People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 64: Dividing the Land and Establishing Taxes

Winter is the time when the Han people have the most leisure, but this leisure is only relative. For the farmers, there is no time to truly rest. The farmland can take a break, but people still have to continue working.

Such tasks as harvesting winter melons, testing grain seeds, purchasing japonica rice, millet, beans, sesame seeds, and sesame, collecting manure and grass, collecting firewood and charcoal, weeding rapeseed, burning weeds, and cultivating rice fields are all busy tasks in winter.

Tasks such as repairing plateau walls, building cattle sheds, repairing farm tools, cleaning ponds and ditches, and building boats and vehicles are simply impossible to do during the busy farming season and can only be done in winter.

So although winter is the slack season for farmers, it is actually still difficult to have free time.

In an era of low productivity, every moment of every day is very important and we cannot afford to waste our leisure time.

These activities are also indispensable in Yuyang’s winter. The arrival of the Yellow Turbans did not disrupt the trajectory of life here, and the people still did what they were supposed to do.

In the farmlands, many farmers are carrying manure mixed with straw, fruit peels, leaves and grass to make fertilizer in preparation for next year's farming.

When doing these things, everyone had a look of full energy on their face, and every bit of work made them feel full of joy and excitement, which was a state they had never experienced before when working.

In the past, people worked for their masters. After working hard for a year, they not only had to pay rent for the land, but also had to repay the money for renting farm tools and oxen. At the end, the little harvest left was not enough to make a living.

Every winter when food ran out, we could only worry about the empty rice bag.

When they could no longer hold on, they had to borrow food from the farm to survive, and then they had to pay a lot more interest the following year.

This went on year after year, and although the hard work had not decreased at all, life became more and more difficult.

In the end, they would have to send their children to the farm to work as maids and servants, and they would have to constantly do extra work for the farm just to barely survive.

Life is hard in Zhuangzi, but in fact, it is not easy for self-cultivating farmers who own their own land.

Working for Zhuangzi, at least you don't have to be troubled by corvee and taxes from the government.

Normally, the situation for self-cultivating farmers is fine, but once war breaks out, all kinds of harsh taxes and levies from the imperial court will appear one after another.

Whenever there was a rebellion in the Han Empire, taxes would have to be increased on the people of the world. If there was another rebellion there, taxes would have to be increased again. Every time a war was fought, countless laborers would have to be conscripted, and the people could not live a peaceful life at all.

In fact, nowadays, the life of self-cultivating farmers is getting harder and harder, even worse than that of farmers. In the end, they will inevitably have to sell their land to make a living.

But now it’s different. They no longer work for the master of the house, but work for themselves.

They were the first group of farmers to be allocated land after the Yellow Turbans arrived in Yuyang.

Surveying the land was a meticulous job, and it was also necessary to count the household registrations of each village and township, which was a huge challenge for the generally illiterate Yellow Turbans.

So this thing took nearly ten days to complete, and there were various mistakes and confusions in the middle, before it was just beginning to be rolled out.

Although the distribution of the first batch of land was slow and the process was slow and tortuous, when it was actually implemented, it still made all the people feel at ease.

The people don’t care if it’s slow or if there are a lot of mistakes along the way. As long as they see that the Yellow Turbans really do what they say in the end, that’s enough.

I don't know how many people couldn't help crying when they heard their own names at the land distribution meeting. When the first piece of land was distributed, the prestige of the Yellow Turbans instantly reached its peak in the hearts of the people of Yuyang.

As for the Han Dynasty court, they said they would not contact us anymore. I was afraid the Yellow Turbans would misunderstand me.

At the same time as the land distribution was announced, the Yellow Turbans' temporary land tax policy of 12% was also implemented. This tax rate was actually much higher than the current tax rate of the Eastern Han court, but when the people heard about it, they did not think it was excessive at all.

In the Han Dynasty today, it is not easy to collect land taxes from wealthy and powerful families. They have various means to transfer land properties to their own manors, making it difficult for the government to supervise them. The people who depend on them for survival can also avoid corvée and taxes.

The wealthy and powerful families who own the most land cannot collect much tax, so they can only focus on the weak self-cultivating farmers.

Therefore, although the tax rate in the Han Dynasty could be as low as 1 in 30 or 1 in 15, there were more and more taxes under other names, and the burden on self-cultivating farmers became heavier and heavier.

In addition to paying basic land taxes, self-cultivating farmers in the Han Dynasty also had to pay a poll tax to the emperor. And these were only the most basic taxes. Local governments would also impose other exorbitant taxes as necessary, and when the country was in chaos, these taxes would be levied one after another.

What the people fear is not high taxes. If they can keep 80% of the annual harvest, they will be so happy that they will go crazy.

What they feared was the endless taxes and labor service. No matter how hard they tried, the government would find countless excuses to squeeze out their meager assets.

Although the Yellow Turbans' 12% tax is much higher than that of the Han Dynasty, the Yellow Turbans have also directly promised to abolish all other exorbitant taxes and levies. This 12% tax is a real 12% tax!

After a year of farming at home, we can keep 80% of the harvest, without any water at all!
When the people of Yuyang heard this promise, they had only one feeling, that is, relief. As long as all the exorbitant taxes and levies could really be exempted, then the 2% tax would be nothing!
If this promise was made by someone else, even if it was made by the Han court, they would not believe a word of it.

But they believed in the Yellow Turbans' promise!

As long as you do the right thing, even if it's only for ten days or half a month, it will be enough to surpass the prestige of the Han Dynasty for hundreds of years.

With land, the people felt at ease, and the clear tax rates also made them feel completely at ease.

For them, having a piece of land where they can live in peace without being bothered by any excessive taxes is already the life they have always dreamed of.

After living for most of my life, it seemed that life finally had a purpose after the coming of the Yellow Turbans.

The enthusiastic people are looking forward to preparing for the spring plowing next year. Everyone is working hard, and the working figures all over Yuyang not only make this winter no longer quiet, but also make it seem full of vitality.

However, unlike the farmers' efficient spirit, dozens of people who were also doing farm work appeared to be very clumsy and laborious, and they looked listless and tired, and seemed to be out of tune with others.

When the people stopped fighting, they couldn't help looking at these people with contempt and disgust.

"What kind of shitty Han officials are these? They look like decent people on weekdays, but they are useless when it comes to work. They are not as skillful as our kids. Why do they all look like they are about to die after doing such a small thing?"

Someone sneered, which immediately caused the other villagers to burst into laughter.

The people they were teasing were the Han officials captured by the Yellow Turbans.

Now they can see the officials who were once high and mighty working in the fields like themselves, and doing it so ugly, they inexplicably feel a strong sense of pleasure.

(End of this chapter)