Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 278 Tithes

Wumuya's forces have already taken root in Guanzhong, but what makes Qu Bucai feel aggrieved is that Wumuya's dead soldiers have never found a chance to assassinate Xiao He, Zhang Liang, Chen Ping, and Bai Mo, let alone Liu Bang. Now's the chance, after Bai Mo's political reform, these ministers were afraid of revenge from the powerful Guanzhong, so they all strengthened their guards.

However, news about Bai Mo's reform continued to spread to Jiangdong.

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At the turn of spring and summer, Qu Bucai finally returned to Jiangdong.

Xiang Zhuang immediately summoned Qu Bucai in the upper study room, and at the same time sent people to invite Fan Zeng, Xiang Ta, Xiang Tuo, Bai Lixian, Wu She, Bi Shu and other civil and military ministers.

In front of Xiang Zhuang and other ministers, Qu Bucai briefly stated the whole story of the Baimo Reform.

As soon as the words fell, Xiang He said in disbelief: "Bai Mo's implementation of the new law of Jun Yao's servitude and equal calculation of Fu did not trigger the resistance of the powerful Guanzhong?"

Qu Bucai said: "Returning to Lingyin, Guanzhong tyrants rebelled, and hundreds of tyrants from more than a dozen counties rebelled together, but their resistance was finally brutally suppressed by the Han army. Zhou Guanfu, who was appointed by Liu Bang as the guardian general, Slaughter all these hundreds of tyrants in one breath!"

Xiang Zhuang said solemnly: "Liu Bang, you are really cruel!"

Fan Zeng said in disbelief: "Liu Bang's son escaped for his own life. Even his own son and daughter could be pushed off the carriage. What's the point of killing hundreds of powerful people in Guanzhong?"

Wu She frowned and said, "Then what about the remaining tyrants in Guanzhong? There are more than [-] counties in the four counties of Guanzhong. There are at least a few thousand powerful tyrants in the four counties of Guanzhong. Zhou Guanfu bloody suppressed hundreds of tyrants. The remaining tyrants Are they just watching? Are they not afraid that Liu Bang will come to slaughter them again?"

Qu Bucai sighed: "Master, the remaining Guanzhong tyrants are powerless even if they want to resist, because Junyao's service and Pingshu Fu won the hearts of the people. After Zhou Guanfu suppressed hundreds of tycoons, the people of Guanzhong also knew Once Liu Bang’s determination to reform the law was lost, he rallied to support the new law, and no one will work for the powerful family anymore!”

The reason why tyrants are powerful is not only because of their own status in the village and their respective properties, but more importantly, their prestige. As long as they climb up and shout, the strong men from all over the country will gather to respond. This is tyranny. But once the strong men from all over the country stop liking them, they will lose their power.

"Your Majesty, after Junyao's service and the calculation of Fu, the common people of Li will no longer have to worry about their future. From then on, they can let go of their lives and raise them. The population of Guanzhong and Bashu will increase dramatically!" Bi Shu worried. Authentic, "This is not good news for Da Chu."

Fan Zeng, Xiang Ta, and Bai Lixian nodded in agreement.

This is indeed the case. Nowadays, the common people of Chu State generally only have a small amount of arable land. Although Jiangdong is full of wasteland and there are countless lands that can be reclaimed, the labor force of a strong man is limited after all. Instead of spending more energy on reclaiming The low-yield raw land is not as good as the cultivated land rented by the powerful gentry.

But even if it is cultivated land, the hard-earned grain not only has to be paid to the state tax, but also to pay land rent. After several times of exploitation, the remaining grain is less than half. It is still very difficult to feed a family of four. If Give birth to seven or eight, and you can squeeze out all the harvest for a year just by counting gifts. What will the old family eat by then?
Therefore, the majority of Lishu people dare not let go of life and care.

If the counting of taxes is abolished, the people will have less scruples, because no matter how many children are born, there is no need to pay more taxes. Although there are more children, there will be more mouths, but if there is not enough food, can they still dig wild vegetables to eat?When the children are a little older, and when they have labor, they can also help cultivate raw land, or rent and plant a few more acres of cultivated land, isn't that enough?

Xiang Zhuang nodded, and said in a deep voice, "Liu Bang is able to serve as a slave and calculate Fu, so we can do the same!"

After talking about this, Xiang Zhuang said to Xiang Ta and Bai Lixian: "Ziyi, Ziliang, you go back and check and calculate a quota for all kinds of miscellaneous servants and calculations, and then they will be included in the land tax. , and then re-establish a tax rate, from this year, the land tax will be levied according to the new tax rate, and all miscellaneous labor and miscellaneous taxes will be abolished together!"

"Here!" Xiang Ta and Bai Lixian hurriedly sat up on their knees and bowed to Xiang Zhuang.

Xiang Zhuang paused for a moment, and then said: "Let the left and the right have to equalize Yao's service and equalize the tax, why not simply introduce the third batch of new laws together, and then complete the military system reform."

"Here!" Xiang Ta and Bai Lixian responded again.

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Three days later, Xiang Ta and Bai Lixian entered the palace overnight and reported their calculation results to Xiang Zhuang.

Taking advantage of Xiang Zhuang's efforts to look through the inventory, Xiang Ta said: "My lord, the items such as Yao's service and soldiers are mainly used for building cities, roads, and the frontier. The problem of the frontier can be solved through the reform of the military system. Building cities, building roads, building bridges, etc., will need the treasury to allocate money and grain to recruit labor from the people to complete."

"Yeah." Xiang Zhuang nodded and asked, "And then?"

"Chen and Ziliang have done calculations, Jiangdong currently has a population of more than 260 million, with more than [-] registered adults."

"Each strong man needs to serve Yao service for one month every year, and each strong man consumes at least one stone of rations per month, so the Yao service is converted into a land tax of 80 stone!"

"There are more than 180 million mouths, and the mouth gift is 90 stones!"

"There are more than 80 Ding, and Ding Na counts as a gift, which is 80 Shi!"

"In addition to the original land tax of 90, the final land tax quota is 340 million shi!"

"340 million shi?!" Xiang Zhuang was shocked when he heard the words, and said again, "Jiangdong has more than 1000. It’s one stone, that’s 34 catties, so wouldn’t the final land tax rate exceed four taxes and one?”

Four taxes and one tax, this is already an unimaginable tax burden!
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiang Zhuang suddenly thought of another matter and asked, "By the way, you said that Jiangdong's receivables and calculations together amounted to 170 million shi of grain? But why didn't this batch of grain enter the warehouse last year? "

Bai Lixian said in astonishment: "Your Majesty, have you forgotten? When the Law of Enforcing Households and Qimin was implemented, you have already issued an edict that the whole Great Chu will not shut up or count Fu within ten years!"

Xiang Zhuang patted his forehead and said, "Look at this widow's memory."

At the beginning of the implementation of the Qimin law of household registration, in order to gain the support of the general public, Xiangzhuang issued an edict to reduce or exempt oral tax and calculation tax for ten years. The endowment is extremely limited, so Xiang Zhuang didn't pay much attention to it, and he was exempted for ten years with a stroke of a pen.

Xiang Zhuang said again: "Since this is the case, then the oral and calculation quotas will be exempted."

Xiang He said: "If the oral tax is reduced or exempted, and the fixed tax is calculated, the final land tax rate should be seven taxes and one tax."

Xiang Zhuang said: "If you reduce it further, the final land tax rate will be set at ten taxes and one tax!" This is also Xiang Zhuang's psychological bottom line. In the last period, the abnormal situation of crazy tax increases and even the pre-collection of land taxes for decades is not comparable.

"Ten taxes and one tax?" Xiang He frowned, "Your Majesty, will this cause the treasury to suffer?"

Bai Lixian was also a little worried, and said: "Yes, my lord, after the abolition of Yao slaves, handymen, pawns, oral taxes, and counting taxes, this land tax has become the only tax source for the national treasury. If one tax is ten, even if it is In the year of Dafeng, there were only 200 million shi, and after deducting the salaries of officials at all levels, Shiqing Shilu and military rations, there was not much left."

What Bai Lixian said is true. Now there are about 30 civil servants and 60 military officials in the entire Chu State. The average salary of these civil and military officials is [-] shi, which is [-] shi. [-] shi are needed; in addition, the Lumi of Shiqing Xunqi will be distributed, how many will be left in the end?

What can be done with just these three melons and two dates?

At that time, not to mention building the city and repairing the Chi Road, even repairing the palace for Xiang Zhuang will have to borrow money from here and there.

Moreover, there are not too many Shiqing's relatives who have won titles now, and the pressure is not great. However, as more and more relatives receive titles in the future, the pressure on the national treasury will inevitably increase. I am afraid that I will be unable to make ends meet, and it is even more impossible to take out food to relieve the victims, that would be bad.

But Xiang Zhuang waved his hand and said calmly: "The shortage is temporary. With the increase of the population, the total area of ​​cultivated land in Jiangdong will definitely increase, so the annual revenue of the national treasury will also increase, and the situation will gradually improve. What's more, although the Yao service, oral tax, and counting tax have been abolished, the land tax is not the only income for the treasury."

Xiang Tadao: "Your Majesty, what kind of goods tax are you talking about? But how much income can this generate?"

The so-called commodity tax refers to the tax paid according to the total value of the goods when the goods pass through the wharf and checkpoints.

However, the scale of commercial trade in the pre-Qin period was small, and most of them were retail outlets. Giant merchants like Tao Zhugong were rare, and the tax contribution was naturally limited. Now Chu State has a steady stream of paper, books, shochu, etc. The land was sold to the Central Plains, and the commercial trade has become much more prosperous than before, but the tax revenue is not much.

According to the price of [-] yuan and [-] shi, it is converted into rice grain, and the tax is only [-] to [-] shi.

Xiang Zhuang waved his hand and said: "At present, there are very few merchants in Jiangdong, and there are not many goods in circulation, so there is very little goods tax, but after the implementation of the third batch of new laws, merchants have accumulated income through trafficking goods and paying goods taxes. With a certain amount, you can also obtain the title of title, so the number of merchants who trade in business will increase sharply, and the tax on goods will also increase sharply!"

In ancient China, commerce did not start to prosper until the Song Dynasty, but as a traveler, Xiang Zhuang knew that factors such as population and productivity were not the main factors restricting the development of commerce. When ancient Rome was only a small city-state, commerce was already quite developed. The key reason why ancient China's commerce was not successful lies in the policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce.

The wisdom of the Chinese people is not inferior to any nation in the world, so as long as the government releases the policy of suppressing business, the business of Chu will develop rapidly. As the scale of business continues to expand, the tax contribution will also increase. Many, over time, commercial taxation will definitely surpass land tax and become the main source of national treasury revenue!
(End of this chapter)