In late August, when Yang Xi returned to Ningqin County (Huayin City, Shaanxi Province) with his reward, it was the autumn harvest here.
Ningqin County is located at the northern foot of Huashan Mountain. From a long distance away, Yang Xi can see the majestic Huayue Mountains and the endless millet fields. Many farmers are bending down to harvest in the fields.
Yang Xi couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw this:
"Fortunately, this place has not been harmed by bandits from the Six Nations."
At this time, an old pavilion chief with gray hair came to the roadside. He saw Yang Xi wearing brocade clothes, riding a big horse, looking very majestic, and there were three cars behind him.
The carriage in front was closed, leaving only a small window, which was also covered with a curtain. Judging from the posture of the people sitting inside, the horses driving the carriage were actually the same plain color. Behind them were two heavy carriages pulled by pack horses.
, and I don’t know what it contains.
Now that the chaos is over, Guanzhong is in ruins, and there are not many people who can carry several cars and horses of the same color through the countryside. The old pavilion chief stepped forward vigilantly to check, wanting to ask who the noble person was, but when he took a closer look, he smiled slightly.
After being stunned, he couldn’t help but laugh:
"Who do I think this is? Isn't this Uncle Yang from Shanyang!"
Yang Xi was the eldest in his family, so he was called Uncle. He didn't ask for help. He got off his horse and saluted the old pavilion chief: "Chief Wu, it's Yang Xi who's back."
Their home is in this pavilion. Every time they go to the county town to attend the market, they often pass by this place to rest and ask for a bowl of water, so they naturally know each other from the pavilion chief.
Chief Wu Pavilion circled around Yang Xi and exclaimed: "Uncle Yang, you were just a young sergeant when you left, a young corps commander, but now you are a noble man when you return!"
In August, as the Northern Expeditionary Army completely took control of Guanzhong, the Ningqin people who had been recruited to fight with it but surrendered en masse returned to their hometowns one after another to help their families collect food. However, Yang Xi, who took the lead in surrendering, has not returned yet, and everyone in Ningqin County has
It is speculated that he must have been left in Xianyang by Marquis Wu Zhong and promoted to a noble rank.
Pavilion Chief Wu invited Yang Xi to rest in the pavilion next to the pavilion and asked him, "What title has he been promoted to?"
Yang Xi smiled: "Public ride."
Chief Wu Ting showed envy: "It's great to be a public servant. He is almost 60 years old. He has been through many wars and he is just an official."
After all, after a hundred years of farming and fighting, in Guanzhong, generally the nobility is relatively high, and sometimes even an old farmer in the field can display the title of "doctor".
Wu Pavilion Chief poured a bowl of water for Yang Xi: "What official position do you hold now?"
The merit accumulated in this small battle, beheading Ying Lun, is enough for promotion.
Chief Wu Pavilion raised his thumb and said: "The commander of the cavalry and subordinates is equivalent to the commander of the apprentice. If you perform more meritorious service, it is hard to say that you can return to Ningqin and become a county captain."
Yang Xi quickly argued that he was young and had no qualifications to be a county captain, but there was already some longing in his eyes.
Chief Wu Pavilion asked what the people in the county were most concerned about: "The rest of the soldiers have returned home, and they are all telling the county how you took the lead in surrendering and how you defeated the bandits of the Six Nations in Xihe. Why did you come back so late?"
"
Yang Xi was young and thin-faced, hesitating and a little embarrassed, but his eyes glanced at the two plain-drawn carriages.
Chief Wu Ting showed an "I understand" expression and said with a smile: "I heard from people from Xianyang that a few days ago, the regent held a wedding banquet for 10,000 meritorious soldiers and 10,000 palace residents at Afang Palace. Could it be that you were also there?
in?"
"I am here." Yang Xi nodded. Although he was not an old member of the Northern Expeditionary Army, he was a typical example of the former Qin Army who took the lead in surrendering, so he had to participate in it and win the beauty back.
"The bride is in the car? Why don't you call her out to meet the villagers?"
Yang Xi seemed to be worried, hesitated, and refused: "The bride is ugly, so there is no need to come out."
In the past, the pavilion chief and the pavilion soldiers would have made fun of the little brother, but now that Yang Xi had become a high-ranking official, they did not dare to embarrass him. However, one of the pavilion soldiers asked curiously, what did Marquis Wu Zhong say at the wedding banquet?
Speaking of this, Yang Xi became more energetic. He was sitting in the front row that day and could hear Wu Zhonghou's words clearly. He sat upright, put on Wu Zhonghou's posture, coughed and said: "Wu Zhonghou said,
There are rules in the world. The sky is above and the earth is below. The four seasons of the year are also divided into yin and yang. The cattle and horses in the pens and the animals in the mountains are male and female. Finally, there are people, divided into male and female...""So men love each other.
Female love is the true love between heaven and earth. Man's great desire cannot be changed even if it is prohibited by law! "
This statement made everyone in the pavilion laugh: "What Wu Zhonghou said is the truth."
Yang Xi continued: "Therefore, the ancestors of the past dynasties, such as Xian Gong and Xiao Gong, often had private concubines, but they were only in appropriate numbers. There were only a few concubines and hundreds of maids. There were no women in the palace and there were very few widowers in the world.
, men marry and women match at the right time, so the people of Qin become more and more prosperous, with a population of tens of millions. "
These are originally words from "Mozi Ci Guo", but Hei Fu had people change them and use them." But now the pseudo-emperor Hu Hai is greedy, so that in the Qin Palace, there are thousands of beauties in Yeting, forever.
There are ten thousand maids in the alley, all of whom are of the right age and are helpless." The laws of the Qin Dynasty clearly stated: "If a woman does not marry at the age of sixteen, her parents will be guilty, and her wealth will be doubled." "If a man does not marry at twenty, his parents will be guilty."
, double their gifts.' On the one hand, the people are asked to marry as soon as possible, and on the other hand, tens of thousands of women are left vacant in the palace to serve one person. This is forcing the people to break the law. He who is a king will try his best to break the law! As a result, there are many men among the people.
However, if there are few women and marriages between men and women are out of date, it will be difficult for the people to grow..."
Many bachelors among the people could not find wives. There were complicated reasons, but this time it was better. They were all blamed on Hu Hai by the black husband.
But this method of setting up a target for everyone to hit has won the approval of most singles: I am single because of Hu Hai!
If you are a smart person, you will be able to hear that there is a secret criticism of Qin Shi Huang's selfishness.
On the other hand, Marquis Wu Zhong was generous and selfless, restrained his small desires, and satisfied the big desires of tens of thousands of people!
"Therefore, today the daughters of Marquis Wu Zhong and the unmarried men of the Northern Expedition are marrying each other. This is in compliance with the laws of heaven and earth, in line with the desires of men and women, and in order to allow the people of the world to multiply their descendants!"
After listening to Yang Xi's retelling, everyone in the small pavilion, from the chief of Wu Pavilion to all the pavilions, nodded: "Marquis Wu Zhong is indeed close to the people, and his words are really easy to understand!"
But I also had some disapproval in my heart. These things did flatter those so-called "meritorious soldiers", but what does this have to do with them and the majority of the people of Qin?
"not only that."
Yang Xi lowered his voice and said to everyone: "There is something. The official order will not arrive until September, so I will tell the second and third sons first." Wu Zhonghou also said that Hu Hai had already collected oral tribute several times, so he would not be able to do it this year.
If there is an additional levy, those who have not paid enough previously and were ordered to serve in lieu of taxes can also hand over the levy order to the government and cancel it! And starting from the first month of next year (October 10th month of the lunar calendar), all children aged seven to fifteen years old will
, the annual oral tax required is reduced by half compared to before, only 10 yuan! "
Now everyone could no longer calm down and watch the excitement, and they all exclaimed: "This is true!"
There were many types of taxes in the Qin Dynasty, and the oral tax was particularly important. The laws stipulated that those over fifteen years old should pay forty yuan per year for adults, and two yuan per year for children between three and seventeen years old.
Ten coins.
To put it simply, it is a poll tax. It is said that "the head tax will be collected and lost to the Shaofu". Oral tax is an important source of income for the Shaofu. This money is specially used to repair the palace and maintain the treasury, troops, chariots and horses.
Although there is not much money, for farmers who are satisfied with self-sufficiency, they must first convert grain into money, then pay the oral tax, and in the middle, the merchants or officials who collect the grain will exploit the price difference.
And the terrible thing is that although the oral tax can only be collected once a year in theory, thirty-three years later, after the Qin Dynasty's finances were gradually overwhelmed by the four major conquests and internal construction projects, in order to maintain revenue and expenditure, they could only rely on repeated tax increases.
Endow.
After Hu Hai came to power, in order to cope with the war in the south and the rebellion in the east, the tax increase reached a crazy level. In the first year of his reign alone, he raised taxes four times...
Everywhere, there are rich people and poor people, but everyone is treated equally, regardless of whether they are rich or poor.
The government continues to impose more taxes, but there is no additional tax on the lives of the rich. The middle-class families can barely cope with it, but the poor and humble people cannot bear it. In some places, there are even cases where poor people have to give birth to children because they cannot afford to pay the taxes.
The human tragedy of killing and drowning in the fields...
At that time, there was a nursery rhyme in Guanzhong: "If the Wei water does not wash it away, the words will bloom!"
After more than a year, the grievances of the people were no longer light. This was also the reason that after Hu Hai was overthrown, no one in the local area took pity on him, and most of them obeyed the regent government with peace of mind.
But now, Marquis Wu Zhong has changed the bad policies of Hu Hai and Zhao Gao. Not only has he promised not to impose more taxes this year, but he will also impose taxes only once in the coming year according to law, and he has also halved the oral tax for children...
If letting palace maids get married is just a way to distribute profits to the heroes of the Northern Expedition, then this measure, like reducing rents and burning coupons, actually benefits the people of Pei in a down-to-earth manner and benefits the people of Qin!
Reproduction is human nature, who doesn’t want to have a family full of offspring?
Yang Xi didn't know that Heifu and Zhang Cang had some concerns about this: "Children's money was originally used to manage the palace and support the huge industrial population of the Shaofu. Now that the palace is empty, this money can be used to manage the palace."
It has been slightly reduced. With this order, I don’t know how many babies will be lost in the fields. On average, how many more babies will be added every year?”
Policies to encourage births and increase the world's population are what Heifu will start to plan from now on. The Qin Dynasty can conquer the surrounding areas, but it is difficult to defend them. To a large extent, the population is not enough to support large-scale colonization. Today's world
Bandang, how many lives have been lost, and how many years will it take to recover.
After Yang Xi left, Chief Wu Ting listened to the news. In addition to reducing children's oral taxes, Wu Zhonghou would also promulgate another good policy: "Old people over sixty years old in the village will not only be exempted from oral taxes."
, one piece of cloth will be given every year, and two pieces will be given if the person is over seventy..."
He will be sixty next year...
My impressions of the new government have gradually grown from just waiting and watching, and I have developed some favorable impressions.
At this time, the nephew of Chief Wu Pavilion spat at Yang Xi's retreating back. "Isn't he just a surrendered general? What is he so proud of!"
Chief Wu Ting slapped his nephew hard and cursed:
"It is true that Yang Xi took the lead in surrendering, but he saved the lives of the children of Ning Qin and led them to fight against the bandits of the Six Nations in Xihe. Where were you at that time? Ah!"
His nephew looked confused: "Uncle, didn't you scold me too?" "That's nonsense!"
Chief Wu Ting slapped him again and said sternly:
"The reason why Ning Qin is still at peace and has not been massacred by the Six Kingdoms is because of Yang Xi and others. Who dares to talk nonsense? Don't say that you are my nephew. Even if you are my biological son, I will personally escort you there."
Go to the official and sue him for slandering the hero!"
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ps: Sorry for the delay, the punctuation has not been changed yet, please leave a message later.
