The six-dimensional pictures of emperors of all dynasties were exposed, and the ancestors panicked

Chapter 708: Untouchables
{Property tax based on the amount of land used?}

{Those with more houses should pay more, those with fewer houses should pay less, and those with no houses should pay nothing.}
{This shows that there has been nothing new since ancient times...}
{Why didn’t it come true during the Ming Dynasty?}
{This thing is indeed not difficult, but the difficulty lies in its implementation and implementation.}
{The fundamental reason why Yongzheng was able to achieve his goal was that he really dared to kill people, and he killed a lot of people!}

{During the Yongzheng period, owing taxes to the imperial court was an extremely serious crime. The people would come to pay taxes with swords and guns. If you didn’t pay, they would arrest you and confiscate your property. Therefore, Emperor Yongzheng was considered an extremely cruel emperor by the literati, and the literati had an extremely low opinion of him.}
{So, whether in ancient times or modern times, it is easy to come up with good policies, but the difficulty lies in implementing them.}
……

Big man.

Liu Bang touched his chin and smiled meaningfully.

"It seems that... whether now or in the future, the struggle for power is pretty much the same."

Lu Zhi glanced at him lightly.

"Which emperors in the Ming Dynasty do you think could implement this policy?"

Liu Bang thought about it for a moment.

"Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di... Zhu Jianshen."

Lü Zhi expected the first two names, but Zhu Jianshen...

She thought carefully about Zhu Jianshen's temperament.

Although it was unexpected, it was reasonable.

……

The period of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty
Liu Heng sat on a bamboo mat beside the field.

He comfortably enjoyed the breeze blowing from the fields, looked at the rice seedlings dancing in the wind, and said calmly:
"It's not that Yongzheng dared to kill people, it's that Yongzheng was not afraid of killing people."

"He has the support of the Eight Banners clansmen behind him, so the traditional scholar-officials can't cause any trouble at all."

"With two teams, Yongzheng can replace them at any time without worrying about major problems."

"Although there were two teams in the early stages of a business in every dynasty, generally there was only one team in the middle stage, and then it had already declined."

"The Qing Dynasty was a special case. In the middle period, the two teams could still complement and use each other."

Liu Qi understood why the two-team system of the Qing Dynasty could be preserved.

Use the Manchus to control the Han... and still come up with a bottom line?

Who can explain this clearly?

No wonder...

Liu Qi put his hands in his pockets and looked up at the sky.

Before the imperial examination system, emperors would use one to their heart's content if they wanted to get one that was useful.

Because the spare capacity cannot be expanded at all!

Liu Heng didn't know what Liu Qi was thinking.

He would talk about it whenever he remembered it, and that was how he taught people.

You watch what I do and you listen to what I say.

You have to understand and experience everything on your own.

"If you want to change the Ming Dynasty like this, his own noble class cannot replace the scholar-officials."

"In the Song Dynasty, there was only one team."

"No matter how you replace them, they are all scholars and officials."

"There were three types of officials in the Tang Dynasty: the literati, the nobles, and the aristocratic families."

"In the later period, the noble families were integrated, and the literati were always suppressed."

"It was not until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period that Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty reunited the country and helped the literati to rise up."

"During the Han, Three Kingdoms, Wei and Jin dynasties, the aristocratic families all held military power..."

Liu Heng looked at the clear blue sky and said softly:
"Everything has a traceable path, but we can't act in advance."

……

Tang Xuanzong Period
Yang Yuhuan lowered her head and counted on her fingers, then looked up in confusion and said:

"Isn't that right?"

"The Qing Dynasty put the corvée silver into the land tax. The local government has no money, but the corvée is still there?"

"Don't the government always force the people to work?"

"The money has been taken by the court and the gentry, but the work is still done by the common people? And they still haven't been paid?"

Li Longji was drinking tea. He paused for a moment after hearing this, and looked at her strangely.

"You think well... Don't think anymore."

Yang Yuhuan was unhappy and looked at him angrily.

Seeing her like this, Li Longji wanted to explain it to her, but things like currency and taxation cannot be explained in a few words, so he could only say simply:

"Since ancient times, people have been born to owe labor to the country. Labor service is an obligation and is deeply rooted in their innate consciousness."

"The purpose of the land tax is to break this ideology, so that people no longer owe the country anything by nature, but pay taxes based on the land they own."

"Because land is national wealth, land tax becomes a kind of rent."

"You don't have any land, so you don't have to pay the rent."

"As for the free corvée you mentioned..."

Li Longji organized his words.

"If a place has never had a head tax, but directly levied land taxes, and the local government uses the collected taxes to hire labor to build water conservancy projects, does this place count as having corvée labor?"

"If you count, this place has never had a poll tax. If you don't count, he still paid people to do the work."

“Don’t just think about how money comes, but don’t think about what money is.”

“The original exchange value of money does not inherit during its circulation, but changes.”

"In your opinion, money should retain the value attributes before exchange. So after the head tax is added to the land tax, the original meaning of the head tax still exists, so corvée still exists."

"But in fact, the inclusion of the head tax into the land tax is not a simple addition of numbers, but the change in the collection standard. The value attribute of the head tax has changed because the tax collection standard has become the land tax."

“So it becomes a property tax and loses the attributes of a poll tax.”

"You thought that everyone's tax should remain the same before and after the land tax was distributed. The land tax distribution should be in vain."

"But the reality is that the tax base has changed for everyone."

Seeing the wisdom in Yang Yuhuan's eyes, Li Longji was at a loss for words.

……

Song Shenzong Period
Wang Anshi was shaking with excitement, his lips trembling, and he kept muttering:

"From now on, corvée labor will no longer be an obligation of the people, but a business!"

"The court has to pay people to work! This is business! Not corvée labor!"

"The gentry are one! The tax rate is based on the land area!"

Zhao Xu looked at the somewhat crazy Wang Anshi and pursed his lips.

All the ministers have to do is think about reforming the law.

The emperor has a lot to think about...

If you give me money, I can do it, but if you don’t give me money, I won’t do it.

If you force me to do something, I will resist.

Corvée labor was an obligation and the people had no right to refuse.

In business, the state forces things, and the people rebel; the truth lies in the people.

As for corvée, the state does not force labor, and the people do not do it. The solution lies with the state.

But national construction cannot be separated from corvee labor...

In other words, there are plenty of places to spend money later...

"Ugh……"

Zhao Xu looked up at the sky, and said with compassion:

"Let the scholars and officials suffer, and I will bear the blame."

……

In March of the first year of Yongzheng's reign (1723), the Censor-in-Chief Nian Xi wrote a letter to the emperor, requesting that the status of "music households" in Shanxi and Shaanxi be removed from the list of lowly people.

[Therefore, something that Kangxi had never made up his mind to do was accomplished by Yongzheng.]

……

Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period
Kangxi squinted his eyes and looked at the fourth son. Yinzhen was very happy but he didn't show it on his face.

As an emperor, he certainly would not like to be stepped on and used as a raft by others.

But as a father, Kangxi admired his son for being better than him.

"You……"

Kangxi nodded at Yinzhen, feeling both helpless and relieved.

"Go to the Ministry of Revenue tomorrow to take up your post."

Yinzhen was stunned for a moment, then quickly bowed to express his gratitude.

Kangxi looked at his son who was bowing, but in the end he couldn't suppress the upturned corners of his mouth.

How can this be a son...

This is my achievement progress booster!

……

[“Music households” included some people who engaged in music and dancing, and some were courtesans. ]

[Yangzhou Huafanglu: "In the early days of the country, courtesans were called 'lecturers'."]

[The origin of Shanxi's "Music Households" can be traced back to the early Ming Dynasty. ]

[After Emperor Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty pacified the rebellion, he consigned the family members of some officials who resisted him to "music households" and took them to Shanxi.]

[For example, the famous general Tie Xuan resisted Zhu Di tenaciously and refused to surrender even after being captured. Zhu Di was furious and killed Tie Xuan, and demoted his two daughters to become official prostitutes.]

……

Ming Dynasty Yongle Period
Quiet……

As the saying goes, everything is afraid of comparison.

Zhu Di gritted his teeth secretly.

Even a fool like Zhu Qizhen could see that the Ming Dynasty was used as a stepping stone to promote the legal legitimacy of the Qing Dynasty.

But this stone is the one that people use to stand under their feet!

What are you talking about are the musicians... In fact, they are just pointing the knife at all the lowly people.

The first few Qing emperors mainly recruited and won over the Han upper class.

This person values ​​and wins over the lower-class Han people.

Filling this gap will further ease the relationship between the Manchus and the Han people and create a harmonious atmosphere of family unity between the Manchus and the Han people.

Zhu Di had a stern face and said nothing.

……

[These "musicians" wanted to escape from their lowly status because they were trapped in the music class.]

[Local officials needed these untouchables to serve their entertainment activities, and the gentry bullies also took pleasure in bullying the "musicians".]

【It is obvious that for those who have long been accustomed to oppressing and playing tricks on others and claiming to be "noble", although the emperor did not lower their status, allowing the untouchables to become good people was tantamount to trampling on their nobility. 】

……

{Gentleman: If you don’t have a degree, you don’t have any privileges. If you have a degree, you still don’t have any privileges! Then all the degrees were in vain!}

{Captain Jia's value is still increasing.}
{No wonder Yongzheng was the one who got scolded the most... How can you not make up stories about those who hold pens when you hit them with your swords?}
{Why do we say that the untouchables' transformation into good people is a violation of their nobility? A person's nobility is not obtained by trampling on others?}

{Well said! Let us first see how lowly the “music households” are.}
{Ordinary folk "music households" mainly provide services for weddings, funerals, birthday celebrations, and elderly people's birthday celebrations.}
{As pariahs, “music households” cannot marry with the common people, and can only choose spouses from among themselves, forming so-called “xingqin”, that is, a marriage between pariahs, which is a necessary choice.}
{When children are born, they are labeled as "low-class second-generation" and will have to carry the label throughout their lives.}
{As a pariah, they have no right to receive education, let alone become an official.}
{These people's food, clothing, housing and transportation are strictly restricted.}
{They must wrap their heads in green scarves and wear green clothes? Music and drums must come first, and eating must come later? Buildings cannot have gatehouses, and roofs cannot have animal heads. People must walk on both sides of the road, not in the middle.}
{You used to look down on me, but now we are equals. How could they agree?}
……

[Yongzheng announced that the untouchables would be removed from the register, and officials from the court to the localities could not refute it, but it created an invisible wall invisibly - removal from the register did not mean complete liberation in the actual sense.]

[The bottom line for the officials and gentry to accept the removal of untouchables from the state was that untouchables could become good people, but were not allowed to take the imperial examinations.]

[Of course, this is an unspoken rule, and there is no clear notice.]

[This soft confrontation strategy has achieved results and is widely supported by all sectors.]

[Officials certainly don’t want a former pariah to suddenly join their officialdom; they see this as an insult to them.]

[As for the untouchables who had just become good people, they did not dare to expect to study and become officials as soon as they were released from their official positions.]

[This unspoken rule was not made public until the 1771th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign () when Shaanxi Provincial Education Commissioner Liu Zeng reported it to the imperial court: “Music households” must have changed their profession for four generations and their relatives and friends must be clean before they are allowed to apply for the examination.]

……

During the Song Dynasty and Renzong Period
Zhao Zhen looked at the two words "Qianlong" and couldn't help but become curious.

This reign title has been circulated in the imperial court since the reign of Emperor Pan Ming.

Unlike the Jiajing who also circulated in advance, this Qianlong looks much better.

“This regulation is extremely strict.”

Even if a musician himself has stopped practicing menial occupations within four generations of his lineage, he has no right to pay a donation to take the exam as long as his uncles and aunts still practice menial occupations.

On the other hand, if a musician concealed the fact that his status as a slave was changed and did not report it to the government, even if no one was engaged in the profession anymore, his descendants within four generations would not be allowed to take the exam.

"But it's always a good thing."

Zhao Zhen sighed again.

Once anything becomes a social habit over a long period of time, the cracks caused by a sudden break always take time to repair.

The campaign to eliminate slavery and low status began in the middle Tang Dynasty, and it was not until the Song Dynasty that it was almost successfully eliminated.

But Yuanming took this set back.

The Qing emperors began to remove...

……

[In July of the first year of Yongzheng's reign, Galtai, the Imperial Inspector of Salt in Liangzhe, submitted a memorial requesting that the "lazy people" in Shaoxing Prefecture, Zhejiang be exempted from the beggar registration.]

[These "lazy people" were originally captives of the Song and Yuan dynasties. They had been humiliated for many years. The men could only engage in small businesses such as catching frogs and selling cakes, or act as drummers, perform in plays, and carry sedan chairs.]

[Women were mostly matchmakers, combing the hair of newlyweds, stringing beads, serving as bridesmaids, or midwives, or even becoming invisible prostitutes.]

[These beggars were not allowed to be classified as scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants, nor were they allowed to take the imperial examinations.]

【Yongzheng listened and thought that "lazy people" were similar to "music households" in Shanxi, and agreed to remove the "lazy people" from the beggar category.】

……

Ming Dynasty - Tianqi Period
"Ah this..."

Zhu Youxiao was a little embarrassed.

In other words, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty were somewhat embarrassed.

How can I explain this...

Anyway, I won’t take the blame for this.

……

【Afterwards, Yongzheng approved the "tanka" (fishermen who collected pearls) in the coastal areas along the Guangdong River to live on land, gave them land, registered them as households, and prohibited them from being bullied or expelled for any reason.】

[In the fifth year of Yongzheng's reign, Yongzheng personally raised the issue of "hereditary servants" in Ningguo Prefecture, Anhui, and "companions" in Huizhou Prefecture. ]

[The so-called "bandang" and "shibu" means that one surname is a servant of another surname. If there are two surnames in the village, all the people of this surname are the bandang and hereditary servants of the other surname.]

[It is not a division of the main family, but when a "low-ranking" surname encounters a wedding or funeral of another surname, all of them must serve, just like slaves.]

[But when asked exactly when and what month he became a "world servant", no one can tell for sure.]

[Yongzheng disliked this bad habit and ordered Anhui Governor Wei Tingzhen to verify the situation and give advice on how to deal with it.]

[After receiving Yongzheng's order, Wei Tingzhen weighed the matter over and over again, and finally came up with a method of differentiated treatment and gradual implementation.]

[If a gentry family pawns a slave and there is a written contract to prove it, if the slave is not redeemed, the slave and his descendants should still obey the original owner’s orders.]

[Even if the person has been redeemed, the redeemer and his descendants born to the master's family should still retain the original master-servant status.]

[The descendants of slaves born after redemption have no relationship with the original owner, and should no longer have the status of master and servant. They should be allowed to be exempted and become good.]

[As for those who lived a long time ago, have no written deeds, and are not raised by their masters, they cannot be treated as "companions" or "hereditary servants."]

【Wei Tingzhen's method was well-reasoned and Yongzheng approved it to be implemented.】

【For the musicians, lazy people, beggars, hereditary servants, servants, boatmen, etc. left over from history. 】

【Yongzheng ordered that they be removed from the household register, allowed to become commoners, and registered as regular households.】

[The untouchable system, which had a history of more than a thousand years, was swept away by him.]

……

{…The term “servant of the world” really confused me. Suddenly I realized that this is just the poor version of the Indian racial system.}
{So, now you know the significance of Yongzheng's request for the pariahs to be deregistered.}
｛Yongzheng, the Qing emperor whose posthumous title contains the character "wen", is the most worthy of the title.｝
(End of this chapter)