Sun Lan said, "I've discussed it with Rong Li. This matter involves a lot of people. It's not convenient to do it openly, so we can only do it secretly."
If it was done openly, there would be many people who would come into contact with this booklet. The news could not be hidden.
If it was in the form of a secret booklet, the contents could only be seen by the trusted ministers and the lord.
Compared to the former, the latter was much more confidential.
Changsheng couldn't help but frown, "If it's just for Sister Jinghui's test, you don't have to do this."
If it was not good enough, they would make countless enemies, but they might lose their lives.
Feng Yi said, "At first, it was because of this. But after the secret booklet was written, I realized the meaning was more than that."
Changsheng was a little anxious, but she still restrained herself and listened to Feng Yi's explanation.
Feng Yi said, "I remember, before Lan and I followed the army, the topic of the last lesson taught by the Headmaster of the Academy was' The Cause of Troubled Times'. The Headmaster asked us to explore the root cause of troubled times. If I remember correctly, the Headmaster even compiled it into a book … "
Changsheng nodded.
She was also a senior student, and the content of her studies was more relevant to current politics. She had also taken similar courses.
Feng Yi continued, "I remember that many of my classmates said that the royal family was greedy for the Desolate Silver, and that it was their fault that caused the world to be in chaos. Some said that the officials were in cahoots with each other, causing the common people to suffer. Some even said that natural and man-made disasters occurred frequently, causing the common people to turn into mobs. Dongqing was like this, Nansheng was like this, but is the answer to this question so shallow and simple? "
Changsheng said, "Of course not. These are only part of the reason, but not the main reason."
Coincidentally, Changsheng had taken the same course a while ago.
She asked her grandfather for special tutoring and learned a lot from this wise old man.
What caused a country's destruction could not be a local factor, but something related to the whole.
Feng Yi said, "I think so too. After entering the military camp, I consulted a few military counselors and had a different opinion. Military counselor Qiguan once mentioned the problem of the national treasury in the last years of Dongqing. The royal family's desire for grandiose achievements and misappropriation of military supplies was a problem, but it could not hide the fact that the national treasury's revenue had been decreasing year after year. This money was not enough to satisfy the royal family's extravagance, how could there be extra money to equip the military supplies? The problem was, according to the most recent census, before Dongqing was destroyed, the population did not decrease but increased. However, the tax revenue of the national treasury did not increase but decreased. Which part of this place was the problem? Just because someone embezzled tax money and filled their own pockets? How could it be so simple … "
Changsheng said, "Brother Rong Li, it's not that we haven't thought about it, but no one dares to make a move."
Changsheng had naturally thought about what Feng Yi said. Under her grandfather's guidance, she also analyzed a lot of the content.
Even if his understanding wasn't as deep as Feng Yi's, his general direction was correct.
Because the five kingdoms were all split from the Great Xia Dynasty, the tax and labor system of each kingdom was similar, only the details were different.
The so-called tax was levied on the land, while the labor was levied on the heads of people. It could be material objects or manpower.
For example, Dongqing's tax and corvee system was rather complicated. On the whole, it still followed the template of the Xia Dynasty.
Not only were there many programs for young adults to serve, but they were also very strict. If they didn't want to serve, they had to pay a certain amount of money and rations according to the number of people. Even if they didn't want to serve, they still had to pay a certain amount of tax. There weren't that many types of taxes, but it was still very deceptive.
The land tax was based on a certain percentage of the average output of the occupied land.
What did it mean to occupy land?
The average area of the land occupied by a family.
For example, Father Ma had one billion yuan, and Poor A had zero yuan. The average savings of the two were 500 million yuan.
It was even easier to understand the percentage of the output per mu. The government would take 50% of the output per mu. This percentage was considered low. There was a period of time when the percentage was even up to 80%. In other words, the government would take 50% to 80% of the harvest of a farmer's hard work for a year. The remaining 20% would be given to the people. This 20% had to be deducted from the family's head tax and other miscellaneous taxes.
This little amount of rice was not even enough to fill their stomachs, not to mention handing it over to the government to exempt them from the heavy labor.
If the labor was levied on your family, then you had to obediently hand over the people.
Of course, these indicators were for ordinary people and aristocrats who had special privileges. They could reduce taxes and be exempted from the labor. A little bit of it could be dealt with.
In the early days of the founding of Dongqing, ordinary people did have a lot of fertile land in their hands. The occupied land was not too excessive. However, natural and man-made disasters could not be predicted by human beings. Many lands were resold to the aristocrats at a low price by the people. The aristocrats and other higher-ups obtained more land from the people to achieve the goal of annexation. The land in the hands of the people became less and less, but the taxes collected based on the occupied land did not decrease.
In layman's terms, the income was low, but the taxes paid were not low. This meant that the people received less money.
As time went by, the people could not bear the burden. More and more people sold themselves to the aristocrats as serfs or farm labourers to fight for a living.
After the land annexation, the aristocrats had more and more land in their hands. However, as a privileged class, the actual number of land they owned was much larger than the theoretical occupied land. This meant that the more land they had, the more tax-free land they could get, and the higher their income.
Not only that, but the aristocrats could also use their privileges to reduce taxes that were already low.
The poor people became poorer, and the rich aristocrats became richer.
The number of people who paid taxes decreased, and the number of aristocrats who paid taxes did not increase. The overall revenue of the national treasury naturally decreased.
In addition to the embezzlement of taxes by various local governments, it would be strange for the national treasury to have a high revenue.
There was no money in the national treasury. It was so poor that it could not even pay the salaries of the officials. The country was doomed.
The situation in Dongqing was not that bad, but the royal family was too extravagant. They dug their own graves.
Changsheng remembered the words of the Academy's Master, Master Cheng Jing: taxes were the foundation of a country.
Those hypocrites who said that money was like dung should go eat dung.
Not to mention the distant past, just the rise and fall of the dynasties of a few countries in recent times showed the importance of the national treasury's taxes.
If this was to be changed, the conflict between Jiang Pengji and the aristocrats would become more intense.
Whether the east wind prevailed over the west wind, or the west wind prevailed over the east wind, the bastard who proposed the tax reform would be dragged out to be sacrificed to the heavens.
Changsheng looked at Feng Yi, her eyes full of struggle.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Feng Yi knew that Changsheng was worried, so she said gently, "My lord will not be unaware of the stakes. She is also an elder who watched me grow up. If she really wants to punish someone, she will not punish me and Lan, who are still wet behind the ears. "
To put it bluntly, he and Sun Lan were still not enough.
If there was really a reform, it would most likely be to plot against some unlucky aristocrats and use their entire family to sacrifice to the heavens.
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