"Brother, there are so many reporting points, but you chose to come here instead of going there. The court officials live nearby. Look at how many officials are watching over here. It's impossible for anything to go wrong here."
Ma Xiaoyi walked around and found that the nearby teahouses and pubs were full of people, almost all of whom were court officials. The key point was that many officials lived nearby, so he couldn't help but complain to Cao Dongdong.
Cao Dongdong said: "You go look somewhere else, my brother stays here."
Ma Xiaoyi wondered, "Why?"
Cao Dongdong said: "What do you know? My brother deliberately dragged Zhang San here to let him deal with those uncles. My brother can't separate from Zhang San now, otherwise he will definitely be captured by those uncles. How can I explain it?"
Ma Xiaoyi was also smart and said immediately: "Then I won't leave Third Brother either."
Cao Dongdong said: "You are just a team leader, who will ask you? If they ask you, just say you don't know. Go look somewhere else quickly, don't go wrong."
Ma Xiaoyi thought about it and said, "Okay, brother, I'll take people to look somewhere else."
"Go quickly."
......
...
...
"Brother Li, how are you doing?"
A young man, sweating profusely, ran towards an older man and asked while panting slightly.
The man scratched his head and said, "I'm not sure. I just said that I have two hens at home, but the police drew a cross on the paper. I don't know what this means."
"Really? I was almost the same just now. Usually, when the imperial court counts households, the silk quilts in the house must also be counted. But the policeman didn't ask. I was afraid that he deliberately didn't ask and then accused me of lying. I took the initiative to tell him, but he said that these didn't need to be recorded. It seemed that he only needed to record the house, fields, and carriages and horses."
"If that's the way it's recorded, then our family won't have much money."
"Yeah! I won't have to go back home to check it again then!"
"Probably not. It seems too late."
"Come on, let's go ask others and see if they are the same as us."
"Yes, yes, ask a few more people, not just the two of us, that must be a scam."
......
When the people came, they were nervous and apprehensive, but when they left, it was as if they were dreaming.
Too fast!
It’s so easy!
There was no prelude, no climax, and the only interaction was very dull. The tone of those policemen was like asking you "Have you eaten?"
Unbelievable!
After the people reported their reports, they did not leave. Instead, they gathered together and asked each other what they had reported, fearing that they were different from others.
This is actually quite ironic, and it is enough to prove that there must have been a lot of tricks involved in calculating the user level before.
Every failure makes one wiser, and the people will not be fooled again.
But when we asked, everyone said the same thing.
Under a tea stall by the roadside, there were a few white-haired old men sitting, silently listening to the conversations between the people, with questions revealed on their faces.
These old men were Fu Bi, Wen Yanbo, Lu Gongzhu and Zhao Yan.
This is the northwest corner of the left wing, right next to Pan Tower, very close to the imperial city. Most of the prime ministers live nearby. They agreed to come here early this morning to see what this voluntary declaration was all about.
They had been looking forward to it, and it had never happened before.
However, the way the police station reported the incident was not surprising to them, but rather a huge shock!
Lu Gong frowned and said, "It seems that their goal is very clear."
Wen Yanbo nodded and said, "They didn't ask about household items, farm tools, and tea utensils as required by the court. They only asked about houses, fields, and carriages. But ordinary people don't have these."
Fu Bi shook his head and said, "Not only that, they also asked about the taxes to be paid every year. I guess they might deduct this part of the taxes when they calculate the statistics."
Lu Gong said: "If this is the case, most citizens will become tax-free households, and according to the provisions of the conscription law, most of them will be borne by the rich and officials."
Zhao Yan nodded and said, "Then this conscription law is a good law. It will not increase the burden on the people."
Fu Bi and Lu Gong looked at each other, both showing a hint of worry.
After all, the power is not in the hands of the people. If you target them so strongly, the other party will counterattack fiercely.
If everyone was so obedient, the New Policies of the Qingli Period would not have failed.
......
Pan Building!
"How can this be possible!"
An old man with black and white hair and a sanctimonious appearance slammed the table and said indignantly: "How is this different from the government service? Such a simple and hasty inquiry, in the end, the exemption tax will still be evenly distributed to the rich. No, I have to report it to the police station."
This man was called Zhao Wenzhen. He was a royal relative of good descent. He was also the head of the Zongzheng Temple and the Zuojianfu. Of course, this Zuojianfu was only a fifth-rank official with a salary, which was a welfare benefit.
This Zongzheng Temple not only manages the clan members, but also the monks and Taoists. Many monks and Taoists have complained to him. He was already very unhappy, and today it seems even more outrageous. After today, more people will come to complain.
"Governor Zhao, please don't be impulsive and wait and see"
A younger elder nearby hurriedly tried to persuade him.
This man's name is Li Daojing, and he is in charge of the Ministry of Rites.
Zhao Wen Zheng looked at him puzzledly.
Li Daojing said: "At present, the police station is only collecting statistics and has not yet given a specific calculation method. If we file an impeachment now, we will have no reason to do so!"
Meng Gansheng, who was sitting opposite Li Daojing, said, "But the facts are in front of us. Aren't the houses, fields, and carriages all aimed at officials and rich households? Ordinary people don't have these things. They just want to win over the people and then put all the taxes on us officials. It's a pity that those rich households are still foolishly running to Zhang San's office to calculate their household registration, not knowing that they are already lambs to be slaughtered."
“That’s not entirely true.”
Xie Yun, the deputy envoy of the Ministry of Revenue, said: "I have heard that many of my colleagues do not report the truth. They only report their own salaries, and do not report the land and houses at home."
Li Daojing said: "Isn't this too risky? If you really get sued, it will be more trouble than gain."
Xie Yun said: "Many of their fields, houses, and businesses are all registered under other people's names. Even if we find out, it will be difficult to trace them back."
Zhao Wenzheng said, "Thank you, Deputy Envoy. The Commissioner of Taxation is actually under the name of your Ministry of Revenue. How much do you know about this Commissioner of Taxation?"
Xie Yun sighed bitterly, "Everyone has been asking me this question recently, but I really don't know. Although the Taxation Department is under the name of my Ministry of Revenue, the officials are all appointed directly from above."
At this point, he paused for a moment, "But I don't think the tax commissioner has omnipotence. They don't have any power, so how can they investigate? I think they are probably just trying to scare people."
Meng Gansheng said: "But many people are still frightened by the tax commissioner. However, if someone takes the lead, I guess no one will pay attention to the tax commissioner."
Zhao Wenzheng and Li Daojing exchanged glances, then said, "Then let's find some people to see if this tax commissioner is really just trying to scare people."
Xie Yun added: "But I think the tax commissioner is likely to use the method of killing a chicken to scare the monkey."
Zhao Wenzheng chuckled and said, "So what if they have to pay a little money? Let's see how much the tax department can find out. If they can't find out much, then their self-declaration is just a joke."
Meng Gansheng immediately said, "That's right. I don't believe that a mere tax commissioner like him can calculate everything perfectly. They don't have such great ability."
......
Today, almost all officials are inquiring at various reporting points, because this law really concerns their rights and interests. When they learned about this situation, they were all very angry, and they all believed that this was Wang Anshi's idea.
Little did he know that Wang Anshi was also wronged. This was not his intention. He now had to win over the hearts of the people in the court, and he could not offend all the officials.
Moreover, he wants to make money for the country, and if the common people are not taken into account, he won't be able to collect much money.
At this time, he was interrogating Zhang Fei with Sima Guang and Han Jiang.
"The imperial court has special regulations for counting households, why don't you use them?"
Han Jiang questioned Zhang Fei holding the application form.
Zhang Fei said awkwardly: "Sorry! I am just employed by someone. This... this is the rule set by the Taxation Department."
Wang Anshi knew that this was all Zhang Fei's idea, but he did not point it out. He asked again, "Then do you know why the tax commissioner decided this?"
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "This official knows. Because the previous statistical method was difficult for the tax department to investigate, in order to prevent someone from exploiting the people and taking advantage of the situation, this rule was established."
Sima Guang asked curiously, "What do you mean?"
Zhang Fei said: "According to the previous statistical method, the furniture, farm tools, and tea utensils of the people had to be counted and then converted into money, but this was based on sending clerks to the people's homes to count, but now it is voluntary declaration.
These items are all small items. When the people come to declare, they may not have them at home. But when the random inspection comes, they have bought them. However, there is no need to sign a contract to buy a teacup, so there is no way to prove whether it was bought before or after the declaration.
Once this misunderstanding occurs, the people will think that the tax commissioner is taking the opportunity to exploit them, and some people will inevitably do so.
On the contrary, houses, fields, carriages and horses are very easy to investigate clearly. "
Sima Guang suddenly understood and nodded slightly.
really!
The previous method of calculation is not suitable for voluntary declaration or random inspection. After today's statistics, you can't buy cups this year. This is simply not feasible!
But these three things, the house, the carriage, and the fields, are very easy to check and generally cannot be concealed.
Han Jiang said very tactfully: "But I'm afraid your plan won't work for this family!"
How did the fourth and third class households come about? Isn't it just the result of various conversions? A teacup costs you one hundred coins, a quilt costs you one string of coins, and so on. After adding up all the money, you will find that you are a rich person.
This situation occurred in the conscription law in history. It was not known whether those officials wanted to curry favor with Wang Anshi or frame him, but the villagers of the fifth-class households were directly counted as third-class households. This was really terrible!
But they didn't just calculate with their eyes closed. They also had evidence to back it up, because you have cups and a wardrobe at home.
Today's method does not make it impossible to arbitrarily assess household levels, but the problem is that the number of fifth-level households will increase dramatically.
This is really going from one extreme to another!
Zhang Fei sighed.
Han Jiang asked: "Why are you sighing?"
Zhang Fei said: "In fact, this method was forced out!"
"What do you mean?"
"Didn't someone impeach this law before, saying it would add to the burden on the people?"
“The people are right here.”
Wang Anshi immediately pointed to Sima Guang.
Sima Guang ignored Wang Anshi and said, "That's why you changed your strategy to avoid adding burden to the people, right?"
Zhang Fei nodded: "Yes."
Sima Guang said: "In other words, the previous method will indeed increase the burden on the people, right?"
Zhang Fei nodded: "Yes."
Sima Guang glanced at Wang Anshi provocatively.
Wang Anshi was unconvinced and asked, "Then tell me why this is happening?"
Han Jiang glanced at the two of them and said, "Aren't I the one in charge here?"
Zhang Fei explained: "The previous method included hoes and tea sets, but these do not represent the current living conditions of the people, because they cannot be bought for much money.
Many people have many appliances at home, but they are all very old and worthless. Their monthly income is so little that they are classified as third-class households. How can people not complain? They pay taxes but cannot afford to eat.
But the three major items, carriages, houses and fields, are enough to represent the wealth of the people. If you go out in a carriage every day and say you are poor, no one will believe you. Raising a horse is more expensive than raising a person.
Income is the key factor in classifying households. If the classification is based on income, the court can accurately calculate how much money to collect from households with different incomes without affecting the normal living conditions of the people.
For example, if some wealthy people earn tens of thousands of guan per year, even if they are taxed 200 to 300 guan, it will not affect them. But if the people only earn 30 guan per year, taxing 200 to 30 guan may make them eat less, but if you only tax 20 to 30 wen, it will not affect them.
Therefore, this method also includes the annual tax. If the annual tax is deducted, the remaining money can be divided according to the food and clothing, which is unlikely to cause public resentment. For those below the food and clothing line, it is fine, but for those above the food and clothing line, if a dozen coins are collected, the people will not complain. "
Sima Guang nodded repeatedly after hearing this, "That makes sense!"
Wang Anshi also thought it was good.
If the calculation can be accurate, then we can just collect a little less and make up the difference based on the number of people. That’s fine!
Here lies the question, can you calculate accurately?
Han Jiang asked, "How much the people earn each year depends entirely on their own declaration. Can you guarantee that they will not conceal or falsify their income?"
Zhang Fei quickly shook his head and said, "I can't guarantee that. This is a matter for the Taxation Department. The Taxation Department said they can do it."
Wang Anshi didn't believe it, "Are you serious?"
Zhang Fei said: "The tax department told the police station this, but I don't know exactly what they did."
Wang Anshi, Han Jiang and Sima Guang looked at each other.
The more I asked the tax commissioner, the more mysterious he became.
We didn't even know there was such a powerful department hidden under his hands.
How is this possible?
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