Chapter 96: Buying Business

[Shu brocade is famous throughout the world, and other fabrics are also "the best in the world". The Song Dynasty would naturally not let go of such wealth, and with the existing monopoly practice, naturally, Shu cloth was also classified as a monopoly.

So after Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne, the Song Dynasty government set up the "Bo Buying Office" here. The first thing it did was to turn the cloth trade into a government monopoly, requiring the people of Shu to weave cloth according to the prescribed quantity and hand it over to the government, prohibiting individual farmers and small vendors from buying and selling on their own.

Subsequently, tea from Shu was also included in the scope of government monopoly. Tea farmers in Shu had to pay taxes as required before they could sell their tea to government tea farms or large tea merchants designated by the government. Tea farmers were not allowed to sell their tea to other places.

The results of these two policies were disastrous.

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Kuangyin's face was livid, and he was thinking about this business that Zhao Guangyi had created: "I have conquered Hou Shu, and I have been busy pacifying the local people and reducing taxes for the people. Why? Isn't it because I am afraid that the people will lose their livelihoods and have no way forward, and finally resent the court and rise up in rebellion?"

He pointed at Zhao Guangyi and angrily said, "But what about you? Did you use your brain when you set up this thing? This thing looks good, but can it be set up casually? Is your supervision mechanism perfect? ​​Are your regulations clear enough? Can you ensure that the people under you will not impose heavy taxes privately and increase the burden layer by layer?"

The middle and late Qing Dynasty.

When a minister saw this scene, he would naturally think of the many people who relied on these for their livelihoods and that uprising was the inevitable result after they lost their way to make a living. However, how similar this was to some parts of their Qing Dynasty!
He couldn't help but murmured: "The livelihood of millions of canal workers depends on this..." Recently, the court has been arguing fiercely about whether to stop the canal transport. This is not only related to the humble canal workers, but also the interests of the canal workers as a whole, as well as the personal interests of the great men.

[As mentioned earlier, many people in Shu were engaged in weaving or tea picking for their livelihoods, not to mention the farmers and craftsmen who specialized in this. After the prohibition of private trading, they lost a large part of their income. Moreover, when the government purchased cloth and tea, it was already at a low price. In addition, the officials enriched themselves, so the purchase price was even lower.

Many tea growers and people who specialized in weaving cloth went bankrupt and could no longer make a living; many small and medium-sized vendors selling cloth and tea also went bankrupt and lost their livelihoods; and the remaining farmers who engaged in weaving and tea picking in addition to farming also lost a key source of income.

Why is it a key income? Because they cannot get enough food by farming themselves, and the money they earn from weaving and tea picking is to buy food from the market to feed their families.

At this time, the big families in Shu took the opportunity to raise the price of grain and sell it at high prices, forcing the people who had no food to spend a lot of money to buy rice. In order to survive, those who had no money could only sell their land bit by bit, and finally they either became poorer or became other households.

The exploitation of government officials is even worse than the exploitation of businessmen in traditional theory.

Song Dynasty, the fourth year of Chunhua.

Zhao Guangyi felt that he had found the root cause of the large-scale uprising in Shu, which was this policy of buying and selling.

At this time, he had experienced many ups and downs, and was no longer in a situation where he had to carry out his policies to the end, and felt that canceling them would be a loss of face. So, he naturally said to the prime ministers and ministers: "My lords, I think this Bo Buying business should be readjusted, and the situation in Shu needs to be carefully considered."

If it really doesn't work, just cancel the buying policy in Shu for the time being.

All the court officials agreed, and the decree was quickly issued.

At this time, Zhao Guangyi had solved his biggest worry and began to want to get back some ground. Let's start with the "exploitation of officials in the Bo Mai Bureau". I clearly set up the Bo Mai Bureau to facilitate the people. Although there were some shortcomings, it was well-intentioned.

But what happened to these officials? They turned my goodwill into oppression of the people, and used my name to smear my reputation. How can this be tolerated!

So he sent his confidants to investigate the officials in Shu, especially those related to the Bo Mai affairs, secretly planning to execute them if they were seriously corrupt and abused their power. This would not only vent his anger, but also deter other officials and win over the hearts of the people.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang was also amazed at Zhao Guangyi's policy of amassing wealth: "He is so daring! If this continues, Shu will definitely rebel. As long as a natural disaster breaks this fragile situation, these people will immediately rise up in rebellion."

The scale will not be small. Originally, there might be peasant uprisings in Shu, but the scale may not be too large. But now, a Bo Mai has affected all ordinary people: farmers, small vendors, side households... In addition to the side households, this large group that has been exploited for many years, once they respond, the whole Shu will be in flames.

"The Song Dynasty will take some time!" They can still be suppressed, but I'm afraid that if they don't change after being suppressed, there will be no peace in Shu.

Han Dynasty, during the reign of Empress Gao.

Lu Zhi looked at the situation in the sky and shook her head. The gambling business alone could indeed cause many people to lose their livelihoods, but the large number of side households before were the most critical!
If we use the powder keg metaphor of the sky, Bomaiwu can be said to be the thing that ignited the powder keg, but the powder keg itself still comes from the fact that 80% of the population are side households and do not have their own land. Even if they do have land, the food they grow cannot be self-sufficient.

No land, no food, this is the key!
Therefore, the policy of equal distribution of land that she had been promoting must be implemented. Every civilian must have his or her own sufficient land, and every citizen of the Han Dynasty must have enough food to eat.

[The combined forces of Bo Maiwu and Penghu are enough to reignite the war in the Sichuan-Shu region.

But that’s not all the reasons. 】

Tang Dynasty, the third year of Zhenguan.

"Ah? Isn't this enough? Is there anything else?" Cheng Yaojin was stunned. In his opinion, these things were serious enough. Could the situation be any more serious?
Li Shimin sighed and said, "Of course there are also taxes." The tax situation in Shu had never been mentioned before. He originally thought that it had nothing to do with taxes, but since there were other reasons, taxes were probably among them.

Moreover, if the officials in charge of Bo Maiwu are extorting the people, then won’t other officials do the same?

[The Song Dynasty generally followed the two-tax system that had been in place since the late Tang Dynasty in terms of land tax, levying taxes based on land and assets, once in summer and once in autumn each year.

But this was only a nominal tax. In fact, after the Song Dynasty conquered the territories of various separatist forces, it basically accepted all the tax policies other than the regular tax implemented by these forces in the local area, which were called "Yan Na" or "Zabianzhifu".

Shu was no exception. After the Song Dynasty recovered Shu, it inherited all the harsh taxes such as head money and cowhide money from the Later Shu. In the sixth year of Kaibao, "in that year, the people in Sichuan and Xia were required to pay money and silk for the two taxes (land tax) or more. Each guan was charged seven coins, each piece was charged ten coins, and each liang of silk and cotton, one catty of tea, and a bundle of straw were charged one coin each." This was called "head money", and history records that "the payment of head money to the government began from this time."

In addition, the Song Dynasty also had many tax items inherited from the Five Dynasties, such as the 20% "provincial consumption" tax. Because the textile industry in Shu was developed, the local two taxes were also required by the government to be "converted" and paid in cloth. Also in the sixth year of Kaibao, it was recorded that "at first, the two taxes (land tax) paid by the people of Shu were converted into cloth."

Once the conversion started, the amount of tax could no longer be controlled. How much cloth should the original tax be converted into? The government had the final say, and the difference fell entirely on the people (including side households and self-cultivating farmers).

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Previously, Zhao Kuangyin felt that he had experienced enough to form a good and calm mentality, but now, the tax situation in the miracle made him angry again.

"The sixth year of Kaibao!" He recited the year with gritted teeth. This was when he was still in power!

"I remember that in the third year of Qiande, after conquering Hou Shu, I issued a clear decree requiring that 'all unnamed taxes and additional levies should be reported to the various states and eliminated.' Now it seems that they all think that I am just pretending and there has been no real change."

As for the discounts, he was not unaware that some places paid taxes in kind, but although he knew that some people might take advantage of the opportunity to profit, and he had investigated and punished corrupt people before, he never thought that these people would be so bold!

What's more, the amount of tax set by the government every year is just that much. The extra money did not go to the court or the emperor, but naturally went into the hands of all those who benefited from it.

"We didn't get any benefits, but we had to bear all the disadvantages!" Zhao Guangmei was very angry about these local officials. This was their family's world! And these people taxed the people heavily, and in the end, it was their royal family that suffered and their country was unstable.

Tang Dynasty, the third year of Zhenguan.

"Two-Tax System? Taxes based on land and property? Collected once in summer and once in autumn?" Inside the hall, Li Shimin and all the ministers who knew something about tax laws began to think about it.

At present, in conjunction with the equal-field system, the tax law implemented by the Tang Dynasty was the rent-and-labor system. At the same time, on this basis, it also established its own military system, the fubing system.

Rent, labor service and tax were also very simple, levied according to the number of males, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, and all were fixed. Rent was two shi of millet per year, labor service was twenty days per year, which could also be replaced by property, and tax was two zhang of silk, three liang of cotton, or two zhang and five feet of cloth, or three jin of hemp.

This tax system, combined with the equal-field system, successfully stabilized the chaotic situation in the early Tang Dynasty, reassured the people, and enabled the people to quickly resume production.

However, they previously thought that the tax system of the Song Dynasty was born in the Song Dynasty itself or in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period after the Tang Dynasty. Unexpectedly, it originated from the Tang Dynasty itself, although it was already in its late period.

The rent, labor and tax system was already quite perfect, so why did it need to be changed? It must be because the original tax system had become difficult to implement.

The faces of several ministers in charge of taxation and population quickly turned bad, and Li Shimin's face also looked a little ugly.

After all, what does it mean that the rent, labor and tax system can no longer be continued? It means that the equal-field system that the Tang Dynasty regarded as its foundation has also lost its effectiveness and is no longer normal. The rent, labor and tax system can only operate on the basis of the equal-field system that distributes land to people.

The finances collapsed, but it was not only the finances that collapsed, but also the military system.

Li Shimin closed his eyes, feeling sad: "No wonder there were all-round separatist regimes, and then the capital fell and the emperor fled..." If the equal-field system collapsed, how could the military system operate normally? If there were problems with the army and the finances, it would only be a matter of time before changes occurred in the local areas.

The ministers were silent. They had also seen it, and even those who were not good at it could understand it after others explained it to them.

But everyone knows why the equal-field system had problems, but the key is that they find it difficult to solve the reasons that caused the problems.

[The corruption and rebellion among Song Dynasty officials in Shu was prevalent.

Zhao Guangyi had sent people to Shu many times to investigate officials, and punished more than a hundred officials. Among them, there was an official who was considered to be honest and capable, and was promoted as a benchmark role model. This person was Qi Zhenyuan, the magistrate of Pengshan County, and the person who recommended him for his integrity and dedication to public service was Zhang Shu.

But in fact, Qi Zhenyuan was not a loyal, diligent and upright person. He "collected bribes and deposited much of his money in people's homes." He was also a corrupt tycoon.

The court's extensive propaganda about him further exacerbated the dissatisfaction of the people in Shu.

In addition to heavy taxes and excessive purchases, officials in Shu also had another way to get rich.

Song Dynasty, the fourth year of Chunhua.

Zhao Guangyi pricked up his teeth again: "Qi Zhenyuan? Zhang Shu?" He remembered these two people. After all, one was the person he often sent to monitor the officials in Shu, and the other was the person he widely publicized as a positive example.

He was immediately furious. This situation not only caused dissatisfaction among the people of Shu, but more importantly, he was being treated like a fool!
I won't mention whether Zhang Shu was in cahoots with Qi Zhenyuan or whether he had poor judgment and didn't know how to judge people. Let's just talk about Qi Zhenyuan. When I set him up as a role model and praised him a lot, was he secretly laughing at me for being played around by him? Did he think I was a fool?
You must die for me!
So he hurriedly issued an order: "Pass on my decree. Qi Zhenyuan, the magistrate of Pengshan County, has been cutting taxes for merit, abusing his power for personal gain, not governing with kindness and harmony, and not respecting the will of the emperor. Now I dismiss him from office and behead him on the spot to appease the public anger. As for Zhang Shu, take him back to the capital first."

The ministers knew that Zhao Guangyi was extremely angry at the moment, but no one raised any objection.

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Kuangyin sat down again and thought carefully.

Although the uprising of the people in Shu took place during the reign of Zhao Guangyi, and the Bomai Bureau was also established by Zhao Guangyi, many of the sources had already appeared during the reign of Taizu. Exorbitant taxes and corrupt officials had already formed a system, and coupled with the land issues in Shu itself...

It seems that he also needs to step up supervision of local areas.

However, apart from taxes and the above content, what other ways are there to “get rich”?
(End of this chapter)