"Your Majesty, the Tang dynasty has a bumper harvest this autumn, and the price of grain has risen. This year's autumn tax has increased by more than 10% compared to last year." In the Taiji Palace, the Minister of Civil Affairs, Dai Zhou, said with a flushed face.
A 10% increase in tax was a great achievement, comparable to the speed of China in the modern era. How could Dai Zhou not be excited?
"Congratulations, Your Majesty. The strength of the country has increased, and the people are rich. This is a sign of the prosperity of the Tang dynasty."
All the civil and military officials were happy. The Tang dynasty was rich in tax and national strength. Everyone was happy.
Li Shimin was relieved. The Tang dynasty was about to control the Yellow River and attack the Tuyuhun. The abundant national treasury gave him a lot of confidence. With an extra 10% tax, he could do a lot of things.
"This is the credit of my dear ministers. I thank you on behalf of the people." Li Shimin stood up and bowed to the ministers.
"This humble subject's insignificant contributions are not worth Your Majesty's mention."
The ministers hurriedly said modestly.
Li Chengqian was listening to the politics on the side. Hearing this, he couldn't help but snort, "Compared with Meton's contribution, you are indeed not worth mentioning."
Li Chengqian had already seen the detailed list of the autumn tax. The large-scale increase of the land tax depended on the promotion of the crooked plough and the drought resistance method. Among all the taxes, the growth rate of the business tax was the most amazing. The business tax contributed a lot to the increase of the tax by 10%. Among them, the tax paid by the Mo Family Village and the businesses in the Mo Family Village accounted for a large proportion.
However, the ministers automatically ignored Meton's contribution. No one mentioned it. Li Chengqian sighed helplessly. He couldn't help but look outside the palace, thinking about his way of governing the country.
At this moment, the biggest contributor to the increase of the Tang dynasty's autumn tax was lying on the soft bed with a pair of panda eyes, screaming in pain.
"Be gentle, be gentle!"
In the Mo clan, Zi Yi was currently using ice to apply the bruises on Meton from the Tang dynasty. Whenever Zi Yi moved slightly, Meton could not help but gasp and cry out in pain.
Seeing this, Zi Yi's heart ached and she cried, "The Crown Prince is too ruthless. He actually did this to you."
Meton snorted and said, "Young Master didn't lose out either. He's not much better off!"
How many times had he had the opportunity to beat up the Crown Prince? Meton could be considered to be the first of his kind. Coming from the future, Meton did not have any concept of hierarchy. How could he not retaliate after being beaten up by Li Chengqian?
Zi Yi jumped in fright and hurriedly said, "Young Master, beating the Crown Prince is a capital offense. If the Emperor blames us, what should we do?"
Meton waved his hand carelessly and said, "Don't worry. Li Chengqian cares about his face the most. He definitely won't admit that he was beaten by me. Think about it. Maybe now he's spreading the news that I was beaten up badly."
Even so, Zi Yi still felt uneasy in her heart. Until Meton assured her again and again, Zi Yi was a little relieved.
"Where's Uncle Fu?"
Meton suddenly didn't see Uncle Fu today, so he couldn't help asking.
"Chang 'an county is going to assign the tasks of corvee labor to each village. Uncle Fu has gone to the county government on behalf of Village Mo. He should be back soon.
Tang dynasty carried out the law of equalization of land and carried out rent adjustment. According to the law, all families with equalization of land, no matter how much land they got, they had to pay taxes according to the number of people. After the taxes were collected, they had to serve the corvee labor.
Sure enough, as soon as Zi Yi finished her words, Uncle Fu came in from outside. When he saw Meton, he reported, "Young Master, the corvee labor of Village Mo has come down. The corvee labor assigned by the county to Village Mo is all simple tasks."
Meton shook his head and said, "Village Mo is in the middle of development. This is the time to use people. All the corvee labor will be paid in silk according to the regulations of the imperial court."
In ancient times, corvee labor was a very important job. Almost all the large-scale projects of the imperial court were built by corvee labor. The Great Wall of Great Wall of the Seven Wonders and the Grand Canal of Jinghang and Hangzhou were all built by corvee labor.
Corvee labor was too heavy, and the people were dissatisfied. Many important projects couldn't be completed because the corvee labor was too light. In addition, some rich families didn't want to serve the corvee labor, so the corvee labor system gradually came into being.
The corvee labor system originated from the Sui Dynasty. At that time, Emperor Wen of Sui implemented the policy of "light corvee labor and low taxes". In the second year of the Founding Emperor, it was stipulated that those who were over 18 years old were required to serve the corvee labor. Those who were over 60 years old were exempted from the corvee labor. Later on, it was stipulated that those who were over 50 years old were allowed to serve the corvee labor.
After Li Shimin succeeded the throne, he further developed the corvee labor system. It was stipulated that those who didn't want to serve the corvee labor could replace it with silk or cloth. They had to pay three feet of silk every day. This was called Yong.
"They all need to serve the corvee labor. There are nearly a thousand families in Village Mo. How much silk cloth do they need? Where does Village Mo have so much silk cloth?!" Zi Yi exclaimed.
However, Meton smiled slightly and said without any worry, "In the past, they used to serve the corvee labor. I'm afraid it's different this year."
Uncle Fu nodded and said, "Young Master is wise. I heard that in the past, there was too much silk cloth in the imperial court, and there was no place to store it in the national treasury. Many of them were moldy and discolored. This year, they specially allowed the farmers to serve the corvee labor with silk or money."
Meton nodded. He knew in his heart that this was the first step of the imperial court's change for the cotton cloth strike five years later. He was afraid that in the next few years, the corvee labor with silk would become the corvee labor with money.
When a carriage of money arrived at the county government of Chang 'an, the news that Mo Jiazi paid the corvee labor for all the villagers of Village Mo instantly spread throughout the Tang dynasty.
"There are at least two thousand corvee laborers in Village Mo! Mo Jiazi is really generous! "
The corvee labor for any one of them was not a small amount, and it was enough to make ordinary people's hearts ache. Except for the rich, ordinary people all went to serve the corvee labor obediently. No one was willing to pay the corvee labor with silk, let alone there were two thousand corvee laborers. The amount of money needed was definitely not a small amount.
"The villagers of Village Mo are really lucky to have such a good family head."
There was a lot of discussion in Chang 'an. Everyone was very envious.
"Why are we so miserable? Why do we have to serve the corvee labor?"
Many people complained in their hearts.
Although serving the corvee labor did not cost money, it was very tiring. Moreover, they had to prepare their own dry food and serve the corvee labor for more than a month. It was not an easy job for an adult laborer.
Especially this year, the corvee labor in the Guanzhong area was very heavy. Zhangsun Wuji had taken away a lot of labor to manage the Yellow River. There were more rich families in Chang 'an, and most of them paid the corvee labor with silk. The corvee labor that was evenly distributed to each village this year was much more.
When the news of the Village Mo's paying the corvee labor spread to the villages in the south of the city, many villages were suddenly in an uproar. All along, the Village Mo's had been the main force of the corvee labor. This year, more than two thousand people of Village Mo's were gone, and they were afraid that they would have to do more work.
For a moment, all kinds of unbalanced thoughts emerged. Especially after Li Zheng distributed the tasks, the villages in the south of Chang 'an were suddenly in an uproar.
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