Qiming 1158

Chapter 1208 A world where only yeoman farmers are injured is born
Because the establishment of the Chengdu court triggered the external material embargo and economic blockade against Sichuan and Shu, the large households in Sichuan and Shu suffered heavy losses, and their dissatisfaction was accumulating more and more.

When the loss became unbearable, they made their voices known to the top rulers through their mouthpieces in the court, letting them know their anger and dissatisfaction.

and threats.

Can your court actually benefit us?

If it can't, and it will harm our interests, then don't blame us for being rude.

Zhao Buyi, who was aware of this kind of crisis, knew that he could not fight against them, let alone lose their support at this time of crisis, so he decided to make further profits to the big players.

Not only to cut their poor taxes, but also to give them more benefits.

The economic benefits are so much to put it bluntly. The big households were originally masters of tax avoidance, and they didn’t pay much tax at all. Now they are just making some tax avoidance methods legal.

The so-called benefit without cost does not get much gratitude.

If economic interests are not enough to buy people's hearts, then we should start with political interests.

The Chengdu court decided to hold an imperial examination to recruit officials, share political interests with the locals in Sichuan and Shu, and draw them closer to the Chengdu court.

After the rice riot, the big families in Sichuan and Shu not only were not taxed, but also had their taxes reduced, and they further obtained the political benefits ceded by the Chengdu court, and they were about to enter the power of the Chengdu court.

Therefore, they have no opinion on the heavy taxation of the civilian farmers by the Chengdu court.

Anyway, the more the court attacked, the more land in their hands. Not only did they have more land, but they could also hold more power as a higher official. To this extent, they were satisfied with the Chengdu court.

A few officials with some conscience or some sense of urgency expressed to the Chengdu court that this policy may cause anxiety and hardship for the farmers of Sichuan and Shu, and even trigger a new round of civil upheaval, and the consequences will be very serious.

Once the civil uprising breaks out, the Chengdu court will be troubled by internal and external troubles, and it is very likely that the Ming Dynasty and the Jiangnan puppet dynasty will take advantage of it.

But Zhao Buxi couldn't look back.

In October of the sixth year of Hongwu in Daming, the golden autumn season, the self-cultivation farmers in Sichuan and Shu suffered a heavy blow from the upper-level rulers.

The original tax rate was increased by 60.00% by the Chengdu court.

The tax subjects that were not there before were added by the Chengdu court, such as the tax on mules and horses, such as the tax on building houses, etc., and 21 tax categories that were not there before were added in one breath, which is insane.

The price of salt, which was originally considered polite, has risen sharply, from the original 230 yuan per catty to 340 yuan per catty.

The Sichuan-Shu area is an iron money area, using iron coins instead of copper coins. At this moment, the official exchange rate in Jiangnan is stable at one to two copper coins to iron coins, which means that the price of salt in Sichuan and Sichuan has risen from 110 five copper coins to 170 copper coins .

It increased by 55 Wen per catty in one breath.

You must know that there is well salt production in Sichuan and Shu. It was not a place that lacked salt. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the price of salt in Sichuan and Shu was very low. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the price of salt was greatly increased due to the heavy war pressure. Compared with the core areas of the Southern Song Dynasty, the price of salt is slightly lower.

But now everything has changed.

The farmers woke up to find that the price of salt had skyrocketed for nine days, and they had 21 more taxes to pay.

The self-cultivation class of Sichuan and Shu suddenly felt that a grain of sand of the times had fallen on their heads, and the days that were difficult but could still be sustained suddenly became tense.

Officials and tax collectors came towards them fiercely, with sticks, whips and even steel knives in their hands, and fiercely demanded that they hand over the little money, food, and cloth left at home, as a kind of cattle and horses that should be offered to their masters. tribute.

We will not talk about the tax on growing grain, nor do we talk about the Ding tax. Now, even people who carry water and use livestock to build houses have to pay taxes.

Some places are close to the mountains, and you need to pay taxes to chop firewood and hunt in the mountains, you need to pay taxes for selling game, you need to pay taxes for slaughtering livestock, and you need to pay an additional tax for using compost.

The originally peaceful days were suddenly shattered. The word "tax" weighed thousands of kilograms, crushing the backbone of the homesteaders and knocking them to the ground, unable to breathe.

In fact, it's not that Zhao Bundi did not take into account the days of Sichuan and Shu civilians at all.

As a relatively skilled financial worker, he knew very well how much taxation would kill people, so he convened a group of financial workers to jointly formulate some taxation items, and then carefully formulated the tax rate.

Tax items have indeed increased, but the collection is relatively small. Each tax item looks scary, but when added together, a farmer actually needs to pay more than 100 to less than [-] yuan. Zhao Buxi thinks this It will not drive the farmers to a corner.

In this way, in his vision, the civilian farmers can be exploited to the maximum extent, and they will not be made to resist because they are desperate. This kind of tax rate that can push them to the brink of desperation but leaves a chance of survival, right. The best for rulers.

However, as an elite bureaucrat at the top, his long-term separation from the masses made Zhao Bunyi unable to truly understand the underlying logic of the society and how the lower-level officials who carried out orders carried out their policies.

He had heard that some people were cheating, but he didn't know the specific method of cheating.

He only knew how the middle and high-level officials at his level fooled the court, and he didn't know how the lower-level officials fooled him.

If the increased tax items stipulated by Zhao Bushi were strictly implemented, a total of one hundred and fifty-six wen iron money would be overcharged.

But when it comes to the actual operation level, it is a bit conscientious for the petty officials and officials below to double directly in order to obtain more benefits for themselves.

The unconscionable directly quadrupled, and then added all kinds of things to satisfy the appetite of the layers of exploitative officials.

Officials need profits, and the lower officials also need profits. They increase the price layer by layer. According to the regulations of the court, one tax item only needs to pay seven or eight iron coins. A bottom line, in some places directly soared to 25 iron coins.

After going back and forth, the achievement of the empty-glove white wolf was achieved.

The officials earned [-]% or [-]% with tears and blood, while the civilian farmers were robbed of almost all their savings in a very short period of time.

Some officials, who were extremely greedy and cruel, even plundered the farmers in the region for their seeds and grains for the coming year.

It's hard to have a direct opportunity to grab it, how can I miss this opportunity?
As long as I make money, let him flood the sky, anyway, it is the court who is to blame, and the mischievous people will not know who is driving them to a dead end.

Originally, Zhao Bunyi wanted to find a gray route between the starvation and death of common farmers. He jumped on this route repeatedly, playing the peasants in the palm of his hand, making them want to rebel but have a heart. A ray of hope but not against it.

In this way, the wealth can be plundered to the maximum extent to meet the needs of the Chengdu court, and there will be no tragic consequences.

However, this method is too difficult to operate, and the requirements for the court and officials are too high.

Not to mention the feudal government, the modern government and even the modern government dare not say that it will definitely be able to play it well, so once it is promulgated and implemented, this hand will be off the hook.

Large numbers of farmers faced bankruptcy in just a month, with murderous tax collectors choking them to make them pay their taxes, but they were running out of money.

At this critical moment, the local landlords and old wealthy came over with iron money and land deeds with a smile, and smiled to provide the farmers with the service of buying and selling land on the spot, telling them that as long as they nod and sign, they can immediately get enough money to pay the taxes. Iron money.

Of course, the land will be owned by the old and wealthy landlords.

Do you want this special service?

If you want, draw it right away.

If not...

Being arrested by the government and severely tortured doesn't matter to me!

The officials and the landlords and the old wealthy cooperated tacitly, one sings the red face, the other sings the white face, and easily plundered the lifeblood of the peasants.

The farmers were paid the subsidized money that was lower than the market price, and the land was taken away on the spot. The subsidized money was not hot, and the tax collectors took most of it away.

Then they walked away with a shoulder to shoulder, singing good to each other and sharing the spoils.

The peasants were kneeling in the dark thatched hut, holding the pitiful iron money in their hands, wanting to cry without tears.

A world where only the yeoman were injured was born.

With no land, no houses, no place to stand, the bankrupt peasants were forced into exile.

So much so that when Ma Yongkang came back with the good news that Dali State was willing to secretly trade Shu brocade with the Chengdu court, all he saw along the way were scenes of homeless people wailing everywhere.

(End of this chapter)