Chastity Layman

  Chapter 720 Fire Consumption

  Guangdefang, in Jingzhao Yamen.

  Qin Lang is still presiding over the meeting of the Jingzhao Mansion. In addition to the participation of the main officials of the Jingzhao Mansion and its subordinate Chang’an and Wannian counties, he also invited relevant officials from the Jinwu Guard and Yushitai who are in charge of the capital’s security.

"Everyone, although May 5th is not a seven-day holiday like Winter Solstice, Zhengdan, and Qingming, it is also a good day for celebrations between the north and the south. The sage also used the word "Dragon Boat Festival" for the first time in this year's edict to replace May 5th. This year is The first Dragon Boat Festival, the higher-ups attach great importance to it, the sage wants to have fun with the people, and our Jingzhao Prefecture will undertake specific matters, not only to hold the Dragon Boat Festival well, but also to maintain the law and order in Gyeonggi..."

   Although the Dragon Boat Festival is officially used for the first time this year, there are many theories about the origin of May 5th. For example, people in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties in ancient times believed that May 5th was unlucky and a dreaded evil moon and day. It is said that when Meng Changjun was born on May 5th, he was almost abandoned by his father.

  There is also a theory of summer solstice. May 5th is close to the summer solstice, when yang qi is at its peak and yin qi begins to grow, insects and beetles prosper, and it is also the season for crop growth and development. The climate is hot and humid, which is easy to breed plague diseases.

  So the ancients attached great importance to midsummer in May, and used various methods to eliminate disasters and misfortunes. There were many customs such as accumulating orchids for bathing, collecting herbs, hanging moxa, drinking calamus wine, and wearing long-lived scorpions.

Of course, the Dragon Boat Festival is generally said to commemorate Qu Yuan, the great poet of the state of Chu, throwing himself into the river, and then eating rice dumplings and rowing a dragon boat. Wu Zixu.

  Before Tang Dynasty, although there was Dragon Boat Festival, there was no Dragon Boat Festival.

In the past, May 5th was not an important festival, but in recent years, May 5th has become more and more grand. For example, the merchants in Chang'an, especially the stewards of the Qin family, got some pointers from Qin Lang, and every time the solar term comes, they wantonly market and hype , Turning traditional holidays into shopping festivals.

   This year’s Dragon Boat Festival started to be speculated early, and the emperor just took advantage of the trend, specially issued an edict to set the Dragon Boat Festival, and gave three days off, so that officials and students can enjoy the holiday.

   Celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival and having fun with the people in accordance with the order, of course it is different.

  The prince accepted the order and handed over the matter to Qin Lang, who had already started preparations.

   "Is the noodle and horn millet ready?"

Fentuanjiao millet is the zongzi of the Tang Dynasty. At this time, the custom of eating zongzi at the Dragon Boat Festival also spread from the south to the north. There are three kinds of zongzi, one is bamboo tube zongzi, and the other is wild rice zongzi, which is made of wild rice leaves. , there is also a round-grained rice dumpling wrapped in reed leaves.

  Tang people eat zongzi and eat sweets, usually with red dates or honey water.

  Qin Lang had already arranged to order a large number of zongzi in advance, not only to supply the court, but also to distribute to the officials of the capital, subordinate officials, Imperial Academy scholars, and the Northern and Southern Imperial Guards. It was considered a benefit of the Dragon Boat Festival.

   "We ordered a variety of stuffed cornstarch, including fresh meat, jujube paste, red bean paste, lotus seeds, ham, and salted egg yolk..."

Qin Lang interrupted him, "Let me remind you that this time the zongzi will be purchased from the retained tax money of the Jingzhao Mansion, and money from the Saint's Internal Treasury and the Prince's Neifang, so we must let everyone feel that the Saint and the Crown Prince are still paying attention." If there is a reward from the imperial court, it must be fair."

"Before the zongzi is distributed, a standard must be established. According to the standard, it must be distributed in sufficient quantities, fresh, and cannot be deducted or damaged. If anyone even wants to extend his hand to steal a little bit of corruption with this zongzi, I, Qin Lang, will not be polite to him. Responsible Procurement bureaucrats should pay more attention, do not take the opportunity to deduct money, ask for kickbacks, etc., and do not reduce the quantity or quality, otherwise the consequences will be serious.”

An official hurriedly said that he dared not, and said that the order was completely carried out in the form of public bidding. The qualifications of the suppliers were reviewed first, and then the order was placed, and people were sent to supervise the whole process to ensure high quality. Hundreds of suppliers have been selected, so don't worry about quantity.

   Now all the zongzi are ready, and they can be distributed one after another today.

  Distributing rice dumplings is actually a trivial matter, but once hundreds of thousands of people are involved, it is not a trivial matter. One forbidden soldier distributes four rice dumplings, but there are more than 70,000 forbidden soldiers in the southern and northern yamen of Chang'an. There is one student per student, Guozijian has more than 8,000 students, and there are prefectural schools, county schools, prefectural schools, etc. in Chang'an, adding up to a few thousand more.

   Not to mention, there are tens of thousands of officials in Chang'an, and more than ten thousand in the court.

  Whether it is three or four is not the point, the point has to be fair, you can't send four in the South Yam, six in the North Yam, and you can't send three to the left Jinwuwei and five to the right Jinwuwei.

   It is even more important to ensure that the zongzi are fresh and delicious, otherwise they will be sour and smelly, and everyone will scold their mothers.

  In addition to zongzi, the benefits of this purchase include eggs and salted duck eggs.

  The general standard is that officials, officers and soldiers are given different amounts according to their grades. A soldier must have at least four rice dumplings, three eggs, and two salted duck eggs.

  The students each have four zongzi and three eggs.

The big purchase by Jingzhao Mansion this time can be said to have increased the price of eggs in Gyeonggi. Originally, because the supply has increased greatly in recent years, the price has dropped. Eight hundred cash for a pig.

   Recently, eggs have risen to two for a penny.

  Purchasing nearly a million eggs at a time is still amazingly generous, and the farmers in Gyeonggi have made a lot of blood.

  In addition to distributing eggs, salted duck eggs, and zongzi, officials, soldiers, and students were also given some silk cloth, rice and noodles as rewards this time, and the imperial guards also gave some wine and meat.

  In short, a lot of money was paid out in real money.

   In addition, they also used money to participate in dragon boat races, polo matches, and archery competitions, with huge bonuses.

   Several competition venues including Qujiang Banquet and Guangyuntan were launched at the same time.

"Li Xiang, did we spend too much money this time? If we spend so much on the Dragon Boat Festival, then the Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Winter Solstice, Zhengdan, Qingming Festival and other big festivals will be just a lot more? After a year, it will cost a lot!"

  Some officials think that this will start a bad start, for example, the benefits are too much this time. It would be nice to reward some flour **** and corner millet, and there are also eggs and duck eggs, and even money, rice, and wine and meat. Each person has one piece. There are so many officials, soldiers and students in the capital, it is really a lot of money numbers.

   "We are also acting on the will of the saints. This year's Dragon Boat Festival will be more lively. As for the money, you don't have to worry about it. The part that exceeds the budget will be paid from the fire consumption of Jingzhao taxation."

  Fire consumption is actually an additional tax in addition to the regular tax. For example, the imperial court’s collection of food, cloth and money will cause some loss, which is normal. Since the imperial court has collected taxes, the loss should be borne by itself. But the officials didn't want to, so the yamen all over the country increased the fire consumption one after another, that is, a part of the tax was directly increased in proportion to the collection.

  Because this fire consumption is entirely levied by the lower officials themselves, the standards set are also different, and even the disposal of the additional fire consumption is also different.

  Some yamen clearly collected a thousand guan, but in the end they may only report 100 guan to hand over, and the rest is public money, or even divided among themselves, and some simply don’t turn in any guan and keep it for themselves.

   This fire consumption has now started to be done like this all over the country, and there is a tendency to mess it up. Even the Jingzhao Mansion under the emperor's feet also has income from fire consumption, which is not small.

  Qin Lang has now started to raise the issue of fire consumption in the political affairs hall. He intends to return the fire consumption to the public, and clearly stipulates the fire consumption surcharges of various taxes, so as to achieve openness and fairness without harming the people. The fire consumption collected, like the other two taxes and regular taxes, one-third stays in the prefectures and counties, and two-thirds is turned over to the state treasury.

  Remove the breeding soil of corruption.

Originally, Qin Lang wanted to stipulate that it was forbidden to increase the collection of fire consumption, but the Prime Minister of the Political Affairs Hall did not support this matter much. Most of them thought that the loss of food and cloth collected every year was not small. If there was no additional collection, the deficit would be very large. Big, rolling every year, is also a big number for the court.

Jingzhao Mansion’s taxes are very high, so Huowu’s income is not small. This money is mainly used for expenses such as post, village soldiers, city roads, river embankments and canals, orphans, widows, and disabled, and some of it is used for public funds. , as office expenses.

  Qin Lang said that many Jingzhao government officials were reluctant to use this money as a subsidy. This is their own small treasury, why use it to subsidize the welfare of the imperial army, students and the entire Chang'an officials?

   "After the fire consumption, there will be a clear system, and it is impossible to have this money all the time. Don't pay too much attention to it, you have to get used to it." Qin Lang said directly.

In fact, it seems to Qin Lang that there is really no need to confiscate fire consumption. After all, the Tang Dynasty mainly pays taxes in kind. Although food, cloth and cotton are also subject to loss, it is normal. Therefore, an additional surcharge is added to the people. Taxes are a bit of a hooligan.

   Grain is compared by weighing, how much can be lost? The state has set the tax standard, and after collecting the tax, it is up to you how much you lose.

   Now that the Tang Dynasty implemented the two-tax law, especially after the development of industry and commerce, the current fiscal revenue is very abundant, especially after the special tax on salt, tea, wine and sugar mines has greatly increased the revenue of the court.

  Last year, the imperial court had a surplus of tens of millions of dollars in finances for a year, which is amazing. During the time of Wude, apart from grain and cloth income, the money was only more than one million dollars a year.

   Almost making ends meet every year. When Li Shimin succeeded to the throne, he issued national debt to save his finances, but now he has a surplus of more than tens of millions a year.

  This is not counting the remaining one-third in the hands of the local government, which has retained one-third of the taxes.

The two tax laws have already included all the burdens, and the money is deducted for the service, and the apportionment is divided into the mu, but now in many places, various apportionments have begun, such as fire consumption levies, dime money, etc. It's double taxation.

  The meeting ended after almost an hour. Qin Lang walked out of the Yamen of Jingzhao Mansion, and saw Ah Huang, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, smiling at him.

   "When will it be here?"

"just arrived."

   "Is the road going well?"

   "Smooth sailing."

  Ah Huang smiled, Qin Lang pulled him into his carriage, and directly took out a bottle of good wine, "Come, let's chat while drinking!"

  (end of this chapter)