At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 538: World Trends and Extravagant Behavior
On the third day of the twelfth month of the twenty-ninth year of the Han calendar, in Yong'anli.

Guan He held an iron loudspeaker and shouted: "We are conducting a legal education in the tax supervision office. Those who listen to the lecture will receive an egg."

"Where is the class?" When my mother-in-law heard that there were eggs to be collected, countless elderly aunts in the market became interested instantly.

Guan He shouted, "In the small square in front of the city square."

Xu Aiming was in the square, directing the staff to hang up a curtain with eight big characters written on it: "Paying taxes is glorious, tax evasion is shameful."

For this legal education event, he also prepared a 2,000-word speech, focusing on why paying taxes according to the law is honorable and tax evasion is shameful. He wanted to let them know that the court's tax collection is closely related to their welfare. However, he never expected that all who came were a group of aunts and mothers-in-law.

He asked with some dissatisfaction: "What's going on? We specially selected the weekend to popularize the law, why are there not many young people coming?"

Guan He said helplessly, "The craftsmen have worked hard for five days and finally have time to rest, but they either go to sleep or go out to play. No one wants to listen to our legal education. These aunties and grandmothers are attracted by the eggs. Without the eggs, I'm afraid these few people would not have any."

Guan He was also feeling aggrieved. Today was the day off he had waited so long for. He had made an appointment to watch a football match, but a sudden overtime job ruined his entire day off.

The people in Yongxing are all craftsmen. They would rather have no taxes at all. Do they expect a speech to make them pay taxes honestly? Then what are the tax supervisors and 20,000 tax soldiers for?
Moreover, their tax supervision orders have always been to catch large companies and let small ones go. The taxes paid by tens of thousands of ordinary people are not as much as that of a large workshop. Instead of educating these people about the law, it is better to spend time checking the taxes of those large factories to make them even more afraid to evade taxes. This will actually bring higher profits. My prince, there is also a cost to collecting taxes.

Faced with this situation, Xu Aimin had no choice but to bite the bullet and read his speech again.

It's not that Xu Aimin wanted to do such a formalistic thing. He just felt extremely bad during the month he spent observing government affairs in the Tax Inspectorate, much worse than when he was the Minister of the Treasury.

When he was in the Shaofu, no one knew his identity. Although everyone ordered him around, he could actually get in touch with some things in the Shaofu.

This time when he came to the Tax Inspector's Office, everyone knew his identity as the prince. Some Han officials kept their distance from him and did not dare to let him get in touch with too formal things. Other Han officials tried their best to please him, but neither of these ways was what he wanted. He felt like he had become a bystander outside the Tax Inspector's Office.

He expressed his dissatisfaction to Li Shang, and Li Shang gave him the task of popularizing the tax law, which led to the scene before us.

After Xu Aimin finished his speech, a young man standing at the end suddenly raised his hand and said, "Mr. Li, I think the court's tax law is unfair."

Xu Aimin was surprised and asked, "What's unfair about this?"

"Taxes should be paid more by the rich and less by the poor. The starting point for the asset tax is 5000 coins, which is too low. Now, if a family's salary does not reach 5000 coins, a 5% tax will be collected for any salary above coins. This is too high. We craftsmen earn our money through hard work, unlike those businessmen who make money by exploiting us. They can easily make millions of dollars a year sitting in comfortable offices. What's more, these people can find ways to evade taxes, but ordinary people like us can't. This is too unfair."

Xu Aimin was astonished and said, "The people of Chang'an are so rich that their basic salary can exceed 5000 coins?"

He felt that he didn't understand Chang'an City a little bit. When he left, the salary of most people in Chang'an City was only around 3000, but this was achieved by working overtime. In just a few years, the salary has increased so fast.

Guan He saw the young man and scolded him, "Jia Qiang, you can be considered an ordinary citizen. There are not many officials in the whole Han Dynasty. What are you doing here to make a fuss?"

Guan He whispered to Xu Aimin, "He is the third brother of Jia Sheng, the Junior Household Officer of Ji State. He is a well-known gangster in this area because of his family's favor. He does nothing every day. You don't have to worry about him."

The Jia family has three sons. The eldest has made great progress, and the second also followed him to Ji State. Now he has become a famous businessman in Ji State. The third son is the youngest, and Jia Yi and his wife were reluctant to let him suffer. In addition, they wanted to leave a son to support them in their old age, so they did not let him leave Chang'an City. Of course, the Jia family is no longer the same as before and is not short of money. This is why Jia Qiang has nothing to do and has become a famous dandy in the local area.

Jia Qiang said: "Is it not okay for me to say something? The asset tax was set almost 20 years ago. After so many years, it has not been changed. Isn't it because you officials are not doing anything?"

Xu Aimin asked: "Are there many craftsmen who pay asset taxes?"

Jia Qiang said: "Of course it's more. My family has to pay tens of thousands of dollars every year."

Xu Aimin found it a little funny. If he paid tens of thousands of dollars in taxes, his annual income would be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"An ordinary family with an income of several hundred thousand? If our Han Dynasty could really achieve this, we would have already achieved moderate prosperity long ago."

Jia Qiang said: "The key is that this asset tax was originally levied on big merchants, but now it is collected from our craftsmen. What a big deal. Although there are few craftsmen in the Han Dynasty who earn hundreds of thousands of coins a year, there are some, and there are even more who earn more than 5000 coins. After so many years, shouldn't the court increase the upper limit of asset tax collection according to the current situation? Instead of wasting energy on collecting this little direct tax, it would be better to let us eat and drink and collect some indirect taxes, which will not only reduce manpower expenses, but also increase market consumption. You should focus on those big merchants and don't always think about making us ordinary people pay."

Guan He said angrily, "How dare you talk nonsense about the imperial tax laws."

"What a powerful official! You are here to promote the tax law, but you don't allow us ordinary people to express our opinions. Why are you wasting these eggs?"

Guan He wanted to scold him, but was stopped by Xu Aimin. He felt that what Jia Qiang said made some sense.

When my father formulated the asset tax, he wanted to collect taxes from big businesses. For this reason, my father set an example by paying 3.5 million in taxes in the first year. Over the years, the total amount of asset tax paid is 10 billion yuan every year, but my father is the only one in the entire Han Dynasty who pays taxes like this.

Although the scale of other big businessmen's companies is not much smaller than my father's, the asset tax they pay is not much. The annual tax paid for this type of tax is less than 30 billion yuan, and my father alone accounts for 1/3 of it.

January 1st, the 30th year of the Han calendar.

Today is the Spring Festival of the Han Dynasty. The entire Han territory, spanning thousands of miles, is immersed in the festive atmosphere of joy.

As the Son of Heaven, Xu Fan first offered sacrifices to the Heaven and Earth, and then visited the lonely elderly people in Chang'an City with gifts, and also expressed his condolences and received the outstanding craftsmen in Chang'an City. It can be said that this period was a relatively busy time for Xu Fan, and he, the Son of Heaven, appeared on screen very frequently.

Relatively speaking, Xu Aimin, the Right Tax Inspector, is now in a relatively idle state. The task of staying in the government office will obviously not be given to him. Li Shang is responsible for distributing welfare. Every Han official in the tax inspectorate has received a welfare amount according to their rank, and this was completed before the Spring Festival.

After the Spring Festival, he had some free time. He called his two confidants, Zhang Pijiang and Liu Chang, and talked to them about the problems he encountered when popularizing tax laws and the issue of asset tax.

Xu Aimin asked, "What do you think the court can do to make those wealthy merchants pay more taxes?"

Liu Chang said: "The imperial court has the army at its disposal. If they dare not collect taxes, they will directly confiscate your property." Because Liu Chang had not yet graduated from the military academy, although Xu Aiming recruited him, he still had to wait for a year before Liu Chang could join his army.

Zhang Pijiang said: "Nonsense, the tax system is the foundation of a country, how can we act so carelessly."

After thinking for a while, Zhang Pijiang smiled bitterly and said, "But if you want the rich to pay taxes voluntarily, as the Parthian Empire said, it is harder than a camel passing through the eye of a needle. For this kind of thing, the court can only reduce loopholes in the tax system so that those merchants have no chance to take advantage of it."

Xu Aimin hesitated and said, "This loophole has existed for decades, and my father has not filled it. The court has gone through three generations of prime ministers and has not found a way to fill it."

Zhang Pijiang said: "That means the court may have left this loophole on its own initiative. After all, the prime minister of this dynasty started his career with the tax system. No one in the entire Han Dynasty knows more about the tax system than him."

With this question, Xu Aimin found Xu Fan in the evening and asked him this question.

Xu Fan smiled and said, "What the court wants to stop is these merchants from keeping the wealth in their own hands. This is the core of the asset tax. If they invest this money in reproduction, it is equivalent to the wealth flowing back to the world. As for who controls this wealth, it is irrelevant to the court. Even your father has to admit that at this stage, the wealth is in the hands of those merchants, and it will be used more efficiently."

Then he said helplessly: "This is also human nature, and no one can violate the law. Merchants use their own money, so they have to count every penny. Although this stingy character is despised, in the process of doing business, it can actually speed up their primitive accumulation, and they can develop industries more efficiently."

"For now, the fastest growing industries are still those of the merchants. The Mohists can compete with them in a few factories, but they are far behind the merchants in terms of quantity. This gap cannot be made up by so-called responsibility and system. This is the general trend of the world.

The system is adapted to the level of productivity. 3000 years ago, China was still in the Bronze Age. The system at that time could only adapt to the well-field system, which inevitably led to the enfeoffment of nobles. Hundreds of years ago, the rise of iron ware destroyed the foundation of the well-field system. This led to the hundreds of years of chaos since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The emergence of self-cultivating farmers and landlords, and the fierce external environment of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, brought about a centralized bureaucratic system. In the end, the nobles of various countries were swept away by the self-cultivating farmers of the Qin Dynasty. "

As the Han Dynasty carried out the Industrial Revolution, factories began to become the source of wealth and the foundation of the world. Merchants became the protagonists of the new era, but my father knew how greedy merchants were, and had set up numerous obstacles for them over the past few decades.

To some extent, the Chenjun model is equivalent to the Qin Reform during the Warring States Period. This model can greatly enhance a country's combat effectiveness, but it is difficult for this model to become the mainstream in the world. "

Xu Aimin suddenly realized, "Is this the reason why father is unwilling to expand the Chenjun model? Is father worried that the Han Dynasty will also face the same fate as the tyrannical Qin Dynasty?"

Xu Fan questioned his own heart and couldn't help but smile bitterly, as he was also going against the trend.

Xu Fan explained: "In my opinion, the Chenjun model has great flaws. It places too high demands on managers, which is a bit beyond the technological level of the Han Dynasty. It only improves management level without improving productivity. This management model is not compatible with productivity and will eventually cause problems."

He already knew the answer to the version, so he left Chenjun as an experimental field. He had high hopes for Chenjun, hoping that it could break through the limitations of history. But he was also worried that its explosion would completely destroy the Han Dynasty, so he simply limited its scale.

Xu Aimin was puzzled and said, "Why would there be a problem? I understand that most people in this world are mediocre and selfish, but the Han Dynasty also has many talented people who are willing to work towards the rule of Datong. There are quite a few of them. As long as the court finds these people and places them in appropriate positions, the Chenjun model may be popularized in our Han Dynasty."

Xu Fan said helplessly: "You need to experience this kind of thing yourself. Only then will you understand what it means to have the will to kill the enemy but be powerless to change the situation. When the time comes, heaven and earth will work together. When the time goes, heroes are not free. No hero in the world can go against the trend. Even my father doesn't have this ability."

Surpassing the times is not a good thing, especially for someone like Xu Fan who has surpassed the times for two thousand years. He has worked hard for most of his life, but still has not returned to his own era.

But Xu Aimin couldn't understand Xu Fan's heart, and his face was full of confusion.

On February 12, the 30th year of the Han calendar, in Chang'an City, at the Tax Inspectorate's Office.

"Your Majesty, the emperor has repeatedly stressed that no matter how poor we are, we must not let children suffer, and no matter how hard it is, we must not let education suffer. Three years ago, the court established a primary school lunch plan and a law to provide one cup of milk a day. However, the funding from the tax collector has never been sufficient. The most they received in a single year was only 70% of what we reported to the education commissioners. This year it's only 65%. Our great Han Dynasty spans thousands of miles. Could it be that we are just short of a bowl of rice and a glass of milk in the children's mouths?" said Zhang Sheng, the education commissioner, with great sorrow, as if the tax collector's failure to allocate funds was something that would be against the will of heaven.

Zhang Sheng was talking about the decree submitted by the Education Order at the Sages' Assembly five years ago. On the one hand, it was to give some food compensation to students in poor areas, and on the other hand, it was a plan that Xu Fan learned from later generations to use milk to improve students' physical fitness. It was also a subsidy to the desert herders to balance the trade gap between the two sides.

The widespread use of steam engines has affected the cattle and horse trade in the desert. Although the prices of oxen and war horses in the desert have not dropped in recent years, the Han Dynasty's demand for them has been declining rapidly.

A large number of trains replaced the need for oxen and horses as power, and new steam tractors were slowly replacing the role of oxen. The economic benefits of desert animal husbandry began to decline.

However, after 20 years of peace in the desert, even though the Han Dynasty continued to export people, the population of the desert still doubled, and the per capita income showed a downward trend.

If the Han Dynasty wanted to stabilize the desert, it had to ensure that the herders' income did not decrease, so it needed to find new industries for the desert.

The Han Dynasty court had two plans in this regard. The first was to organize the herdsmen from the desert to work within the Han Dynasty. They were considered the first batch of herdsmen workers in the Han Dynasty, and their income from working was generally higher than that from grazing.

We have to highly praise Confucianism here. Under their vigorous education, the herdsmen in the desert generally understand Chinese and know the rules of the Han mainland. This is the basis for them to work in the Central Plains.

The second is to develop the dairy industry. On the one hand, pastures are built in each county to provide fresh milk. On the other hand, dairy factories are established directly in the desert to produce cheese, milk powder and other products that are easy to store and transport.

At the same time, when creating the consumer market, Xu Fan thought of the future: a cup of milk a day would make a nation strong. The Han Dynasty simply gave all primary school students a benefit so that they could drink a cup of milk every day. For places where fresh milk could not be drunk, milk powder was used instead. One of the strengths of the Han Dynasty was that there would be no chemicals in this era, and 100% pure raw milk could be achieved.

These policies of the Han Dynasty court created a dairy product market with annual consumption of billions of dollars, which effectively balanced the trade gap between the desert and the Central Plains.

But there are gains and losses. The Han people of this era did not develop the habit of drinking milk, and without the blessing of industrial flavors, milk was not very delicious. This market was almost entirely dependent on the fiscal expenditure of the Han Dynasty.

In the first year after this policy was proposed, the Han court paid 5 million coins for milk. In the second year, the amount increased to 10 million coins. This year is the fifth year, and the figure given in the education order is 15 billion coins. Add to that the lunch plan, and their financial budget for student food and drink for next year is as high as billion coins.

Xu Aimin frowned and said, "Sir, it's not that our tax bureau is unwilling to allocate funds. It's just that you have seen that the annual expenditure budget reported by your Education Bureau has increased by more than 5% in the past five years. It has tripled in five years. This year's budget is as high as 15 billion. The money of the court is not blown by the wind. All the bureaus have asked for money from us. However, these taxes are the hard-earned money of the people. We must also supervise their use carefully."

After becoming the Tax Inspector, he realized that the fiscal expenditure of the Han Dynasty was so terrible. The addition of milk to students' lunches alone added 15 billion yuan to the Han Dynasty's expenses each year. The annual fiscal expenditure of an education inspector was as high as 60 billion, which was twice the fiscal revenue of the pre-Qin period.

At this time, Xu Aimin felt that his father was the most extravagant person in the world. What was the point of the First Emperor wanting to build the Afang Palace? No matter how expensive the Afang Palace was, it could not be more expensive than the annual expenditure of 60 billion.

(End of this chapter)