Quickly wear it and insist on being an old man forever

Chapter 42 The Queen Mother is immortal (42)

Bai Sheng knew that Wei Zifu was pregnant again, and the one he was carrying in his belly should be the future deposed prince Liu Zhi. Even if Chen Ajiao got married tomorrow and got pregnant the day after tomorrow, it would still be too late.

But it didn't dampen her ambition.

After a few more words of encouragement, they sent the mother and daughter away, and then Liu Che came before dinner was even eaten.

And he didn’t come alone. He brought several more important ministers, including the Prime Minister, Yu Shi, Da Fu and others. The person in charge of finance and taxation from Jiu Qing also came with him. Obviously, he should have seen Bai Bai yesterday. Sheng asked Chen Ajiao to bring the book over. She didn't dare not listen and at the same time was a little worried about her safety, so she brought the minister with her just in case, and also to help with the argument.

There are some things that are difficult for him as a junior to say.

Then we can only let the ministers do it for them.

And the person he is now is not the person he was more than ten years ago. He doesn't even have the ability to protect his cronies, so he had informed the ministers in advance before coming.

Tell them not to be polite and talk about it.

He must keep them safe.

Therefore, this meeting was not so much a meeting between grandfather and grandson as it was that Bai Sheng was forced to take up politics, or that Emperor Jianyuan directly moved the government affairs and even the important officials in the court to Changxin Palace.

No matter how invisible Bai Sheng was, he was not completely blind. He could still sense more than one person coming in, and the female officer next to him immediately attached a description.

So she quickly figured out the situation:
  "No need to be polite, Cheer, do you want to raise taxes?"

Before they had time to say hello, Bai Sheng took the lead and got straight to the point.

This statement really shocked them.

Liu Che, in particular, was convinced that he only had this idea in his heart and had not told anyone else. However, he soon remembered what Bai Sheng had marked in red in the book and the composition of the officials he had brought this time.

You can generally figure out the reason.

So he quickly stabilized his mood and replied:

"The Imperial Grandmother is aware of everything. I really have this idea. Over the past many years, I have fought against the Xiongnu in battles. I have been defeated and humiliated many times. Fortunately, Wei Qing, a genius from heaven, came to me. This time I went straight to Dragon City and won an unprecedented victory. The people were also very excited.

People are inspired and morale is high.

So I plan to take advantage of the victory and pursue it, defeat the Huns until they dare not invade me again, and return all the humiliation I suffered before. The only problem now is lack of money.

The late emperor and the emperor's grandfather had done frivolous corvee service for many years.

It also hides wealth among the people.

So I plan to add arithmetic and oral gifts. "

"I plan to advance the age for collecting oral tax to three years old, and increase it appropriately. In terms of tax, we will restore the old system during the reign of Emperor Gaozu, which is one hundred and twenty Wen.

But because you said that the tax increase should be informed to you.

That’s why I came here to tell you! "

Calculated tax and oral tax are actually poll taxes.

The tax calculation is aimed at the tax collected by adults. During the reign of Emperor Gaozu, each person received 120 fen. In order to reduce the burden on the people during the reign of Emperor Wen, the tax was reduced to 40 fen, and it has continued to this day. As for the oral tax, it was a tax levied on minors, twenty coins. In the past, it was levied from the age of seven until they reached adulthood and became a calculated tax.

Of course, this is normal.

Merchants' servants had to pay double their taxes, and women between fifteen and thirty years old who were not yet married had to pay five times their taxes.

It is one of the pillars of Daqian taxation.

If it is quadrupled, although it is difficult to quadruple the final tax, it should be okay to increase it by half.

As he spoke, Emperor Jianyuan was obviously a little over-excited. He might even have imagined in his mind that he would take these ministers and silence his grandmother, and he would never dare to raise any objection again.

But, the reality was slightly different from what he imagined, and Bai Sheng didn't have time to speak.

The chief agricultural officer he brought quickly bowed his head and advised:

"No, Your Majesty. Since Emperor Wen, the tax calculation has always been forty cents. Now it has tripled. I am afraid that the people will not be able to accept it. The age for collecting oral tax has been lowered to three years old. This is even more bad governance. There will be a large number of infanticide and drowning among the people. ah!

I hope your Majesty will take back his life..."

Emperor Jianyuan really never expected that the first person to object would be the person he brought. His face could be said to be broken. Fortunately, the person in charge of the Young Mansion was very active at this time, and Dangji retorted loudly. : ˆ ˆ “Bold, are you saying that the calculation of Fu set by Emperor Gaozu is unreasonable? Your Majesty just restored the calculation of Fu to the old system during the reign of Emperor Gaozu. How can you call it tripled? At that time, Emperor Wen took pity on the people and changed the calculation of Fu. It came down, but it didn't say that it couldn't rise again from now on.

If I had nothing to do before, it would be considered a low salary.

Now we are going to war against the Xiongnu. The people have enjoyed the benefits for so many years. What's wrong with paying more as a gift? This is their contribution to the country. If you say that the people cannot afford it, you are clearly denying that Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing have lived with the people for decades.

Living with the people for so many years.

How could the common people not be able to pay this little money! "

As the emperor's purse and all the money from oral gifts must be returned to the Shaofu, it is natural that the person in charge of the Shaofu should fully support Emperor Jianyuan at this time!

"Da Si Nong, how much is the price of food now?"

At this time, Bai Sheng suddenly asked.

Da Sinong paused for a moment, first saluted to Emperor Jianyuan, then turned his head and saluted to Bai Sheng:

"Back to the Empress Dowager, about forty coins and one stone."

"How much corn do people produce per acre?"

"The harvest from a hundred acres is only three hundred stones."

"In other words, the annual tax calculation requires three stones of corn, which totals the entire income from one acre of land."

"No, corn can be sold for forty cents, but it may only cost thirty or even twenty cents to collect it from the people. During the great harvest during the reign of Emperor Wen, the purchase price of corn was even as low as ten cents and one stone."

"To put it this way, even if the price of food is relatively optimistic, assuming that ordinary people can sell it for thirty cents and one stone, a family of six, even if the four children are underage, just to pay the tax every year Hekoufu, count according to the number Cheer said.

It costs three hundred and twenty coins.

The total harvest requires three and a half acres of land. "

After listening to his imperial grandmother and Da Sinong talking until this point, Emperor Jianyuan interrupted with some dissatisfaction:

“A total of more than 300 yuan, just three and a half acres!

Didn't Chao Cuo say that a family of five had a hundred acres of land? Three and a half acres, how much is that? "

"When he says there are 100 acres of land, you should think that every family of five in the world has 100 acres of land. The Ai family tells you that there are many people in a family of five who don't even have 20 acres of land.

And in addition to the official tax, isn't there also land rent? In addition, there are tribute fees, and the people need to bear labor and military service. If you don't want to go, you still have to pay. The labor service is one month per year, 300 coins per month, and the military service A total of two years, and the total is a total of 7,200 yuan.

This is only known to the Ai family.

It is still difficult to say whether there are private apportionments, whether there are any excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes, whether there are private tax increases within the vassal states, and don't they need to eat or buy clothes? Don’t you need to see a doctor when you are sick, and don’t you need to spend money on marriage?

There was some natural disaster or some illness or accident.

The only option is to either sell the land or borrow a usurious loan. If you can't repay the usurious loan, the property will still be confiscated.

Do you think that during Emperor Jing’s reign, a family of five had a hundred acres of land, but now a family of five can still have a hundred acres of land?
  If it weren't for many people, they wouldn't be able to afford it.

Why did Emperor Wen reduce the calculation of taxes? "

Bai Sheng knew that Emperor Jianyuan had not experienced the sufferings of the people, but even so, she was still very angry.

Because he raised taxes like this.

People don't know how many families will be destroyed and people will die.

For people who are already poor, adding a small amount of taxes to them is like a mountain that is difficult to support. They may be able to barely support it when the weather is good.

But once there is a natural disaster, many people cannot survive and have no choice but to borrow money, sell their fields, flee, or sell themselves.

Most of these common people are the foundation of the country, that is, the self-cultivating farmers. When the number of self-cultivating farmers in a feudal agricultural country is getting smaller and smaller, and the number of farm laborers is increasing, it is difficult to think of any problems with the country's finances and national order.

　This is the main tax corvee. It is difficult to find information on other miscellaneous taxes and temporary tax corvee. But anyway, ordinary people have a hard time. It is really a prosperous age if there are no natural disasters and starve to death.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)