Speaking of extra payments, this was a routine practice in collecting taxes in ancient times.

After all, agricultural taxes in ancient times were collected directly from grain.

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

However, the ancient imperial court was not responsible for the consumption of the transportation team, but was borne by the common people.

This is the legendary consumption Xian.

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

Because the tax system is related to the life and death of the imperial 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 "accumulating harm that cannot be reversed".

Later generations of historians gave Huang Zongxi's concept another name: Huang Zongxi's Law.

The core point of Huang Zongxi's law is that after a period of decline, farmers' burden rises to a higher level than before the reform, which is contrary to the original purpose of the reform.

Whether it was the Two Taxes Law of the Tang Dynasty, the One Whip Law of the Ming Dynasty, or the "share a small amount of money into an acre" of the Qing Dynasty, after a short-term reduction in taxation, the taxation increased again.

The fundamental reason is that during the ancient reforms, multiple miscellaneous taxes were combined into one, which facilitated measurement and standardization and reduced the room for corruption among middle-level officials.

For example, the head tax is included in the share of the land.

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

At this time, the ruler told the people that they needed to send more troops and levy taxes. Isn't there no poll tax? Just add a poll tax.

This is Huang Zongxi's law.

This law was implemented in stages during the more than one hundred years of the Song Dynasty.

Hemai and Hebian were originally used by the imperial court to purchase food from the people during wars to prepare for military supplies.

Over time, it became a part of the people's must-pay.

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

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

Equivalent to the past purchases and buying, hebian is a directly imposed tax.

On this basis, Consumption Xian is also a big head.

Li Baozheng hurried over to smooth things over and said, "They all belong to my fellow villagers. I owe you for now. The grain in this field has not been harvested yet. We will make up for it in a few days."

The tax collector didn't impose it either.

Ask the farmer to take the grain to a centralized place and have it weighed.

On the other side, a government official asked a family to pour grain into that dendrobium. When it was full, the government official said: "It's not enough."

"Isn't it full?"

"Sometimes it's always wrong. The dendrobium may be a little small. According to the rules, it needs to be stacked upside down."

The family was reluctant to continue pouring the dendrobium until it was piled up.

The Yamen official kicked it with his foot, and the piled wheat immediately fell to the ground. The Yamen official said: "That's not true, keep pouring."

That family begged, "Master, it's almost gone, please leave some for us."

"Will the golden thief keep it for you? If you don't hand it over, how can we fight on the front line? If we lose and the golden thief comes here, can you afford it?"

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

The family reluctantly poured out the rest until it was piled up to a high point, and the yamen were satisfied.

This is the "kicking" and "piling" in the ancient tax payment process.

This glorious tradition has been passed down. In the Chongzhen era of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court sent three additional taxes, and officials and gentry from all over the country dug three feet into the ground to find local people with first-class footwork to collect taxes. This was just to ensure that their footwork would be stable in the process.

Shake out the grain and let the people add more.

Just think about it, if one extra kilogram is added to one household, 20,000 households in a county will get 20,000 kilograms.

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

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

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

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

It would be much easier if you pay in cash.

Of course, in the Qing Dynasty, silver was used as tax, but there was also loss during the transportation of silver, so the people had to bear this part of the loss. This is called fire loss.

Yongzheng's "returning fire losses to the public" is to convert the lost part of the silver tax into a regular tax, standardize it, and prevent local governments from tampering with overcharging.

If you really want to solve the problem of money consumption, you have to be patient with paper money.

If people all paid taxes with banknotes, there would be no such tricks as "kicking the stems" and "piling up the tips."

And at that time, we can abolish tax collection, use public officials to transport tax money, and completely standardize the taxation process.

After a while, Li Baozheng came, with a smile on his face: "Mr. Wang, we have collected everything this time."

"All collected?"

"It's over."

Wang Mazi stood up, stretched, and said to the farmers around him: "Thank you for your tax and grain. Remember to prepare the rest as soon as possible."

After saying that, he said to Zhao Ning: "Guan Zhao, why don't we go to the county seat together?"

"Please come first, Mr. Wang. I still need to get some water, and these brothers haven't eaten yet. 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. When I have a bite of food, I will go to the county seat to find you."

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

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

A young man sighed and sat under the tree at the door and shed tears silently. His hands were covered with calluses. The little girl walked up to him, flattened 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 and said nothing.

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

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 she saw that he was having a happy chat with Wang Mazi, and she became indifferent to him.

Zhao Ning said: "This little brother."

Zheng Xi just said: "Are you here to collect food too?"

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

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

The surrounding guards surrounded Zhao Ning.

"I just want to ask some questions, I'm confused."

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

Yes, when farming is busy, people have to work hard. No matter the wind, rain, drought, or how tired they are, they must face the loess and back to the sky.

Because that's the only thing that can keep 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 people around him.

The suppressed energy in his chest was also released.

He looked at the people around him and seemed to be asking them.
Chapter completed!