The Moon in the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 596 Land Household Registration System (Part )

The Central Plains region has always been densely populated, which means there are many people and little land, and the Central Plains is also notoriously prone to serious land annexation.

The life of the lower class people is really difficult, and most civilians really have no place to stand.

Everyone knows that Qin State divided land among adults, because Qin State was so large that there was no need to worry about not having enough land to go around.

For people in the Central Plains, owning a piece of land is a dream come true.

If the noble officials were afraid of the Qin Dynasty, they would want to surrender.

Then ordinary civilians, especially those who became tenants and slaves, really wanted to surrender to the Qin Dynasty.

As long as they surrendered to the Qin Dynasty, slaves would instantly become free people.

For everyone, especially for the people in the Central Plains, there is nothing more desirable than the land.

For the State of Wei, Daqin can swallow it up at any time, which is extremely easy. The reason they don’t eat it now is because it takes time to digest.

Ying Zheng was also making preparations for immigration in advance.

Those who have no permanent property have no permanent heart. It is always the people who are consumed, not the land. The land cannot speak, cannot run, and will not rebel.

The first step is always to distribute the land! As long as the people have land, the government will help provide good seeds, farm tools, livestock, etc. As long as the people settle down, they can become a high-quality consumable family with good output in three to five years.

Everything is built on the basis of land. The most fundamental thing in an agricultural society is land. All the policies of the Qin Dynasty are also built on land.

The land system is the foundation of a country and the basis for governing a country!

After decades of encroachment, Korea was digested bit by bit. When it finally annexed the country, it was no more than two counties. This was easy to digest. If there was not enough in the Central Plains, it would be enough to distribute it in Guanzhong. The Zhengguo Canal created 300 miles of fertile land, so digesting Korea was not a problem.

When they arrived at Zhao State, although it was not yet difficult, they already needed to carry out a small-scale migration.

You should know that the fields of the Qin Dynasty are now unified into mu. That is, six feet is one step, and 461 steps is one mu, which means that 666.67 steps can be walked around, which is one mu of land. (That is about square meters, and one mu of land in modern times is square meters.)
Ying Zheng attached the most importance to land policy, which is the foundation.

All land is fully and detailedly compiled into a book called the Fish Scale Map. The supervision is extremely strict, and all land is systematically registered. Houses, mountains, ponds, and fields are all arranged and connected in order for registration. The information is clear at a glance. The Fish Scale Map will also be updated accordingly if there are changes in the land to ensure the accuracy of the information.

Each prefecture, county, township, pavilion, and village compiled the farmland maps within their jurisdiction and arranged them side by side to make a fish-scale general atlas. At the end of the year, each prefecture and county compiled a unified atlas and sent it to the government office to compile it into a county general atlas. The atlas was made in triplicate and kept in the county, prefecture, and grain-governing internal historian.

It is only because of papermaking and printing that many government decrees could be successfully implemented, and the space for favoritism and corruption was greatly reduced.

This is one of the most important reasons why Ying Zheng invented papermaking and printing.

As for household registration, it is also the most strictly managed. It is also because Daqin now has an extremely complete administrative system from top to bottom that it can firmly control the grassroots.

Household registration is divided into four types: nobles, officials, farmers, and merchants.

The record should include in detail the household head’s place of origin (original place of origin, current place of origin), identity and title, place of residence (county, county, township, pavilion, village), family members (name, age, number of people, appearance), relationship with the household head, etc.

Information changes must be updated promptly at the township level, and everyone's household registration and personal registration must be updated promptly. Even children's information must be updated, as children are registered at the age of three.

Ying Zheng divided household registration categories only to distinguish identities and class attributes and to better restrict rights. As for the daily life and production of ordinary people, Ying Zheng did not intend to interfere, so he only divided them into major categories but not minor ones.

Farmers have always been producers of all industries. There is no need to interfere too much with ordinary handicrafts and livestock breeding other than agricultural production. People can be allowed to develop freely on the basis of ensuring salt and grain.

The distribution of land was mainly based on households, and a household in Daqin was a typical small household.

Ordinary civilians are a household consisting of parents, sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren.

If a family has two or more adult sons and does not separate, the taxes collected will double.

The purpose is to break up the big family and form a small family, mainly for better management and to reduce the local clan power. Of course, there are some more positive reasons, such as optimizing resource allocation and stimulating labor enthusiasm, but the main reasons are the above two.

As for why the children did not immediately ask for separation as soon as they became adults, it was because there was still corvée and military service, and the family could not be completely without labor, so at least one person was left for necessary production. Of course, in an extremely urgent situation, all male adults would also be required to take over. Similarly, agricultural tools were backward at the time, and only two able-bodied men could maximize efficiency together.

Each household was allocated 40 mu of land, of which 10 mu was used to grow fruits, vegetables, mulberry, hemp, cotton, etc. No land tax was collected, but a small amount of tax was collected.

There will also be houses, but not courtyards, but homesteads. The homestead is also an area of ​​one acre, which is to leave some courtyards for ordinary people to grow some fruits and vegetables for home use.

This amount of land is the maximum a family can manage with careful cultivation. It can support the family and have a little surplus, but it is not enough to support one more adult, especially men. In particular, the tax payable will double for an additional adult male, which will force the family to split up.

Because the empire was so large, the quality of land varied greatly and was divided into three grades: upper, middle and lower. The best fields were 40 acres, the middle fields were 60 acres and the lowest fields were 80 acres. The worse fields were not suitable for growing grain.

Although men in the Qin Dynasty now reach adulthood at the age of 18, they can only be allocated land at the age of 20. After all, it is not realistic to let an 18-year-old man farm alone.

You must know that when the land is allocated to you, you are required to work for it. There are no hooligans and lazy people these days. Farming and fighting are integrated. If you plant well, you will be rewarded, and if you plant poorly, you will be punished even more severely!
The land tax is collected according to the county-level unit, based on the average harvest of the year. If you plant well, you can save more.
If you don't plant well, it means you didn't do your job well, but you still have to pay the land tax. Of course, if there are natural disasters or man-made disasters, there will be appropriate policy exemptions and disaster relief.

Collecting taxes is one of the most important assessment points for officials. It is impossible for local officials to be careless and relax. Do they still want to make progress?
This is also to prevent alternative land annexation. After all, the more land you have, the more land tax you have to pay. The land always needs someone to cultivate it. Otherwise, there is no output and only payment, and no one can bear it. For the development of the Qin Dynasty, the land tax is not low.

Everything in the Great Qin belongs to the King of Qin. All under heaven belongs to the King, and all within the four seas are the King’s subjects.

The ownership of the land belongs to the King of Qin, and all his subjects only have the right to use it.

The King of Qin allowed the sale and purchase of land use rights, but more taxes had to be paid.

Now the land gentry class is just in its emerging stage. It is ignorant, fragile and insignificant. Ying Zheng set the tone and policy from the very beginning to put an end to land annexation!

As land is the most important foundation and priority of this country, Ying Zheng attached great importance to it and formulated strict policies for its management.

Twenty percent of the land of ordinary civilians will be taken back after death, and can be returned voluntarily after 60 years of age. Of course, a household is headed by a husband and wife. If the man dies, the wife inherits the land. The land is taken back only when both husband and wife die. If the man remarries, the land is taken back only when the woman dies.

In addition to land, children can inherit their parents' property, including houses and homesteads. As long as they can afford the tax, a small amount of tax is collected each year based on the homestead of each household.

This is to ensure that if there is no one to support them after the age of 60, they can still have food to eat. Of course, if there is no shortage of support and they do not want to pay land tax and feel pressured by farming, they can voluntarily return the land.

Although it was difficult for ordinary people to live to sixty in that era, Ying Zheng was still willing to show his benevolence.

All elderly people over 60 are exempted from all corvee labor, and the head tax and land tax are reduced by half. For those over 70, the head tax is reduced to one penny, and the land tax is further reduced by half.

This is also to encourage the people to support the elderly. After all, with more farmland and less taxes, the longer the elderly live, the better. This also allows the people to make solid contributions to the Qin Dynasty.

Why did every dynasty rule the country with filial piety? Especially the rulers highly advocated ruling the country with filial piety?
It is precisely because of the promotion of filial piety that the imperial court has pushed away the greatest responsibility among the powers and responsibilities of the state and the people.

A common people has to pay taxes, perform corvee labor, and contribute to the country with his labor, sweat, and blood. Then the country should, in turn, consider the lives of the common people after they lose their ability to work.

However, the imperial court is often unwilling to pay this price. After all, it is a waste to feed the unruly people who are no longer useful to them. Wouldn't it be better to use this food to let the people be more arrogant and extravagant?

However, although this group of people is useless, we have to keep them as it is not conducive to social stability and ruling stability.

Then we can just promote filial piety based on human nature and push the things that the court should be responsible for to the children of the people.

It can not only make the people at all levels feel concerned and cautious, and abide by the law, but also push the greatest responsibility away. The court only wants benefits and does not take any responsibilities.

When parents have children, they have concerns. Children emphasize filial piety, but the court shirks its responsibilities.

This is a chain of traps!

Kill two birds with one stone! A win-win situation!

Of course it’s a win-win situation for the court, a huge win!
In addition, regarding the division of land, fields are divided into cultivated land and uncultivated land. Cultivated land is the land that has been developed and cultivated and can be cultivated at any time.

Raw land is wasteland that needs to be reclaimed.

If it was cultivated land, the court would provide good seeds and farm tools in the first year of land distribution, livestock could be rented at extremely low prices, and the land tax would be halved in the first year.

If it was wasteland, the court would provide good seeds and farm tools in the first three years of land distribution, and free use of livestock, provided that the livestock were well cared for and fed. Then, the land tax was exempted for the first three years, and the head tax was halved. In the two years after the three years, the land tax was halved.

(End of this chapter)