Chapter 169: From the land tax to the silver standard and the emergence of capital

Chapter 169: From the land tax to the silver standard and the emergence of capital

Chapter 169: From the land tax to the silver standard and the emergence of capital

In the room, Zhao Duan's lecture continued.

Wang You's arrival did not cause any splash.

Because at this moment everyone had come out of their state of surprise and gradually immersed themselves in what Zhao Duan was saying.

The performance evaluation method...seems...

There is really something...

Although in Zhao Duan's opinion, this group of scholars has little experience in governance.

Or even if they have experience, they are high-ranking officials when they are officials, and rarely hang out at the bottom. Some of their strategies and ideas are a bit whimsical...

Just like in the history of his previous life, many strategies failed miserably because their makers were too idealistic.

Scholars in the Dayu Dynasty also had similar problems.

but……

It is undeniable that the group of people selected into the "Xiu Wen Guan" are definitely the elites of Dayu in terms of intelligence.

It is always worry-free to talk with smart people. They can accurately understand what Zhao Duan means.

He even made his own deductions to fill in the gaps for details he had not thought of.

Because the scholars were very smart, they easily recognized the advanced nature of this "performance evaluation system".

"…Enforce the law and discipline to discipline the masses, take control of the power and rule the country…"

"…In this way, the people of the Nine Enclosures will be cautious and resolute, and the arrogant officials will obey the law with awe."

Zhao Duan wrote and talked at the same time. On the screen behind him, many more words were written in ink. He finally used a brush to trace deeply under the top three words twice and said:

"I call this the 'method of examination and success'."

Quiet.

In the room, his narration came to an end, but everyone was still immersed in it, as if thinking.

Only Wang You, who was sitting secretly in the seat and dared not say a word, had no idea what had happened.

At this time, the remaining few late scholars also came in one after another, and were also stunned when they saw this scene.

"What are you doing..." someone spoke.

But Mo Chou suddenly glared at him, signaling him to shut up and not disturb the Grand Tutor's thoughts.

Although she was reluctant to admit it, she had already realized the value of this assessment method.

The expressions of Grand Tutor Dong, Han Zhou, Guo Jieyuan and others also showed obvious changes.

They looked at each other and could understand each other without saying anything.

"This method..."

Han Zhou opened his mouth and frowned:
"If this kind of assessment is implemented, will it lead to low-level clerks using any means necessary to meet the requirements?"

Zhao Duan didn't say anything. Nonsense, of course I would.

Performance appraisal is certainly not perfect and has many drawbacks.

But in comparison, it is the best strategy at the current stage.

The octogenarian in red robe and white hair sitting in the armchair also came back to his senses from his deep thoughts and suddenly said something without thinking:

"In this case, the six departments will be under the jurisdiction of the cabinet."

Zhao Duan smiled and said:

"Now there is no cabinet, only the Xiuwenguan, and the Xiuwenguan will follow your Majesty's orders."

The conversation between the two seemed irrelevant.

But a smart person like Han Zhou understood it with just a glance.

Master Dong was indeed an old hand. He saw at a glance a major drawback of the performance evaluation system, which was "suppressing freedom of speech."

Because in this design, the six departments' censors who were originally responsible for impeachment, as well as the censors of the Censorate, were also included in the performance evaluation.

It was under the supervision of the "Cabinet", which is actually the present-day Xiuwenguan.

As a result, the censors dared not offend the Xiuwenguan for the sake of their official hats.

Invisibly, the censors were suppressed.

Historically, after Zhang Juzheng implemented this law, one of the charges he was accused of was suppressing freedom of speech and controlling all power in the cabinet.

Zhao Duan’s answer was very clever.

If the "cabinet" still exists and this mechanism is activated, Li Yanfu, as the prime minister, will become the most powerful official and no one can suppress him.

But the "old cabinet" is gone. Today, the Xiuwenguan has only a group of young, powerless scholars and a grand tutor who is a thorough royalist.

Everyone is loyal only to the Empress.

In this way, as long as the performance evaluation system is implemented, the power of the entire court will be concentrated in the hands of the empress personally.

It would become extremely difficult for Li Yanfu to use censors to control the empress.

Master Dong was silent for a moment, then said:
"Many people in the court will strongly oppose it."

Zhao Duan smiled and said:
"From the moment the new policy was planned, it was destined to be opposed by countless people."

Master Dong nodded slowly, and the look he gave Zhao Duan was very different.

I am becoming more and more looking forward to the "manuscript" in my hand.

"I have seen that in your manuscript, you have only written a small part of the method of performance evaluation. How do you interpret the part at the end that says 'distribute the tax on each mu of land'?" asked Grand Tutor Dong.

Still? Less than half?
The maesters were stunned.

Zhao Duan did not rush to speak, but glanced at the brush on the table:

"There's not enough ink, and there's not enough white paper."

Everyone: "..."

Master Dong turned his head, glanced around, and casually pointed at the scholars who came in later:
"Grind the ink and change the paper."

Scholars such as Wang You were incredulous, especially the arrogant Master Wang, who almost changed his expression.

Let him help a worthless man who rises to prominence by selling his face and acting ruthlessly?
As someone who came from a noble family, he could not accept it.

Mo Chou also glanced at them at this time, and said indifferently:

"Didn't you hear? Do you want the Grand Master to do it himself?"

"...don't dare."

Wang You and his companions were scared and had to reluctantly take new ink and pour it into the inkstone, and then replace a new piece of white paper on the screen.

Zhao Duan rubbed his throat and said, "My mouth is dry from talking."

"..." A scholar sighed and got up to make tea.

The other man opened the drawer, took out the pear that Zhao Duan had given him at noon, and returned it to its original owner.

The night breeze was cool. Zhao Duan slowly ate a pear and drank a cup of tea, also to give this group of scholars some time to digest what they had just learned.

About a quarter of an hour later, he clapped his hands to attract attention and said with a smile:
"Just now, we talked about the administration of officials. But in the final analysis, the biggest problem facing the court right now is money.

If Han Xueshi's ten strategies were only used to collect money for the country, they would be effective. What I criticize is not that they are useless, but that they have too many drawbacks. "

Han Zhou blushed and said:

"Mr. Zhao, please don't mention it again. If you have any solution, please tell me."

Zhao Duan smiled and stopped teasing him. He said seriously:

"Regarding the word money, I would like to talk about it in two parts. The first part is what you discussed during the day, and it is also the focus of Han Xueshi's strategy, namely the two major problems of taxation and corvee labor."

“They are said to be two things, but in fact they are one, because corvée labor itself is a kind of tax.

The biggest source of money for the dynasty's treasury was taxes. However, Dayu's tax collection method was, in my opinion, not very commendable.

Not to mention the heavy taxes, which were difficult to avoid. Using goods to pay taxes gave lower-level officials too many loopholes to make money, and the most fatal one was the "head tax" that had been used for thousands of years since ancient times. "Zhao Duan wrote the three words "head tax" on the screen.

He was familiar with the so-called head tax, which everyone had to pay. It was the most common tax in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad.

The poll tax in Dayu is a typical form of feudal dynasty.

Rich and poor, all pay the same, so the rich won’t feel anything, but it’s different for the poor.

As the saying goes, the poorer the people, the more children they have... Coupled with the high infant mortality rate, the people of Dayu are very fertile.

But the more people there are in a family, the more head tax they need to pay... Gradually they are unable to support themselves, and if they encounter a disaster year, they cannot afford it.

They could either run away and become "hidden households", or they could only sell their land and become tenants.

However, the gentry class enjoyed tax-free privileges and had wealth, so they could buy up land with impunity...thus opening Pandora's box, and Dayu's wealth quickly concentrated in the hands of a few people.

"Under the head tax, as the dynasty continues, the amount of tax the court can collect will inevitably decrease... Therefore, my second strategy is to distribute the tax according to the amount of land!"

Zhao Duan wrote these words on the screen and then explained their content.

The so-called "tax distribution based on land area" was actually a revised version of Zhang Juzheng's "One Whip System", with little change in its core.

One is to reduce all the various taxes to just one thing, which is "silver".

The court only wanted silver, and changed the previous messy terms such as paying goods or performing corvée labor.

This is similar to one of Han Zhou's strategies, that is, the people who perform corvée labor only need to pay silver, and the workers required for the corvée labor will be hired by the government.

But the difference between Zhao Duan’s Ten Strategies and Han Zhou’s is that Zhao Duan directly implemented the method of collecting taxes, so he would not collect taxes twice.

The second is to change the head tax into a "land tax". People pay according to how much land they have, and those who have no land do not have to pay.

In this way, the landed gentry would have to pay the tax, while the poor, without the poll tax, could have as many children as they wanted...

Zhao Duan is very clear that there is strength in numbers and people are productivity. He does not mind having too many people, but only too few.

"besides……"

After Zhao Duan finished speaking the main content, he turned around and added two additional words on the screen:

Fire consumption is returned to the public

Officials and gentry as one

"In the past, the government would melt the small amounts of silver from the taxes paid by the people into silver ingots and supply them to the court. However, there would be losses during the melting process, and many people would pocket the silver.

Therefore, since the new law requires settlement in silver, this loss must be attributed to the court."

"Similarly, since the tax collection is changed to be based on the land area, the privilege of the gentry to be tax-free must be stripped away, which means that officials and gentry are one."

Zhao Duan concluded:
"The tax is distributed according to the amount of land. The more land, the more land, the fewer land. The tax is calculated according to the amount of land, and there is no way to cheat. The first benefit is that the people do not have to pay compensation. The second benefit is that in the year of compilation and examination, the registration is made according to the routine, and there is no need for further audit. The third benefit is that everyone pays for the land, and there is no one who cannot do it. The fourth benefit is that."

He paused, looked around at everyone, and said in a loud voice:

"If this law can be implemented, it can protect the country and the people, and the imperial treasury will never be in short supply again."

The room fell into silence for the second time.

When Zhao Duan finished speaking, many people present had looks of longing on their faces.

suddenly see the light.

"Great, very great." Han Zhou slammed the table and stood up, staring at the words on the screen with sharp eyes, lost in thought.

No one knew how depressed he felt that afternoon, not only because his ten strategies were rejected.

Moreover, he racked his brains but couldn't think of a better way.

So-called, take the ten strategies back for revision, but how to revise them?
He had no idea.

However, at this moment, only a few hours later, he saw a set of methods that were completely different from his ten strategies, but obviously superior.

How can you not be excited?
"The tax rate will be calculated based on the land area... The tax rate will be calculated based on the land area..." Mochou also murmured the words.

Although she is far from being a real "female prime minister", because she is a love rival of Zhao Duan, she often behaves more like a maid.

But the fact that he was valued by the empress and assisted in handling national affairs was enough to show that Mo Zhaorong was at least not inferior to these scholars in vision and judgment.

So, she also understood the benefits of this method.

Later scholars such as Wang You finally understood why the atmosphere in the room was so strange before.

In fact, what Zhao Duan said was too shocking.

The key is not to say something shocking, but to think that it is feasible no matter how you think about it.

But after being surprised, Wang You, a descendant of a prominent family, frowned.

Because this new law was obviously aimed at the gentry class.

This is not a good thing for the powerful families in various places...

"Grand Master..."

Some people looked at the old man in the lead, wanting to ask for his opinion.

Master Dong stared at the screen for a long time, then he let out a long breath:

"What a good way to distribute the tax according to the land area."

After a pause, he shook his head and said, "What a pity."

pity? What's a pity?
Master Dong looked at Zhao Duan and said:
"This method is indeed quite feasible. However, although it is much gentler than Han Zhou's method, I am afraid it will still be difficult to implement. If you want to succeed, you must take it step by step, and the court can't wait."

Can't wait!
This sentence instantly brought everyone back to reality from their excitement.

Han Zhou calmed down, was stunned at first, and then sat down again.

Yes, although Zhao Duan’s method is good, after going around in circles, it is still difficult to solve the imminent problem, which is money.

If we take it step by step, it will be difficult to alleviate the empty treasury.

If we strive for speed, we will inevitably become enemies of the gentry and the powerful families. Although this may win the hearts of the people,...

If the gentry of the world become disloyal and defect to the Eight Kings, the imperial court will also be in turmoil.

It is indeed much better than his ten strategies, but distant water cannot quench immediate thirst.

Wang You's brows relaxed and his expression became a little more relaxed.

Mo Chou also reacted, her eyes slightly dim.

Yes, whether it is the system of allocating land tax to each acre or the previous system of performance evaluation, it actually takes time to implement them gradually.

Good is good, but...

"Oh, Grand Master is right. If we want to implement the above two methods, it will take time."

Zhao Duan took in everyone's expressions, but he was not panicked at all.

Because Zhang Juzheng was never the only weapon in his hand.

At first, he had no idea how to make money quickly, without resorting to violence and without affecting the stability of the court.

But after talking with Han Zhou, some inspiration became clear.

"But, everyone, please remember that I just said that I would talk about two parts to solve the problem of money, but now I have only talked about one part.

The next one is the way to relieve the urgent need." Zhao Duan said with a smile.

what?
Is there any way?

At this moment, everyone, including Grand Tutor Dong, looked at him in astonishment.

Then I remembered that this warrior and cruel official had indeed said before that there should be two parts.

In full view of everyone, Zhao Duan turned around and changed the paper himself.

On the screen, he quickly wrote a few large characters:

"Silver, merchants, capital, and markets."

(End of this chapter)