Tie Xuan walked into the yard and looked around without leaving any trace.
Wherever I look, I see only poverty.
The old man was very thin, and his grandson was almost the same. There was only a piece of linen covering his whole body.
He invited Tie Xuan into the house and then brought water.
Naturally, there is no tea, because it is not something they can afford.
Tie Xuan naturally wouldn't dislike it, so he took the bowl of water and drank it in one gulp.
He also saw that there were only one or two gaps on the edge of the bowl.
Come to think of it, this should be a very precious property of their family.
After all, Tie Xuan has traveled to too many places, and many people in similar situations have also been to many places.
After drinking the water, Tie Hyun felt much refreshed.
Then he found a topic to chat with the old man.
The content is nothing more than farming, food, and gossip about some famous local figures.
Land and food are closely related to people's lives. They are naturally willing to talk, join in the fun, and listen to gossip. This is also human nature.
Having had more contact with the people, Tie Xian naturally knew how to get what he wanted to know from them.
"Brother, how is the grain harvest this year?"
"Hey, what should I say? Is the harvest good or not? How should we live our lives?"
"People like us who have a few acres of our own land are better off. Those who don't have land can only rent Mr. Wang's land."
“You’re hungry all year round.”
"I heard that in a village dozens of miles away, the tenants there accounted for 70% of the harvest just from the rent."
"After counting the taxes paid to the court, there is not much left in the hands."
"Thank God that no one has starved to death."
The old man said and sighed.
"What about your place?" Tie Xuan asked again.
"Mr. Wang here is a great philanthropist. The rent is only 50%. Sometimes he even donates money to build bridges and pave roads."
Having said this, the old man couldn't help but give a thumbs up.
In his opinion, Mr. Wang is indeed a kind man.
As the saying goes, there is no difference without comparison. Compared with other landlords, Mr. Wang is really kind.
Tie Xuan listened and nodded secretly.
He made overt and covert inspections all the way and saw that there were very few people with rents at 50% or below.
"But to say that the person with the least rent has to be the emperor."
"A few years ago, our family was fleeing from poverty and passed by a village. I heard that the rent there was only 30%."
"Do you find it hard to believe that too?"
Seeing Tie Xuan's expression of disbelief, the old man laughed and said.
"Yes, but what does this have to do with His Majesty today?" Tie Xuan nodded and admitted, then asked again.
"Because we later found out that the village was the emperor's royal estate."
"As long as you farm the land for the emperor, you only receive 30% of the rent. You don't have to do corvee and there are no other taxes."
"The people in Zhuangzi live a really good life. They can still save some food after a year. The children in Zhuangzi also grow very strong."
"Sometimes I wonder, why isn't our place Huangzhuang?"
The old man said.
Tie Hyun could see the yearning in his eyes.
"In recent years, many people here have learned that farming land for the emperor has low rents."
“Many people who couldn’t live happily ever after tried their best to farm land for the emperor.”
"For this reason, many people even sold their wives and daughters to find a way out."
Speaking of this, the old man felt a sigh of relief in his tone.
"But the landlords and the county magistrates, after finding out about this, took a closer look at us ordinary people."
Tie Xuan listened and kept thinking in his heart.
The reason why the people wanted to farm land for the emperor was simply to survive.
In addition, the emperor liked to fight wars and carry out large-scale construction projects, which were extremely expensive. Therefore, the burden on the people of Yongle Dynasty was relatively heavy.
Suddenly I heard that farming for the emperor, paying less and living well, who wouldn't yearn for this?
Later, Tie Xuan asked some landlords about their tax payments.
This was pretty much what he knew.
In order to protect their own interests, the landlords shared the taxes they borne with the tenants below.
Even so, they often pay half and owe half.
Sometimes when there was a disaster and the grain production dropped or even stopped, the court would reduce taxes or waive them.
They took this opportunity to waive the taxes they still owed.
In short, there are many ways to evade taxes, and Tie Xuan can learn something almost everywhere he goes.
And there is always a heavy burden on the people.
Land tax, poll tax, corvee.
These are the three big mountains above the common people. Some corrupt officials will also invent some miscellaneous taxes to plunder the common people's money.
After watching more, Tie Xuan had some ideas in his mind.
Can you reduce the burden on the people, for example, like Huangzhuang, only 30% of the tax is collected, and everything else is exempted.
Although it is rent in name, it is actually no different from land tax.
And the people don't care about this. All they care about is how much they need to pay.
After chatting with the old man for an hour, Tie Xuan stood up and left.
He had to go to other places, especially Huangzhuang, to see if it was what the old man said.
"Brother, I've excused you for a long time, so I'll take my leave now."
"Noble man, walk slowly!"
The old man sent Tie Hyun out of the door.
Just after Tie Xuan and the others left, the old man's neighbor came over to inquire about Tie Xuan and the others.
The old man only said that they were passing merchants, asking for a drink of water from him.
…
Tie Xuan stayed in this mansion for a few more days. After waiting for his imperial guard of honor to arrive, he changed into his official uniform and dealt with some corrupt officials who had embezzled relief food and money, and vindicated some victims of unjust, false and wrongful convictions.
Suddenly, the reputation of Tie Xuan and Tie Qingtian spread throughout the local area.
After doing these things, Tie Xuan set out on the road again.
As before, he secretly went ahead with a few royal guards to protect him.
The imperial guard of honor followed behind.
He did not forget his desire to visit Huangzhuang.
After some inquiring, Tie Xuan came to a village named Fangjiazhuang.
It is said that this former landlord of Zhuangzi committed a serious crime and was beheaded by Emperor Taizu.
The land under his name also became the imperial estate.
After hearing this, Tie Xuan had doubts again.
"Then some of the land should belong to you, so how come it has become an imperial estate?"
"Oh, you said this, we think it is less cost-effective to farm land for ourselves than to farm land for the emperor."
"I sold the land to Huangzhuang and became a tenant to the emperor." The man from the village explained to Tie Xuan with a smile on his face.
Now Tie Xuan understood why the entire Zhuangzi was an imperial village and the common people were all tenants.
Later, he conducted some in-depth understanding.
The people here do indeed live better than those in other places.
The population is also larger. After all, there is no need to pay poll taxes or perform corvee labor.
…
