Since ancient times, natural disasters have often been accompanied by man-made disasters. This is almost an unbreakable hard truth, and it is even more normal in the Han Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty, which is prone to disasters, almost every time a disaster occurs, the officialdom of the disaster-stricken area is faced with
A drastic change.
Before, during, and after the disaster, a large number of bureaucrats were removed from their posts, removed from office, or even beheaded and exiled for various reasons. Among them, very few were inspected and punished by the court simply because of poor disaster prevention and relief efforts.
A few, but more often, people use disasters to enrich their own pockets and disregard human lives.
There are certainly positive aspects to this, for example, some officials who care about the country and the people and work hard will receive praise and promotions, but compared with the overall sample, they are in the minority.
Although the official education in the Han Dynasty has always required bureaucrats to be loyal to the emperor and patriotic, educate the people like sons, understand the righteousness, understand the general situation, and consider the overall situation, in the specific practice of holding office, it is really rare that they can achieve this.
This is still in an environment where the supervisory power of the Han Dynasty is strong. Just like the situation in every disaster in the past, last year's rain disaster in the Central Plains was also accompanied by the treatment of a group of officials, most of whom were corrupt.
The bold ones even dared to embezzle money allocated by the Ministry of Water Resources and Taoist officials for river protection, berm protection, and forest planting. As the core area of rule of the Han Dynasty, under the leadership of the old emperor, the imperial court was always willing to invest money in its maintenance.
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For example, the policy of planting trees to consolidate soil and embankments along the Yellow River, Bian River, and Huai River has been implemented for more than 30 years, and money and food are allocated every year, and special funds are earmarked. At the same time, it involves water conservancy, bridges, etc. that some states and counties cannot afford.
For the embankment project, as long as you ask for help, no matter how long you have to wait in line, you can get some money and food after approval.
There is even a relationship of utilization, specifically requesting funds through water conservancy projects to make up for the shortfalls in other areas. The purpose of water conservancy projects is to prevent damage and make profits. How much profit can be made cannot be specifically assessed, but in terms of damage prevention, once a flood occurs
Then it will be clear at a glance who is true and who is false, and it will be more convincing to identify who is loyal and who is traitorous, who is virtuous and who is mediocre.
Every time I hear the emotion of anger, I feel angry about their greed and evil, but also feel troubled by the boldness and lack of memory of these people.
Now, when the prince, who has gone through many hardships, reviews the memorials submitted by the local government, he has an attitude of listening 10% and believing 50%, or even lower. Just like the old emperor, the prince has no more respect for the bureaucrats of the Han Dynasty.
Confidence at all
Therefore, although Liu Yang was sulky, he was really not that surprised when he learned from Shangyang Palace about the bad things that happened during the post-disaster reconstruction process of Huanghuai Daozhou.
The ugliness and evil on the surface can basically be solved by sending inspection envoys to inspect and investigate. The difficulty lies in those things that are hidden under the surface and have not been reflected in the memorials.
As for the imperial city, the issue of land annexation was mentioned in the Memorial of the Second Division of Wude. There is no doubt that a rain disaster and flood in Lianzhou County not only caused heavy losses to the affected officials and people, but also seriously hindered the tax reform of the Han Dynasty.
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In the Huainan and Huaibei regions, there has even been a general recurrence and regression. Millions of acres of land in the Huaihe River Basin have been flooded, destroying not only the crops growing on the land, but also the pre-disaster land order.
In the 28th year of Kaibao's reign, the tax reform in Huaihe and Huaihe had just begun, and the progress of land clearing was also very slow. However, after a flood, the meager results of the reform were also wiped out, almost along with the destroyed land.
Markers and boundaries, as well as those lost data, information and documents.
In Liu Yang's view, the post-disaster reconstruction submitted by Daosi was more like a feast of vultures and a carnival of conservatives. There were millions of victims, and it was impossible for the local government to save them all. With limited resources,
It can only be used on some of the lucky ones.
The remaining victims need to help themselves. If they rely solely on the government for disaster relief, they will starve to death. There are almost no local governments that can faithfully provide all-round relief to the victims in accordance with the requirements of the court. They appear in a feudal society like the Han Dynasty.
The dynasty itself is not that reasonable.
Based on the experience of the past twenty years, if we can ensure the supply of relief grains as much as possible and reduce deaths caused by famine, it is considered a good idea. In this flood, the officials in Lianghuai did a poor job.
When the refugees returned to their hometowns, they were faced with devastation and basically poverty. If they wanted to survive, and the government was unreliable, they could only rely on the help of the wise village officials.
Of course, this help is not free. The price is what has happened repeatedly in most of China's history: selling local products, becoming tenants, and becoming a dependent person.
It is true that under the current Han Dynasty system, uncontrolled and bottomless mergers are greatly restricted. However, no matter how strict the supervision is, there are still loopholes to exploit. There are too many things in the world that cannot be restricted by some laws and regulations.
After three years of vigorous tax reform, the Han landlord class also woke up from the initial blow. After adapting,
The original method of breaking up the land into small pieces within the clan and sharing the land tax has now become outdated. Just like what is happening in some places in Huaihe and Huaihe Rivers, after the disaster victims return to their hometowns, the land will still be planted for you.
The ownership registered in the field register is still yours, and you are also provided with farm tools, seeds, and cattle rental services. However, in addition to the regular taxes paid to the court, a portion of the output of the fields must be paid to the "creditor" each quarter.
We are not afraid of investigation from the higher authorities. After all, all this is done in accordance with the tax reform regulations. This is not a merger, but a debt repayment. The court wants to suppress the "owner-tenant" relationship, so this "clean" debt relationship cannot be banned.
The only problem may be that the interest rate is higher, and it can be adjusted at any time, to the point where you will never be able to pay it back in your lifetime. Is this exploitation? Is it oppression? If it were not for the kindness of wise men and elders, people would starve to death.
Even if you are exploited, you must first be worthy of being exploited.
If it attracts the attention of the government, well, under normal circumstances, the government will not cause trouble. As long as the taxes are paid in full and the bureaucrats are fed, how can they care about the plight of the people?
What's more, in such a disaster season, their actions are of great merit in rescuing the suffering, saving the court so much trouble, reducing right and wrong turmoil, and improving the restoration of public security order. They should be commended and praised by the government.
That's it.
As for the county magistrate, all he needs to do is to take good care of the mud-legged people on his own territory, farm the land honestly, pay taxes and grain in a disciplined manner, and don't cause any big troubles or cause trouble for the officials.
Adding trouble to the court.
Everyone, let us work together to maintain the "A prosperous age of wealth" and create a prosperous atmosphere with clear rivers and seas. That will be the great unity of the world.
It seems that the behavior of the Huainan landowners is not a special case. It is like the instinct of the feudal landowners. By analogy, this is not the only strategy to deal with the court's tax reform.
Even though he is not the main executor of the tax reform, Liu Yang still feels indignant about the various phenomena that have occurred in Lianghuai. As the prince, he must look at this issue from the perspective of the court and the royal family. Putting aside all other things, he just
This kind of behavior of trying every possible means to find loopholes and exploiting loopholes is a blasphemy against the authority of the imperial court.
Being able to influence the imperial government's affairs can naturally lead to confrontation with the imperial court in any other matter or in any field. Serving in both positive and negative ways is intolerable to any person in power.
In addition to being indignant, Liu Yang also felt a headache, because he clearly saw that if the local tycoons were doing this, the court would not be able to do much to rectify it.
Wu Desi's investigation is only superficial. We know that this kind of behavior exists, but to be specific to individuals, we need to invest twice the energy. To be specific to more cases, the price paid will be even higher.
In the final analysis, the regulatory power of the imperial court is limited, and the scope of radiation is also limited. It is extremely difficult for the imperial power to be transferred to the countryside. Once the rich people in the countryside master the methods of dealing with the imperial court, trouble will follow.
Liu Yang has almost foreseen that the tax reform in the Huaihe and Huaihe regions has suffered such a setback. If he does not find ways to contain it and strengthen supervision, he is afraid that the future will be worrying. Even what will happen to the tax reform that the old emperor forcibly promoted in his later years?
In the end, Liu Yang had doubts.
There are dozens of tracts and thousands of counties in the Han Dynasty. Countless disasters of various sizes occur every year. Each disaster destroys the old land order and can easily lead to the bankruptcy of the farmers and bring annexation to the landlord class.
Opportunities and convenience for expansion.
Natural disasters and man-made disasters are entangled together, and the destructive power they unleash on the political power is unimaginable and difficult to prevent.
For a moment, Liu Yang almost realized the essence of the rule of the Han Empire. No matter how worried the emperor was about the country and the people, or how good the government implemented to relieve the people's plight, the people would always be in poverty.
It is impossible for the emperor to directly rule the common people beyond the nobility, bureaucrats, landlords, and clans. As long as there are these rentier classes in between, the people will never be free, and it will be difficult for them to have enough food and clothing, let alone other things.
If you want to overthrow the interest class in the middle, it will be tantamount to digging your own grave. After all, the emperor's system cannot be maintained by hundreds of millions of Guizhou farts.
It is true that water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it. An emperor who can realize this can be called a wise emperor. However, most of the time, Guizhou Province in the world does not have the ability to "capsize a boat".
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The emperor can govern the country with such a concept of "loving the people", but he needs to understand that his ultimate goal is to maintain the rule of the family and the world, rather than to empathize with the head of Guizhou.
All the common people can do is struggle hard. In the so-called prosperous times, the degree of exploitation is relatively light. Even if they cannot enjoy the fruits of their own blood and sweat, they still have the opportunity to wait and see from the bottom.
Liu Yang is not like the old emperor. In his heart, he still has ideals and good hopes for peace in the world and the well-being of all people. Therefore, although he feels distressed by some practical problems, his mentality adjusts quickly.
Even if many problems are deep-rooted and difficult to eradicate, they must be done when necessary, and the established rules must be maintained. Even if it is just to ensure that the court has laws and reasons to follow when it strikes hard in a certain limited area, that is the positive meaning.
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Next, we need to pay more attention to the promotion and maintenance of the tax system reform, Liu Yang said secretly in his heart. The tax reform has entered its fourth year, and there is no longer much controversy on the court. This is a consensus, regardless of the pros and cons of the old and new tax systems.
However, the tax system of the Han Dynasty must be unified. After all, this is an issue seriously related to the ruling order, and repeated pulls and excessive delays cannot be tolerated.