"These are the tasks of the Imperial Property Bureau. Sir, please listen to the appendix of this clause." Changsun Chong patiently explained: "The so-called public grain is relative to taxes. Taxes are equal to land rent. Your Majesty has been able to shepherd all the people.
After giving everyone ration fields that do not need to pay taxes and ensuring everyone's rations, the additional fields will naturally have to pay taxes. 10% of the harvest is already an extremely low rent. I am under the instruction of my mentor.
Next, I personally led my colleagues from the Imperial Property Bureau, who were also my classmates, to visit the villages near Chang'an City. From the visit, I learned that private tenants rented land from landlords for farming and had to pay 50% to 70% of the harvest as rent every year."
Wei Zheng frowned and interrupted: "Don't be alarmist, 70% rent, how is that possible?"
Changsun Chong said sternly: "It's no lie. Some of the seniors here even rent out 70% of their land." He glanced around, and many people avoided his gaze. Changsun Chong smiled and said
: "I won't give specific examples here, just talk about the results. Taking ordinary corn as an example, the land near Chang'an City has an average yield of 103 jins per mu. A tenant who cultivates 20 acres of land a year can only earn 600 jins.
With corn, a laborer, a wife, the elderly and children in the family, food and clothing are still scarce. If there is any illness or disaster, we can only wait for death and be helpless."
Changsun Chong looked at Wei Zheng and Li Shimin and said: "This is the real life of the people near Chang'an City. Chang'an City is the capital of the Tang Dynasty, and the people near Chang'an City are like this. What are other places like? Your Majesty
You can imagine it with all the gentlemen."
This was really the first time Li Shimin had heard of such a thing. He frowned and said, "Is this a common occurrence? Seventy percent?"
Changsun Chong shook his head and said: "Most of the 70% of the fields are first-class fertile fields. If we ask for 70%, the people can barely make ends meet. On average, around Chang'an City, it is roughly 55%, which is the harvested grain.
I have to hand over about half of it.”
Li Shimin sighed: "That's not a lot."
"The teacher described this as: the wine and meat of the Zhumen smelled bad, and there were frozen bones on the road. The wine and meat of the Zhumen were obtained by depriving the people of their food rations. The teacher said that because of this, when he earned the money of the "Zhumen", he never had any money.
Too guilty."
The officials chewed on this poem, some of them were complacent and didn't care, but others showed a look of shame. They knew in their hearts that the rich family Li Mu mentioned was them.
"My mentor set the tax at 10% of the income, which is much less than the rent that often exceeds 50%. To the people, it is not worth mentioning in good years, but they can be paid in disaster years, and it does not constitute too much.
Huge pressure. As for the issue that Duke Wei is concerned about, how to adjudicate, because the types and yields of crops are different in each place, the Imperial Property Bureau will calculate the average of the local yields in the previous year and round them up as a consideration for tax collection in the next year.
For example, if the corn yield per mu near Chang'an City is 103 kilograms just mentioned, one hundred kilograms will be considered as the standard for tax collection, and 10 percent will be ten kilograms, that is, ten kilograms of corn per acre will be charged as tax.
Grain, sowing millet and harvesting millet, are judged by quantity, not by value."
"Gongliang is another great pioneering work of my mentor." Changsun Chong sighed again and said: "My mentor was touched by the wanton behavior of Shandong grain merchants at the beginning of the year. It was for His Majesty's sake and the country's plan. He decided that he could no longer do it.
Leave the control of grain prices in the hands of grain merchants. Because merchants pursue profit and forget their integrity, but grain is the foundation of the country, and the country's policy must be in the hands of the court. My mentor thought hard all day and night, and finally came up with the idea.
This method."
Wei Zheng couldn't help but said: "Changsun Chong, you talk about things as you say. Can you boast about your mentor in just three sentences? It's annoying."
Many people nodded in agreement. Changsun Chong stopped, looked at Wei Zheng with frowning eyebrows, remained silent for a moment, and responded unceremoniously: "Wei Gong can only question, but the look of being helpless is equally annoying. Mentor
What’s the point of a few words of praise for a gifted genius who has come up with many good governance ideas?”
Seeing that there was going to be another quarrel, Li Shimin interrupted: "Chang Sun Chong, let's talk about business matters. Let's talk about irrelevant topics after we retire from the court."
"Your Majesty, I forgive you. I know I was wrong." Changsun Chong stopped looking at Wei Zheng and continued: "My teacher's method is to set up Changpingcang in various places. The main components of Changpingcang are to collect local taxes and taxes.
It is the 10% mentioned just now. Then there is the public grain. The public grain is not taken by force. It is calculated by calculating the grain output and value of the entire Tang Dynasty and giving a reasonable purchase price. Use this purchase price to buy the people's food.
food."
"There are too many benefits. For example, if there is a big disaster in a certain place, if food needs to be mobilized from all over the place, grain merchants will hinder it and hoard it. But with the Changpingcang, the court can quickly mobilize food. Another example is
If a certain place is flooded and a certain person's crops are gone, Changpingcang can lend him grain and seeds and return them to him for a good harvest the next year. Moreover, with the purchase price set by the government, grain vendors can resell the people's grain.
, and it is impossible to deceive the people, because Changpingcang has given a price, and if it is lower than this price, the people will not sell it."
"In places with fertile land and high harvests, the abundant grain in Changpingcang every year can be allocated to less wealthy areas. The court's ability to regulate grain prices will be greatly improved. In bad years, unscrupulous grain merchants hoard
Things will be greatly reduced."
Li Shimin nodded slowly and said: "This plan is brilliant. Li Mu has thought it through really carefully. I can't think of any omissions. I think it is feasible."
"Wait a minute!" Wei Zheng was still unwilling to give up and said, "What's going on with renting land and contracting land? Why is there more tax on contracted land than renting land?"
Changsun Chong looked at Wei Zheng as if he were a fool and said, "Don't you understand, Mr. Wei? Because taking advantage should be done in moderation!"
"What's the meaning!"
"Land is divided into three categories. There is no tax for ration land, and only 10% for rented land. Where can you find such good things? If there is a 10% tax, what is the difference between it and confiscation? That's why my teacher limited the first two categories, and ration land
Food rations are guaranteed, and ten acres of land per person is enough without tax. If each person rents forty acres of land, with a 10% tax, his life can also be improved. Although it is only fifty acres, it is still better than that of a twenty-year-old man in the past.
In order to get 20 acres of Yongye land and 80 acres of Koufen land, the income from each household is much more. In fact, these are transfers from the court, which make the people's lives easier. But everything is
There is a limit. The imperial court has provided the people with food rations and improved their lives. Does it still have the responsibility to make every common person a landlord? So it granted another ten acres of land, plus an extremely low rent of forty acres of land.
If you want to get more land and make money from farming, you have to pay more taxes and public grain. What's the problem with this?"