Chapter 235 Turn Salt into Gold
There were bursts of exclamation in the hall.
The land tax and grain of 12 million shi a year is four times the current land rent. A young prime minister like Changsun Wuji has even begun to think about how much he can do if the court collects twelve million stone grains a year.
Even the steady prime ministers Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui were amazed at this number.
"There can't be so many!"
Dai Zhou still objected.
Qin Lang smiled and said, "Dai Shenzheng, this is an extremely simple calculation. There are more than 800 million mu of land in the world, two liters per mu, two stones per hundred mu, which is actually 16 million stones, and there are more There are merchants, craftsmen and other non-land households who pay grain by household, and there is another increase. Even if the households who do not pay land tax are deducted, and some land that does not grow grain is deducted, then 12 million stone grains are actually collected. , which is six to seven million stones less than the total, what does Dai Shenzheng think is wrong?"
Dai Zhou refuted Qin Lang angrily, "Eight million hectares of land? Are there still eight million hectares of land on the register? Also, do you mean that officials, government soldiers, and scholars also have to pay for food?"
Qin Lang said bluntly, "The land tax and grain collection is for famine relief. Does Mr. Dai think that when the famine comes, the princes, nobles, officials and scholars will not be affected?"
The government and the people pay grain together, according to the two liters per mu of land, which is indeed the most fair and just. Qin Lang himself is a big landlord, and he has rewarded more than 60,000 mu of land. He is an aristocrat, and he is not registered, so no matter how much land there is, he does not have to pay a bucket of taxes.
As for those people who are not granted enough land, they may only be granted 20 or 30 mu of land, but they still need to pay two shi for a dime, and two dong get four shi.
Therefore, when designing this land tax, Qin Lang directly followed the later history of the Tang Dynasty. The tax law was officially renamed as land tax.
This should be said to be a tax increase in essence, but for the imperial court, the original tax system was unreasonable, resulting in insufficient fiscal revenue, and there was no way to increase taxes.
As for why the righteous warehouse grain or the land tax is not collected on a dime basis like the rent adjustment, it is also because the dime collection is too heavy a burden on ordinary people, and has no effect on those bureaucratic landlords who really own a lot of land.
This is actually a thin piece of paper. Everyone knows exactly what is behind it, but no one has come to poke this paper yet.
Historically, it took until the second year of Zhenguan to really start poking this piece of paper, but now Qin Lang did it a year earlier.
"The government soldiers also want to recruit?"
Li Shimin was a little hesitant about this one.
Mansion soldiers grant land, no tax is levied, and then they need to prepare their own food and clothing, go to work regularly, and train in rotation. Mansion soldiers have always not paid taxes, but now Qin Lang also pays them land tax.
"Your Majesty, paying two liters per mu is actually not a high tax."
Even if it is calculated on the basis of one stone per mu, the two liters of tax per mu is actually only one tax per fifty. The original tax rate of the people's rent adjustment is not high, but the premise is that the people can grant enough 100 mu of land, and if the grant is enough, 100 mu of land is granted 2 stones, which is actually two liters of tax per mu.
The problem is that in places such as Guanzhong and Henan, where there are many people and little land, it is impossible to grant enough in practice, so the tax rate is actually much higher.
"Your Majesty, I have more than 60,000 mu of land, and if the tax per mu is two liters, I have to pay more than 1,200 shi in a year, but I am willing to pay this grain. 1,200 shi seems to be a lot, but in fact It’s only two liters per mu, and it’s only one tax per fifty, and even better irrigated land is actually one tax per hundred!”
Qin Lang took the lead in expressing his opinion that the tax rate is low.
Dai Zhou can only say that ordinary people have to pay rent and transfers, as well as serve in the military service. The burden is not light, and there are even a lot of apportionments at the local level. Now I have to pay two more stones, which is too high.
"Dai Shenzheng, you're wrong. It's not two shi, but two liters per mu. People who have 100 mu of land pay two shi. If they only have 50 mu, they actually pay one shi. For twenty mu, they only pay four liters." fight·······"
Qin Lang then said to the emperor, "After this census, many hidden households and hidden fields will definitely be cleared up. At that time, we will grant some land to the people who have insufficient land. land, and move some people with little land and no land to Kuan Township to grant land, so that the people can have more land, whether it is regular tax or land tax, the burden is actually greatly reduced."
It is expected that the land tax will be 12 million shi a year, the rent will increase by 3.6 million shi a year, and the silk will increase by nearly a million pieces a year...
This number is extremely tempting to every official present.
Even Dai Zhou felt defeated after arguing for a while.
Although later Feng Lun also believed that land tax should not be levied according to the number of acres, but should be levied according to households. According to his proposal, even if a big landlord like Qin Lang owns more than 60,000 mu of land, he should be levied according to the top class. At most five shi of grain was paid a year, which was more than 1,200 shi less than the actual amount.
This proposal was obviously for the protection of bureaucrats and dignitaries. Qin Lang opposed it loudly, but Li Shimin remained silent. In fact, he also believed that both the prince and the common people should pay grain by the mu.
Otherwise, the land tax will not be able to collect much in the last year. After all, if the land tax is not collected on a per-mu basis, but only on a household basis, it may not even collect a fraction of two million shi in that year.
National census of household registration, fields, minerals, etc., according to the new household registration and the number of fields after the census, land tax is levied. These two items were quickly reached a preliminary agreement in the Xiande Hall.
There is no way, if Qin Lang only talks about tax increases with them, it is estimated that he will fight for many days, but when he puts out a few figures, no one can object anymore.
The new land tax will be based directly on the number of acres of land. This can be said to be the final result of the continuous patching of the tax adjustment system since the Sui Dynasty. It was originally based on the grain warehouses and communal warehouses. , and it is precisely because of this foundation that Qin Lang's proposal can be passed.
After discussing for a long time, everyone's mouth is dry.
It was noon when I heard Dr. Time Teller beat the drum.
Then the emperor suspended the meeting and invited everyone to have dinner in the corridor.
In the verandah wing room, one person and one couple.
The dishes are also quite rich, including Dongpo pork, roasted rooster, fried locust, braised lamb, and a radish and duck soup.
Four dishes and one soup, the recipes were all provided by Qin Lang to the imperial dining room earlier, and even the chicken and duck that everyone eats today are actually provided by the Qin family's manor.
Because it is a work meal, there is no wine, but tea and fruit plate.
This is the standard working meal for the prime ministers. Although these are not good things for these ministers in purple robes and jade belts, they usually have no chance to enjoy them. They can be proud of eating a meal in the corridor for a long time.
The Qin family's Dongpo pork amazed everyone, and some people even didn't realize that it was pork.
Their reactions proved that the cooking technique is actually very important. Usually, this person would not try pork easily, but today they all ate very happily, and their mouths were full of oil.
Even the flour-coated fried locusts were chewed by the prime ministers one by one.
Li Shimin also likes Dongpo meat very much. Unfortunately, Qin Lang told the eldest grandson empress that the emperor eats it once every three to five days at most, and he can't eat it often, because Dongpo meat is too fat, and eating it often is not good for his health. After all, the emperor is not as good as before. Now he is dealing with affairs in the palace all day long, and his exercise consumption is not as much as before, so he can't eat too greasy,
Empress Changsun was very concerned about the emperor's diet. She often checked the emperor's recipes and strictly limited the amount of Dongpo meat the emperor ate. She could only eat one serving in a ten-day period, and only half a portion at a time.
Today, when the ministers were staying for a meal, Li Shimin specially ordered a whole portion of Dongpo meat for himself.
"A comprehensive census is imperative, but I'm afraid it won't be completed in a year or so."
The emperor swallowed a large piece of Dongpo meat, and said to Qin Lang with his chopsticks.
Qin Lang was drinking tea. He knew what the emperor was worried about. Although he had obtained some money now, it was a huge expense just to support the tens of thousands of standing troops of the imperial army, and it was not enough to have a few million pennies a year.
Not to mention, Li Shimin never forgot the shame of Weishui Bianqiao.
While Liang Shidu is not destroyed, Li Shimin is also in trouble.
All of these require money.
Li Shimin didn't have much time to wait.
He wants cash, more cash.
Qin Lang picked up a glass vial on the dining table, which was used to hold green salt. Green salt is currently the salt that is more popular among nobles, and it is the top grade of salt.
It is mainly produced in Yanzhou in the northwest of Guanzhong. It is produced by several large salt ponds such as Wuchi and Baichi. It is a kind of pond salt. Because the salt is large and green, it is called green salt. These salts have a good color and fragrance, far surpassing the Jiechi salt in the east of the river, and better than the sea salt produced in the coastal areas. Therefore, it has become the top salt enjoyed by the royal family and nobles. .
From another point of view, Yanzhou not only has green salt, but also white salt, red salt, black salt, etc. This is because of the different trace elements contained in it, and there are many trace elements in green salt. , It is extremely beneficial to the human body from a medical point of view.
This kind of salt costs more than a hundred cash per catty, which is extremely valuable.
You must know that the quality of salt produced in other salt ponds in Yanzhou is far better than that of Hedong salt, but it costs fifteen yuan more per catty.
Hedong’s solution salt costs more than ten yuan a catty, and sea salt produced in Cangzhou and Huainan salt farms in Hebei costs less than ten yuan per catty.
Many systems of the Tang Dynasty did not follow the Sui Dynasty, but the Sui Dynasty did not prohibit salt mines, that is, salt farms in various places, allowed private mining, no taxation, and no monopoly.
So while the salt merchants are making a lot of money, the people also enjoy the benefits of low salt prices.
Although salt is more expensive than rice no matter how cheap it is, the consumption of rice is large, but the consumption of salt is less after all. In normal years, it is often a bucket of rice and a catty of salt, and the price of salt is about ten times that of rice.
"Your Majesty, as long as the imperial court controls the salt, the imperial court's finances can be relieved immediately. Within three to five years, it can increase taxes for the imperial court by one or two million guan every year. After ten years, it can bring tens of millions of guan in revenue to the imperial court every year."
Hearing this, not only the emperor put down his chopsticks, but all the other ministers also put down their chopsticks.
(end of this chapter)