Chapter 940 Why should we pay taxes?
The tribe of the Qiao family tasted the food provided by the Han tribe. It was the first time for them to eat this kind of pure plant food, but it tasted unexpectedly sweet. Whether it was rice or corn tortillas, the rich starch could be converted into sugar after being decomposed by salivary enzymes.
Sugar is the main source of energy required by the human body, followed by protein and fat. Only when the intake of sugar is too much and it is not consumed, will the sugar be stored in the body in the form of fat.
Therefore, although these grains are all plants, they can make people feel full. Of course, grass can also be eaten, but can people eat grass to their fullness? Of course not, so this is why grains are precious.
The elders of the Qiao family and Yan tasted a little of everything, from steaming steamed rice, to roasted corn, boiled corn, and more corn tortillas. They all ate this kind of food for the first time, but they all liked these sweet smells very much.
The elders, Yan, Ye Ying, Mo Xin and others sat around a pot, eating corn tortillas while eating. There was no other way. There were not many pots, so they could only eat this kind of buffet. Everyone lined up to eat in turn.
"Ye Ying, is this kind of food easy to grow? How do you need to plant it? How much does one person need to plant to have his own food? How long does it take to grow before it can be harvested?"
The elders were very interested in these foods, and also in how to cultivate them. In his eyes, crops that only need to be planted to steadily harvest food are like artifacts.
Ye Ying also introduced the situation to them while eating.
"This corn and rice are the two crops with the highest yield and the shortest growth cycle. For example, in this area where we are now, it only takes three months from sowing to maturity.
"Do you understand a month? It means thirty sunrises and sunsets. Every time the two moons in the sky meet, it is a month. It takes three months to grow this. "
The elder nodded repeatedly. Although he had never heard of the Chinese term "month", he knew the difference between day and night. They had the Qiao family who could also tie knots to record the days. Thirty days was a month, and he could still calculate it. Even if he couldn't calculate, he could still count.
After understanding the growing time of this crop, the elder continued to ask, "Then how do the people in the Han tribe live? Do you need to farm every day?"
Ye Ying suddenly felt a headache. These were very basic questions. It was not difficult to explain them, but they were very boring. However, he still explained patiently.
"The people of our Han tribe all live in family units. For example, Yan will live with his wife and children. After joining the Han tribe, the tribe will register his household registration, and then the tribe will give him a homestead for building a house, and also give him and his woman 20 acres of land each.
"Yan, as the head of the household and the only adult man in the family, has to cultivate the food on these 20 mu of land. What to plant must be arranged by the government, which is the department in charge of the people in the tribe. You have to listen to them and plant whatever food the government tells you to plant. If you don't know how to plant, the government will send someone to teach you. The tribe will also give you the seeds, farm tools, oxen and other things you need.
"The 20 mu of land that your women are allocated is used as auxiliary land. Auxiliary land generally does not grow food, but mainly grows cotton and hemp, which is what we use for weaving, as well as vegetables and some other economic crops, such as lacquer grass, etc.
"And Yan, and your women, as people of the Han tribe, you have the obligation to pay taxes to the tribe, that is, every time you harvest food, you have to hand over 20% of the harvested food to the tribe, and your women's cotton, hemp, lacquer grass and other things have to hand over 20% to the tribe, and the rest is your own stuff."
The elders and Yan immediately got angry after hearing this. What, you have to hand over the things you grow to the tribe? Why? If you hand it over to the tribe, what will you eat?
They used to rely on hunting and fishing to survive, and they had always shared the fruits of their labor. Now, they suddenly joined the private ownership tribe like the Han Tribe, but they also had to hand over their labor harvest to the tribe. Why?
The elder and Yan asked hurriedly.
"Ye Ying, why do we have to hand over the grain we grow to the tribe? Also, who exactly is this tribe you are talking about? What do they want the grain we grow for? If the people of the Han Tribe have to hand over the grain to the tribe, how much grain does the tribe have? What do they need so much grain for?"
Ye Ying immediately covered his face. What is going on? The tribe has done so much for the people, can't the people themselves see it?
Well, they haven't officially joined the Han Tribe yet, and they haven't seen the tribe's contribution to the people.
Ye Ying couldn't say anything anymore. He poked Mo Xin, who was trying to hold back his laughter, with his elbow and said, "Master Mo, you should explain it to them. I'll eat something first."
Mo Xin's face darkened. He shouldn't have laughed just now, but since he was named, he still had to explain.
"First of all, you should know that as a citizen of the Han tribe, you must pay taxes. There is no reason, because it is an obligation, because we are not individual individuals, we are a complete collective. If you are in the Han tribe, you must contribute to this collective, otherwise why should the tribe care about you?"
"Then we didn't ask the tribe you mentioned to care about us? Can't we live by farming?" Yan retorted stubbornly.
"It's okay if you don't care. If you don't pay taxes and don't obey the government's discipline, you are not a citizen of the Han tribe. The tribe has no obligation to give you land for building houses and land for cultivation, as well as seeds, farm tools, oxen and other things. You can do whatever you want, as long as you don't appear on the territory of the Han tribe." Mo Xin didn't indulge him, and directly confronted him.
Then, without waiting for Yan and the elders to refute, he continued.
"The tribe is the Han tribe. The Han tribe is the leader's Han tribe, and it is also our Han tribe. The leader has to manage such a large tribe, and he naturally cannot manage it alone, so the leader established a government, which is composed of people who represent the leader to manage the people. If you listen to the government, it is equivalent to listening to the leader's arrangements. Do you understand? You must first understand the significance of the existence of the government.
"Let's start with the most basic. You need a stable land to farm and live, right? Where does this land come from? The leader sent thousands of warriors like Ye Ying to snatch it back.
"They paid with their lives, shed blood, and ate, drank, and wore clothes every day. The weapons they used, as well as the armor, the war horses they rode, and the pensions after their death, all of which were not costs. The leader spent so much to give the people the land to live on. You are not willing to pay anything. Why should the leader give you the land? Does the leader owe you?"
Mo Xin's remarks caused a great psychological shock to the elders and Yan. So, is this the reason for collecting taxes? The leader sent soldiers to seize the land for the people to live on. Since the people used these lands, they have the obligation to make contributions?
There seems to be nothing wrong with saying this? !
But Yan just couldn't figure it out. There are so many lands in the world. Why can't they get a piece of land to grow food? Why do they have to farm the land that the leader gave them?
So Yan raised this question again, and Mo Xin was also very angry, but what could he do? In fact, the newly joined people always have problems of one kind or another. They have not been exposed to this system of the Han tribe. It is normal for them to be uncomfortable and have doubts, so he had to continue to explain patiently.
He glared at Ye Ying beside him. He finally understood the pain of explaining the problem to the two people.
"Well, then we will assume that you have a piece of land to cultivate and live on, but where do your food seeds come from? Where do your farm tools come from? You don't know how to farm and store food, so who will teach you? You have limited strength, time, and energy. How can you cultivate enough food for your family? If you don't let the tribe take care of you, where do you get these things?" Mo Xin's question again made the other party speechless.
Yan opened his mouth, not knowing how to refute. He thought for a long time before speaking.
“Then can’t I buy it from the Han tribe?”
“No, the Han tribe never trades grain with outsiders. Even within the tribe, people are not allowed to trade grain with each other. Of the grain produced by the people, except for the 20% tax paid to the tribe, the rest is all theirs. Except for the part kept for their own consumption, the remaining grain is generally sold to the official warehouse of the tribe in exchange for money, so that they can use the money to buy other daily necessities. This is just the case for grain and seeds.
“Then there are farm tools. Good farm tools are like this sharp weapon, all made of steel. The chief uses grain to hire people to mine the steel in the mines, and then feeds many craftsmen to refine it, and finally it is made into farm tools. If you are not a citizen of the Han tribe, why would the chief sell it to you?
"The chief feeds so many people who are responsible for producing all kinds of tools needed by the people of the tribe. If the people don't pay for the money and food to feed these people, do you want the chief to pay for it himself? Even if the chief has twelve legs and a dozen pairs of arms, he can't grow so much food.
"Finally, there are officials in the government. If you have difficulties, you can go to the government office to find officials. If you don't know how to farm, the government will send people to teach you. This person doesn't farm his own land and comes here to teach you. Then who will feed his own family? Is it too much to ask you to pay a 20% tax? Anyway, if you can't finish the food, it will rot at home!
"Then there are oxen. The tribe has a limited number of oxen, and one ox for each family is definitely not enough, so only a few can be distributed to the government in each village. These oxen are sent thousands of miles to various places in the tribe by the leader's army and vehicles. If you don't want to pay taxes, why should the leader give you oxen for free?"
Mo Xin paused and said again, "Of course, what I said are just the most basic expenses. In order to create the best life for all the people in the Han tribe, the leader has also built many departments. Which of these departments does not require a lot of money and manpower? In short, you only need to understand one thing. The leader collects 20% of the people's grain as tax, and does not keep any for himself. Besides, he can't eat it all. He just uses the grain to do a lot of things to make people's lives better."
Well, that's all Mo Xin can say. If they still don't understand, there's nothing he can do. It's better to see it for yourself than to hear from others, and it's better to experience it for yourself than to see it for yourself. As long as they join the Han tribe and go through the education of the government and schools, they will eventually understand the leader's intentions and painstaking efforts.
Seeing that the two still looked confused, Ye Ying finally grasped the key point of the problem.
They were unwilling to give the food they grew to the tribe and wanted to hold it all in their own hands. It was nothing more than that these people were afraid of starvation. This was the core of the problem, just like the elderly in modern society who had experienced famine and always liked to store rice, flour and cooking oil at home.
Finally, Ye Ying said, "You two, don't worry about whether to pay taxes or not. I will only tell you one thing. As long as you obey the arrangements of the government and cultivate according to the guidance of the government, a family of 20 mu of grain fields will be enough for you, an adult man, two or three women, and a dozen children. Moreover, after paying 20% of the tax grain, your family can't eat it all even if you eat three meals a day, and you can only save it.
"In the past, there were also new people like you who were unwilling to sell the remaining grain at home to the government after paying the grain tax. They wanted to keep it in their own hands, but in the end, they couldn't eat it all, and they couldn't store it well. When insects grew in the grain and it all became moldy and rotten, they realized that they regretted it. In the end, didn't they take the initiative to sell the excess grain to the government in exchange for money? ! "
Ye Ying's answer went straight to the heart of the matter. If he had said this earlier, they wouldn't have been so worried.
Just as Ye Ying guessed, this tribe that relied purely on hunting and fishing for survival was just afraid of starving. They were afraid that the food they had grown with great difficulty would be handed over to the tribe, and then they would continue to starve.
If it was really as Ye Ying said, even if he paid the grain tax to the tribe, the remaining food would not be enough for more than a dozen people, then he wouldn't mind making a contribution to the tribe.
If I can't even eat enough and am hungry, why would I care about the life and death of your tribe? I'd better make sure my family doesn't starve to death first!
In fact, hasn't it been like this in every dynasty from ancient times to the present? If the people really starve to the point of starvation, they will rise up directly and kill the officials. Rebellion is good enough, and I also have to pay taxes to your government? What are you thinking about? Go to bed.
After the elders and Yan of the Qiao family had a preliminary understanding of the lifestyle and farming model of the Han tribe, as well as the management system of the tribe, they had almost finished their meal.
After half an hour of internal discussion, the elders and Yan finally did a good job of ideological work for their migration team of six or seven hundred people. Everyone unanimously decided to join the Han tribe and follow Ye Ying and the others.
Ye Ying also immediately made a decision that they must lead this group of immigrants to speed up their journey to the capital construction site in the west, so that they can connect with the food delivery team supported by Youzhi before the food they carry is eaten up.
I am very tired and busy now, so I can only update one chapter of four thousand words every day.
(End of this chapter)
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