Northern Song Dynasty Justice

Chapter 421 Food and clothing line

Chapter 421 Food and clothing line

"Brother, there are so many reporting points, you don't want to go, you just come here. The officials of the imperial court live near here. See how many officials are watching. There is no possibility of problems here."

Ma Xiaoyi strolled around and found that the nearby teahouses and taverns were full of people, almost all of them were court officials. The key point was that there were many officials living nearby, so he couldn't help complaining to Cao Dongdong.

Cao Dongdong said: "You go to other places to have a look, brother is staying here."

Ma Xiaoyi wondered, "Why?"

Cao Dongdong said: "What do you know, my brother dragged Zhang San here on purpose to let him deal with those uncles, brother can't be separated from Zhang San now, otherwise, he will definitely be caught by those uncles , how do I know how to explain."

Ma Xiaoyi was also clever, and immediately said: "Then I will not leave third brother either."

Cao Dongdong said: "You are a small captain, who will ask you, if you ask you, you just say you don't know, go and look elsewhere, don't make trouble."

Ma Xiaoyi thought about it for a while, "That's okay, brother, I'll take someone to look elsewhere."

"Go quickly."

"Brother Li, how are you doing over there?"

A young man was sweating profusely and ran to an older man, panting slightly and asking.

The man scratched his head and said, "I'm not sure. I just said that my family has two hens, but the policeman drew a cross on the paper. I don't know what that means?"

"Really? I was similar just now. Generally, the court counts households, etc., and the silk quilts at home also have to be counted. As a result, the police didn't ask. I was afraid that if he didn't ask on purpose, he would tell me that I lied, and I would take the initiative." Tell him, he said that there is no need to remember these things, it seems that he only remembers houses, fields, chariots and horses."

"If you remember that, our family doesn't have much money."

"Yes! It won't be when the time comes, but I have to go to the house to check one more thing!"

"Probably not, it seems too late."

"Let's go, let's ask others to see if they are the same as us."

"That's right, ask a few more people, don't just the two of us, there must be fraud."

When the people came, they were nervous and apprehensive, but when they left, it was like a dream.

too fast!

too easy!

There is no prelude, no climax, and the only interaction is very boring. The tone of those policemen is like asking you "have you eaten?"

Unbelievable!

After the people declared, they did not leave. They got together and asked each other what they had declared, for fear that they would be different from others.

This is actually very ironic, and it is enough to prove that there must have been a lot of tricks when calculating users and so on.

If you eat a pit and gain a wisdom, the common people will not be fooled again.

But when asked, everyone is the same.

Under the tea shed by the roadside, there were a few white-haired old men sitting silently listening to the communication among the common people, with doubts on their faces.

These old men are Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo, Lu Gongzhu and Zhao Bian.

This is the northwest corner of the left wing, right next to the Pan Tower, very close to the imperial city, the prime ministers basically live near here, they met here early this morning, to see what is going on with this voluntary declaration .

They've been looking forward to it, it hasn't happened before.

However, in their eyes, the reporting method of the police station was not without disturbance, but rather a surprise!

Lu Gong frowned and said: "It seems that their goal is very clear."

Wen Yanbo nodded and said: "They didn't ask about household items, farm tools, and tea utensils stipulated by the imperial court before. They only asked about housing, fields, carriages and horses, but ordinary people would not have these."

Fu Bi shook his head and said, "That's not all. They also asked about the tax they have to pay every year. I guess they may deduct this part of the tax when they make statistics."

Lu Gong wrote: "If this is the calculation, most of the citizens will become tax-exempt households, and according to the regulations of the Labor Law, most of this will be borne by wealthy households and government households."

Zhao Yan nodded and said, "Then this method of recruiting labor is a good method, and it will not increase the burden on the common people."

Fu Bi and Lu Gongzhuo looked at each other, both showing a hint of worry.

After all, the power is not in the hands of the people. If you are so targeted, the other party will counterattack very fiercely.

If everyone is so obedient, then the Qingli New Deal will not fail.

Pan Lou!

"No reason!"

I saw a dignified old man with black and white beard and hair slapping the table, and said indignantly: "How is this different from the Yaqian service? Such a simple and hasty inquiry, in the end, the exemption tax will still be shared equally among the wealthy households. No way, I have to submit a copy to the police station."

This person's name is Zhao Wenzheng, who is considered to be a relative of the emperor Genzheng Miaohong. of.

This orthodox temple not only manages clan relatives, but also manages monks and Taoist priests. Many monks and Taoist priests have complained to him. to complain.

"Governor Zhao, don't be impulsive, and wait until later."

A younger old man beside him hastily persuaded him.

This person's name is Li Daojing, and he is in charge of the Ministry of Rites.

Zhao Wenzheng looked at him suspiciously.

Li Daojing said: "Currently the police station is only counting, and has not yet given a specific calculation method. We are impeachment now, it is a lesson without a name!"

Meng Gansheng, who was sitting opposite Li Daojing, said: "But the facts are already in front of us. Aren't the houses, fields, and cars and horses all aimed at official households and rich households? Ordinary people don't have these things. They just want to win over the people, and then Spread all the taxes on our official accounts. Poor rich households still foolishly go to Zhang San’s office to calculate accounts, not knowing that they are lambs waiting to be slaughtered.”

"That's not quite the case."

Xie Yun, deputy envoy of the Ministry of Household Affairs, said: "I heard that many of my colleagues would not report the truth. They only reported their own salaries, and they did not report the land and housing properties of the family."

Li Daojing said: "Is this too risky? If you are really accused, the loss outweighs the gain."

Xie Yun said: "Many of their fields, houses, and business are all in the names of others. Even if they are found, it is difficult to find them."

Zhao Wenzheng said: "Deputy Envoy Xie, the tax department is under the name of your household department. How much do you know about this tax department?"

Xie Yun sighed bitterly: "Everyone has been asking me this question recently, but I really don't know. Although the Tax Department is under the name of my household department, all the appointments of officials are directly appointed by the above."

Speaking of this, he paused for a while, "But I definitely don't think that the tax department can see everything. They don't have much power. How can they investigate? I think it's probably scaring people."

Meng Gansheng said: "However, many people are still intimidated by the tax department, but if someone takes the lead, they probably won't pay attention to the tax department."

Zhao Wenzheng and Li Daojing looked at each other, and then said: "Then let's find some people to see if this tax department is trying to scare people."

Xie Yun said again: "But I think the tax department is likely to use the method of killing chickens to scare monkeys."

Zhao Wenzheng said with a chuckle: "It's just a matter of losing some money, let's see how much the tax department can find out. If they can't find out much, then their self-declaration is just a joke."

Meng Gansheng immediately said: "Yes, I don't believe that a small tax department can do everything. They don't have such a great ability."

Today, almost all the officials are inquiring at various reporting points, because this law is really related to their rights and interests. Everyone is very angry when they learn about this situation, and they all think it is Wang Anshi's idea.

Little did he know that Wang Anshi was also very wronged, this was not his plan, he also had to win people's hearts in the court now, he must not offend all the officials.

Moreover, he wants to collect money for the country, and if the people are not counted, he will not get much money.

At this time, he was interrogating Zhang Fei with Sima Guang and Han Jiang.

"There are special regulations on household statistics in the imperial court, why don't you use them?"

Han Jiang questioned Zhang Fei with the declaration form.

Zhang Fei said embarrassingly: "Sorry! The lower officials are only employed by others, this is the tax department's rule."

Didn't Wang Anshi know that this was all Zhang Fei's idea, but he didn't point it out, and asked again: "Then do you know why the tax department made such a decision?"

Zhang Fei nodded and said: "This official knows that because of the previous statistical method, it was difficult for the tax department to investigate. In order to prevent people from exploiting the people and fish in troubled waters, this rule was established."

Sima Guang asked curiously, "How do you say that?"

Zhang Fei said: "According to the previous statistical method, all the furniture, agricultural tools, and tea utensils of the people have to be counted, and then converted into money, but this is based on sending subordinate staff to the people's homes to make statistics, but now it is self-declaration.

And these items are all small items. When the common people came to declare, they might not have them at home, but he bought them when the spot check was made. However, there is no need to sign a contract to buy a teacup, so there is no way to prove it. This is bought before the declaration. , or buy after declaration.

Once this kind of misunderstanding occurs, the common people will think that the tax department is taking the opportunity to exploit them, and some people will inevitably do so.

On the contrary, houses, fields, carriages and horses are all very easy to investigate clearly. "

Sima Guang suddenly realized, and nodded slightly.

indeed!

The previous counting method is not suitable for self-declaration, nor is it suitable for spot checks. After today's statistics, I can't buy cups this year. It doesn't work at all!

But the house, carriages, and fields, these three major items are very easy to check, and under normal circumstances, they cannot be concealed.

Han Jiang said very euphemistically: "But with your calculation method, I'm afraid it's not easy for this household to wait!"

How did the fourth-class households and third-class households come about? Isn’t it just a variety of conversions? A teacup is worth a hundred yuan, and a quilt is worth your usual money. Anyway, it’s all kinds of additions. I am a rich man.

This was the case in the recruitment law in history. Those officials didn’t know whether they were trying to curry favor with Wang Anshi or to frame him. Anyway, the villagers of the fifth-class households were directly counted as the third-class households. This is really terrible!

But they are not counting with their eyes closed, they are also counting with evidence, who made your house have cups and wardrobes.

However, with this method of counting, there is indeed no way to arbitrarily evaluate households, but the problem is that the number of fifth-class households will increase dramatically.

This is really going from one extreme to the other!

Zhang Fei sighed.

Han Jiang asked, "Why are you sighing?"

Zhang Fei said: "In fact, this method is also forced out!"

"how do I say this?"

"Isn't someone impeaching this law before, will it increase the burden on the people?"

"People are here."

Wang Anshi immediately pointed to Sima Guang.

Sima Guang ignored Wang Anshi and said, "That's why you changed your strategy to avoid burdening the common people, isn't it?"

Zhang Fei nodded: "Yes."

Sima Guang said: "That is to say, the previous method will indeed increase the burden on the common people, will it not?"

Zhang Fei nodded: "Yes."

Sima Guang glanced at Wang Anshi provocatively.

Wang Anshi said unconvinced: "Then tell me, why?"

Han Jiang glanced at these two, isn't it me who decides here?

Zhang Fei explained: "The previous method counted all hoes and tea sets, but these do not represent the current living conditions of the people, because they can't be bought for much.

Many people have a lot of appliances in their homes, but they are all very old and worthless. Their monthly income is only a little bit, and they are counted as third-class households. Can the people not complain?After paying taxes, there is no food left.

But the three major items of carriages, houses, and fields are enough to represent the wealth of the people. If you go out in a carriage every day, you say that you are poor, and ghosts will not believe it. It is more expensive to raise horses than to raise people.

And income is the key factor in dividing households, etc. If income is used to divide, the imperial court can accurately calculate how much money is charged to families with what income, without affecting the normal living conditions of the people.

For example, some rich people earn tens of thousands of guan every year, even if they are charged two or three hundred guan, it will not affect him.However, if the people's annual income is only [-] yuan, collecting two or three yuan may make the people eat less food, but if you only collect [-] or [-] yuan, it will not affect it.

Therefore, this calculation method also includes the annual tax payment. If the annual tax payment is deducted and the remaining money can be divided by food and clothing, it is unlikely to cause public resentment.Those below the food and clothing line are fine, but people above the food and clothing line will not complain if they charge more than a dozen cents. "

Sima Guang nodded again and again, "That makes sense!"

Wang Anshi also thought it was good.

If the calculation can be done accurately, it is fine to charge a little less and rely on the number of people to get it together!

The question is here, can you calculate accurately?

Han Jiang asked: "The annual income of the people depends entirely on the people's self-declaration. Can you guarantee that the people will not conceal or make false reports?"

Zhang Fei quickly shook his head and said, "I can't guarantee this. This is a matter for the tax department. The tax department said they can do it."

Wang Anshi didn't believe it, "Is this really true?"

Zhang Fei said: "The tax department told the police station that. I don't know exactly how they will do it."

Wang Anshi, Han Jiang, and Sima Guang looked at each other.

The more I asked the tax secretary, the more mysterious he became.

There is such a powerful department hidden under this hand, we don't even know it.

How can this be?

(End of this chapter)