Lu Ming

Chapter 521 The Power of Example

The profession of taxpayer is one of the oldest professions.

Early Europe was a purely feudal society. The division of rights between kings and lords was very clear. Everyone was the sole owner of their one-acre three-point land, so many royal families and local lords would contract or auction off the tax collection rights of their jurisdictions to Merchants, in exchange for a stable financial income.

This situation reached its peak in the late Middle Ages.

It's different here in Asia.

Since Qin Shihuang established the unified dynasty, the feudal system has changed, and national taxes are usually collected by local officials appointed by the central government.In this regard, the Chinese landlord class does not have as much power as the European lords. Although they can use various methods to steal and share the embezzlement, this is not justified after all, and it has nothing to do with the taxpayers.

It was during the Mongol and Yuan dynasties that taxpayers really entered the Chinese people's field of vision.At that time, the illiterate Mongols were uncertain about finances and worried about Han officials, so after occupying China, they subcontracted the national tax revenue to the Semu people—various European businessmen who came to China with the Mongols.

This kind of uncontrolled tax package system is definitely not going to work.The tax official spends 1 yuan to buy the right to collect taxes, and it is bound to search for 10 yuan in the jurisdiction. As a result, public resentment is boiling and resistance occurs frequently in various places. In the end, the Mongols can’t stay in China after only a few decades. The tax system is one of the recognized culprits.

Time came to the Ming Dynasty. With the changes in the social environment, the tax package system gradually appeared in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and became an optional tax item for some local government offices.

Generally speaking, the local county government that chooses the tax package system will contract the right to collect taxes in summer and autumn to some local "powerful" people who have the ability to receive money and food from the people in order to save administrative costs and complete financial handover.

This tax collection method gradually had a market in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, and it can be regarded as a subcontracting model that formed spontaneously.

Taxation was not mainstream at the beginning, but at the end of Ming Dynasty, with the weakening of the central royal power, the administrative ability of the county government, which is the terminal tentacles, also weakened, and it became more and more powerless in the face of the increasingly corrupt local chaos. , so the tax package system will intensify.

So when Ding Liqiu proposed the term "tax package" during the negotiations today, County Magistrate Gu was not too surprised, because over the past few years, some surrounding counties have already done this, but the degree of openness is different.Even Gu Tai himself once considered entrusting Qiu Fu to several big families in the county, but he has been hesitating and has not come to fruition.

In the end, without thinking about it for long, Master Gu nodded and agreed to hand over this year's summer and autumn tributes to Master Ding. They sent Qian Gu to the county government's warehouse in advance, and such a good thing has never happened in this world.To a certain extent, the moment the money grain was put into the treasury, this year's tax should have belonged to Mr. Ding, and the county government really couldn't find any reason to object.

A very important small meeting ended successfully in this way.This meeting marked the crossing from the sea to the land, from passive to active, "deep into the enemy's territory", and officially started the process of social transformation for the grassroots regime of the Ming Dynasty, which has far-reaching significance.

In the days that followed, Ming people in Zengcheng County began to experience unprecedented tragedies and comedies.

The first thing to start is corvée.

Not long after the flower hall meeting, before the Lunar New Year, the Lijia of the various villages under Zengcheng County officially started mobilization, and cooperated with the yamen servants who went to the countryside to do errands, and sent all the people selected to serve to the county seat.

What is different from previous years is that this year's corvee, if you want to pay to be exempted from service, you need to pay twice as much money.

In addition, this year's urgent corvee is not to clear the river, but to work in a Laoshizi military port in Huangpu.

As for the latter item, the people who have no information are not cold, because they go to work everywhere, and it doesn’t make much difference to them whether they dig the river or build a military port.

But the first one is fatal: many people can't afford to pay the doubled amount of labor money.

In such a situation, it is impossible to say that the people do not complain.The Chinese New Year is coming soon, but they are forced to go out to serve because they cannot pay the money, leaving the family in the village with no one to take care of them, and they have to bring their own dry food. It is a hard job no matter how you look at it.

However, complaining is useless. After all, corvee work has been done this way for thousands of years. Those who are going to apply for the service this year can only lament their own bad luck, and no one dares to resist the vicious officials and lijia.

So, not long after, led by A in each village, the conscription civilian teams under Zengcheng County came to the county to assemble one after another.

Arriving at the small school grounds in the south of the city, Li Jia held the roster of documents, and after handing over the documents sitting in the shed, the dozens of numb-faced laborers behind him were officially taken over by the greedy bureaucracy.

The next moment, the tragicomedy was officially staged: after the workers registered in line, each of them received 3 shiny silver pancakes on the spot!

The stupid laborers, who were holding silver pancakes and didn't know what was going on, then heard the voice of a thunderous voice holding a weird horn: Everyone is going to carry work for General Cao in Guangzhou City this time, General Cao Aimin Ruzi still has gold in his family, so he doesn't care about these small coins. This time, everyone who comes to serve will be given three silver pancakes per month. You don't have to wait until the end of the month, you will pay at the beginning of the month!

After listening to the shouting from the loudspeaker, the laborers who had been mourning for their concubine were immediately blown away. They couldn't believe what they heard, but the silver pancakes tightly held in their palms reminded them that it was true!
In this era, it is impossible for unskilled workers and laborers who only know how to do coolies to earn 3 taels of silver a month.Now that they got this windfall, many people are so happy that they are stupid: Isn't it a good idea to work for nothing?How did you get paid?

Naturally, this group of forced laborers have never heard the saying "the power of role models is infinite".

In fact, the fundamental purpose of passing through the conscripts this time is to spread Cao Zongbing's personal reputation as quickly as possible through Daming's administrative system, so that the surrounding people know that it is a good way to do Cao Zongbing's job .

Now that the first batch of role models have come, they will definitely receive generous treatment.In the next step, when the laborers gathered in the county town, they were sent to the Huangpu Military Port.This group of people was divided into two at the military port. Some of them went to Tainan by boat. They were called "carrying live jobs" and actually went to pay a visit to learn about the advanced system. All kinds of labor insurance denim work clothes are issued, so don't live too moist.

After half a month in this way, the laborers carrying the rice, wind chickens and labor insurance supplies issued by the military port with their money in their pockets were rewarded by Mr. Cao, and went back to their hometown for "New Year's leave" happily.

As the news of these people returned to their hometowns spread, the Zengcheng locals who figured out what was going on this year’s corvee, after the Chinese New Year, dragged relatives and friends, family and mouths, and came to ask for "" corvee".

The first step of Ding Liqiu's series of corvée actions was considered a success.

(End of this chapter)