. When he returned to Zhejiang, the tax revenue along the way was probably more than 20 points, and the exploitation Quite serious.

Tian Chang complained about the taxes along the way.

Fortunately, they, the top businessmen, can bring more goods at one time, and even occasionally hide some smuggled goods in the goods, and then organize them up and down. They can make small profits but quick sales, and they can make a lot of money.

But those small and medium-sized businessmen suffered. They had nothing to do, and they didn't have big capital.The goods of 100 guan, including the handling along the way, will have more than [-] guan spent.

And in addition to the big tax of at least [-]%, there are also many small taxes such as tolls, bridge tolls, docking fees, and ship fees.

Including the cost of renting a boat and hiring people, sometimes your [-] guan of goods must be increased to [-] guan at the destination to barely keep the capital.

In the end, it is the end consumers who are harmed. It is no wonder that the tea collected from tea farms in Zhejiang for [-] to [-] yuan costs two or three times more when it comes to Bianliang.

In addition to severe tax exploitation, the business environment in Yingtianfu is not very good.

Like Bianliang, the trend of association has led to the rampage of evil forces.In addition to taking care of official favors, businessmen who go to Yingtian Mansion to do business will inevitably have to be robbed by evil forces.

In addition, there are indeed a lot of corrupt officials, mainly at the water transport crossings, asking for bribes. However, these people really do things. As long as you give them money, they will not be able to take away your tax money, which can be regarded as mutual benefit in a certain sense. .

The ships drifted slowly on the canal, and the caravan ships in front had already left the Ningling Canal port and headed towards Yingtian Mansion.

Tian Chang talked about tax issues along the way, but Zhao Jun just listened and said nothing.

When he finally finished talking, he still said: "Zhiyuan, this is what I learned about all the taxes along the water transportation route. The total of them is close to [-]%."

"Ah."

Zhao Jun nodded slightly and said, "This tax is indeed too heavy."

"Who said no?"

Tian Chang added: "So many people use small roads or tributary ports to bypass it, or borrow roads to avoid taxes by passing through places with fewer tax cards."

"Oh."

Zhao Jun responded noncommittally.

Tian Chang was puzzled, but seeing that Zhao Jun remained calm, he had no choice but to say nothing.

When there were still about five or six miles away from Yingtian Mansion, and a large number of villages and farmland to the northwest of Yingtian Mansion City could be seen in the distance, Zhao Jun asked Tian Chang: "My boss, I plan to go outside the city to have a look. Do you still want to go there?" Will you follow?"

What he meant was that if something happened to Tian Chang, he could send someone to send him back to his merchant ship. Anyway, the merchant ship was moving slowly, so it was in front.

Tian Chang kept some words in his heart and couldn't help but said: "Zhiyuan, I have a question."

"You said."

"The Prefect wants to hear about water transportation taxation, and also wants to hear about corrupt officials. The little old man has spoken out. The exploitation along the way is so serious, isn't the Prefect resentful?"

What he said didn't sound like something a cautious businessman would ask. Tian Chang would certainly not have dared to ask before.

But there was another thing hiding in his mind, so he had to grit his teeth and ask.

Zhao Jun sighed, shook his head and said: "Resentment will indeed lead to resentment, but there are some things that cannot be touched for the time being."

"Why?"

Tian Chang asked.

"Because the exploitation is so harsh, it's not the local officials who are making big money, but the imperial court."

Zhao Jun explained: "The salaries of local lower-level officials are not high, and even many officials are not paid. If they want to get money, they have to use other methods. They can only use clever names to collect tax revenue. The transfer envoys and the Commercial Taxation Institute will take most of them The taxes collected were taken away and handed over to the court, while lower-level officials intercepted a small portion, forming such a relationship."

Tian Chang frowned and thought.

He is a businessman, and he cannot actually think about the problem from the national level. He can only look at it from the perspective of the victims. He feels that the government's exploitation at all levels makes them miserable.

But the problem is that Zhao Jun looks at the problem from the national level, and he knows that the reasons for the layers of exploitation are not only the local government, but also the issues of government orders from above.

Commercial taxes in the Song Dynasty were very strict. There were tax payment stations on all roads and checkpoints, and there were also high penalties for businessmen who evaded taxes.

In addition, tax collectors and officials from the Commercial Taxation Institute are also willing to find various excuses to collect taxes.

It's not because these taxes go into your own pocket, but because after these taxes are paid, the court will distribute the money according to a certain proportion.

In other words, the tax officials and tax collectors of the Commercial Taxation Institute are not paid. Their income depends on how much tax you collect this year.If taxes are high, wages will be high; if taxes are low, wages will be low.

"History of the Song Dynasty" records: "The three divisions of the Commercial and Tax Office all use civil servants. There is no fixed salary, and each official receives 300 taels of silver."

So in summary.

The reason why tax exploitation is so serious is still due to the above-mentioned policy issues.This cannot be solved by cracking down on a few corrupt officials, but requires tax law reform at the national level.

In fact, Zhao Jun has always known about this. When he went to the grassroots this time, he first wanted to see the situation in Huainan to see if there was any inside story about the drought in Huainan.

The second is to investigate the local agricultural situation and understand the current burden on grassroots farmers in the Song Dynasty.

The third step is to take a personal look at the commercial tax situation and see if we can seek changes.

As for punishing corrupt officials and the like, we just do it when we see it, and it is not the main problem to solve.

The problem Tian Chang said is serious, but he needs to understand it deeply and slowly change this shortcoming.

"Actually, to put it more clearly, the court needs to collect such high taxes and oppress the people and businessmen to maintain the country."

Zhao Jun did not hide anything and said bluntly: "To solve this problem, we need to change the tax collection method through the imperial court's decree. But if you want to change the tax collection method, at least you can't do it now, because the imperial court still needs money to maintain its huge troops to deal with the border."

This is the root of the problem.

Tian Chang understood the reason at this time, but he was not disappointed. He just smiled bitterly and said: "I see, then the little old man understands." Zhao Jun said with a smile: "This is something that can't be helped. The country must maintain stability."

Tian Chang nodded slightly.

At this moment, the boat turned around five or six miles away from Yingtian Mansion, slowly sailed towards a tributary, and then stopped at a small fishing boat dock on the tributary.

As a result, as soon as the boat stopped, a group of wolf-like tax collectors rushed out from the low slope of the nearby river bank, shouting at them: "Another group of tax evaders has come. All the brothers came out and surrounded them."

Zhao Jun frowned.

It seems that in order to prevent people from bringing goods from the trails into Yingtian Mansion for sale, the people from the Commercial Tax Office sent a large number of tax collectors to ambush the surrounding rivers and paths. No wonder the Song Dynasty was able to receive commercial taxes.

But the taxes are paid too frequently. They were called just now in Ningling, and now they have to be paid again. The animals leave their skins when they go away, and the geese plucking their feathers are nothing more than this.

I'm afraid that if any dog ​​in the village passes by, he will have to pay a tax of two cents before he can leave.

Zhao Jun waved his hand.

Jiang Dalang went up to negotiate.

Still the same rhetoric.

It is said that they are soldiers of the imperial army who are going to Huainan to change their posts, and they have the approval documents and waist badges from the imperial court.

It's just that although they are a forbidden army, they still have to pay taxes.

Two more dollars were spent.

They couldn't park the boat here either. The tax collectors still ordered them to park at Yingtianfu Pier.

As a last resort, they were asked to return to Yingtian Mansion.

It was already past six o'clock in the afternoon when we arrived at Yingtian Mansion, which was more than an hour later than the originally scheduled five o'clock. It was still dark, and there were already fewer people in the busy dock outside the city.

A large number of ships traveling from north to south are parked at the dock outside Yingtianfu City. These are all passing through. If they are merchant ships entering the city for business, they will enter the city along the canal and park at the dock inside the city.

Zhao Jun and the others did not enter the city. If they had not been intercepted by tax collectors twice to pay taxes and Tian Chang's fleet had not blocked them, I am afraid that he would have appeared in the villages outside Yingtian Mansion more than two hours ago to inspect the grassroots. .

Zhao Jun actually knew about the situation in and around Gyeonggi Road. He went out to the city many times to investigate farmland outside the city. After taking charge of the Imperial City Division, the Imperial City Division began to expand in Gyeonggi Road, with authority covering the entire Gyeonggi Road. According to the investigation report It had been handed over to his desk.

He also knew a little bit about Ying Tianfu's situation, but he still had to see it in practice.

It's just that it's getting late today, so it's obviously not the right time.

Zhao Jun asked Tian Chang, "Master Tian, ​​it's getting late today. We plan to spend the night on the boat and stay in Yingtian Mansion tomorrow. We don't know how many days we will stay. If you have something to do, you can leave first." "

Tian Chang said hurriedly: "The little old man is willing to follow Zhiyuan. I happened to come to Yingtian Mansion to do some business, but I have my son on the boat, so just let him do it."

Zhao Jun thought for a while and guessed that Tian Chang might have something to say to him, so he said, "Okay, you can just stay with me on the boat today."

As he said that, he looked ahead and saw the Tian family's merchant ship in the distance, and said a little puzzled: "Tian's family, I have some doubts."

"Yes."

Tian Chang responded.

Zhao Jun asked: "I have also learned that this large merchant ship can carry more than 12 jins. The tea to Bianliang can only carry [-] jins. Do we need so many ships?"

Tian Chang laughed and said, "I don't know what the Zhiyuan knows. The ship that goes to Bianliang can carry 12 jins, but it can also go to other places, such as Yingtian Mansion, which can also carry [-] jins. In addition to tea, it can also carry [-] jins. , we also need to carry grain to Bianliang. The price of grain collected from the south is lower, and then we can hire people from Bianliang to get tea."

"I see."

Only then did Zhao Jun understand why Tianjia actually had so many big ships. It seemed that his business was really big.

Tian Chang added: "In addition to the tea and grain, there are also copper coins. In fact, our profit from each trip is not much, only tens of thousands of guan, and the profit in a year does not exceed 15 guan. But from south to north To do business, you must prepare a large amount of copper coins. The ship in front contains 50 copper coins and weighs more than [-] kilograms."

"Ok."

Zhao Jun smiled bitterly and said: "It seems that it will be convenient for you if the south starts handing over the sub-services as soon as possible."

Tian Chang smiled bitterly along with him.

Even though the Tian family's business is so big, this is already the limit.

Although water transportation was developed in the Song Dynasty, in the era before Jiaozi and banknotes, if you wanted to trade bulk commodities, you had to bring so much money and things with you. One hundred thousand guan, equivalent to 64 kilograms and weighing 320 tons, was at least It had to be transported by four large cannons.

And if the value of the goods in one trip reaches 30 guan, the toll along the way will have to be [-] to [-] guan.After deducting various costs, they really don't make much profit.

Therefore, the trade in the Song Dynasty prospered and declined at the same time. It was entirely because the court was squeezing the common people, small and medium-sized landowners and businessmen to death that they could have such high taxes every year.Otherwise, the Southern Song Dynasty would not have been able to rely on half of the country and receive more than 1 million in taxes, which was more than five times higher than the annual tax of about 2000 million taels in the Ming Dynasty?
Zhao Jun saw everything and didn't say much.At least he has nothing to do about these things now. If he wants to find a way to change the abnormal finances of the Song Dynasty, he still has to wait for Lao Fan to solve the invasion of Xixia and Liao before he can reform slowly instead of rushing for a while.

The ship docked at the shore, and the night passed quickly. In the early morning of the next day, Zhao Jun and the others got off the ship, and did not enter Yingtian Mansion. Instead, they went to the countryside outside Yingtian Mansion to see the conditions of the fields there.

They walked for a day and visited many villages. The situation was similar to that in Bianliang. There were farmers, but the number of landowners was already half and half.

That is to say, in a certain village, or simply in several surrounding villages combined, thousands of acres of land are owned by one landlord or two or three landlords.Then there is a certain class of rich peasants, and below that there are about half of the peasants.

This is obviously not a good thing for agriculture.

Moreover, Zhao Jun's inspection found that many landowners had a large number of tenants, long-term and short-term workers. After asking around, he found out that the nearby Huainan East Road suffered a drought the year before last. Since the previous two years, many people had fled.

Some want to go to Bianliang, and some stay in Yingtianfu, but the capacity of the handicraft manufacturing industry is limited after all, and many people cannot find jobs and can only work for landlords.

There are black-hearted landlords, and there are also kind-hearted landlords. This kind of thing can be hidden from the emperor and the officials who are lying on their backs, but it cannot be hidden from the common people. If you go to the farmland or the countryside, ask someone and you will know everything. .

Even though many farmers don't dare to cause trouble and don't dare to say anything, there are still some who dare to say it. Anyway, they are just a few strangers who have never met, so what can they do?
Zhao Jun didn't say anything, just recorded it.

These things are just the tip of the iceberg. He can't reveal his identity immediately to punish the landlords. He can just write a letter and send it back to Bianliang for Lu Yijian and the others to deal with it. He also has to conceal his identity and continue to investigate the grassroots situation elsewhere.

In this way, for four or five days, Zhao Jun wandered around the countryside and counties around Yingtian Mansion. The transfer envoy of East and West Road in Beijing and Yin Yingtian Mansion had no idea that a big daddy had arrived on their land.

By the sixth day, Zhao Jun had done some research around Yingtian Mansion. He was about to leave in the early morning. When he got on the boat, he suddenly turned to Tian Chang and asked: "Mr. Tian, ​​you have been following me behind me these days, and you have not even done business. , I’m afraid it’s not just to curry favor with me.”

Tian Chang was stunned for a moment, then as if he had made up his mind, he knelt on the ground suddenly and said to Zhao Jun: "I also ask the magistrate to make the decision for my younger brother Zhang Xian. Guo Chengyou, the magistrate of Bozhou, designed a plan to seize the ancestral belongings of the Zhang family. He ruined the Zhang family and even killed my virtuous brother on fabricated charges!"

Zhao Jun's eyes turned cold instantly.

　The update is unstable and not ideal. It's not that it's stuck. There's no need to write too detailed and lengthy the protagonist's research process. Basically, just cut along the line and it's done. But my health is really bad and my lungs are about to cough up. I always thought that Yang was over, but I didn’t expect that it would always exist and there are various variants. Everyone should pay attention to their health.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)