On the road leading to Chaoyangli, Shangyuan Township, a single-drawn carriage was driving slowly.
The car was painted black, revealing the simple and repressive character of the Qin people. The two horses, one black and one red, moved forward steadily under the control of the charioteer.
"It's good to take the bus. Not only does it save money, it's also comfortable."
Zhao Tuo sat in the chariot and relaxed his whole body.
As far as he knew, the King of Qin's plan to destroy Wei would not happen until next year's spring plowing.
The Qin State plans to quickly destroy the Wei State before next year's autumn harvest. After the autumn harvest, it can recruit a large army to go south to attack Chu, preparing to defeat the two great kingdoms of Wei and Chu in a very short time.
Such an offensive was very ferocious, showing that the entire Qin State was immersed in an extremely confident mood.
The three kingdoms of Han, Zhao and Yan were conquered within a few years, which shocked the whole world. How could people not be proud and complacent?
Although Zhao Tuo was named by Li Xin and taken to attack Chu, the matter was still far away.
Zhao Tuo's current idea is to take one step at a time and wait until the New Year is over. After putting aside all kinds of messy thoughts, he felt completely relaxed.
Looking out the car window, Zhao Tuo saw that on the road leading to the countryside, there were all farmers carrying bamboo baskets and poles. The bamboo baskets were filled with this year's harvest. From a distance, they looked bright and yellow. Eye-catching.
"Pay taxes."
Zhao Tuo nodded slightly. According to the Zhou Dynasty’s calendar, the New Year was celebrated in November.
However, the Qin State followed a unique path. The country implemented the Zhuanxu calendar with Jianhai Mengdong as the beginning of the year, that is, October 1st of the lunar calendar every year is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and the New Year will be celebrated in October.
In this case, the government will collect the people's rent and taxes in September, and carry out the calculation and evaluation work in October, which is the so-called "tax and rent are issued in September."
Zhao Tuo's eyes swept across the faces of the pedestrians on the road, and he couldn't help but feel pity when he saw their expressions full of sadness and helplessness.
Just like what Fu Su said in the side hall, starting from the eleventh year of the Qin Dynasty when Wang Jian and Huan Jue were sent to attack the State of Zhao, the State of Qin fought continuously for ten years and attacked Zhao five times. It took nine years to wipe out the State of Zhao. They destroyed South Korea in the process, and then went north to conquer Yan without stopping.
It seems that the results of the war are fruitful and Qin's power is great, which shows the ferocity of the Qin people to the world.
In fact, behind it is the blood and bones of countless Guanzhong disciples. Although the Qin army will also recruit people from the six countries in the occupied areas, the real elite main force is the local Qin people.
Years of war have not only caused many casualties to the Qin people in Guanzhong, but also left many farmlands in Guanzhong desolate.
For example, Zhao Tuo's army to conquer Yan went out in winter and came back in autumn. A large number of young and middle-aged men directly missed the spring plowing. In addition, the main force that Wang Jian led to destroy Zhao did not touch the family for two consecutive years.
Although the water conservancy in Guanzhong is good and the farmland is fertile, how good can the harvest be in the absence of so many strong laborers?
If the harvest is not good, the return will be bad, but the taxes and fees that should be paid cannot be less.
The taxes that the people of Qin had to pay were first calculated based on the money collected from the population.
By the early Han Dynasty, people between the ages of fifteen and fifty-six had to pay tribute, and each person was levied one hundred and twenty yuan per year.
Qin's oral tax was heavier than that of Han, although in remote and poor areas, the amount was reduced to forty qian. But in the vast mainland, the average per capita income is often more than 120 yuan, and in many cases it can even reach 180 yuan. A family of five has to pay 900 yuan in oral tax a year, which is very scary.
There is a Qin ballad that says: If the Wei River is not washed, the mouth will flourish.
It refers to the fact that the flesh and blood of the unjust dead on the Wei River has not been washed away, and the oral fortune comes to take people's lives again.
During the reign of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, the system of paying oral tribute was even implemented for children. As a result, Qin people went to congratulate when they heard that someone in the family of relatives, friends and neighbors had died, and when they heard that a child was born in the family of relatives, friends and neighbors, they went to ask questions.
This is "congratulations on death and hanging on life", and everything is caused by oral poetry.
Therefore, the custom of killing one's son to pay for the wealth arose among some poor Guizhou people.
If you can't afford the money to pay the tribute, then kill the child, so that you can pay less money.
Qin Law stipulates that parents who kill their children must "
"Tattooed as a Cheng Dan", but "don't listen unless it's an official report". I wonder if this factor is also involved.
There is another article in the Qin Law: "If your son is born with a monster and his body is incomplete, it is not a sin to kill him."
This means that if the child you give birth to is a deformed child and looks like a monster, you can kill it openly. This is not a crime. I guess it's because if you have one more child, you'll have to pay extra for the gift.
In addition to the fixed oral gifts, miscellaneous gifts are sometimes added, which are temporarily added additional subjects, and that one is even more terrible.
Of course, in addition to the oral taxes calculated on a per-capita basis, the most important ones were the field rent and cull tax levied on the number of acres.
According to legal regulations, the tax on mulled grains is 3 shi per hectare of land, and 2 shi on manuscripts.
The so-called kumu are the straw of crops, which are used as feed for horses and fuel for fires. They are very important strategic materials in this era.
The humble draft is fine, after all, people can't eat, what really kills people is the land rent.
The land rent of the Qin State was not calculated based on the percentage tax paid by future generations. Although it was said to be a "tithe", when it was actually collected, one-tenth was not charged based on the grain output per acre of your own field.
Instead, the government calculated an average number based on the grain output within a certain range and time, and determined the standard amount of land rent collected per mu based on the land rent rate at that time, which was a fixed value.
In this case, there is a big problem.
Because the fertility and barrenness of the fields of each household are different, some people get the upper fields, some get the middle fields, and some get the lower fields.
Those who go to the fields can produce 6 shi per mu, those who work in the middle fields can produce 4 shi per mu, and those who go down to the fields can only produce 2 or 3 shi per mu.
In this case, the same amount of land rent must be paid.
Those who go to the fields have more than enough, but those who get to go to the fields are miserable.
There are also two very strict regulations. One is that if you do not cultivate land, you must pay taxes. The land is there. Regardless of whether you farm or not, you must pay the prescribed land rent based on the number of acres.
The second is that "if the land is not in surplus, taxes must be paid."
Different from the previous tax collection based entirely on the amount of land, under this regulation, even if your family does not have 100 acres of land, you must pay taxes based on the 100 acres of land.
Even if your family only has ten acres of land, you still have to pay one hundred acres of land rent!
This is because the poor avoid taxes and servitude and run away, while the rich merge and merge with themselves.
Zhao Tuo saw someone on the road dropping the millet in a bamboo basket into the soil. The man knelt on the ground, picked up the grains from the soil, blew away the dust, and carefully put them back.
"Life in Guizhou is hard."
Zhao Tuo felt a little uncomfortable and sat back in the carriage, unwilling to look any further.
He remembered again what he said that day in the side hall of Qin Palace.
The political power of the King of Qin swept across the world, encompassing the universe, encompassing the thoughts of the four seas, and swallowing up the hearts of the eight wastelands.
He saw the whole world in his eyes. The great emperor was high above, but he couldn't see the humble people in Guizhou below who were begging for food.
Zhao Tuo did not dare to disobey him and tell Qin Wangzheng what he wanted.
But in Zhao Tuo's mind, unifying the world is naturally very important, and China must be unified.
But why are these common people in Guizhou not worthy of attention?
Coming from a later generation, he knows best the power contained in these common people's heads.
"Since I have come to this era, I should not only seek a lifetime of glory for myself, but also bring changes to the common people of this era."
Zhao Tuo murmured to himself, and his heart suddenly became enlightened at this moment.
