The local tyrants in the border areas often overreact when faced with the government's major policies, and are prone to take some violent actions, being rough and reckless and not paying attention to methods. This is actually a manifestation of a lack of means.
Compared with Bian Bi's head-on confrontation, where bayonets see red, the confrontation in Daozhou, the core farming area of the Han Dynasty, is smarter, more covert, and more difficult.
After all, compared to those country bumpkins who don't know etiquette and don't know how to behave, such as the Central Plains, Hebei, Huguang, and Jiangnan, the powerful and wise men of the Han Dynasty, and again the country gentry and celebrities, are the ones who have the most connection with the imperial court.
The main force in the New Deal game.
Regardless of the cognition, influence, or the power, strength, and energy that can be exerted and mobilized, it is not comparable to the commotion that occurs in the border area.
After seven years of trials, collisions, and entanglements, the coping methods of the nobles, bureaucrats, and landowners who had core interests in the land issue in the Han Empire continued to evolve with the passage of time.
From the initial dispute, to overt obstruction and covert confrontation, to exploiting loopholes in the law to complete the nominal land distribution to households while ensuring personal dependence, and now to the unscrupulous concealment of land, what is happening here is
It is a game process between the central and local governments, the state and the powerful.
But no matter in the past or now, they have not directly confronted each other. That is a bad policy. Going too far will only lead to fierce suppression from the court.
In addition, they have countless means, methods, knowledge, familiarity with laws, and even the right to interpret laws. When it comes to safeguarding their own interests, they will burst out with a lot of inspiration, go roundabout, and go sideways.
Insert, launch an "attack" from the side and from behind. And those obstructions hidden in the dark are also more difficult to deal with.
It can be said realistically that the development of Dahan's tax reform has reached a point of stagnation. The development status of the entire process is also very clear, from the overwhelming momentum in the early stage, to the entanglements and collisions in the mid-term, to the current difficulties.
More importantly, if the reform intensity is further explored, no one knows what kind of chaos will be caused, whether it will affect the stability of the country and endanger the rule of the court.
Of course, the results of the tax reform so far are still considerable. First, it has played a certain restrictive role on the landlord class at all levels;
Secondly, whether in reality or in name only, a large number of homesteaders were born out of thin air, and land annexation was suppressed;
Third, under the new tax system, the grain tax burden on small farmers and small households has been reduced, which has also alleviated the contradiction between the ruling class and the exploited class to a certain extent;
Fourth, Dahan's finances and taxes have increased to a certain extent, but of course, the increase is not large.
Especially the fourth article, which can also reflect some problems of tax reform from the side. From the original intention of the reform, it is not because the imperial court has a big financial problem and the central government cannot collect local taxes. That is Emperor Shizu.
A decisive attempt
This is also a point that is not accepted by many people. In the eyes of many ministers, this tax reform is completely unnecessary. They even think that Emperor Shizu is messing around again.
In the past seven years of tax reform, a large number of reform pioneers and experts have emerged from the central to local governments, showing a unified atmosphere.
It is undeniable that among these capable reform ministers, there are some idealists who can understand Emperor Shizu’s good intentions and his vision of a high-level building, and are willing to contribute to the Datong society of "land to the tiller". However,
Again, this is only a very small number of people.
As for the remaining people, some followed the emperor's edict without any brains, some had doubts but showed limited support for actual actions, and some simply did not dare to disobey due to the authority of Emperor Shizu.
And most of them, just like the "Western Expedition School" that was very popular for a while, are more of a political choice with a speculative mentality. Of course, those who show outstanding talents in tax reform have indeed been promoted.
Got promoted.
One Pan You, one Zheng Qi, and two Nanchen all became Taoist officials in the process. Especially the latter, Pan You also had a reputation bonus and the support of the old prime minister Zhao Pu, and Zheng Qi
, his uprightness as an official offended countless people, but now he is a dignified official of Liaodong Road.
Therefore, it can be at least half concluded that the tax reform of the Han Empire, which started in the late Kaibao period, was an immature reform and a top-down positive practice dedicated to resolving land conflicts and easing governance conflicts.
.
Now, with Kai Bao gone and Yong Xi Dao coming, this practice has reached a critical turning point. Whether to continue to deepen the reform or stop at the right time, this question has been placed in front of Emperor Liu Yang.
A simple analysis of the tax reform in the past seven years shows that in the game process, at least in the early stages, no matter the nobles, bureaucrats, or landlords and merchants, they have always been in a compromising position.
When the court takes a step forward, they block it. If they can't stop it, they take a step back. This repeats until the vested interest groups retreat to the bottom line of compromise.
It is almost a "social consciousness", a consensus reached by the nobles, bureaucrats, and landlords of the Han Dynasty. The emperor wants to carry out reforms and the court wants to change the tax system. They can't stop it, and they don't want to completely stop it. Otherwise, they will be too small.
The current imperial system adds to the authority of the emperor, but similarly, how to reform it and to what extent it should be reformed cannot be entirely left to the imperial court.
After all the efforts and efforts to fight against the New Deal, the "bottom line" is gradually revealed. Using land as the standard of the tax system and classifying tax levels based on the amount of land are all fine. However, vested interests are willing to
There must be room for discussion as to how much land should be exposed and "distributed" to the tribesmen, servants, and tenants, and how much land they are willing to register in the government's register.
If the imperial court wants to take full advantage of everyone and expose their wealth, it will touch everyone's "bottom line" and inevitably lead to resistance. Of course, when conducting pilot reforms, many places have done that
A little, but there is a prerequisite, which is to completely "knock down" and "subdue" the powerful and landlords. This has also caused a lot of controversy and confusion.
The imperial court could comprehensively measure the land in a county, a state, or even a city, but it would never be possible to spread it across the country.
), revolution is not about revolutionizing one’s own life.
In fact, Gyeonggi and Henan were originally chosen as pilot projects. Judging from the subsequent development, it was not the most appropriate choice. Otherwise, the resistance was too great. I thought it would be easy to control it right under my nose, and I thought I would start from the hard core.
Chew, it turned out that I thought too much.
Even before the death of Emperor Sejo, the counterattacks against the tax reform had already begun in various places. Of course, they were afraid that Emperor Sejo would get angry and turn over tables and kill people, so they were restrained.
But in those three or two years, various issues arising from the tax reform flew to the capital like pieces of paper, were presented to the desks of the ministers in the political hall, and even entered the sight of the emperor and the prince.
Although they are highly targeted, they are not without aim. They often have something to say and are indeed true. However, disputes are disputes and objections are objections. On the whole, they are still within the "rules".
But after the death of Emperor Shizu, in just over a year, or to be more precise, in the six months after Liu Yang ascended the throne, the situation changed. Up and down, from the inside out, conflicts escalated and conflicts
intensify.
Locally, there have been frequent reports of riots caused by dissatisfaction with the results of land clearing, between people and between villages. In terms of the content of the tax system, there are issues with mountains and hills, fertile fields and barren fields, paddy fields, and dry fields.
All these have triggered conflicts and riots among the people, and caused headaches for local governments.
At the same time, officials are hesitant and perfunctory in implementing policies; the predecessor does one thing, and the successor does another; local bureaucrats compete for the power of tax reform; new officials and local bureaucrats use the name of tax reform to retaliate against political opponents
It is also not uncommon for
Of course, it often happens that some reformers and tax reform officials themselves are incompetent or even greedy and illegal, and they are caught in the wrong and severely criticized.
There are also some people who have changed from reformers to centrists, from being enterprising to being lazy, or even jumping directly into the conservative camp and starting to use their rich experience in restructuring to oppose the restructuring and attack the mistakes and shortcomings.
What's more, being dragged into the water by local forces, not only did he let go of reforms, but he also acted colludingly to deceive the court.
And local power has also begun to make a comeback. Many new farmers who have been allocated land have to not only repay the "loan" of their landlords, but also pay regular taxes under the new system. In some places where it is rampant, they even directly pay the same as the original tenant farmers.
It means that these new farmers not only retain their original status as tenants and their dependence on the landlords, but also pay part of the regular taxes to the court on this basis. This is the new
Changes brought about by the tax system.
Many people at the bottom could barely make ends meet when they were tenant farmers. After becoming homesteaders and owning their own land, their lives became even more miserable.
Such a situation will of course cause dissatisfaction and even resentment, and this part of the people's resentment, under the guidance of thoughtful people, will naturally be directed at the court, at the officials responsible for the tax reform, and at the new tax system.
With more oppressive actions and more instigation, riots will occur. Before July of the first year of Yongxi, in more than half a year, hundreds of civil uprisings occurred in Hedong, Guannei, Jiannan, Lianghuai, and Sanjiang.
chaos.
Especially in Fengcheng County under Jiangxi Province, thousands of rioters stormed the county seat, broke down government offices, and killed officials, which was tantamount to a rebellion. Although it was quickly suppressed, the impact was extremely bad. This was not a rebellion by barbarian minority people in remote areas.
But the Han people. Last time, it had to be the Yuan brothers during the Yulin Rebellion
And these chaos, accompanied by various voices, were reported layer by layer, like thousands of trickles, converging into a river, with overwhelming momentum, pointing directly at the new tax system. In the dozen minutes of memorials recently received by the emperor, someone has already suggested that,
It’s time to abolish the new bad system, restore the old system, and restore peace to the world!
Although it was just the beginning, Emperor Liu Yang could already feel the sound and public opinion behind a thin memorial. What he was about to face might also be overwhelming pressure...