With the retreat of the Qin army, a massive Five Kingdoms conquest of Zhao ended in an anticlimactic manner.
Including the Chu State, all the seven kingdoms were severely weakened, the country was in poverty and the people were exhausted. There was no big movement in a short period of time, and the world was finally able to enjoy peace for a period of time.
As for the Chu State, although it did not attack Zhao, it was defeated by Wei Ran and Sima Cuo in the previous battle against Qin, losing hundreds of thousands of troops.
Afterwards, a hundred thousand troops were launched to suppress the East Vietnamese rebellion. Although East Vietnam was finally defeated, nothing was gained. Several counties were also looted by East Vietnam, resulting in heavy losses.
After Dong Yue was defeated and fled, he hid in the mountains. Chu State could only watch with blank eyes. There was no way to deal with them and they were forced to withdraw their troops.
…
After Bai Qi returned to Xianyang, he was summoned by the King of Qin. However, the King of Qin did not punish Bai Qi for withdrawing his troops privately. Instead, he felt that he had done the right thing and rewarded Bai Qi with many fields and slaves, and even gave him a grandson. title.
After Bai Qi came out of the palace, his expression was as expressionless as usual. There was no joy on his face. He didn't know what he was thinking in his heart.
Immediately afterwards, King Qin got the news of the alliance between the three Jins.
Unlike Yan and Qi who were forced to form an alliance with Zhao, South Korea and Wei were obviously voluntary and formed a closer alliance.
King Qin looked at the map, his face full of sorrow. On the map, the State of Qin was in the west, and to the east from north to south were Zhao State, Hedong of Wei State, Sanchuan, Nanyang, and Chu State of South Korea.
The Three Jin Dynasties blocked the east road from Qin State tightly.
When the three Jins were separated, no one was an opponent of Qin.
But if the three Jins unite, no country in the world can be their opponent!
"Invite the prince, Yinghou Fan Ju, Ranghou Wei Ran, and Wu'an Jun Baiqi." King Qin said to the eunuch next to him.
"No." The eunuch bowed and bowed, then walked out of the palace in small steps.
"Wait a minute." King Qin suddenly stopped the eunuch. "Invite Lu Buwei, a disciple of the stranger, as well."
…
Compared with Qin, life in Zhao was much more comfortable.
After subduing the five countries, Zhao State has become a veritable overlord of the world, and the tariffs between the three Jins have been cancelled, allowing merchants from the two countries to continuously pour into Zhao State, bringing a large amount of food and money to Zhao State.
The states of Yan and Qi also continued to deliver food to the state of Zhao due to war indemnities. In addition, the state of Zhao was prosperous within the state of Zhao.
After returning to Handan, Zhao Kuo immediately rewarded the generals based on their merits.
Lian Po was granted the title of Lord Wu of the capital and was given the title of Wei Wen.
In fact, if we only focus on his contribution to the State of Zhao, Lian Po is far superior to Le Yi and Tian Dan. However, because the domestic flowers do not have the fragrance of wild flowers, the title has always been lower than that of the two. Now the three are finally the same.
Yan Zhou was granted the title of Lord Pingshu and the land of Pingshu.
Yan Zhou was also a veteran of the Zhao State. He had made great contributions to the Zhao State, but his reputation was not obvious. This time in the battle between Zhao and Yan, he defeated the Yan army's vanguard and captured the Yan army's commander and the vanguard Rong Xiao, which was enough to make him the king.
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Li Mu was named Shangqing.
Tian Dan and Le Yi also increased their food estates.
The other generals also received rewards.
After more than two months of recuperation, Lin Xiangru's body finally recovered almost. After getting Xiangzi's permission, he immediately devoted himself to the construction of Zhao State and personally took charge of Zhao State's summer farming.
This year's spring plowing has left a lot of farmland idle due to the war, and we have to rely on summer plowing for food.
"Thank you for your hard work, sirs." Zhao Kuo came out of the harem and came to where Yu Xin and others were working. He bowed and bowed.
It is said that after he came back, the Yan family had no feelings about him defeating the Five Kingdoms, but she was very satisfied with him bringing back two daughters-in-law after a battle. She took An Ning to look around, and the next day, she sent someone A betrothal gift was given to An Ning's family.
At the same time, Huolong was sent as an envoy to Qi to discuss the wedding time.
"Good morning, Your Majesty." All the ministers saluted, and after Zhao Kuo sat down, they also returned to their seats.
Originally, after Zhao Kuo came back, Yu Xin and others wanted to return to their respective homes to work as before, but Zhao Kuo thought this was good, so he kept it and just added his own position.
The table in front of him was filled with papers. Some of them had been processed and needed Zhao Kuo to take a look at them. Some of them had not been processed yet and needed Zhao Kuo to deal with them.
All these documents are on paper.
After day and night research by Mo Feng and others, the paper was finally invented. Although the color is still a little yellowish and the thickness is uneven, it is no longer a problem for writing text, and Mo Feng and others are still improving.
It is said that after the Zhao Kingdom became powerful, the Mohist family also became stronger. Mo Feng even began to proudly call his branch Zhao Mo to distinguish it from other Mohist families.
Not to mention, the name Zhao Mo is quite useful. Recently, Mohist disciples from other places have been coming to join them.
Of course, there are also those who are dissatisfied with Zhao Mo and want to establish another one.
Several factions compete in the arena together every day, from debating to hands-on to technical competition, no one can convince the other.
Zhao Kuo said nothing after seeing it. He just silently told them the principles and research directions of cement, porcelain, glass, steel-making furnaces and other things, and asked them to start research.
Then this group of people started working overtime until midnight every night, completely losing their mind to fight.
The site of Handan College has also been selected. It covers a very large area from the Zhangshui River to Zijin Mountain, but construction has not yet started.
I heard from Mo Feng that cement is about to be developed. He plans to wait until the cement is completely developed before building Handan College into the world's first cement building, and when the time comes, his name will be engraved on it.
Anyway, if rammed earth is used, it will take at least two or three years to complete. Once the cement is developed, it will be built in a few months. It will not be short of this time. Maybe using cement will be faster.
Zhao Kuo casually took a piece of eucalyptus. If these articles have been reviewed and approved, take a general look at them so that you know what they are.
If there is no approval, he will be responsible for solving it.
Fortunately, Zhao Kuo has the vision and knowledge reserves of future generations, and he also has the talent of talking on paper. Most problems can be solved with just a glance, and a few problems only need to be thought about.
The processing speed is faster than that of Yu Xin, Lin Xiangru and others.
"Your Majesty, the results of the awards are out." At this time, Le Yi walked in from the outside holding several rosters.
Zhao Kuo took over the list. He was very relieved about Le Yi and others, but he still needed to check it.
After looking through it in general, no obvious omissions were found. Zhao Kuo closed the roster, looked at Yu Qing next to him, and asked: "How much food do the internal historians and the young master have? Can they support the reward?"
"Your Majesty, because the work-for-relief program has not stopped, the internal history and the Shaofu do not have much food. However, after the summer grain harvest, coupled with the compensation from Qi State, merchants have been pouring into our country recently, and the commercial tax has been It has reached twice the previous peak. If distributed separately, our Zhao country can support this reward." Yu Xin said with a smile.
The summer grain of Zhao State was mainly winter wheat. Winter wheat had been planted in the Spring and Autumn Period. By the Warring States Period, it had spread all over the Central Plains.
However, due to the taste, the planting area is not very wide, and it cannot provide much tax revenue.
But he couldn't bear the large compensation, and Zhao Kuo robbed a lot of money in Qi State.
It can even be said that if some of the rewards are wiped out like before, Zhao will not only be able to pay them in full, but will even be able to live a very wealthy life.
The soldiers will not have any complaints because they have long been used to it. In other words, they never expected to get all the rewards.
"Didn't there still be some rewards that have not been distributed in the last battle against Qin? Together, all the rewards will be increased by 20% and will be distributed in three times, half of which will be distributed first. After the summer plowing is over, the remaining half will be distributed. After the autumn harvest, All distributed." Zhao Kuo handed the roster to Le Yi.
"Your Majesty, isn't this good?" Yu Xin said hesitantly.
Since ancient times, there have only been rewards for small amounts of money, how can there be rewards for large amounts of money?
"What's wrong?" Zhao Kuo looked at Yu Xin strangely.
"It's about the reward," Yu Xin said.
"The soldiers have been fighting for the country for several years and have not returned home. What's wrong with the extra 20% reward?" Zhao Kuo said.
"What the king said makes sense, then send more." Yu Xin did not insist. Anyway, it’s not like Zhao Kuo’s finances can’t support it. Since Zhao Kuo wants to send more money, then he should send more money. Who makes Zhao Kuo the monarch?
"Then the general will go down first." Le Yi said with his hands in hand.
Zhao State is short of manpower, and he will be responsible for issuing rewards in the future. There is no way, who told him not only to fight, but also to govern the country.
Able people should do more work.
"By the way, why hasn't Xunzi come back yet?" Zhao Kuo asked strangely.
Zhao Kuo knew that Xunzi had been running around these days to find out about corruption and rewards. Many times he had to go to the countryside or go to the countryside to check in person in order to determine the truth or falsehood of the matter. However, it was logical that he should come back. It was impossible for him to be asked to do it in person in every village. Go for it!
"On his way back, he heard about large-scale corruption and rewards in Jinyang, so he turned around and went to Jinyang, but he should be able to come back in the next few days." Yu Xin said helplessly.
"How much corruption has been discovered so far?" Zhao Kuo asked in a deep voice. He was about to issue another reward. He would never allow anyone to embezzle the money that soldiers exchanged for their lives.
"In the last reward alone, it was determined that more than 11,000 officers and soldiers had been corrupted, and more than 1,000 officials and squires were involved, ranging from village chiefs to county magistrates," Yu Xin said.
"Where is the county guard?" Zhao Kuo couldn't help clenching his fists when he heard this, and a murderous aura rushed out of his body.
In addition to Shangdang County and the three newly established counties, Zhao State also has Yanmen County, Yunzhong County and Dai County.
If necessary, he would not mind starting a war in Zhao Guozhong.
"No county guard was found to have embezzled rewards." Yu Xin shook his head.
At the level of county governor, what they are looking for is no longer money and ordinary land, but fiefdom and family education. Only with these two things can they become true nobles.
"All the officials and gentry who have been found to have embezzled rewards will be beheaded and their homes will be confiscated. For serious cases, the whole family will be executed. The money and land that were confiscated will be distributed to the injured soldiers and people." Zhao Kuo said sternly, without any mercy. "For those that have not yet been clarified, let Xunzi continue to investigate until they are all clarified. Don't let anyone go."
After several battles, Zhao Kuo is no longer the soft-hearted young man he was before.
If he had been soft-hearted, he wouldn't be alive today.
"No." Yu Xin said.
"By the way, the war is over now, and the soldiers have all gone home. The officials who asked the soldiers who returned home to assist in the investigation should know more about this kind of thing in their capacity." Zhao Kuo said.
Yu Xin suddenly felt a chill all over his body. Zhao Kuo really did not intend to let go of any official who had embezzled rewards.
He had a hunch that there might be a turmoil in Zhao's officialdom.
But...he couldn't stop it...
Based on his understanding of Xunzi, Xunzi would not only not refuse the order, but would be even more excited after hearing the order.
This guy seems to be a Confucian, but in fact he is a Legalist at heart.
Legalists... are a group of ruthless people who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the law...
"Let the dead die, what does it have to do with me!" Yu Xin lowered his head and continued to deal with government affairs.
No matter how great the turmoil is, it is impossible to threaten Zhao Kuo's rule. Not to mention the 300,000 troops, just a few of the great nobles of the Zhao Kingdom, the Zhao family, the Le family, the Pang family, the Xun family, the Fei family... the whole family. They were standing behind Zhao Kuo. The Lou family had been uprooted, and the remaining small nobles had no choice but to fight Zhao Kuo.
Besides, Zhao Kuo is not against all nobles.
"Create land?" Zhao Kuo picked up the last book and the thickest book.
The foundation of a country lies in land, and land here refers to land that can be cultivated. Land that cannot be cultivated was nothing in ancient times.
Although the territory of Zhao State is large, the quality of the land is incomparable to that of South Korea and Wei.
Although South Korea and Wei have small territories, they are located in the Central Plains. They have fertile soil that has been developed for thousands of years. Many places can produce two crops a year.
There is still a lot of land left uncultivated in the State of Zhao. Even among the developed lands, only a handful can be harvested twice a year. Most of them are harvested once a year and even have to take turns to rest.
For this reason, Zhao Kuo specially issued an order to encourage the people to reclaim wasteland.
"Why did you only cultivate the land that had been uncultivated due to the war in the past two years, and not cultivate new fields?" Zhao Kuo opened it and looked at it, his face instantly darkened, and he asked in a deep voice.
What is the most popular thing in Zhao country? It's a wasteland. If it's just to reclaim farmland that has been cultivated before, then why did he give an order?
"Your Majesty, the people are not active in reclaiming wasteland and are even disgusted with it." Lin Xiangru said with a wry smile.
"Why?" Zhao Kuo felt a little strange.
According to the laws of Zhao State, as long as it is wasteland, whoever reclaims it will cultivate it. The more land there is, the more food the people will get. Logically speaking, there should be many people who will reclaim the wasteland.
"There are many reasons for this. The main reason is that the wasteland is full of raw soil and the yield is too low. Only after three years of cultivation can it turn into mature soil and the yield is stable. In these three years, the land has no harvest. It can barely offset the seeds. However, after the land is reclaimed, it must be turned over to the court for tax. With the tax, the farmers get less food instead of more. If the annual harvest is not good, other farmland can still be harvested to some extent, but the new farmland will still be harvested. The cultivated farmland also needs to be planted with seeds.”
"In addition, although there is a lot of wasteland in our Zhao country, almost all the land that is easy to cultivate has been cultivated. Most of the remaining land is land that is difficult to cultivate, either the terrain is too high or the terrain is too low. There are dense water networks downstream of the river. Many of them are swamps, and there are also saline-alkali lands near the sea, which are extremely difficult and costly to develop.”
Lin Xiangru said helplessly.
Although the taxes of the State of Zhao are not as heavy as those of the State of Qin, they are not light either. They implement a tax of one out of ten. In addition, with oral taxes, the burden on the people is still relatively large, and their ability to withstand risks is also low. If there is no harvest in a year, the whole family will starve to death. There is no People dare to take risks.
This does not count the situation of exploitation by the gentry. If there is exploitation by the gentry, the people's life will be even worse, or they may have to move. This is the so-called harsh government that defeats the tiger.
Zhao Kuo put down the paper, took a sip of tea, and after a moment, said: "Since the main issue is tax, then no tax will be paid on newly reclaimed farmland for three years, and half tax will be paid from the fourth to fifth years. Normal rents and taxes will be restored after five years. As for the saline-alkali land on the seaside, I will order the captives of Yan State to reclaim it. In other places, we can rely on work-for-relief to build water conservancy projects."
"This is a good idea." Lin Xiangru's eyes lit up.
By canceling the tax for the first three years, farmers will not have to worry about making ends meet and can reclaim wasteland with confidence. Only half of the tax will be charged in the fourth and fifth years, which will also increase farmers' ability to resist risks.
Moreover, with the development of water conservancy, many places that are not suitable for farming will become suitable for farming.
Speaking of rent and tax, Zhao Kuo couldn't help but think of the tax system of Zhao State - tax per mu.
This system also starts from the initial taxation of acres in the State of Lu during the Spring and Autumn Period. This system changed the previous public land system and changed it to levy taxes on an acres basis.
As long as it is ownerless land, anyone can plant it. Plant as much land as you want, harvest as much grain as you want, and pay as much tax as you want. This greatly stimulates productivity and brings generous taxes to the country.
Other countries followed suit, including Jin. After the three families were divided into Jin, the system of Jin continued.
Although Zhao State went through several reforms in the middle, the overall situation remained unchanged.
There seems to be no problem with collecting taxes per acre, but in fact there is a huge problem.
That is because of the limitations of ancient tax collection capabilities, it was impossible for the country to go door to door to count the land harvest of each household, and then collect taxes accurately.
The state stipulates that one will be drawn out of ten, but later it may become one out of nine, one out of eight, or even one out of five. The extra draws are not handed over to the state, but are embezzled by the squires, or used to offset the squires themselves. part, but in the end the infamy was borne by the country.
In order to solve this problem, the Qin State implemented the system of "taxing people instead of land" after Shang Yang's reform, that is, the land tax was levied not on land but on population.
The world has been at war for hundreds of years, and all countries are basically in a state of more fields and less land. Everyone has a part of the land, and the country also hopes that people can plant more land. Therefore, Shang Yang's reform directly set a fixed tax amount, and then collected taxes based on capita. .
However, this tax based on head is not a head tax. There is a separate tax on head, which is called oral tax. You must pay no less.
Taxes and taxes are separate. Taxes were originally used for war, such as requisitioning chariots, armor, weapons, etc. They would not be levied if there was no war.
Later, it became collected every year, and it was no different from a tax.
The system of "taxing people without paying land" had no problems in war years, but in peacetime it led to a phenomenon: land annexation.
Since rents and taxes are collected on a per capita basis, the more land the better, so big bureaucrats and big landowners began to annex land crazily.
What should people do if they lose their land? Sell yourself into slavery, or escape and become a refugee. When there are more refugees, you will rebel, and then you will change dynasties...
This problem was not obvious in the Qin Dynasty. After all, the Qin Dynasty was short and disappeared before it appeared in time.
The phenomenon of land annexation in the Han Dynasty was very obvious, which was also one of the main reasons for the demise of the Han Dynasty.
Ps: Originally, I wanted to write about reforming the tax system in this chapter, but I felt uncomfortable thinking that I couldn’t think of a good tax system in the middle of the night. I have to say that although Shang Yang's tax system has great hidden dangers, it was already the best tax system based on the actual situation at the time.
The Han Dynasty did not take into account its own actual situation and insisted on copying it. As a result, it fell into a big hole.
If you have any good ideas, please tell me in the comment area. The author is not intelligent enough and the stuck is too uncomfortable.
