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

Chapter 732 As long as Qingfu lives, the troubles of Lu will never end.

Before returning to Beijing,
Li Shimin said he would go to Yusu Town's granary to take a look.

The emperor specifically instructed Li Yi to summon all the prime ministers.

When the emperor and prime minister arrived,

Du Cangdu was filled with trepidation.

"I have heard that many villagers have voluntarily come to pay their taxes today?"

"Your Majesty, today, the wealthy families of the village, including Luo Er, took the lead in paying grain, and the granary received a thousand bushels of wheat and millet in a single day!"

Open the warehouse door,

The granary was filled with stacks of grain.

Two liters of grain were collected per mu (unit of land area), and a thousand shi (unit of dry measure) of grain were collected that day, meaning that at least 50,000 mu of land were requisitioned for grain in a single day.

He was quite surprised by the public's enthusiasm.

Li Yi, on the other hand, focused on details.

"Did you manage to collect the grain today, even if you were careful with the grain?"

“We dare not do this. We have simply leveled the granaries and collected all the spilled grains. We have not taken a single extra grain.”

"How much is the additional tax levied for wear and tear?"

"As requested by the Minister, an additional two liters shall be levied on each stone."

"Will the additional grain levied be recorded in separate ledgers and stored in separate warehouses?"

Li Yi asked very detailed questions, and Du Cangdu answered truthfully, everything was very standard.

The grain tax was levied at 1,000 shi, with an additional 20 shi for losses.

In the past, at least two dou would be added to the tax on each shi (a unit of dry measure), and the losses could amount to two or three hundred shi. Moreover, those losses, along with the grain tax, were all gray income for local officials.

The granary supervisors and clerks took a considerable share, the officials also received a portion, and the other clerks naturally got their share as well; basically, everyone got a share.

but now,
This loss is uniformly only two percent, and it cannot be skimmed off the top. It must also be deposited into the public account, which means that gray income has become money and grain under public supervision.

Li Yi guessed that the granary officials were all cursing him in secret today.

"I'll set some rules and allocate the additional tax on this waste," Li Yi said to Du Cangdu, Mayor Guo, and Deputy Mayor Luo.

"This system of grain from the public granary and state land rent will continue to be implemented, with an additional two liters levied per shi (a unit of dry measure), fixed and unchanging, and not allowed to be increased arbitrarily."

All additional taxes must be deposited into the public account.

Thirty percent of the funds were used to increase the miscellaneous subsidies for town officials, and the remaining thirty percent were used for the town government's offices and public kitchen.

The remaining 40% was divided equally: half was used for public expenses in the town, such as bridge and road repairs and relief for the elderly and widows, and the other half was used to cover actual losses during storage and transportation.

Two percent of the losses are levied and converted into four portions.

The funds were used to increase the salaries of officials, fund government expenses, public works, and to cover actual losses.

Those warehouse officials who didn't get to show off their power or receive the under-the-table, illicit income today, including Warehouse Supervisor Du, Mayor Guo, and Deputy Mayor Luo, didn't get a share of that illicit income.
But Li Yi still left a portion for them.

Although not many,

Of the 1,000 shi of grain collected, only 20 shi were lost, and the officials were only given 6 shi of grain as a subsidy, whereas they could have obtained 200 to 300 shi of grain.

The gap is huge.

However, Li Yi also said that a portion of the collected industrial and commercial taxes would be retained in the town, and it would be distributed according to the ratio of 3:3:2:2.

The same applies to the wear and tear of rented properties.

It's impossible to expect a horse to run without feeding it.

Many of the lower-level clerks do not receive a salary. Many of them are simply performing corvée labor, and some, although they have been in their posts for a long time, rely on this kind of gray income.

If we completely prevent them from taking it...
Then this project cannot proceed.

To prevent them from taking bribes privately, we must allocate some to them reasonably.

Only by prohibiting it in this way can it be effective.

Li Shimin listened to Li Yi's speech from the side.

Although this is only the governance of a township-level town, it is worth learning from.

The losses from firewood are to be collected and distributed uniformly.

Bringing illicit, gray-area income into the open can at least prevent arbitrary tax increases, and having the court set the rules for distribution will make it more standardized.

With the prosperity of Yushu Town,
With land rent, grain from public granaries, and commercial taxes, the town's future income will be considerable. The additional expenses and other costs will be retained, which might actually solve the problem of using public funds for lending and disturbing the people.

The local governments of the Tang Dynasty had no financial power whatsoever.

Whether it was rent or taxation, it was mainly in kind, and all the rent and tax collected went to the central treasury. Even if a portion remained in the prefectures and counties, it was still in the national treasury accounts, and any use of it required an application and report to the imperial court. They did not have truly independent financial power.

Now that the losses are being turned over to the public, it actually gives a certain amount of financial power to the small township government of Yushu Town.

According to the established allocation method, this money belongs to Yushu Town and can be used without further application.

"His Majesty,"

Li Yi asked the emperor, "Since the founding of our Great Tang Dynasty, due to insufficient finances, local officials have never received salaries, only official land."

The government offices also lacked operating funds, only allocating some land for public use and renting it out. Some local governments had a sum of public capital to lend money and collect interest, while others had none at all.
The operating expenses of local governments and the salaries of officials have never been guaranteed.

Today, Yushu Town,
Your servant requests that officials be provided with a stipend of rice, a monthly salary, and a subsidy for miscellaneous expenses. Clerks should also be given basic clothing and food.

Otherwise, there will inevitably be corruption and exploitation of the people.

Previously, only officials in the capital received salaries, while local officials only received official land. Many officials in the capital did not have enough official land or even none at all, and could only receive some grain from the granary.

Even officials in the capital did not receive a monthly salary; they only received a small stipend of rice.

After all,
The problem lies in the inadequacy of the national system and insufficient financial resources.

Officials are poorly paid, but they wield power.

The imperial court, on the other hand, turned a blind eye and let them find their own ways to generate revenue, as long as they didn't go too far.

The imperial court basically did not care about various expenses such as the two or three bushels of fire loss per shi of grain, the cost of rinsing the grain, the cost of paper, pens, shoes, etc.

It should be understood that the imperial court could not even guarantee the operating expenses of the government offices, and had to rely on the government to lend money and collect interest in order to maintain itself.

Government officials don't even receive salaries, so how can they not be corrupt?
They will only invent more pretexts to plunder the people.

In the granary,
The several warehouse officials who stood respectfully to one side, keeping a low profile, were originally filled with resentment.
They're not allowed to kick the buckets or spill water, nor are they allowed to collect excessive expenses. Instead, the losses are to be returned to the public. Why are they supposed to work for nothing?
did not expect,
Li Situ actually requested the emperor to provide them with salaries and allowances, and even to distribute 30% of the additional taxes levied on losses to the officials.

It's astonishing that a high-ranking official like him would keep such lowly clerks in mind.

The emperor smiled and said, "Yusu Town is newly established, and it was originally set up to test new policies. You can try out the things you have proposed."

The emperor was willing to try boldly.

Whether it's a mule or a horse, it always has to be put to the test.

Even if it doesn't work out, it's just a town.

Grabbing a handful of wheat, the emperor exclaimed, "Yushu Township is a virtuous place. The villagers' enthusiasm for paying taxes is something that other places should learn from."

After speaking, the emperor glanced at Changsun Wuji.

Ever since arriving in Yusu Township, Changsun Wuji has felt uncomfortable in every way.

right now,

The emperor's gaze made her heart skip a beat.

It seems my brother-in-law is calling him again.

He was the one who spearheaded the opposition to levying two liters of grain per mu (a Chinese unit of land area) on public granaries, consistently arguing that this placed an excessive burden on the people.
But now the villagers of Yushu Township are actively paying their taxes.

This is a slap in his face.

He held the highest rank of official and was the maternal uncle of the emperor's family. He owned thousands of acres of fertile land. Was his awareness really inferior to that of the local tycoons in Yushu Township who only owned a few hundred acres of land?

Changsun Wuji looked at Li Yi.
He felt he truly couldn't understand his father-in-law anymore.

First he resigned as prime minister, then he sold land, and now he insists on leading the way with these things like paying two liters of millet per mu in public granaries, implementing a household-based system, and levying commercial taxes.
These things,

He just couldn't understand it. Li Yi was clearly a big landowner with a large business empire, so why was he always stabbing himself in the back?
How could anyone have such a person?

He couldn't understand why Li Yi would do this.

Have you forgotten your own name?
With a sigh, Changsun Wuji understood that, given the current situation, the emperor was determined to levy two liters of millet per mu (a Chinese unit of land area) on the granaries.
Even Changsun Wuji couldn't escape it; he had to pay several thousand more bushels of grain a year.

But this is only a matter of bleeding a little bit.

His current concern is that he has heard rumors that the emperor intends to restrict land annexation and implement land quotas.

This is the truly deadly thing.

A prince was limited to 10,000 mu of land, a duke to 5,000 mu, a duke to 4,000 mu, a duke to 3,500 mu, and a duke to 2,500 mu.
Only eight hundred mu for a viscount and five hundred mu for a baron.

As for the land occupied by officials, a first-rank official could only occupy 5,000 mu, a second-rank official 4,500 mu, and a third-rank official 4,000 mu.

The ninth rank is limited to occupying 1,000 mu of land.

Commoners without official rank, title, or merit are limited to owning 100 mu of land per adult male.

Even if the court allowed the land quotas for noble titles and honorary official positions to be added together, Changsun Wuji, as a first-rank official and Duke of Qi, could only occupy a maximum of nine thousand mu of land.

He now owns hundreds of thousands of acres of land.

If land restrictions are really implemented, what will happen to all the land he worked so hard to acquire?
Should we sell it like Li Yi did?
This is absolutely unacceptable.

Even if this system of master-client and the policy of granting land to immigrants were actually implemented, Changsun Wuji would have hundreds of thousands of acres of land, but would face the predicament of having no tenants to cultivate it.

Guanzhong is now a place with limited land and a large population.

On the surface, the registered population has decreased significantly, but in reality, Guanzhong is not short of people. A large number of people have left their registered households and become tenants of nobles, landlords, and temples.

If the imperial court were to uncover all these hidden households...
They were relocated to Kuanxiang and given land.

That would have a huge impact on Changsun Wuji, causing him heavy losses.

Changsun Wuji looked at Li Yi again.
A sentence suddenly popped into my head.

As long as Qingfu lives, the troubles of Lu will not end.

Perhaps, the instigator should be driven out of the court and removed from the emperor's side.

After leaving the newly established Goshuku Yoshikura, the emperor made a special trip to visit the Goshuku Shakura.

How much grain is stored here?

"Your Majesty, the community granary currently holds over three thousand shi of wheat and millet, in addition to over two thousand shi that have already been loaned out..."

The community granary used to be managed by Luo San, but now it has been transferred to Luo Er.

The community granary also had a council, with a granary head and deputy granary heads, and kept clear accounts that were checked regularly. The grain in the granary was all donated voluntarily by local people for storage in preparation for famine and disaster.

Every year, when the new grain is stored, some of the old grain is sold, and some is lent out for interest. Part of the grain in the granary is used to help the elderly, the disabled, and orphans, while the rest is stored for disaster relief and famine prevention.

Priority will be given to the people of this community.

In the past few years,

The community granary was established under the leadership of Li Yi, and the Li family has always been the largest donor to the community granary.

During the lean season, if villagers are short of food, they can come here to borrow money. The interest rates are much cheaper than those of landlords who borrow one and repay two or three times.

The grain stored in the community granary,
But it brought a lot of peace of mind to the villagers.

"Yusu Township has indeed been at the forefront in many areas, and its practices are worth promoting and learning from," Li Shimin exclaimed in admiration.

(End of this chapter)