A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 716 Food is the most important thing for the people

Changan.

Inside the Xiande Hall of the Eastern Palace.

Li Shimin was discussing the still serious problem of bandits with the prime minister and officials of the Three Departments.

Grand Master of the Palace, Changsun Wuji, said in court today, “Your Majesty, strong medicine is needed to cure a serious illness, and severe punishments are needed to quell chaos. It is better to be ruthless than lenient.”

Please use severe punishments and harsh laws to govern this matter!

The emperor sneered.

He shook his head and said, "The reason why people become thieves is because of the heavy taxes and corvée labor, the greed of officials, and the hunger and cold that make them forget about propriety and shame."

"I should reduce extravagance and expenses, lighten taxes and corvée labor, select honest officials, and ensure that the people have enough to eat and wear. Then, they will naturally stop stealing. Why use harsh punishments and severe laws?"

Sun Fujia, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, made the suggestion.
"Please restore the system of charitable granaries in all prefectures and counties across the country, and order the people and soldiers of all prefectures to encourage their communities to jointly establish charitable granaries. On the day of harvest, they should encourage their communities to contribute their grain and wheat to build granaries and store them in the granaries and cellars built by their communities."

If there are instances of unripe grain, and the community suffers from famine, this grain will be used to provide relief.

Sun Fujia also believed that people stole because of famine. He established granaries to provide food for disaster relief and famine relief. If people had something to eat, the vast majority of them would not steal.

This is about stopping theft at its source, rather than relying on harsh laws and severe punishments.

Li Shimin greatly agreed with this proposal.

Actually, the concept of public granaries is not new. They were established during the Sui Dynasty and were initially called community granaries. They were built in villages and communities, and the government encouraged them to participate in tax collection, but did not force them. They were also managed by the villages and communities themselves.

It is a non-governmental public welfare project.

However, the imperial court later set its sights on the grain stored in the community granaries. Therefore, the court mandated that these granaries be established in the capital cities of prefectures and counties, and that their collection and management be overseen by officials.
Even the policy of encouraging tax collection has been transformed into a forced collection of taxes, with upper-class households receiving no more than one shi (a unit of dry measure), middle-class households no more than seven dou (another unit of dry measure), and lower-class households no more than four dou.

During the reign of Emperor Daye of the Sui Dynasty, the national treasury was insufficient, and grain from the public granaries was often misappropriated to cover official expenses.

When a real famine occurred, the officials in charge of the granaries refused to open them to distribute grain, or even had no grain to distribute.

The misappropriation and embezzlement of public granaries are very serious problems.

Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the system of public granaries has been used, and it was the same system used in the Sui Dynasty from the beginning.

Sun Fujia now proposes to rebuild the community granary, which is the original community granary system. The granary is built in the village community, and the people voluntarily donate grain. The community community manages it and prioritizes relief for its own villagers in case of famine.

The community granary was similar to a local cooperative, where several or dozens of households formed a community to help each other.

Dai Zhou, a senior official in the Ministry of War, stood up to object, saying, "The community granaries should be managed uniformly by the imperial court. The community granaries, which are set up by a dozen or dozens of households, have many inconveniences in terms of management and storage."

Han Zhongliang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, also said, "Previously, the charitable granaries in various places largely followed the system of the previous dynasty, but due to the turmoil, some places levied taxes based on the number of households, while others encouraged tax collection based on the amount of land."

Your subject believes that a unified system should be established, with land cultivated by princes and officials below the rank of prince paying two sheng per mu (a unit of dry measure), and grains such as millet, wheat, and rice stored in the prefectures and counties according to the land's needs, to prepare for years of famine.

The imperial court's grain reserves were stored in the central government's granary, various transport granaries, and military granaries; local granaries included regular granaries and ever-normal granaries; and private reserves were stored in charitable granaries and community granaries.

"Your Majesty, food is the paramount necessity of the people, and food safety is the first priority. Bringing the public granaries under the management of the imperial government can prevent chaos and ensure the safety of these grains."

In the event of a famine, local authorities may be permitted to open their granaries and distribute grain before reporting the situation to higher authorities, so as to provide relief to the people as quickly as possible.

"The grain levied at the granary is two liters per mu (unit of land area). Those with more land pay more, those with less land pay less, and those with no land pay nothing. Previously, Minister Li pacified Henan, Hebei, Hedong, and other places."
They all implemented this method.
Based on an average yield of one shi (a unit of dry measure) per mu (a unit of land area), and a tax of two sheng (another unit of dry measure) per mu, then taking two-hundredths of the yield is hardly a heavy burden.

There are currently three million registered households in the country. If taxes are levied per household, averaging five dou per household, then the grain collected from the granaries can amount to over one million shi per year.

If the tax were levied per mu (unit of land area), all cultivated land, including that of princes and nobles, would be taxed at two sheng (unit of volume) per mu, which would increase the amount of grain collected from the public granaries several times over.

Hundreds of millions of acres of land, that's millions, or even tens of millions of shi of grain.

Pei Ju, who served as Inspector-General of the Imperial Secretariat and concurrently as Minister of Revenue, also supported collecting grain from public granaries on a per-acre basis. These public granaries were established in prefectures and counties and managed by officials appointed by the government.

Pei Ju was originally a high-ranking official in the Sui Dynasty. He was well aware that the forced collection of grain from the public granaries and the government's management would inevitably lead to the misappropriation of grain from the public granaries if the government's funds were insufficient, making it difficult to truly ensure that the grain was used solely for disaster relief.

But now he is the Minister of Revenue, in charge of the national finances, and he knows very well that the imperial treasury is empty and the funds are insufficient.

Therefore, the grain stored in the public granary had to be collected, which was essentially a form of land tax.

Previously, local granaries levied taxes on different households or by acreage, with varying standards, leading to considerable confusion.
However, this public granary has indeed helped local governments solve a significant financial deficit in recent years.

Therefore, this public granary must continue to be used, and even the tax of two liters per mu can collect more grain, which is the policy first recommended by the Ministry of Revenue.

Regardless of whether they were nobles, officials, or commoners, grain was levied on every acre of land.

This is different from the land rent in the rent, labor, and tax system. That rent was collected based on the number of males, with each male receiving two shi of grain per year. It was not levied on households or males, and it could not be collected from nobles or officials.

Therefore, the grain for this public granary must be levied per mu (unit of land area).

Li Yi had previously served in Henan, Hebei and other places. Using his wartime officer privileges, he forcibly collected land tax and household registration fees per mu in his jurisdiction.

Previously, Li Yi had forcibly implemented this temporary policy under the pretext of a special wartime state.

And now,
From Pei Ju, the Minister of Revenue, to Han Zhongliang, the Vice Minister of Personnel, they all wanted to implement Li Yi's system of taxation based on acreage, replacing the Sui Dynasty's system of taxation based on households in the public granary system.

Essentially, the government treasury was empty and revenue was insufficient. In order to increase income, they were not afraid of offending the aristocratic bureaucracy and started to collect grain from gentry and officials on a per-acre basis.

Sun Fujia, the Vice Minister of Revenue, advocated restoring community granaries and letting the people manage them themselves, which was not in line with the court's actual needs.

After all,
Pei Ju and his group are trying to generate additional revenue beyond the regular taxes and levies.

Li Shimin had just been saying that taxes and levies should be light.
But now he wholeheartedly agrees with the idea of ​​levying two liters of grain per mu for the public granary.

“The granaries are for the people to store grain in advance, and the government manages them to prepare for years of famine. This is not what I need, and it only creates unnecessary taxes.”

Such actions that benefit the country and its people are truly commendable.

This matter was handed over to the relevant authorities for discussion and regulation.

Pei Ju supported the basic system of paying two liters per mu.

Li Shimin directly agreed in the palace. Regarding Sun Fujia's proposal, Dai Zhou, the Vice Minister of War, believed that in addition to the charitable granaries, if the people were willing, community granaries could also be established in villages and communities, and large landowners could donate grain into the granaries during bumper harvests and manage them themselves.

"I have heard that in Li Sikong's hometown, Wannian Yusu Township, there have always been similar granaries, including village granaries, association granaries, and bridge granaries, among others."

These community granaries and collective granaries were managed by councils composed of villagers who voluntarily donated grain and elected respected elders.

Every year when the new grain is stored, the old grain is lent out to earn interest, and in years of disaster, it is used to provide relief to the community.

The imperial court could encourage wealthy households in various regions to take the lead in establishing community granaries, with local officials dispatched by the prefectures and counties to supervise and audit the granary accounts.

He believed that community granaries could be managed, as they were entirely spontaneously organized by the people, and the government only sent people to supervise them but did not manage them, so they had nothing to do with the grain in the public granaries.

Dai Zhou also proposed that,
Grain for the public granary was collected per mu (unit of land area), and for merchants and artisans without land, the amount to be collected for the public granary should also be calculated based on the household and their status.

The grain stored in the public granaries will become the ballast stone of the Tang Dynasty's finances.
Prepare for famine years,

It also serves as a safety net for the national treasury, allowing for temporary diversion of funds should the national budget run short.

That's exactly what the previous dynasty did.

Two liters per mu

One hundred mu can yield two shi (a unit of dry measure).

This effectively doubles the rent that the state normally levies.

The emperor who kept talking about light taxes and levies,
However, they completely agreed with their proposal.

He had been emperor for more than two months.
I know very well that...
A good cook cannot cook without rice.

Previously, there was still some of the Sui Dynasty's reserves available, such as the supplies and provisions for war preparations in Taiyuan and the treasuries in Xicheng and Dongdu, but these reserves were dwindling with each use.

Unable to find new sources of income

The imperial court is about to collapse.

Local officials in the Tang Dynasty did not receive salaries, only rent from public lands and official fields.
Although officials in the capital were entitled to stipends in rice and official land, the number of officials had increased, and the official land for these officials was often insufficient to cover their needs, so they had to be given grain directly.

Originally, one mu of official land could yield six dou or even more in rent. But now, when the imperial court distributes grain, one mu of official land only yields two dou of grain.

The income from renting land decreased from six or seven bushels to two bushels, a reduction of several times.

However, officials in the capital only received a stipend of rice but not a salary. Now that the country is unified, many officials have submitted memorials saying that officials in the capital receive a stipend but not a salary, and the stipend is small. The rent for official land has been reduced, and the prices in the capital are high, making it difficult to make a living. They hope that the court can improve the treatment of officials.

But even Emperor Li Shimin couldn't conjure up money and grain.

Even the office expenses of the various government departments in the capital were still handled according to the old practice, with a sum of money provided as capital for the government offices, which they were then allowed to lend out and collect interest on, using the interest to cover office expenses, food expenses for the public kitchen, and so on.

In the past, when he commanded troops in battle, he only needed to focus on fighting; he didn't need to worry too much about logistics and supplies.

And now,
Even though the main force for attacking Liang Shidu was the Turks, the imperial court still had to mobilize 10,000 to 20,000 troops, and the mobilization of these troops alone would consume a lot of money and grain.

You don't know the cost of firewood and rice until you're in charge of the household.
You only realize how difficult it is when you're in charge.

"Han Zhongliang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, was promoted to Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs."

"Sun Fujia, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, was transferred to be the Prefect of Shanzhou."

"Dai Zhou, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, has been reassigned as the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, concurrently serving as an Imperial Advisor!"

Li Shimin adopted Han Zhongwen's system of paying two sheng of grain per mu in the public granary, promoted him to Minister of Civil Affairs, and put him in full charge of formulating regulations for the management of public granaries and promoting it throughout the country as soon as possible.

Although Sun Fujia's suggestion was not adopted, he was promoted from Vice Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs to Prefect of Shanzhou. The new public granary system will be piloted in Shanzhou first.

"Dai Shaoqing just mentioned that Wuyi's implementation of community granaries and collective granaries in Yusu Township has been very effective, and this is worth learning from."

Changsun Wuji sat there,
They were very dissatisfied with the new public granary system, saying that it was not public granary grain, but just public granary tax or land tax.
The price of two liters per mu was a painful burden for Changsun Wuji, who had recently bought a thousand qing of land from Li Yi and then a hundred qing from Feng Deyi, and who had been extensively acquiring land everywhere, making him a newly minted large landowner.

He now owns over a thousand hectares of land, which is more than 100,000 mu. If he pays two sheng of grain per mu to the granary, he would have to pay nearly three thousand shi of millet.

Three thousand bushels of grain must be paid every year.

Although the price of one shi of millet is only 120 coins now, which is ten times lower than a few years ago, three thousand shi of millet would still cost 360,000 coins.

"His Majesty,
The practice of charging two liters of grain per mu for grain stored in public granaries is unreasonable. Farmland varies in quality and yield; how can everyone be charged two liters per mu? This is unfair.

If the grades are determined by the quality of the land, there will inevitably be fraud and dishonesty, which will still be unfair.

Your Majesty, I believe it would be better to have households contribute grain, according to the nine classes of households already established by the court, to the grain stored in the public granary.

"The previous dynasty followed this method for several decades."

Han Zhongliang bluntly stated that if the previous dynasty's standards were followed, the upper-class households would be taxed no more than one shi (a unit of dry measure), the middle-class households no more than seven dou (another unit of dry measure), and the lower-class households no more than four dou (another unit of dry measure), the grain stored in the public granaries would be too little.

"Then let's raise it a bit: five shi for the highest-ranking households, and decreasing for the middle and lower ranks."

Changsun Wuji proposed that the tax be levied as follows: 5 shi for the upper-middle households, 4 shi for the upper-middle households, 3 shi for the lower-middle households, 2 shi for the upper-middle households, 1.5 shi for the middle-middle households, 1 shi for the lower-middle households, 7 dou for the lower-upper households, 5 dou for the lower-middle households, and the lower-lower households would be exempt from taxation

In this way, regardless of whether they were landowners and peasants or landless merchants and artisans, everyone paid grain according to their household status, which was much more efficient than calculating land area and land grade.
The nine classes of households are already established, so there's no need for a complicated investigation and inventory check. We can simply collect taxes based on the existing household classifications.

The previous dynasty levied taxes on households of the third class, with the highest-ranking households receiving no more than one shi (a unit of dry measure). But Changsun Wuji was more generous, levying taxes on households of the ninth class, with the highest-ranking households receiving five shi.

Whether it's three thousand shi or five shi, Changsun Wuji understood the difference very well.

Li Yi owned even more land. Originally, he had tens of thousands of acres of farmland. Even if he sold most of it, he would still have several thousand acres left. If he paid two sheng of grain per mu, Li Yi would have to pay ten thousand shi of grain a year.

Changsun Wuji felt he had to talk to Li Yi and that the grain from the public granary should not be levied on a per-acre basis.

Even if the emperor's brother-in-law couldn't be exempted, he would at most have to pay five shi of millet!

(End of this chapter)