Han Shizu

The local tyrants in the border areas often overreact when faced with the government's major policies, and are prone to take violent actions. They are rough and reckless and do not follow methods. This is actually a manifestation of a lack of means.

Compared with Bian Bi's head-on confrontation, which only saw red on the bayonet, the confrontation in Daozhou, the core farming area of ​​the Han Dynasty, was smarter, more covert, and more difficult.

After all, compared with those country bumpkins who are ignorant of etiquette and do not know the rules of propriety, such as the Central Plains, Hebei, Huguang, and Jiangnan, the powerful and wise men of the Han Dynasty gathered together, and they were also country gentlemen and celebrities. Compared with the ordinary local tyrants, they were more closely related to the imperial court. The main force in the New Deal game.

Regardless of the cognition, influence, or the power, strength, and energy that can be exerted and mobilized, it cannot be compared with the commotion that occurs in Bianchi.

After seven years of trials, collisions, and entanglements, the coping methods of the nobles, bureaucrats, and landowners who had core interests in the land issue in the Han Empire continued to evolve with the passage of time.

From the initial dispute, to overt obstruction and covert confrontation, to exploiting loopholes in the law to complete the nominal land distribution to households while ensuring personal dependence, and now to the unscrupulous concealment of land, what is happening here is It is a game process between the central and local governments, the state and the powerful.

But no matter in the past or now, they have not directly confronted each other. That is a bad idea. Going too far will only lead to fierce suppression from the court.

In addition, they have countless means and methods. They have knowledge, are familiar with the laws, and even have the right to interpret the laws. When it comes to safeguarding their own interests, they will burst out with a lot of inspiration to make detours and oblique decisions. Insert, launch an "attack" from the side, and from behind. And those obstructions hidden in the dark are also more difficult.

It can be said realistically that the development of Dahan's tax reform has reached a point of stagnation. The development status of the entire process is also very clear, from the overwhelming momentum in the early stage, to the entanglement and collision in the mid-term, to the current struggle and difficulty.

More importantly, if the reform intensity is further explored, no one knows what kind of chaos will be caused, whether it will affect the stability of the country and endanger the rule of the court.

Of course, the results of tax reform so far are still impressive. First, it has a certain restrictive effect on the landlord class at all levels;
Secondly, whether in reality or in name only, a large number of homesteaders were born out of thin air, and land annexation was suppressed;

Third, under the new tax system, the grain tax burden on small farmers and households has been reduced, which has also alleviated the contradiction between the ruling class and the exploited class to a certain extent;

Fourth, Dahan's finances and taxes have increased to a certain extent. Of course, the increase is not large.

Especially the fourth article, which can also reflect some problems of tax reform from the side. From the original intention of the reform, it is not because there is a big problem in the imperial court's finances and the central government cannot collect local taxes. That is Emperor Shizu. A decisive and arbitrary attempt.
This is also a point that is not accepted by many people. In the eyes of many ministers, this tax reform is completely unnecessary, and they even think that Emperor Shizu is messing around again.
In the past seven years of tax reform, a large number of reform pioneers and experts have emerged from the central to local governments, showing a unified atmosphere.

It is undeniable that among these capable reform ministers, there are some idealists who can understand Emperor Shizu’s good intentions and his lofty vision, and are willing to contribute to the Datong society of "land to the tiller". But again, this is only a very small number of people.

As for the remaining people, some followed the emperor's edict without any brains, some had doubts but showed limited support for actual actions, and some simply did not dare to disobey due to the authority of Emperor Shizu.
And most of them, just like the "Western Expedition Sect" that was very popular for a while, are more of a political choice with a speculative mentality. Of course, those who show outstanding talents in tax reform have indeed been promoted. Got promoted.

One Pan You, one Zheng Qi, and two Nanchen all became Taoist officials in the process. Especially for the latter, Pan You also has the reputation bonus and the support of the old prime minister Zhao Pu. As for Zheng Qi, his upright official career has offended countless people, but now he is the dignified chief official of Liaodong Road.

Therefore, it can be at least half concluded that the tax reform of the Han Empire, which started in the late Kaibao period, was an immature reform and a top-down positive practice dedicated to resolving land conflicts and alleviating governance conflicts. .

Now, with Kai Bao gone and Yong Xi Dao coming, this practice has reached a critical turning point. Whether to continue to deepen the reform or stop at the right time, this question has been placed in front of Emperor Liu Yang.

A simple analysis of the tax reform in the past seven years shows that in the game process, at least in the early stages, no matter the nobles, bureaucrats, or landlords and merchants, they have always been in a compromising position. When the court takes a step forward, they block it. If they can't block it, they take a step back. This repeats until the vested interest groups retreat to the bottom line of compromise.

It is almost a kind of "social consciousness", a consensus reached by the nobles, bureaucrats, and landlords of the Han Dynasty. The emperor wants to carry out reforms and the court wants to change the tax system. They can't stop it, and they don't want to stop it completely. Otherwise, they will underestimate the addition of the current imperial system to the emperor's authority. But similarly, how to reform and to what extent the reform should be carried out cannot be done. It is entirely up to the court to decide.

In the struggle and confrontation with the New Deal, the "bottom line" gradually emerged. There is no problem in using land as the standard of the tax system and classifying tax levels based on the amount of land. However, how much land are vested interests willing to expose and "distribute" to the people, subordinates, and tenants, and how much land are they willing to register with the government? There must be room for discussion in the book.

And if the court wants to take full advantage of everyone and expose everyone's wealth, it will touch everyone's "bottom line" and inevitably lead to resistance. Of course, when carrying out pilot reforms, many places did just that, but there was a prerequisite, which was to completely "knock down" and "subdue" the powerful and landlords. This has also caused a lot of controversy and confusion.

The imperial court could comprehensively measure land in a county, a state, or even a city, but it would never be possible to spread it nationwide. ), revolution is not about revolutionizing one’s own life.

In fact, the initial selection of Gyeonggi and Henan as the pilot projects was not the most appropriate choice in terms of subsequent development. Otherwise, there would be too much resistance. I thought it would be easy to control it right under my nose, and I thought I would start with the hard nut, but it turned out that I was overthinking it.

Even before the death of Emperor Shizu, counterattacks against the tax reform had already begun in various places. Of course, they were afraid that Emperor Shizu would get angry and turn over tables and kill people, so they were restrained.

But in those three or two years, various issues arising from the tax reform flew to the capital like pieces of paper, were presented to the desks of the ministers in the political hall, and even entered the sight of the emperor and the prince.

Although they are highly targeted, they are not without purpose. They often have something to say and are indeed true. However, disputes are disputes and objections are objections. On the whole, they are still within the "rules".

But after the death of Emperor Shizu, in just over a year, or to be more precise, in the six months after Liu Yang ascended the throne, the situation changed. Up and down, from the inside out, conflicts escalated, and conflicts intensified.

Locally, there have been frequent reports of riots caused by dissatisfaction with the results of land clearing, between people and between villages. In terms of the content of the tax system, issues such as mountains and hills, fertile fields and barren fields, paddy fields and dry fields, all have triggered conflicts and riots among the people, and caused headaches for local governments.

At the same time, officials are hesitant and perfunctory in implementing policies; the predecessor does one thing, and the successor does another; local bureaucrats compete for the power of tax reform; new officials and local bureaucrats use the name of tax reform to retaliate against political opponents It is also not uncommon for
Of course, it often happens that some reformers and tax reform officials are incompetent or even greedy and illegal, and they are caught in the wrong and severely criticized.

There are also some people who have changed from reformers to centrists, from being enterprising to being lazy, or even jumping directly into the conservative camp. They have begun to use their rich experience in restructuring to oppose the restructuring and attack the mistakes and shortcomings. What's more, being dragged down by local forces, he not only relaxed his hands and indulged in reforms, but also acted colludingly to deceive the court.

And local power also began to make a comeback. Many new farmers who were allocated land not only had to repay the "loans" from their owners, but also paid regular taxes under the new system. In some rampant places, the calculation is even directly based on the original master-tenant share, which means that these new farmers not only retain their original status as tenants and dependence on the landlord, but also on this basis and then pay part of the regular taxes to the court. This is the change brought about by the new tax system.

Many people at the bottom could barely make ends meet when they were tenant farmers. After becoming homesteaders and owning their own land, their lives became even more miserable.

Such a situation will of course cause dissatisfaction and even resentment, and this part of the people's resentment, under the guidance of thoughtful people, will naturally point at the court, at the officials who implemented the tax reform, and at the new tax system.

With more oppression and instigation, riots will occur. Before July of the first year of Yongxi, in more than half a year, hundreds of civil riots occurred in Hedong, Guannei, Jiannan, Lianghuai, and Sanjiang.

Especially in Fengcheng County under Jiangxi Province, thousands of rioters stormed the county seat, broke down government offices, and killed officials, which was tantamount to a rebellion. Although it was quickly suppressed, the impact was extremely bad. This was not a rebellion by barbarians in remote areas, but by the Han people. The last time, it had to be the Yuan brothers during the Yulin Rebellion.
And these chaos, accompanied by various voices, were reported layer by layer, like thousands of trickles, gathering into a river, with overwhelming momentum, pointing directly at the new tax system. In the latest dozen or so memorials received by the emperor, some people have already suggested that the new system should be abolished and the old system should be restored to restore peace to the world!
Although it was just the beginning, Emperor Liu Yang could already feel the waves of sound and public opinion behind a thin memorial. What he was about to face might also be overwhelming pressure...