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

Chapter 769 Daoguang's Achievements
[People's Livelihood and Economy: During the Daoguang period, land concentration reached an unprecedented level. ]

【The emperors of the Qing Dynasty were the largest landowners in the country. During the reign of Emperor Daoguang, there were 1,078 imperial estates, occupying more than 35,000 hectares of land. At the same time, high-ranking officials also used their political privileges to arbitrarily annex land.】

【Grand Secretary Qishan also occupied more than 2.56 million mu of land.】

[This is true for the nobles and bureaucrats, and common landlords are no exception.]

[During the reign of Emperor Daoguang, a landlord named Yuan in Cangzhou, Zhili, occupied 2,000 hectares of land.]

[Qian Yong, a Qing Dynasty scholar who died in the 24th year of Daoguang, said: "At the beginning of Shunzhi, the yield of good farmland was only two or three taels. During the Kangxi period, it increased to four or five taels."]

[“Until the beginning of the Qianlong reign, the price of land gradually increased. However, when I was five or six years old, it was no more than seven or eight taels, and the highest was more than ten taels. Now, after fifty years, it has risen to more than fifty taels.”]

[The rise in land prices also reflects the severity of land annexation. ]

……

{From a certain perspective, the most "powerful" dynasty in Chinese history is the Song Dynasty.}
{Theoretically, this guy can digest it internally as long as there is no external enemy to interfere.}
{We should develop a commodity economy. If it doesn't work out, we can go out to work, help, be tenant farmers, or join the army. It's pretty cool. We won't starve to death anyway, and we can hold out for a long time.}
{It is not easy for them to be overthrown by their own army or peasant uprisings like other dynasties in the end.}
……

Song Zhenzong period
Zhao Heng blinked, then suddenly stood up and shouted:

"I want to pacify Northern Liao!"

"Recover Yanyun!"

Liu E gently waved her round fan with an expressionless face.

"I think you should follow the example of Emperor Wu of Han."

Zhao Heng turned his head and looked at Liu E in confusion.

Liu E rolled her eyes at him and said unhappily:

"It would be more reliable to train a Huo Qubing!"

Zhao Heng thought for a while and became furious!
"Xiao E! Do you look down on me after I possess Yue Fei's power?"

Liu E pulled the corner of her mouth and said with a fake smile:

"Of course I believe in the gift from Yue Fei, Your Majesty."

Then the corners of his mouth drooped, and he said expressionlessly again:

"But I don't believe you after accepting Yue Fei's gift."

"You really can't run?"

"I'm afraid that with Yue Fei's gift, you will be able to run even more easily."

Zhao Heng was furious again!
Then his face turned red and he kept silent.

To be honest, he himself was not sure.

Now he is a replica of another famous family.

It's all just talk.

It would be a good idea to cultivate a Huo Qubing.

When the time comes, he goes to the battlefield and I will support him from behind.

Delicious.

"Then who do you think I should train?"

Liu E said calmly:
"Di Qing."

……

{Now the price of one mu in rural areas has already reached 60,000 to 80,000 yuan, but there is no such news in my hometown. With the acceleration of urbanization, how many years can the houses in the city be lived in? What should I do if I can’t live in them anymore and I don’t have money to buy new ones? Should I rent a house?}
{Everything in the city has to be bought, but in the countryside, at least you can grow vegetables on the farmland, and if you sell it, there is no way out.}
{60,000 to 80,000? Where are you from?}
｛Hubei.｝
……

Period of Emperor Guangwu of Yanhan Dynasty

Liu Xiu sighed:
"Chen Sheng and Wu Guang also cultivated other people's land."

Liu Zhuang was a little restless, and there was a hint of anxiety in his tone.

"Then sit back and watch how things develop?"

Yin Lihua tugged at Liu Zhuang's sleeve.

The incident of Wang Mang happened before, so this matter should not be mentioned lightly.

Liu Xiu looked at the sky and said helplessly:

"It's like a tea stall on a road. Zhang San doesn't have to pay taxes, but Li Si and Wang Wu have to pay taxes."

"Over time, Li Si and Wang Wu will definitely not be able to continue their business and will be taken over by Zhang San."

“The same goes for land.”

"Some people's land does not have to bear taxes and corvee labor, so they must have more resources and motivation to annex land."

“The root cause lies in unequal taxation policies, and land annexation is just an inevitable result.”

"Failure to address the root cause, but focusing on the symptoms to inhibit the normal flow of resources will only do more harm than good."

"The issue is……"

Liu Xiu sighed again:
"I am really just a human being, not a god."

If he really was a god, it wouldn't be that difficult for him to farm.

……

[Because the high concentration of land means that a large number of farmers have lost their land and have to rent the land from landlords, thus suffering from exploitation.]

【At that time, there were two forms of real land rent: "share rent" and "fixed rent". 】

[Share rent is generally around 50%, and some can be as high as 60 or 70%. ]

[The fixed rent is also very high. In the southern region, the yield per mu is generally around two dan, but the rent is one dan or even more.]

[In addition to the regular rent, the landlord also found ways to exploit the tenants.]

[For example, when farmers rent land for cultivation, they must first pay a "top fee" and a "deposit" before they can obtain the right to cultivate the land.]

[In addition, the landlords also demanded additional rent from the tenants, such as "winter animal money", "palanquin money", "family expenses", etc. During festivals, they had to "give festival money", when marrying off their daughters, they had to give "village gifts", and so on.]

[Landlords also often resort to the method of "seizing land and renting it out to other tenants" to increase the rent.]

……

{What is the meaning of seizing land and renting it out to other tenants?}

{It means giving you the land rent, and then clearly stating how much shi and liang of silver you have to pay each year.}
{Then when the land you rent is cultivated and mature, I will ask you to increase the rent accordingly. You will definitely disagree. Since you disagree, I will rent out the land elsewhere.}
{…What the hell…}
{My first reaction was to report to the authorities, then I suddenly realized that officials and gentry are one.}
{I will never talk about traveling back to ancient times again.}
……

[The cruel exploitation put the tenants in an extremely difficult situation. Often they had to pay rent today and beg tomorrow.]

[The rapid development of land annexation also led to the court's increasingly severe exploitation of farmers. ]

[Although land was concentrated in the hands of big bureaucrats and landlords, their tax burden rarely increased accordingly.]

[This strange phenomenon occurred mainly because these gentry and landlords colluded with the government and did everything they could to shift the burden onto the peasants.]

[The so-called "using the floating income of small households to offset the shortfall of large households" is one reflection of this situation.]

……

The period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty
"Powerful."

In Liu Che's mind, they were the second biggest enemy after the Huns.

Little Liu Ju tugged at Liu Che's sleeve, looked at Liu Che who was awakened by him, and asked:

"Using the floating income of small households to offset the shortfall of large households? Father, how do you do this?"

Liu Che reached out and held little Liu Ju in his arms, and said slowly:
"Most of the people who lost their land were forced to give up their land."

"The powerful only collected five or six dou of grain for every shi of grain, while the common people collected two or three dou of grain for every shi of grain."

"With this back and forth, the excess income will offset the shortfall."

"This has invisibly increased the burden on the people."

Xiao Liu was puzzled:

"Can't it be changed?"

Liu Che laughed, and laughed happily.

"Of course it can be changed, and it's very simple."

"Just don't let the powerful take root in one place."

"This is the mausoleum town system of Emperor Gaozu."

... [The same is true for forced labor. "The Zhili forced labor was levied according to the number of cattle and donkeys, according to the number of villages, according to the number of registered households, and sometimes according to the area of ​​land."]

[“However, the rich can hide their wealth in the vast land, while the poor must pay taxes on every penny, which makes the situation chaotic, unbalanced and unfair. The worst thing is the division between the gentry and the people.”]

[“Sometimes the gentry manage three things and the common people manage seven things; sometimes the gentry manage nothing and the common people manage alone. The common people suffer and are displaced, with no one to turn to.”]

……

{It is a common problem throughout the ages, supporting the rich and ignoring the poor.}
{Wang Anshi: I don’t like to hear that.}
{What can the farmers do? They are not the ones in power.}
{In peaceful times, we provide labor; in troubled times, we provide military forces. This has been the case since ancient times. Only God knows what to do.}

{If you don't starve to death, you can't make much trouble. What can I do? Just bear it. As long as there is food, that's enough.}
……

Period of Jihan and Emperor Huai

Liu Chan looked at the sky.

I recalled my father's last words to me.

"Father, I understand."

Zhuge Liang looked at Liu Chan.

That nodding child suddenly developed a deep and profound quality.

Liu Chan was thinking about the past.

The past that seemed to be covered with a layer of dust seemed to be wiped clean suddenly, shining with dazzling light.

"Don't do evil because it's small, don't do good because it's small."

"Today I finally understand what my father meant."

Liu Chan said calmly:
"In fact, these two sentences mean the same thing."

“Don’t take for granted all the sacrifices and contributions of all things in the world.”

“It’s shameful.”

Zhuge Liang looked at him in a daze.

He saw it again.

That familiar look, that familiar light.

"Kong Ming, now that he has come to me, how can I bear to abandon him?"

He couldn't help covering his face with his sleeves.

Liu Chan looked at his father whose shoulders twitched slightly and gently closed his eyes.

An Le Gong.

These three words make all the sacrifices in vain.

"That punishment..."

"I deserve it."

……

[At the same time, the development of land annexation also led to a decrease in the amount of land directly controlled by the court, and the fixed taxes had to be paid, so the problem of "floating collection" during grain collection became more and more serious.]

[“At the beginning of Qianlong’s reign, the prefectures and counties collected money and grain, but there was still little problem of excessive collection. Later, various problems arose. At first, it was just an excessive collection of the amount of rice per bushel, but soon, a discount system was introduced, with a discount of several liters per bushel, which gradually increased to 50% or 60% of the amount. The remaining rice was collected as low as 2.5 liters, which made the common people sick.”]

[In the first year of Emperor Daoguang's reign (1821), Sun Yuting, the governor-general of Liangjiang, requested that an % discount on taxes be granted to limit excessive tax collection. After much debate among court officials, the Qing court finally gave up the idea because it was afraid that openly approving excessive tax collection would lead to uncontrollable excessive tax collection.]

[High land rents and heavy taxes and levies made the people live in dire straits. More and more people were left without land to farm or jobs to keep, and had no choice but to leave their homes and go into exile.]

[A large number of self-cultivating farmers went bankrupt, and the number of taxpayers directly controlled by the court decreased sharply. Landlords who held a large amount of land adopted various methods to evade taxes. Under such circumstances, the land tax collected by the court was bound to decrease.]

[In addition, the corruption of the government at that time led to the phenomenon of officials at all levels of the Qing Dynasty embezzling regular taxes and grain.]

[This made the Qing Dynasty's financial deficit problem increasingly serious.]

[In the 19th year of Emperor Daoguang’s reign, the Ministry of Revenue found that the amount of taxes owed to the Ministry by various provinces reached more than 29.4 million taels, equivalent to more than half of the Qing Dynasty’s annual fiscal revenue.]

【While revenue is decreasing, expenditure is increasing, especially military expenditure. 】

[Political corruption, sharp social contradictions, and people's resistance and struggles one after another. ]

【The Qing dynasty’s rule was already on the verge of collapse.】

[Evaluation level E·Zero points]

……

Liu Song.

The father and son were silent.

Only the rustling sound of bamboo remained in the courtyard.

"This world..."

“It’s changing so fast.”

Liu Yilong recalled the emperors of all dynasties and felt deeply moved.

"During Daoguang's 30 years in power, he also made some achievements in reforming domestic affairs."

"He was definitely not a stupid, greedy, licentious or tyrannical monarch, but an emperor who intended to achieve something."

"If it were in another dynasty, he might have become a king who eliminated corruption and brought about a revival."

"It just happened at this time of year."

Liu Yu silently took a sip of wine and said:

“Since the Qing Dynasty decided to keep the hair but not the head, its nature was determined.”

"Subsequent developments are just a temporary solution."

"Besides, the issue of land annexation is not easy to resolve."

Liu Yu paused and said:

“Unless the land continues to expand and the population continues to migrate.”

“But it’s almost impossible to do.”

"Because as long as officials and aristocratic families retain power over the land, this kind of thing will be impossible."

……

[Employing and identifying people: In the extremely corrupt political situation of the late Qing Dynasty, Emperor Daoguang also used outstanding figures such as Tao Shu and Lin Zexu who tried to save the situation. ]

[However, the efforts of a few outstanding individuals could not reverse the downward trend of the Qing Dynasty.]

[Emperor Daoguang was already 38 years old when he ascended the throne, which was quite old. He had been emperor for another 30 years. In the end, no matter his vision, ability, or physical strength, he could no longer change the decadent trend of the Qing Dynasty.]

[During his 30 years in power, he successively promoted Cao Zhenyong and Mu Zhang'a, both of whom were fawning, greedy, treacherous, and jealous of the virtuous. ]

[Cao Zhenyong's secret to being an official was to "kowtow more and talk less". He spent all day trying to figure out Emperor Daoguang's thoughts and cater to his preferences.]

[Not only did he practice the official motto of "kowtow more, talk less", he even advised the censors who should have been outspoken and dared to remonstrate and impeach the powerful: "At the beginning of the Daoguang period, Cao Taifu Zhenyong was in power. He was quite disgusted with the young people's impetuousness. If any of his students became censors, he would warn them: 'Don't talk too much, don't be arrogant!'"]

[The person who succeeded Cao Zhenyong in power was Mu Zhang'a, who was said to have "been in office for twenty years, loved talents, and was not greedy, but was cunning and flattering, and devoted himself to deceiving and misleading people"]

[Later, Zeng Guofan criticized the Daoguang Dynasty: "None of the nine ministers commented on the gains and losses of the current politics, and none of the officials and governors reported on the benefits and problems of the local areas. They all kept silent."]

[Evaluation C level, 2 points]

……

{Emperor Daoguang and Cao Zhenyong were indeed a perfect pair of monarch and minister, who understood and trusted each other. Together, they created an era of silence, mediocrity, and decline.}
{Gong Zizhen pointed out that this seemingly peaceful but actually declining era is "people's hearts are in chaos and no one speaks out, which seems to be a peaceful era without criticism."}
{Not only are there no talented civil and military officials, talented intellectuals, talented common people, talented craftsmen, talented businessmen, but there are not even talented thieves, hooligans, and robbers.}
{Not only are there few gentlemen, there are also few villains, because all people are too mediocre.}
{Occasionally, when talented people appear, "then a hundred incompetents will supervise them, bind them, and even kill them. They will not kill with knives, saws, water or fire. Their writing will also be killed, their reputation will also be killed, their voice and smile will also be killed... they will only kill their hearts, kill their hearts that can worry, their hearts that can be angry, their hearts that can think, their hearts that can act, their hearts that can have a sense of shame, and their hearts that can be free of dregs."}
{The Qing Dynasty was like a dark room without any cracks. All the people inside were sleeping together, unaware that the world outside was undergoing tremendous changes.}
……

【Later influence: Daoguang's various treaties not only ceded Hong Kong, but also undermined China's judicial sovereignty and lost its tariff autonomy. 】

【At the same time, the ban on religion was lifted, and the status of missionaries was completely legalized. 】

【The legalization of missionaries meant that the Western powers’ focus on China, in addition to importing goods, had also been on importing missionaries.】

【To be precise, it is the input of thoughts and consciousness. 】

【Because according to their experience in conquering other colonies, importing ideology is the best way to gradually influence or even control a country. Although it is despicable, it is very effective.】

[And many major events that will happen in the future will prove this point. ]

【To this day, it is still the same.】

[Evaluation level E·Zero points]

【Total score: 7 points】

(End of this chapter)