prosperous age

The tax and labor service system in ancient China was a system in which successive dynasties levied taxes and labor on the people in order to consolidate their state power.

Originally, "fu" referred to the levy of military supplies such as carts and horses. Later, it came to mean the taxation of land, namely land tax, and sometimes also included poll tax and property tax.

Labor service, also known as corvée labor, refers to the unpaid labor performed by commoners under the coercion of the rulers, including manual labor, miscellaneous labor, and military service.

In ancient times, corvée labor was more important than taxes, and the essence of feudal taxes and corvée labor was to consolidate the rule of the landlord class.

One of the characteristics of China's feudal land ownership system was the free buying and selling of land for annexation. In terms of land tax collection, for a long time, the tax burden of large households was much lighter than that of small households, and sometimes the tax burden of large households was even transferred to small households, which fostered the development of large land ownership.

In terms of corvée labor, the privileged class not only exempted themselves from corvée labor but also sheltered numerous households that sought refuge with them. This was a major loophole in the escape of households throughout history. As the number of escapees increased, those who did not escape were even more burdened by taxes and corvée labor, resulting in a mass exodus and the risk of taking desperate measures.

The issues of household registration and taxation from the mid-Tang Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty reflect the struggle and stalemate between different classes of households below the privileged class in terms of tax and labor burden. The result could only be that the upper-class households had lighter burdens and the lower-class households had heavier burdens. After the integration of land tax and poll tax, the conflict between large and small households was still concentrated on the collection of land tax.

During the pre-Qin period, the people were subjected to extremely heavy labor service. Many chapters in the Book of Songs reflect the resentment of the people who were forced to perform labor service. The Spring and Autumn Annals contains many records of people being forced to build cities. In particular, military service was even more frequent during the wars between the states.

The "Da Situ" chapter of the "Zhou Li" stipulates that local officials at all levels have the responsibility to summon people to perform corvée labor. For this purpose, they should keep a regular record of the population, horses, cattle, and vehicles. Those who are noble, virtuous, or performing official duties are exempt from corvée labor.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, private land ownership gradually took shape, and the state levied a tax of "one-tenth" on the millet harvested from the land.

In the early Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong suggested that the State of Qi try to implement "taxation based on land yield". In the later Spring and Autumn Period, in the fifteenth year of Duke Xuan of Lu, the "first tax per mu" was implemented, which stipulated the tax rate per mu according to the average yield. Later, it became a land tax system based on income.

After Qin unified China, the corvée labor was extremely harsh, which sparked a peasant uprising led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang.

In the early Han Dynasty, a policy of allowing the people to rest and recuperate was adopted, and the tax on land was reduced from one-fifteenth to one-thirtieth, but the corvée labor system was still followed.

In addition to serving one month of military service in the prefecture and county each year, males also had to serve as regular soldiers and garrison soldiers. Those who did not serve paid money in lieu of service, which was called "replacement tax".

During the Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, wars were frequent, land rent and household tax were in great chaos, and military service and miscellaneous labor were extremely harsh.

In the early Sui and Tang dynasties, the equal-field system, which had been tested from the Northern Wei to the Sui dynasty, was adopted. Based on the principle that each adult male received 100 mu of land, the rent, labor service and tax system was implemented.

Rent and taxation were the evolution of land rent and household taxation since the Three Kingdoms period, while labor service involved the payment of silk and cloth.

At the same time, the implementation of the Fubing system eliminated the threat of conscription.

However, the equal-field system, like the land allocation system of the Western Jin Dynasty, stipulated that the permanent land of officials below the rank of prince was ten or even dozens of times more than that of commoners. In addition, the land was annexed by powerful families, and later farmers could not obtain land. The equal-field system existed in name only, and thus the rent, labor service and tax system could not continue.

In the mid-Tang Dynasty, during the first year of the Jianzhong era of Emperor Dezong, the Two-Tax System was implemented. The two taxes were land tax, which was levied on grain per mu (unit of land area), and household tax, which was levied on money per household's property. Both taxes were collected in summer and autumn, which was more in line with the taxpayers' ability to pay.

However, due to the enormous military and political expenditures of local governments, additional taxes were levied on the two taxes, and various corvée labors were also imposed, increasing the burden on the people. As a result, a large number of households fled, which accelerated the collapse of the Tang Dynasty.

During the Song and Yuan dynasties, perhaps because the land fell into the hands of wealthy households, their land tax policies varied in terms of strictness and leniency, but the tax and labor service system became more complex. In particular, during the Yuan dynasty, various miscellaneous labor services and harsh levies were imposed. Although the land tax seemed to have decreased, the tax and labor service burden in the Yuan dynasty was heavier than that in the Song dynasty.

By the Ming Dynasty, the tax and labor service system had been improved.

Regarding taxes, based on land surveying, a household registration and land registry system was established, combining the Yellow Register and the Fish Scale Register. The two taxes were summer wheat and autumn grain, with additional taxes on silk and cotton textiles. The grain chief was responsible for urging the collection of taxes and reducing the chances of corruption by clerks.

Later, as the power of the grain chiefs grew, the Ming Dynasty adopted measures such as limiting their terms of office or allowing several people to take turns serving as grain chiefs in a single grain-producing area.

Regarding corvée labor, the three categories of corvée labor—Lijia, Junyao, and Zafan—were originally classified according to the household's assets and population to differentiate the order and severity of the corvée labor. However, the accumulated problems of compiling and reviewing households were difficult to eliminate, and the household classifications were reversed. Lijia, Jiehu, and Kuzi corvée laborers were often punished for dereliction of duty, leading to the ruin of their families. As a result, the trend of seeking refuge with wealthy households to avoid harsh corvée labor became increasingly widespread.

Throughout history, land taxes in ancient times were not high. During the pre-Qin period, one-tenth of the land tax was the limit. Later, taxes were reduced to one-twentieth, one-fifteenth, and one-thirtieth, which brought taxes down to the minimum.

However, the dynastic changes continued, the root cause of which was the uneven distribution of corvée labor.

Often towards the end of a dynasty, the burden of various corvée labors on the people becomes increasingly heavy, and when they are ultimately powerless to reverse the situation, they have no choice but to take desperate measures.

According to Zhang Juzheng's original plan, he did not intend to incorporate the poll tax into the Single Whip Law. Instead, he combined the numerous corvée services such as the original village system, the equal corvée service, and miscellaneous services into one collection, and changed the corvée service that was previously levied based on the number of households to be apportioned based on the number of households and the amount of land and grain.

Wei Guangde knew that the "equalization of land tax and poll tax" policy during the Yongzheng era was actually a good policy, at least for the proletarians, it was a way to truly alleviate the pressure of life.

Wei Guangde did not want to lose the tens of millions of shi of grain tax, so he brought in the corvée labor and forcibly collected the tens of millions of shi of grain tax to serve as corvée labor.

Ultimately, the goal was to change the corvée labor system from being levied based on the number of people in the household to being borne by the landlords, and to extract the labor from the land.

"We will never again suffer the calamity of families being ruined by corvée labor. What Grand Secretary Wei said is well said, but in all the history of the world, no one has ever done this before."

Zhang Siwei immediately retorted that he understood Wei Guangde's suggestion, which was certainly not a good thing for the landlords.

This meant that landlords had to pay corvée labor in addition to the taxes levied by the imperial court.

In the past, when tenant farmers performed corvée labor, it had nothing to do with the landlords.

If you can't farm the land, then find another tenant farmer to do it.

But now things are different. Wei Guangde wants to transfer the corvée labor fees to the fields, which is unacceptable.

“Grand Secretary Wei, previously the Ding silver was levied based on 60 million males, but now the population shows that it has exceeded 90 million, so the Ding silver will increase by 60 to 70%. In the future, the population may exceed 10 million. How can we include them in the Single Whip Law?”
Does this mean we'll have to re-enact the Single Whip Law every year based on the number of people in the household?

Shen Shixing also frowned and said.

Zhang Juzheng did not consider incorporating the poll tax into the Single Whip Law mainly because of the uncertainty of the population, so he only included corvée labor attached to the land.

However, Wei Guangde later suggested to him that "the population should increase and taxes should never be increased," which was essentially a way of locking in the total amount of poll tax.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang did the same thing back then, which was to keep the grain tax at a constant 2950 million shi (a unit of dry measure). To this day, the grain tax collected by the Ming Dynasty each year fluctuates around this number.

In general, the difference is only a few hundred thousand shi (a unit of dry measure), but it doesn't cause much harm.

In fact, from the pre-Qin period to the present Ming Dynasty, one trend that must be mentioned is that the proportion of corvée labor in taxes and corvée labor has been decreasing. The Qin and Han periods can be considered the period with the heaviest corvée labor.

In most subsequent dynasties, except at the end of the dynasty, the burden of military service was generally not heavy.

He had only mentioned this matter to Zhang Juzheng before, but now that Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing had asked about it, Wei Guangde glanced at Zhang Juzheng and saw him nod slightly, so he repeated what he had told Zhang Juzheng before.

"To increase the population and never increase taxes?"

Shen Shixing reacted quite strongly. After all, his family was not considered a wealthy or powerful clan. Although they were merchants, they were not considered big businessmen in Fujian. They were just small businessmen who could barely make ends meet, so he naturally had an impression of the poll tax.

This poll tax was a considerable burden within the family, especially since he lived with his maternal uncle's family and was a male member subject to the tax. Shen Shixing was a sensitive person, and in his early years, he could naturally sense the dissatisfaction among his clansmen from their conversations about it.

Such opinions only disappeared after he demonstrated his exceptional ability in the imperial examination system.

After all, once he passed the county-level imperial examination, he would be relieved of this pressure, and once he became a provincial-level imperial examination graduate, he could even exempt his family from corvée labor.

"If that's the case, you have no objection."

Clearly, Wei Guangde's practice of apportioning the poll tax onto land to reduce the burden on the poor had already gained Shen Shixing's approval and support.

In fact, when Zhang Juzheng first learned of this idea from Wei Guangde, his attitude was the same as Shen Shixing's.

Don't forget, Zhang Juzheng's family was not a powerful or wealthy family either. They were just a military household branch that was slightly better off than Wei Guangde's family, and perhaps even worse off.

Of course, military households are not subject to corvée labor, but they have plenty of people around them. By listening and observing more, they learn more. Not to mention, after leaving the Hanlin Academy, he once went home under the pretext of recuperating and traveled around Huguang, gaining much more experience.

Zhang Juzheng naturally realized that the saying "oppressive government is more ferocious than a tiger" actually referred to "extortion," which was the very foundation that destroyed a dynasty.

At this time, of course no one raised the point that those who succeed in rebellion are often insiders, because the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty did not come from such an background.

However, in previous dynasties, most of those who succeeded in rebellion were not actually poor people.

After all, overthrowing a dynasty requires more than just poor people; it requires the guidance of learned individuals. Similarly, creating a dynasty is not something that peasants can accomplish alone; it requires the assistance of scholars.

But it is true that they could incite the people to rebel and overthrow the dynasty.

While they may not be able to create a new dynasty, they can certainly overthrow the old, corrupt one.

At this moment, in the Grand Secretary's office, the most hesitant person was Zhang Siwei.

His family were originally merchants, but after he succeeded in the imperial examination, in order to avoid being described as having a merchant background, the family vigorously purchased land in various places and presented themselves as landlords. This was what they said to outsiders, and the family even planned to pass on their scholarly traditions in the future.

It can be said that among the four members of the cabinet, the Zhang family is definitely the largest.

Even Wei Guangde, despite his remarkable achievements in business, couldn't compare to the Zhang family, who had been in business for generations and were major salt merchants.

How much wealth can the Wei family accumulate in a decade or so?

This is how outsiders perceive Wei Guangde: he's rich, but lacks substance.

Moreover, Wei Guangde did not simply annex land, but instead invested large sums of money in the Shangshang Company, focusing on maritime trade and the wool textile industry in the north.

Wei Guangde consistently avoided entering industries such as silk fabrics and porcelain, as he already possessed considerable strength in those sectors.

If he were to intervene, his subordinates would inevitably use their power to oppress others, leading to a situation where bureaucratic capital exploits private capital. Therefore, he chose to intervene in industries that the Ming Dynasty did not have.

As for the maritime trade, which was a major investment, it was something the imperial court had previously prohibited. If we were to talk about the old forces, it was the power of smugglers and Japanese pirates.

He felt no guilt for robbing it.

Zhang Siwei remained silent for a long time, so Wei Guangde, not wanting to press him, glanced at Zhang Juzheng, who finally spoke: "Ziwei, what do you think of your suggestion regarding charitable loans?"

Zhang Juzheng's questions were better than Wei Guangde's, as they were more likely to give the impression of being interrogated.

"This"

Zhang Siwei opened his mouth, but ultimately didn't say anything.

Wei Guangde's suggestion is certainly excellent for the people of the land. Once implemented, it would mean that they would no longer have to pay the annual poll tax.

However, this poll tax was levied on the land and paid by the land's produce, which was tantamount to taking a share of the profits from the landlords.

Unlike later generations who did not understand, in reality, during this period, taxes were levied by landlords who collected land rent, and then a portion of that rent was used to pay taxes.

This is why gentry and powerful families concealed their land output. According to ordinary people's understanding, the government should collect taxes directly from tenants and have nothing to do with landlords, so why would they need to conceal their land?

In any case, the grain didn't come from his own hands, but was collected from the tenants.

What the government collected from the tenants was actually just the poll tax and miscellaneous taxes levied on them.

As for whether landlords could pass on the increased taxes to tenants by raising land rents after the imperial court implemented the land tax reform, that was also impossible.

Because the contracts signed between landlords and tenants during this period clearly stipulated that the landlords' income included taxes, and the surplus grain was the tenants' income.

According to this contract, a land ownership pattern that became more common in later generations was formed during the Ming Dynasty, namely the "one land, two owners" form.

Landlords owned the "field bottom," which can be understood as "land ownership" in later generations, while tenants owned the "field surface," which is the "right to use" the land.

Later generations only saw the gentry, noble families and imperial relatives who seized and annexed land during the Ming and Qing dynasties, but in reality, they mostly acquired the "land base" and became landlords, while the common people who owned the land received the "land surface" according to the contract.

In fact, this was a method taken by farmers to avoid exorbitant taxes and endless levies. Many farmers sold their farmland to landlords or powerful people in exchange for a larger area of ​​"fields" to make a living.

Once such a contract is signed, it cannot be broken casually and can almost be considered "permanently valid".

Therefore, despite the severe land annexation during the Ming and Qing dynasties, people were still able to make a living because of this contract, not because landlords could arbitrarily increase or decrease rents for tenants as depicted in movies and TV dramas.

If such a situation exists, it can only be during the Republic of China period, and definitely not during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Without a doubt, if Wei Guangde's method were followed and the land tax in various places were fixed, then the landlords would bear a heavy burden, which would no longer be borne by the common people, but by the landlords.

"Ziwei, don't forget the roots of your family's wealth. There's nothing wrong with saying it. I've never thought that being a merchant is a lowly profession."

A nation cannot be stable without agriculture, nor can it prosper without commerce.

Wei Guangde spoke up.

Alright, from now on, those words will be spoken by Grand Secretary Wei. (End of Chapter)