I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 276 Su Liang: Guan Jia, you are such an idiot!

There were five taxes in the Song Dynasty.

They are: Fu on public fields, Fu on civilian fields, Fu on city walls, Fu on Dingkou and Fu on miscellaneous changes.

Among them, Dingkou's gift is Dingqian.

In the current Song Dynasty, all areas south of the Yangtze River, except Sichuan and Shu, are required to pay a small fee, also known as: head tax.

All men, after reaching the age of 20, have to pay a small amount of money.

This is the harsh tax left over from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

The Song Dynasty never abandoned it, but accepted it completely.

The living standards vary from region to region.

For example: Fujian Road means "every household pays seven dou and five liters of ding meters per year", and Liangzhe Road means "those who have ding meters of up to 3,500 liters each year"...

Because of their small income, many low-income families in the South can only raise two boys and one girl at most, and if they don't, they will drown them in a basin.

The man was killed because he was too rich.

In addition to the lower status of women, another reason for femicide is excessive dowry.

Therefore, more men kill men and more women kill women. The custom has been passed down from generation to generation and has become a local custom.

Even though the government officials blocked it many times, the ban continued.

Cai Xiang presented this memorial because the local customs were so extreme that it was shocking, so he asked the court to reduce the cost of his birth to alleviate the common people's tendency to indulge their children.

……

Inside the Yushitai.

Tang Jie looked at Su Liang, Fan Zhen and Lu Hui and asked, "Three of you, what do you think?"

Fan Zhen frowned slightly.

"The reasons for not having children in the Southeast are different for men and women. Men do it because of the extra money, and women do it because the concept of favoring sons over daughters and the trend of generous marriages are prevalent. I think there can be measures to curb the trend of heavy marriages, but reduce the amount of extra money. I’m afraid it’s difficult to do.”

At the moment, the money in the Song Dynasty's treasury can be described as a carrot and a pit.

If the royalties are reduced or reduced, the court will lose a large amount of income.

Lu Jie shook his head and said: "No. This trend of drowning children has become a bad custom. If it is not stopped, it may become a serious problem and the population will be difficult to increase. How can we improve commerce and strengthen the country's strength? Abolition of the single coin is a long-term strategy."

"Abolish it? Have you ever thought about how local yamen will survive once the cash payment is abolished? If they give up the challenge, there will be chaos down there!" Fan Zhen retorted.

"Then you can combine the dingqian and the land tax. Those who have land will pay the dingqian, and those without land will not pay." Lu Hui made another suggestion.

"This would be even more unfair!" Fan Zhen shook his head.

Hearing Lu Hui's words, Su Liang's eyes lit up.

This policy is similar to the later generations' method of dividing the land into an area.

But after Su Liang thought about it, he felt that it was not feasible.

Spreading a small family into an entire farm is not a good strategy that can cure all diseases, especially for the current Song Dynasty.

If the policy of dividing land into acres is implemented, those who own good land will naturally be happy, but those who own bad land will feel resentful, because according to the method of dividing land into acres, the layout needs to be re-planned, and many problems will inevitably occur.

Secondly, there is another reason why it is not feasible.

The various legal strategies of the Song Dynasty Reform have pushed various local officials to the extreme. If even this little "oil and water" is withdrawn, big problems will definitely occur in the south.

The "oil and water" in Su Liang's eyes was not the greedy wealth of local officials, but the cost of raising their subordinates.

This fee has always been in a gray area.

However, we should always keep strict control to prevent officials from robbing the people of their wealth and wealth. However, if we follow the trick of "when the water is clear, there will be no fish", it will be completely chaotic!

In order to maintain the operation of the government offices, for the sake of official career, and for the sake of political achievements, local officials will inevitably add exorbitant taxes and levies under clever names. It will be terrible if the people are forced to rebel.

all in all.

It is a good strategy to share the land with the peasants, but it is not suitable for the current Song Dynasty, especially the Song Dynasty under the state of reform throughout the Song Dynasty.

……

Fan Zhen and Lu Jie argued for a long time without any result, so they couldn't help but look at Su Liang.

Su Liang thought for a while and said: "I think we should first reduce the salary by 30%, and then consider whether to abolish it in the future. There are too many problems if we abolish it now."

Tang Jie couldn't help but be stunned.

"Thirty percent? Jing Ming, this is treating the symptoms but not the root cause! Being so conservative is not your style."

Su Liang said with a smile: "Everyone, even if we exempt all the money from the family and cancel the dowry for all women in the world, the trend of spoiling children will still exist. You have ignored one of the most important reasons."

"what reason?"

Tang Jie, Fan Zhen, and Lu Jie looked at Su Liang at the same time, with confused expressions on their faces. "People in the countryside don't have much nightlife. Most of them go to their bunks after dark. Married men in their twenties and thirties are in their prime. You tell me, what can they do? Give birth to children!"

"The better your physical strength, the more children you will have. It is not an exaggeration to have eight children in ten years. Not to mention poor families, even ordinary landlord families will become poor after raising more than ten children. After the family is divided, they will become poor."

"Three of you, please refer to our Prince of Runan. He currently has twenty-two sons and eighteen daughters. If ordinary people have so many children in their homes, if a few are not drowned, a few will starve to death!" "

"In my opinion, if we want to completely solve the problem of infant drowning, we still need to invent a non-toxic contraceptive. If couples don't want to have children, they can just take it. It's really cruel to drown babies!"

……

After hearing these words, Tang Jie, Fan Zhen and Lu Jie felt like fools.

They actually ignored the most important reason.

The inability to prevent pregnancy is the main culprit of childbirth, and some people are indeed too fertile.

……

Immediately, the Taiwan admonishers wrote memorials based on their respective understandings and submitted them.

……

On July 16, in Chui Gong Hall.

The princes of the two prefectures and three departments, the chief officials of Taijian, and the bachelors of the bachelor's college all came.

Zhao Zhen was the first to speak: "Since Cai Xiang submitted the "Begging for Reduction and Release of Zhang Quanzhou Xinghua Army Personnel Ding Mi Zazi" and "The Picture of Giving Up Children Without Giving Up", I asked all the ministers to work together, and everyone put forward many suggestions. I feel that personal money has been going on for many years and is an important revenue and expenditure of the imperial court. If it is abandoned, it will definitely cause a series of problems. Now, the national treasury is not rich. When the national treasury is sufficient, I will definitely abandon this policy, but Not now.”

"After discussing with Prime Minister Ji, I decided to reduce my salary by 40%, so as to minimize the problem of not having children due to taxes, and also reduce some of the burden on the people. Do you have any objections?"

After all the ministers looked at each other, they almost said in unison: "I have no objection."

Zhao Zhen nodded, and then looked at Su Liang.

"Su Qing also proposed a strategy, suggesting that the Imperial Hospital should invent a non-toxic contraceptive as soon as possible so that women who no longer have children can avoid the pain of pregnancy. This plan is very good. I have issued an edict to the Imperial Hospital. They must Will do my best.”

"In addition, the culture of generous marriages that everyone mentioned is also the main reason why the number of female infants drowning is much higher than that of male infants."

"In recent years, the marriages of wealthy businessmen and noble families have all cost them thousands of acres of land and ten miles of red dowry. The dowry procession stretches for miles and there are countless jewels. Even I am not exempt from the custom. Now that I think about it, when I got married, it was even too extravagant. ."

"I feel that this kind of extravagant style should be curbed, but it seems unreasonable to restrict it by legislative decree. After all, getting married is a lifelong event and should not be too casual. Do you have a better way?"

At this time, Zuo Sijian He Tan slowly walked out.

"In the official family, I believe that the trend of generous marriages is caused by the competition among nobles and wealthy businessmen. It is better to block it than to introduce it. If the royal family can get rid of the extravagant trend and give correct guidance to the people, I believe that in the near future, this extravagant trend will definitely be eliminated. The wind will correct itself."

"According to my information, the king of Runan County will marry his daughter next month. If he can avoid extravagant dowries and practice frugality, he will surely be the first to set an example and attract the gentry and wealthy businessmen from all over the world to follow him. Then the habit of marrying richly will naturally be alleviated."

In short.

What He Tan means is that if the royal family takes the lead in giving extravagant dowries, people in the world will surely follow suit in the future.

Hearing this, Zhao Zhen couldn't help but reveal a wry smile.

Zhao Yunrang saved money for three years for his married daughter, and also borrowed money and things from everywhere. The purpose was to be as close as possible to the marriage of Zhao Zongshi and Gao Taotao, so that his daughter would not be upset.

Zhao Zhen knows these things very well.

Now asking him to remove his extravagant dowry would definitely be more uncomfortable than killing him.

Zhao Zhen thought about it and felt that it was inappropriate to talk about it himself.

After all, the high dowry was prepared by him and Queen Cao, and it was too extravagant.

If Zhao Yunrang refuted, it would be really difficult for Zhao Zhen to convince him.

"Who is willing to persuade the king of Runan County to give extravagant dowries and practice frugality?" Zhao Zhen asked.

All the officials were stunned.

They originally thought that this problem must be solved by the officials, but they never thought that the officials would not open their mouths.

At this moment, Su Liang buried his head in his neck.

He had just lent Zhao Yun two cakes to Jianxi Xiaolongtuan, and now if he tried to persuade him to keep everything simple, wouldn't it make the other party think that Su Liang wanted the tea cakes back.

Moreover, Zhao Yunrang loves face so much that it may be difficult to convince him.

Seeing that the people around him had their heads lowered, He Tan could not help but stand forward and said: "I am willing to go to the official family!"

Zhao Zhen nodded with satisfaction, then looked at Su Liang, who lowered his head like a heavy sunflower, and said, "Su Qing, you are familiar with the Prince of Runan, so go with He Sijian!"

Having said that, Zhao Zhen didn't wait for Su Liang's reaction and said directly: Retreat from the court.

Immediately, he got up and left.

Su Liang was about to cry but had no tears, and murmured: "This... this... is such a disaster!"

(End of this chapter)