Qin Yuan didn't answer directly. Instead, he smiled and asked, "Madam, you just said that the land system of the Great Zhou Dynasty is a two-field system with both official and private fields. Then what about the Great Zhou Dynasty's tax and corvée system?"
"If we want a system, the land system, the tax system, and the corvee system are inseparable."
Yan Jiaoran was stunned for a moment and didn't understand why such a question was asked. But how could these questions stump her, the Emperor of the Great Zhou?
Then he said confidently: "The tax system is naturally a two-tax system, payable in summer and autumn."
"Summer doesn't last past August, and autumn doesn't last past February of the following year. Basically, wheat is collected in the summer, and rice in the autumn."
"As for the tax rate, Emperor Taizu also stipulated: the tax rate for government-owned land is five liters and three hectograms per mu, for private land it is three liters and three hectograms, for heavily rented land it is eight liters, five hectograms, and five scoops, and for unowned land it is one dou and two liters..."
"Of course, there are differences in practice. For example, the land tax in the Jiangnan region is generally heavier than in other places."
"On the one hand, it was to curb the power of the landlord class in Jiangnan. On the other hand, Jiangnan was indeed wealthy and accounted for the bulk of the Great Zhou's tax revenue."
"As for corvée labor, it was divided into two types: lijia and miscellaneous labor."
"Lijia was a corvée service undertaken by the lijia unit. The system employed a 'lichang' (annual service) leader, meaning that this head would lead a group of ten households in the lijia for one year. Their duties primarily included managing the population and property of the township, assisting the government in maintaining local order, and responding to dispatches from various government offices."
"Miscellaneous labor can be divided into capital labor, prefectural labor, county labor, and royal palace labor according to the objects of service. According to the nature of the service, it can be divided into labor dispatched by government offices, labor for collecting and delivering taxes and grain, labor for warehouses, labor for post stations, labor for prisons, and labor for civil engineering works, etc."
Qin Yuan listened to his wife quietly, and after she finished speaking, he immediately asked another question.
"My dear, the formulation of the institutional public management policy you want is definitely not a decision made on a whim, but is based on the needs of the Great Zhou and is strictly reviewed and established."
"Now let's change our perspective and think about it from another perspective."
"My dear, if you were an ordinary farmer, paying taxes every year and fulfilling the various tasks required by the court, what would be the problem you would be most reluctant to face, or the one you would hate the most?"
Yan Jiaoran suddenly fell into deep thought.
There was a strange glint in her eyes.
Put yourself in their shoes?
If she were a self-employed farmer, the thing she would be most reluctant to face when paying taxes to the court would definitely be corvee labor!
Because the taxes in the Great Zhou were not high.
She remembered what her uncle Zhang Jiangling had said.
The Qin Dynasty perished due to corvee labor.
As an emperor, you must learn lessons and remember to reduce taxes and levies and accumulate the people's strength.
For the common people, corvee labor was the most painful thing.
Because low-level officials would use the power in their hands to force self-cultivating farmers to perform unlimited labor to torture them and extract benefits from it.
He once tried to solve this problem.
But there's nothing I can do.
This has been the case since ancient times. It is impossible for the imperial court to employ a large number of formal staff for county-level yamen.
Because the imperial court simply didn't have the money.
Moreover, many things are not needed all year round, but only require manpower to complete at specific times.
For example, in the summer and autumn seasons, the tax collectors, post collectors, patrolmen, and clerks needed to collect tax grain are only needed when collecting taxes in the summer and autumn.
Under normal circumstances, it is unnecessary and impossible to support so many people who live off the land.
For example, the laborers and woodcutters needed in winter, and the sluice gate workers, dam workers, and shallow water workers needed when the rivers thaw in spring are a small number of people needed in specific seasons. Sometimes they are not even needed in specific seasons, such as when there is plenty of firewood for warmth in winter, or when there is too little snowmelt in spring and the embankment does not need extra manpower to guard it.
Taking all the above factors into consideration, the best way for the imperial court was to use the corvée system to extort free labor from self-cultivating farmers.
Apart from corvee labor.
There are so many tricks involved in the grain that is paid as tax.
For example, using a large measure to take in a small measure and a large scale to take out, these are common tricks used by low-level officials.
In addition, there were also excuses such as granary fire, poor grain quality and unqualified grain to collect additional grain.
These measures will make the burden of self-cultivating farmers heavier, and they will have to pay far more taxes than required by the court.
The extra difference was divided up by local corrupt officials and the landlord class.
Her father, King Yan Aotian, had tried to solve this problem by killing batches of officials.
However, the results were minimal and we had to give up.
Thinking of this, Yan Jiaoran came to her senses and slowly answered, "For self-cultivating farmers, corvée labor is undoubtedly the most torturous and painful. Not only does it bring a huge burden to them, but it also easily delays their farming work."
"Another problem is that the grain we pay can easily be tampered with. Farmers are just ordinary people, so how can they afford to seek redress? In the end, they can only swallow their anger."
"Finally, there were things like oxen and seeds that the family couldn't afford on their own. When there was a lean season or bad luck, they would have to borrow money from the landlords at high prices. In the end, their families would be ruined and they would end up being slaves."
Qin Yuan nodded repeatedly, confirming: "Madam, you are absolutely right!"
"If we want to formulate appropriate public management policies, there is a very important principle, which is 'to be concerned about the people's urgent needs and to think about what the people want.'"
"If you want to solve the problem of the Great Zhou's land system, the root cause is based on the three situations you just mentioned."
"It was these three factors—corvée, grain, oxen, and seeds—that prevented the self-employed peasants from paying taxes to the court."
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