The Song Dynasty was a model of digging its own pits to bury itself.
Not to mention the false commercial prosperity, its strategy of not suppressing land annexation made it difficult for those who were easy to bully to have land, and those who had land were not easy to bully. Large landowners were tightly bound to the court's policies, making even the slightest move painful.
Compared with previous dynasties, it was more difficult to crack down on land annexation. The Song Dynasty was unique in that it did not say whether it could be done or not. At least it was opposed to land annexation in terms of policy, and it was justified.
But the Song Dynasty didn’t even have this.
The Chengdu court could easily bully industrial and commercial civilians and homesteaders, but it was difficult to bully the powerful landlords who had huge local power.
Although they are the richest, they can still fight against the court. There is a cost to collecting their taxes, and judging which one is more expensive, the cost or the tax, has become a necessary process for the court.
Tax collection also requires costs. If the cost of tax collection is less than the tax itself, then the court will have an incentive to implement the tax.
If the cost of tax collection is greater than the tax itself and will bring about various other adverse effects, then the court will have to consider whether it is necessary to insist on tax collection.
Poor people in small units are especially easy to bully.
They are docile and submissive. There are no such people in the court. As long as they don’t get together in large groups and rebel directly, there is no danger. If they dare to resist, they will be hit with an iron fist. There will be no consequences. They can also scare other poor people and make the court look tall and tall. They were tough, so the court had great motivation to collect taxes from them.
Powerful landlords are not easy to bully.
They have people in the court, and they also control human and material resources. The combination of inside and outside can bring a lot of trouble to the court. The cost of tax collection may be greater than the tax itself. It is difficult to offend, and the value of recruitment is huge.
Therefore, whether to collect this tax or not is a question worth considering.
For now, the cost of taxing powerful landowners will definitely not be low.
After the establishment of the Chengdu court, its upper-level bureaucrats focused on selecting officials from other places in Sichuan and Sichuan instead of local officials in Sichuan and Shu to avoid localization of the court and being influenced by local factions, which would affect the policy of going out to Sichuan to restore the Song Dynasty.
The reason why Zhuge Liang was able to make five northern expeditions to Cao Wei was that in addition to having money, it was also very important to have a team of foreign bureaucrats who could suppress the local forces in Sichuan and Sichuan and mobilize the people of Sichuan and Sichuan to launch external attacks.
Despite this, the locals should not be offended too much. Everything must be done in a moderate manner. If the locals are really alienated from the outsiders and the court, once the conflict between the two sides breaks out, it will shake the country's foundation.
Although most of the senior officials in the Chengdu court are outsiders, after Zhao Buxi ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he also spent a lot of effort to gain the support of the locals. The middle and low-level officials working under him were basically from Sichuan and Shu. native.
The natives of Sichuan and Sichuan hold a considerable amount of power.
It is also clear at a glance what family the local people who can study and serve as officials come from, and it is also clear who the imperial examinations of the Song Dynasty serve. Therefore, the middle and low-level officials are inextricably linked to these large landowner families.
Rounding things off, a considerable part of the power of the Chengdu court was in the hands of powerful local landlord families, and most of the tax collection staff were also locals.
Use their own people to collect taxes from their own homes?
Flood washed away the Dragon King Temple?
Therefore, for this separatist court that had just been established in Chengdu and had not yet been truly recognized in Sichuan and Sichuan, it was a bit confusing to start collecting taxes from local wealthy families.
Zhao Buji is not a young Zhao Yucheng who is unclear about his own situation and social conditions, and cannot do such idealistic yet naive things.
He knew very well that for the current Chengdu court, a rice commotion was not a big deal and was not something worth worrying about at all.
Urban industrial and commercial civilians are rootless duckweeds, with no industry, no foundation, no means of production, nothing but human life, and their number is limited.
No matter how they rebel, they are easy to deal with. Wu Lin can just send out a group of troops to kill everyone, even if he kills them all, it doesn't matter.
Those without permanent property have no perseverance. When employed, there is still some residual value that can be exploited. Once unemployed, they cannot generate value and have to open their mouths to eat, which is most annoying.
This group of proletarians is just a hidden danger and obstacle to the imperial rule. The outbreak of rebellion at this moment gave the Chengdu imperial court a good opportunity to clean up the garbage. Getting rid of them all would reduce the possibility of social unrest.
So Zhao Buxi secretly asked Wu Lin to kill more people, preferably all the proletarians.
Wu Lin followed his orders and asked the army to kill more people. He allowed the army to kill more than 50,000 people, and recruited a group of people into the army. There were more than 100,000 people before and after him, and he almost wiped out seven or eight state capitals around Chengdu Prefecture. of unemployed proletarians, greatly reducing the possibility of social unrest.
They can rebel, even if they rebel, if Zhao Buxi blinks, he will lose.
The court's attitude towards farmers was better and more cautious than that towards these proletarians.
And this was the reason why Zhao Buxi didn't dare to offend the big landowners in Sichuan and Sichuan. If he turned against these people, it would be an endless nightmare.
Their intricate network of relationships can affect the whole body. They have money, rice, and tenants who can act as thugs. There are also countless insiders in the government who act as spokespersons for their interests. If they are not careful, they can Let these people form a team to rebel against the Chengdu court.
If they don't move, they can still provide a little bit of soup and water to support the Chengdu imperial court. No matter how much they don't help, they won't become enemies of the Chengdu imperial court.
If they are moved, they will use all their strength to make an enemy of the Chengdu court. The Chengdu court will face two enemies, both internal and external, at the same time. It is only a matter of time before it is overthrown.
It is really a question whether the army commanded by Wu Lin alone can suppress it at that time.
Therefore, although Chen Yongyan had suggestions and action plans to collect agricultural taxes from powerful landlords, after much thought, Zhao Buxi still did not agree to this suggestion.
Instead, he made up his mind to further exploit the common peasants and decided to survive the crisis in this way.
Although he knew how difficult people's livelihood was, and he knew that the people in Shu lived in poverty and would lose their land and die of cold and starvation if they were not careful, he had no other choice.
In order to survive, Zhao Buji had to make a decision that was not in line with his own wishes. In order to survive, he had to persevere even if it cost him his own hands and feet, and hold on until the world changed.
"I know what you said, and it makes sense, but at present, it is inappropriate to tax large households. Without the support of large households, our entire court will be paralyzed, so it is better not to talk about such things again."
Zhao Buxi shook his head and rejected Chen Yongyan's suggestion.
Chen Yongyan was dissatisfied with this.
"Your Majesty, if we don't tax big households, the treasury will be empty and we can't come up with money. How can we alleviate the crisis? The military needs money, the people need money, and the court needs money even more. Otherwise, even officials' salaries cannot be paid. ah.
Judging from the current treasury savings, the court will not be able to pay officials' salaries for up to three months. By that time, officials will complain, and some officials who rely on their salaries will even go hungry. Officials will be hungry, and the court will lose face. Where can I save it? "
Zhao Buxi nodded to show that he understood.
"I know it all, I know it all, but the problem is, I don't know how much this tax will be collected, and I don't know how much it can be collected. In order to collect this tax, I have made many people alienate from the imperial court, and even secretly oppose the imperial court. I don’t know, isn’t this a standard waste of money?”
Chen Yongyan wanted to persuade him again, but Zhao Buxi no longer wanted to hear what he said anymore.
Chen Yongyan was helpless.
"In this case, I have no way to make up for the shortfall in the national treasury. Please give me instructions on how to make up for the shortfall in the national treasury. Otherwise, within three months at most, I will not be able to continue being the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs and let officials block the door of the Ministry of Household Affairs." I asked you about my salary, but I really can't do such a thing."
"Are you demonstrating against me? Are you going to resign if you disagree with me? Is this your loyalty? Since you are so dissatisfied with me, why don't you unite with the ministers to depose me?"
Zhao Buji looked at Chen Yongyan, feeling annoyed.
