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Chapter 269 Autumn Fu Thirty-four
"To support the people, the most important thing is to quietly download Xiaowen and Xiaojing from the Han Dynasty."
Xiong Buyou listened patiently for a long time and realized that Liu Jinshi's entire theory was that "the ruler should do nothing and keep everything running in the original order to avoid disturbing the people."
Liu Dalin went on to say: Measuring acres seems reasonable and beneficial to the people, but in fact, it is often taken advantage of by "little people" during its implementation. It was originally a matter of benefiting the country and the people, but in the end it became an act that harmed the people. He rudely cited the example of Chen Minggang.
"If it weren't for Chen Minggang's husband's land, we wouldn't have thought of this." Xiong Buyou directly pushed the responsibility on him. "Although he was pretending to be a public servant for personal gain, we don't think it was wrong to clear the tax on the husband's land."
"The purpose of clearing taxes on Zhangtian is just to collect more money and food. The people of this county are already suffering enough," Liu Dalin became excited. It painfully describes the living conditions of the people in Lingao. Although he lived in the county and studied behind closed doors, he learned a lot about the real situation in the countryside, the decline of the rural economy and the suffering of farmers from his family, relatives, mentors, students, and his own tenants.
"Mr. Liu's words are all true," Xiong Buyou said, "but since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it has been almost three hundred years since Lingao Taiping. In the past three hundred years, the people have become poorer and poorer. What is the reason?"
"There are Lebanese pirates outside, bandits inside, and natural disasters continue."
"This is only part of it. Mr. Liu should know that Lingao's household registration is decreasing year by year." Xiong Buyou started with this issue.
Of course Liu Dalin knew.
"In the early years of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there were nearly 60,000 people registered in this county," Xiong Buyou said. "How many are there now?"
Liu Dalin was speechless. He really didn't know how many registered residents there were in this county.
"The registered population is only over 20,000. In the past 270 years, although there have been Li rebellions, pirates, and bandits in Lingao, as my husband said, the overall situation has been relatively peaceful, and the people's livelihood has been rough. of."
Liu Dalin nodded, that's a good thing. Although Qiongzhou Prefecture is not a paradise, there are far fewer large-scale turbulences than on the mainland. It stands to reason that the registered population in such a place should increase. There are fewer and fewer people now, which only means that there are more and more fugitives and hermits. Regarding the latter, he knew that many villages in the county were hermit houses, taking shelter under the names of powerful figures in certain places. There are also a few hidden houses under his own name.
The root of the problem lies in the tax system of the Ming Dynasty. Xiong Buyou bluntly pointed out its various shortcomings.
He started by talking about the large number of "hidden fields" and the large landowners using various means to evade taxes, thus increasing the tax burden on farmers with little or no land. In addition, large households colluded with the government, bribed subordinates, and left no one to correct various illegal behaviors. Not only were ordinary people unable to pay less, but they were also forced to use various means to increase additional burdens.
"The rich occupy thousands of acres but cannot take a grain of rice and cannot be questioned; the poor and weak cannot take an inch of grass and pay heavy taxes but have no control." Land is concentrated, taxes and servitude are uneven, and farmers either flee or live in other people's names. "During the Hongzhi period, the number of households in the Ming Dynasty was 1.5 million less than that of the Hongwu period, and the number of people was more than 7 million less. Now, it is even worse," Xiong Buyou said. "It is no longer possible to clear acres of land and equalize taxes." If there is no urgent need to do anything, if we continue to remain silent, the people will end up with the strong acting as bandits and the weak falling into the ditch." Xiong Buyou changed the topic, "Mr. Liu has many old friends on the mainland, and he can see it in his residence. Now. You always know better than us what the situation in the world is like."
Xiong Buyou's materials are all ready-made, requiring facts and data, which is completely different from the traditional scholar's empty talk about "the people are in dire straits" and "the fields are starving and dying" and other perceptual clichés. The social survey after the Spring Festival enabled the Cross-Travel Group to master a large amount of local data. In order to deal with a situation similar to today, the data department has long summarized all the research materials on the Ming Dynasty tax system in the database, and written a long report to the leadership group. Now everyone in the leadership group can be regarded as half He is an expert on the Ming Dynasty tax system.
Sure enough, Liu Dalin was left speechless. Although he was quite familiar with the poor condition of the rural economy in Lingao, this was only an understanding - his knowledge was not in these economic studies. Xiong Buyou's words were well-founded and quoted from classics, which made him admire him.
However, this also made him very confused. The Australians claimed to be descendants of the Song people and had lived overseas for hundreds of years. In this case, why is it so clear about the Ming Dynasty? Even the words and deeds of past court ministers and local officials and the contents of memorials are known
It seems that among the Australians there must be scholars from this dynasty, and the intellectual foundation of these scholars will never be inferior to mine - ten times, they will be far better than mine. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel wary.
"I've learned a lesson." Liu Dalin bowed his hands and saluted with a heavy tone, "I didn't expect Australia knew so much about the Ming Dynasty. I'm really ashamed."
"A little superficial knowledge."
"What Chief Xiong said is correct. But have you ever thought about it?" Liu Dalin did not give up. "Everything in the world can be done rationally but not rationally, and things done with good intentions can turn out to be bad. The list goes on and on. You have to clean up the land. How can we be so sure about equalizing taxes?"
"We know this." Xiong Buyou said seriously, "Mr. Liu, I once heard Mr. Wang and Mr. Wu say that they have always wanted to do several things for the people of Lingao in the past. I wonder if Mr. Liu knows."
"I know." Liu Dalin is the number one gentry in the county. Major matters involving the county will definitely be discussed with him first, "suppressing bandits, building roads, and establishing schools."
"Did it get done?"
Liu Dalin understood what he meant: Wu Mingjin had been planning these three things for several years without success, but the Australians had accomplished them all within a year of arriving - no wonder they were so confident and proud.
It seems that Australians are determined to clarify their taxes. If they can really do it, it will be a great good governance. Liu Dalin nodded when he thought of this, and reminded him again:
"Your efforts to suppress bandits, build roads, and build schools are nothing more than having money and strength. There are many things involved in clearing the land and paying taxes, so please be careful." He paused, "Especially when it comes to hiring people, you must be cautious. .”
"Yes, I'll understand this later." Xiong Buyou was greatly surprised when he saw that his tone was no longer fierce opposition. Maybe my words impressed him. In this way, this landlord class member is quite enlightened.
"Also, since you want to clarify the taxes, it will inevitably involve the large gentry in this county. When the time comes, I would like to ask you to show mercy and save your dignity."
"Easy to say, easy to say." Xiong Buyou said haha.
The news that Kun Thief wanted to re-enter the land soon spread throughout the city. Huang Hankun went to see Liu Dalin again, but he couldn't get any new ideas from him - Liu Dalin simply claimed to be ill and refused to see anyone.
The wealthy people were completely confused and didn't know how the wind in this world could blow. Since Chen Minggang is said to be "nuisance to the people", then Zhang Tian is also a nuisance to the people. Why is it that only Chen Minggang was arrested while Zhang Tian continues to do so?
Huang Kunkun knew that Liu Jinshi had probably hit a soft spot, and Kun Thief was determined. He and Li Xiaopeng discussed it for a long time, but they couldn't come up with a solution. Li Xiaopeng suggested that the grain farmers should be mobilized to jointly submit complaints. Huang Hankun smiled bitterly and shook his head - he knew this group of big grain farmers very well, and they were typical bullies and fearful of the strong. Who dares to flirt with the Australian tiger's beard? At least Liu Dalin has the flag. Now that he is unwilling to come forward, even if he speaks out, it may not be of any use. Moreover, since the Australians have already punished Chen Minggang, if they want to cause trouble again, they will be punished with a toast but not a meal.
Liujiazhai.
Liu Youren once again studied the newly delivered grain, which Liu Guangbiao had just brought.
Unlike the rough-edged account book paper in the past where words were stamped with wooden stamps and scrawled with a few calligraphy strokes, this grain was printed on thick and stiff paper. It fills in the number of acres of starting farmland in Huangjiazhai, the amount of tax per mu, and the amount of rice consumed per stone. Specify the date and month before which the payment must be made at the Delong Grain Store in the county seat, Dongmen City, Bopu, or Nanbao. . In addition to brown rice, Delong's grain circulation coupons can also be redeemed. If payment is not made by the due date, a call will be sent to your door and a late payment fee of 1 will be levied on a daily basis.
"Please come in and see whoever is responsible for delivering the grain." Although Liu Youren was in Calais, he knew everything about what was going on in the county. Now that Chen Minggang and his gang have been eliminated, the grain collectors of the newly established "Grain Recruitment Bureau" need to meet and develop feelings for each other. This is also customary.
"He left as soon as it was delivered. His nephew asked him to stay for the meal, but he refused."
"Did you give me the money for straw sandals?"
“I gave you five hundred coins, but——” Liu Guangbiao’s tone was a bit unbelievable, “I refused to accept it.”
"Isn't it too little if you refuse to accept it?"
"No," Liu Guangbiao said, "the attitude is very firm and not pretentious."
"It's really strange." Liu Youren thought about what everyone had said about Australians never taking bribes and not allowing their subordinates to receive any benefits. He originally thought that it was just talk, or that he was acting like this because the Australians were watching closely. I didn't expect it could really be done.
"What is your name"
"My nephew doesn't know——"
"What can you do?" Liu Youren scolded dissatisfiedly.
"My nephew asked, but he refused to tell me. He only said that his job number is - yes -" Liu Guangbiao pointed to the source of the food. At the bottom, the delivery person was followed by a series of crooked symbols, called Arabic numerals.
"He asked his nephew to tear up a receipt and asked his nephew to stamp his fingerprints."
Liu Youren took a look and saw that the lower half of the grain was torn off, and there were numbers on the seam. He was not interested in studying this brand new trick and asked:
"Every stone of autumn is paid three measures of rice, which consumes a lot of rice."
"That's three liters less than in Chen Minggang's hands." Liu Youren muttered dissatisfiedly, but if he looked carefully, the starting figure for grain education was 380 acres - the same as before. ,.
