Chapter 480 I'm in such a hard time (5200 words long, please vote and subscribe)
Do you want your own food and money? If you want, then divide the land, but you have to pay taxes.
Do you think the taxes are too heavy and you can't save money? Then divide some tax-free land to subsidize your family.
So how can you get tax-free land? Give birth to a child. You will be given five acres of land for each child. Not only do you have to give birth, but you also have to raise the child well. When the child is six years old, you can get another five acres of tax-free land, which will last until the child gets married and separates after adulthood.
In this way, assuming that a couple has raised six children in the ten years after adulthood, then in addition to 20 acres of grain fields and 20 acres of auxiliary fields, their family has a total of 30 to 60 acres of tax-free land.
Of course, this tax-free land does not appear all at once. The number of tax-free land will gradually increase with the birth and growth of children, and it will also be confiscated due to the death of children. In short, if you don't raise your children well and raise them to death, then your family's tax-free land will be gone, forcing parents to be responsible for the safety of their children's lives.
Moreover, once this system is implemented, it is impossible to have too many children and cannot afford to raise them. According to the calculation of a family with two adults and six children, the total land is 100 mu, of which only 40 mu is taxable, and the remaining 60 mu is tax-free land. The wealth produced in these tax-free lands is enough to raise children to adulthood, and even save the unused land.
Finally, as the children gradually grow up and separate from their families, the tax-free lands will be taken back and distributed to other people who need land. Those children who grow up and get married will also complete a new cycle under this system.
Luo Chong is a modern man who knows the tax collection rules of modern society. It seems that many taxes that appeared in ancient times have disappeared, but in fact, they have just hidden the previous taxes, just like the value-added tax.
Using laws to restrain people will only make them hate them. People are like this. If you set too many rules for them, they will feel that they have been deprived of their freedom. Therefore, it is better to use benefits to induce them than to use laws to restrain them.
Confucianism claims that human nature is good, but Legalism claims that human nature is evil. Instead of talking to him about etiquette and morality, it is better to explain the interests directly to him and then use interests to induce him.
Luo Chong deeply agrees with this. Isn't the initial relationship between people based on interests? Of course, some people will say that there is also emotion, but emotions also need interests to maintain. Who would still be friends with you if they lose money every day by making friends with you? Only parents are willing to pay for you without asking for anything in return, and even some parents can't do it. This is a fact.
Therefore, the set of rules formulated by Luo Chong is to use heavier taxes to make people feel the pressure brought by life, and the way to solve this pressure is to have children, so that the people of the Han tribe, shouting the slogan of "giving birth to children to get rich", actively carry out the movement of making people, so as to achieve the goal of rapid population growth that Luo Chong expects.
Of course, this is a long-term plan. Without one or two generations, no effect can be seen. After the introduction of this system, the total population of the Han tribe will only surge, but the proportion of children among them is very large. However, in the short term, the benefits of population growth cannot be seen because it takes time for these children to grow up.
This is certainly not to say that it is not good for children to account for too large a proportion of the total population. In fact, this is very good, indicating that the country is energetic and vibrant.
However, within the 15 years when the children grow up, the Han tribe cannot stop developing and still needs a large number of foreign population to supplement. What should be done? This problem also has to be discussed from the perspective of land.
After two adults get married, they can get 40 mu of land. This area is not small. Planting so much land requires a lot of labor and a lot of taxes. To solve this problem, you can only have children to obtain tax-free land, but this will cause new problems.
When children are born, there will be more land. Although there will be more money and grain, the labor force will also increase accordingly. After all, the land is allocated to you, but if you don’t plant it and there is no output, you still can’t make money.
For example, a young couple cultivates 40 mu of land together, but in the first year of marriage, the woman becomes pregnant and can no longer do heavy work in the fields. So the labor of 40 mu of land has to be placed on the shoulders of one man, which is very tiring.
When the child is born in the second year, another five mu of land is divided. In this way, the two not only have to take care of the child, but also cultivate 45 mu of land together, and the workload increases accordingly.
At the rate of one child every two years, the workload will only increase. Moreover, the woman cannot work during pregnancy, which is equivalent to reducing one labor force in disguise, and even needs someone to take care of her. In this way, the family has more money and food, but one adult is simply too busy. What should be done?
Luo Chong's solution is mainly in two aspects. The first is livestock. Increase the per capita share of cattle, horses, and donkeys. Cattle, horses, and donkeys can all be used to help people do farm work. One animal can replace four adult laborers. If a family can have one animal, it will undoubtedly be much easier.
Regarding the use and planning of livestock, the specific implementation should also be divided into two aspects. The first is to set up an official livestock breeding institution, and the government will uniformly raise livestock. If the people want to use them, they can go to the government to rent them. For example, if I want to plow ten acres of land and want to use cattle to plow, then I will spend money to rent a cow from the government, agree on the use period, and return it when it is due.
Another way is that if you not only want to use cattle to plow the land, but also want to get a car to pull some things at ordinary times, what should you do? Then you can honestly farm for a few years, save some money, and then go to the official breeding institution to buy one, which will become private property, and you can use it for whatever you want.
Of course, livestock used as animal power cannot be slaughtered and eaten at will. Even if they die accidentally, they must be verified by the government to confirm the cause of death of the livestock. This is not only to prevent people from killing cattle and horses, but also for livestock epidemic prevention. If they die of some infectious disease, the government can also handle it in a timely and proper manner to avoid the outbreak of the epidemic.
This is the first aspect. The other one is population. Even if you have money and save up to buy two animals, animals cannot do all the work. Even if you have animals, you still need people to control them.
This is Luo Chong's second population expansion plan. Compared with the long-term method of encouraging childbirth, the second method is a short-term plan. It can not only quickly absorb foreign population, but also quickly expand the territory of the Han tribe.
That is to absorb wild people.
The definition of "wild people" in the Han tribe used to refer to those who live in the wild in groups of three or two, or alone, like bachelors like Xue Tu, but now it has changed. Luo Chong has formulated a new definition for "wild people". In addition to the "nationals" registered in the Han tribe, the population of any other foreign tribes is regarded as "wild people".
And what Luo Chong meant by absorbing the wild people is to absorb the outside population. How to absorb them? The government doesn't care. No matter whether you cheat, rob, or buy them with things, the government doesn't care. If you can bring the outsiders back to the Han tribe, that's your ability.
As long as you bring in an outsider population, after filing with the government, you can have the right to use this "savage" for two years. If you bring back a person, then during these two years, you will be responsible for his food, clothing, housing and transportation, and you will also have to teach him to speak Chinese and use the farm tools of the Han tribe. Similarly, this person will also help you with work, such as chopping wood, carrying manure and farming.
After the two-year private labor period is over, this person who has learned Chinese, learned to farm, and learned the survival habits of the Han tribe will obtain a formal Han tribe household registration from the government and become a registered citizen of the Han tribe.
This looks like encouraging the people to hunt private slaves, and it does look like it, but in fact it is very different.
First of all, these "savages" who have been brought in, although they have to serve their masters for two years of labor, they are not lifelong slaves. Luo Chong has provided them with a channel for advancement. As long as they work for two years, they can become formal "citizens" of the Han tribe and enjoy the same treatment and social obligations as other citizens.
Don't underestimate this rule. It looks simple, but it actually contains a lot of content.
When most people think of slaves, they think of endless heavy work, getting up earlier than chickens and sleeping later than dogs, working day and night, but not having enough food, clothes, ragged clothes, and pale skin.
The slave owners would beat and scold them at any time, and if they didn't complete their tasks, they would either not be fed or be whipped.
But with this "savage" upward channel, after working for the master for two years, he can be upgraded to a Han tribe citizen like the master and enjoy the same rights as the master.
Then the question is, as long as you don't beat him to death in these two years, once he becomes a person like you, do you know what he will become in the future? What if he is capable and becomes an official? Or what if he himself is not capable, but his children become officials? When he becomes powerful, won't he come back to retaliate against you and destroy your family?
On the other hand, if you treat him well during these two years of service and let him have a home in the Han tribe, maybe he will repay your kindness in the future if he becomes successful?
With this comparison, do you still dare to abuse these "savages" who work for you? Abusing them will not only bring no benefits, but will also make you enemies. Only a fool would do this.
The last one is to prevent citizens from concealing the number of their own "savages" or the service years of their own "savages", which will lead to the phenomenon of raising private slaves, detaining "savages" to work for their own families, and not letting them upgrade to citizens. For this situation, Luo Chong also has a set of corresponding laws to restrict it.
First of all, if you get a savage from outside, you must first report to the government, register a temporary ID card for this savage, and record his service period, in whose family he serves, and other basic information.
If someone dares to conceal the report, you may be able to hide it from the government, but can you hide it from your neighbors across the wall?
The registered people are under military control, with five households in a group, ten households in a group, and a hundred households in a village.
If you conceal the "wild man" and keep private slaves at home, and your four neighbors do not report it, then they will all be punished together. If one person breaks the law, five families will be guilty. Who dares to conceal it for you? There is a big living person in your home, how can your neighbors know? What's more, this person has to go in and out frequently to work on your land. How can he hide it?
Similarly, if all the five concealed the report, and no one in the same group reported it, then all ten families will be punished together. If all the groups concealed the report, and no one in the same village reported it, the whole village will be punished together, and the village head will be removed from office for investigation.
Of course, blindly punishing is not enough. What if an official takes the lead in keeping private slaves? So we have to set up a reward for reporting.
If you find someone raising private slaves, you report it to the government, and the reporter can get a reward for reporting. The reward is the tax for that year, which can be reduced by half.
For example, according to the 4/10 agricultural tax of the Han tribe, if you collect 1,000 kilograms of grain, you have to hand in 400 kilograms. But if you find that your neighbor has private slaves and you report it, then you only need to hand in 200 kilograms of grain this year.
In this way, with rewards in the front and heavy penalties in the back, who would dare to conceal your crime? Maybe then several neighbors will rush to report you.
Luo Chong's combination of punches around the division of land has encouraged population growth in the long run, and in the short term, it can quickly absorb the surrounding population. After all the surrounding population has been siphoned by the Han tribe, these new people who have become "savages" can be migrated outward, new counties can be set up in the surrounding areas, new people can be sent to station, and then continue to expand outward.
This policy also has disadvantages. After all, the population in this era is limited, but the surrounding areas cannot be developed. Using such a policy can indeed achieve the purpose of rapidly expanding the Han tribe. Both the territory and the population will surge, but the more time passes, the greater the harm of this policy.
Once there is no new land to distribute to the people, or the "wild men" are all plundered, the Han tribe will be in crisis.
But this is the inevitability of governing. No policy in the world is always applicable. We can only adjust new policies at any time according to our own national conditions, and nip it in the bud before the crisis breaks out.
Similarly, this set of rules cannot be applied to all the territories of the Han tribe. It is only suitable for those counties that farm. Others who do not farm, such as fishermen, craftsmen, and herders who graze and raise livestock, cannot be forced to apply these rules. That is unrealistic.
Therefore, we must develop regional characteristic economies according to different regional conditions in various places, and formulate legal systems and development directions that conform to local conditions.
The densely packed clauses were written down by Luo Chong on paper. He wanted to find the officials of the county government to hold a meeting to discuss it, but he gave up. Those people can do some small things, but do they have the talent to participate in formulating rules?
Thinking of this, Luo Chong once again felt the loneliness of a time traveler. There were tens of thousands of people around him, but no one could help him think about this kind of thing. The students he had handed over could only be "executors" of the rules at most. He told them what to do first, and then let them execute according to the rules.
Want them to make rules? They also need to have experience in governing. Let alone other things, they have never even heard of Luo Chong's set of national concepts. Their thinking is still in the tribal era of public ownership. This special brew is thousands of years behind Luo Chong. What can he do?
Thinking of this, Luo Chong couldn't help but hold his head and sighed.
"It's so hard for me!"
But no matter how hard it is, only I can do it. There is no way. If you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight. If you want to be an emperor, you must be prepared to be exhausted. The most tiring job in the world is the emperor. It seems that you control the whole world, but in fact, you have to take care of a lot of things, especially Luo Chong also intends to centralize power.
It is impossible to divide the country into different territories. That would only lead to endless internal strife, and finally make it like the Warring States Period, with wars everywhere and people suffering.
On the contrary, only through unification and centralization can all the resources of the country be concentrated together and used where they should be used, so as to better develop the country.
Just like Luo Chong wants to climb the technology tree, he wants to make something, but he can't even get the materials together. This material is in this "country", and that material is in that "country". The two sides are still fighting. What's the point of playing? How can we rely on climbing the technology tree to enrich the country and strengthen the army?
It is better to set a unified tone from the beginning. Even if Luo Chong dies, no matter how the future generations toss, at least he has the model of his ancestor there, and his descendants can follow him.
******
While Luo Chong bit the pen to deduce various possible situations, and then formulated laws and "game rules" to prescribe the right medicine, the tribes in other places were not idle either. They were also learning and making progress.
Halfway through the first month of spring, when the grasslands began to grow green grass again, countless tribes were also migrating with their people. They were going to the spring and summer pastures, where they would live for half a year. When the cattle, horses and sheep had successfully given birth and the calves and lambs were weaned, they would rush to the next pasture with abundant grass and water.
On the vast grassland, Su Ritu's tribe was also migrating. Thanks to the Han tribe caravan, Su Ritu exchanged cattle, horses and animal skins for six two-wheeled single-horse carts from the Han tribe caravan last year, which made Su Ritu very happy.
Since the carts, their migration has become more convenient. Items such as felt tents that were inconvenient to carry before can now be transported on the carts. Although this car is very simple and far less luxurious than the transport vehicles of the Han tribe caravan, it cannot stop its high cost performance.
At this moment, Su Ritu was wearing a grayish-white woolen robe that was a little yellow, woolen trousers on his legs, a pair of cowhide riding boots on his feet, a leather hat on his head, and a short knife in his hand, constantly whittling wood, sitting on a cart and traveling with the team.
The trousers, the leather boots, the robe, and the fabric used to make the clothes were all from the Han tribe, as were the needles and awls.
Although the costumes of the Suritu tribe are all based on the Han tribe, they also incorporate their own characteristics, such as the buttons or decorations made of sheep bones on the robes, and the robes are relatively long, with slits in the front, back, left and right, which are convenient for riding.
More importantly, while Suritu was sitting on the cart, listening to the creaking sound of the axle, his hands were not idle. He used the small dagger he exchanged from the Han tribe to cut a piece of wood, and the shape was surprisingly the shape of a high bridge saddle, and there were even two rattan rings connected by leather strips next to it, which looked like a pair of stirrups.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
