722 Datang's First Agricultural Expansion Conference
"What is Tianying Pavilion talking about?" Li Er asked!
"Brother Imperial, I actually have two things to discuss. One is about food, and the other is to put pressure on these guys. The chief officials of the three provinces must be selected before the autumn harvest and take office. I want to tidy up the fields in the winter.
The thing is, if there is not a good harvest next year, how will I pay for the military expenses of attacking Gaochang? What about the year after next? I will provide food for attacking Japanese islands. And after that?"
Li Er will kill anyone who dares to say that food is not important.
Even if you pile up mountains of gold, without food, the Tang Dynasty will be destroyed.
Discussing the agricultural crisis when the harvest is about to happen is in line with the ancient saying: Be prepared for danger in times of peace!
Li Yuanxing issued an imperial edict. On the fourth day of August, after the major exam, the Tianying Pavilion meeting was held. Officials of six grades and above from the six ministries, five divisions and nine temples in Chang'an City were required to be present. Officials from various states and counties who came to Chang'an on official business, all officials of sixth grade and above, were required to be present.
The edict was written on the first day of August.
But in just two days, the people from the Protocol Department under the Ministry of Rites of the Tang Dynasty were so busy that they managed to arrange the venue in the early morning of the fourth day of August. The meeting place was on the left side of the main hall of the New Imperial Palace, the Tianying Pavilion Grand Forum.
held in.
There were only seven chairs on the main stage of the venue.
There is a table in front of seven chairs, and in the open space ahead there are two cages covered with cloth, and then two trees.
There are twelve chairs on both sides, just on both sides of the cage.
Those under the stage were the officials participating in the meeting. The seating arrangement was carefully considered by the Ministry of Etiquette. Li Yuanxing did not interfere, nor did Li Er.
All the officials are here! The seat on the stage is still empty.
Next, the first person to walk out was Xiao Yu. Many officials were a little surprised. Isn't Xiao Yu not in Liaodong at this time? How could he appear in the venue?
Next, from the Ten Paths of the Tang Dynasty, Jing Zhao. A total of eleven second-grade feudal officials sat on the twelve chairs.
Because the official positions and positions are the same, the seats in the Ministry of Rites are arranged according to age.
After the twenty officials were seated, the current lord of Tianying Pavilion Wang Jishan, the largest existing official in the three provinces, and the servant Changsun Wuji. Yu Shinan, a famous official in Chang'an City, and Yan Shigu, a famous scholar. The four people sat on the outside of the seven chairs.
On four seats.
Li Yuan, holding Wu Zhao, actually appeared at the venue at this time. What was surprising was that Li Yuan and Wu Zhao actually sat on the second seat. The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty and the King of Qin of the Tang Dynasty walked out at the same time. Li Er naturally sat on
Theme.
In such a meeting, there was no seat for King Qin, and all the officials were in an uproar.
"Quiet!" Li Er shouted coldly.
Li Yuanxing smiled, tried the microphone on his collar, and strode to the stage: "Today is a meeting, it may take a long time. There will be a break every hour. I only have one thing to say
, even if the meeting cannot produce any results, then we will eat, drink and sleep in this meeting place until there is a result."
This is about agriculture, which has been clearly stated in the imperial edict.
When the officials sat down, Li Yuanxing pointed to the two trees planted in the large flower pots and said: "These are two locust trees. One was planted at the beginning of the year and is a sapling, while the other is five years old."
After that, Li Yuanxing motioned to pull down the two cages. There were two wolves in the cages.
One is a cub, and the other is an adult giant wolf, both with iron halters on their mouths.
"It's easier to break this tree without using tools. I think it's easier to get saplings. These two cages. If one of the people here were locked in, I'm afraid they would all choose this little wolf."
Everyone laughed, there would be no second choice for this thing, even if the adult wolf wears an iron halter, it is still scary.
Li Yuanxing waved his hand, indicating that these things should be moved down.
When he came to the stage, Li Yuanxing said loudly: "We are all knowledgeable people here, so I won't explain the word trouble. But what I want to say is that trouble is just like this tree. It's better to use it when you are young.
Solve it. When the trouble becomes bigger and more complicated, it will become very troublesome!"
Li Yuanxing's words were convoluted, but no one present could not understand.
"I am not a great talent. Some people think that my ability to solve troubles is pretty good. In fact, I always hope to solve the troubles when they first arise. That's why it seems that I have some ability. This time
The meeting has only one topic, which is to start solving the food problem now before it arises!"
"Your Highness, I never have enough food in Lingnan." Feng Ang said.
The Governor of Longxi also said: "Longxi is bitterly cold and there is not enough food." After saying that, he turned to look at the Governor of Henan Province and said: "I heard that the grain warehouses of your Henan Province can't be loaded. I want to trade here, businessman.
They say that transporting grain is not an expense, just keeping up with consumption is at least 30% of the grain, or even 50%!"
"The Ministry of Railways is doing nothing!" Leng Buding, the governor of Henan Road, said.
The Ministry of Railways, which had just taken office and had not done any major things yet, was sweating coldly from the Third Rank Minister, but he didn't know how to explain it.
Li Yuanxing smiled and stretched out his hand to press down: "Everyone, let's not mention the difficulties first. Let's discuss them one by one!"
"Listen to His Highness the King of Qin!" Li Shentong, the governor of Huainan Road, was the first to speak in support of Li Yuanxing.
"Let me talk about the first thing first. I made a calculation with my brother a few days ago, that is, how many fields there are in the Tang Dynasty. I remember that there was a decree in the fourth year of Wude, and an adult man got one hectare of land, of which twenty
Mu is the permanent field, and women have less, but they still have twenty acres. That means that everyone in the Tang Dynasty has at least fifty acres. But why can't I see where these fields are?"
The officials of Sinong Temple were sweating.
Today was a big discussion, and those who made big mistakes would be severely punished. He was a little scared.
Not to mention him, Cui Junsu, the Minister of Household Affairs, felt tremendous pressure. He would not be able to escape responsibility if he was held accountable.
Datang currently has only 2,600,000 acres of farmland, which does not even meet the per capita standard of Yongye farmland, let alone the land allocated to households.
"I will not hold anyone accountable. I am not here to cause trouble for you today. I just want to find a solution to the problem. Yongye Tian is not allowed to be bought and sold, and all states and counties have records. I don't care where the problem lies. I don't care about it.
It is something that the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of Household Affairs must consider."
Li Yuanxing relieved the officials' worries.
"How many fields are there in the Tang Dynasty? My first suggestion is to conduct a nationwide survey after the autumn harvest. In winter, we will actually measure the number of good and bad fields owned by each village, township, county, and prefecture. As well as the number of bad fields that can be transformed into good fields.
.More importantly, by the way, we need to conduct another census to see how many people I think the Tang Dynasty has. This needs to be done."
Having said this, Li Yuanxing took off his coat and threw it aside. Wearing only his personal attire, he retreated to the table where Li Er and others were sitting, and picked up a copy of the imperial edict.
"There is an imperial edict here. The capitation tax is waived! Let those gangsters come to light and tell them that they don't have to hide anymore."
Putting down the imperial edict, Li Yuanxing came to the stage again: "The two major taxes are the human tax. The second is the land tax. It is unfair to collect taxes based on the head. Therefore, the king requested to cancel the order and change it to a per capita income tax. The monthly income will be less than
Those with a certain value do not need to pay tax, but those with high incomes will be taxed. I recommend using progressive tax rates!"
Li Yuanxing turned around and nodded to Wu Zhao.
Wu Zhao explained in detail what a progressive income tax rate is. But he did not set a standard. In modern terms, it is the starting point.
After Wu Zhao finished speaking, Li Yuanxing asked someone to hand the microphone to Cui Junsu.
"The starting point, the additional point, and the highest standard of collection. Your Majesty, I need to discuss it in detail. I just want to talk about the existing capitation tax. The Tang Dynasty pays 2 dan of grain to the country every year, which is called "rent"; pay
2 feet of silk, 3 taels of cotton or 2 feet 4 feet of cloth and 3 pounds of linen are called "diao"; a man in his prime serves for 20 days every year, and those who do not serve can be replaced by silk cloth, which is called "yong". According to the current market price in Chang'an,
If this tax is too high or too low, please tell me about it from the governors of Longxi, Lingnan, Shannan and others!"
Cui Junsu handed the microphone to the meeting attendant.
The three governors were still looking at each other to choose who would speak first, but Dugu Xiude stood up and picked up the microphone placed on his desk.
"Cui Shangshu said one thing less, which is wide township and narrow township. I asked the King of Qin, is one hundred acres per person in Chang'an County enough? In Yaozhou, I'm afraid you don't even have ten acres per person. Let's talk about Luoyang, that place
Nowadays, one person can be divided into eight hundred acres. To use Princess Mingyue’s new word, it is population density.”
After saying that, Dugu Shunde handed the microphone directly to the Governor of Longxi sitting next to him.
"Well, although Longxi is a wide township, no matter how much land is divided, the output is small. Fifteen yen per acre of land is already a reward, but can one earn 15 yen per acre? This requires food.
They also have to wear clothes and pay a poll tax. If the people can pay enough taxes for a year, they will be grateful to God if they can have enough to eat."
After taking a sip of water, the Governor of Longxi looked at Cui Junsu and smiled: "Old Cui, your Qinghe Cui family is a big family. Since the Wude Year, you have kept a low profile for fear of the big tree attracting wind. In fact, our family is the same. But there are some
The small gentry, who are ordinary people, are secretly annexing the land because they want to become bigger. This must be true."
"Our Cui family also has some branches that have done such things!"
Cui Junsu did not avoid this topic. Li Yuanxing said that he would not hold anyone accountable today, but was just here to solve the problem. Li Yuanxing's integrity was top-notch in Datang.
Li Yuanxing smiled and nodded: "Actually, paper is expensive, pens are expensive, transportation is inconvenient, information is not circulated enough, the government organization is simple, and there is no clever statistical method. So this is not a fault, it can only be said to be the fault of the Tang Dynasty
We need to change our shortcomings and become more diligent."
There are many craftsmen in Chang'an City who earn two guan of money a month.
There are many people in Longxi whose family cannot earn more than two dollars a year.
Li Yuanxing knew this. Life in ancient times, especially in remote areas, was still very difficult.
"Cui Shangshu, how about levying two quid a month?" Li Yuanxing asked with a smile.
"There will be no taxes to be collected in the Tang Dynasty. I think the threshold is too high. According to Princess Mingyue, it can be adjusted according to the people's livelihood situation in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, when we first set out, I thought that the threshold should be set to allow the poor people to pay taxes."
It’s great if your family can be exempted from taxes. Therefore, I would like to discuss the specific data, so please bear with me!”
Li Yuanxing looked back at Li Er and then at Wang Jishan. After both of them nodded, Li Yuanxing said: "Okay, this is where the newcomer's tax ends. Naturally, it needs to be calculated in detail."
"Ten days!" Cui Junsu gave a timetable and added: "I just think that whether the standards for dividing roads can be determined, Jingzhao and Longyou are naturally incomparable."
"Long You will soon become extremely rich, don't let them go!" Li Yuanxing laughed.