New Story of Lv Bu

On September 15th, at noon, Si Li, the capital of the Han Dynasty, Luoyang City, stuffed it into the private room on the third floor of Jiangnan Liquor Store.

The chief lieutenant Shi Guojia and Shaofu Xunyou sat opposite each other and were drinking. Between the two is a round table, on which there are four or five exquisite dishes, all in color, fragrance and flavor. On the warm fire, there is a pot of venison stewed, a pot of fat sheep, and a big pot of Zhao wine is warmed in the hot water basin. Two or more people eat together at a table, which is the recently popular meal system in Luoyang City. Compared with the one-person, one-seat meal system, the combined meal system is much less wasteful. It is frugal and popular, and is popular in the year of catastrophe.

In mid-September, the weather was quite cold. By the warm fire, I drank a few warm Zhao wines, and the limbs were full of warmth. Guo Jia's body has become much stronger, and the sickly paleness on his face has long since disappeared, replaced by a healthy red. Thanks to the genius doctor Zhang Zhongjing, his illness has long since healed. Now his face is ruddy, his limbs are much stronger, and his voice is louder. From a distance, he was a handsome young man, Fengshen and handsome.

"Come on, Fengxiao, taste this venison. This is the signature dish of Jiangnan." Xun You said with chopsticks in his right hand and Guo Jia in his left hand. Two years of his career as a young man has turned his complexion into a bronze color, which is naturally a trace of wind, frost, snow and rain. In the past two years, Xun You has traveled to Liangzhou, Bingzhou, and Sili, but he has not been to the Western Regions.

"Gongda, I wanted to talk to you for a long time, but it's a pity that you and I are busy, and have not been able to do so. I finally caught you today, you and I have to have a good time!" Guo Jia picked up the chopsticks in his right hand and went in. A few pieces of tender venison, then put down the chopsticks, picked up the wine, and drank it all, then touched the belly with both hands and said with satisfaction. "Today I stole a floating life for half a day. I must be enough."

Upon hearing this, Xun You smiled. "Bong Xiao, you were originally a pure scholar. After following Huangfu Yizhen, how come you look more and more like an old soldier ruffian?" Guo Jia was taken aback for a moment, then burst into laughter with a hearty laugh. Is there a hint of weakness? "Gongda, you are right! This is, "The ones who are near Zhu are red and those who are near Mo are black!" If you don't say it, I don't think, I only realize it when you say it. Huangfu Taiwei has been loyal to the Han family all his life. Honestly, saying that I am like him is praise!"

"Oh, I just stole my life for half a day. The current situation is very tense. Da Sima and the court are struggling to deal with it." At this point, Xun You lowered his voice and said: "From the Liaodong in the northeast to the Western Regions in the west, everywhere. They are all using swords and soldiers, and money is being used everywhere. Every day people eat horses and spend money like water, and they will soon be unable to support it financially."

"Is this the reason why Da Sima wants to change the tax system, implement stalls into acres, the fire goes to the public, and the officials and the gentry to pay for the grain?" Guo Jia put down his chopsticks, sat down, and looked at Xun You quietly with his eyes open. A posture of arguing. Xun You is very familiar with this posture. Just yesterday, above the court, Guo Jia was in such a posture, fighting against the ministers, causing the court to fall apart.

Upon hearing this, Xun You fell into silence. During the court meeting, he had a heated argument with Guo Jia on this matter.

Speaking of the terms such as sharing acres of acres, the consumption of fire goes to the public, and the government and the gentry pay the grain together, we must also start with the taxation system of the dynasty.

Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, apart from the Legalists, all of the hundreds of scholars believed that the country should be based on agriculture. Since the Emperor Gaodi established Chang'an, he has always practiced Huang Lao politics and rested with the people. The melee between the princes in the late Qin Dynasty, coupled with the six-year war between Gaodi and the Chu Overlord, made the population withered and the fertile fields were barren, and it has reached the point where there is no one inhabited. At this time, Huang Lao's politics is the general trend, otherwise it will not be able to increase the population and restore the economy. If you want to restore the economy, you have to take a small amount of money and rest with the people.

Before this dynasty, there were three main types of taxes. One was "land rent", or "rent", or "tax", that is, levying grain. The second is military wealth, including equipment and soldiers. The third is to recruit labor, called "servicing." This is similar to what Meng Ke said in the Warring States Period, "The Expedition of Corn, the Expedition of Bulu, and the Expedition of Forced Combat". After the first emperor unified the six kingdoms, the taxes on land rent, koufu, and salt and iron were 20 times that of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and 30 times that of the labor force. This is equivalent to taking away two-thirds of the income of the ordinary people. Temporary taxes and heavy labor are not included. Therefore, the origin of the death of the first emperor and the death of the Qiang Qin II lies in this.

The Han Dynasty inherited the Qin system, and Gaodi was defeated in hundreds of battles, and finally defeated the overlord of Chu in the battle of Gaixia and settled in Chang'an. He remembered the lesson of Qiang Qin II’s death. Taxation is extremely simple. The two main types of taxes are "land tax" and "oral tax". These two taxes are the most important and account for almost half of the country's fiscal revenue. . In addition, there are also various "correspondence", such as building tombs and building cities.

Land rent is one of the main revenues of the state's finances. It is mainly used for the salaries of a hundred officials, sacrifices, the emperor's living materials and other expenses. At the time of Gao Di, the policy of "light field rent" was implemented, and the law of "15 taxes and one" was implemented, that is, the state levied 1/15 of the total income of farmers. Soon, due to the huge military expenditure, it seemed that it was changed to the "Eleventh Tax". It was only when Huidi Liuying, the "Fifteen Taxes and One" was restored. Later, sometimes half of the land rent was exempted, which turned into "30 taxes and one tax". In famine years, they were all exempted. It was not until the second year of Emperor Liu Qi that the "Thirty Taxes One" was formally stipulated. Since then, it has been customized, and it has remained basically unchanged in the end of the Han Dynasty.

Emperor Huan’s Liu Zhi and Ling Emperor Liu Hongshi stipulated that in addition to the "30 tax and one" farm rent, the amount of money should be collected in addition to the land rent of "Thirty One Tax". How much should be collected? In the second year of Pingyang, an additional 10 yuan per mu was added, which is a surcharge on land rent. Tianzu, sometimes called "grain rent", "zugu", or "songsu", is collected in kind, not currency. The general approach is to set different yields according to different regions, different soil qualities, and different years, and use this as a standard to collect land rent. There is also a "manuscript tax", which is to collect drafts (ie forage) from farmers to use as feed for official horses and cattle. It is also expropriated from the land, and the land rent is expropriated, reduced, and exempted at the same time. Due to the heavy weight and inconvenience of transportation, currency is sometimes used instead of physical objects.

Judging from the tax rate of 30 tax only, it seems that the burden of the people of this dynasty is not heavy. But after careful calculation, it is not. Chao Cuo, the political commentator of this dynasty, gave a vivid description of the life of self-employed farmers in his "On Guisu Shu".

"Today, a family of five farmers has no fewer than two servants, no more than one hundred acres of farming, and no one hundred acres of harvest. Spring ploughing, summer harvest, autumn harvest, winter storage, cutting woods, governing the government, giving Correspondence; no shelter from wind and dust in spring, no shelter from summer heat, no shelter from rain in autumn, no shelter from cold and freezing in winter. Hard work is like this, and I am still suffering from floods and droughts, urgent and tyrannical, from time to time, and from time to time, the order is changed."

"When the ones who have the half are sold, the ones who don't get the interest of the double name; so there are people who sell fields and grandchildren to pay off the debt. And the big merchants accumulate double interest, and the small ones sit in and sell and win by their odds. If you travel to the city on a daily basis, if you take the urgency, you will sell twice as much. Therefore, the man does not work hard, the woman does not weave, the clothes must be literary, and the food must be meat; there is no farmer’s suffering, and there is the farmland. Because of its richness, The prince of traffic, overpowering the locals, and leaning against each other for profit; traveling thousands of miles, looking at each other with crowns and coverings, taking advantage of strengths to make fertilizers, and stalking silks."

"That's why the merchant merged with the peasants, and the peasants were in exile. Today, the law is inferior to the merchant, and the merchant is already rich and noble; the peasant is respected, and the peasant is already poor and low. So the commonplace is noble, the lord's is low; the official is inferior, The law is respected. The upper and lower sides are opposite, the likes and dislikes are obedient, and if you want the country to be rich, the law is not available.” The self-employed farmers in the heyday are even like this, and the troubled times can be imagined.

As for the peasants who cultivated on the land of the big landlords (or "the powerful people"), they have to pay half of the products to the landlords, the so-called "see tax 15", and the exploitation is even heavier.

This dynasty Xun Yue once said: Even if the land rent levied by the state is only 1% of the income of the farmers, due to the middle-exploitation of the family, the farmers often have to pay one-half to two-thirds of the income to the landlord. These big landlords are more cruel than Tyrant Qin. Xun Yue further revealed that the reduction or exemption of land rent by Emperor Hanwen did not benefit farmers with little or no land, but only increased the income of powerful landlords who possessed a large amount of land. Lu Bu once said that Tian Zu received 70% of his children, which is considered kind.

Another important type of tax in this dynasty is "oral taxation", which is another important source of national fiscal revenue, mainly used for military expenditure and rewards for meritorious personnel. Oral tax is the population tax, which is divided into "calculated tax" and "kouqian". From the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, the law stipulated that people regardless of gender, from the age of 15 to 56, each person must pay the state every year for a "calculation" (one for one hundred and twenty dollars), which is called a "calculation". ". Merchants and slaves have to pay twice, and each pays two "calculations" every year.

Doubly imposing "calculation" on businessmen is a reflection of the established state policy of "emphasizing agriculture and restraining business" in the taxation system. The purpose is to protect and establish agriculture and inhibit the development of commerce. The doubling of the "calculation" of slaves and maidservants is an economic measure taken by the central government to restrain powerful landlords. Powerful and aristocratic families often possess a large number of slaves and maids, which will greatly affect the country's fiscal revenue and greatly contribute to the financial and ability of the local separatist forces. In order to prevent the slightest failure and prevent the occurrence of rebellion, this dynasty had to do so.

In order to change the situation of drastically declining population and barren land, Emperor Hui specially rewarded childbirth and stipulated that women who did not marry from 15 to 30 years old must levy five "calculations."