Red Mansion Royal Cat

Chapter 313 There is no idle land in the world, and the farmers are still starving to death.

Yongqing County has far fewer refugees than Fangshan County, but Jia Cong couldn't help shivering when he recalled the desertedness he saw in front of the porridge shed during the day.

"In my dynasty, it is strictly forbidden to keep slaves, plunder and trade people, beheading or exile, but Yongqing County is so rampant under the feet of the emperor, it is unbelievable."

As the county magistrate of Yongqing, Yi Wenxi was coaxed out of the way and did not participate in these evil deeds, but he is the parent of the people in the county, so he is also guilty of negligence.

Jia Cong cut the mess with a sharp knife, and directly asked the soldiers to hold the golden order, and went north to Tongzhou to transfer troops to Shenwu Zhongwei.

In order to atone for his meritorious deeds, according to Jia Cong's instructions, Yi Wenxi hosted a banquet for the wealthy gentry in the city who participated in such evil things, and said that the deputy imperial envoy, Mr. He will speak to the imperial court and ask for merit and praise for him.

Then he said that he planned to engrave a stone tablet to promote benevolence and goodness.All of a sudden, the banquet was pushed to a climax, and the group of sinners who were still a little vigilant were relaxed.

After Yi Wenxi stabilized this group of people, Jia Cong secretly sent people to investigate the criminal evidence of these gentry, especially the dark line of human trafficking hidden in Yongqing County.

Three days passed in a flash, and on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, three thousand soldiers of the Shenwu Zhongwei rushed into Yongqing County. The county government of the Qing Dynasty wiped out all of them, arresting and ransacking their homes.

In just two days, Shenwu Zhongwei rescued tens of thousands of people who had been coerced and lured into slavery from the mansions, farms, mines and other places outside the city.

This is not counting the men, women and children who have been sold elsewhere. According to the searched account records, in the past three years alone, Yongqing County has served as a transit, and there have been tens of thousands of "slaves" sent from Gyeonggi to Jiangnan.

"It's an unspeakable crime, and it's not an exaggeration. A commoner in Shangxian County was sold to the south of the Yangtze River like this."

After Jia Cong calmed down, he summoned his own soldiers and handed over a memorial: "Immediately return to Beijing and send the memorial to the palace, and ask Dragon Guard Cao Dudu to send someone to take over the case."

Yongqing County is just the tip of the iceberg, and the trading of tens of thousands of people is simply unheard of.The largest counties in Gyeonggi have a total population of less than [-].This is still the census during the Taizong Dynasty. In the past few decades, it is impossible not to have children.

However, the land tax in the remote Shuntian Mansion has been decreasing year after year, and Daxia pays taxes per person, so the tax revenue is getting less and less, there is only one possibility.

That is the hidden population.

But now it seems that hiding the population is no longer a big deal. People treat the people of Daxia as pigs, and they are bought and sold at will as private slaves in the houses of tyrants and wealthy merchants, and as slaves in Jiangnan workshops.

It is more likely that these people are being squeezed on those ocean-going ships.

The case in Yongqing County will soon be taken over by a special person. Jia Cong copied a copy of the dossier, and after handing it over to the Dragon Guards, he continued to inspect the cases in various counties of Shuntian Prefecture while thinking about the reasons behind these incidents. Disaster relief matters.

Perhaps it was the big case in Yongqing County. Although there were various minor problems in other counties and counties, they were generally stable.

On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, Jia Cong finally drew a circle in Shuntian Prefecture and returned to Wangpingkou Town.

Daiyu has become a living bodhisattva for more than 2000 refugees in Wangpingkou. In more than a month, the refugees in Wangpingkou have clean, tidy and warm enough huts. grain.

Because of the instruction of Prince Liu Hong, the Zhuangzi of Xishan Huangzhuang and the residence of the prince and princess have sent stewards to discuss with Daiyu in detail about recruiting landless refugees.

"Huangzhuang will accommodate more than 300 people, and there are several princes and princesses' Zhuangzi, which can also take hundreds of people. The rest will have to cultivate the newly established Huangzhuang field in the spring, which can be regarded as alive."

Wang Qingtang's house was ransacked, and a large amount of nearby land was filled into the official land of the Ministry of household affairs.According to the rules set by Grandpa Taizu, the official land is rented for cultivation, and there is no land rent, and only the land tax is paid at five liters per mu, which is much stronger than those tenants who pay half of the rent at every turn.

As long as it is cultivated well, it will be enough for a family to eat and wear warmly.

Jia Cong and Daiyu sat around the stove, and they talked about the events of these days in detail one by one.

When Daiyu talked about her admonishment to the emperor, based on Huangzhuang, the implementation of private rent of Huangtian, and set the rules to pay land taxes according to the rules of official land. vitality.

Although there are many immature aspects of this remonstrance, the emperor was overjoyed when he heard it, and seemed to have found a breakthrough to alleviate the intensified trend of refugees.

Ever since, an imperial decree was sent from the capital to Wang Pingkou, ordering Daiyu to temporarily use this method, intending to give it a try.

"If this law is really implemented, among other things, it will give these people a chance to survive."

Jia Cong gave a general account of what happened in Yongqing County, and Daiyu frowned.

I saw Daiyu wrote a line on the paper with a pen: There is no idle land in the world, and the farmers are still starving to death.

She sighed: "Actually, if we follow the land tax rules set by the Taizu, even if we encounter difficulties, the people will not even have a chance to survive. The local taxation is too heavy, and the harvested grain is not enough to cover it." In the end, the more you grow, the poorer you grow, until you mortgage your land for survival, and you end up with nothing, so you can only sell yourself as a slave."

Jia Cong thought of the captured Yongqing County's magistrate, chief secretary and other secondary officials. The rules established by the great grandfather had long been played out by these.

Daxia followed the two-tax law of the previous dynasty. The summer tax was collected before August, and the autumn grain was collected before February of the following year.At the beginning of the founding of the dynasty, the two taxes were taxes in kind. Generally, the summer tax was paid for wheat, and the autumn grain was paid for rice.

A few years later, the great grandfather who visited privately on Weibo found that the fertility of the land is different in different places, and the people's harvest is naturally different.

There are even places where mulberry and other things are grown, and in order to pay taxes, they have to exchange silk and hemp for grain to pay taxes.

Therefore, the imperial court expanded the scope of expropriation and ordered the people to pay a certain amount of silk, hemp, and cotton in proportion to the number of acres in addition to rice and wheat.

In this way, silk, hemp, and cotton became new items as subsidiary delivery objects.

The imperial court also stipulated that if silk, linen, and cotton were not handed over, a certain amount of silk, linen, and cotton could be handed over instead.

In this way, silk, linen and cotton are used as substitutes to become new items.

Of course, in order to make it easier for the people to pay taxes, the imperial court thought of all aspects, such as grain, silk or hemp, and even some places where the land was insufficient, so the people were asked to hunt directly for silver as land tax.

It's a pity that the policies above are often good, but when the imperial edict leaves the capital, the imperial court's care for the people will become various methods for corrupt officials to oppress the people.

By convention, Mimai is called true color, and other substitutes are called folded colors.Over time, such items were added one by one, adding up to almost 100 years. By the 35th year of Zhaowu, according to the investigation and statistics of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, the taxation items of true colors, folded colors, and those corrupt officials who sharpened their heads had already been taxed. As many as forty or fifty items.

What do the forty or fifty tax items represent?
According to Taizu's regulations, the land tax of officials and civilians in the world, for all official land, the tax per mu is five liters and three liters, for private land is reduced by two liters, and for heavily rented land, it is eight liters and five liters are five spoonfuls.The worst land in the people's fields, the tax is three in one scoop.

If the rules set by the Taizu were really followed, as long as the people could endure hardships, open up wasteland and farm land, not to mention rich and powerful, they would always be able to eat, clothe and give birth to a few big fat boys to continue their descendants.

But it was because the great grandfather was too thoughtful and the tax items were quite messy, which gave those corrupt officials and landlords a lot of room to attack.

For example, Yongqing County and other Gyeonggi counties, in addition to land production, are also important towns in Gyeonggi that travel from south to north. The county is rich in high-quality porcelain, and then the county government has added a porcelain tax.

Because of the theory of tribute porcelain, households that make porcelain need to pay pilgrimage tax every year.Not to mention that there are corvees, among which the annual dredging of the adjacent canal is the most terrible.

Since the Taizu Dynasty, there has been a custom. At the age of sixteen, Chengding will serve in the army, and at sixty, he will be exempted.

For example, if the canal is unblocked every winter, a large number of civilians will be killed and injured in Yongqing County due to the cold canal water.

You say you don't want to serve in the military, that's fine, just pay the money.

As a result, Yongqing County has added another income item, and those who are headmen are often gentry in the county. They use the power of assigning service, accepting bribes, and wantonly oppressing the people under their rule.

When those people who have no money to pay service silver die in the canal, they will immediately pounce on the homes of the people who have lost their pillars like wolves, occupying their wives and Susukita.

Yi Wenxi served as the county magistrate of Yongqing for two years, exhorting farming and mulberry every year, but he never heard of anyone complaining about injustice.

Why?It was just a collusion to deceive him, an outsider.

Lin Ruhai was also a parent official, and Daiyu was enlightened early, and she had been around her father since she was a child and had a lot of contact with these things.

As soon as Jia Cong talked about the situation in Yongqing County, she explained the unspoken rules to Jia Cong.

"And not only do they increase taxes privately, but they can also come up with all kinds of tricks. For example, color folding, rice and grain distribution, food tax loss, county interception, etc., there are only things you can't think of, and there is nothing they can't do."

Daiyu told the aggrieved Jia Cong the reality hidden under the prosperity: "Brother Cong, Daddy once said that every time the people pay the land tax, [-]% will be lost. Every time a tax is paid, the original In the end, the three liters and three combinations will become [-]% of the grain yield per mu. In this way, the county government is still clean, and the people still have a way to survive."

"Shocking, really shocking."

Thirty-three percent of the yield per mu is used as land tax, and the rest of the grain has to be exchanged for silver in winter as service expenses. So, what do the people have to fill their stomachs?
Jia Cong remembered the numb eyes of the refugees staring at the clear soup in the pot that day, perhaps that kind of numbness was squeezed out by those forty or fifty tax items that were pressed on them.

"Perhaps Sister Lin's advice is the best solution at the moment. At least the farmers in Huangzhuang don't have to be bullied by the officials of the county government. They only need to pay the imperial grain and national tax according to the regulations of the official land."

Jia Cong suddenly lost confidence in the "supply of each individual to the mu" that he had sent to the emperor's desk before. Whether it is the tax law or the allocation of each individual to the mu, it must be implemented by people.

To mobilize the interests of those with vested interests, I am afraid that the emperor will end in person, and he may not be able to resist the crazy counterattack of those people.

I am afraid that among those who take the lead in opposing, there are scholar-bureaucrats who are usually full of benevolence, righteousness and morality.At that time, it will be another fierce battle, and it will be a fierce battle that kills without blood.

……

Jia Cong rested in Wang Pingkou for two days. After inspecting Wang Pingkou's relief situation for the last time, Prince Liu Hong's ceremonial car finally arrived.

Daiyu handed over the follow-up matters to the people in Shuntian Mansion, and followed Prince Yijia on the journey back to Beijing.

It was not until the 29th of the twelfth lunar month that the carriage slowly drove into Rongguo Mansion.The old lady was overjoyed when she heard that, and after seeing Daiyu, she held her in her arms for a long time before letting go.

"Your father has already lived in the official post, and he can only go home after he enters the palace tomorrow. If you let him know that you, a little girl, have done those hard things, he will die of heartache."

The old lady felt sorry for her granddaughter, waving Daiyu's apparently rough hands, and glaring at Jia Cong who was standing aside.

"And you, you rough old man, it's all right to blow the cold wind, but you have to take Yu'er to suffer..."

uh~
Jia Cong smiled wryly. Except for Tanchun who looked at Daiyu enviously, everyone in the room seemed to be somewhat dissatisfied with leading Daiyu to help the disaster. Even Mrs. Xing, who had never wanted to offend Jia Cong, complained. A few words.

"Grandmother, don't blame Brother Cong. In fact, I took the initiative to stay after I went to Wang Pingkou to see those poor refugees."

Daiyu briefly talked about what she saw and heard in Wang Pingkou, especially those children who survived because of her presiding over the relief, which made Daiyu feel that it was worth the hardship.

"Your Majesty also sent a word of mouth, praising grandma for her well-bred education, saying that I would never let a woman out..."

The emperor did send Daiyu a letter in his own hand, in which he not only encouraged Daiyu to do it with confidence and boldness, but also praised Daiyu for having the ancestral style of Gusu Lin's family and the talent of the number one scholar.

As for the emperor saying that the old lady was well-bred, Daiyu added it herself.Anyway, the old lady can't go to the palace to verify in person, as long as she can make the old lady happy.

Sure enough, Daiyu precisely scratched the old lady's itching spot, which made the old lady happy immediately, and it was strange to hold Daiyu for a while.

The two worked hard for nearly two months, but they heard that Lin Ruhai had arrived in the capital and lived in the official post, so they washed and changed their clothes and boarded the carriage to go to the official post.

It's a pity that when they went, Lin Ruhai had already been ordered into the palace by the emperor, so he had no choice but to wait in front of the palace gate.

Because the New Year's Eve is approaching, the governors and governors from all over the country who came to Beijing to report their duties gathered in the near future and waited to see them. There were more than a dozen carriages in front of the Daxia Gate, and each carriage was planted with a flag.

So-and-so chief envoy, admiral such-and-such envoy, such-and-such town commander...

On the contrary, the carriage of Rongguo Mansion had Daiyu's imperial seal, the head of Wen'an County, on it.

This aroused the curiosity of many sons and brothers who accompanied their father and brother to meet. It is said that the princess of Wen'an County not only has a fairy appearance, but also has sharp words.

Moreover, the Rongguo Mansion is now very popular, and the fiancé of County Lord Lin is Ersheng's apex, and the marriage between County Lord Lin and Jia Cong of Rongguo Mansion is the same. , The carriage to Rongguo Mansion sent greeting cards one after another.

Daiyu looked at Jia Cong dumbfounded, and when she thought about it, she knew the purpose of these people sending invitations.

The Lord was resting on the carriage with the hand stove and squinting his eyes, but instead threw all the troubles to her.

"Brother Cong, why don't you go out and show your face?"

Monthly ticket recommendation ticket

　I will stop here tonight and continue tomorrow.Good night.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)