Father Han Gaozu

Chapter 499 I seem to know the correct answer

"Father Zhong!!!"

Liu Chang held a fat chicken in each hand, and stood in front of Chen Ping with a smile.

Chen Hou held a roll of yellowed bamboo slips in his hand, and was lazily sitting in the courtyard, as if he was basking in the sun. Hearing this sound, the corners of his mouth couldn't help twitching. He really didn't like this sound very much, especially this sentence Father Zhong, many ministers in the court, actually would rather hear Liu Chang call him an old dog than let him call Father Zhong.

It must be no good to call Father Zhong. This shows that the tyrant has already set his sights on you and has other schemes.

Liu Chang grinned and looked at this Zhongfu. In fact, Liu Chang didn't like to come here either. He didn't like to get in touch with Chen Ping. He always felt that Chen Ping was planning something. The way he looked, his eyes were full of conspiracy, and his words were all trying to set him up.Of course, the image of a thief with eyebrows and mouse eyes is completely inconsistent with the image of the tall and mighty Chen Hou. This is just the great image of Chen Ping in Liu Chang's heart.

"Your Majesty is here. Please sit down."

Chen Ping very politely invited Liu Chang to sit down. At this time, Liu Chang was surprised to find that there was an empty table in front of Chen Ping, with wine cups and some food on it. Will you find it yourself? ?Liu Chang narrowed his eyes immediately, and sat in front of Chen Ping calmly.

"Are you sending someone to monitor me?? You want to rebel?!"

Liu Chang's voice turned up a bit.

But Chen Ping didn't pay attention to Liu Chang's pretentiousness at all. He said calmly: "I'm just waiting for another guest. It's a coincidence, Your Majesty."

"Oh? What kind of guests do you need to prepare in advance to welcome? My teacher is in the Western Regions, and Marquis Feng is no longer here. Marquis Liu went all the way into the deep mountains and old forests. He has never heard from me again, and he never replied to my letter. I sent people to contact me several times, but I couldn't find them at all. The people I sent said that Marquis Liu had already been promoted. To be honest, I was still thinking about whether it was time for Busu to inherit the Marquis of Liu. Who is worth waiting for here?"

"Just an old friend."

Liu Chang didn't ask any more questions, and asked Chen Ping's retainers to cook some delicious food, and then started arguing with Chen Ping again, "Father Zhong, there is a lot of fertile land in the Central Plains, but they are all in the hands of a few people. It has been reclaimed several times without hesitating to damage the river water, but the arable land that has been reclaimed through untold hardships soon fell into the hands of a few people. It will lose arable land, and the land of the big clan will be more and more."

Chen Ping took a sip of tea calmly, "Your Majesty, do you think too much? Every year, the powerful families in the world are sent to Hexi to repair Anling, and their land is distributed to the people, which is not enough at all. To arouse His Majesty's fear."

Liu Chang grinned, "It's like this now. Speaking of which, the big man is strong, and many things are just signs of appearing, but I can probably sense that if this situation continues for another 200 years, the big man will fall into a desperate situation. The desperate situation where the people are struggling to survive, the powerful and the big clan are different, I can move the powerful, but the big clan can’t move together, right?”

"When did His Majesty start caring so much about things a hundred years from now?"

Liu Chang, like Liu Bang, has always been indifferent to what will happen in the future. When Emperor Gao proclaimed his heir as king, there were ministers who reported that these princes would rebel sooner or later, but Liu Bang didn't care. They are all surnamed Liu, and they all have to worship Nai Gong. What is the relationship with Nai Gong?

"I won't think so far, but this has already hindered my strategy of promoting agriculture, so I can't ignore it."

"So, you came to see me?"

"That's right, father Zhong is a great talent, except for father Zhong, who else can come up with a solution?"

Liu Chang smiled very flatteringly, but Chen Ping asked: "Your Majesty thinks that these big clans occupy a lot of land, and the land distribution is unfair. Many people have no farmland and are reduced to tenants and cultivated by the big clans, which affects the grain production. Is that so?"

"Yup!"

Chen Ping suddenly said quietly: "The one who occupies the most land in the world is Your Majesty."

"In terms of big families, Your Majesty is the biggest rich family in the world. Ordinary rich families only have a few hundred tenants, but you have tens of millions."

"Father Zhong means that I should kill myself to thank the world?"

Chen Ping was not afraid, he just laughed, "I just want to tell Your Majesty that there is no way to completely change such a thing. Your Majesty has countless official lands and common lands, and these are used to reward meritorious soldiers. , or as the expenditure of the national treasury, and if His Majesty distributes these cultivated lands to the people, then these cultivated lands will soon fall into the hands of the wealthy families in those places. "

"If your Majesty wants to solve the problem completely, then he will turn all the cultivated land in the world into his own official land, and then rent it out to the common people for farming. Trading is strictly prohibited, and only the right to farm can be transferred. However, in that way, the risk is huge, and His Majesty may Become the public enemy of the world, even those ordinary people, they will not feel that His Majesty is doing it for their own good, they just think that you are taking away their land, and those Yu Ding who have no land, His Majesty thinks that being a tenant of the wealthy family is the same as being a tenant for His Majesty , what's the difference?"

Chen Ping said softly and sighed, "There are some things in this world that cannot be changed by manpower."

Liu Chang kept squinting his eyes, "So there's no way?"

"It's not that it may be solved, but it's not that time yet. The methods that can be implemented at present can be divided into three types."

Chen Ping pondered for a moment, and then said: "The first method is to prohibit the sale of land through laws and regulations. However, blindly prohibiting the sale of land is both beneficial and harmful. Your Majesty can strengthen the management of land sales. Now there are land The sale is to be negotiated between the three elders, and His Majesty can entrust it to the county, which may avoid forced purchases and man-made disasters, and the effect may not be complete, but it can be avoided."

"The second method is to carry out taxation. The important source of the national treasury is the oral tax, which is high and land tax. Of course, the revenue from the treasury will be very high, but this is not good for the common people, but it is beneficial for the rich. If Your Majesty can put more emphasis on land taxes and less on oral taxes, and change the current taxation method, the pressure on the rich clans with arable land will increase sharply, while the people without land will be under great pressure without oral taxes, then they will not have to sell themselves as tenants and can operate Other industries, to seek life."

Liu Chang couldn't help interrupting Chen Ping, "Father Zhong said that the tax is collected according to the amount of cultivated land, not according to the number of people?"

Liu Chang dared to keep lowering the land tax. In history, Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty even dared to exempt the land tax directly for a certain period of time. This is because the main income of the Han Dynasty is not the land tax, but the oral tax or calculated tax, tax and tax It is different. What is Fu? Oral Fu means that everyone alive in the Han Dynasty must pay money to the emperor. At first, this money is 120 yuan. No matter you are old or young, male or female, you must pay Pay the emperor.

That's why Chen Ping called Liu Chang the most powerful clan in the world. You are the one who collects money from the whole world.

Even if you lose your arable land, have no source of livelihood, and are so poor that you are about to starve to death, you still have to pay the 120 qian. Of course, Liu Changji’s oral tax is 70 qian. By the way, this money can be paid through equivalent food and cloth instead.

This form of "oral taxation" reached its peak in the late Ming Dynasty, forcing peasants to revolt wave after wave. It was resolved in the Qing Dynasty, that is, "spreading into mu", Kangxi used the 50-year oral taxation The population tax is a regulation, and it is ordered that future newborns do not have to pay the population tax.

And Yongzheng went a step further, apportioning the fixed population tax directly into the land tax. Those with an area of ​​more than [-] mu were miserable, and those with less than [-] mu hardly needed to bear this pressure.

This led to the population explosion in the Qing Dynasty. Many people thought it was because of the introduction of American crops. In fact, the introduction of new crops was very early, and it had already been introduced in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. In the Chinese period, even in the period of the Republic of China, the cultivated area of ​​new crops was still very small. This emperor who was looked down upon by his Shiquan son was probably the real founder of the Qing Dynasty. He gave his son a profligate capital, but what is it? Didn't get a good reputation.

Facts have proved that even in my Qing Dynasty, if you offend the lord class, your reputation will still be bad.

"The captive tax cannot be abolished, otherwise the treasury will collapse immediately."

Chen Ping shook his head. He had always been worried that Liu Chang would ask him for advice. The main reason was that this guy's behavior was too extreme. No matter what he said, he wanted to execute it ten times. I have already thought of abolishing the oral tax, and it is okay to abolish it. If it is abolished this year, next year the big man will not even be able to pay his salary.

The big man doesn't have such capital yet, if Liu Chang really did this, then Chen Ping should consider a posthumous title of quiet or severe for himself.

"Then how to balance the tax and the tax, how can the source of income of the treasury be transferred from the tax to the tax?"

Chen Ping was still not satisfied with Liu Chang's way of interrupting him, he said seriously: "There is a third way."

"The third solution is to fundamentally solve the problem by abolishing private ownership of land, prohibiting trading, taking back all the land in the world, and giving it to the people through long-term leases. The people can use the cultivated land, but they cannot treat the cultivated land as their own. The family property is sold at will, and all the reclamation is done by the temple. The user of the land can be changed, but it has always been owned by the temple. This is an ancient practice, and it is extremely difficult to implement it today."

Liu Chang fell silent immediately, and seriously thought about the several methods Chen Ping described.

Chen Ping didn't bother him any more, just sipped his tea slowly.

"If the solution can be easily achieved, it will not be the turn of His Majesty to think about it. Feng Hou has already implemented it. Your Majesty had better consider the second solution. When the Han Dynasty established the country, Feng Hou considered whether to abolish it. To calculate tax, use grain production as the standard, the higher the grain production, the higher the tax, but he realizes that such behavior will affect the grain production, and if the tax standard is based on cultivated land, it is not conducive to reclamation and short-term production recovery, so he gave up."

"Today's big man is different. There is a lot of cultivated land. If His Majesty can switch between taxes and taxes, it may really play a big role."

Just as Liu Chang was about to ask a few more questions, a servant reported that a guest had come.

Chen Ping got up, and for some reason, Liu Chang also got up subconsciously. He just felt that the person who could be entertained by Chen Ping must be very extraordinary, but the person who walked in disappointed Liu Chang. A thin old man, very old, exuding a decayed smell, leaning on a cane, greeted them with a smile.

Liu Chang looked at them in surprise. He saw Chen Ping, who had always been indifferent, greeted his old friend with a smile, and they sat down together.

Could it be some kind of expert?
Liu Chang's attitude changed immediately. The old man chatted with Chen Ping about the past. They were indeed old friends. They chatted for a long time, but they were all talking about some very ordinary things, nothing surprising, even They were all a little boring, the two old men were thinking about the story that was wonderful in their eyes but sounded boring to outsiders.

Liu Chang hasn't figured out the crux of the problem yet, so he is naturally unwilling to leave. He is like a third party, sitting beside the two of them and waiting quietly. He has already seen that the old man is probably not What kind of talent, he can't even speak clearly, his thinking is slow, even if he was a talent in the past, he is useless now.

"The children are all good, but they don't have much talent. Like me, they are mediocre, but they are also good. They have no evil deeds. Of the three children, two are minor officials in the county, and the eldest son is not an official. , he doesn't have that ability, how about your son?"

The old man asked with a smile.

"Fortunately, that Lizi of my family is the sheriff in Shu County, and he is doing well, but he hasn't come to see me for a long time. That means, when Shu County is governed to be the number one county in the world, he will come back."

"Haha, Junshou Chen is like a father, with great ambitions!"

"What kind of ambition he can have, many of them are determined by himself, and he doesn't take me seriously at all."

"It's still good for Mr. Wei, both sons and daughters are by my side."

"How can my son compare with your son, Chen Junshou is famous all over the world."

This is the first time Liu Chang saw Chen Ping, a retired old man. He thought he could hear the confrontation between two wise men, but he never thought that Chen Ping and this old man were just chatting about family matters, and they didn't talk about it. State affairs, without worrying about the world, just focus on children, the past, and current interests and hobbies, etc. These things seem a bit boring to Liu Chang, and he has not yet reached this age.

The two chatted for a long time like this, and Liu Chang almost fell asleep.

He even doubted whether the two of them did it on purpose. For Liu Chang, who pursues efficiency in everything, this is the greatest torture.

Finally, the old man got up and was about to leave. He bid farewell to Chen Ping, and with the support of several retainers, he walked out of the mansion. Chen Ping sent him to the carriage all the way.

After that person left, Liu Chang finally couldn't help asking: "Father Zhong, who is that person?"

"Gao Lianghou Wei Wuzhi."

"Huh? Why haven't I heard of it?"

"It's not Chehou."

"Oh, what is he capable of?"

"Just my friend."

"kindness???"

Liu Chang was a little surprised. It turns out that Chen Hou also has normal friends, and they are not monsters around him?

Chen Ping sat down again, looked at Liu Chang, and said, "The three methods I mentioned earlier."

Chen Ping believes that the best solution is to start with taxes. As for how to start, Chen Ping only proposed a rough idea, but Chen Ping couldn't think of any details, but even so, his eyes were already very It is very long-term, and Liu Chang admires it very much. Chen Ping gave himself a new way of thinking.

The tax law proposed by the ministers is nothing more than collecting more taxes on people with more arable land, but they have never thought of changing taxes and taxes. Chen Ping unintentionally provided himself with a new way of thinking.

Liu Chang knew that Chen Ping should have more methods, more radical ones, but this person probably wouldn't tell him, Chen Ping was not afraid of Liu Chang, because he always felt that his time was running out, Liu Chang The elder will not kill himself, but he still will not take risks with his clan. Some things, if he says something wrong, may leave disasters for future generations, and he is not around, that stupid son may not be able to deal with it .

"Did you know that what you were talking about about taxes and taxes always seemed familiar to me, as if I knew the solution."

Liu Chang said.

Chen Ping's eyes are a bit complicated, at this time, you still want to swallow my work?I didn't say I wouldn't give it to you, why bother to find such outrageous excuses to prevaricate myself? ?
Liu Chang thought for a while, then suddenly asked again: "By the way, that friend of yours just now, who are you?"

Chen Ping was silent for a while, and said: "I used to have a bad reputation. I fought for Xiang Ji, but he wanted to kill us because of other people's faults. I left him and made friends with Wei Wuzhi. Under his introduction, I defected to Emperor Gao, who took me as the captain and entrusted me with important tasks, and was on a par with Zhou Bo and Guan Ying, so they spoke ill of me to Emperor Gao."

"Emperor Gao found this person and reprimanded him, but he felt that in times of crisis, talented people should be reused instead of considering their parallelism. Emperor Gao then summoned me and was persuaded by me, so he reused me even more. This person has become a close friend."

Liu Chang suddenly remembered something, "Oh, yes, I remembered, my father wanted to make you a Marquis of Che, and you said it was all due to Wei Wuzhi, without his recommendation, you would not be able to make meritorious deeds, so he made you a Marquis !!"

Chen Ping smiled and didn't answer any more.

Liu Chang laughed, "Actually, you are quite affectionate, I didn't see it before. Ah, I didn't mean that, I just meant that I mistakenly thought you were the kind of cold-blooded and ruthless. Cough cough, forget it, Just pretend I didn't say anything"

"But you still said it."

"Besides, he was able to become a Marquis not because of me, but because of his eldest father."

Liu Chang held the tea, "Who is his eldest father?"

"Wei Wuji, Lord Xinling."

"Pfft~~~"

(End of this chapter)