Chastity Layman

There was a burst of exclamation in the hall.

The land tax and grain of 12 million shi a year is four times the current land rent. A young prime minister like Changsun Wuji has even begun to think about how much he can do if the court collects twelve million stone grains a year.

Even the steady prime ministers Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui were amazed at this number.

"There can't be so many!"

Dai Zhou still objected.

Qin Lang smiled and said, "Dai Shenzheng, this is a very simple calculation. There are more than 800 million mu of land in the world, two liters per mu, and two stones per hundred mu, which is actually 16 million stones. There are merchants, craftsmen and other non-land households who pay grain by household, and there is another increase. Even if the households who do not pay land tax are deducted, and some land that does not grow grain is deducted, then twelve million stone grains will actually be collected. , which is six to seven million stones less than the total, what does Dai Shenzheng think is wrong?"

Dai Zhou refuted Qin Lang angrily, "Eight million hectares of land? Are there still eight million hectares of land on the register? Also, do you mean that officials, government soldiers, and scholars also have to pay for food?"

Qin Lang said bluntly, "The land tax and grain collection is for famine relief. Does Mr. Dai think that when the famine comes, the princes, nobles, officials and scholars will not be affected?"

The government and the people pay grain together, according to the two liters per mu of land. This is indeed the most fair and just. Qin Lang himself is a big landlord, and he has rewarded more than 60,000 mu of land grain. However, according to the original court system, he is an official He is an aristocrat, and he is not registered, so no matter how much land there is, he does not have to pay a bucket of taxes.

And those people who don't have enough land granted may only be awarded 20 or 30 mu of land, but they still need to pay two shi for a dime, and two dong get four shi.

Therefore, when designing this land tax, Qin Lang directly followed the later history of the Tang Dynasty. The tax law was officially renamed as land tax.

In essence, this should indeed be said to be a tax increase, but for the imperial court, the original tax system was unreasonable, resulting in insufficient fiscal revenue, and there was no way to increase taxes.

As for why the righteous warehouse grain or the land tax is not collected on a dime basis like the rent adjustment, it is also because the dime collection is too heavy a burden on ordinary people, and has no effect on those bureaucratic landlords who really own a lot of land.

This is actually a thin piece of paper. Everyone knows exactly what is behind it, but no one has come to pierce this piece of paper yet.

Historically, it took until the second year of Zhenguan to really start to poke this piece of paper, but now Qin Lang poked it a year earlier.

"The government soldiers also want to recruit?"

Li Shimin was a little hesitant about this one.

Mansion soldiers grant land, no tax is levied, and then they need to prepare their own food and clothing, go to class regularly, and train in rotation. Mansion soldiers have always not paid taxes, but now Qin Lang also pays them land tax.

"Your Majesty, paying two liters per mu is actually not a high tax."

Even if it is calculated on the basis of one stone per mu, the two liters of tax per mu is actually only fifty one tax per mu. The original tax rate of the people's rent adjustment is not high, but the premise is that the people can grant enough 100 mu of land, and if the grant is enough, 100 mu of land is granted 2 stones, which is actually two liters of tax per mu.

The problem is that in Guanzhong, Henan and other places, there are many people and little land, and it is impossible to grant enough in practice, so the tax rate is actually much higher.

"Your Majesty, I have more than 60,000 mu of land, and if the tax per mu is two liters, I have to pay more than 1,200 shi in a year, but I am willing to pay this grain. 1,200 shi seems to be a lot, but in fact It’s only two liters per mu, and it’s only one tax per fifty, and even better irrigated land is actually one tax per hundred!”

Qin Lang took the lead in expressing his opinion that the tax rate is low.

Dai Zhou can only say that ordinary people have to pay rent and transfers, as well as serve in the military, and the burden is not light, and there are even a lot of apportionments at the local level. Now I have to pay two more stones, which is too high.

"Dai Shenzheng, you're wrong. It's not two shi, but two liters per mu. People who have 100 mu of land pay two shi. If they only have 50 mu, they actually pay one shi. For twenty mu, they only pay four liters." fight·······"

Qin Lang then said to the emperor, "After this census, many hidden households and hidden fields will definitely be cleared up. At that time, we will grant some land to the people who have insufficient land. land, and move some people with little land and no land to Kuan Township to grant land, so that the people can have more land, whether it is regular tax or land tax, the burden is actually greatly reduced."

It is expected that the annual land tax will be 12 million shi, the annual rent will increase by 3.6 million shi, and the silk will increase by nearly one million horses a year...

This number is extremely tempting to every official present.

Even Dai Zhou felt defeated after arguing for a while.

Although later Feng Lun also believed that land tax should not be levied according to the number of acres, but should be levied according to households. According to his proposal, even if a big landlord like Qin Lang owns more than 60,000 mu of land, he should be levied according to the top class. At most five shi of grain was paid a year, which was more than 1,200 shi less than the actual amount.

This proposal was obviously for the protection of the bureaucrats and dignitaries. Qin Lang objected loudly, but Li Shimin remained silent. In fact, he also believed that both the prince and the common people should pay grain by the mu.

Otherwise, the land tax will not be able to collect much in the last year. After all, if it is not collected on a per-mu basis, but only collected on a household basis, it may not even be able to collect a fraction of two million shi in that year.

The national census of household registration, field acres, and minerals, etc., will levy land taxes according to the new household registration and field acres after the census. These two items were quickly reached a preliminary agreement in the Xiande Hall.

There was no way, if Qin Lang only talked about tax increases with them, it would probably be a fight for many days, but when he put out a few figures, no one could object anymore.

At least 16 million stone grain income will be added a year, which is five or six times the current amount, and an additional million pieces of silk can be added. For the poor and crazy kings, this is really tempting .

The new land tax will be based directly on the number of acres of land. This can be said to be the final result of the continuous patching of the tax adjustment system since the Sui Dynasty. It was originally based on the grain warehouses and communal warehouses. , and it is precisely because of this foundation that Qin Lang's proposal can be passed.

After discussing for a long time, everyone's mouth was dry.

It was noon when I heard Dr. Time Telling beat the drums.

So the emperor suspended the meeting and invited everyone to have a meal under the corridor.

In the verandah wing room, there are only one person and one couple.

The dishes are also quite rich, including Dongpo pork, roasted rooster, fried locust, braised lamb, and a radish and duck soup.

Four dishes and one soup, the recipes were all provided by Qin Lang to the imperial dining room earlier, and even the chicken and duck that everyone eats today are actually provided by the Qin family's manor.

Because it is a work meal, there is no wine, but tea and fruit plate.

This is the standard working meal for the prime ministers. Although these are not good things for these ministers in purple robes and jade belts, they usually have no chance to enjoy them. If they can eat a meal in the corridor, they can be proud for a long time.

The Qin family's Dongpo pork amazed everyone, and some people even didn't realize that it was pork.

Their reactions proved that the cooking technique is actually very important. Usually, this person would not try pork easily, but today they all ate very happily, and their mouths were full of oil.

Even the flour-coated fried locusts were chewed by the chancellors one by one.

Li Shimin also liked Dongpo meat very much, but unfortunately Qin Lang had told Empress Changsun that the emperor would eat it once every three to five days at most, and he couldn't eat it often, because Dongpo meat was too fat, and eating it often was not good for his health. After all, the emperor is not as good as before. Now he is dealing with affairs in the palace all day long, and his exercise consumption is not as much as before, so he can't eat too greasy,

Empress Changsun was very concerned about the emperor's diet. She often had to check the emperor's recipes, and strictly limited the amount of Dongpo meat the emperor ate. She could only eat once in a ten-day period, and only half a portion at a time.

Today, when the ministers stayed for dinner, Li Shimin specially ordered a whole portion of Dongpo meat for himself.

"A comprehensive census is imperative, but I'm afraid it won't be completed in a year or so."

The emperor swallowed a large piece of Dongpo meat and said to Qin Lang with chopsticks.

Qin Lang was drinking tea. He knew what the emperor was worried about. Although he had obtained some money now, it was a huge expense just to support the tens of thousands of standing troops of the Imperial Guard, and it was not enough to have several million yuan a year.

Not to mention, Li Shimin never forgot the shame of Weishui Bianqiao.

But Liang Shidu has not been destroyed for a day, and Li Shimin is also in trouble for a day.

These all require money.

Li Shimin didn't have much time to wait.

He wants cash, and more cash.

Qin Lang picked up a small glass bottle on the dining table, which was used to hold green salt. Green salt is currently the salt that is more popular among nobles, and it is the top grade of salt.

It is mainly produced in Yanzhou in the northwest of Guanzhong. It is produced by several large salt ponds such as Wuchi and Baichi. It is a kind of pond salt. Because the salt is large and green, it is called green salt. These salts have a good color and fragrance, far surpassing the Jiechi salt in the east of the river, and better than the sea salt produced in the coastal areas. Therefore, it has become the top salt enjoyed by the royal family and nobles. .

From another point of view, Yanzhou not only has green salt, but also white salt, red salt, black salt, etc. This is because of the different trace elements contained in it, and there are many trace elements in green salt. , It is extremely beneficial to the human body from a medical point of view.

This kind of salt is more than a hundred cash per catty, which can be called extremely precious.

You must know that the quality of salt produced in other salt ponds in Yanzhou is far better than that of Hedong salt, but it costs at most fifteen yuan a catty.

The solution salt in Hedong costs more than 10 Wen per catty, and the sea salt produced in Cangzhou and Huainan salt farms in Hebei Province costs less than 10 Wen per catty.

Many systems of the Tang Dynasty were not followed by the Sui Dynasty, and the Sui Dynasty had no restrictions on salt mines, that is, salt farms in various places were allowed to be mined by private individuals without taxation or monopoly.

Therefore, while the salt merchants made huge profits, the common people also enjoyed the benefits of low salt prices.

Although salt is more expensive than rice no matter how cheap it is, rice consumes a lot, but salt consumes less. In normal years, it is often a bucket of rice and a catty of salt, and the price of salt is about ten times that of rice.

"Your Majesty, as long as the imperial court controls the salt, the imperial court's finances can be relieved immediately. Within three to five years, it can increase taxes for the imperial court by one or two million guan every year. After ten years, it can bring tens of millions of guan in revenue to the imperial court every year."

Hearing this, not only the emperor put down his chopsticks, but all the other ministers also put down their chopsticks.