After leaving Wang Guan's house, the moon had already risen. There were various insects chirping in the surrounding fields, and occasionally there were a few frogs croaking, giving off a quiet feeling in the countryside.
Wang Xiaolie came to visit, and of course he brought gifts. It's just tea, sugar, and some pastries, rare gifts in the countryside. The farmers in Taoyuan Fairy Township are still very wealthy, and Wang Xiaolie will not give him any cash even if he comes to visit them.
The farmers here are all transferred from various states and put together into villages. Originally they were allowed to live here for three years, but now that it has just opened and things are not easy, these people are allowed to live here for five years. Normally, if a farmer lives here for three to five years, he will be able to save some money and become a well-off family when he returns home.
Wang Xiaolie built this place with the original intention of allowing high-ranking officials such as Xuan Fu to understand the life below and not to be separated from the people. The most important thing is to understand the daily life of farmers and not to ignore the grains.
Now everything is in its infancy, everything is rudimentary and needs to develop slowly.
Not far from Wang Guan's house, there is Wang Xiaolie's residence. It can be regarded as a rural villa, everything is what a countryside should be like. Today is Wang Xiaolie's first time here, so he wants to visit his neighbors and take a look at the surrounding scenery.
After returning to their residence, Wang Xiaolie, Gao Ying and others took a rest and spent the night without talking.
The next day, Wang Xiaolie and others had breakfast and drank two cups of tea. Wang Xiaolie said to everyone: "Go to Cai Feng Yuan today to see what's going on there. Cai Feng Yuan is located here to allow Cai Feng officials to live among the people. Don't forget your roots."
Gao Ying said yes.
Wang Xiaolie's residence has eight main rooms, four on the left are offices, and four on the right are study rooms and bedrooms. There is a courtyard in the front, a cross-courtyard on the left and right, and a small garden in the back. The yard is planted with hibiscus, crabapple, pomegranate and other flowers and trees, as well as a peony garden. In front of the door is a large lotus pond filled with lotus flowers. To the west of the door, three large willow trees were planted, and under the willow trees was a row of horse tying posts. To the east is a large sycamore tree, lush and green, with sycamore flowers hanging on it.
To an ordinary person, this residence would seem extraordinary. But for the Xuanfu envoy, it seemed too small.
After leaving the courtyard gate, the group walked south along the path beside the pond. After passing the pond, walk along a road under the shade of willow trees, then turn eastward and arrive at Cai Feng Yuan.
The Feng Cai Yuan is a government office under the Xuanfu Department for officials who specialize in collecting feng. The current top official is Chen Yuyi, who is on a business trip to Xinzheng at this time.
Ye Longji, the deputy envoy of Cai Feng, had already led his officials to greet him outside the door. When he saw Wang Xiaolie arriving, he hurriedly stepped forward to greet him.
Entering the Feng Collection Courtyard, Wang Xiaolie asked Ye Longji: "How many Feng Collection officials are there now?"
Ye Longji said: "Thirty-eight people. Xuanfu said there are still too few people, and we are recruiting."
Wang Xiaolie said: "It is indeed too few. However, when you recruit people, they should come voluntarily. If they have to come, it will lose the meaning of collecting folk songs. Generally speaking, collecting folk customs officers is relatively hard work and their income is not good. Gao, don’t miss the person who came.”
Ye Longji nodded in agreement.
When he arrived in the yard, Wang Xiaolie looked around and said, "The sun is shining brightly today and the weather is excellent. Let's talk in the yard. You go and call all the officials who collect the wind to come to the yard, set up a few tables, and get some Give them tea. This is small talk, not lectures from officials. Relax."
Ye Longji hesitated for a moment, but still did it.
Wang Xiaolie and Gao Ying sat under some jujube trees in the yard, drinking tea and looking at everyone.
Not long after, everyone sat down and looked at Wang Xiaolie eagerly.
Wang Xiaolie said: "I have nothing to do today, so I came to chat with you. Don't be nervous, just drink tea and relax."
Everyone makes a promise together.
Seeing that everyone still couldn't let go, Wang Xiaolie smiled, picked up the tea and drank it.
Putting down the tea, Wang Xiaoxian said: "I arrived in Taoyuan Fairy Township yesterday. I first went to a farmer's house to see how he was living. Generally speaking, farmers in Taoyuan Fairy Township have sufficient land, complete farming tools, and no taxes. Life was pretty good. Why is this place called Peach Blossom Land? Mr. Wu Liu's "Peach Blossom Spring" said that Peach Blossom Spring has flat land, neat houses, fertile fields, beautiful ponds, mulberry and bamboo trees. There is traffic on every road, and chickens and dogs hear each other. They go about planting crops, and the men and women dress like outsiders. Their yellow hair hangs down, and they are happy. This kind of life is simply the ideal of farmers."
After Wang Xiaolie finished speaking, the people below him looked confused, obviously not knowing what he meant.
Sighing secretly, Wang Xiaolie said: "So when we build a Taoyuan Fairyland, we can realize the farmer's dream. Of course, is such a desperate situation really the farmer's ideal? Of course not. This is just a war-torn era. People are fed up with the pain of being displaced when their country is ruined and their families are destroyed, so they put their desires to the lowest level, and they are just imaginary scenarios. In the peaceful years, people's desires will always become more and more, and they will no longer be able to satisfy people. Buddha It is said that life is bitter and people should not have desires. After all, we are secular people and we live in the secular world. Of course, the secular world cannot limit desires."
"When people have desires, they have the motivation to move forward. How do we know that we are better now than in the ancient world? The five-flavor blend we eat is much better than the ancient world without salt and taste. We have clothes to wear, and use Fire is much better than the animal skins in the ancient world. Such examples abound, and there is no need to explain them one by one. Therefore, in this Taoyuan fairyland, people are not prohibited from going out, and they just live a normal life. Those who come here The poor people are equivalent to five years of good luck. They can live without taxes or benefits for five years. Let's see what results they have achieved in these five years."
Having said this, Wang Xiaolie looked at everyone and said in a more serious tone: "Don't think that this is a gift to the people. I want to tell you that this is the life that the court strives to let the people live. No taxes or gifts, the court's Where does the money come from? This dynasty used to have a salt and iron department, but now that tea and salt are promoted, the money must come from this. Of course, salt, iron and tea are necessities of life, and we do not advocate using necessities to make money. But in addition to necessities, the court also has other industries. Since we were in Xiangyang, we have set up various factories, supply and marketing cooperatives, and banks, all of which can make money. We have been investing money for several years, and starting from this year, most of the industrial and commercial industries have made money."
"In addition to the industrial and commercial industries where we directly invest, we can also collect taxes from industry and commerce. How many farmers does the money collected by a factory equal? There are several factories in a county, and the money collected is enough. This is more than the normal agricultural income. Money, how much more convenient is it?”
"In the past few years, our agricultural taxes have been reduced a lot, all excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes have been cancelled, and we have invested heavily in the industrial and commercial industries. Where does the money come from? I am not afraid to tell you, it is printed. Tens of millions of dollars every year, this is not a small number. But Printing money is not a long-term solution. Unplanned random printing will bring down this industry sooner or later. As our territory is expanding and industry and commerce are developing, the money printed is still growing. But there are limits to growth, and sooner or later there will be no printing. day."
Seeing the people below whispering, Wang Xiaolie took the tea and drank it, pausing for a while.
Under Wang Xiaolie's rule, taxes were clearly not heavy, so why could the taxes be fully spent? The answer is to print money. Of course, there is another reason: government spending at this time is not high.
The Song Dynasty's secondary tax revenue usually did not exceed 5 million yuan. Under Wang Xiaolie's rule, he could only manage the first or second line, and in fact it was less than one million guan. Wang Xiaolie was exempted from all taxes and paid only 81 million yuan less. As for grain taxes, they were not light under Wang Xiaolie's rule and were even higher than before.
The money printed every year, coupled with the increase in commercial taxes brought about by the development of industry and commerce, Wang Xiaolie's finances were still loose after supplying the army. In general, the government expenditures in this era were relatively small, and a little fiscal means would be enough to cover government expenditures.
The heavy burden on the people is not caused by the normal taxation by the government, but by means other than normal taxation. After Wang Xiaolie strictly controlled these methods, the burden on the people was no longer so heavy. If we collect money in addition to taxes and collect money from the private sector, the cost of collecting money will be ten thousand dollars. When the government stops collecting this amount of money, the benefits to the private sector are huge. Of course, the premise is that the government does not need this money.
Putting down the tea cup, Wang Xiaolie said: "In short, we just hope to collect more money from industry and commerce, while reducing farmers' money. Farmers' life is very hard. You yamen are here. You can go out and take a look when you have nothing to do. Farmers have to plow in the spring, work in the summer, harvest in the autumn, and store in the winter. There is no free time all year round. In this country, it can be said that if the farmers live well, the world will be peaceful."
With the advancement of technology, it has developed from an agricultural country to an industrial country. The process from agriculture to industrialization can be orderly or chaotic. In Europe, because kings represented feudal lords and industry and commerce developed in towns, chaos was almost inevitable. Other countries, such as Germany and the United States, are relatively more orderly. In Asia, because Japan is a latecomer, catching up quickly has also brought a lot of suffering. But other Asian countries are relatively mild.
There is no need for the Song Dynasty to take drastic measures. Many things can be done slowly. Use time to exchange for the impact of industrialization on agriculture.
One of the purposes of Wang Xiaolie's establishment of Taoyuan Fairyland was to observe the impact of industrial development on the countryside. The Cai Feng Yuan is located here to allow them to experience this change personally and not to be ignorant of the changes among the people.
In Taoyuan Fairyland, with such good conditions, if the life of farmers is not comparable to that of ordinary workers in the city, it goes without saying in other places. Only if the farmers here have a superior life, at least equivalent to the middle class in the city, can society be unaffected.
With a clear understanding of society, these officials can truly grasp the basic situation of society and provide valuable reference when they go out to collect information. Otherwise, it is not enough to rely solely on the officials' personal conscience and knowledge.
