Qin Official

In late August, when Yang Xi returned to Ningqin County (Huayin City, Shaanxi Province) with his reward, it was the autumn harvest here.

Ningqin County is located at the northern foot of Huashan Mountain. From a long distance away, Yang Xi can see the majestic Mount Huayue and the endless millet fields. Many farmers are bending down to harvest in the fields.

Yang Xi couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw this:

"Fortunately, this place has not been harmed by bandits from the Six Nations."

At this time, an old pavilion chief with gray hair came by the roadside. He saw Yang Xi wearing brocade clothes, riding a big horse, looking very majestic, and there were three cars behind him.

The carriage in front was closed, leaving only a small window, which was also covered with a curtain. Judging from the posture of the people sitting inside, the horses driving the carriages were actually the same plain color. Behind them were two heavy carriages pulled by pack horses. , I don’t know what it contains.

Now that the chaos is over and Guanzhong is in ruins, there are not many people who can travel through the countryside with several cars and horses of the same color. The old pavilion chief stepped forward vigilantly to check, wanting to ask who the noble person was, but when he looked closer, he smiled slightly. After being stunned, he couldn't help but laugh:

"Who do I think this is? Isn't this Uncle Yang from Shanyang!"

Yang Xi was the eldest in his family, so he was called Uncle. He didn't care about his eldest son. He dismounted and saluted the old pavilion chief: "Chief Wu, it's Yang Xi who's back."

Their home is in this pavilion. Every time they go to the county town for the market, they often pass by this place to rest and ask for a bowl of water, so they naturally know the director of the pavilion.

Chief Wu Pavilion circled around Yang Xi and exclaimed: "Uncle Yang, you were just a young sergeant when you left, a young corps commander, but now you are a noble man when you return!"

In August, as the Northern Expeditionary Army took complete control of Guanzhong, the Ningqin people who had been recruited to fight with it but surrendered en masse returned to their hometowns one after another to help their families collect food. However, Yang Xi, who took the lead in surrendering, has not returned yet. People in Ningqin County speculated that he must have been left in Xianyang by Marquis Wuzhong, who promoted him to a higher rank.

Pavilion Chief Wu invited Yang Xi to rest in the pavilion beside the pavilion and asked him, "What title has he been promoted to?"

Yang Xi smiled: "Public ride."

Chief Wu Pavilion showed envy: "It's great to be a public servant. He is almost sixty years old. He has been through many wars and he is just an official."

After all, after a hundred years of farming and fighting, in Guanzhong, generally, the title of nobility is relatively high. Sometimes, even an old farmer in the fields can display the title of "doctor".

Chief Wu Ting poured a bowl of water for Yang Xi: "What official position do you hold now?" "Captain of the cavalry." Yang Xi couldn't help but feel a little proud in his eyes. Although they left Xiang Ji in the Battle of Xihe, Yang Xi relied on the previous few The merit accumulated in this small battle, beheading Yinglun, is enough for promotion.

Chief Wu Pavilion raised his thumb and said: "The leader of the cavalry is equivalent to the commander of the apprentice. If he performs some meritorious service, it is hard to say that he will be able to return to Ningqin and become a county captain."

Yang Xi quickly argued that he was young and how could he be qualified to be a county captain, but there was already some longing in his eyes.

Chief Wu Pavilion asked what the people in the county were most concerned about: "The rest of the soldiers have returned home, and they are all telling the county how you took the lead in surrendering and how you defeated the bandits of the Six Nations in Xihe. Why did you come back so late?" "

Yang Xi was young and thin-faced, hesitating and a little embarrassed, but his eyes glanced at the two plain-drawn carriages.

Chief Wu Ting showed an "I understand" expression and said with a smile: "I heard from people from Xianyang that a few days ago, the regent held a wedding banquet for 10,000 meritorious soldiers and 10,000 palace residents at Afang Palace. Could it be that you were also there? in?"

"I am here." Yang Xi nodded. Although he was not an old member of the Northern Expeditionary Army, he was a typical example of the former Qin Army who took the lead in surrendering, so he had to participate in it and win the beauty back.

"The bride is in the car? Why don't you call her out to meet the villagers?"

Yang Xi seemed to be worried, hesitated, and refused: "The bride is ugly, so there is no need to come out."

In the past, the pavilion chief and the pavilion soldiers would have made fun of the little brother, but now that Yang Xi had become a high-ranking official, they did not dare to embarrass him. However, one of the pavilion soldiers asked curiously, what did Marquis Wu Zhong say at the wedding banquet?

Speaking of this, Yang Xi became more energetic. He was sitting in the front row that day and could hear Wu Zhonghou's words clearly. He then sat upright, put on Wu Zhonghou's posture, coughed and said, "Wu Zhonghou said, There are rules in the world. The sky is above and the earth is below. The four seasons of the year are also divided into yin and yang. The cattle and horses in the pens and the animals in the mountains are male and female. Finally, there are people, divided into male and female...""So men love each other. Female love is the true love between heaven and earth. Man's great desire cannot be changed even if the law prohibits it! "

This statement made everyone in the pavilion laugh: "Wu Zhonghou is telling the truth."

Yang Xi continued: "Therefore, the ancestors of the past dynasties, such as Duke Xian and Duke Xiao, often had private concubines, but they were only in appropriate numbers. There were only a few concubines and hundreds of maids. There were no women detained in the palace, and there were very few widowers in the world. , men marry and women match at the right time, so the people of Qin become more and more prosperous, with a population of tens of millions. "

These are originally words from "Mozi Ci Guo", but Heifu had people change them and use them. "But now the false emperor Hu Hai is greedy, so that in the Qin Palace, there are thousands of beauties in Yeting, and there are ten thousand maids in Yongxiang, all of them are women of the right age, lonely and helpless." "The laws of the Qin Dynasty clearly say: "A woman is ten years old "If a man does not marry at twenty, his parents will be guilty, and his wealth will be doubled." On the one hand, the people are asked to marry as early as possible, and on the other hand, tens of thousands of women are left vacant in the palace to serve one person. It forces the people to break the law, and it is the king who tries to break the law! As a result, there are more men and fewer women among the people, and the marriage between men and women is out of date, and the people cannot grow..."

Many bachelors among the people could not find wives. There were complicated reasons, but this time it was better. The black husbands blamed Hu Hai.

But this method of setting up a target for everyone to hit has won the recognition of most singles: I am single because of Hu Hai!

If you are a smart person, you will be able to hear that there is a secret criticism of Qin Shi Huang's selfishness.

On the other hand, Marquis Wu Zhong was generous and selfless, restrained his small desires, and satisfied the big desires of tens of thousands of people!

"Therefore, today the daughters of Marquis Wu Zhong and Shi's palace are getting married to the unmarried heroes of the Northern Expedition. This is in compliance with the ways of heaven and earth, in line with the desires of men and women, and in order to allow the people of the world to multiply their descendants!"

After listening to Yang Xi's retelling, everyone in the small pavilion, from the chief of the pavilion to the pavilion, nodded: "Marquis Wu Zhong is indeed close to the people, and his words are really easy to understand!"

But I also felt a little dissatisfied. These things did flatter those so-called "meritorious soldiers", but what does this have to do with them and the majority of the people of Qin?

"not only that."

Yang Xi lowered his voice and said to everyone: "There is something. The official order will not arrive until September, so I will tell the second and third sons first." Wu Zhonghou also said that Hu Hai had already collected oral tribute several times, so he would not be able to do it this year. For additional levies, those who have not paid enough before and were ordered to serve in lieu of taxes can also hand over the levy order to the government and cancel it! And starting from the first month of next year (October 10th month of the lunar calendar). All children aged seven and under fifteen , the annual oral tax required is reduced by half compared to before, only 10 yuan! "

Now everyone could no longer keep their composure and watch the excitement, and they all exclaimed: "This is true!"

There were many types of taxes in the Qin Dynasty, and the oral tax was particularly important. The laws stipulated that those over fifteen years old should pay forty yuan per year for adults, and two yuan per year for children between three and seventeen years old. Ten cents.

To put it simply, it is a poll tax. The so-called "the head is good at collecting the dust, and the loss is lost to the Shaofu". The oral tax is an important source of income for the Shaofu. This money is specially used to repair the palace, store troops, carriages and horses.

Although there is not much money, for farmers who are satisfied with self-sufficiency, they must first convert grain into money, and then pay the oral tax. In the middle, the merchants or officials who collect the grain will exploit the price difference.

And the terrible thing is that although in theory the oral tax can only be collected once a year, thirty-three years later, after the Qin Dynasty's finances were gradually overwhelmed by the four major conquests and internal construction projects, in order to maintain revenue and expenditure, they could only rely on repeated tax increases. Endowment.

After Hu Hai came to power, in order to cope with the war in the south and the rebellion in the east, the tax increase reached a crazy level. In the first year of the second year alone, he raised taxes four times...

Everywhere, there are rich people and poor people, but everyone is treated equally, regardless of whether they are rich or poor.

The government keeps imposing more taxes, but there are no additional taxes on the lives of the rich. The middle-class families can barely cope with it, but the poor and humble people cannot bear it. In some places, there have even been human tragedies in which poor people often gave birth to children and drowned in the fields because they could not pay their dues...

At that time, there was a nursery rhyme in Guanzhong: "If the water of the Wei River does not wash it away, the music will come from the mouth!"

After more than a year, the grievances of the people have become serious. This is also the reason that after Hu Hai's fall, no one in the local area took pity on him, but most of them obeyed the regent government with peace of mind.

But now, Wu Zhonghou has changed the bad policies of Hu Hai and Zhao Gao. Not only has he promised not to impose more taxes this year, but also only once in the coming year according to law, he has also halved the oral tax for children...

If letting palace maids get married is just a way to distribute profits to the heroes of the Northern Expedition, then this measure, like reducing rents and burning coupons, actually benefits the people of the region and benefits the people of Qin!

Reproduction is human nature, who doesn’t want to have a family full of offspring?

Yang Xi didn't know that Hei Fu and Zhang Cang had some concerns about this: "Children's money was originally used to manage the palace and support the huge industrial population of the Shaofu. Now that the palace is empty, this money can be used to manage the palace." A slight decrease. With this order, I don’t know how many babies will be lost in the fields. On average, how many more babies will be added every year? "

Policies to encourage births and increase the world's population are what Heifu will start to plan from now on. The Qin Dynasty can conquer the surrounding areas, but it is difficult to defend them. To a large extent, the population is not enough to support large-scale colonization. Today's world Bandang, how many lives have been lost, and how many years it will take to recover.

After Yang Xi left, Chief Wu Ting listened to the news. In addition to reducing children's oral taxes, Wu Zhonghou would also promulgate another good policy: "Old people over sixty years old in the village will not only be exempted from oral taxes." , and one piece of cloth will be given every year, and two pieces will be given to those who are over seventy..."

He will be sixty next year...

My impressions of the new government gradually began to grow from the wait-and-see approach, and I developed some favorable impressions.

At this time, Chief Wu Ting's nephew spat at Yang Xi's retreating back. "Isn't he just a surrendered general? What is he proud of!"

Chief Wu Ting slapped his nephew hard! Cursed:

"It is true that Yang Xi took the lead in surrendering, but he saved the lives of the children of Ning Qin and led them to fight against the bandits of the Six Nations in Xihe. Where were you at that time? Ah!"

His nephew looked confused: "Uncle, didn't you scold me too?" "That's nonsense!"

Chief Wu Ting slapped him again and said righteously:

"The reason why Ning Qin is still at peace and has not been massacred by the Six Kingdoms is because of Yang Xi and others. Who dares to talk nonsense? Don't say that you are my nephew. Even if you are my biological son, I will personally escort you there." Go to the official and sue him for slandering the hero!"

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ps: Sorry for the delay, the punctuation has not been changed yet, please leave a message slowly.