Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 169: Temporary tax changes and internal training

March, the first year of Zhongping.

Zhang Yu lured Fu Yu Luo to defect and defeated the Baibo army of more than 100,000. He beheaded Guo Tai, and Xu Huang and Li Le surrendered. The three generals Yang Feng, Hu Cai and Han Xian escaped. He also captured and surrendered more than 50,000 people, and thus shocked the Three Jins.

At the same time, the emperor moved west to Chang'an, and nearly one million people from the capital were driven by Dong Zhuo into Guanzhong along the ancient Xiaohan Road.

After hearing that Dong Zhuo had burned Luoyang, Cao Cao led tens of thousands of troops to pursue him. When Cao Cao arrived in Xingyang, he encountered Xu Rong. Cao Cao was badly defeated by Xu Rong, and was hit by a stray arrow. He fled in a panic and went to Yangzhou to recruit soldiers.

Subsequently, Dong Zhuo adopted Jia Xu's strategy of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, and ordered Lu Bu to bluff at Pingyin Ferry. In fact, Lu Bu crossed the river from Xiaopingjin to the north, went around and severely damaged Wang Kuang, the governor of Hedong. Lu Bu won a great victory, and Wang Kuang suffered many casualties.

Immediately afterwards, Dong Zhuo ordered Xu Rong and Li Meng to march south and defeat Sun Jian in Liangdong.

For a time, Dong Zhuo launched troops against the anti-Dong coalition on three sides and won great victories every time. He also held the emperor in his hands, thus intimidating the world.

After achieving great military success, Dong Zhuo, in order to vent his anger, massacred Yuan Wei, Yuan Ji and more than 50 members of the Yuan family, and promoted his confidants, such as Wang Yun to the position of Situ and Zhao Qian to the position of Taiwei.

When Dong Zhuo was wielding his butcher knife, fierce conflicts were taking place within the three allied forces.

The Suanzao Coalition, when Cao Cao was defeated and went south to recruit soldiers, Yanzhou Governor Liu Dai took the lead in launching an uprising in order to annex territory. He pretended to have a conflict with Dongjun Prefect Qiao Mao, beheaded Qiao Mao, and let Wang Gong be the Dongjun Prefect.

When Yuan Shu learned that Dong Zhuo had sent Liu Biao to steal his home, he immediately went south from Luyang, bringing the defeated Sun Jian with him, and took control of Xiangyang and Wancheng, and captured Liu Biao who was riding alone in Yicheng.

In order to save his life, Liu Biao handed over the seal of the governor of Jingzhou to Yuan Shu. After Yuan Shu got the seal, he pretended that Liu Biao was an envoy who came to confer the title on him, and then he took on the title of governor of Jingzhou and temporarily set up his seat in Wancheng.

During the Henei Coalition, Yuan Shao learned that Yuan Shu controlled Nanyang and appointed himself as the Governor of Jingzhou. In addition, the conflicts between him and Jizhou Mu Han Fu continued to accumulate, so he began to think about annexing Jizhou.

While the heroes in Guandong were doing nothing, Zhang Yu was accumulating strength in Shangdang and discussing military and political issues of Shangdang with his clerks.

"In February, the number of people who fled from the Central Plains to Shangdang for refuge increased by more than a thousand households compared to January. The total number for the two months is more than a thousand five hundred households. They are now resettled in Xunshi (Gaoping City) and Gaodu (Jincheng City) respectively." Yu Yi said in the submission.

Shangdang County is mainly composed of two basins, the Changzhi Basin in the north, which is centered on Huguan, and the Jincheng Basin in the south, which is centered on Gaodu. The Changzhi Basin is more open than the Jincheng Basin, so the agricultural cultivated area and population are larger.

Zhang Yu handed over the 50,000 captured Baibo people to various counties, mainly distributed in Changzhi Basin, while Jincheng Basin would get fewer people. The reason for the small distribution was mainly to allow Jincheng Basin to absorb the population of Henei County, after all, the two places were only a few hundred miles apart.

Zhang Yu flipped through the documents and said, "There are more than 1,500 households and 7,000 to 8,000 people. In a year, there are only 30,000 to 40,000 people. I'm afraid it's not enough to recruit 50,000 refugees and 10,000 households this year."

Yu Yi bowed and said, "My Lord, there were many disturbances in Shangdang before you took over, and the people of Henei may be worried about the stability of Shangdang. In addition, in the first month of the year, Yuan Shao's army marched into Henei to fight against Dong Zhuo. Their military discipline was good, and the war had not yet begun, so many people were reluctant to leave their hometowns."

"However, since March, you have defeated Baibo and reorganized the counties, and Shangdang has temporarily stabilized. Now there are many disturbances in Henei. Yuan Shao has many soldiers and horses, but the money and food provided by Jizhou are insufficient, so Yuan Shao has to plunder the money and food of the people in Henei. Wang Kuang was defeated by Dong Zhuo and suffered heavy losses in his troops, so he forced the people to serve, so the people are very resentful."

Yu Yi's words were full of joy, and he said, "So I guess that in March and after March, the number of people in Henei who flee the war and enter Shangdang County will increase sharply. This year, the number of men and women recruited should be more than 50,000."

"it is good!"

Zhang Yu closed the document and said with a smile: "If we can collect more than 50,000 refugees this year, it will be Shao Ran's achievement."

Zhong Yao thought for a moment and said, "Sir, in order to collect more refugees, according to my opinion, we should implement benevolent policies to encourage the people of Henei to take refuge in Shangdang. For example, if the farmers in Shangdang are given wasteland, they can be exempted from taxes for one year, and the taxes will be halved the next year."

"Not bad!"

Zhang Yu nodded and said, "We can ask the people who have settled in Shangdang to write letters to persuade the people who stayed in Henei to move to Shangdang. Or we can send people to Henei, under the pretext of trading horses with Yuan Shao, to collect refugees along the way."

"It's a great plan!"

Lu Fan smiled and said, "If we can take in a hundred more refugees a month, we will have more than a thousand households in a year. If Hanoi becomes more chaotic, we will have more than 50,000 refugees this year, maybe even 100,000."

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the registered population of Henei County was about 800,000. However, considering the large number of clans in the Henei area and the number of slaves contained in each clan, the number was far more than one million.

The current unrest in Hanoi could result in an influx of tens of thousands or even nearly a hundred thousand people, which is not impossible. Everything is linked to the situation in Hanoi and the governance of Shang Dang.

"It's too early to talk about collecting refugees now!" Zhang Yu interrupted everyone's thoughts and said, "The key issue right now is that the world is in turmoil today. If we still collect taxes with coins, the price of grain will rise sharply. If the taxes collected remain unchanged, but the food and grass obtained will decrease, it will be disadvantageous to our army. Therefore, I want to adjust the tax collection to adapt to the situation."

"There should be no objection to the collection of grain and fodder!"

Man Chong looked at the clerks present and said, "The question now is how much grain should be collected from each person, or how much grain should be collected from each acre of land."

Lü Fan, who used to be a county official, thought for a moment and said, "The head tax is 20 coins per year, the total tax is 120 coins, and there is an additional household tax of 16 coins. The land tax is in , but the late emperor has ordered an additional coins per mu. The land tax should be more than in . Depending on the price of grain, it can be as high as in or in ."

"According to the above calculation, each household needs to pay 550 coins. The grain price is 60 coins, which means each household needs to pay shi of grain. According to the calculation that each household in our county has mu of land, the yield per mu is to shi, and the tax per mu is % or %."

Zhang Yu cast an admiring look at Lu Fan. The fact that Lu Fan could calculate the conversion of money and grain in such a short time showed his strong business ability. No wonder he was highly regarded by the Sun brothers in Dongwu.

"Then will we collect grain from each household in the future?" Yu Yi asked doubtfully.

Zhang Yu thought for a long time and said, "The world is already in chaos. If we still collect taxes based on the number of people, I am afraid that many people will hide and will not want to be registered as citizens. In order to gain population, we will suspend the two taxes of head and tax. The counties of Shangdang will temporarily collect taxes based on households and rent based on fields."

"Your Excellency is right!"

Zhong Yao told everyone his thoughts and said, "Our dynasty collects taxes based on the number of people, which makes people afraid to have children and many babies are abandoned. The big families hide their population and would rather report the number of acres of land than report all the hidden households, so the court's tax collection is less than one year later."

"If we change the tax collection to household-based, I'm not sure that all hidden households will be reported, but it can encourage the people to have more children and work hard to cultivate the land."

"Yuan Chang, what is the standard for levying taxes on households? Will all the grain be paid?" Zhang Yu asked.

Zhong Yao shook his head and said, "Although food and grass have many uses, we cannot use all of it. To reward soldiers and generals, and to make clothes, we need cotton, silk, cloth and the like. In Yao's opinion, we should collect both food and cloth."

"Then Yuan Chang will work with you to refine the numbers. We must not let the people bear too heavy a burden, which will breed resentment."

"Yes!" Everyone bowed.

Zhang Yu nodded in satisfaction. After discussing with everyone, he concluded that the head tax of the Han Dynasty was actually being reformed into the household tax of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Compared with the money-based head tax of the Han Dynasty, the household tax based mainly on in-kind items in the Sui and Tang Dynasties had a stronger wartime color because it was not affected by price fluctuations.

From the Cao Wei period to the Western Jin Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty, all household taxes were based on real objects, and the only difference was the amount of tax collected. Shangdang was vast and sparsely populated, so it was not difficult to implement the rent and labor service system because it had a foundation for land distribution.

Shangdang County was Zhang Yu's first territory. Zhang Yu planned to lay a good example in Shangdang so that when he ruled a larger territory in the future, he would not have to worry about key financial and taxation issues.

Man Chong straightened up slightly, cupped his hands and said, "My Lord, regarding the powerful people in this county, I have something to say!"

"Bo Ning, please speak!"

Man Chong said in a calm voice, "Your Excellency has appointed me to inspect the counties. Whenever I go to a county, I often see the powerful and wealthy families in the county forming a fortress to defend themselves. The county officials want to conscript people for military service or collect taxes, but they are all prohibited from doing so. Therefore, in my opinion, if I want to thoroughly govern Shangdang, I must punish the powerful and wealthy families."

Zhong Yao bowed and said, "Your Excellency has been busy with military affairs recently and has not yet recruited talented people from Shangdang. In my opinion, it would be better for Your Excellency to recruit talented people from Shangdang to serve as officials and let Manjun punish the powerful and wealthy families as a means of combining kindness and severity."

Zhang Yu's knees felt sore after sitting for so long, so he changed his posture and sat with his legs folded. He said, "I have wanted to recruit talented people from Shangdang for a long time. The Chen family of Xun is a family of frontier generals; the Bao family of Tunliu has been compiling the Book of Shang for generations; the Shentu family of Tongxian is the descendant of the famous prime minister Shentu Jia; the Chen and Feng families of Luxian both have officials; and the Li family of Tongdi, whose son Li Wei is outstanding in talent and learning, is a hero of Shangdang."

Because Shangdang is close to the Central Plains, the gentry is largely influenced by Hebei and has close ties with Hebei. Therefore, many children of Shangdang's wealthy families would serve as officials in Hebei.

When Zhang Yu came to rule Shangdang, he had long wanted to recruit children of prominent families, but the children of prominent families would not allow you to recruit them just because you want them to.

At the beginning, Shangdang was in a dangerous situation and faced the threat of the Baibo bandits, so it was difficult for the children of the big families to agree to Zhang Yu's recruitment. However, as Zhang Yu defeated the Baibo bandits and his reputation spread throughout the world, it is very likely that Zhang Yu will succeed in recruiting the children of the big families.

After a pause, Zhang Yu said, "We can follow Yuan Chang's advice and use both kindness and force. First, recruit the sons of the great families to show goodwill, and then punish the powerful and great families in the county and make them pay taxes according to the law. But Bo Ning must remember not to go too far and not let the wise men in the county become alienated from our army."

"Yes, sir!" Man Chong said with a bow.

(End of this chapter)