I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 86 Taxation

Cao Zhi said in "Speaking of Epidemic Qi" that there was a great epidemic in the 22nd year of Emperor Xian's reign of the Han Dynasty: "Every family has the pain of zombies, and every room has mourning. Some people will die with their doors closed, or some people will be overthrown and mourned."

Zhang Zhongjing's "Treatise on Febrile Diseases and Miscellaneous Diseases" states: "The Yu clan has many members, more than 200 of them. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, in less than ten years, two-thirds of them have died, and typhoid fever accounts for seven of the ten."

Ma Rixi's memorial reminded Liu Bian of another major killer of the population besides war during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty.

Hua Tuo's medical books have not been handed down, but Zhang Zhongjing's "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases" has far-reaching influence.

This book will have its limitations if viewed in later generations, but if viewed in the contemporary era, there is no doubt that it was a great advancement in the medical field.

Liu Bian's current hesitation is that these two people may not have accumulated enough experience and medical knowledge. If they are rashly summoned to Luoyang, Liu Bian is worried that there will be a problem of robbing the seedlings and promoting their growth.

However, even if they were left to practice medicine locally, given Liu Bian's current ability, it wouldn't be a problem to provide them with some convenience.

Nowadays, witch doctors and doctors are one, and in the minds of many people, medicine is not as effective as talisman water.

Just like the great epidemic, even scholars only believed that the cause of its occurrence was "the imbalance of yin and yang, the wrong timing of cold and heat."

In this social atmosphere, if an intellectual with a good background chooses to devote himself to the study of medical skills and engage in what scholars regard as a "mean career" instead of following a step-by-step official career, his moral level must be worthy of respect.

Hua Tuo has a record of "Pei Prime Minister Chen Gui tried to promote Xiaolian and Taiwei Huang Wanpi, but they both failed"; Zhang Zhongjing also gave up his official position to write books in the end.

Liu Bian can provide them with a lot of extra help.

Lack of paper, so you can only use bamboo slips to write medical books? Not enough people to run errands and collect herbs? Need a disciple? Is it difficult to communicate with other doctors?

All these courts can support it.

The most important thing is - name!

Liu Bian can help them completely separate themselves from witch doctors and improve the employment environment of doctors.

Hua Tuo once lamented the low status of doctors, and Zhang Zhongjing also lamented that quack doctors harmed people and ruined their reputation.

But it doesn't matter, who said doctors can't write books and talk about it.

Moreover, Hongdu Menxue can study calligraphy and painting, can't it not add a medical skill?

But these are all things for later.

Liu Bian had to first determine whether Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo had the ability to write books. For this point, it was most reliable to ask them themselves.

He did what he said, and Liu Bian immediately wrote a letter, hoping that Taiwei Ma Rixi would help him make inquiries on his behalf.

The latter is relatively reliable in Liu Bian's mind, and he should not shirk it.

Although it was a private letter, it was written to the Taiwei who was out to maintain integrity, so Liu Bian did not avoid others and was not afraid of others reading.

Moreover, Liu Bian also attached some knowledge that he could think of that might be helpful to the development of today's medicine, and transformed it into words that people at the time could understand, hoping that Ma Rixi could pass it on to Hua Tuo and Zhang Ji.

For example, explain bacteria and viruses as small bugs that are invisible to the eyes. The bugs can be transmitted through water and air. These bugs can be eliminated by boiling water. The cause of the epidemic is that a certain small insect enters the human body and then spreads from person to person through water and air...

Internally, it was speculated that he discovered it when he was looking at Taoist historians' collection of Taoist books. Externally...who could ask him?

Liu Bian had spent half a month with Shi Daoren before entering the palace. He felt that even if Shi Daoren was found, there would be no risk.

However, for this reason, although Liu Bian believed that he was aboveboard and had a clear conscience, he still chose a private letter instead of an official document.

Official documents must be archived. Unfortunately, he was not a medical student, and the biological knowledge he had learned from middle school had long been lost, and the help he could provide was extremely limited in his opinion.

……

At the end of the memorial, Ma Rixi did not forget the various incompetent actions he committed to impeach Wang Rui, the governor of Jingzhou.

When Gai Xun told Liu Bian that Wang Rui looked down on warriors, Liu Bian asked Yousi to discuss whether to change Jingzhou governor, but the final result of the discussion remained the same.

At that time, Liu Bian had not yet become the prince, and he thought that the rebellion had been put down, so he did not persist.

Wang Rui was born in the Langya Wang family. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, "the king and his horse shared the world." Naturally, the current Wang family does not have such influence.

Due to Ma Rixi's impeachment, discussions on Wang Rui's removal were once again put on the agenda.

The position that Yuan Shao will take after returning to Beijing and the candidate to take over as the prefect of Runan also need to be considered.

But before that, Liu Bian had a question that needed to be answered.

Why were there so many people affected by the disaster, including more than 50,000 homeless households? Why was the government willing to grant land while only nearly 20,000 households were willing to go to Jingzhou?

He asked Lu Zhi and got an answer.

"Although it is not stated clearly in Uncle Weng's memorial, I think that the 20,000 households that are willing to move must not be single households. Instead, they are clans composed of dozens, hundreds, or even more people. In terms of clans, They moved to Jingnan together.

After the clan's population reaches Jingnan, Uncle Weng will also resettle them according to their respective clans. "

But this still cannot completely answer Liu Bian's doubts.

Lu Zhi opened his mouth and suddenly didn't know whether he should say anything, but looking at the way the prince looked at him, he sighed softly and explained: "There are people who suffer from counting Fu and speaking Fu. Especially counting Fu is the most difficult. It is divided into monthly payments. If the officials are not strict in governing, the officials in the township officials will cleverly set up names and control them."

"In addition, men from Neijun who cannot afford to go to the border counties to serve in the military service for three days per year, and those who do not serve need to pay three hundred coins, in order to hire people to guard the border on their behalf, which is called Gengfu, and now it has become a custom."

The koufu, also called kouqian, was collected from young men and women aged seven to fourteen, and was initially worth twenty qian. Entered the Shaofu and used it for the emperor's private use.

Suanfu means that adult men and women between the ages of fifteen and fifty-six pay money to the state every year, initially one hundred and twenty yuan, which is called a suanfu. Merchants and slaves twice as much.

Both of these are poll taxes, but now, maybe two neighboring counties charge different taxes.

Gengfu originated from the Chinese people's border guarding tradition that was continued from the Spring and Autumn Period. It was still implemented during the Qin Dynasty. However, as the country grew larger, the difficulty for people to guard the border increased exponentially. In the Han Dynasty, it was flexibly changed into Gengfu. In addition, serving as a county soldier is also a form of corvee service.

In fact, the largest source of revenue in the treasury is the poll tax, including the tax. Because the amount collected from the tax changes, it is several times the land rent.

Seeing that Liu Bian had vaguely understood what he meant, Lu Zhi stroked his beard and made the final conclusion: "Therefore, for those whose families are famous and trustworthy, there are people who would rather sell themselves to avoid computation of taxes, increase of taxes, and corvee labor." Servant."

As for slaves, in addition to double the tax, there is nothing like corvee, not to mention that those who can afford slaves must have an inseparable relationship with the grassroots officials.

Therefore, if there is no need to consider that slaves are inferior in terms of status, then those who lose their land will become slaves instead of tenants, which will be a very cost-effective choice and even have to be made in some cases.

When Liu Bian heard this, he was speechless for a while. The moral character he had cultivated through studying had become an aid to his accumulation of private slaves.

No wonder it has been said since ancient times that reading is good!

(End of this chapter)