Great Song

Chapter 160

Zhao Xu's words are true.Since Wang Anshi came to power and established the Three Departments of Regulations, the imperial court implemented three new laws, namely the Law on Farmland Water Conservancy, the Law on Baojia and the Law on Military Affairs.Among them, the farmland water conservancy law is for the prosperity of the country, in order to open up wasteland and build water conservancy, so as to increase the yield of the world's fields.The Baojia Law and the General Military Law are for the purpose of strengthening the army and protecting the village with the common people.

Just these are obviously not enough.As long as the country does not get rid of its accumulated disadvantages, there will be no possibility of ZTE.And this "service recruitment law" is the new law that he and Wang Anshi agreed to get rid of the long-standing abuses and the suffering of the people.

The so-called "service recruitment", as the name suggests, is to use money and food to hire labor, replacing the previous "service law".Since ancient times, it has been served by the people.In the Song Dynasty, in addition to paying taxes, the people also had to take turns serving the court according to the level of their households.Among them, the state and county officials mainly include Yaqian, Yasi, and Lushi.Township servants include lizheng, household head, family head, archer, strong man, etc.They are all tasks for the court and need to undertake certain responsibilities.

Among these servants, there is no shortage of fat and vacancies, all of which have been taken up by Shanghu.Those hard jobs are often assigned to the middle and lower households, making the people miserable.For example, like "Yaqian", it is to escort the tribute to Tokyo for the government.Regardless of the distance, board and lodging must be taken care of by oneself, and there must be no difference.If there is any damage, the serving person must compensate according to the price.Some places are too far away from the capital city, traveling thousands of miles at every turn, just to escort some worthless things, and there are also cases of troubles and ruins.

Many ministers pointed out this long-standing malpractice. Ouyang Xiu and Sima Guang both had memorabilia, explaining that the frequent servants disturbed the people's lives.The light ones donate their land and live in wealthy families, pretending to be tenants; the serious ones don’t even care about the land and acres at home, fleeing from other places and hiding in exile.In this way, who else is willing to farm the land with peace of mind, and how will the court tax be collected?

Therefore, after solving the big policy of "rich the country and strengthen the army", this method was the first thing Zhao Xu thought of.Don't those people who are willing to give generously when they see that the court is short of money, want to take good care of them?

Hearing this, Wang Anshi heaved a sigh of relief, cupped his hands and said, "Since the officials can make up their minds, the minister is obliged to do so."

He is more afraid of the emperor's retreat than others.After all, the imperial court is rich now, and the sum of mines, salt fields, and commercial taxes will exceed the land tax income.And these are still firmly in the hands of the emperor.If the emperor felt at ease because of this, and was unwilling to take risks and reforms, wouldn't his plan in the three divisions be in vain?Now that there is an incentive to pay the national debt, it is naturally best to make the emperor make up his mind.

However, Wang Anshi still couldn't help saying, "It's just that there are only general rules for this recruitment law, and it will take some time to agree. It is inevitable that rich and wealthy families will complain. If the public opinion is violent, please ask the government to put the people first, not the petty ones." Moved by people."

The recruitment law this time is indeed different from the previous ones. It needs to be distributed to the states and counties, so that officials can "determine" the amount of service that needs to be collected.In this way, not to mention taking longer, it will inevitably make those rich and wealthy families prepare to attack.Faced with such a situation, the determination of the emperor is even more needed.If the emperor is hesitant, I am afraid that this decree will not even come out in Tokyo City.

How could Zhao Xu not know about this?However, he looked at the treasury bond payment record in his hand again, and he gritted his teeth: "These people didn't hesitate to bid up the treasury bills. I can't let them take advantage of it!"

In this dynasty, although official households still have to pay land taxes, they are indeed exempted from service. Therefore, the "Certificate Law" is only beneficial to them, and has no harm.However, it has been changed to the "service recruitment law", and official households must also pay "service money".In this way, countless high-ranking officials and noble families will probably oppose this law, and the commotion at that time will not be comparable to the mere "Baojia Law" and "Gongju Law".

Now Zhao Xu is indeed not short of money, but seeing these people embezzling the court's income and harming the people, how can he bear it?And the profits from the national debt are not overlooked, let alone what they do in the countryside on weekdays.How could he see these people exploiting goodness?

With such a decisive answer from the emperor, Wang Anshi was relieved.Seeing that the end of the year is approaching, it is time to make this recruitment law public.

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Although during this period of time, Shilin has been in constant disputes over the theory of "gravity", but the mature and prudent courtiers don't care much about it.They don't rely on Confucian classics for a living, and they are even less interested in this weird new theory.In contrast, the activities of the emperor and Wang Anshi are more important.The "Gong Ju Law" mentioned by Wang Anshi before has not been officially promulgated, but the reform of Taixue has become a fact, and it is estimated that it will be implemented after the examination of Chunwei next year.He can even touch the talent ceremony related to his official career, what else is he afraid to touch?

Therefore, when the "Service Recruitment Law" was officially promulgated, and when everyone was in an uproar, many people also began to write vigorously and express their admonitions.

Exemption from Yaqian heavy service, but even Sima Guang and Ouyang Xiu have mentioned it.But the exemption belongs to the exemption, and the government households, Haoyou, and monks and Taoists who were originally exempted from the service pay for the service, but they absolutely don't want to see it.If scholars, like villagers, have to pay to be exempted from military service, where is the dignity of the court?

Not to mention these loyal officials of the court, even Su Zhe, who works in the Department of Regulations of the Third Division, couldn't help but refute. Wang Anshi didn't want to see his family's situation in chaos, so he immediately arranged for him to go out of Beijing to inspect various water conservancy projects.

Even his younger brother was kicked out of Beijing, so Su Shi was naturally furious. Even when he went to the banquet, he couldn't help but talk about state affairs: "Since ancient times, servants must use rural households, just as food must use grains, and clothes must use mulberry and hemp. Can it be replaced by other things? This method of recruiting labor is really whimsical, and it will eventually harm the people!"

As he spoke, he said to Zhen Qiong, who was whispering to someone at the side: "Ling Xiaozi is a close minister of the emperor, why don't you persuade him a little bit? You must know that if this recruitment law is implemented, a Taoist like you will have to pay money to help the servants!"

The general principle of this labor law is "calculation of property and payment of money, recruitment of people on behalf of labor".That is to say, the villagers are no longer recruited, but the method of employment is adopted, and the government employs labor force.Of course, this money still needs to be paid by the common people, and the amount must be calculated according to the household and family property, and collected into the treasury.In this way, wouldn't it add another heavy tax to the people?There are also scholars who come to be officials themselves, how can they pay for service?The poor want to increase their taxes, and the rich also want to give money for nothing. How can there be such a thing?

Zhen Qiong has not attended this kind of banquet for a long time, and has been immersed in writing, only hoping to finalize and publish his "Theory of Creation" sooner.Now that he has a draft, it's just a matter of time for someone to look at it for him.Shen Kuo can correct mistakes and omissions, and Li Gefei can make sentences fluent. With these two people, he is not afraid of making a fool of himself.

Unexpectedly, when she was revising the text, she was suddenly named, and Zhen Qiong also raised her head in a daze: "What kind of money do you pay?"

"Help money. If you have real estate, acres of fields, even cattle and water tankers, they will be counted as property and pay for help. Doesn't Ling Xiaozi think it's ridiculous?" Seeing that he didn't know anything, Su Shi explained.Now that the government is admonishing from top to bottom, it is always good to have one more person to help speak.

Zhen Qiong immediately woke up: "Do you really want to pay? How much do you want to pay?"

"I'm still counting. If there are too many acres, I'm afraid it won't be dozens of acres a year!" Su Shi said immediately.

"Oh, I was shocked. Is it okay to have dozens of coins?" Zhen Qiong breathed a sigh of relief. Although he doesn't get a monthly salary now, the money in his account is uncountable, and the interest is more than the tens of coins. .Not to mention that he still has tens of thousands of guan in funding every year. Since the imperial court wants to collect service money, it should be paid.

Su Shi was so choked that he almost didn't come up, and then he said earnestly: "That's not how it is calculated. If one household pays so much, how much will the world's taxes increase? Jing Sheng, you should have a lot of land in your family. It belongs to Shanghu. Are you not afraid of being harmed by it?"

Zhen Qiong doesn't understand this little way, but Han Miao, a businessman, should understand it, right?

Han Miao heard the words but said: "Brother Zizhan should also know the suffering of Yaqian. We should find a way to solve this matter. The payment seems to be a lot, but the fee for the service is also amazing. And the service can't do farming, In business, the loss of time is even greater. The advantages and disadvantages of it, you still have to calculate to know."

"Every household has to pay, isn't it a tax increase? Is this kind of thing worth it?" Su Shi frowned.He was also a magistrate, and he had seen how the people hated Yaqian.However, he absolutely cannot agree with increasing taxes and accumulating wealth.

"If you serve in the military, you have to pay for food and food yourself. Even if you only spend ten yuan a day, you will need more than three thousand yuan in one year. Two years in service will cost six to seven thousand yuan, and the family will lack a man of labor. If you can pay the money Exemption, I'm afraid many people will readily agree to it?" Han Miao didn't care what Su Shi said, and counted directly.

Su Shi was taken aback by this blatant figure. He only thought of moral carelessness, and he hadn't really calculated it carefully.However, when he changed his mind, he shook his head again and said, "The job is a rotation system, not every year. This calculation seems inappropriate. Besides, if the family is poor and can't pay the money? If you collect it as usual, don't you force it?" People broke the house!"

Han Miao simply said: "If you have no money, you will be exempted from the service. You just need to set a quota and calculate it according to your family assets. If you don't want to pay money, you can send someone to serve. There is a choice, of course. Someone will choose a method that is more suitable for them.”

Is this possible?Su Shi inevitably thought for a long time, and then said: "Nowadays, those who are exempted from military service, such as female households, single households, and minor households, have to pay labor assistance money. Isn't it too harsh?"

"As long as it is calculated on the basis of acres of land, it makes sense. Besides, these people still only need to pay half of the service fee, which is less than the usual exemption fee. If the family is not rich, the imperial court can freely reduce or not charge. In the final analysis, it is a matter of calculation. As long as the calculated amount is beneficial to the people, it can be carried out." Han Miao said, and sighed, "But mere merchants, it is inevitable that there is insufficient thinking, and they can only calculate things on the books. .The princes of the imperial court have to take a lot of trouble and come up with a compromise."

If another person said that, Su Shi would definitely not take it to heart.But this Han Miao is Ling Xiaozi's husband-in-law after all, and he is also a first-class businessman in Tokyo City.If this law is implemented, it will have a huge impact on him, and even the Xiangzhou Han family behind him.I didn't expect this person to have such an attitude.

Rao Su Shi is sharp in writing and thinking, and his eloquence is not hindered, so I have to go back and think about it.

Han Miao didn't care much about Su Shi's thoughts.For him, the biggest problem with this new law is not in Tokyo, but in Xiangzhou.Han Miao did not forget why his "Ri Xin Bao" was established.

The author has something to say: Su Shi was initially a cadre who opposed the new law. After ten years of ups and downs, he returned to the court and opposed Sima Guang's abolishment of the "service recruitment law" and was exiled again.It's not that he is out of time and only criticizes, but because he has experienced it personally, his political views have changed, and he is on the side of the wider people.The only thing that remains the same is the human design, and people will change, in terms of mentality, experience, and attitude.And Su Dongpo's greatness lies in this.