Chapter 1147, Talk about the former dynasty and the former dynasty (1)
At that time, there was no imperial court in Xicheng, and the prefect was the local emperor.
Liang Minzhong was right, and so was Hu Han later.
The only difference between them is that Liang Minzhong only cares about the people, while Hu Han only wants to benefit himself.
The first thing Hu Han did after taking office was to make sweeping changes to the tax policy that had been established by Liang Min.
Liang Minzhong's grain taxation was mainly to assist the people. He saw the suffering of the people due to the lack of land and the large number of people, so he strongly encouraged the people to open up wasteland. From the taxation promulgated after he took office,
See this.
One of the tax levies is that there is no need to pay taxes on the reclaimed wasteland for the first three years, and the reclaimed wasteland belongs to the developer; after three years, the tax will be gradually increased, starting from 10% of the first day, and then the third tax will be paid.
The tax is 1.5% in the second year, 20% in the third year, and the tax is capped at 20%.
In other words, as long as the people are willing to endure hardships and you are willing to work hard to dig up those ownerless wastelands, you can own a lot of fields without spending money. It will be hard in the early stage, but in the future, those fields will be able to produce food.
!!
This alone truly achieves the purpose of encouraging people to open up wasteland. Who doesn’t want to own more land of their own?
Moreover, with corn, a crop that seems to be able to grow anywhere, the tax issue in the later period is not something that is too scary for the people.
The geology of newly cleared wasteland is unlikely to be good, and the usual prefects do not support the people to open up wasteland, but they do not have crops like corn, and the taxes are not as generous as Liang Minzhi ordered.
, many people have worked hard to open up wasteland but can't even get the taxes, so naturally no one will do it again and be thankless.
But with corn as a crop, no matter how bad the land is, there is always some harvest, and there is also a policy of no tax collection in the first three years. Many people have saved some money, not to mention dealing with the tax problem after three years.
It's not a small family background for them.
Therefore, during the ten years that Liang Minzhong was in office, Xicheng and the land under its jurisdiction were fully cultivated in various places, nearly ten times the original amount, reaching nearly 500,000 acres.
Of course, compared with the nearly 500,000 people living in the old city, 500,000 acres of land still sounds a bit small.
But think about it, when Liang Minzhong first arrived in Xicheng, there were only 4 to 50 million people cultivating less than 50,000 acres of land, and many of them belonged to the gentry.
Moreover, at that time, the people in Xicheng still cultivated millet with a very low yield, with an average yield of less than 100 per mu.
A poverty-stricken city that deserves its reputation.
In fact, the common people have no big pursuits, other than to have enough food and clothing, so they naturally feel grateful and kindhearted for the good things that have brought them a full stomach.
It seems that the days are getting better and better, and there is hope for the future. But, good guy, there comes a Hu Han and wipes out all the policies set by Liang Minzhong.
The fields were all owned by the government, and the common people no longer owned their own fields. There were only two ways for the common people to farm the land, either as tenant farmers of the government, or by local governments taking charge of the fields in each place. When harvesting, they had to follow the government's instructions.
The given amount is handed over as grain, and the remainder is "wage". If it is not enough, it will naturally have to be made up.
Then, during the years when Hu Han was in office, the harvests of the people's fields never reached the standard, and they had to make up for it every year.
This is only one of them, the other aspects are also very capable of being exploited.
Some people may ask, if the people have been oppressed like this, why don't they escape?
There are many problems here. First, the thought of homeland has been engraved in their bones and blood for a long time. Second, they cannot escape even if they want to.
This is about Fengcheng, which is adjacent to Xicheng.
The former city was built in the mountains, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the Great Plains on one side. That Great Plains is facing the Nil Pass.
In other words, people in the former city had to either leave the country and leave the country, or they had to cross the mountains.
It is said that it is not impossible to get out even if you go over mountains and ridges, but the problem is that the road is difficult to travel. In addition to an official road that is less than four meters wide and has many potholes due to no maintenance for many years, there are only a few non-experienced people.
Mountain trails that even hunters dare not walk; secondly...
The nearest city from Xicheng to Guannai is Fengcheng, also called Grave City. There is a sad story here.
Fengcheng did not exist in the previous dynasty. The founding emperor of the previous dynasty was not born from a large family like Jun, and had a certain background. Even though Emperor Qiming did not build the country as a whole,
, he also took away several capable helpers from the family, and also took away a lot of money. After he ascended the throne and established the country, he could not support them in establishing the new country without the help of those who he had quietly brought from the Jun family.
Money comes out.
The founding emperor of the previous dynasty was a pure bottom, not even a farmer. He had been a beggar, a thief, and even a bandit.
At the end of the previous dynasty, the people were really in dire straits due to various reasons, including natural disasters, the ruler not serving the people, unkind officials, etc. Therefore, when the founding emperors of the previous dynasty and the various clans rebelled, there was almost a response.
, and he was already the bandit leader at that time, and he did not have any soldiers in his hands, but there were many bandits, so he could be regarded as having "soldiers" in his hands.
At that time, it was not just his group that was rebelling. It could be said that everywhere in the country that could be called a city, there were all kinds of rebel armies, but his group was the opposite.
The stronger he is, the more brutal he is.
As long as they captured a place, they would kill all the people in the court and their entire family, regardless of whether those officials were dirty officials or whether those government servants and soldiers were innocent.
Guan Yiyi, who was already in a daze, was so frightened that in the later stage, he almost started to rebel before the army arrived. Everyone in the city who could be related to the imperial court had fled with their families, leaving only
Unarmed people.
In this way, in less than five years, the Zhu clan led the army to advance towards the capital from the south, until they reached Yong'an City, one of the five cities, outside Yingcheng.
However, no matter how corrupt a court is, there will always be loyal ministers and loyal generals, and there will always be soldiers and people who care about the country.
When the rebels pushed all the way outside the five cities, they finally met their nemesis, General Yue Feng, who was in his seventies, and General Mengying, who was in his sixties.
One of the two veteran generals led the army to guard Yingcheng, and the other led the army to guard the current Yongning City and the original Rongcheng City.
It was not just one rebel army that had attacked outside the five cities. It was originally planned to attack the capital together and share the world. But who would have thought that the two strongest rebel armies would meet each other unexpectedly?
The two strongest generals were blocked and found it difficult to move.
Not only them, although the generals of the other three cities were not as good as these two veteran generals, they still held back the rebel army despite heavy casualties.
Ordinarily speaking, this form is not very good, but it seems that the imperial court is still capable of winning. After all, when it comes to the bottom line, who has a richer foundation than the imperial court?!
But at this moment, the last emperor did something that has never happened before/anyone who has read that period of history will think there is something wrong with his mind.
A majestic emperor, he ran away when the five cities were already defended.