The Six Arts of the Gentleman in the Bright Moon of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 615: The King of Qin is crazy! [Subscribe*Vote for the monthly ticket]

"The King of Qin and Mr. Gai Nie must have traveled to various parts of Qin and seen the various laws promulgated by the court."

Yan Yan looked at Ying Zheng. Among all the kings in history, Ying Zheng could be said to be the one who loved traveling the most, but he was also the one who could come from the people and go among the people the most.

Especially when Lu Buwei and Lao Ai controlled the government and before Ying Zheng was crowned and took power, he was a mascot in Qin State, so he had a lot of time to go to farmers' fields to observe.

This also made Ying Zheng very clear about what the people wanted.

Similarly, the legend of Ying Zheng was spread throughout the Qin State.

This is also one of the fundamental reasons why no one in the world dared to move when Ying Zheng was in power.

Because Ying Zheng’s status in the hearts of the Qin people was too high.

Even Wang Jian could not overshadow his brilliance, so there was no possibility that he would become too successful and threaten the emperor.

"Land tax, corvee labor, military service, miscellaneous duties, etc. - there are too many!" Ying Zheng pondered the folk life he saw.

"It's not just Qin, it's the same in all other countries!" Yan Yan continued, "Various taxes and levies give lower-level officials too much room to maneuver, and it's easy for them to be exploited by those with ulterior motives!"

"So, this is what you are talking about, the Single Whip Law, which combines land tax, miscellaneous labor, etc. into one single whip and collects taxes based on the number of people?"

Ying Zheng understood this, so he combined all taxes and labor service into one and collected them based on the number of people. This would ensure the transparency and simplification of the tax system, and it would be easy for the people to understand. They only needed to know that they needed to pay taxes once a year, and the amount of the tax was very transparent.

"This is the drawback of the Single Whip System, because although the people are easily satisfied, they are also good at taking shortcuts!" Yan Yan shook his head.

The disadvantage of the Single Whip System is that it makes it easy for local places to hide their population!

The common people are especially easy to satisfy, but they will also try to take shortcuts. If they can avoid paying taxes, they will also try every possible means to hide the population.

"So, on the basis of the Single Whip System, we will distribute the tax according to the land area!" Ying Zheng understood.

Take the strengths of various reforms and avoid their weaknesses!

"King Qin, think about this. What kind of impact will it have when the Great Qin promulgates an imperial edict and laws that states that the tax burden will be distributed according to the amount of land, and there will never be an increase in taxes?" Yan Yan asked with a smile.

"Never increase taxes!" Ying Zheng's eyes widened.

What a great slogan: "Never increase taxes." No matter whether one is familiar with the law or not, after hearing the slogan of this reform, all one can remember are those four words: never increase taxes!
What do people fear most?
Isn't it just that land taxes and corvée labor are arbitrarily increased under various pretexts, and the orders are changed every day?
But if we keep taxes at bay forever, who would want to hide people?
Anyway, the court calculates taxes based on the cultivated area, which has nothing to do with population. The more area you cultivate, the more taxes you pay. Isn't that normal?
Is paying more tax a problem?

No, don't forget that the Qin State had titles for military merit. Titles could be exchanged not only for military merit, but also for paying more land taxes.

"But without military service, corvee labor, and miscellaneous chores, where will the Qin Dynasty get sufficient labor to support its military forces, build canals, city walls, etc.?" Ying Zheng spoke again.

"I almost forgot. The Qin State only has farmers and soldiers. This can be maintained when there are foreign invasions from enemy countries. However, once the country is unified, such a policy will oppress the people." Yan Yan suddenly remembered that under the military merit title, the Qin State did not even need scholars, only farmers and soldiers.

"King Qin, what do you think of the combat effectiveness of the Yulin Guards compared to those temporarily recruited troops?" Yan Yan asked in return.

Ying Zheng's eyes lit up, he understood!

Cancel military service!

Soldiers can be professionalized, rather than being soldiers in wartime and farmers in peacetime. This will greatly guarantee and enhance the combat effectiveness of the army.

Just like the Battle of Yinjin, although Qin State temporarily recruited and formed an army of 500,000, it was still completely wiped out when facing the 50,000 professional Wei Wuzu. This shows how big the gap is between professional soldiers and temporarily recruited soldiers.

"Not only do soldiers need to be professional, but as long as there is money in the treasury, there is no problem building any city or canal that Daqin wants to build?" Yan Yan asked in return.

The court has money, and it can use money to create a prosperous era.

For example, the construction of Zhengguo Canal required 300,000 laborers, took ten years, and almost killed the Qin State.

But if the Qin court has money, three hundred thousand is nothing. I have money, I can even hire a million people to build it. Ten years?
It can be done for you in two to three years.

"Not all people are suitable for working in the fields. People also have their own talents. Some are suitable for business, some are suitable for crafts, some are suitable for gold mining, etc. As long as the court can pay, we can pay people instead of requiring people to work voluntarily through government decrees!"

"This involves a psychological knowledge point, which is subjective initiative!"

“The results of doing something voluntarily and being forced to do something are different.”

Ying Zheng wrote furiously, and did not stop even though his wrist was red and swollen.

He felt that the door to a new world was opening for him, and all kinds of strange knowledge rushed into his mind, but he did not feel tired, he just felt happy.

……

Anyi, once the old capital of Wei State, was later controlled by Qin and Zhao in turn, and now has become the territory of Qin State again.

This time, Jing Ke and Fu Nian started from Anyi, and began the trial from west to east, dividing the land equally among the people of Zhao.

Even Fu Nian had to admire Ying Zheng's courage in this grand event.

This is the first king in history who dared to distribute the nobles' land equally among the people.

"Urgent news from Handan, please ask the hero Jing Ke and Mr. Fu Nian to accept the imperial edict!" A fast horse and a wild goose brought an urgent letter, which was sent eight hundred miles away.

Fu Nian and Jing Ke bowed slightly and accepted the Qin King's edict. Since they were not Qin court officials, they did not need to perform any grand ceremony.

But after seeing the imperial edict, Jing Ke and Fu Nian looked at each other in shock.

King Zheng of Qin actually required them to inform the people when dividing the land equally that Qin would cancel all heavy corvee, miscellaneous labor and other exorbitant taxes in Zhao, and only levy taxes once according to the land area!
And this tax is levied according to the land area, rather than increasing according to population growth.

"Is the king crazy?" The Qin soldiers who were responsible for cooperating with Fu Nian and Jing Ke were also stunned when they saw this royal edict.

Taxes are only collected once, and there is no need to perform corvee labor, military service, or miscellaneous labor!

There is no such good treatment in the Qin State!

Even the Qin people are like this, let alone the Zhao people.

They had originally obtained the land, but they were still thinking that there was no free lunch in the world and were afraid that the Qin State would crush them with taxes and corvee labor.

Unexpectedly, the King of Qin personally issued an edict to cancel all excessive taxes and levies, and to unify and collect taxes only once according to the land area!
(End of this chapter)