All the officials were staring at each other. These numbers were so confusing that they couldn't even remember them. How could they possibly see any clues?
Yan Zhengsheng did not ask any more questions, and continued in a deep voice: "The data I extracted are from the Jinxiu and Qingfeng years of the Dali Period. During the Dali Period, it was only thirty years since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty. In the Jinxiu Year, I
The Great Zhou Dynasty has been a country for more than a hundred years, and during the Qingfeng Year, our Great Zhou Dynasty has been established for almost one hundred and forty years. From the figures captured in these three periods, we can see that our Great Zhou Dynasty has been a country from the original one thousand and two years.
From one million households to 19 million households today, the household registration has increased to 7 million households in more than a hundred years. Based on the standard of five people per household, that is an increase of 35 million people. This is enough to show that our
The hundred years that Zhou Li passed were a time of peace and prosperity, so the population grew and prospered, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment..."
The officials rolled their eyes and said, "What do you mean by that? Who doesn't know that the population of Zhou Dynasty has grown a lot in the past hundred years? Who doesn't know that the past hundred years have been a time of peace and prosperity?"
"...However, I wonder if you have noticed the data I listed separately. During the Dali Period, there were 8.4 million farmers in the whole country, accounting for 70% of the total household registrations. It can be said that the vast majority of the people were working in the fields.
. But in the fourth year of Qingfeng, the number of rural households increased to more than 7 million. Although the total household registration increased by 7 million households, the number of rural households actually decreased by more than 1 million households. How is this?
?These more than 7 million farmers account for only 40% of the total household registrations in Dazhou. This proportion is completely different from the 70% during the Dali period."
After his analysis, the officials immediately understood. Yes, when the total household registration and population have increased significantly, compared with a hundred years ago, the number of farmers has actually decreased. What is going on?
?
"... Of course, this does not exclude the increase in household registrations of merchants and craftsmen, but the increase is far less than the difference. Last year's figures for Sansi Yamen included more than 900,000 merchants in Dazhou, and four households in other industries.
More than 1.8 million. Added together with the number of rural households, there are only 13 million households. Compared with today’s total household registration, the difference is nearly 6 million households. So, these six million households and tens of millions of people are
What are you doing? Have you ever thought about it?"
The officials fell into deep thinking.
"... There is another number, and I have come up with it separately, which is the number of third-class or above wealthy farmers. In the Dali Year, it was 4.2 million, in the Jinxiu Year it was 3.19 million, and last year in Qing Dynasty it was 4.2 million.
In the fourth year of Fengsi, this number dropped sharply to less than two million households. We all know that the majority of the money and grain tax revenue of our dynasty went to farmers. The majority of the money and grain tax revenue among farmers was concentrated on third-class households. People below the third class
It’s pretty good that the family can keep food and clothing on their own without needing relief. They don’t receive much tax on them. And the total household registration of farmers has dropped sharply, and the number of third-class and above wealthy households has also dropped sharply. How can our government’s finance and taxation be guaranteed?
?This is the reason why I used to earn over 100 million taels per year, but now I can only receive 50 to 60 million taels in tax.”
Civil and military officials nodded one after another. After such an analysis of the boring figures, the results were clear at a glance. The main source of money and grain taxation in the Great Zhou Dynasty came from the common people who farmed. The people were divided into six classes in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the taxation policy was also based on their class.
As for the classification, generally speaking, rich households above the third level have more acres of land and can also collect some money and taxes, but those below the third level, especially farmers in the fifth and sixth grades, not only cannot receive money and taxes, but also need to pay taxes.
Relief. Therefore, the more upper-class households there are, the more tax revenue the court receives. Now the number of total farmers is decreasing sharply, and the number of upper-class households is also decreasing sharply. Of course, the total tax revenue has also dropped sharply. This is a matter of course.
.
"...I have to mention one more number, that is the number of total acres. At the beginning of the founding of our country, the total number of cultivated acres was 27 million hectares. Up to now, our cultivated land area has been
It has increased to 40 million hectares. It has increased by 13 million hectares. That is nearly 200 million acres. Who can tell me that the acres of land have increased so much? But the tax revenue has dropped so much? What is going on?
?Who else can tell me, what are the six million households that we calculated just now that are neither farmers nor merchants nor people with other household registrations doing? With so many more acres of land, won’t they be able to settle down? Instead, these people will be allowed to settle down.
Doing nothing? Becoming a burden to the court that neither cultivates nor works? What is the reason for all this?"
No one can answer this question. Maybe some of them know the answer to this question, but they don't tell it. Many officials suddenly had a premonition that a huge storm seemed to be coming. Because the thieves had a guilty conscience, they
I know clearly in my heart who I am targeting by asking this question seriously.
There is no doubt that in the hundreds of years since the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, more and more acres of land have been cultivated. However, the strange phenomenon of these increased acres leaving many people with no land to farm is due to the crazy land annexation by wealthy officials and businessmen from big and small families. Rich families
Large households are hoarding fertile land, and the favorite thing of wealthy businessmen and gentry is to hoard acres of land as private property. The people at the bottom have some land, but their living conditions are fragile. Once they encounter a bad year, they can only borrow money to survive.
The upper-class households are better off, and they can still have some savings to resist natural and man-made disasters. The lower-class households have no ability to resist at all.
When the loan money cannot be repaid, the only thing they can do is to use their land to pay off the debt. In this way, the first-class households become second-class households, and the second-class households become third-class households, all the way downgraded. Those lower-class households lose their land.
, they can only be reduced to tenants and refugees. The tenant farmers who populate the estates of major wealthy families, the coolies who carry goods in the docks of major cities, and the destitute refugees wandering in the streets everywhere are the ones without household registration that Yan Zhengsu mentioned.
of six million people.
Although they are not listed in the household registration, they are tens of millions of people who really exist. And from these tens of millions of people, the court cannot collect a penny of tax. Not only cannot it be collected, but the court is actually trying to prevent the occurrence of disasters.
When trouble breaks out, the young and strong among the refugees are recruited into the army. They also call it "turning the refugees into soldiers. This is a strategy to secure the country and protect the country." These refugees are raised and supported like uncles.
When it rises, it in turn consumes the royal court's wages and taxes. This forms an endless cycle.
Yan Zhengshen did not break this deadlock today because it is not yet time. As the reform deepens, he will definitely break the deadlock and untie it. But this needs to be done step by step.
"... Everything said above is well-documented. If you have any doubts, you can check and verify it at any time. Based on my current situation in Dazhou, I and Fang Zhongcheng have come to a conclusion after careful discussion and thinking. If you want to change me
In the predicament of a sharp decline in the finances of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the top priority is to return the displaced people to the land. The people cultivate and the land produces, and the court has finance and taxation. The top priority to allow the people to be content with farming is to solve the actual difficulties of the people. It cannot be just because there are
Natural and man-made disasters have forced people to sell their land, become bankrupt and displaced. Solving this fundamental problem is the top priority for the court at this moment. Otherwise, the situation will continue to worsen, and a large number of people will become bankrupt and displaced, and all those acres of land will be lost.
Belonging to the annexation house, the government's finances and taxes will further deteriorate. And the more refugees there are, the more unstable the country will be."
Many officials nodded secretly. Indeed, this is the root of the problem. If the people don't farm anymore, then why should we collect food taxes and taxes? The people have become refugees, and the pressure on social security will become very great, and it will be very difficult.
It may turn into a big trouble due to certain opportunities. But this is easier said than done. I don't know how the new method of serious and serious Fang Dunru will be done.
"As everyone knows, our country, the Zhou Dynasty, followed the system of the previous dynasty, and each government established a large number of Changping warehouses and Guanghui warehouses. The purpose was naturally to purchase and store the people's grain in good years and prevent the grain from depreciating too low. In bad harvest years or
In years of famine, it can also be sold at a fair price, stabilizing food prices, preventing profiteers from making profits, and providing relief to people suffering from famine. The establishment of Guanghui warehouses in Changping was an act of the court to benefit the people. It also played a huge role in stabilizing the situation. However,
, the current situation is that Changping warehouses in various places are currently in a semi-closed state. Originally, only more than 20 roads and prefectures had set up Changping warehouses, which was a drop in the bucket for thousands of prefectures and counties. Now, half of them are closed.
, it cannot be effective, which is a sad thing."
"...Some people may ask why we talk about the Changping Guanghui warehouse. As everyone knows, it is precisely because Changping warehouse failed to function that it has no power to help the people. Just imagine, in a good harvest year, the price of grain
If the food price falls and no protective purchases can be made, the people will inevitably gain little. And once there is a natural disaster, the food harvest is poor, and there is no action to stabilize food prices, the people will inevitably spend more money to buy the high-priced goods hoarded by profiteers.
Food is needed to survive. How much have the people lost this time and again? It is precisely because of this back and forth that the people have nothing to rely on, and they are reduced to abject poverty. They have to borrow usurious loans to survive. How can we repay the usurious loans?
, and in the end had to trade acres for land, bankruptcy and displacement. All of these are interrelated. Therefore, what is urgently needed right now is to protect the people's enthusiasm for farming so that they can rely on it and not leave it to fate. If the food price in a good year
If the price of food does not fall, and the price of food does not rise in famine years, the people can make plans to make up for the shortage with abundance, and they can coordinate themselves. If the court can relieve the people from worries, why worry about the people not actively farming? Who wants to be homeless and suffer from hunger and cold?
The pain of ups and downs?"
There was a buzz of discussion in the hall, with many people nodding their heads. The previous words were just foreshadowing, and it was only when Yan Zhengsheng said this that he officially entered the topic. And what he raised was exactly the crux of the problem.
Many officials expressed their admiration for Yan Zhengsu and Fang Dunru. There were many problems in the Zhou Dynasty, but many people only knew the surface but did not know the inside. For example, the finances were tight, and many people would only smack their lips and sigh, but they did not know the reasons.
Or maybe they saw the reason, but it was too complicated and complicated to understand the key points. Yan Zhengshen taught them a good lesson today, peeling off the cocoons layer by layer, reaching the core of the problem, and pointed out the
