The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 207: People’s Livelihood in Great Qin

On May 5, after Li Yanliang and his military staff arrived in Jinghai County (today's Jinghai District of Tianjin), they parted ways with the Qin Army's grain transport convoy.

After resting for a night in the county town, he rented two carriages and headed for Tianjin Prefecture the next day.

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon that day, several carriages arrived on the outskirts of Tianjin and were blocked on the road by countless hungry people.

There were about thirty to fifty thousand people, densely packed, swarming towards the east dock. Their clothes were in tatters and barely covered their bodies. Many of them were so weak from hunger that they were out of breath for a long time even after walking a few steps. The elderly, children and pregnant women were all crowded together, suffering from exhaustion and hunger.

"What's going on?" Gan Changsheng asked quickly when he saw the old man driving the car turning around.

"Reporting to the General of Qi State." The driver responded respectfully: "They are all hungry people who ran out of the city. When they heard that a big ship was arriving at the pier, they all ran there."

"Did your Great Qin court bring the grain?"

"Although the Korean War has stopped, fake Ming warships are still wandering around from time to time. How dare the court's grain transport ships come by sea, for fear of being captured!" The handlebar shook his head and said, "Probably. Your immigration ship from Qi State, or the immigration ship from several Nanyang vassal states. Hey, not to mention, when these immigration ships come, they usually load some food, set up a few large pots at the dock, and cook some porridge and rice. , bake some big cakes, and as long as there are people who board the ship and go out to sea, everyone can be fed."

"Oh, you saw these immigrant ships coming, and your Qin government didn't care?" Gan Changsheng asked with a smile.

However, who makes people rich?

"What do you care about?" He held the horse by the handlebar and moved the carriage towards the roadside so as not to block the road of the hungry people running. "In the past, when there was no famine, the government could still keep those immigrant ships away. Don't let them dock to prevent them from plundering my people in Daqin. But with the wave of disasters from last year to now, what can the government do if they don't have food? You can't just watch the people starve to death, right? Follow me Oh, the government is eager to let these tens of thousands of disaster victims gather on boats to go out to sea, lest they starve people and cause some trouble!"

In particular, the huge scale of trade between Qin and Qi caused a large amount of silver to flow into Qin, which was equivalent to indirectly importing inflation, which caused the actual purchasing power of silver to slowly but firmly decline.

"Look at your Great Qin court, it's such nonsense! It's so slow to respond to a famine, and just watch the people under its rule flee in all directions." Gan Changsheng said sarcastically: "You might as well stop being a citizen of Great Qin and follow me. Immigration ships from Qi State are going to our Qi State to eat the popular food and drink spicy food!"

However, even this highest year's income is far from the average annual income during the Qin Dynasty.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Qin Dynasty, in the 1722th year of Qianyuan (50), about 60%-15% of the government's fiscal revenue came from industry and commerce, and the government's tariffs from import and export trade alone accounted for % of the fiscal revenue. above.

Although Da Qin replaced the former Ming Dynasty, and many political systems and governance methods were inherited from the previous dynasty, Da Qin's background was much stronger than that of the Ming Dynasty. Judging from the fiscal revenue of the imperial court, the "annual income of fifty million taels" far exceeded that of previous dynasties.

According to various detailed information, the Ming Dynasty's annual fiscal revenue was only about 300 million taels of silver. However, this was only in terms of currency, because a large part of the Ming Dynasty's revenue was collected in the form of grain payments. If these grains are also converted into currency, the annual fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty is about 2000 million taels. The highest year was the 1602th year of Wanli (AD 2295.3), when the total revenue reached million taels.

Why?

"Qiu Ba" like them, it is said that the monthly salary is dozens of silver dollars. Not to mention the salary of the new officers and soldiers of Da Qin, even the bosses in the county are not as high as them!
In addition, if you look at what they eat, drink, and use, nothing is "exquisite and abnormal." In this famine year, tens of millions of our people in the Qin Dynasty have no food and clothing, but they still look for meat every day. After meals, you have to drink tea or something that tastes weird.

Affected by the multiple influences of the Qi State, the Qin Dynasty's prosperous overseas trade, the gradual rise of domestic industry and commerce, and the increase in its own population, which meant the increase of "taxpayers", all made the imperial court's fiscal revenue significantly higher than that of the pre-Ming Dynasty. increase.

There is another hidden reason, that is, the inflation in the Qin Dynasty during this period was much more severe than that in the Ming Dynasty. Although the treasury revenue at this time was high, commodity prices were also high. Prices of rice, cloth, daily necessities, etc. in Daqin had been rising. Although the treasury had a lot of money, its purchasing power did not increase significantly, showing a slight "puffiness". "Looks like.

"Hey, that's a good relationship!" The handlebar type looked around carefully, then turned around and said with a smile: "If it weren't for the fact that the old and the young in my family still have a bit of their hometown in their hearts, I can’t help but think that I might take advantage of the government’s relaxation of control and take a boat to Qi to make a fortune!”

Is it true, as others say, that our Great Qin court is too "nonsense" and is not willing to spend money on us ordinary people?
In fact, if compared with previous dynasties, the dynasty that was most willing to spend money on the people really belonged to the Qin Dynasty!

Non-agricultural industries and the domestic and international trade developed on this basis are the main source of Da Qin's central finance!

You say, they are all of the same Chinese ethnicity, how did Qi become so wealthy?

Another point is that the Qin Dynasty also had more tax sources than the Ming Dynasty. Qin's taxation was different from that of previous dynasties. In addition to levying taxes on fields and industry and commerce (the Ming Dynasty's commercial tax collection was a joke), it also levied customs duties, salt taxes, and import taxes on luxury goods (mainly on glass and watches from Qi). , ivory, pearls, jade, precious wood, etc.).

Cane sugar, which is regarded as a rare thing by the people of Daqin, is like eating salt, and you can take out a handful in your pocket at any time.

A rough estimate shows that the population of Daqinguang was larger than that of the Wanli period of the pre-Ming Dynasty (the population of the Wanli period was about 1.2-1.3 million). With more people, more salt was eaten, and the salt tax was also higher. Coupled with other taxes and the increase in taxpayers, the tax revenue has increased significantly.

It's not like our country Qin. Although it covers thousands of miles and has a population of hundreds of millions, no one in Qi is really rich.

These Qi people look like they are superior!

When the court has money, it can naturally do more things.

In addition to developing armaments and expanding territory to eliminate border troubles in the north and northwest, it is also about concentrating on political management and consolidating the foundation of domestic rule. Post roads, railways, docks, river management, embankment construction, farmland water conservancy construction... Daqin invests hundreds of millions of taels of silver in these projects every year, actively improving various domestic infrastructure conditions.

In addition, when it comes to providing relief and assistance during times of famine, the imperial court is not as nonsense as "some people" say.

After all, they are all citizens of the Qin Dynasty, and it is also related to the stability of the foundation of rule. As an emperor, how could he not provide any relief during a period of famine and just let it fend for itself?
Don't forget, including Qi State, Beiming State, and many small Han Chinese countries in Nanyang, who are watching from the sidelines, all trying their best to "abduct and plunder" our people. If the imperial court did nothing in the face of the famine, wouldn't it be taken advantage of by "outsiders"?
What makes the Qin court even more jealous is that the collapse of the Ming Dynasty caused disasters and refugees to spread all over the world. Only then did the great ancestors of the Qin Dynasty, Sun Ke, take advantage of the situation to rise up and replace the Ming Dynasty with the Qin Dynasty, establish Shuo and establish the Qin Dynasty.

As early as when Sun Kewang was still assisting the King of Qin, he referred to Qi's disaster prevention and relief model and formulated a series of detailed "famine policy" systems, that is, disaster relief systems.

The famine policy of the Qin Dynasty covered twelve aspects, including preparing for invasion, eradicating evil, rescuing famine, providing relief, reducing squandering, lending, granting taxes, deferring levies, promoting trade, persuading defeat, building construction, and gathering exiles. Moreover, the imperial court also regarded disaster relief as an established national policy, mobilizing the power of the whole country to fight against it, in order to make some remedies and prevent the victims from being inundated with grassroots corruption. It can be said that Da Qin's famine relief measures are the culmination of all previous dynasties and can be considered the most comprehensive and complete.

Waiver (exemption) of money and grain in case of disaster was an important measure taken by the Qin Dynasty to relieve famines, that is, local taxes collected were reduced or even exempted. However, the emperor's approval was required to be approved by the emperor, and a list should be posted in the place where the emperor was exempted. If the money and grain have been collected before the decree arrives, it can be used as tax for the next year.

To put it bluntly, it is a measure to reduce or reduce taxes on money and grain based on disasters. In the past fifty years since the founding of the Qin Dynasty, various types of tax-free grains due to disasters totaled more than 23 million taels. If the disasters avoided are added in, the total number of disasters is about 26 million to 27 million, which can be said to be the highest number in history.

In addition to providing free food and money, the most direct way of relief provided by the imperial court was to provide relief, using money and food to relieve the victims. Distribute silver and rice directly to the victims to help them maintain their lives and tide over the difficulties.

During this period, when Da Qin implemented large-scale relief operations for disaster victims, there were no unified regulations on the amount of rice, money, and length of the relief period, which all depended on the severity of the disaster. But in general, "if the victims have a big mouth, they will be given 5 pieces of rice a day; if they have a small mouth, they will be given half a day; if the rice is insufficient, they will be given both silver and rice."

When a local area encounters a flood or drought, regardless of the disaster score or the level of the poor, direct relief is provided for one month, which is called regular relief. It is also called emergency relief or general relief. It is then reported to Nanjing. After the disaster is assessed and the households are examined, the relief will be given according to the disaster situation. The situation determines the disaster level and relief time.

In addition to directly distributing rice and money, relief efforts also include cooking porridge. During the famine period, local governments still set up porridge factories to provide relief. In order to improve the order of the porridge factories, measures such as men and women queuing up separately and receiving food one by one were adopted. A porridge factory is set up near the city, and a rice factory is set up within twenty miles in remote villages to cook porridge. At the same time, the Great Qin imperial court would cook relief meals in the northern and southern capitals and various places every year from the first day of October to March 20th of the following year - well, in many places it has become a mere formality, and the practice of cooking relief has gradually fallen into disuse - all for those who Prepared for homeless disaster victims.

The concentration of the porridge distributed should be such that it does not fall down when set up with chopsticks, and does not leak when wrapped in a towel. To facilitate the victims to rest, reed mats were used to provide shelter from the wind and rain. Porridge relief is also very humane, with special passages set up for the elderly, frail or disabled, and temporary toilets set up for women.

In addition, work relief is also a frequently implemented relief method. Following the model of Qi State, in disaster years, the government funded the construction of projects and provided silver and rice daily to recruit disaster victims. Most of the work relief projects are related to water conservancy, have a positive relief nature, and prepare for future production. Usually, the Great Qin court would take into account the suffering of the people and try its best to implement the work relief. For example, it stipulated, "As a rule, every free month, all the poor people will be asked to come to work; if there is an urgent project during the busy farming season, the three Take one and leave the rest to be cultivated.”

Well, to put it bluntly, it is to provide food and clothing for the victims by promoting employment and not to cause mass chaos. On the one hand, the construction of public welfare projects such as disaster prevention and water conservancy can promote the employment of disaster victims and solve the livelihood problems of disaster victims. On the other hand, the construction of public welfare projects can play a positive role in future agricultural production and disaster prevention.

According to information such as the memorials reported by the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Qin Dynasty on relief expenses and relief operations, the average annual relief expenditure of the Qin State was about 1.5 million to million taels. This amount even exceeded the annual military expenditure of the Northern Ming Dynasty. From the beginning of the Great Qin Dynasty to the present day, the Qin State has spent more than million taels of silver on famine relief.

This is not what "some people" take for granted that our Great Qin court did nothing during the famine years!
He simply loves his people like his own children!

At the same time, in order to cope with the increasingly frequent disasters, the Great Qin court also strongly encouraged civilians to carry out disaster relief. It mainly focuses on donation and penalty redemption.

Donation means that those who donate food for disaster relief will either be given a quota in the Imperial College or a casual official rank of ninth to seventh grades (named but not held). Ordinary people can also be exempted from military service by donating food.

The penalty and redemption is even simpler, which is to use the stolen money and fines confiscated from various places as a special disaster relief fund, and then allocate it to the disaster-stricken areas in the year of a major disaster.

There are also methods in which local governments come forward to encourage large households to provide relief. In addition, many private warehouses and warehouses for farmers are established among the private sector to prepare for famines.

So, since last year, there has been a severe drought in Shandong, Henan, and Hebei, with millions of victims affected. Why is there such an inability to provide relief?

Because of this, a war broke out between Da Qin and the three kingdoms of Beiming, Dongdan, and Bohai. Tens of thousands of troops arrived in North Korea and Liaodong respectively, turning the entire northern region into a logistics supply center. Hundreds of thousands of masters continuously transported materials and resources from the northern provinces to the above two countries. The battlefield, coupled with the Qin army stationed in support of Mobei, caused the local accumulation of years to be almost exhausted.

When a large-scale drought broke out, facing the maritime threat from Beiming's advantage, grain in the Jiangnan and Huguang areas could not be quickly transported to the disaster area by sea. Instead, it could only be slowly transported to the north through land routes and canals. Not only does this cost too much along the way, it's also extremely time-consuming. Coupled with the need to meet the needs of the Northeast War, Da Qin's material transportation was overwhelmed and under great pressure.

However, in view of this, the court officials suddenly realized the benefits and importance of the railway.

Damn it, no matter what, Daqin must build a railway artery connecting the north and the south.

The Military Staff Corps of Qi State in Qin has a representative office in Tianjin City. A three-door courtyard of the original Tianjin Zuowei Command Post was bought by the people of Qi State and used as an office and residence for the personnel.

However, the staff members stationed there are basically naval officers, who are used to contact and coordinate the naval supply ships and information liaison ships that stop by the place (taking into account the sensitivity of Qin State, professional warships generally stop Stationed in Gengluo Island), it also provides assistance to the Immigration Department in transferring immigrants here.

In the evening, seven or eight army staff officers arrived in two carriages covered in dust, which immediately made a group of leisurely navy officers and soldiers feel very uncomfortable.

The rude army bumpkins really disturbed our enjoyment!

"Who is the second-class tactical staff officer of the Army, Lieutenant Colonel Xuejie (Major) Li Yanliang?" A Navy officer named Colonel Xuejie (Major) looked at the several army officers in the room lying facelessly on the bed with a look of disgust. , while smoking a cigarette and discussing something in a rough voice.

"That's me." Li Yanliang glanced at the arrogant naval captain at the door without even moving his butt.

"Here is a transfer order from the mainland." The naval captain frowned, with a look of surprise on his face. "This transfer order has been there for several days. It says that as soon as you pass through Tianjin, it will be delivered to you immediately."

"Oh?" Li Yanliang was a little strange. He sat up from the bed, walked to the door, and took the transfer order from the naval captain officer.

What's going on, the transfer order was actually sent to Tianjin in advance via sea speedboat?

"Li Yanliang, the second-class tactical staff officer of the Army and Colonel Xuanjie, is hereby transferred to the Security Office of Hengguan, Ryukyu Governor-General (today's Shimonoseki City, Japan) as the deputy commander of the security and the chief officer of the first battalion of the fifth regiment. Everything will be handed over. After completing the formalities, he must take up his post before July 1st.…”

"Hey, sir, you got a fat job!" Gan Changsheng tilted his head and quickly scanned the transfer order, his face full of jealousy.

This officer is so lucky!
He is only three years older than me, but his rank is two steps higher. Nowadays, there is no need to follow the staff team to Korea to dig into the ravines, and there is no need to argue endlessly with the military personnel of the Qin and Ming Dynasties. Instead, they are directly transferred to overseas territories to serve as deputy commander of security. It is still a good place like Japan with a rich population and comfortable life. Then Don't be too happy!

His grandma’s, what’s the background?

(End of this chapter)