History Live: Starting from Qin Shi Huang

Chapter 14 Qin Law
[The first point is that the taxes and labor service are harsh.

The Qin Dynasty implemented a system of taxation and corvée labor in parallel, with land rent, head tax and other miscellaneous taxes as the three main pillars, supplemented by the corvée system, which together constituted a complete Qin tax and labor system.

The rent of land is calculated based on the output of the land, and two-thirds is collected.

The mouth tax is a tax on population. Whether it is agriculture or industry and commerce, taxes are levied based on population. The imperial court generally only collects money and not grain.

Other miscellaneous taxes include customs taxes, commodity taxes, and taxes on mountains, seas, ponds and lakes, which are the main sources of taxation for the imperial court.

From our current perspective, taxes during the Qin Dynasty were naturally harsh. The two-thirds land tax alone was extremely high.

The people of the Qin Dynasty worked hard for a year, and in the end they only had a little left to survive.

So no matter how much we like these feudal emperors, we must understand that the essence of feudal society is exploitation, and our current life is very happy. 】

[I agree. Although I always complain about life sometimes, it is rare to have enough food and clothes like this.]
[Yes, thank you, Grandpa Yuan.]
[In feudal society, only the upper class could live a good life, and the lower class people were lucky enough to fill their stomachs.]
Under the sky, millions of working people raised their heads.

Will people in the future never go hungry again? That would be great.

(Qin-××: How can I avoid being hungry?)

(Han-××: I want to know.)
……

Many people asked the same question at the same time, and Feng Xi could naturally see similar comments.

[Sorry, the host doesn't know much about food issues. ]

Now not only the common people, but even the emperor and his ministers were extremely disappointed.

Food is the most important thing for people.

Unexpectedly, Tianmu changed the subject.

[Without specific information, the host certainly can't say much right now, so I can only talk about it casually, and everyone just listens. ]

Everyone under the sky smiled. People in later generations were so far away from them that they must know more about food. Any casual talk would surely be useful to them.

Ying Zheng was overjoyed: "Zhi Su Nei Shi, please write this down quickly, don't miss a single word."

As long as there is plenty of food, why worry about instability among the people of the world?
Zhi Su Nei Shi had prepared a full set of bamboo slips and carving knives, and he agreed to what he said.

After the sky curtain appeared, the Qin Dynasty officials had no shortage of bamboo slips and carving knives. They were always ready. As long as the sky curtain mentioned the areas they were responsible for, the carving knives of the superiors and the clerks around them would burst into flames.

Maps and the like that were difficult to carve on bamboo slips were drawn on silk cloth. There were plenty of things like cinnabar in the palace, which were used by alchemists to make elixirs. Your Majesty had them all moved here.

[Because this episode is about Qin, the host happens to have some information about the Qin Dynasty on hand, so he made some notes.

According to the "Qin Law Cang Law", the main grain crops of Qin were wheat, millet, rice, sorghum and beans.

He is corn and millet, Mai is wheat, Shu is rhubarb rice, Dao is rice, Xiao is adzuki bean, Shu is soybean. 】

[Thanks to the host, I only knew about three or four of the six, now I understand now.]
The farmer's son laughed, saying that he didn't even know this common sense.

[Millet and wheat were the main crops of the Qin State. Because they did not require much irrigation, they were suitable for the drier land north of the Qinling Mountains.

If there are good irrigation conditions, the yield of millet and wheat will increase significantly. For example, the construction of Zhengguo Canal made Qin's fields fertile.

[So Qin's irrigation conditions were poor during most of the Warring States period.]
[Does South Korea's actions count as nurturing the enemy? (dog head)]

King An of Han, who had already been captured: ...I regret it.

[Rice yields are highest in areas with abundant rainfall, but Qin is located inland, with less rainfall than the Central Plains and Jiangnan, and most of it is dry land.

Long-term cultivation of this type of land will cause serious soil erosion and the soil nutrients will gradually decrease, so rotation cultivation must be used to solve this problem.

People who have been dealing with the land are a little disappointed, because they all know these things.

[Generally speaking, rice can be harvested twice a year.

But in the south where the climate is mild and humid, three harvests a year can be achieved.

Using the "deep and shallow cultivation method", planting in a combination of deep and shallow, one crop is planted shallowly, early maturity, and the other crop is planted deeply, late maturity, which can efficiently utilize time and arable land resources. 】［The south of the Qin Dynasty should be Nanyue, right? ］
Three crops a year?
People of all dynasties were excited. How much more grain would be produced if rice was harvested three times a year?
Ying Zheng frowned slightly, Nanyue?
He had just finished his Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai.

He ordered General Tu Ju to march south to Lingnan. The attack on Minyue went smoothly, but the attack on Nanyue caused heavy losses to the Qin army, so they could only dig the Lingqu Canal to solve the problem of food and equipment.

The mosquitoes and miasma there are the biggest headache for Qin Jun.

If we can achieve three harvests a year, South Vietnam must be conquered, but how to conquer it is another big problem.

[As an aside, wheat in the Qin Dynasty was mostly used to make steamed rice or porridge, which should be very irritating to the throat.

The processing technology at that time was not mature and wheat could not be ground into flour, so our Qin Shi Huang probably ate the same food every day. 】

[So Ying Zheng liked to eat fish, was it because fish was a rare delicacy in the Qin Dynasty (crying)]

[I loved eating fish when I was alive, but I probably never thought that I would be buried in salted fish after I died.]
[In fact, there were multiple carriages, both front and back filled with salted fish, but Zheng Ge was not buried by the salted fish.]
[Stone mill! Stone mill! People from the Mohist school, please study it! Food is such an important thing, why doesn’t any school pay attention to it? (Angry)]

[It seems you like eating very much.]
Ying Zheng felt a blackness before his eyes. He would be buried with salted fish after his death! Such humiliation!
The court officials and gentlemen below wished they had not come today, and the princesses and concubines in the harem also changed their expressions.

Who is so bold?
Zhao Gao was closest to the First Emperor, and at this moment he was trembling with fear at the Emperor's majesty.

Ying Zheng was furious and shouted, "Bring Hu Hai here!"

Apart from Hu Hai, the second emperor of Qin, who else would dare to treat him like this?

Bastard!

Hu Hai, who had just been flogged, had his mouth blocked. He looked at his elder brother with pleading eyes, hoping that his elder brother would plead for him as he was in so much pain.

Fusu lowered his eyes, pretending not to see it. His father was insulted like this after his death, and he felt a surge of anger rising in his heart.

Hu Hai went to see Zhao Gao again, hoping that he could persuade him.

Zhao Gao didn't even look at him. The Eighteenth Young Master's future was completely ruined and he had no use value. He didn't know why he paid attention to him.
"Give me ten more blows, do it in front of me personally."

Hu Hai felt his entire back burning. He did not dare to blame his father, but he completely hated Fusu, Zhao Gao and the doctor who had done the crime.

[The host only knows this little bit, let’s get back to talking about taxes and duties.

The corvée labor in the Qin Dynasty included guard soldiers, regular soldiers and garrison soldiers.

The guards served for one month each year, mainly engaged in construction projects within the county, such as building highways and dredging canals.

The service time for regular soldiers is two years, starting after three years of service as guard soldiers, and they serve in the counties or the capital.

The service period of garrison soldiers is one year, and their duty is to guard the border. They also serve in beacon towers, pavilions, post stations and other places.

In the Qin Dynasty, corvée labor had a certain duration and was paid. Some corvée laborers were provided with food by the imperial court. It was not as dark and unjust as people had imagined.

[Is it fake? Do you still get paid?]

[Md, they work for two years or one year and then go home, but I still have to endure the humiliation of that crappy company for decades.]
[…I advise you to delete this post. You are attacking me.]
The dynasties after Qin were also surprised. Were they really still paid?
This has never been mentioned in history books.

[Yes, there is salary.]

The Yunmeng Qin Bamboo Slips record that those who were guilty and sentenced to fines, or those who owed money to the court, had to perform corvée labor to pay off their debts, with one day's labor worth eight coins; those who were provided with food by the court had to work six coins a day.

The court also provided food to those who performed labor service in the court, one-third of a dou of food per day for men and one-quarter of a dou of food per day for women.

The wages for corvée labor could also be exchanged for food.

Another point is that for those who participated in the labor of pounding rice in the city, free men had to provide their own clothes, while slaves had their clothes provided by the court. Of course, these clothes had to be returned.

Qin law also stipulates that one family cannot conscript two people for labor service at the same time. If officials fail to comply, they will be fined.

In short, whether the people doing the corvée are common people or criminals, the imperial court must ensure that they have enough food and clothing. 】

[…I have always believed that doing corvée labor in the Qin Dynasty meant working like a slave.]
[Some unearthed Qin bamboo slips show that this was not the case at all.]
[During the reign of Qin II, I must have been treated like a slave, that little rubbish Hu Hai!]

(End of this chapter)