I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 224 These Three Years

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Over the past three years, the new policies and two strategies (namely, the "Equal Grain Payment by Gentry and Scholars" and the "Equalization of Land Tax and Labor Tax") vigorously promoted by Emperor Zhao Yu and his ministers in eleven prefectures including Longyou, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, and Yanyun have achieved remarkable results.

Currently, the land taxes alone from these newly recovered areas contribute more than five million taels of silver to the imperial court's annual revenue.

In terms of land tax revenue alone, these newly recovered areas have even surpassed those in the Jiangnan region.

—The areas with the highest grain production during the Song Dynasty were mainly concentrated in the Jiangnan region, especially Suzhou and Huzhou in the Taihu Lake basin, where there was a saying: "When Suzhou and Huzhou are bountiful, the whole country is well-fed."

Is it because these newly recovered areas have more farmland and higher grain yields per acre that their land tax revenue exceeds that of the Jiangnan region?

of course not.

Although these newly recovered areas also have fertile lands, and have planted the latest high-yield grains developed by Yuan Qingcheng, and have used the latest agricultural tools and machinery developed by Ma Xiaojiao, neither the quantity of farmland nor the yield per mu can compare with the Jiangnan region, which is also keeping pace with the times.

To use data provided by Fan Zhongyan decades ago, Suzhou alone had 34,000 hectares (3.4 million mu) of land that paid taxes. In a good harvest, each mu yielded two to three shi of rice, totaling over seven million shi. Even if Huzhou's annual grain production were only half that of Suzhou, the combined annual grain production of the two prefectures would still exceed ten million shi.

Even so, this was despite the fact that the gentry class had concealed a large amount of land.

On one occasion, Zhang Chun let slip that by the Jiading era alone, the taxable farmland in Pingjiang Prefecture (i.e., Suzhou) had reached 1200 million mu.

Zhao Yu, who was also very familiar with the history of the Song Dynasty, immediately guessed that Zhang Chun was referring to the Jiading period of the Southern Song Dynasty, not the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty or the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty.

The surge in taxable farmland in Suzhou at that time was due to several factors. Firstly, during the reigns of Emperor Gaozong and Emperor Xiaozong in the early Southern Song Dynasty, the court undertook extensive water conservancy projects in the Taihu Lake region to support the southward migration of people. These projects included reclaiming land from the lake, dredging canals, and installing sluice gates to prevent seawater intrusion. The improved water infrastructure reduced flooding and increased agricultural productivity. Furthermore, the development of low-lying areas and mountainous regions was encouraged, further increasing farmland area. More importantly, policies such as the "Equal Taxation of Land Areas" implemented at the time effectively curbed tax evasion through concealed landholdings, leading to a dramatic increase in the amount of taxable farmland.

With only the implementation of policies such as the Fangtian Equal Tax Law, which were not particularly strong, the amount of taxable farmland in Suzhou alone increased dramatically from 340 million mu in the Northern Song Dynasty to 1200 million mu in the Southern Song Dynasty.

If the land were thoroughly surveyed and the hidden farmland used for tax evasion were investigated, what an astonishing amount the land tax revenue in the Jiangnan region would be.
It's no wonder that Zhao Yu wanted to implement the "Gentlemen and Scholars Paying Taxes Together" policy.

Let's return to these newly recovered areas.

Although the amount of farmland and grain yield per mu in these newly recovered areas were far less than those in Jiangnan, the imperial court vigorously promoted the "Gentlemen Paying Grain as One" policy in these areas, which resulted in all farmland in these newly recovered areas being measured out. The imperial court issued new land deeds to them free of charge, and there were basically no hidden lands. Crucially, there was no tax-exempt land in these newly recovered areas, which made the area of ​​taxable farmland in these newly recovered areas far higher than that in Jiangnan.

In terms of land tax, these newly recovered areas will definitely have higher taxes than the Jiangnan region and even higher taxes than other regions of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

By curbing the tax-exempt privileges of the gentry in these newly recovered areas, the situation of "the rich owning vast tracts of land yet having few laborers and corvée laborers, while the poor own no land yet have many corvée laborers" was avoided. This allowed the tax burden to be distributed more evenly among all social classes, which to some extent alleviated the social contradictions in these newly recovered areas.

This also reduced the interference of gentry in local government affairs and the evasion of corvée labor and taxes in newly recovered areas by leveraging their privileges, enabling the court to collect taxes and conscript labor more smoothly in these areas, thus improving administrative efficiency and the court's governance capabilities.

Furthermore, the poll tax was incorporated into the land tax collection, and the poll tax was abolished, which freed the people in these newly recovered areas from the heavy tax burden caused by population growth.

In the past, poor families often dared not have children in order to avoid the poll tax, and even if they did, they would drown their babies. Now that the poll tax has been converted into land tax, the willingness of people in these newly recovered areas to have children has increased significantly, to the point that the number of newborns in these newly recovered areas has increased more than three times compared to before.

The liberation of labor further stimulated the vitality of civilian production, and a large amount of previously barren land was reclaimed into farmland, which increased the amount of farmland in these newly recovered areas and promoted the development of agriculture in these areas.

More importantly, the "equalization of land tax and poll tax" broke the shackles on population mobility. Farmers in these newly recovered areas who had lost land or had little land were no longer bound to their original places of residence to perform corvée labor, and they flocked to towns or resource-rich areas to make a living.

This led to the development of not only agriculture in these newly recovered areas, but also a significant boost to industry.

In just three years, a whole host of new factories sprang up in these newly recovered areas, including textile mills, coal mines, cement plants, wooden bicycle factories, rickshaw factories, match factories, paper mills, hemp rope factories, burlap sack factories, ceramic factories, soap factories, candle factories, flour mills, and many more. These factories provided numerous jobs for the local people and a large supply of goods for local businesses.

This, in turn, has led to a surge in commercial activity in these newly recaptured territories.

Now, in the towns of these newly recovered territories, shops line the streets, displaying a dazzling array of goods, from furs of the north to silks of the south, from pearls of the East China Sea to spices of the Western Regions—everything imaginable—attracting merchants from all directions. The markets are bustling with activity, a scene of vibrant prosperity. Furthermore, on the trade routes of the Longyou region and the Hexi Corridor, caravans travel day and night, reviving the land-based Silk Road, which had been blocked for centuries. Simultaneously, due to the Song Dynasty's extensive opening of trade routes to the Liao Dynasty, various resources and goods from the north flowed into the Song court in large quantities.

As commerce flourished, monetary economics gradually took over in these newly recovered territories. The circulation and use of coins such as qianyin and copper coins of the Zhao Song Dynasty became increasingly widespread, promoting the convenience and efficiency of transactions.

—Initially, Zhao Yu did not squander the gold and silver he recovered from the Liao Dynasty, nor did he waste the gold and silver sent back from the Western Xia by Zhang Jie and Lü Huiqing. Instead, he gathered a considerable amount of gold and silver and used it as reserves to issue 30 million strings of cash in paper money. He also established numerous money shops at key transportation hubs of the Song Dynasty, providing strong monetary support for commercial activities. The coordinated development of agriculture, industry, and commerce in these newly recovered areas created a virtuous cycle. Agricultural products served as raw materials, providing a rich material foundation for handicrafts; handicraft products were sold to various regions through commercial channels, not only meeting the growing needs of the people but also driving the overall economic growth of the regions. At the same time, the prosperity of commerce, in turn, supported agriculture and industry, promoting innovation and progress in production technology.

Meanwhile, in these newly recovered areas, people's living standards improved significantly. Increased grain production stabilized grain prices, and people no longer worried about food and clothing. The development of handicrafts and commerce provided more employment opportunities, enabling many previously landless or land-poor farmers to become artisans or merchants, thus escaping poverty.

More importantly, economic prosperity fostered cultural exchange and integration. People from different regions and ethnic groups gathered in these newly recovered areas, jointly creating a rich and diverse cultural landscape. Poetry, songs, music, dance, opera, acrobatics, and other art forms complemented each other, forming a unique cultural character. This cultural exchange and integration further propelled social progress and development, giving these newly recovered areas a vibrant vitality.

In just over three years, these newly recovered areas have undergone a complete transformation in terms of economy and culture, becoming the most vibrant emerging regions on the map of the Zhao Song Dynasty.

This also led to these regions, which should have been riddled with problems, becoming the most supportive of the Zhao Song Dynasty's rule due to rapid development and the increasingly better lives of the people.

Undoubtedly, this has accumulated valuable experience for implementing the new policies and measures nationwide.

So, not long ago, Zhao Yu officially issued an imperial edict to implement the two new policies throughout the country, regardless of region.

In fact, Emperor Zhao Yu and his ministers had made many preparations for this day.

For example, long ago, the propaganda department vigorously promoted the earth-shaking changes that had taken place in these newly recovered areas after the implementation of the new policies and measures.

To this end, the Propaganda Department not only required local government offices to recruit a large number of speakers to read the ten-day reports that the imperial court had already promoted to various regions, but also recruited a large number of folk artists to use opera, storytelling, clapper talk and other forms to tell stories about the prosperity of the newly recovered areas and the improvement of people's lives, and to sing and perform them in teahouses, markets, temples and other crowded places in various regions.

As Zhao Yu and his ministers had anticipated, these measures by the propaganda department met with fierce resistance from the local gentry.

They viewed this propaganda as a monstrous threat and used their respective influence to obstruct its progress, either openly or covertly.

They first united to obstruct the dissemination of information about these reforms in various ways. They either used their local influence to pressure local officials to restrict the activities of those giving speeches, or secretly funded opposition writers to write articles, poems, and songs criticizing the reforms, calling them the root of social disorder and infringement on the rights of the gentry. Even worse, some gentry secretly colluded with local powerful figures to incite uninformed people to riot, attempting to use public opinion to prevent the implementation of the reforms.

As for the folk artists sent by the propaganda department, they regarded them as thorns in their side and used every means to obstruct them from promoting the benefits that the reforms could bring, including beatings, intimidation, humiliation, coercion, and bribery.

They also used their local influence to spread rumors, claiming that the reforms would cause social unrest and disrupt the stable order that had been established over thousands of years. They incited the uninformed public to feel fear and resistance towards the reforms, and even spread rumors that the reforms would increase the burden on the people, causing panic and anxiety among the public.

Before even implementing the new policies in these regions, they had already encountered such strong resistance. How could Emperor Zhao Yu and his ministers not be furious?

Zhao Yu didn't use the local government offices that were too closely tied to the gentry class. Instead, he directly dispatched the Imperial City Guard, the Eastern Depot, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, sending these three departments, which were considered his henchmen, to investigate the case.

Those gentry who dared to obstruct the promotion of the two new policies were immediately investigated and their homes confiscated. The lightest punishment was exile to a distant place, and their direct descendants would never be employed by the court again. In serious cases, their homes and clans were confiscated, the men were exiled to Shamen Island, and the women were sent to the Jiaofangsi (a government-run entertainment district), and their family members would never be employed by the court again. Officials who aided and abetted the tyranny were dismissed on the spot and escorted back to the capital to be punished according to law. In serious cases, some were even demoted until their deaths. Even those officials who failed to act and condoned the local gentry's obstruction of the promotion of the two new policies were demoted by at least three ranks.

No one expected that Emperor Zhao Yu and his ministers would take such drastic measures to implement the two new policies, even violating the principle that high-ranking officials were exempt from punishment, which had been upheld by successive emperors of the Song Dynasty.

Suddenly, everyone was filled with fear and unease.

Moreover, before officially implementing the two new policies, Zhao Yu also "eliminated" all the officials who had opposed them, either by demoting or transferring them. For those regions that had strongly resisted the promotion of the two new policies, Zhao Yu and his ministers simply transferred particularly capable but also particularly cruel officials such as Li Xiaoshou, Jian Xuchen, Wu Juhou, and An Dun to serve as the chief officials in these regions, preparing to deal with them severely when the gentry in these regions dared to obstruct the reforms.

Everyone could see that Emperor Zhao Yu and his ministers were serious this time, and anyone who dared to openly oppose the reforms would definitely suffer a brutal blow.

It was precisely because of these preparations that Emperor Zhao Yu and his ministers dared to implement the two new policies throughout the country.

Unexpectedly, just as Zhao Yu issued the imperial edict to implement the two new policies nationwide, trouble broke out on the other side.

In order to expedite the repair of the Yellow River project, Fengqiu County required that "for every 100 mu of land, one laborer must be provided," and even the gentry were not exempt.

Whether they were gentry or commoners, if they were unwilling to provide laborers, they could pay money for the relevant departments to hire displaced people to help them provide laborers.

However, even with such a humane policy, it still met with strong opposition from the local gentry. They incited students from Fengqiu to intercept the county magistrate and force him to cancel the policy. After being refused, the local gentry then instigated a strike to protest. In the local provincial examination at the end of May this year, Fengqiu County originally had more than 130 candidates, but only 23 took the exam. Some students even tore up the exam papers and prevented candidates from entering the examination hall, calling on students throughout the province and even the whole country to strike...

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(End of this chapter)