Chapter 319: Taxation and Slaughtering Pigs for the New Year

In early August, when Di Qing's attack on Jiaozhi was overwhelming, the people of the Song Dynasty were facing another scene.

In the fourth year of Jingyou's reign, the official system was reorganized, and in the fifth year of Qingli's reign, the imperial court has carried out five rounds of new policies in nine years.

Each round of new policies is like prescribing the right medicine, gradually beginning to eliminate stubborn physical illnesses.

The last new policy of this year targets all aspects of the Song Dynasty.

And the duration will be very long. It may take one or two years to release various policies. Unlike the previous new policies, which were all released at once.

Starting from the first content of the New Deal, the Song Dynasty version of the classical Chinese simplification movement, now it is the second content - sharing the land with the family.

Outside Bianliang City, there are vast fertile farmlands for thousands of miles. Since the imperial court vigorously repaired water conservancy facilities in recent years, many barren lands have gradually been turned into cultivated fields, and the number of cultivated fields in the Song Dynasty has further increased dramatically.

Chicang Town is located more than forty miles south of Kaifeng, with Chenliu County to the east. Because it is along the Cai River, there are many ships traveling from south to north, and the information is the best.

At this moment, three county government agents brought stacks of paper and buckets of paste to the notice board at the entrance of the town and began to put up notices.

"There's new business, come and take a look."

"Brother Yi, is there any new announcement from the court? Can you tell us about it?"

"This notice is simple and easy to understand. Just read it yourself. We still have to go to several other villages."

"All right."

When the government officials left, the people around them suddenly came up.

"What does the notice say?"

"Zhu Xiucai is here."

"Huh? I seem to understand this notice."

"I can understand it too."

"Then you should talk about it quickly."

Before Zhu Xiucai came over, most of the illiterate people urged the few who could understand.

Again, the level of knowledge in ancient times varied. Some are extremely knowledgeable and know all kinds of allusions by heart, some can understand basic classical Chinese, and others can barely read.

Most people are completely illiterate. At least until my country launched large-scale national literacy classes in later generations, the literacy rate in ancient times has been very low.

Those who could barely recognize a few words found it difficult to understand classical Chinese, but now they found that they could understand the announcement.

Because the announcements written now are all in vernacular, also known as folk slang.

Starting in June, the imperial court stipulated that all official documents must be written in the vernacular. In the past two months, although local officials have occasionally issued some local policies, they have not been widely used in practice.

After all, the imperial court did not issue a large-scale announcement, so many places still did not know about this matter. It was not until the imperial court issued a nationwide announcement again today that I learned that the form of the official document had changed.

"It said that the imperial court has decided to officially cancel the Ding tax and divide the land into acres. From now on, the tax will be slightly increased based on the land owned under the individual's name. It will be considered a Ding tax. Dingkou will no longer have to pay taxes."

Soon someone read out the official document.

It immediately aroused a heated discussion.

"What does this mean?"

"It's stupid. It means you don't have to pay taxes for your children every year, and you don't have to pay it yourself."

"No more taxes? That's great."

"It's not that you don't pay anything, it's that you don't pay the Dingkou tax, and you still have to pay the field tax."

"oh."

"It also says that the Bureau of Statistics and the Household Registration Bureau will conduct a population census in the county, and all concealed populations and land must be reported proactively. Once found out, there will be certain penalties."

"In that case, I have to go to my aunt's house to pick up the children. In order to avoid the Ding tax, I hid four children."

".You rock."

"But if a small amount of land is divided into acres, is the land tax included in the land tax? How much will the land tax increase?"

"It says the increase is not much. Calculated per household, the maximum is 100%."

"Isn't that high?"

"This is not the total tax, it is 10% of the tax you originally paid. This means that no matter how many children you have in the future, it will only be 100% higher. In the past, if you had two children in your family, the tax alone would be more than this."

People around were talking a lot, and some immediately went back to tell their relatives and neighbors that they no longer had to pay the tax.

Some people calculate how much tax their families have to pay every year to see if the new tax is cost-effective.

Others took action immediately, bringing out the hidden children and preparing to report them to the Bureau of Statistics, and then go to the household registration bureau to register.

There were also servants of wealthy households among the crowd, who quickly spread the news back.

The apportionment of small grains into acres is naturally a good thing for the people at the bottom and farmers, because they have more people and less land, which reduces the taxes allocated, and they no longer have to worry about the taxation of small grains in the future.

But it's different for wealthy households.

If you are a wife of a wealthy family and have thirty sons, how much tax can you pay?

However, their land covers thousands or tens of thousands of acres.

In the past, the imperial court adopted a recuperation policy and eliminated a large number of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and the local tax rate was basically maintained at 1 in 10.

That is to say, if you have 10,000 acres of land, and based on the Song Dynasty's average annual output of six to seven shi per mu, taking the minimum value of six shi, you will have an annual output of 60,000 shi of grain in one year, and only pay 6,000 shi in taxes.

What now?

Doubling it directly would bring the tax rate to 20%.

On the other hand, if a family of farmers cultivates 40 acres of land, no matter how many children they have, the maximum annual tax is only 48 dan.

According to the previous ratio of Dingkou tax, if a family has more than two children, the Dingkou tax alone will be far more than this amount.

And this is still a maximum of 10%. If you have less than five children, the tax rate will be even lower. If you only have one or two children, you won't even have to bear the burden of land tax directly. You only need to pay the normal land tax of twenty-four dan.

certainly.

This is just a rough idea.

Actual taxes are subject to certain fluctuations and uncertainties. This is just a simple example.

But no matter what, the interests of wealthy landowners will be seriously damaged.

Because even when taxation was at its highest during the Song Dynasty and when the most exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes were imposed, the agricultural tax was only about 30% per year.

Moreover, landowners not only pay land tax, but also pay a certain commercial tax if their grain is sold, so the total tax rate is actually much higher than imagined.

Now that the landowners have enjoyed low-interest taxes for several years, they will naturally be unhappy if they are asked to return to the high taxes they had at the beginning.

For a time, landowners and wealthy households across the country had serious resistance to this new policy.

In late August, more than half a month after the new policy was implemented.

In the Chongzheng Hall of the Imperial Palace in Kaifeng Mansion, Bianliang, it was afternoon and the autumn air was crisp.

The gentle autumn wind blew, and the sun hung slanting in the westward sky, filling both the inside and outside of the palace with a sense of warmth.

Compared with Jiaozhi in the southwest, Bianliang in the north has a more comfortable temperature.

The leaves of the big tree outside the window have turned yellow and are whistling in the wind.

Zhao Zhen was sitting on a chair in the study room, and below him were still the prime ministers of the Constitutional Yuan.

Lu Yijian was reporting today's state affairs to Zhao Zhen. After he finished speaking, he licked his tongue and said, "The officials are opposed to the New Deal. If this continues, it will not be a good thing."

"No matter how opposed we are, we must resolutely implement it."

Zhao Zhen said with a stern expression: "This matter has been discussed by everyone, and everyone has agreed. Is it their turn to object to what the Constitutional Yuan and I have determined? Their duty is to implement it conscientiously, not to oppose the new deal! "

"yes."

Lu Yijian responded and did not dare to disobey.

In recent months, officials have become more and more strict. The reason is that Zhao Jun has been exaggerating whether the New Deal can officially allow the Song Dynasty to enter the first industrial revolution.

You must know that the first industrial revolution has always been something that everyone, including Zhao Zhen and many prime ministers, is full of expectations and longing for.

Including Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng, since their health has not been very good since the beginning of this year, they vaguely feel that their life is approaching and time will not wait for me, so they dream of seeing the rumored trains and ships.

Under such circumstances, in order to accelerate the development of the industrial revolution, the Constitutional Yuan introduced many policies aimed at landlords and wealthy households, but they passed them smoothly without any intention of hindering them.

As for the officials, they objected to whatever the imperial court announced.

Because the imperial court does not consult with them when formulating policies, each department has only one task - to implement the decrees issued by the Constitutional Yuan.

Therefore, after the policy of dividing one person into one mu was announced in early August, wealthy households across the country collectively opposed it and encouraged their relatives and friends who were officials in the imperial court to put pressure on them, hoping to revoke this policy that harmed their interests.

After all, the Manchu officials were also the ones who suffered losses. They owned a large amount of land and businesses in their names. Once the land tax and business tax were increased, it would also cause losses to their interests.

But it is obvious that the opposition voices of the officials were suppressed again during this period.

The political groups in the Constitutional Yuan are really too big, including the Lu Party, the Wang Party, and the Zhao Party. Moreover, the Constitutional Yuan still has the power to mobilize officials. If you are constantly opposed to death, then you will be transferred to the prefectural magistrate indefinitely. You will travel back and forth from place to place, but they will not be able to kill you.

Therefore, under such circumstances, although the opposition voices from the court were getting louder and louder, the Constitutional Yuan remained unmoved, like a towering mountain against which the waves were crashing, showing no intention of compromise.

On the contrary, many of the radical opposition officials below have been transferred, and slowly some officials have begun to think about resigning.

“This year’s task is still to resolutely implement the principle of apportioning every acre to every acre.”

Zhao Jun looked around and said in a deep voice: "The industrial revolution cannot be accomplished with rubber and steam engines. It took many years for the West to industrialize the whole of Europe through colonial exploitation. If the Song Dynasty wanted to be strong and prosperous, it would take a short time. To complete this road that has taken the West hundreds of years to complete, both internal and external means are indispensable.”

Wang Zeng asked curiously: "Hanlong, we still have no idea about the industrial revolution. Can you tell us how we can achieve that step?"

"It's easy!"

Zhao Jun raised a finger: "To complete the industrial revolution, technology and raw materials are secondary. There is only one most critical factor."

"What?"

"money!"

"money?"

"good!"

Zhao Jun nodded: "The industrial revolution is actually a revolution that spreads money on a large scale. It costs money to build steel plants, money to build factories, money to build ships and trains, everything costs money. So, where does the money come from?"

Everyone looked at him.

Zhao Jun spread his hands and said: "Since ancient times, there have been only two ways to complete the industrial revolution. One is to expand external colonization and rob the world, such as bringing babies. The second is to crazily turn inward and squeeze the inside, like a bear. The industrialization completed by the Soviet Union and Japan at that time is the history of blood and tears of the Soviet and Japanese farmers. "

"So, could the Song Dynasty complete the industrialization reform with the support of technology and raw materials?"

He asked a question.

"Can?"

Zhao Zhen and others looked at him nervously.

Zhao Jun grinned and said, "Yes."

As he spoke, he walked to Zhao Zhen's desk and started calculating on the paper with a brush: "Thanks to the rapid increase in productivity, our agricultural tax in the second year of Qingli was only more than 15 million yuan. By last year, without any change in the tax rate, It has increased to 24 million yuan, which shows that people have more land to cultivate and productivity has been improved again. "

"So based on the normal 10% fluctuating tax rate, the total agricultural production value of our Song Dynasty is 240 million yuan. In terms of purchasing power, this total value should be about three times that of previous years. Because the price of grain in previous years was the current The total grain output is now three times that of previous years.”

"If we take the commercial tax into consideration, based on the current commercial tax rate of about 3-5%, the total value of commercial tax last year was 58 million guan. If we take the median value of 4%, then the total value of non-agricultural GDP will reach 1.45 billion guan. Domestic The total GDP reached 1.69 billion yuan.”

"This is just domestic. Taxes from foreign trade last year were 31 million guan. Among them, export taxes were 23 million guan and import duties were 8 million guan. We lowered the export tax to only 5%, so the total value of our exports was 460 million guan. The import tariff is still 10%, and the total import value is 80 million yuan.”

"That is to say, our annual trade surplus has reached 31.5 million yuan. Exports are mainly porcelain, tea, silk, and handmade products. Imports are mainly copper ore, spices, livestock, fur and other raw materials. The total value of imports and exports is 540 million "

"Roughly estimated, the domestic GDP has reached about 2.23 billion guan. At present, rice prices continue to fall, and you can basically buy 4 shi of rice. Based on purchasing power, 1 guan is equivalent to 700 yuan for us in future generations. This is This means that the current GDP of the Song Dynasty is equivalent to 1.56 trillion yuan, and before I traveled, China’s GDP was 126 trillion yuan.”

“Can the industrial revolution be completed with a GDP of 1.56 trillion yuan?”

Zhao Jun put the brush in his hand back on the pen holder, then looked at everyone and said with a smile: "The answer I give is yes, because the GDP of the Song Dynasty has basically exceeded that of many Western powers before World War I. GDP. Although GDP doesn’t mean anything, because even if the Qing Dynasty’s GDP was not industrialized, it was much better than that of the Western powers, but it shows that we have enough money to carry out the first industrialization reform.”

After saying these words, the audience burst into warm applause. Fan Zhongyan sighed: "It's not easy."

"Yes, I have worked hard all these years just for this moment."

"Finally we can see hope."

"One day, will I be able to see trains and ships? No more watching them in the movies."

Every one of them was in tears.

Since Zhao Jun appeared, he has brought them too much admiration.

Basically, when they reach this position, they no longer have to worry about being demoted as prime minister. After their power is guaranteed, what they think about is no longer intrigues and fights for power, but how to leave a name in history and fulfill their political ambitions.

In particular, Zhao Jun also gave them dreams that they could realize, such as steam-powered trains, which allowed people to travel thousands of miles in just a few days, instead of sleeping in the open for months as before.

So each of them wanted to see it. Now that Wang Sui and Sheng Du left with regrets, Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng, Zhang Shixun and other sixty or seventy-year-old old men also felt unwell and sighed that they might not die soon, so they became even more urgent. Hope to see that day.

But Zhao Jun still poured cold water on them and said, "Don't be happy too early."

"ah?"

Yan Shu was surprised and said: "How can you say this?"

"With the GDP reaching this level, it does not necessarily mean that we can succeed. The key lies in whether the court has money to do things. If the court has no money, hiding wealth among the people is all empty talk. The taxes of the Ming Dynasty have been used by those rich landlords. People no longer have to pay taxes, and there are many wealthy private landlords. Is there any progress in society? "

Zhao Jun said: "Now in our Song Dynasty, since the Jingyou year, the court's income has remained between 80-90 million guan. After the Qingli New Deal reform, agricultural taxes were subsidized, and it dropped to more than 50 million guan. We still relied on foreign trade to barely mention it. 70 million dollars.”

"Now, after so many years, we have built extensive water conservancy facilities, vigorously cultivated new farmland, and introduced high-yielding crops from overseas to increase productivity again, but we have only returned to the previous level."

He looked around at everyone and continued: "The difference is that in the past it was through exploitation, but now we have made the cake bigger and cut military and redundant expenses, so that we no longer need to exploit the people to maintain the court's expenses. But this does not This means that this amount of money can sustain our long-term industrial plan.”

"yes."

Fan Zhongyan sighed, "Isn't there going to be a nationwide infrastructure next year? This part of the construction will probably cost 40 to 50 million guan per year, which is basically equal to the huge military expenditure in the past."

"In addition to infrastructure, we also need to promote education, build schools, train workers, and build steel mills and textile mills. Unless we expand foreign trade again, it may take a long time to make up for it by relying solely on domestic demand."

Zhao Jun said, "So if you want to complete it in a short period of time, or to achieve results, you must have a large amount of funds."

"Then .”

He looked at everyone and asked the soul-searching question: “Where does the money come from?”

Lü Yijian’s deep eyes flickered, and he said in a calm tone: “The wool comes from the sheep!”

“Yes!”

Zhao Jun also had a deep look in his eyes and smiled and said: “The Song Dynasty has supported these landlords and wealthy households for several years, and they should be rich. It’s time to slaughter them.”

The land tax per mu is just to increase the tax of the landlords and wealthy households. After that, the landlords and wealthy households will be forced to raise the rent by 5%, and the landlords and wealthy households will be forced to raise the rent. After all these things, the landlords and wealthy households should suffer.

But since the second year of the Qingli period, the land tax was greatly reduced and a large number of miscellaneous taxes were cancelled. Landlords and wealthy households have enjoyed extremely low taxes, saving an unknown amount of money and grain every year.

Now.

It’s time to return them to the court.

Pigs.

They still have to be raised for a few years to make them fatter and fatter before they can be slaughtered.