Chapter 226 Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage
Li Shimin was dressed in white, just like a gentleman who came to apply for the accountant.
"Is there a name sticker?"
Old Wang Zhuangtou walked over with his hands behind his back. He was wearing a lambskin jacket with fur on the outside and fur on the inside, which was well cut. Today's Old Wang is beginning to pride himself on his status and pay attention to decency. After all, he is no longer the old Wang in the past. Now he is in charge of the Qin family's Zhuangzi in Sanyuan County, and also manages several breeding farms. There is a lot of land, a lot of money, and there is no way to be honored as the owner of the king.
In the past, he didn't dare to treat those scholars with such an attitude, but now Lao Wang thinks that scholars are nothing more than that. He has a lot of scholars under his command now, and they are also acting as accountants and stewards under his hands, who can't be polite to him gas.
Li Shimin only brought Ma Zhou and Wei Zheng over today. It was considered a private visit in low clothes and ordinary clothes, but it was a bit unexpected to be stopped in front of Qinjiazhuang.
"We are here to see Saburo." Ma Zhou stepped forward and handed over his name sticker.
Lao Wang took it, and looked at it for a while, but Lao Wang actually couldn't read a few words, he didn't even recognize the word Ma Zhou on it, let alone the place of origin of the official position on it, he only recognized a Ma Zhou. Character.
"My surname is Ma? Why are you looking for my Saburo?"
Ma Zhou is now the censor of the middle court of the third courtyard of Yushitai. Although his position is only sixth rank, he has won the trust of the emperor and is also a celebrity. The director of the third department, Ma Zhou, often undertook the decree to go straight to the court with the Ministry of Finance under his subordinates, to review and handle cases together, and to hear with the Minister of Criminal Affairs, Langzhong, Dali Sizhi, and Jushi.
He didn't care about being treated so lightly by a little village head.
"My surname is Ma, and I used to be the accountant in Sanlang Chang'an's mansion." Ma Zhou laughed.
"Say it earlier, please, Mr. Ma." When Lao Wang heard that he used to be from his own family, he became more polite, put on a friendly face, and led the old horse in, calling Zhuang Ding as he walked. Come over for tea and dessert.
Qin Lang was basking in the sun and reading in the village, when he looked up, he found Li Shimin looking at him with his hands clasped and smiling, he was surprised.
Just as he was about to stand up, Li Shimin pressed his hands down, "Come and have a look, no need to salute."
"What book are you reading?"
Qin Lang handed over the letter, "Look at the essential skills of the people."
Li Shimin took it, and found that Qin Lang was reading the chapter on Qimin Yaoshu · Pig Raising.
"Are you really planning to raise pigs?"
"Well, farming is an important source of family income for the common people, and it is also an important economic supplement for the imperial court, so we need to pay more attention to it."
Li Shimin also moved a mat from the side, and sat down next to Qin Lang, "Then tell me about it!"
"His Majesty has come..."
"I sent someone to summon you twice, but you refused to return to Chang'an, so I had no choice but to kiss you."
"Your Majesty, if you don't want to go back, you really don't dare to go back to Beijing without an edict."
Li Shimin was also a little helpless. He asked Zhongshu to reinstate Qin Lang, but Wang Gui, who was under his family, could not reject it. The emperor had no choice but to recall Qin Lang with the central decree, but Qin Lang failed. He is also an iron-headed boy, insisting that he will not return to Beijing without edict.
The king and the king sat in the courtyard of the manor, basking in the warm winter sun, while talking about raising pigs and chickens, and about Qin Lang's newly completed major project.
"The imperial court is in trouble, short of money, the new Sixth Army of the Beiya has no money and food to pay for the army, hundreds of officials have no salary to pay, and honors and relatives can be rewarded with money... I really have a headache, I want to ask Your good strategy." Li Shimin had a showdown, he stopped pretending, he came here today to ask for advice, if he wasn't really embarrassed, he wouldn't be paying so much attention to Mao Lu.
"Your Majesty, this should be a matter for the princes of the Zhengshitang. If you really want to ask about policies, you should ask the prime ministers and political participants of the Zhengshitang, or directly contact the relevant household department, Taifu Temple, Sinong Temple, Shaofu Supervisor, etc. "
The Ministry of Households is in charge of finance and taxation, the Taifu Temple is in charge of money, the Sinong Temple is in charge of food, and the Shaofu is in charge of government workshops and coin casting.
"Don't mention them, there is no good plan. The situation is difficult, so I can only ask Ji Yu Saburo."
Whether the prime minister participates in politics, or the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Minister of the Taifu Temple, the countermeasures they put forward, in Li Shimin's view, are far away from the water and cannot quench their thirst, or are unrealistic.
"Your Majesty, this financial problem needs to be solved, but the only thing is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure."
"Then tell me, where else can I open source?"
Li Shimin is not interested in throttling the word now, because he has already saved all the festivals, cutting down the palace staff, cutting down the palace expenses, even cutting the salaries of hundreds of officials, stopping the rewards of relatives, etc., but it is still far from enough .
Now many officials have reported that they are going to attack his Sixth Army of the Beiya, which is not allowed by Li Shimin.
Qin Lang picked up the book and closed it.
"Your Majesty, the financial problem needs to be solved, and there are deep waters in it, but in summary, it is actually one word, tax. The national finance depends on tax, and to increase revenue, we must either expand tax sources, increase tax rates, or increase taxes. That's all."
The fiscal and taxation system of the Tang Dynasty was inherited from the Sui Dynasty. The basic tax system is the rent adjustment based on the land equalization system and the government military system. This system is very simple. Three taels or two feet and five feet of cloth, three catties of hemp, and another 20 days of free service in one year.
This tax system is very simple. At the beginning of the design, the ideal tax rate is one forty tax, because the ideal state is to grant one hundred acres of land.
Tang Dynasty’s rent adjustment was actually lower than that of Sui Dynasty. For example, at the beginning of Sui Dynasty, taxes were levied in units of beds, and a couple was called a bed. Because of the high tax rate for this kind of couple, many people at that time would rather be single, or live with a partner than hold a wedding. Later, it was changed to levy tax by Ding, and one Dingtian rented three shi. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, it was changed to two shi, and the tax rate was lowered a lot.
In addition to these regular taxes, there are no other industrial and commercial taxes.
The advantage of such a tax system is that it is simple and clear at a glance when collecting taxes.
But the disadvantage is that the land equalization system is actually not implemented enough, and most of the small populations cannot be granted enough, which leads to a substantial increase in the tax rate, which is far more than one-thirty taxes.
Secondly, there is no tax for industry and commerce, and salt and iron cannot be restrained, which leads to a single type of tax and insufficient revenue.
In particular, there is a big problem that Datang has many unregistered households and unregistered members. This non-class population accounts for at least half of the total character at this time, which is a big problem.
Only adult men pay taxes, women, children, and the elderly do not pay taxes, and officials and soldiers do not pay taxes, slaves, servants, monks, Taoists, nuns, and female crowns do not pay taxes, and many barbarians and barbarians who are not in Zhengzhou Wait, it's not taxable.
Not to mention the clan and nobles.
Even if those powerful landlords pay taxes, they still pay taxes like ordinary people.
This is extremely inconsistent with the fundamental logic of taxation. In essence, the tax in the Tang Dynasty is just a poll tax.
Whether you have money or not, you pay the same tax, and only some people are taxed.
In this case, what money can the imperial court have?
Not to mention, the taxes of the Tang Dynasty were still taxes in kind, and what the people paid were food, silk cloth, etc. If the imperial court wanted to use these things, they had to collect them from all over the country, and then they had to transfer them. The cost in the middle was astonishing.
"The Sui used rent and mediocrity to regulate taxation, and there was the rule of the first emperor." Li Shimin said, meaning that the tax system of rent and mediocrity adjustment itself is not a problem, otherwise how could the previous dynasty have such a prosperous age as the first emperor?
Qin Lang could only sigh. The Sui Dynasty ended after hundreds of years of division and the world was unified. There were too many things to do. The tax system established at that time was quite simple and relatively loose, which was of course good for post-war recovery.
What's more, although Yang Jian was engaged in rent mediocrity at the beginning, Yang Jian also used a big killer at that time, that is, Dasuo Maangyue. Do everything possible to become an official account.
Not to mention, Yang Jian’s tax was half as high as it is now, and women were also taxed at the same time.
Yang Jianshi’s official tax households are several times higher than now, and the tax rate is still high, so the financial income will naturally be several times higher, not to mention that after the unification of the world, there will be no major wars, recuperate, and naturally there will be a prosperous age .
But now Datang barely unified the Central Plains. It has been fighting for many years and basically never stopped. However, Datang’s current household registration problem is serious. There are a large number of hidden households fleeing. There are too many classes, insufficient tax sources, and naturally insufficient tax revenue.
Ma Zhoudao, "There is also a prime minister in the court who proposes to conduct a survey to find out the situation of the registered population in the whole country in order to increase tax sources, but this will not be completed in a short time.
"Then increase the tax!"
Qin Lang gave the easiest way.
The emperor frowned. It's not that no one has mentioned tax increases, but now that the world is in such a situation, how to increase taxes? The imperial court has already reduced and exempted taxes for various places before. Now you are doing the opposite and want to increase taxes? What did people think of that day?
Will the government force the people to rebel?
"Your Majesty, tax increases are also very particular. It's not as simple as changing the rent from one dime and two shi to three shi, and from two zhang to three zhang. For ordinary people, the burden of rent adjustment is not light. , it is true that it cannot be added, but..."
"but what?"
Li Shimin stared at Qin Lang closely.
Li Shimin was looking forward to this son-in-law, otherwise he wouldn't have come here on purpose, he just wanted to hear Qin Lang's different opinions.
"Your Majesty, we have to increase taxes without increasing the burden on the people. In fact, the simplest and most effective way is to add new taxes, such as industrial and commercial city taxes, such as salt and iron monopoly. These have actually been implemented as early as the Han Dynasty. It has been done, and it is indeed a useful means.”
"Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty fought wars with the Huns for decades, all relying on these supports. This is also the simplest and most effective way to increase financial revenue!"
Qin Lang didn’t make any surprising remarks. In fact, these words were mentioned by the prime minister in the Zhengshitang. After all, these things were implemented as early as the Western Han Dynasty.
(end of this chapter)