Overlord!

Chapter 225: Farmland Water Conservancy Law
As the de facto prime minister of Jiangdong, Zhang Zhao, in addition to paying attention to local affairs, assisted Sun Ce and governed the entire Jiangdong, making the country in Jiangdong rich and clean, managing things and changing trends, all industries prospering, and the economy prospering. This is his more important responsibility.

Therefore, after Sun Ce finished talking about the remote Wuxing, he took the initiative to say to Zhang Zhao: "Now that we are marrying and negotiating peace with Cao Cao, we have no strong enemies externally and no major dangers internally. We should recuperate and develop Jiangnan with all our strength."

"Since Liu Yao was singled out, Wang Lang was defeated, Lu Bu was defeated, and Yuan Shu was destroyed, the Jianghuai River was unified, and everyone at home and abroad respected relatives. Since the Han Dynasty, among the princes, the territory is as vast as Jiangdong."

"Since my place is so big, the wealth will increase day by day, but the grain will rot away!"

"However, there are officials who are worried about the lack of military pay during the war, and the people are worried about the poor harvest of their fields."

"This is why I am so puzzled. I govern the most vast area in the world, from the south of the Huaihe River to the extremes of the East China Sea and the South China Sea. I almost divide the world into half. I have been working hard for five years, but why am I still so poor and hungry?"

Speaking of the fact that there is still famine in the south of the Yangtze River, troops are being raised, and there are worries about insufficient treasury, Zhang Zhao looked solemn.

In the final analysis, the development level of Jiangnan is still backward. If there is a vivid map of population, fertile land and civilization, we can see that the northern Central Plains is already prosperous, with population and cultivated land spread across counties and counties.

Most of the vast land in the south of the Yangtze River is wilderness, woods and swamps. The only areas occupied by the Xia civilization are the Zhejiang area in the north of Danyang, Wujun and north of Kuaiji.

To the south are millions of square kilometers of undeveloped wasteland.

At this time, if everyone expects the government to allocate land to them, then they will always be concentrated along the Yangtze River in the north, and the land of millions in the south will be vacant.

Zhang Zhao solemnly said: "Tithes from the people are a common practice in ancient times. One acre per field is calculated as summer wheat and autumn rice. Even in barren soil, one stone of grain can be harvested. In fertile land, ten stones can be harvested per mu." With the tithe system and one dou of grain per mu, the fields in Jiangdong can also harvest more than 3000 million shi of grain, which is a total of [-] million yuan."

"This is a number that must be obtained based on scientific calculations, and is not a nonsense."

"However, when the various counties and counties saw that the amount of levies and taxes was less than half of what I said in the previous records, it is no wonder that some officials are panicking."

If Jiangdong can collect [-] million yuan in national taxes a year, plus the mint income, it can have more than one billion yuan. Such a scale can not only support [-] soldiers and officers, but also have a lot of wealth. Tens of millions of kilograms of grain are stored in warehouses and warehouses.

However, after the severe drought in Huainan last year, Jiangdong shipped 500 million shi of grain to Huainan, and Jiankang's treasury was completely empty.

Sun Ce wanted to take advantage of the chaos in Jingzhou, and Zhang Xian led three counties in southern Jingzhou to rebel. When Liu Biao was in trouble at home and abroad, he took over Jiangxia, and the treasury was stretched thin.

If it hadn't been for the great victory at Wuxing, Sun Ce would have really tried his best to plunder the treasury in order to raise enough food and grass to supply an army of up to 1 people to march more than a hundred miles westward.

With such a vast territory like Jiangdong, it can supply two armies with more than [-] men, fighting in the south and the north. It must be very frustrating to fight in panic.

If Jiangnan has the development progress of later generations, and only 5000 people are still fighting within the territory, Jiangxia can be captured no more than a hundred miles to the west.

Why did the government suffer from insufficient treasury?
Sun Ce really doesn’t agree with whether the level of agriculture in later generations is much higher than that of the Han Dynasty or the present.

At the peak of the Han Dynasty, the population was more than [-] million.During the heyday of Kaiyuan, the population was only over [-] million.

The Jiangdong plow, which has the most important impact on agricultural production, only appeared in the Mid-Tang Dynasty after the Anshi Rebellion and the economic center of gravity moved southward.

Now Jiangdong already has Jiangdong plows. Under Sun Ce's promotion, iron tools, farm tools, and plows have all developed significantly.

In particular, the lack of a land-based system freed a large number of people from harsh Ding and oral taxes and directly taxed them based on acres.

Many people were able to survive without having to consider the agricultural taxes and Dingfu that were imposed on them, even without land.As a result, industrial production flourished for a while.But at the same time, the amount of cultivated farmland has also increased significantly.

Zhang Zhao said excitedly: "The number of acres of fertile farmland in Jiangdong is now far greater than that of the previous dynasty. The new fields cultivated in the past few years are equivalent to the newly cultivated fields in the 200 years since Guangwu Zhongxing. This is all due to the good governance of the general. "

"Since there is a real land in the world, there must be food that must be produced; since there is food that must be produced, there must be taxes that must be lost."

"However, if we measure the territory today, there are a lot of acres of land. Taxation is based on acres, but the amount of land tax is very small. I am foolish to think that there are three reasons for this. The disadvantages cannot be traced back to today, but came from the Han Dynasty."

"One thing is that water conservancy is not repaired."

"The second is to indulge in arrogance and cunning."

"The third saying is that there are few people who live, but many people who eat."

Sun Ce frowned and asked seriously: "What's the explanation?"

Zhang Zhao calmly analyzed Sun Ce: "Let's talk about water conservancy and not repairing it first. This is the big disadvantage of the Han Dynasty. All Han Dynasty officials who build water conservancy projects for the people in the counties where they are appointed are welcomed by the people, and they even set up monuments to offer sacrifices. , feel its virtue all the year round.”

"However, the water conservancy in the south of the Yangtze River, from Danyang to Wujun, from Yuhang to Kuaiji, within thousands of miles of the three counties, is desolate, and the people are all self-sufficient. The people open up wasteland in the wilderness, and there are no irrigation canals outside and no irrigation canals inside. It can be used for profit. A barren field is isolated in the mountains and fields, and the water source is dozens of miles away. How can we expect the people to irrigate the fertile land?"

"We can only look to the sky for yields and hope that the weather will be smooth. If there is a slight change or a delay of a few days, the fields will become dry, the wheat seedlings will wither, and the yield per mu will be no more than a few bushels."

Sun Ce nodded in approval. Nowadays, Jiangdong is indeed lacking in water conservancy.Even a rough guy like Lu Meng led his sergeants to dig and build a weir pond and canal to irrigate hundreds of hectares of land. The local people were grateful and worshiped him for generations.

This shows the extent of water conservancy shortage in Jiangnan.

Outside Wujun and Danyang, there are few famous water conservancy facilities.

From the south of Kuaiji, the land is thousands of miles wide, and it relies entirely on the self-sufficiency of small farmers to cultivate the fields.

Did the Han Dynasty not know that building water conservancy was conducive to agricultural development?
Of course not, it was entirely because Han Dynasty officials were not interested in improving water conservancy.

Like Zhu Yuanzhang, who invested a huge amount of wealth during the Hongwu period to develop water conservancy in the world, the Han Dynasty did not even think about doing it.

In addition to the official Shang Qingtan, there is another important reason. The official Shang Gu believes that herders should be small countries with few people.

Every household has dozens of acres of farmland and engages in small-scale farmer production. That is a model for governing the country!

But Sun Ce grew up in the Celestial Dynasty. In the early years of the Celestial Dynasty, he was familiar with the situation of overhauling reservoirs and constructing water conservancy projects across the country.

Only with this level of irrigation facilities can we have a stable agricultural foundation.

So after listening to Zhang Zhao's words, Sun Ce said seriously: "Now that the war in the south of the Yangtze River is gradually subsided, we should focus on production."

"The general government can issue an order to the military, officials and civilians in each state to implement the farmland water conservancy law from now on to benefit the irrigation of crops, open rivers and canals, or build embankments, weirs, ponds, etc."

"Order the meritorious officers of each state and county to assess the officials of each county. The main tasks are to reclaim abandoned fields, build water conservancy projects, and build embankments. All officials and people who are good at cultivating acres of land can talk about the pros and cons of ponds, dikes, and ditches, and the results are remarkable. Rewards will be given according to the utility. In addition, at the end of the year, rewards will be given to people who can build water conservancy and irrigation in various places and reclaim abandoned fields."

The Farmland Water Conservancy Law is not a new law.It was implemented in both the Song and Ming dynasties.

But although this law is very ordinary, the effect is always outstanding.

After the Farmland Water Conservancy Law was implemented in the Song Dynasty, tens of thousands of water conservancy projects were built in seven years and 36 hectares of fertile land were irrigated.

This is what later generations often said, the prosperity of Jiangnan began in the Song Dynasty.Without the non-establishment of land system and the construction of water conservancy projects, the South would not be able to develop in another 500 years.

Today, Jiangdong has one state, eleven counties, and 110 nine counties. Even if hundreds of water conservancy projects are built in a year, thousands of water conservancy projects can be built in ten years.

Ten years later, Jiangnan's wealth may gradually rise.

This vast territory will one day become a sacred place.

After Sun Ce ordered the implementation of the farmland water conservancy law, Zhang Zhao continued: "The general rewards the people to build water conservancy in various places, which is undoubtedly a good government. Nowadays, Jiangnan is not completely without water conservancy irrigation. The fields acquired by powerful families are all on the banks of the water conservancy. The fertile fields in Jiangnan, Almost half of them are owned by the powerful."

At this point, Sun Ce wants to rectify the name of the powerful.

Don't think about land annexation by powerful powers.

Sun Ce had conquered Jiangdong for several years. People's livelihood was recovering and the people were returning home. Moreover, Wu County was rich and produced a lot of grain, so Jiangnan never suffered major floods and natural disasters.

How can a powerful man acquire thousands of acres of fertile land in just three or four years?

However, half of the fertile land in counties and counties is owned by powerful people.

A key reason is that under today's tax system, these powerful and wealthy families must be pursuing increasing the yield per mu.

The higher the yield per mu, the more wealth they will have left after paying the land tax.

Therefore, these gentry and powerful people are willing to organize clan members to build water conservancy projects for the clan.

Haoqiang may only account for one-twentieth of Jiangdong's household registration, but the scale of the water conservancy built accounts for nine-tenths of the newly built water conservancy projects in Jiangdong.

The remaining ten or two were not built by ordinary people, but were built by government organizations.

A large water conservancy site like Shaopi can affect the entire war trend in Huainan and Huaibei and the overall situation of the world.

Why could Sun Quan repeatedly attack Hefei but not succeed, and why could Deng Ai be able to farm and no longer have trouble in the south of the Yangtze River?

After all, isn't it because the local area has such water conservancy that can make the farmland abundant year after year?
Officials, outstanding figures, and powerful men throughout the ages have attached great importance to water conservancy construction, and naturally they can clearly see the pros and cons.

Both the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty rewarded the people, and those who were rewarded were the gentry and wealthy families who were willing to benefit the countryside.

This would have been a good thing.

But Zhang Zhao changed the topic and said: "However, since the Han Dynasty, the government has indulged the cunning and cunning people. Aristocratic families and wealthy families often use privileges to exempt them from taxes."

"Nowadays, in the areas south of the Yangtze River, there is especially a legacy of the Han Dynasty. The arrogant and cunning people often hide their fields to avoid taxes, which makes the prefectures and counties have a shortage of taxes."

"I have personally witnessed that in Shanyin County, Kuaiji County, when Yu Fan governed the county two years ago, the tax amount was as high as [-] yuan."

"However, last year, after Gaofu Jun took over the county, there were no wars or droughts or floods in Shanyin County. The people cultivated fertile fields, and the government built water conservancy projects. When the weather was good, there should be a bumper harvest, but the tax dropped from [-] yuan to [-] yuan. To six thousand four hundred."

"The shortfall is a total of 110 yuan, or [-] million yuan! If the tax is calculated on a per-acre basis, this means that more than [-] acres of fertile land are missing. Even if it is calculated as fertile land, this is tens of thousands of acres of fertile land that have been abandoned."

Without war or natural disasters, it would be impossible for someone in Shanyin County to suddenly abandon tens of thousands of acres of fertile farmland with convenient water conservancy and irrigation and rich grain production.

No matter who owns the land, whether it is planted or not, whether it is a day off or not, the government will tax the land.

Therefore, the tax revenue from tens of thousands of acres of fertile land suddenly disappeared. It is absolutely impossible that a large number of local people suddenly broke up and died. There are only two possibilities: the powerful are hiding their land registration, or the tax collectors cannot collect the taxes.

In response to this, Sun Ce couldn't help but smile and said: "I'm afraid these heroes have been at ease for a long time, and they have been facing the outside world all the time, making these heroes forget the power of fighting alone!"

"I made a three-part agreement with Jiangdong's elders that those who evade taxes will die! This is an iron law."

"How dare these powerful men hide their positions and fight against taxes with arms, as they did during the Han Dynasty?"

"I'm going to pass on this order and anyone who has a tax deficiency, no matter who he is, will be killed without mercy!"

“Reiterating the law, if anyone is identified as having tax avoidance, the government will share the tax and fines equally with them.”

Cunning privilege?

Don't even think about it!

Sun Ce never intended to give any tax-free privileges to scholar-bureaucrats and powerful men.

Death and taxes are the only things in life that can never be avoided.

Sun Ce believed that if any strong player wanted to challenge the restricted area in this area, he would definitely be beaten to death.

Man Chong, with [-] recruited guests, swept away more than [-] powerful families in Runan.

Now the most important tax towns in Jiangdong, Danyang, Wujun, and Kuaiji are right under Sun Ce's nose. If they want to resist, they are seeking death.

The most important reason why Sun Ce set up his administrative office in Jiankang, Jiangnan was to collect taxes.

In the future, the prosperity of Jiangdong will dominate the world, and the governance of Jiangdong will be in the south of the Yangtze River, so it will be able to continuously collect massive taxes from the south of the Yangtze River.

Why have we heard of scholar-officials in the south not paying taxes since ancient times, but never heard of scholar-officials in Guanzhong and Beijing evading taxes?

Are they inferior to the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats in Jiangnan in terms of IQ and martial ethics?
It's not because these two places are always at the feet of the emperor, and there is no way to stay away from the imperial power and be lawless like Jiangnan.

One of the most important reasons why the Song Dynasty was so prosperous was that its capital was close to the south. Therefore, people in the Song Dynasty always said that [-]% of the world's taxes came from the southeast.

Since taxes could be levied, the two Song dynasties could continue to form armies and maintain their rule, which lasted for more than 300 years.

Sun Ce said to Zhang Zhao: "The matter of taxation has a long-term bearing on the fate of the country. Gu had already intended to abolish the county and county magistrates, merge the Tiancao and the City Cao, and establish a special department to manage tax collectors and tax collectors. Tax."

"There will also be three departments established within the administrative office, responsible for the three major financial departments: Duzhi, Municipal Shipping, and Household Department."

"These three envoys are responsible for the taxation of Jiangdong. Can you recommend anyone?"

(End of this chapter)