Depth bombs buried under the prosperous age of the Tang Dynasty: the system of renting and mediocrity
[The text of the novel has some historical depth. Although the text is very simple, there will be a little reading threshold. A little knowledge of the background knowledge may cause unnecessary debates. Therefore, before the official serialization, I will provide some refined thoughts by the author.
The background introduction given above is just one family’s opinion]
The taxation system implemented in the Tang Dynasty mainly focused on collecting grain, cloth or serving the government. It was a taxation system based on the implementation of the equalization system. This system stipulated that all households with equal land, regardless of their family, were granted land.
No matter how much, they all pay a fixed amount of tax and perform a certain amount of corvee.
The content of the Zuyong modulation is: every ding must pay two stones of millet to the state every year, which is called rent; pay two feet of silk, three liang of cotton, or two feet and five feet of cloth, and three pounds of hemp, which is called a tune; serve twenty days of corvee service, and two will be added in leap years.
Days are considered as regular service. If the country does not need their service, then each person can pay the standard of three feet of silk or three feet and seven inches of cloth per day for twenty days in lieu of service. This is called Yong.
Generally speaking, "If you accept silk for service, you will be mediocre." It is also called "losing mediocrity for service." If the country needs him to serve, he will serve for twenty days every day. If he serves for an additional fifteen days, he will be exempted from transfer and will serve for an additional thirty days.
, then the rent transfer is completely exempted. Normally, the regular service shall not exceed fifty days. In the event of serious natural disasters such as floods and droughts, the rent is exempted if the crop loss is more than four-tenths, the rent is exempted if the crop loss is more than six-tenths, and the transfer is exempted if the crop loss is more than seven-tenths.
, all taxes and servitude are exempted. The system does not take away farming time and reasonably solves the employment problem. It is a system based on the equalization of land.
The original intention of Zuyongdiao is that "if there is land, there will be rent, if there is a household, there will be tune, and if there is a family, there will be yong".
The above is the main content of "renting yongdiao", and it was also the main land tax system adopted before the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty. This method was first proposed by Cao Cao, and was later adopted by many dynasties, and was gradually improved by the Tang Dynasty.
On the surface, the renting system is just an ordinary land policy. However, with the passage of time and the research on the renting system by later scholars, this system has become a common land policy in medieval and modern times (Japanese scholars proposed
)'s iconic dividing line.
The history of China from the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty to the Anshi Rebellion is called the Middle Ages, the period before the Northern Song Dynasty is called the Transitional Period, and the period from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty is called the Modern Period. I personally think that this statement is very detailed and very close to the true context of history. Of course, history
Needless to say, there are many repetitions in the upward spiral.
The reality of history, its transformation and stability, sometimes does not lie in the change of a political power, but in the changing trend of its grassroots social structure and the economic connections between regions. If you think there is no problem with this sentence, then you can continue.
Look, if you think this sentence is wrong, then there is no need to read the rest of the content, it is just a waste of time.
The rent-yongtiao system is a by-product of the "land equalization system". However, this by-product itself is so rigid that it hinders the re-implementation of the land equalization system. Since the Anshi Rebellion, the rent-yongtiao system has entered the corner of history.
It was no longer used by later dynasties. The supporting military system was also wiped out.
I won’t go into details about the benefits of the rent-yongtiao system. It was the founding tool of the feudal empire and the kingly way to stabilize the fundamentals. However, the blessings and misfortunes are that no matter how pleasant it is to use the rent-yongtiao system in the early stage, the price paid in the later period will be miserable.
, so much so that after the Anshi Rebellion, this system could no longer be implemented at all and self-disintegrated.
The great harm done by mediocrity to the Tang Dynasty regime at that time was as follows, almost all of which had no solution.
First, when the rent-sharing tune was implemented, it was divided into subjects and exempted households. The exempted households were relatives of the emperor, the upper-class ruling class, and senior bureaucrats. These people formed a network of relationships, which could be said to be densely distributed all over the country.
Amazing land area!
The aristocratic families and dignitaries who have the nature of land annexation themselves have put in place a rent adjustment system that deliberately indulges in land annexation. Over the course of hundreds of years of peace, the amount of tax-free land has reached an appalling level.
Some people say that feudal society is like this, and it is true. However, as the state machine of the ruling class, in order to maintain its rule, it must find other ways to make money, otherwise it will die. The system of rent and mediocrity was not abolished early, which is the direction of the Tang Dynasty
An important catalyst for decline.
The "ancestral family law" of the rent-yongtiao system can be said to be one of the deep-seated reasons that led to the Anshi Rebellion. It is at least hundreds of times heavier than An Lushan, although this system is not the only culprit.
Secondly, apart from the exemption of classes, there were many loopholes in the early days of Zuyongtiao. The shortcomings of this system were covered up by Emperor Taizong's civil and military skills, and the best opportunity for innovation was lost. Waiting for the reform of the Mid-Tang Dynasty
When we entered the deep water area, we were already helpless.
First of all, the time when renting Yongdiao was proposed was in the early Tang Dynasty. At that time, there were many people and there was little land, so there was no need to worry about insufficient land. Therefore, the standards for renting Yongdiao were all based on fifty acres of land. But there was a problem.
Yes, by the mid-Tang Dynasty, the average owner-cultivator did not even have ten acres of land, and the rent payment standards were still the same as at the founding of the People's Republic of China.
The taxation that the court thought was easy has turned into a mountain that the peasants cannot bear. You don't have land in your hands, but in the government account books, you can have fifty acres, and you must pay the matching taxes!
At this time, farmers have several options: 1. Rebellion. 2. Give the land to the big families, and let the big families collude with local bureaucrats to cancel your account books. From then on, you become a black household, out of the control of the government, and become a link between aristocratic families and local officials.
Domestic slaves and tenants of wealthy families.
The risk of rebellion is too great, so the warm embrace of a wealthy family is more appropriate.
You see, it doesn’t even require any natural disasters. Just a tax policy can force farmers to delete their accounts and enter private servers.
Secondly, in the rent and adjustment system, taxes are based on "ding". So what if there is no "ding" in the family? If you don't have a "ding", you can pay less taxes! How enchanting men and women can be when they dress up.
According to the Tang Dynasty account books and physical objects unearthed in Dunhuang, there were several female villages in the area where women accounted for more than 90%.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
In addition, the "household" for renting is not limited to the size of the household. There are also cases where one hundred people live in one household. If the local wealthy family cannot be exempted from the tax, then multiple households will be merged into one household and the taxes that need to be paid will be paid.
Compressed to the extreme.
The above are all basic practices, and there are many unknown tricks. If land annexation in the feudal era is indeed unavoidable, then the long-term existence of the mediocrity of rent without abolishment is the result of the ruling class desperately safeguarding its own interests and refusing to reform.
The best proof.
In the last book, I said that Xie Daoyun of the Xie family in Chen County was unparalleled, beautiful and talented, but the Xie family continued to eat people, and they were very rude.
It was an era when people were cannibalistic. When we saw the turmoil in the upper class, wasn't it worth taking a look at how the lower class lived?
Finally, the rent transfer system is based on strict household registration books, but with the mortality rate in ancient times, it is probably too late to update the account books every year, not to mention the government's execution efficiency, which can be updated every five years, which is already great.
Where are there so many manpower to conduct inventory every year?
For those who are extinct, will their fields be harvested? Who will make up for the shortfall? Do local officials want political achievements?
For these problems, the rent transfer system has been criticized by local bureaucrats and is often seen in history books.
Third, the rent transfer system requires the payment of physical goods, that is, food and cloth. It is very extensive and the ills are reborn.
If the grain produced in different places is traded, the prices are very different. Not to mention, many pieces of cloth are specialty products, and their value is very different from ordinary cloth!
What kind of food do I need to pay for food?
What kind of cloth should be handed over?
If the cloth produced by the farmers is not good, why should the small farmers be allowed to produce it instead of choosing a better and faster production method?
It’s hard to describe the shortcomings here. It’s not an accident that mediocrity was eliminated after the Tang Dynasty. It’s not an accident that no one takes it seriously anymore.
Fourth, even if the rent transfer system does not have all the above problems, it still has a hidden, deeply buried drawback that has a profound impact on the times.
The rent transfer system directly divides people into two types: "landlords" and "tenants" (quasi-tenants), which stifles other possibilities.
In other words, if you are exempted from schooling, then as long as you live long enough and have talented people in your family, you will become a landlord sooner or later. If you are not exempted from schooling, then nine times out of ten, you will become a tenant. You can't deal with natural disasters and man-made disasters every time.
Can't escape it.
Under the rent transfer system, the situation of homesteaders is unstable, and they will become tenants if there is any trouble.
If someone doesn’t want to be a landlord or a tenant, then what other way can he take? Let’s not mention the ascending path, just talk about what ways can be taken. If you go to the temple, you are also a tenant! In the Tang Dynasty,
Not everyone can become a monk who does not engage in production.
Yes, there is a low-level profession waiting for that person. Once he enters, it will harm his descendants. It will be difficult to turn around without war.
If you have a field, you must pay grain, weave cloth, and perform corvee labor. This system tightly locks people into the fields and restricts ordinary people's options to their local area. The small-scale peasant economy naturally limits consumption, naturally inhibits the development of industry and commerce, and naturally limits the options for ordinary people.
Using this as a prison, each place does its own thing, forming one block after another, lifeless.
Currency taxation is a major trend in China and even around the world, and it has continued to this day. I have never heard of any country that can go against the grain and collect physical taxes instead of currency taxes.
The abolition of rent mediocrity is the general trend of history. Tang Ting had a chance to win against the Anshi rebels, but it could not win against this general trend, and had no chance at all.
The taxation of rents and taxes across the country began to go from bad to worse during the Kaiyuan period. The Tang Dynasty adopted various methods to make money. That is what will be discussed in the text, so I will not spoil it here. But
Since the end of Kaiyuan, Tang Ting has been unable to make ends meet, and the state apparatus is on the verge of collapse.
When one An Lushan falls, thousands of An Lushan will stand up. If we don’t abolish the mediocrity of renting and reviving ills, how can we maintain a stable position?
Dear readers, do you think the Anshi Rebellion was only the fault of An Lushan and Tang Xuanzong?