Chapter 1374 Extra Experience (6)

They sorted out countless books today, copied countless household registration names, calculated the data reported by each district, and calculated the taxes that each household needs to pay this summer. In this way, when the taxes are formally collected, they only need to match the names. , fill in the taxes paid and then check the box.

The entire county government was busy with this matter. Fan Lianyin and Zu Daozhong were always seconded because of their good grades in arithmetic but low qualifications.

Fan Lianyin was loaned out five times in three days by the teachings of their ceremonial house. His ancestral status was even worse. The people who arrested the house were generally poor at arithmetic. Not only did they have to help their county captain, but they were also yelled at by various arresters with their heads on their shoulders. Brother, then I will stab the brother in every possible way, light the lamp and stay up all night.

The two of them had been mentally exhausted recently and were both a little sluggish at this time.

Zhao Mingming glanced at them sympathetically and said: "When taxes are collected every year, the county government's manpower is simply not enough. Excellent students have to be borrowed from various schools, as well as strong men in the county."

She lowered her eyes and thought, and said in deep thought: "In the final analysis, it is because the payment is grain, and it requires a lot of manpower to transport and calculate it. After entering the warehouse, it has to be taken out of the warehouse and escorted to the capital. The road from our place to Luoyang is smooth, so we can take the waterway first. If we take the land route again, we can return in two months, but in the farther areas of Jiangdong and Lingnan, it will take a long time and a large number of slaves to be escorted to the governor's office and Luoyang."

The transportation of grain and tax revenue was composed of three parties: government officials, garrison soldiers and servants drawn from the private sector.

All need to provide their own food and grass.

Yamen servants and garrison soldiers also have business trip allowances. Although it is a bit harder and the losses are not big, the servants are different. They escort the grain tax, and they also need to bring a lot of rations. A trip of two or three months not only consumes a lot of grain, but also consumes a lot of food. Delay the family's farming time.

The transportation of grain is also troublesome. It is afraid of water and fire, and its value is low, so it is heavy and bulky.

Zhao Mingming said: "It would be great if taxes could be simplified."

Zu Daozhong asked blankly, "How to simplify it? Collect less taxes? Or completely hand it over to the imperial court for escort?"

Fan Lianyin glanced at him and said disdainfully: "Idiot, doesn't it cost manpower and money to escort the imperial government? Simplify it and just charge money."

Zhao Mingming slapped his thigh and said, "Lianyin, my best friend, I think so too."

Fan Lianyin grinned.

Zu Daozhong was alert and widened his eyes, "How much does this cost? Isn't it a good thing for the people?"

He frowned and said: "We need to convert the grain into money first. If the grain price is low in any year, wouldn't they need a lot of money to collect the grain tax? In addition to grain, there are also cloth and other items. Are these also Do you want to change it into money?"

If this is the case, there will be too many things to consider and it will be too complicated, which may not be a good thing for the people.

Zhao Mingming said: "The price of grain has always been under the control of the imperial court. The money used by the treasury to stabilize prices and store grain every year is not in vain. One day, if the imperial court cannot control the price of grain, it will not be far from the end of the country."

"Taxes are converted from physical objects to money. Firstly, it is convenient for collection and accounting, and secondly, it is convenient for transportation," Zhao Mingming said: "The imperial court exempts and exempts taxes and labor every year. In order to benefit the people, my mother exempts many chores every year, but that's it. , the common people are still distressed by the service of being a sergeant, a lijia sergeant, etc. Especially in some families, there is only one adult. Once he is transferred to a sergeant, the family will lose their farming time. As time goes on, the family situation becomes more and more poor, and some even go bankrupt and disperse the family. .”

Yes, Yongye fields cannot be bought or sold, but if the only adult has been assigned to labor and cannot work, and the remaining weak mothers and orphans cannot work to produce taxes and food for survival, they will have no choice but to abandon the land and flee.

This creates new refugees.

Zhao Mingming is not a princess who is ignorant of the sufferings of the people. She has followed her mother since she was a child and learned many things from her. Every year, she even visits her mother privately incognito, dealing with various problems among the people.

The court has good policies, and the people who formulate the policies have good intentions, but when it comes to implementation, it may not necessarily be the case.

One person is different from another, their interpretation of policies, the collision of public intentions and selfishness, and selfishness are different from selfishness.

Therefore, when a policy is implemented locally, various problems will arise.

Such as service.

There are many kinds of servants. In addition to major tasks such as building bridges, building roads, and digging water conservancy projects, there are also handymen such as carrying sedan chairs for the county government, doing shifts, and even sweeping floors. The transportation of grain and tax was also among the handymen.

Except for the number of general servants who are determined by the imperial court and the county government assigns servants as a rule, other miscellaneous servants are appointed by Li Zheng.

Therefore, Li Zheng has a lot of room for operation.

Most of the people in the world are fair, and even if they are selfish, they don't dare to go too far, just for fear of anything unexpected.

With so much righteousness in this world, there are always some people who are bold and cruel.

If they want to punish a person, they just keep appointing him as a handyman.

If a family has a strong man who spends most of the year carrying sedan chairs, doing watch duty, sweeping floors, and escorting grain taxes for the county government for free, the family will not be able to last long and will be broken up.

Therefore, in the seventh year of Yuanzhen, when the national treasury became richer, private commerce developed, handicrafts also flourished, and the local county government gradually became rich, she ordered that the grain tax be transferred out of the servants and become regular servants, and then all the remaining servants were exempt.

In other words, starting from the seventh year of Yuanzhen, the common people in the world no longer have chores such as carrying sedan chairs, doing watch, and sweeping floors.

If the county government has to carry the sedan chair, do the watch, etc., it has to pay people to do it.

After that, the imperial court also gradually reduced and reduced some regular service, basically on a rotating basis.

For example, this year the imperial court exempted Xuzhou from official service. For a series of projects such as building bridges and roads in Xuzhou, the state treasury will allocate a sum of money to Xuzhou to hire laborers to do these tasks. This is a special project.

Next year it will be Yuzhou’s turn...

By traveling back and forth like this, two or three states are exempted a year. In this way, the people in each state can be exempted from regular service every few years, and there are different degrees of service reduction every year. This part is mainly to reduce time.

Originally, he was required to serve for twenty-one days, but sometimes the court was considerate and only had to serve for fifteen days.

As a result, transporting grain taxes has become the hardest, most difficult, and most time-consuming job every year.

Zhao Mingming had the same idea as his mother. It was still too much of the people's manpower and financial resources to have the servants escort the grain tax. They should find a way to solve the problem.

But after thinking for a long time, she couldn't think of any better way except changing the grain tax into money, which would greatly reduce the manpower required to transport the tax.

However, she always felt that this method was not good enough.

She looked at the sky distressedly, thinking for a long time and still had no idea, but looking at the shining stars in the sky, she thought thoughtfully, "Just because I can't think of a way doesn't mean others can't."

Fan Lianyin: "Do you know who can figure it out?"

"I don't know, but I can find it," Zhao Mingming said, "There are so many talented people in the world, I don't believe no one has figured it out."

"I have decided. When I return to Luoyang, I will ask my mother for an order. I will personally take charge of the national examination. I will set the questions. If you don't believe me, I won't find anyone." Zhao Mingming hummed, "I have found someone, but I still worry about not being able to find him." Is there a way?"

Fan Lianyin looked at Zhao Mingming with starry eyes, "Princess Princess, you are so powerful."

Then he asked, "When will you go back to preside over the national exam? Just tell me and I will take the state exam in advance."

Zu Daozhong looked at her in shock, "You, you actually stole the question on the spot."

Zhao Mingming glanced at them and said, "I will give an order and you two will not be allowed to take the national examination. I will preside over the national examination. You have to avoid suspicion, right?"

Zu Daozhong:......

He turned around and glared at Fan Lianyin, telling you to talk too much, can't you keep silent and make a fortune?

Fan Lianyin was still fighting for it, "Your Highness, only relatives such as parents and brothers are trying to avoid suspicion. I am your companion, and we are not very close."

"That won't work either. I said it won't work and it won't work." (End of Chapter)