God bless the first day of March in the second year and it will be sunny.
After the Shuowang Dynasty Meeting, Shao Shude returned to his home in Xiuyefang. Almost at the same time, Wang Pu came over with another set of utensils.
"Your Highness, the queen personally said in front of all the ministers, 'It is difficult to hide the great name of the great master, but his true love must be revealed.' So, don't refuse." Wang Pu said.
"The queen is so kind and loving, I am so grateful that I don't know what to say." Shao Shude sighed.
"Incomparable achievements deserve special rewards." Wang Pu complimented with a smile, and then ordered his entourage to send a set of equipment into Shao's house.
Shao Shude asked people to distribute some rewards, and everyone was immediately happy.
"Prepare the horses, I want to enter the palace to thank you." Shao Shude told Li Yixian: "Also invite the prime ministers of the Zhengshi Hall, the head of the household department and the Henan Yinzhi Xianju Hall to tell the queen that she will hold a Yanying inquiry."
"As ordered." Li Yixian responded immediately.
After a while, Wang Pu left first. Shao Shude waited for a while, then went to Shangyang Palace under the protection of his entourage.
Today's meeting with the prime ministers is to sort out finances and taxes.
Financial planning, major affairs of the country.
The collapse of an empire often begins with financial deficit.
After entering Shangyang Palace, he first went to Lichun Palace.
In fact, he just left early this morning, and he arrived at this time, so he was quite busy.
The queen was changing clothes. As soon as they met, the first words she said almost made Shao Shude faint: "You have done too much."
Shao Shude calmed his mind and said: "I have received great kindness, and I can only repay the queen with my blood."
The Queen rolled her eyes at him and said, "Come and change my clothes quickly."
"I obey the order." Shao Shude waved the palace attendants to leave.
These girls are clumsy. They lived an unrestrained life in the tribe before entering the palace. They will slowly start to learn the rules and the progress is very slow. However, they are more loyal and reliable and will not talk nonsense.
Shao Shude studied in depth how to untie the queen's various sets of ceremonial clothes, and of course he also put them on in reverse. His movements were even smoother than those of the palace people, and he was finished in a short time.
The queen also enjoyed this process very much. It was really harmonious between the monarch and his ministers!
"Do you want to ride in the royal chariot together?" The queen asked softly, leaning in Shao Shude's arms.
After the road to the soul was occupied, the queen's anxiety was greatly reduced, but it also brought about a side effect, that is, the number of draws became less and less.
"I will go first, and the queen can come later," Shao Shude said.
After that, he pinched the queen's face and left first.
Someone has already arrived in Xianju Hall.
"See Grand Tutor." Pei Tingyu saluted.
Dongdu was dismissed, Gao Renhou no longer served as the Yin of Henan, and was replaced by Pei Tingyu. As a native of Wenxi in Hedong, he served Shao Shude for more than ten years, so he was considered one of his own, otherwise he would not have been able to become the Yin of Henan.
"Sit down." Shao Shude nodded, and then greeted the officials again.
Half an hour later, the queen also arrived, and Yanying's interrogation officially began.
"In the first year of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was a two-tax law, which established a two-tax and three-thirds tax system." Shao Shude spoke first without hesitation, saying: "Now that the towns are abolishing them one after another, the taxes must be sorted out. Now we will take Ru Town, the eastern capital, as the
For example, use small things to see big things, and come up with a charter. Let’s see how much wealth will be retained in the local area in the future, and how much will be given to the court.”
The two taxes refer to the summer tax and the autumn tax, which are collected twice a year. The tax is based on the amount of property and not on the head.
Three points refers to the taxes collected. The governor first deducts a part of the "remaining state" funds, and then "sends" the rest to the envoys. The Jiedushi envoys then deduct part of the funds, and the remaining "offer" to the court.
The territory under Shao Shude's jurisdiction is basically the same model. For the vassal town where he is appointed as the Jiedushi envoy, he gets the "envoy" money, while for the vassal town that does not hold the post concurrently, he gets the "offer", but this part of the "offer"
It's just a lot, just like when the imperial court collected taxes from the observation envoys in the south.
"Queen, Grand Tutor, all teachers." Seeing that everyone was focusing on him, Henan Yin Pei Tingyu immediately stood up and said: "It is a great kindness for the Grand Tutor to set up Taoism and envoys. I believe that all the prefectures in the world
, Generally speaking, the cost is about the same, I would like to give you some advice, maybe it will help you gain something."
"It's okay to say it, Pei Qing," the queen said.
"According to the decree." Pei Tingyu cleared his throat and said: "The twenty-one counties of Henan Prefecture, Yique, Luhun, Yiyang, Shouan, Fuchang, Yongning, and Changshui seven counties are located in the southwest of the prefecture, connected to Deng.
, Guo, the rivers and valleys are wide and deep, and there are many elk. People are engaged in hunting instead of farming, and migration is irregular, so the two taxes are less. The six counties of Luoyang, Henan, Yanshi, Gong, Xin'an, and Mianchi have favorable geographical conditions for farming and canal transport.
Zhongzhong has prosperous business and travel, so it is relatively prosperous. To the southeast of the prefecture, there are Yingyang, Fengshi, Dengfeng, Gaocheng, Yangzhai and Miliu counties. The land is vast and rich, and it is connected to Chenxu, Zhenghua, and Yifan
Yin Yan. The two counties of Heqing and Wangwu are isolated in Hebei, but they have the benefits of business travel and transportation. In the first year of Tianyou, the Henan Prefecture's two taxes were reduced to more than 41,000 yuan."
This money mainly refers to miscellaneous things such as household taxes, young crop money, and consultation taxes, which are converted into copper coins. Things like local taxes are purely grain and are not included.
But whether it is household tax or local tax, there is actually a serious problem, that is, there is no fixed tax rate.
After the Anshi Rebellion, the fiscal system of living within one's means is very terrible. How much money is spent and how much tax is levied? Isn't this a hooliganism?
If Shao Shude wants to reduce the burden on the people, he doesn't need to take any measures to recuperate. If you fix the tax rate, the people will be very grateful to you.
How much grain is collected every year? Can you give it clearly? Don’t do whatever you want.
Therefore, the Henan government's fiscal revenue reported by Pei Tingyu was of little significance to Shao Shude, so he said: "Focus on expenditures."
"Follow your orders." Pei Tingyu said directly without looking at the records: "There are three major expenses. The first is the expenses of the post office. It is an important task for the government, and there is no such thing as the post horse."
Having said this, Pei Tingyu added: "Henan Prefecture's various post houses actually have extra money."
Some of the Henanfu Posthouses were contracted out to military men who had retired from injury, and some were still government camps and were originally under the management of the Posthouse Inspectors of the Shogunate.
Because it is connected in all directions and has convenient transportation, the entire Henan Prefecture's Guanyi system is profitable every year, and this was the case before Shao Shude took over Henan Prefecture.
For example, in the first year of Changqing (821), "Yin Wei Guanzhi of Henan requested 13,580 guan of leftover money from the end of last summer to the beginning of this summer and 90,580 bunches of grass to fill in on behalf of the people.
If you owe taxes from the 11th to the 15th year of Yuanhe and this summer, I will pay them."
The Henan Fuguan Post System actually still has profits to cover the arrears of taxes that should be sent to the envoys. This shows that this is actually a high-quality asset. The reason is probably that the busiest post road in the country from Chang'an to Luoyang to Bianzhou
The profits came rolling in. After all, Datang's post stations were operated externally. They made money from catering and accommodation. They also had their own post fields. There were strict regulations on the consumption of officials coming and going, and no overspending was allowed, so they were profitable.
But this cannot be extended to other prefectures across the country, because some places do not have this condition.
"The second one is official salary expenditure. According to the official salary expenditure determined in the 12th year of the Dali calendar (777), the salary amount of Henan Prefecture is the same as that of Jingzhao Prefecture. One member of Yin has a monthly salary of 80 cents; two members of Shaoyin have a monthly salary of each.
Fifty thousand yuan...the official salary expenditure for the whole year is more than 60,000 yuan."
The officials of Henan Prefecture have a high grade, which is equivalent to that of Jingzhao Prefecture, and the counties under their jurisdiction are all Ji counties. Therefore, official salary expenditures are relatively large, accounting for about 15% of the current fiscal revenue.
"The third one is military expenditure, which is the largest expenditure." Pei Tingyu said: "Henan Prefecture has more than 4,200 state soldiers, and the annual military supply is more than 56,000."
This includes total expenses such as military pay, supplies, procurement, training, etc. Food is not included in this because local taxes can be spent and Henan Prefecture is not short of food.
"It costs nothing to support the army, but it costs a lot to deliver the goods, and there is no fixed amount." Pei Tingyu said.
The so-called transportation expenses refer to the expenses for transit and temporary settlement.
The Tang Dynasty had a system that said, "When the troops of all Taoist forces leave the country, they will be given to Yu Duzhi." In other words, when the imperial army and the army of feudal lords go out to fight, the expenses including rewards, pensions, material transfers, etc. are borne by the central finance, but local governments
Prefectures are still bound to have huge expenses.
When the army is passing through the border, the sergeants need to be supplied with grain, wheat, wine, meat and wine, right? For the temporary stationing, you have to bear the burden. Even later, when the central government had financial difficulties, the local prefectures had to help the central government bear part of the expenditure, and even the proportion became higher and higher.
This was the case under Shao Shude's rule.
When a large army goes on a campaign, in addition to transporting troops to the rear, there is also a large amount of troops recruited nearby. The more frequent the wars, the more unlucky the prefectures will be. They will basically consume all the local finances and even be in debt.
This means that central finance and local finance are not separated, which is a confusing account.
"Judging from the situation in Henan Prefecture, official salaries, military supplies and miscellaneous expenses account for about one-third of the revenue from the two taxes." Shao Shude said: "Last year, the envoys were sent about 200,000 yuan, is this the amount?"
"Exactly." Pei Tingyu said.
Ru Jiedushi, the eastern capital, has no soldiers. After sending the envoy, the remaining money after deducting the official salary of the shogunate can be sent to Shao Shude to raise troops. This number is about ten when compared with Ruzhou and Zhengzhou.
Around 70,000 yuan, this is the final contribution of Henan Prefecture to the central finance.
The central government received just over 40% of the total revenue of 400,000 yuan. The proportion is a bit low, but to be honest, local funds are also very tight, and they often complain about shortfalls.
"Chaos!" Shao Shude sighed.
The vassal town is a country, and there are many things that need to be done. Not only the official and military systems must be changed, but the chaotic financial system must also be changed.
Before the towns were abolished, he often reached out to the Jiedushi envoys to ask for money, because the money they provided was not enough, and the proportion of the contributions fluctuated, and sometimes there was none at all, and they even had to give money to pay wages.
.This is not because the Jiedushi envoys did not work hard, but because there were frequent wars and the finances were completely in chaos.
What else can we do if we levy miscellaneous taxes on the people when we have no money? During the Dezong period, we experienced the Anshi Rebellion, the population dropped sharply, and people fled into exile. There were rebel vassal towns in the local areas, and there were vassal towns that did not pay tribute, but the central fiscal revenue was actually higher than during the Tianbao period.
It’s still high, can you believe it? This is of course due to the fact that after the implementation of the Two Tax Laws, wealthy aristocrats and wealthy businessmen and Tu tribes also began to pay taxes, thus expanding the tax base, but it is also a common phenomenon to impose excessive taxes.
"The tax system in some places can be fixed. For example, in Guanbei Road, there is no war all year round. How much grain, how much cloth, and how much money a household should pay should be decided. People can also be sent to resettle the local warehouses and cities, and what should be returned to the imperial court
, which ones will be returned to the prefectures, and the most important thing is, how much money should the local government pay to the court, 50%, more? Or less?" Shao Shude looked at the prime ministers and said: "Please do the total carefully."
Reform of the central and local tax sharing systems is imperative.
Shao Shude estimated that this needs to be determined one by one, and a ratio must be determined based on the actual situation.
The messy financial situation is definitely not what the new dynasty should have, and it is time to get on the right track.
(Friendly recommendation: "I'm Really Immortal", written by Xia Huaniang, everyone understands it)