Chapter 205 The official is going to give a lecture
There is a conference hall at Sungkyun University called Guangye Hall, which can accommodate five to six hundred people. Today it was bustling and packed with people.
Most of the people inside were students from Sungkyun University, outstanding students from various subjects and classes of Guanzhong College and other colleges. They were qualified to enter Guangye Hall today. They lined up early and entered the venue after being inspected by the guards and the attendant bureau.
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Before nine o'clock in the morning, Zhao Si, Fan Zhixu and his entourage, led by Cai Jing and others, arrived at the venue and then went up to the podium one by one.
There was thunderous applause at the venue.
Zhao Xi's seat on the rostrum is in the middle and innermost position, and the rest of the people sit on both sides. The seats are slanted, like a figure of eight.
Cai Jing, wearing crystal reading glasses, walked to the podium in the middle of the rostrum and gave a speech on behalf of Sungkyun University. He spoke eloquently for about five minutes, and then gave up the podium and the metal loudspeaker to Zhao Si.
Looking at the people in the audience, their young and energetic faces made Zhao Si full of hope for the future of the Song Dynasty.
"Gong Yuan Chang has invited me many times to speak to the students of Sungkyun University. I don't like to talk outside except for giving lectures."
At this point, Zhao Si laughed himself, and the people below quickly realized that this sentence was actually a joke, and they all laughed too. The atmosphere in the venue became lively.
"But I have always wanted to come, even if there are many political affairs, I will come. Because you are the rising sun, you are the hope of the Song Dynasty. After all, the Song Dynasty will belong to you, and the era will also belong to you. So, I want to tell you
Just speak."
I don't know who took the lead, and there was a burst of applause in the venue. Zhao Si stood there, nodded, and waited quietly for about ten breaths, then stretched out his right hand and waved downwards towards the venue.
The applause in the venue gradually dissipated and silence soon returned.
"What are you talking about? I'm so full of words that I don't know what to say. After thinking about it, I'd better say something useful. In these years, the Song Dynasty has become strong and prosperous, and its economy has developed rapidly. According to statistics from the Statistics and Inspection Bureau of Shangshu Province, Tianqi
The land tax for eighteen years was 31.69 million shi for grain and 94.67 million guan for taxes, equivalent to 473.35 million yuan in silver..."
"After years of development of counties and prefectures such as Huguang, Yanyun, and Liangliao, our current farmland far exceeds that of Yuanfeng and Shaosheng years - according to statistics from the Bureau of Statistics and Inspection, there are currently 760 million acres of cultivated land in the Song Dynasty.
It increased by about 100 million acres during the Yuanfeng period. Of course, the area of cultivated land in our dynasty before was always an estimate, which was very inaccurate."
"The fields have increased so much, but the land tax has only increased from 28 million shi to 2 million shi. It seems very abnormal. In fact, it is very normal. First of all, the Great Song Dynasty promoted water conservancy, which greatly improved the Yellow River, Huaihe River, Haihe River and many other rivers.
A river that has been causing harm for many years has been regulated, natural disasters have been reduced, and man-made disasters have been suppressed. Therefore, food output has been stable. Food prices have not changed for ten years, which is solid evidence."
"Secondly, the Nanhai region imports up to 7 million shi of grain every year, which effectively fills the grain gap in some areas of our country. The grain output is stable and supplemented by imported grain, but the land tax has not increased much. This is because the imperial court
Land taxes and land rents have been reduced year by year, trying to keep food in the hands of the people. Now we can proudly say that the people of the Song Dynasty have no shortage of food to eat!"
Applause rang out again. Zhao Si glanced over and saw that all these students were excited and happy, and some were so excited that their faces turned red.
It’s great that what Sungkyun University teaches is a group of promising young people who are concerned about the country and the people, and whose blood is not yet cold, rather than a group of elites who are refined, self-interested or cynical.
In fact, there is another mystery here. The output of grain is stable, but the land tax is gradually decreasing. The grain in the hands of the people is getting more and more year by year, and the price of grain cannot be sold. The biggest losses are those landlord families who own a large amount of land.
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On the contrary, stable or declining food prices have little impact on ordinary farmers and tenants. For them, food is the basis for survival, not the source of money. Now they have more ways to survive. They can plant some cash crops in some fields and go out during slack periods.
You can earn cash by doing part-time jobs.
Zhao Si waited for another dozen breaths, then pressed down with his right hand, quickly dissipating the applause.
At this time, Yu Wenxuzhong selected a few slips of paper and handed them to Zhao Si. It had been agreed before this speech that everyone at the meeting had any opinions. He handed the slips up and after sorting and
Select, Zhao Si then selects representative questions to answer.
"Well, someone handed me a note and asked, since the cultivated land has increased so much, but the grain output has remained stable, what will these fields be used for? It's a good question, but I am not satisfied. If you are a student of Guanzhong College, I will be even more
I’m not satisfied. Since we know this problem, why don’t we investigate and study it? This is a major matter related to people’s livelihood!”
Zhao Si glanced at everyone and did not go into details about who handed over the note.
"In fact, this question can be found out after a little investigation. Those fields are used to grow cash crops. Mulberry trees, cotton, tobacco, soybeans, peanuts, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn. These cash crops may be used to raise silkworms and produce silk cocoons.
It can be spun and weaved, cigarettes can be made, oil can be squeezed out, used as grains and used to make wine. Everything is of great use."
There is also a mystery here. A landlord family with a large amount of land can switch to cash crops if they can’t make money from growing food - but the court strictly prohibits this and takes certain measures - the name of each household
The fields below are divided into cultivated land and leftover land.
Cultivated land must be grown for food, and the remaining land can be used for cash crops. There is no limit on the amount of cultivated land for each household, but there is a limit on the amount of free land. In the design of the agricultural system of the Song Dynasty, large-scale planting of cash crops was done by the farms of the agricultural reclamation troops. Farmers
The scattered cash crops are only used as a supplement. At the same time, the price limit of cash crops is stuck.
Of course, there must be local landlord families who collude with county officials to modify the land restrictions and secretly cultivate cash crops in order to obtain huge profits.
This kind of fraud is, firstly, through supervision - the supervisory censors from all over the country are running around, uncovering many similar cases every year, and investigating and punishing a group of officials and landlords involved in the corruption - this is the political achievement of the supervisory censors.
The second is to look at the data. If the landowner family secretly switches to cash crops, the corresponding grain land will be reduced.
Statistics will be reported to counties, prefectures, and counties at one level. If the number of decreases is slightly larger, it will attract attention. The current examination system for officials and government officials in the Song Dynasty is extremely rigorous and mainly relies on data. Whether the political performance is good or not does not matter.
For your report text, look at the statistics.
This involves the official hats of many high-ranking officials in counties, states, and counties. If a lot of cultivated land is converted to cash crops, it will seriously affect the land tax payment rate, which will cause a shock in the officialdom and a large number of official hats will be removed.
Officials at the county, state, and county levels will regard this matter as a red line - the petty officials have received benefits, but they want us to lose our official hat. How can this be done? We must strictly investigate!
While Zhao Si was speaking, he followed the topic and answered the questions on the note - Yu Wenxuzhong cooperated very well. He followed the topic of Zhao Si's speech, selected the appropriate note, and handed it over.