Ji Han was busy preparing to move the capital, and Cao Wei was not idle either.
The counterattack on Luoyang failed, but fortunately, the front was finally stabilized. At least one county was brought back this time. It was the only battle with some gains in the previous battles against the Shu bandits.
Really, when Cao Rui comforted himself like this, he suddenly felt a very sad feeling.
Thinking back to the time of Emperor Taizu Wu, he swept across the world and was unmatched. Liu Bei was just a lost dog being chased by Emperor Taizu Wu.
Even after the Battle of Chibi, Emperor Taizu Wu had no choice but to retreat, but he was able to quickly regroup, expel Ma Han, and force Zhang Lu to surrender. Although he was defeated, he was never discouraged.
But now, when he is in power, he can comfort himself just because he recaptured a county town in a battle with Shu thieves. How depraved.
Cao Rui really didn't want to live like this anymore. He decided to follow Liu Fang's advice and recruit the people from the fields as soldiers.
Liu Fang's suggestions were of course inappropriate under the circumstances at the time. He did not have the time and energy to complete these things.
But now, it is a good way to prepare for a rainy day.
We fought against the Shu thieves several times, and the Shu thieves became stronger and stronger as they fought, while the Wei side was defeated several times, and most of the elites who fought in hundreds of battles were lost. If no preparations are made in advance, the Shu thieves will take the initiative to attack next time. Wei may not even have the confidence to defend Yanzhou.
However, just when Cao Rui wanted to do this, he was fiercely opposed by Chen Qun.
"Your Majesty, think twice. If you adopt this strategy, it will be like drinking poison to quench your thirst." Chen Qun remonstrated sadly.
This time, Chen Qun did not have any selfish motives. He really started from the actual situation of the Wei Dynasty and advised Cao Rui not to adopt Liu Fang's strategy of recruiting farmers as soldiers.
Because the price is too high.
Emperor Taizu Wu established the farming system. The main purpose was to resettle the landless refugees and give them a living so that they could barely survive by being tied to the land.
As long as there are no refugees, the world's careerists will have no foundation, so they can quickly pacify the world.
This is not to say that the farming system is very good. After all, the farming system exploits and oppresses the refugees very harshly. But at least, this system is the lowest cost and most effective system for resettling refugees in this era.
As for where the farming system will go after the world is pacified, with Cao Cao's political wisdom, there will naturally be a better way by then.
But unfortunately, Cao Cao did not wait until the day when the world was completely pacified, and the system of farming people still continued.
During the Cao Rui period, as the aristocratic families regained a foothold in Cao Wei and gradually grew in power, Cao Wei's tax revenue was declining year by year.
Chen Qun, Sikong, knows this best. But there is no way. The Chen Qun family himself is also one of the reasons for the decline in tax revenue. Chen Qun can only turn a blind eye to this matter and pretend that he has not seen it.
Fortunately, in addition to the tax revenue of free people, the tax revenue of the Wei Dynasty was also supported by the farming system.
The distribution method of "four publics and six citizens" stipulated by Emperor Taizu Wu during the period was slightly changed to "six publics and four citizens". Wouldn't it be possible to make up for the tax gap?
As for the quality of life of the farm dwellers, these untouchables can only survive if they have a stutter. How can they expect to live such a good life? !
But now, Cao Rui wants to recruit garrison civilians as soldiers. Even if he is a selected soldier, it will inevitably seriously affect the income of the garrison stations. The tax revenue of the garrison stations will be reduced as a result, and the military income from training these garrison soldiers will increase. The difference between this entry and exit is too big.
If this is done, the financial loopholes will be very large, and you can't expect the wealthy families to make concessions to subsidize the financial loopholes. In the end, officials from all over the country will have to find ways to make up for it on the farmers. At that time, I'm afraid even There will be no more "six public officials and four citizens". If some local officials are more ruthless, the "eight public officials and two citizens" will not be impossible to deal with.
If it reaches that point, the so-called farming system will be destroyed. If these refugees cannot survive, it will inevitably cause local turmoil. If the consequences are better, the refugees will be accepted by the aristocratic families and become hermits again. The consequences will be worse, I am afraid. The Yellow Turban Rebellion is happening again.
For this reason, Chen Qun had to stand up and object, and even explained some of the reasons to Cao Rui without any hesitation.
After listening to Chen Qun's story, Cao Rui felt angry for a while, but also powerless. The farming system was supposed to be Emperor Taizu Wu's last insurance for the Wei Dynasty, but now in Chen Qun's mouth, the use of farming soldiers has become a problem. The source of the turmoil in the Wei Dynasty.
Is this the real root cause? !
Shouldn't the real root cause be the result of the insatiable greed of aristocratic families, their constant annexation of land, hiding their land, paying less or even not paying taxes? !
Cao Rui actually knew it very well in his heart, but the fact that the Wei Dynasty was still able to maintain its front line and maintain its strength in the First World War under the military oppression of the Shu thieves did not rely on the support of the people, but the aristocratic families in the Central Plains and Hebei. We are still on Wei's side.
At this time, could Cao Rui choose to fall out with these wealthy families and force them to inventory their fields, release hidden households, and pay back taxes? !
If Cao Rui dares to rebel, Hedong, Hanoi, and even Yingchuan County may directly surrender to the Shu thieves tomorrow, and the situation in the Wei Dynasty may be turbulent at any time.
After all, even the Shu thieves only used a fish scale album system to limit the speed of the aristocratic family's land annexation. The Shu thieves did not dare to clean up hidden households. If Cao Rui did it, what would happen to the aristocratic family? He said, it is better to choose "eat the slurry in the pot to welcome the king".
Cao Rui is not the kind of master who doesn't know the importance of things. For this reason, he is really struggling in his heart about what to do.
When asked about Chen Qun, Chen Qun could only remain silent because it was impossible for Chen Qun to betray his own interest group, but Chen Qun also had the ethics of being a minister of the Wei Dynasty.
When the interests of the two are consistent, Chen Qun can always come up with good enough strategies to solve the problem. But once the interests of the two are inconsistent, Chen Qun can keep silent, which is already very ethical.
Cao Rui also knew that asking Chen Qun about this kind of thing would not bring any good results. So, just ask his two dog-headed military advisors.
Although Sun Zi and Liu Fang are indeed roughly equivalent to two novices in military affairs, in terms of government affairs, their talents are still outstanding.
Soon, each of them came up with an idea.
The strategy given by Liu Fang is actually nothing special. If you want to increase fiscal revenue, since you can't use your brains from aristocratic families, you can only think of ways from ordinary people.
The simplest and most effective way is to raise taxes.
This thing of endowment has its own precedent and is not easy to adjust. Moreover, once it is adjusted, it will have a certain impact on the aristocratic families. No matter how the aristocratic families hide Dingkou and annex land, they still have a batch of their own land.
If the tax is increased, aristocratic families will also stand up to oppose it.
But taxes can be increased. Rich families have many ways to avoid these taxes, but ordinary people have no such leeway.
Considering the size of the people, adding some taxes to make up for the fiscal revenue can also solve the temporary emergency.
This method is not new, but it is effective in the short term. Cao Rui was hesitant.
What Cao Rui wants is not to relieve a temporary emergency, but to accumulate strength to realize his desire to counterattack the Shu thieves. This cannot be supported by raising taxes in one or two years.
Therefore, Cao Rui temporarily shelved this strategy and wanted to hear if Sun Zi had any good ideas.
The idea given by Sun Zi is not easy to evaluate.
We can't oppress the farmers too harshly, but we can't offend the wealthy families too much, so we can make a compromise. Don't recruit too many farmers as soldiers. The original 100,000 soldiers are changed to 50,000 to reduce the burden on the farmers. At the same time, among aristocratic families, the "criminal money" system is implemented.
The strategy of the farmers was easy to understand, and Cao Rui agreed immediately after thinking about it for a moment.
But Cao Rui is really not sure about the "criminal money" thing.
Speaking of "atonement money" is somewhat new, but when it comes to the system of "atonement money", Cao Rui is much more familiar with it. This is not a new thing, there has been such a system since the Shang and Zhou dynasties , until Emperor Xiaowu of the Former Han Dynasty directly carried forward this system.
Emperor Xiaowu used this system to support his great cause of the Northern Expedition against the Huns, but in the end he gained a reputation as a "militant". In his later years, he had to issue a "sinful edict" to recuperate and recuperate, so as to preserve the country of the former Han Dynasty.
Actually, in the Wei Dynasty, this "redemption money" system has always existed, but it used the method of "redemption and punishment in parallel", that is, you can atone for your sins, but in addition to paying the money, you also need to bear part of the punishment. , which has a warning effect.
Moreover, there are very strict regulations on what crimes can be applied to the "atonement money" system. Not all crimes can be exempted by paying money.
Of course, there is the most important point - this "atonement money" system was inherited from the Pre-Han Dynasty. It treats the common people and bureaucrats equally, and everyone enjoys this right.
But now, the so-called "criminal money" proposed by Sun Zi is based on the original "atonement money", with more emphasis on the word "pardon".
Ordinary people are not qualified to "discuss" their crimes with the government. The only ones who can "discuss" are bureaucrats, nobles and wealthy families.
This turns the "atonement money" system, which could still maintain black fairness, into a privilege belonging to the powerful class.
Since they belong to the powerful class, they must not be short of money, so Sun Zi proposed to significantly increase the amount of "criminal money" and extend it to all penalties except for treason.
Doing this can indeed help Cao Rui get a lot of money in a short period of time. If he runs out of money, if he comes up with a case, he can legitimately collect money in various ways.
However, once this system is promoted, its shortcomings can be seen clearly from Cao Rui's perspective.
The aristocratic families can pay to "discuss the crime", but the common people cannot. Any fool can figure out that the aristocratic families will definitely impose the cost of "discussing the crime" on the people.
Invisibly, the burden on the people will increase significantly.
Moreover, with the cover of the "criminal silver" system, these aristocratic families and bureaucratic aristocrats will act more unscrupulously. At worst, they can just spend money to "criminalize" in the end.
This will lead to the corruption of Wei's officialdom and affect the normal operation of government affairs.
This is a double-edged sword, and Cao Rui cannot completely control the handle of the sword, so he must be cautious.
(End of chapter)
