Chastity Layman

  Chapter 642 Not suppressing mergers

Li Shimin used Wen Yanbo mainly because of his talent. Like Dai Zhou, he is a doer. It's just that some of Wen's policies in recent years are not in line with Li Shimin's policy. He and Wei Zheng and Wang Gui are fighting each other. fierce.

  Finally, the emperor chose Wei Zheng and Wang Yu, and drove Wen Yanbo and Yang Shidao away.

  Recalling the indifferent and mocking faces of the two of them just now, Qin Lang couldn't help but gloated a little.

The three brothers of the Wen family, Dalin, Daya, and You, Wen Yanbo and Wen Dalin, are actually far less important than Wen Yanhong, Wen Daya, and Li Shimin. Wen Daya is the confidant of Li Shimin's Tiance Mansion, so he was named Li Guogong and Minister of Rites very early on. It's a pity that he died of illness early, otherwise he would have worshiped the prime minister long ago.

  Dayou also served as the servant of the Huangmen, and was in charge of confidentiality, but unfortunately he died too early. Now that Wen Dalin has been demoted, the Wen family in Taiyuan will naturally no longer be as good as before.

Wei Zheng and Wang Gui were very surprised by Wang Kai's announcement of Baima, especially Wei Zheng, who often sparred with the emperor. And he was still serving as an admonishing doctor, and it was rumored that things were happening, so Wei Zheng was so angry that he hated everyone in the world.

  I thought it would be good to be able to participate in the government affairs, but who knew that he was directly made a high-ranking official under the sect.

  Qin Lang immediately opened his mouth to add insult to injury.

   "Congratulations to Wei Shizhong and Wang Linggong, please sit up."

  As soon as these words came out, both Wen Yanbo and Yang Shizhong couldn't help but change their expressions drastically, which was too slapping. But the positions of the political affairs hall are indeed sorted by position.

They have already lost the titles of the three high-ranking officials. Although they still have the title of participating in politics, they can only abdicate. He could only get up with a dark face, and hand over his hands to give up the position to Wei Zheng and Wang Gui.

  Hitting people doesn't slap people in the face, but Qin Lang just slaps them in the face, or face to face, with a crackling sound. He knows his position very well, and he can't urinate in the same pot with those famous nobles, and the emperor doesn't allow him to urinate in the same pot with them. , the more comfortable the mood is, the more at ease the emperor will be.

"My lords," Wang Kai was secretly startled when he saw this scene, but seeing Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji, the two emperor's confidantes, they just pretended that they hadn't seen anything. Knowing that Qin Lang's actions seemed reckless, but he was not fooling around.

   "When Zhaijia asked our family to announce the decree, they also handed over a few statements, asking you all to discuss and make a decision early. Tomorrow, a court meeting will be held in the Ganlu Hall, and I will listen to your royal deliberations at that time."

  Wang Kai took out a box and handed it to Qin Lang.

  Qin Lang smiled, "To Fang Gong, he is the prime minister."

  Fang Xuanling did not refuse, took the brocade box, first touched a note and opened it, frowning involuntarily.

   "What did you write?" Gao Shilian, the right servant next to him, couldn't help but become curious when he saw Fang Xuanling's appearance. Fang Xuanling smiled helplessly, "Please take a look, gentlemen."

  Gao Shilian took it and read it out directly, "Doesn't it mean annexation, tenant naturalization?"

   These eight words were written on the note, but when they heard these eight words, almost all the prime ministers present frowned. As a prime minister, of course he knows the meaning of these eight characters, which refers to the land system.

   But the land system has always been the foundation of the country. At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the land policy implemented was to inherit the land equalization system since the Western Wei, Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties.

The essence of the land equalization system is actually that the imperial court allocates most of the official land and public land in its hands to the common people. For example, in the system design, after a man becomes a man, the government grants him a hundred acres of land, which can be passed on to the people after his death. Twenty acres of land for descendants, and another 80 acres of land to be taken back by the government after death.

   If the imperial court's land is divided, then rent must be paid to the imperial court, which is the foundation of the rent and mediocrity tax system.

  But after the tax reform implemented by the imperial court, it has changed from a mediocre system to a two-tax law. The fundamental reason for the reform of the tax law is that the land equalization law can no longer be implemented.

  Although it has only been 14 years since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the land equalization law is really not feasible. In fact, in the Sui Dynasty, the land equalization law was unified with the world, the country was stable, the population increased rapidly and there was no land to divide.

In the short ten years of war at the end of the Sui Dynasty, although a large number of people were lost, and after Li Shimin succeeded to the throne, he also carried out rectification of Buddhism and Taoism, grabbing a large amount of land from temples and Taoist temples abruptly, but on the other hand, the Tang Dynasty After the war, the separatist forces in various places were wiped out, and even the occupied territories of Lianjiang were regained.

  Many people who fled to the mountains due to war and famine joined the monastery, and even those people who were exiled abroad returned in large numbers, which made the population of Datang recover rapidly.

  Although the rapid recovery of the household registration population is a good thing, it also brings a big problem, which is the problem of land.

Many people have no land, or only a very small amount of land. Although the two tax laws have been reformed, those who have no land or less land do not have to bear the heavy rent as before, but there is still a problem for the landless. They can only be reduced to tenants .

Since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, tenants have also been called trilogy. They have no household registration in the national system, so they can only depend on the landlord. Their personal status is firmly controlled by the landlord. They cannot leave the landlord’s manor, nor can To engage in other businesses, work in workshops, work for other landlords, etc., in all aspects, tenants have to depend on the landlord, and they are under the strong personal control of the landlord, which is not much better than slaves.

  Even at the legal level, these tenants with tribal status are being suppressed. For example, the law stipulates that if the master rapes the wife of the tribal, he is innocent and honored.

Up to Li Shimin, down to the princes in the political affairs hall, and even the officials in the court, they have long known that the land equalization law has long been unable to keep up with reality, and it cannot be implemented any longer. There are still some fields in the borderlands that can be divided, but In the Central Plains, it is basically impossible to divide the land evenly.

  The government has fewer and fewer fields, but the population is multiplying. How can a fixed amount of land satisfy the ever-increasing population?

As a result, more and more people became landless households. In order to avoid rent, taxes and labor, many people became households who fled. They either fled to the mountains, or went directly to bureaucratic landlords, or even temples, resulting in the loss of national household registration population. . For the imperial court, household registration is an important means of collecting taxes and managing the population.

   Without household registration, everything is lost.

  Although after the two tax laws, the land tax was changed to the number of acres of land, and the government and the gentry paid the grain together, it is still not perfect.

   Now that the emperor has a note, he is undoubtedly going to attack this problem.

   Mergers are not suppressed, and tenants are naturalized, which is a targeted new policy. In the final analysis, it is to completely abolish the old land equalization law. In the future, the imperial court will no longer grant land to the common people, and there will be no land to divide anyway. On the other hand, the past land restriction order is no longer implemented.

  Because noble officials and even scholars enjoyed the privilege of being exempted from class service in the past, and owned too many fields, the tax loss of the court was too great to bear.

  Now, anyway, taxes are levied on the basis of acres of land, so whether the land is in the hands of the landlord or the common people, at least in terms of taxation, there is no difference.

  Of course, if mergers are not suppressed, the land will inevitably flow into the hands of landlords, bureaucrats, and nobles, and the people will continue to lose land.

   Therefore, the last four words appeared on the note, tenants naturalized.

The naturalization of tenants means that the tribal system will be abolished from then on. After the landless peasants rent the land of the landlord, they only have the relationship of leasing the land, and there is no other relationship of personal attachment and control. They are no longer under the control of the landlord. , that's all.

The tenants can also log in to the household registration and enjoy various rights and benefits as the citizens of the Tang Dynasty. They can move freely and are no longer controlled by the landlord. Others can help others, and they can also go to the city to work in workshops, or even do some small business by themselves and sell them around.

   In terms of law, they will also enjoy the same rights and interests as ordinary people.

  Fang Xuanling took out another note, but there were only four words on it, land deed tax.

There is no doubt that this is the follow-up policy of not suppressing mergers. Fang Xuanling can guess the meaning of this deed tax. Among them, a deed tax is levied. The more land is transferred, the more tax the court collects, and it is levied once for each transfer.

  The third note is about the principal customer.

   "Everyone, let's have a discussion. Let's start with the first one, the annexation and the naturalization of the tenants."

  The land system involves all aspects. It can be called the basic national policy and the foundation of the country. If it is not handled properly, it will inevitably lead to great turmoil.

  Faced with such an important topic, all the prime ministers were in no hurry to speak.

  Fang Xuanling glanced around, and finally fell on Wei Zheng.

   "Wei Gong is a new servant, how about asking Wei Gong to express his opinion first?"

  Wei Zheng nodded.

"I am firmly opposed to mergers. The land will inevitably be annexed by nobles, bureaucrats, landlords and merchants in the end. In the end, a powerful local power will be formed. During the Han Dynasty, the Han court has been committed to combating the powerful and controlling mergers. Why? Now we want to take the initiative to let go of control, why not suppress mergers?"

   "If this policy is carried out, there will be tens of millions of people in the Tang Dynasty, and countless people will lose their land."

   "The people are the foundation of the country, if the people are not stable, the world is not stable!"

  Wei Zheng clearly expressed his opposition.

  Wang Gui, the new Zhongshu Ling, agreed.

  The reason is that the land equalization decree can no longer be implemented, and the imperial court has reformed the two tax laws. If the issue of naturalization of tenants can be solved, mergers will not be suppressed, but it is not terrible.

  (end of this chapter)