At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 5 Water Conservancy Donation

It’s no wonder that the people are so excited. Floods and droughts have been the crux of the problem restricting the development of Xiangxian County since ancient times.If this stubborn problem can be solved, the lives of the people in Xiangxian County will definitely be much better.

Compared to the enthusiasm of the people, the old stingy man looked solemn. He ignored the two corpses lying on the ground and stepped forward to ask Wang Ji: "May I ask the Prime Minister, how can we solve the flood and drought disaster?"

Wang Ji said with a smile: "This matter is easy to hear, so there are people who suffer from floods. Because the heavy rain keeps causing the river to swell, the river either breaks down the embankment or overflows the embankment. There are two ways to solve it. Digging the lake will serve as a flood discharge point when the river surges!"

"Relying on the lakes and lakes in various places to build water canals, if there is too much rainfall, the water will be diverted into the canals and eventually collected into the lakes. If there is too little rainfall, water from the lakes and lakes will be diverted to irrigate the farmland. So why are we afraid of droughts and floods?"

It has to be said that Wang Ji's intention to strengthen dams and build water conservancy projects is indeed an idea that benefits the country and the people. Even if he takes it for granted, at least his original intention is not bad.

However, the old stingy man served as a township official for half his life, and what he saw was not comparable to Wang Ji, so he quickly understood the most important point, and immediately asked: "Building dams, digging lakes, and ditches are naturally beneficial to the people. However, the old man still has some doubts in his heart, please ask the Prime Minister to clear up the doubts for the old man!"

Wang Ji raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "If the old miser has any doubts, just speak up, and he will know the truth."

The old stingy man looked around at the people and said: "Whether building dams or digging lakes and ditches, a lot of manpower and financial resources are needed. The manpower can be solved by recruiting civilians, but the government can help provide financial resources?"

The smile on Wang Ji's face froze, and then he said: "The old stingy man smiled. You are in charge of rural tax collection. Naturally you know that the government has had difficulty collecting taxes and financial constraints in recent years. How can there be much money left?"

The old miser pressed him and asked, "In that case, where does the money come from?"

Wang Jilue murmured, and said: "The truth is that I want to donate the water conservancy. The county officials and gentry gentry will take the lead in donating money, and the people in the county will also donate on a head-to-head basis. In this way, funds for the construction of water conservancy will be raised!"

After Wang Ji finished speaking, everyone was in an uproar.

There is an idiom in later generations called exorbitant taxation, in which donation and tax are two concepts.

Tax, next to the word "禾", usually uses grain as the payment item, which is the grain that must be paid according to the imperial court, such as field tax and millet tax.

In the Han Dynasty, the land tax of 3 yuan per mu was not heavy, almost the lowest in Chinese history. Even if the tax is increased by 2 yuan per mu today, the tax is not too heavy.The tax of chrysanthemum is levied according to the area of ​​the land, [-] chumps and [-] chrysalis per hectare, which can also be converted into money for payment.

In addition to taxes, people also need to pay taxes.

Fu, next to the word Bei, mostly uses money as a payment item, and it is also the money that must be paid by the court, such as household tax, oral tax, calculation tax, replacement tax, donation fee, etc.Although the amount of money paid for each endowment is not too much, the taxation of all the endowments is very heavy.

Just like how infanticide happens frequently these days, people are trying to avoid the annual oral tax of 23 yuan for children.

23 dollars may not seem like a lot, but it is only an oral tax for one child. If the couple who had just been killed had not abandoned their baby, they would have had three children in the family and would have to pay an oral tax of 69 dollars per year.Coupled with other taxes, the burden on ordinary families will be very heavy. If they encounter natural disasters or man-made disasters, they may be forced to destroy their families.

What's more, Pei Kingdom was sealed by King Pei, and the people living here had to pay another portion to King Pei in addition to paying oral and counted taxes to the court.As a result, the three children's annual income of 69 yuan will directly double.As for the calculation tax for adults, it is 120 yuan per person per year, 240 yuan for husband and wife, and 480 yuan for double payment.

The above-mentioned taxes are only the official taxes promulgated by the imperial court, and under normal circumstances, the common people can basically afford them. In addition, the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes required by the officials in various places make many people live in dire straits.

What are miscellaneous taxes?They are those messy taxes that are in addition to the state's regular taxes.

For example, King Zhou Li's drinking water tax, common people have to pay tax for drinking water, and they are not allowed to drink water if they do not pay the tax.

For example, some local officials in the Qing Dynasty formulated a shoe tax and a shoe tax. People had to pay a shoe tax when they entered the city to wear shoes.

Another example is the leftover women's tax formulated in the early Han Dynasty to increase the population, stipulating that unmarried people between the ages of 30 and 120 should pay five times the tax.The calculation of Fu is [-] yuan, and five times the calculation of Fu can directly punish people to bankruptcy.

Another example is that a warlord in the Republic of China stipulated that people should be taxed for pooping and sunbathing. Even in later generations, a certain academician proposed to impose a breathing tax, which is the so-called ecological tax. He said that people exhale carbon dioxide and destroy the ecology, so we should pay for it. This is responsible.

In addition to these miscellaneous taxes, the endless donations also made the people miserable.However, compared to miscellaneous taxes, the targets of donations are mostly wealthy landowners, gentry and aristocratic families.

Donation originated from Qin Shihuang. At that time, the locust plague was raging and the court was short of food. Qin Shihuang issued an edict "Paying millet and thousand stones to worship the first class".

The donation at this time can actually be regarded as an exchange of interests. If you donate food to the court, the court will give you an official title. This style was generally continued during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, including the current emperor Liu Hong's move of selling his official position, which can also be regarded as a donation. kind.

Compared with the government's donation to officials, private donations are much more complicated. For example, if the government wants to build a road but does not have money or food, it may find local wealthy gentry, force them to donate money to build a bridge, and then erect a monument at the head of the bridge to say: The name of the person who built the bridge.In this way, the government can benefit and the gentry can be named, which can be regarded as a kind of donation.

Even in later generations, if a disaster occurs in a certain place, netizens will stare at those rich celebrities and big companies, and use their reputation as a coercion to force them to donate money. This is actually a donation, but it is spontaneously forced by the people. An act of donation.

Now Wang Ji has brought up the water conservancy donation. Obviously, because there is too much money and food needed, it is impossible to rely solely on donations from landlords and gentry, so he wants to get the general public to donate money.

"I dare to ask the Prime Minister, how much money do we, the common people, need to donate to fund the construction of water conservancy projects?"

This time, before the old stingy man could ask, the people onlookers boldly asked.

Wang Ji was not annoyed at all, and replied: "This time there are many aristocratic families, wealthy families, and businessmen who are donating water conservancy. Ordinary adults can donate a hundred yuan each!"

Everyone's expressions changed after hearing this, some looked frightened, and some had angry eyes.

Wang Ji's move was obviously taken for granted.

Today is not the same as in the early Western Han Dynasty. Every household was allocated a lot of land. As long as they worked diligently, they could not only pay taxes in full, but also have a lot of surplus.

Today is the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, land annexation is serious, and many people's lives are very difficult, especially those tenant farmers who have no land. In addition to paying the royal tax, they have to pay more than half of the land's harvest to the landlord.

Most people can't even pay the oral tax of 23 yuan for a child, let alone the water conservancy donation of [-] yuan per person.

Zhou Qi sneered after hearing this, and said to himself: "We don't know that Wang Ji's death is coming, but he is still here enjoying his achievements and squeezing the people. It is really ridiculous, deplorable, and pathetic!"

(End of this chapter)