Back to the Song Dynasty as a tyrant

"After all, it's a big deal, so don't worry."

"Officer Zhao..."

"I know the meaning of Wang Guanren, and I will not bypass you. I have written down your share. If you want to do it, you will do it together. Oh, I mean, I understand his intention with the county magistrate. You still have to do it.”

Everyone who talks about business knows that there are two kinds of people who make decisions and those who do execution, and those who do execution can't do without good management.

Wang Mazi laughed loudly, raised his wine glass and said, "Come on, Officer Zhao, I respect you."

"Someone is too strong to drink, so he won't drink this wine."

"Good talk, good talk."

At this time, a voice suddenly came from a family.

"My lord, the agreed one hundred catties, this, this, this...is already exceeded!"

"I can't help it. On the way of transporting grain, the transport team also needs to eat grain, so they need to send extra food, not much, [-] catties for every [-] catties!"

Chapter 288 Huang Zongxi's Law (Part [-])

Speaking of adding pai, this is a routine operation of collecting taxes in ancient times.

After all, the ancient agricultural tax was to collect grain directly.

To collect and transport food, people are needed, and the transport team needs food.

The consumption of the transport team was not borne by the ancient court, but by the common people.

This is the legendary consumption envy.

It can be said that almost all reforms in ancient times revolved around the reform of the tax system.

Because the tax system is related to the life and death of the court.

And often every reform is accompanied by an increase in the burden on the people.

So much so that Huang Zongxi, a famous scholar in the Ming Dynasty, put forward the concept of "accumulated harm that cannot be returned".

Later generations of historians gave Huang Zongxi another name for this concept: Huang Zongxi's law.

The core point of Huang Zongxi's law is: After a period of decline, the burden on farmers rises to a higher level than before the reform, which is the opposite of the original reform goal.

Whether it is the two-tax law of the Tang Dynasty, the one-whip law of the Ming Dynasty, or the "split Ding into the mu" of the Qing Dynasty, after a short-term reduction in taxation, it has increased again.

The fundamental reason is that during the ancient reforms, multiple miscellaneous taxes were combined into one, which is conducive to measurement and standardization, and reduces the space for officials to be corrupt.

For example, the head tax is classified into the land in the land, and it is divided into mu.

After a while, people forget that the annual tax they pay already includes the poll tax.

But at this time, the ruler told the people that they needed to send more people and levied excessively. Isn't there no poll tax?Just add poll tax.

This is Huang Zongxi's law.

This law has been staged in stages for more than 100 years in the Song Dynasty.

Hemai and Hebu were originally used to buy food from the people for military supplies during the imperial court's war.

Over time, it becomes a part of the public must pay.

Just like now, the people brought by Wang Mazi came to collect, in addition to the regular tax, there were also Hemai and Hebu.

However, even if the people paid Hemai and Hebu, when the court ran out of grain and the tax items were all collected, the court would still use money to buy grain at a low price, which was still Hemai and Hebu.

It is equivalent to the direct imposition of taxes on buying and buying in the past.

On this basis, consumption envy is also the big head.

Li Baozheng hurried over to smooth things over, and said: "It's all from the folks, I owe it first, the grain in this field hasn't been harvested yet, I'll make up for it in a few days."

The one who collected the tax did not impose it either.

Let the farmer take the grain to a centralized place to be weighed.

On the other side, a yacha asked a family to pour grain into the hu. When it was full, the yacha said, "Not enough."

"Isn't it full?"

"When there is always an inaccuracy, this Dendrobium may be a bit small. According to the rules, it has to be piled upside down."

The family was reluctant to continue dumping until they piled up the dendrobium.

The clerk kicked it with his foot, and the piled wheat immediately spilled on the ground. The clerk said, "It's not true, keep pouring."

The family begged: "Officer, it's almost gone, please save some for us."

"Will the gold thief keep it for you! If you don't pay it, how can we fight on the front line! If you lose, the gold thief has come here, can you afford it!"

The child on one side watched with tears in his eyes that the food his parents had worked so hard for was forcibly handed over, thinking that he was going to be hungry again.

The family was reluctant to pour the rest down, and the Yacha was not satisfied until they piled up to a sharp point.

This is the "kicking dendrobium" and "pile tip" in the ancient tax payment process.

This glorious tradition has been handed down. In the reign of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court sent three extra salaries, and officials and gentry from all over the country dug three feet to find local people with first-class footwork to collect taxes. Bump out the grain and let the people add a little more.

Just think about it, if a household adds an extra catty, [-] households in a county equals [-] catties.

These all went into the pockets of local officials and squires.

The so-called blood-sucking method is to know how to suck one mouthful at a time.

Zhao Ning saw it in his eyes and kept it in his heart.

This is the drawback of directly using food as a tax, which lacks standardization and transparency.

It's much easier if you pay in cash.

Of course, in the Qing Dynasty, silver was used as a tax to pay, but there was loss in the transportation of silver, so this part of the loss had to be borne by the people, which is called fire consumption.

The "returning fire consumption to the public" promoted by Yongzheng means that during the tax payment of silver, the depleted part will be turned into a regular tax, which will be standardized and the local government will not be allowed to overcharge.

If you really want to solve the problem of energy consumption, it is actually more resistant to paper money.

If the common people pay taxes with banknotes, there will be no such tricks as "kicking dendrobium" and "stacking tops".

And at that time, the consumption tax can be abolished, the tax money can be transported by public officials, and the taxation process can be completely standardized.

After a while, Li Baozheng came, with a smile all over his face: "Mr. Wang, we have finished collecting this time."

"Have you collected everything?"

"It's over."

Wang Mazi stood up, stretched his waist, and said to the surrounding farmers, "Thank you for your taxes and rations. Remember to prepare the rest as soon as possible."

After finishing speaking, he said to Zhao Ning: "Officer Zhao, why don't you go to the county together?"

"Please first, Mr. Wang, I still need to fetch some water, and these brothers haven't eaten yet, so I want to buy some food here first."

"How about going to the county town to eat?"

"I can't bear it anymore. Everyone has been on the road for a long time. After I have a bite of food, I will go to the county to find you."

"That's it." Wang Mazi told Zhao Ning the address of his home, and he left with a full load of people.

After Wang Mazi left, the village fell into a strange silence and dullness.

A young man sighed, and sat under the tree at the door, weeping silently. His hands were covered with calluses. The little girl walked up to him, pursed her mouth, and said aggrievedly, "Daddy, I'm hungry."

"Don't cry, don't cry, there is still some food at home, Daddy will cook it for you now."

Zheng Xi squatted there, not speaking.

Zheng Ling said, "Brother, let's go back to the field."

Others returned to the fields one after another.

Zhao Ning walked over, and some people's eyes fell on Zhao Ning intentionally or unintentionally.

Zheng Xi was very polite to Zhao Ning before, but just now seeing him having a happy conversation with Wang Mazi, he became indifferent to him.

Zhao Ning said: "This little brother."

Zheng Xi just dropped a sentence: "Are you also here to collect food?"

"No, I'm not here to collect food."

"What are you going to do?" Zheng Xi's eyes were red, holding a sickle in his hand.

The surrounding guards surrounded Zhao Ning.

"I just wanted to ask some questions, I was wondering."

"We don't have time." Zheng Xi ignored Zhao Ning and walked straight to the field.

Yes, when the farming season is busy, the common people have to work desperately, regardless of wind and rain, drought, no matter how tired they are, they must face the loess and their backs to the sky.

Because that's the only thing that keeps them alive.

Zheng Ling glanced at Zhao Ning and said, "My brother has this temper, he has no other intentions."

"Isn't the imperial court tax-free?" Zhao Ning suddenly shouted to the surrounding people.

The pent-up breath in his chest was also released.

He looked at the people around him and seemed to be questioning them.

But the people around responded to him with surprised and puzzled eyes.

Chapter 289 Beheading Business! (Second more)

Zheng Ling said: "The imperial court has never exempted taxes, and we have never heard of tax exemptions!"

"I'm from Jingji Road. I know that the imperial court exempts Hebei West Road from taxes. The imperial court issued a decree. The decree issued today says that Hebei West Road will be exempted from taxes for ten years! Head tax, agricultural tax, and chief money will all be exempted!"

Zhao Ning looked at those people.

He seemed to see his mother in the previous life from among those people.

He remembered that his mother told him that when she was a child, she couldn't eat enough food every day, and she couldn't eat a few slices of meat a year. She lived in a thatched hut, so she was always malnourished, and fell ill when she was old.

Of course, my mother's poverty at that time was not caused by collecting taxes like this.

It was China at that time, just recovering from the war, with a lot of waste waiting to be done, and there was really nothing to eat.

But seeing them like this, Zhao Ning couldn't help thinking.

He also grew up in the countryside when he was very young. His generation has seen the rapid changes in the countryside, and the people have changed from poverty to affluence.

That's why he has enough confidence to carry out the New Deal, and believes that through continuous reform, the past situation will definitely be changed.

At least the peasants can be fed.

But when he really saw what was in front of Da Song Chao, and saw that these people were as weak and helpless as ants, besides anger, there was also a deep sorrow in his heart.

The Song Dynasty was implementing the New Deal, but the full implementation of any policy would take time.

Hebei cannot be covered by the New Deal now because the talents of the New Deal cannot keep up, and the current administrative efficiency cannot quickly implement the New Deal in Hebei.

Zheng Ling said again: "We have never heard of what you said."

Jing Chao was also from the lower class, and he seemed to feel a little bit of sadness. He said, "You can sue the officials."

"Sue the officials?" Zheng Ling said with a wry smile, "Someone in our village went to the county seat to sue the officials, and they were beaten to death as soon as they left the yamen after suing."

"How about going to Xingzhou City to inform the government?"

"I've been there too." Zheng Ling's eyes were red, "My father went..."

She burst into tears: "They are in front of me..."

Zheng Xi suddenly ran over and shouted at Zhao Ning: "Don't ask! Why are you asking so much! What's the use!"

"You are bold!" Jing Chao pointed at Zheng Xi and said angrily. He wanted to walk over to teach Zheng Xi a lesson, but Zhao Ning pulled him over.

Zheng Ling burst into tears, she whispered: "Is our life really so cheap?"

There was silence all around, and no one answered the question.

Zhao Ning took a deep breath, walked up to the malnourished little girl, squatted down, and patted her head.

Looking at her starving and helpless eyes, she seemed to think of her mother when she was a child.

Mother had no food when she was a child, is she also so thin?

"Don't be afraid, I'll get the food back for you!"