Zhao Lizing is a farmer from Datian Township, Jinghai County.
In the sixth year of Chongzhen, because he was oppressed by the government officials, the land tax he paid increased every year. In the end, he had to pay one bushel and nine liters of land tax per mu of land every year. At that time, he was oppressed by the government officials and was so poor that he could not even eat a bite of meat during the New Year.
, so he took the land and donated it to the home of Mr. Yuan, a fellow villager.
Mr. Yuan was a scholar and had friendship with the household officials in the county government, so he did not need to pay land tax. After Zhao Lijing brought the land to Mr. Yuan, the land became Mr. Yuan's private property, but it was still given to Zhao Lijing.
Intensive farming. Zhao Lizing pays one bushel and four liters of land per mu of land every year to Mr. Yuan.
At that time, Master Yuan and Zhao Lizing were very happy. Zhao Lizing signed the land deed and gave the land to Master Yuan.
Although the land no longer belongs to Zhao Lizing, at least five liters of grain will be handed over for each mu of land. Zhao Lizing's 23 acres of dry land can save one stone and one bucket of grain a year. This stone of grain can save Zhao Lizing.
During the Chinese New Year, Li Jing's family of three made new clothes and had a bite of meat.
The most important thing is that Mr. Yuan is true to his word, and he has agreed that Zhao Lizing will not receive any more land rent in the future. Compared with those greedy government servants who keep increasing their land tax, this stable land rent is extremely precious.
Zhao Lizing and his family were not the only ones to donate their land to Mr. Yuan. Mr. Yuan charged very low land rents to the farmers who donated their land. The farmers followed suit and came to invest one by one.
More and more farmers in Datian Township donated their land to Mr. Yuan's family, and the amount of farmland they had to pay land tax was less. Those small farmers who did not donate their land to the gentry had to pay heavier land tax, so more people donated their land and paid taxes.
There is less land, forming a vicious cycle.
In the past few years, at least two hundred powerless farmers in Datian Township have donated their fields to Master Yuan's home. Master Yuan has more and more fields, and he has gradually become the richest man in Datian Township.
However, in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, things changed.
In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, Tianjin's Xing Guobo reformed the tax system, equalized land taxes, and collected taxes from the gentry. Mr. Yuan, who was originally exempt from tax, also had to collect taxes. Although Mr. Yuan assessed the situation, he did not add the increased land taxes to the land rent, and did not pay taxes to the gentry.
The farmers who donated their land received extra land rent. However, Xing Guobo's tax collectors were honest and fair, and only collected seven liters per mu of land per year as land tax. Therefore, the land tax for the owner-cultivators was only half of Master Yuan's land rent.
Zhao Lijing couldn't help but think about it. If he left the Yuan family with the donated land, he could save one stone and five buckets of land rent every year!
In fact, many farmers who donated their land to the Yuan family had the idea of leaving the Yuan family after hearing about Xing Guobo's tax system. But when they donated their land to the Yuan family, they wrote the land deed and gave the land to Yuan.
Now the land deed is in the hands of Mr. Yuan. If you don't pay the land rent, you will be punished if you go to the government.
But who is Zhao Lizing? How flexible is his brain? He asked around and learned that Xing Guobo's policy has always been to protect small farmers. In September, Zhao Lizing heard that Xing Guobo had set up a "court" in Jinghai County
", specializes in handling all kinds of lawsuits. Moreover, this court is more powerful than the county magistrate. If the outcome of the lawsuit decided by the court is different from that of the county magistrate, Xing Guobo's court shall prevail.
Mr. Yuan had connections in the county government, but not with Xing Guobo. When Zhao Lijing heard the news about the "Xing Guobo Court", he was almost certain to win the lawsuit and donated his money to the Yuan family.
The fields were back in his own hands.
On September 15, Zhao Lijing took his wife and son to the court to beat drums and file a lawsuit.
Like the county government, there was a big drum outside Li Zhi's court. Those who wanted to file lawsuits would beat the drum to express their grievances, and the court would open.
The judge of the court opened the court, listened to Zhao Lijing's statement in court, and sent a summons to summon the landowner Yuan Xiucai. The judge carefully checked the land deed and found that there was indeed no transaction amount on the land deed of the twenty-three acres of land.
It was presented to Yuan Xiucai by Zhao Lizing in the sixth year of Chongzhen. Although Yuan Xiucai hesitated, he also admitted that these fields were given to him for free. After being given to him, they were still rented by Zhao Lizing. This shows that these fields are indeed
dedicated fields.
Now that Xing Guobo has lowered the land tax for small farmers, Zhao Lizing wants to take back the land he donated to the Yuan family.
This is a difficult lawsuit.
The judge looked at Yuan Xiucai, who was sitting on a chair in the middle of the courtroom, and said loudly: "Judge, Zhao Lijing did give me this field. I am now the owner of the field. Zhao Lijing now sees
Uncle Xing Guo evened the land tax, but then he wanted to go back on his word and take the land back. This is a violation of the land contract written in black and white, and it is eating the master's house and eating the west's house.
In Li Zhi's court, the plaintiff and defendant had chairs to sit on, but it was not Yuan Xiucai's privilege.
The judge felt that what Yuan Xiucai said made sense, and looked at Zhao Lijing again.
Zhao Lijing's family of three sat on chairs, crying. Zhao Lijing said loudly: "Judge, I pay a dou of four liters of land rent to Yuan Xiucai every year, which is not a small amount. It can be seen that my family was exploited by the government officials for a long time.
How ruthless. If Uncle Xing Guo knew the misery of my family, he would definitely help ordinary people like me. Speaking of which, if I, Zhao Lijing, dedicate my family's land to others, wouldn't it be a bad idea only if I was forced to have no food?
?Who is willing to give away his own land to others? What Zhao Lijing did was to survive under the oppression of the government, and he fell into the trap jointly set by Yuan Xiucai and the government officials!"
"Now that Uncle Xing Guo protects small farmers and pays little taxes, then I, Zhao Lijing, should enjoy Uncle Xing Guo's new policies like other common people. How can I still pay high land rent to Yuan Xiucai in vain?"
This Zhao Lijing is not like ordinary poor people, he is quite good at talking. After listening to his statement, the judge felt that what he said was reasonable. The original government led the beasts to eat people, how could they blame the common people for joining the rich to evade taxes and taxes?
Although Zhao Lizing's case is only a small case of 23 acres of dry land, it is of great significance. You must know that there may be tens of thousands of small farmers in Jinghai County who donated money to large households, let alone the entire Tianjin. And Zhao Lizing
Once the verdict is announced in the case, the whole of Tianjin may be regarded as a model.
Zhao Lijing's case directly determines the future of the people in Tianjin Town who have donated their land.
The judges in the court had all been trained by Xing Guobo and knew that such a serious lawsuit could not be pronounced casually. The judge asked Zhao Lizing and Yuan Xiucai to go back and wait for the judgment, while he sorted out the information and wrote down the various situations of Zhao Lizing and Yuan Xiucai in writing.
, was sent to the Tianjin General Military Mansion for a ruling by Xing Guobo.
On September 17, the case was sent to Li Zhi.
Li Zhi went to deal with the official documents when he got up in the morning and saw the information sent by the Jinghai County judge. Cui Changwu had already read the materials in advance, shook his head and said, "Uncle, this case is of great importance, and I need to make the decision personally."
