Taxation in ancient China was rarely used for public welfare services. The so-called taxation is to collect money for the purpose of governance. The suffering of the people and the improvement of society rarely interfere with the social public affairs and people's livelihood and welfare undertaken by the modern government.
Inside.
Almost all of the dynasty's financial revenue is used to support the royal family, raise soldiers, and support officials. Even so, whenever there is a disturbance, "state shortage" will occur. The solution is also very simple, that is, to send more troops.
An additional faction is a carnival to increase income for officials at all levels, but it is a disaster for ordinary people below.
As far as Lingao is concerned, although the Ming government received more than 7,000 shi in official grain taxes from here every year, it is difficult to see what the royal grain national taxes paid by the people every year actually brought to this county. Over the past two hundred years,
, there is only one water conservancy project built by the government. Wenshui Bridge is probably a practical project built by the government, but it is only this one in more than 200 years.
The people support the government. Apart from the most basic "rough security" of living in poverty, this government has not brought any benefits to the people of Lingao. Disaster relief relies on private "hospitality"; to control bandits, it depends on the people themselves.
Go into battle and be a brave countryman. Although one-third of the more than 7,000 shi of food each year is directly used as "pay" for the garrison on Hainan Island, when the Lingao land and sea bandits were raging, the people were
We can't expect the officers and soldiers they support to come out to "suppress the bandits".
If the government wants to win the trust of the people, it must break this pattern that has been passed down for thousands of years and establish a truly modern national system. The people may be ignorant, but they are definitely not stupid when it comes to their own interests. They can see
Find out who is really working for them and seeking their welfare.
At the beginning of the meeting, the county magistrate spoke first. This was the first time Wu Ya encountered such a scene: he only had experience in trying cases in court, where the original and defendants knelt down and did not dare to look at him.
There were just some idle people watching the excitement outside the door. Now he was sitting side by side with a group of "thieves", and there were hundreds of local people looking at him below.
Fortunately, Wang Zhaomin had already written the speech for him, so he just had to read it according to it. This innocuous speech had been reviewed by the time-traveling party to ensure that it contained no conspiracy.
Regarding the content of the speech, the two sides had a bargaining session. The traveling side naturally hoped that the Lingao County Government's support for them would be "clear-cut", while Wu County Magistrate wanted the words to be vague. The more vague the better. So Wang Zhaomin wrote this article
The manuscript was decided upon after a day of discussion between the main writers of both parties. Generally speaking, everyone is satisfied.
Wu Ya originally didn't want to come to read the manuscript, but Mr. Wu naturally didn't want to show up on such an occasion, so as not to have any excuse in the future, so the scapegoat became Wu County Cheng. Originally, Wu Ya planned to get a high-ranking official to kill people and let Dianshi be the one.
His scapegoat was sternly rejected by the "concubine" - the county magistrate was also the second-in-command in the county, and his persuasiveness was much stronger in the hearts of the people than a semi-official and semi-official position like Dian Shi.
Wu Yacai was forced to serve as the county government representative at the meeting. A red envelope of eighty taels of silver given to him by the traveling party soothed his hurt heart a little.
After Wu Xian Cheng talked about the serious pirate situation faced by the county and the importance and necessity of holding local team training for joint defense, he announced that the Lingao County joint defense initiative initiated by Damei Village was approved by the county government. Team training
The name of the society was "Bairenshe". The government issued relevant documents to Bairenshe, granting it the work of organizing, training, and commanding group training.
The Bairen Society has set up an "office" in Dongmen City as an office for team training. At the same time, it can collect team training funds, food and grass from the villages that join the society.
The president of the Bairen Society is naturally Wu De. Although he is not a military leader, the leaders of the Tuanlian Society are usually local gentry, who specialize in dealing with the government and villages. As the newly appointed People's Commissar of Civil Affairs, he serves as this
A government position is more suitable. Moreover, through this position, he can be recognized by local prominent figures so that he can carry out work in the future.
Wu De was not wearing training uniforms. In fact, all the time-travelers attending this meeting today were dressed more formally than usual. Of course, this formality does not mean suits and ties, but rather they no longer wear the usual colorful training uniforms.
Yes. Today he is wearing an 87-style blue navy officer spring and autumn uniform without a collar badge. He looks very solemn.
Wu De's speech was delivered in Mandarin, and Xiong Buyou led several people for simultaneous interpretation, including Lingao dialect, Hainan Mandarin and Minnan dialect.
Wu De said: Bairenshe will give top priority to the interests of the people of the county and strive to assume the important task of maintaining the peace of the county. Under the correct guidance of Emperor Chongzhen and the care of officials at all levels in Lingao County, the county will
With the support of the gentry and the common people, Bairen Society will unswervingly continue to uphold the purpose of "eliminating the strong and supporting the weak, protecting the environment and the people", and make new contributions to the stability and prosperity of Lingao County and the creation of a harmonious society in the Ming Dynasty.
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This novel set of vocabulary made the participants quite curious. The only drawback was that when Wu De mentioned Emperor Chongzhen, Wu Ya and others on the podium immediately stood up and shouted "Long live the Emperor."
”, the representatives from all walks of life below also knelt down with cheers.
After Wei Guangzheng finished speaking, the meeting got down to business: sending out food and missions.
The newly appointed People's Commissar of Civil Affairs, Wu De, is cautious about this matter. After all, sending food and missions is a complicated and detailed task. The time traveler has neither the authority of the political power nor detailed information, but relies on the deterrence of force.
.According to their consistent experience, this kind of burden will often fall on the people at the bottom of society. Now they are unable to change the social structure. The only way is to control the distribution of food within an affordable range to avoid strangulation.
Too much.
Therefore, the food and difference imposed on the people of Lingao by this crossing group was named "reasonable burden".
The "reasonable burden" plan is to collect taxes on a village-by-village basis. Each village self-reports the amount it can afford.
The reason for adopting the form of self-reporting is that travelers do not have time to conduct a complete survey of the county's land and harvest conditions, and it is difficult to control the burden very accurately. Although Yu Lin obtained the taxes of each village from the county government
It is not too difficult to collect data in the book, but this kind of book is actually not very accurate and is even full of errors. The reason why officials regard it as a treasure is simply because it is the only evidence for collecting grain taxes. The land in the late Ming Dynasty
The concealment is quite serious, and the Yulin Register cannot reflect the actual production level of each village at all. Using the data provided by this kind of register will only increase the already unreasonable tax burden.
Although some travelers believe that asking each village to self-report will lead to a reduction in production, Wu De pointed out that even if there is a hidden reduction, it is better than using the Yulin Register. First, each village has a good idea of its actual output.
Yes, the reported numbers will at least not exceed what they can afford; secondly, with the authority they now have and the legend of "mastering the power of ghosts and gods", the self-reported numbers of each village will not be too low - they
We don’t dare to fool the time-travelers. If such a situation really happens, we can kill them as a warning. Thirdly, Wu De believes that this method reflects the spirit of equal consultation and is conducive to winning the hearts of the people.
Sure enough, as soon as this method was announced, all the villages breathed a sigh of relief. They were originally afraid that the crossing group would make a big move, but now they only need to report their "pledge".
Everyone knows about this pledge. Whenever the government has something important to do, it will usually make a "pledge" or "happy loss" or something like that. This is easier to say than the imperial grain and national tax. In addition,
Spend some money to bribe the servant in charge, and you can still bargain.
"Everyone should report the figures based on the actual situation of their own villages and act within their capabilities." Wu De said cheerfully.
The venue was suddenly filled with people. Representatives from each village were originally only prepared to accept a number and go back. Now that they have reported themselves, some people in the village felt that they could not make the decision - after all, once the number was reported, it became a law.
.It is inappropriate to over-report or under-report.
When Huang Huangkun saw this opportunity, he deliberately said: "This is a major event in the village. It is not convenient for us to make the decision ourselves. We should go back and discuss it."
After hearing this, everyone around felt that it was reasonable, so some people stood up and asked to go back and discuss with the elders in the village before coming back to report. Many people also agreed.
This is the best, Huang Xunkun thought, with so many villages, different in distance, it would take at least four or five days to go back and forth. In addition, it would definitely take a few days to argue in the village. The next meeting would have to be at least half a month later.
It's over.
Wu De was well prepared for this situation, so he asked each village to make statistics first. How many could be determined on the spot as a "reasonable burden" and how many needed to be discussed later. Report the list.
According to statistics, about 80 villages can be decided on the spot, and the other 200 or so villages can be discussed later.
"If we can decide on the spot, we will report the figures as soon as possible," Wu De announced. "If we want to go back to discuss, we will go back to discuss after the meeting is over. The figures will be reported to the office before February 15th."
As a result, Huang Hankun's original hope that the meeting would be dismissed was completely shattered. The meeting continued.
After deciding on the "reasonable burden", Wu De announced the contents of the mission.
The problem of dispatching missions is far more difficult than "reasonable burden". Lingao is not short of land, but it is short of labor. Although immigrants from the mainland enter the county every year, the mortality rate is very high because of the problem of acclimatization. Small households
For other people, labor force is the guarantee of family survival. Only with labor force can a large family obtain more wealth, so even if they have many long-term workers, slaves and tenants, they are not willing to send people to work.