Chapter 5371 Why didn’t we rebel in ancient times?
Xuanwu said thoughtfully: "Yes, the Han Dynasty is indeed Confucianism. On the surface, it is Confucianism. It uses the term benevolence and righteousness, plus the Taoist Huang-Lao technique, to live and recuperate with the people, and to do light work and low taxes. In this way
It has the support of the people. However, this light corvee and low tax is only compared to the tax of the Qin Dynasty. The tax of the Han Dynasty was still very heavy, much higher than our tax today. However, after experiencing
After hundreds of years of war and heavy taxes from the Qin Dynasty, the people at that time could afford this burden."
Bai Hu said coldly: "What Mr. Xuanwu said is partly correct. In our era, the taxes of the common people are not low at all. The part that has to be paid to the court is indeed not that much, but if you add the part that has to be paid to the noble families."
The share of the family is not much at all. The most we can say is that they pay a lot of food and taxes, but they can use methods such as concealment and fraud to avoid the corvee, especially military service.
"
Qinglong laughed: "Isn't the heaviest taxation the corvee and military service? It takes one or two months every year, or even more. The main labor force is not at home all year round, and they have to work for the noble families, building roads, irrigating, and transporting supplies.
They also have to undertake the task of guarding the city as a prefecture and county servant. If these time and manpower are used to cultivate their own land, the lives of the people will be much better. The approach of the Han Dynasty was just to use this time
In serving the country and providing food, grass and cloth, the Han Dynasty was able to quickly accumulate a large amount of wealth in decades, which also gave Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty the conditions to fight the Huns."
Bai Hu nodded: "Yes, let's go back and talk about the military system. In fact, what I said before is just one point. The country is getting bigger and the places are getting bigger. It does not mean that we were qualified before.
There are more and more Chinese and nobles joining the army. On the contrary, their number is almost unchanged or only slightly increased, and they are increasingly transformed into officers and generals, taking up command positions instead of being the main force in the front line. Then
The source of these front-line combatants turned to savages and common people. The Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period successively implemented reforms and gave these common people and savages tax exemptions as soldiers and the benefits of being promoted to officials, stimulating them to fight for the country. This is actually the loss of the army by the gentry.
The beginning of control.”
Xuanwu said in a deep voice: "Yes, since ancient times, there has been a saying that prime ministers must start from the state department, and strong generals must be promoted to the army. To govern a country, one must have a deep understanding of the situation at the grassroots level, starting from the officials, and the army is even more
It has its particularity, that is, your status in the hearts of the soldiers, which determines the extent to which your orders will be implemented by the soldiers. Only those generals who share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, eat in the same pot and sleep in the same tent,
Only those generals who can personally bandage the wounds of the soldiers, or even suck out the pus and apply medicine, will let the soldiers die for them. As the nobles become more and more separated from ordinary soldiers born from the common people, these distances and barriers will also become more and more important.
The bigger.”
Suzaku shook his head and said: "I don't think that's entirely the case. What Mr. Xuanwu said is just a small favor from the general to win over people's hearts. It will only move the soldiers for a while, but in the long run, a commander with tens of thousands or dozens of
How can a general of ten thousand armies have the time and energy to spread this kind of favor to the entire army?
What matters is whether the merits and rewards after the war are fair and whether the rewards satisfy the soldiers. These are more institutional things."
Bai Hu laughed and said, "Military merit is an institutional thing. It not only legally requires that every adult male may have to fight for the country at any time, but also if there is a war and you are called to join the army, you must set off, no.
The conditions are negotiable, but the whole family will be exempted from taxes and service when joining the army, and after meritorious service, they will be rewarded with titles and official positions. This transaction with the country seems to be fair and reasonable, and it can also stimulate the people to be happy when they hear about the war."
Qinglong curled up his lips in disdain: "It's just a trick. He uses the small position of a village official or a local official to deceive the people of the country into working for him. In the end, he just becomes a village official or a local official, and he can't pass it on.
"Zi Chuansun, Shang Yang's deception is really a slippery slope. It's because the people of Qin are not very smart that they actually think this is a great favor."
Bai Hu said calmly: "Lord Qinglong, I think this is a clear sign of your superiority and separation from the bottom. These village officials and rural officials are nothing in the eyes of nobles like us, but in the villages and villages at the bottom, those
Even the local emperor who covers the sky with his hands is enough to allow these village officials and village officials to bully men and women and run rampant. Let alone the Qin Dynasty, even now, do you know that the stewards and village heads of our manors are in front of us?
How arrogant and overbearing can these people, who are nodding and bowing, even more obedient than dogs, be when they return to the village? Do you think they will withhold much of the grain and cloth they hand in every year? Have you seen what they do?
Is the home different from the homes of other ordinary tenants and bankers in the village?"
Qinglong gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: "In any era, this kind of grassroots officials are like this, Qin officials are like this, and our village leaders are like this. There is no way. There are high and low in life. I think Baihu
Your Excellency, you have stayed with Liu Yu for too long, and you have taken his statement that everyone is equal to be true."
Bai Hu said calmly: "Is this statement wrong? We regard the common people and tenants at the bottom as ants, just like the ancient gentry and Chinese people regard common people and savages as ants. As a result, the huge number of these ants
In front of us, once there is a powerful person to lead it, it will cause us huge harm. Didn't Sun En's Rebellion prove the power of these ants? Now our gentry children will hardly join the army and become front-line combat sergeants, but let the ants pick up the
Now that we have weapons and are familiar with the tactics, I still have the same question as before, once they rise up and cause chaos, what can we do to stop them?"
Qinglong said in a deep voice: "Control their families and divide them. As long as there is no one to lead or organize, good people, who will think about rebellion all day long? Look at the high-intensity and high-intensity wars during the Warring States Period.
With heavy taxes and servitude, in which country the people rebelled or the army mutinied?"
Xuanwu smiled slightly: "This is a very interesting question. Mr. Baihu, I also want to hear your explanation. Why in the pre-Qin era when the burden on the people was much heavier than today, there was no major rebellion like Sun En's Rebellion. At most, it was just banditry.
At this level, they are just bandits running rampant across several states and counties. Even Sima Guofan is bigger than them." (End of Chapter)