Chapter 824 Living and working in peace and contentment
Mrs. Liu didn't stay long and left after speaking. Ye Zhenzhen went back to the house and took a nap. When she woke up, it was already afternoon. There were low voices talking outside. She opened the curtain and saw that it was
It was Cui Weizhen who came back and was currently reading a book on the soft couch with his son.
"woke up?"
Cui Weizhen raised his head and glanced at her, poured a cup of warm water from the teapot and handed it to her: "Drink some water to moisten your throat."
Ye Zhenzhen was feeling thirsty. After drinking a glass of warm water, she felt relieved. She put down the tea bowl, sat down next to Cui Weizhen and asked, "What are you reading?"
When I came over to take a look, I was stunned by the book in his hand: ""Agricultural Book"? Wangzi is only five years old, how can he understand these books?"
"You can understand it! You can understand it!"
Cui Zhiduan, who was looked down upon, immediately stood up to defend his dignity: "I didn't understand before, but after dad taught me, I understand."
What a little brat, your father didn’t even dare to say he understood, but you just started to understand?
Ye Zhenzhen laughed, rubbed his furry little head, and said: "Okay, okay, our Wangzi is really smart. Only by understanding agricultural books can we understand the hardships of the people, and then we will not become a confused official when we govern in the future.
.”
"In the future, I want to be a good official who benefits the country." Cui Zhiduan expressed his ambition.
"Good ambition." Cui Weizhen praised: "The person in charge should not only care about money, but also establish a life for the people and let the people live and work in peace and contentment. This is a good official who is loved by the people."
Cui Zhiduan listened obediently to his father and mother's admonitions, with a thoughtful expression on his face. He didn't know what reasoning his little mind could come up with.
However, there is no rush. These principles of being an official and a human being will be taught gradually in the future. If the child is by their side, he will not grow crooked.
Cui Weizhen withdrew his gaze from his son and chatted with his wife, still talking about the old topic - tenants.
It was not easy for farmers in ancient times to survive. Especially during the reign of Emperor Li of the previous dynasty, corvee taxes were very heavy. Ordinary people not only had to face various natural disasters that infringed on the food in the fields, but also had to bear various harsh taxes, corvees and apportionments.
Such as land tax, poll tax, one month or even half a year's corvee, and assessments levied by the Yamen for various reasons...
With such layer upon layer of exploitation, ordinary people cannot survive at all. Under such circumstances, a large number of farmers choose to half-sell and half-give their fields to landlords or wealthy families, and become their tenant farmers in the form of paying half of their income, thus gaining protection.
No longer bear all kinds of taxes, corvees and assessments from the government.
The previous court was extremely corrupt and lost the support of the people. It was overthrown by the founding emperor of the Zhou Dynasty and changed its rule. However, the family's growing strength during this period could not be easily touched. Since then, it has become a serious problem for the court. Every emperor has
Try every means to weaken the family's strength.
The land belonging to the aristocratic family cannot be moved without justifiable reasons, so Cui Weizhen's policy of "dividing a person into an acre" became a timely blessing for the imperial court. The tax collection standard was changed from head to acres, and the vast land of the aristocratic family became the imperial court.
sources of taxation.
Secondly, the liquidation of tenants. Legally, tenants were also required to pay land taxes and perform corvee service, but they were exempted from these two items because they were protected by aristocratic families, which greatly harmed the interests of the court.
Because most of the tenants were gangsters and their people were hidden by aristocratic families, the court could not expropriate them. Secondly, it was afraid that strong measures would lead to mutiny among the tenants. This became a worry for the court.
Previously, Cui Weizhen used the Ministry of Household Accounting to calculate the country's land and population, but most tenants could not be included in the calculation.
In this regard, Cui Weizhen has done a lot of work with the support of Emperor Xuanwu. For example, as mentioned before, some aristocratic families that have surrendered to the imperial court have taken the initiative to pay taxes to the imperial court and submitted the list of tenants under their jurisdiction. In this way,
The tenants not only had to pay taxes to the family, but also had to pay taxes and perform corvee labor to the court, making life even more difficult.
When Ye Zhenzhen heard this, she couldn't help but frown. Cui Zhiduan had already said it one step ahead of her: "Dad, it's so hard for tenant farmers."
"Yes, if the two big mountains of the aristocratic family and the imperial court come down, won't the tenants mutiny?" If someone has evil intentions and incites a civil uprising, things will get serious.
"Don't worry, listen to me."
Cui Weizhen glanced at the mother and son. They were both impatient and seemed to have some troubles. Of course, the murmur in his heart did not hinder his explanation. He continued: "Since we have reached this point, the imperial court must have a countermeasure.
Yes, most of these tenants left their hometowns during the disaster years and were sheltered by powerful families, which resulted in a lot of farmland being abandoned. Therefore, the imperial court had already issued a decree that as long as the tenants returned to their hometowns, not only would they not be held responsible, but no money would be levied for clearing wasteland and farming.
.The imperial treasury is full of money, the people live and work in peace and contentment, taxes and corvee are not heavy at all, ordinary people cultivate the land peacefully, and live a much better life than the tenants. Those tenants do not know that the world has changed and do not want to adapt, so they continue to live in shrinkage.
Under the wings of a noble family, he became a refugee."
No common person wants to become a refugee, living a lifetime without a name or a surname. If he passes away with his eyes closed, what about the future generations? Do they have to be a refugee without a name and roots for generations to come?
Therefore, after the imperial decree, many tenants returned to their hometowns, and those abandoned lands were finally cultivated by people, but it was only a small group of people. After all, only those families who had surrendered to the imperial court were willing to let people go. Representatives of those conservative families and more
The vast number of dignitaries and officials in the court also have a lot of land and tenants in their names. It is extremely difficult to touch the interests in their hands.
Think about the pioneers of reform throughout the ages, Shang Yang, Wang Mang, Wang Anshi...the fate of these people is not ordinary.
Cui Zhiduan, a five-year-old baby, naturally didn't know what a dangerous thing his father had done, so he asked curiously: "Dad, if the family lets the tenants go, who will farm the land for them?"
"good question."
Cui Weizhen was very pleasantly surprised. At his son's age, it was already very difficult to think of this. He explained in detail: "Most tenants will return to their hometowns, and there will still be a small number of tenants who choose to stay. In this case
, in order not to lose this group of people, various aristocratic families will inevitably reduce taxes to attract them. In addition, they can also hire local people to farm the land."
"Don't the local people also have land?"
Cui Weizhen said: "The people live and work in peace and contentment, and there is a surplus of labor at home. The few acres of land they have at home are far from meeting their needs. Many people go out to do part-time work or do business. Your third uncle went out to work as a bodyguard back then.
.Now that the aristocratic families have extra land, they can hire these surplus young men to work. In this way, the aristocratic families will not waste the land, and also avoid some unstable factors caused by the flow of young men, which is good for the court.
"
Cui Zhiduan was half-aware, but nodded anyway.
Ye Zhenzhen has lived in ancient times for so many years and has a deeper understanding. This policy is also of great benefit to the imperial court's "emphasis on agriculture and suppression of business" policy.
The imperial court's household registration system was very strict to prevent the loss of local youth and strength, and the people had abandoned their land to do business. Now that there is surplus land to tie them down, it is naturally good.
Of course, these are not what Ye Zhenzhen cares about. What she cares about is what stage Cui Zhiduan's reforms have reached.
