Next to Fenglin Town, not far from Xiangyang, a group of people gathered together, and a scholar in the middle read the content on the list.
Halfway through, a man who looked like an old farmer said, "Oh, you have to pay three measures of official grain for one acre of land. How could there be such a heavy tax in the past dynasties?"
The other one nodded repeatedly: "Yes, I haven't heard of it for thousands of years! One acre is only one liter or two liters, no matter how high it is, it's only a few liters! If we collect grain like this now, we don't have to increase taxes tenfold at once! I'm scared to death!" "
The people nearby agreed. Another person said: "You landowners are complaining about heavy taxes. Wouldn't we, the customers, have no way of living? Not only do we have to pay these three buckets of food, but we also have to share it with the host's family!"
The pedant in front said: "Don't you understand? Now all the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, including education and purchase, will be suspended! From now on, for farming, you will have to pay three measures of grain per acre of land per year, and you will not have to pay anything else! "
Someone said: "So what? Which tax increase didn't mean that there will no longer be excessive and miscellaneous taxes? And which time will it be less?"
The academic said: "This is clearly stated above. From now on, all taxes will be collected using government-issued liters. Dendrobium noodles, additional levies and other precedents will not be allowed in the future. Not only that, in the future, farmers farming in the countryside will not have to pay taxes. In other words, if you farm in the countryside, you will only harvest this grain! Oh, you stupid people! How much grain do you have to pay to the government each year now?"
The old farmer next to him shook his head: "I only know how to farm, and I don't know how much food we get in a year. I just know that my family has more than 20 acres of land and paid money and food to the government, but my family of five went hungry for half the year."
The scholar asked: "You always know how much food an acre produces."
The old farmer thought for a while and said: "Last year's harvest was pretty good. One acre of land cost two dan of grain. If it is paddy field, it will be even more."
The scholar said: "As mentioned above, originally, the quality of the acres was divided into three categories: upper, middle and lower. Three bushels per acre, said to be all farmland. Now that the world is difficult, all the fields are temporarily classified as low-quality farmland. Your family has twenty acres of land, and one acre of real estate costs two dan, which is forty dan a year. The official grain is three dou per acre, so you only need to pay six dan, and you still have thirty-four dan left! There are five people in your family. , they are all big-bellied men, and they can’t eat so much food!”
The old farmer looked a little embarrassed after hearing this. He whispered: "After handing over the grain, you still need to collect this kind of money, that kind of money, there are countless names! How much can the remaining grain be sold for? In the end, you will still have no food and clothing!"
After speaking, the old farmer sighed and shook his head.
The academic said: "Now is different from before. The list clearly states that those who farm will only pay grain. And it is written clearly that Xiangyang Prefecture only harvests rice, wheat, and beans, and no deductions are allowed. Other than that, , the government does not accept any food or money. Do you understand?"
Seeing that most people still looked confused, the scholar couldn't help but sigh: "It can be seen that Wang Kuan, who has newly occupied Xiangyang, knows that you people are ignorant and will be deceived if there are too many tax collection names. So now the tax collectors The provisions are reduced to the point of reduction and cannot be reduced any further. Let me tell you, the list says that anyone with any amount of grain will be required to report. As long as you know, you will only pay three bushels per mu for farming in the future."
After that, continue reading the list. He said to everyone: "Now when farming, the government only collects two things. One is three bushels of rice per mu, and the other is a labor force of fifty labors per year. In the past, the number of laborers was not high, and we people were miserable. Say. It’s fine now, the number has been fixed, fifty jobs a year.”
After finishing speaking, he turned around and looked at everyone and said: "Do you understand? From now on, the government will only charge two things from those who farm in the countryside. One is land tax, three dou per acre of land. The other is labor service, fifty wages per year. Anyone who exceeds this number will be sued!"
Although what the scholar said was simple and clear, most of the onlookers still didn't understand whether the tax was too much or too little, and they were talking about it. The scholar looked at it and could only shake his head. Rural people cannot explain many things clearly.
In the state office, Wang Xiaolie and several of his subordinates were sitting around, also discussing the recent reforms.
Chen Yuyi said: "I heard people say that after the unveiling of the list, the people talked a lot. Many people said that in the past, officials in the past dynasties only collected a few liters per acre. From the thirty tax per acre in the Han Dynasty, to now, It’s only one tax per ten. Now we charge three dou per acre of land. Even if we charge two shi, it’s still more than 10%. We haven’t seen such a heavy tax in thousands of years.”
Wang Xiaolie laughed after hearing this: "Country people, many people can't even count to ten or more. It's normal for them to be unable to understand in a short time. But there are always scholars in every village, and there are always people with clear minds. It only takes a few days. , they can explain things clearly to the people. When the government collects taxes, in the final analysis, no matter what name it is used, it is to let the people hand over money or things to the government. The people do not understand how much they have to pay in a year. They always understand things. So the key to this matter is not what the people think in the short term, but that the government must really get things done."
Having said this, Wang Xiaolie looked at the other generals and said seriously: "The government has increased taxes, but the burden on the people has been lightened. Let me ask you, where does this extra money and food come from?"
Cao Zhiyan said: "It's just from Li Zheng, Xiang Shushou and other tax collectors."
Wang Xiaolie shook his head: "Li Zheng has always been a heavy labor. I don't know how many families were originally very wealthy, but after working as Li Zheng for a few years, their families were ruined. The extra money actually came from local powerful people, or from the hands of powerful households. Yes. It has always been said that exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes force the people to survive, and harsh government is more fierce than tigers. But in fact, when the people are burdened heavily and cannot survive, the government receives less money. Where does the money go? Of course it goes to powerful people. It’s in your hands. This is a big problem and should not be underestimated!”
Shao Ling said: "Why is this a big problem? The people have to pay less money, so everyone should celebrate!"
Wang Xiaolie sighed: "How can it be so simple? If we do this, ordinary people will be better off, but it will also cut off many ways for powerful people to make money. Why are these people called powerful people? Because they are powerful in the local area ! Some families have people who are officials or officials, some families have a large population and no one can beat them, and some families have money passed down from their ancestors, all kinds of things. But in the past, most local affairs were in the hands of these people. Cut off their wealth, Do you think it will be peaceful? In other words, in the past dynasties, no one could think of doing this like us? Of course not! They didn't do it before because they couldn't do it!"
Seeing that everyone still didn't understand, Wang Xiaolie said: "These people used to be in charge of the local area. They have power and power, which is the reward given by the government to make the place peaceful and trouble-free. No matter how the government wants to treat the people well, it must be up to them. Do it. Even if there are no taxes, as long as these people are here, the people will still have no food and clothing. Just like Jinghu South Road, there are many wild mountains, where are the taxes? How are the people there? Without these people, if the government cannot go down Management will inevitably cause trouble. Therefore, if we want to cut off the money of these powerful people, we must send people to take charge. Do you think it is easy for the government to send people? In the past, we always said that there are too many officials and too many officials. How can it be easy for officials?”
Having said this, Wang Xiaolie looked at the sky. After a while, he said: "The list has been revealed. There are two things now. The first is to prevent the powerful people from rebelling and causing trouble. Our army, especially the officers in the army, has nothing to do with the local area. But every day Every county in the state must be prepared to quell these troublemakers at any time. We must be determined not to be frightened by the chaos everywhere, and arrest anyone who makes trouble! Another thing is to be prepared to send a large number of people to the countryside. The fundamental way to cut off local tyrants is for the government to take charge of the countryside!"
Chen Yuyi was stunned when he heard this. I couldn't help hearing this. He said: "How many officials are needed to manage all the villages? How much food do these officials need? Where do the money and food come from?"
Wang Xiaolie said: "Of course there are a lot of officials needed, maybe even more than the previous officials could even imagine. Giving them money and food is certainly not a small amount. There are two ways to pay for the money and food needed. One is to collect it from the people. The second is to earn it yourself.”
Having said this, Wang Xiaolie looked at the stunned people, feeling a little helpless. Indeed, without the memory of the previous life, it is really difficult to think about this aspect. As a ruler, of course, he hopes that there will be as few political affairs as possible, and there will be as few direct management people as possible. But how would that work? The administrative capacity of the country and the happy life of the people will be swallowed up by this simplicity. This is not transferred by human will. As long as this is done for long enough, the country will slowly decay and eventually become unstoppable.
When people come together to form a society, they need to be managed. If the government does not manage, the people will produce their own managers. Generally speaking, the more directly managed by the government, the lower the management cost. The less involved the government is, the higher the cost of management will be. In special circumstances, the government can be replaced by religion. In most cases, the manager should be the government.
Realizing this is not easy. It becomes clearer and clearer as human society develops and becomes more mature.
Human society is not naturally dominated by the state. From the beginning, families and tribes formed alliances and then formed countries. From the initial federal state, it gradually became a unified state. Great unification means that most of human relations are integrated into the national level.
Confucianism talks about self-cultivation, family order, country governance, and world peace. Putting it this way, it's like there are steps to follow. From a person to a family, from a family to a country, from a country to a world, the levels are very clear. In fact, this makes no sense.
It is your own business to cultivate yourself and speak well. What should the Qi family do? How can we not only make the family harmonious and happy, but also let everyone in the family grow up healthily and have a good life of their own? Frankly speaking, it's actually impossible. If you want to do it, you have to go to Xunzi's long rituals and heavy methods. Those so-called aristocratic families and their so-called generational parents are all virtuous, but they are actually training robots. In the past, there were big families, family properties, and their own manors. The Qi family could also become a basis for governing the country. By the Song Dynasty, it was actually impossible.
If the Qi family cannot do this, how can the country be governed based on the Qi family? It is said to be the way of Confucius and Mencius, but in fact it gradually drifted away from the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, and finally fell into the evaluation of Confucianism and Dharma.
As for a peaceful world, human civilization has been around for nearly ten thousand years and is still far away.
Chinese society developed into the Song Dynasty and had different characteristics from before. With the decline of the aristocratic clans, the role of clans has become less important, and the civil society is mainly based on small families. Management should be based on the small family, and then the country should be governed.
From the small family to the governance of the country, all kinds of powerful forces in the middle are superfluous. Only when the middle class is cleared away will society become clear.
In human society, it is a normal phenomenon that some people are poor and some are rich, some live a colorful life, and some live in poverty. With the development of human society, society will take on various colors. You can't force everyone to live the same way, and you can't force everyone to live the same way.
why is it like this? In the final analysis, it is still a question of how a ruler knows people. Are people the same? What is human nature supposed to be like? What kind of life is suitable for human nature? Social problems, especially political problems, are fundamentally about understanding people.
Xunzi believed that human nature is evil, while Mencius believed that human nature is good. By the Song Dynasty, they basically agreed with Mencius' views. The recognition of this human nature is fundamental to politics. If you don't realize this, it's not enough to talk about politics.
In fact, not only the Song Dynasty, but also later political theories were basically like this. Politics basically starts with people. Human nature is inherently evil, human nature is inherently good, and human nature is inherently simple. Each will bring out different political theories. Monism and dualism in understanding people will lead to the development of all kinds of capitalism, socialism, and other various isms in later generations.
Expanding this issue would be lengthy. But there is one thing. No matter what doctrine you believe in, if you cannot realize that this doctrine starts from the understanding of people, you can only have blind faith.
Wang Xiaolie's understanding came from the saying in his previous life that the people are the masters of the country. The understanding of people is not about good and evil, nor the monistic dualism based on Western culture, but the Tao follows nature. That’s what people are like, get to know people and form your own understanding of human society. The most important one is that the people are the masters of the country. The appearance of this sentence is ever-changing, but it remains unchanged.
Tao follows nature. These four simple words contain countless contents.
There were famous scholars in the pre-Qin Dynasty who had two famous problems. One is a white horse but not a horse, and the other is a solid white horse that can be separated? When scholars of later generations explain these two problems, they will say that they were solved long ago by some simple thought, by which celebrity in which country, and by what method. This is a common problem in later generations. Scholars feel that they have learned both Chinese and Western knowledge. The thoughts of these ancients are as simple as children's problems to them.
Is it really that simple? of course not. Most of the people who explain it are actually not worthy of leaving their names in history. This simple, reasonable person who explains is not worthy of making this conclusion.
Can Jianbai be separated? In fact, human society has developed for more than two thousand years, and it is still impossible to make a definite judgment. If it is inseparable, how can we understand the world? Just four words, Tao follows nature.
In other words, the theories and methods that are believed to be solid and inseparable are techniques. Only those theories and methods developed from the belief that they are inseparable can be called Tao. The same is true for the theory of man.
What are people like? What is human nature? Making answers and developing theories can only be called skills. People are people, and people are what they are. Human beings are both good and evil as they are, both good and evil. Human beings are human beings, and they are neither monism, dualism, nor pluralism. Don't ask what people are like or what they should be like, people are just people.
This is Wang Xiaolie's understanding of life in his two lifetimes, and this is his way. The core of this truth is the people. There are thousands of people, and you can’t see clearly even if you want to, but the people are very clear. As long as we recognize the people clearly and take measures that are in the interests of the people, it is correct.
