OBS Chapter 1142 This bastard is setting a trap for us again!
Chapter 1142 This bastard is setting a trap for us again!
As is well known, Yang Shaofeng, like a certain Condor Hero, was "not very magnanimous".
Yang Shaofeng was asked to cooperate with Lao Deng and Heizhima Tangyuan in a charade to betray Li Shanchang and Wang Guangyang. Yang Shaofeng replied, "These are things that I, Yang, should do."
But when Yang Shaofeng discovered that he had also been betrayed by Lao Deng, a surge of anger inexplicably welled up in his heart.
Very well, I, Yang, am a filial son-in-law and a loyal subject, but how dare you, old Deng, treat me like this?
Yang Shaofeng subtly tugged at Wang Guangyang's sleeve, gave him a wink, and then strode into the center of the court. He bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "Your Majesty, I, Yang, the Imperial Son-in-Law and Duke of Ying, have a memorial to present."
The smile on Emperor Zhu's face vanished without a trace.
If I remember correctly, this was the first time that scoundrel stood in the imperial court and said, in the name of "Imperial Son-in-Law and Duke of Ying," that he had "something to report."
Previous cases like the "progressive tax system" and those messy big cases were all dealt with by this scoundrel who just wrote a random memorial to appease the public.
Emperor Zhu unconsciously sat up straight and said in a deep voice, "Speak up."
Yang Shaofeng bowed to Emperor Zhu again and said, "Your Majesty, I request that you formally abolish the poll tax and the corvée labor service."
As Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, the entire Great Ming court fell into an eerily quiet silence.
Pay attention! The "poll tax" and "pollen tax" refer to the "head tax," which is basically linked to land tax, but does not completely represent land tax.
Many people believe that it was the implementation of the land tax reform that abolished the "head tax" that had been levied for over two thousand years. However, this statement is completely wrong.
During the Han Dynasty, the official name for the poll tax was "suanfu" or "koufu". The suanfu was levied on people aged 15 to 56, both men and women, and each person had to pay 120 coins per year, which is what historical records refer to as "120 coins per person".
In addition, merchants and servants were subject to "double taxation," meaning they were charged twice the poll tax, amounting to 240 coins.
The poll tax was levied on people aged seven to fourteen, regardless of gender, and each person had to pay twenty coins per year.
Emperor Wu of Han once lowered the age of conscription to three and increased the tax quota from twenty coins to twenty-three coins, but Emperor Yuan of Han restored it to seven years old.
The phrases "two calculations, three calculations, five calculations" often seen in some history books or novels about the Han Dynasty actually refer to several times the poll tax.
During the Tang Dynasty, the system of rent, labor service, and taxation began to be implemented. Rent refers to land tax, labor service refers to corvée labor, and taxation refers to poll tax.
It is important to note that the rent-labor-tax system was based on the "equal-field system." When land consolidation intensified and began to undermine the foundation of the "equal-field system," the rent-labor-tax system became unsustainable.
Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang, another model was added, namely "no distinction between middle and old age, but based on wealth." This means that in the original Tang Dynasty, sixteen years old was considered middle age and twenty-one years old was considered old age. Old age paid the full poll tax, while middle age paid a portion. "No distinction between middle and old age" means that the distinction was no longer based on age, but on wealth. That is, the rich had to pay more and the poor had to pay less.
During the Song Dynasty, the practice of counting heads began again.
To put it simply, every dynasty in its early stages faced the problem of a declining population and a large amount of idle land, making it more suitable to tax based on the number of people, that is, by counting heads.
In the middle and later stages of a dynasty, the problem of land annexation would become increasingly serious. At this point, levying a poll tax based on the number of people would be tantamount to forcing landless tenant farmers to their deaths. Therefore, the poll tax had to be linked to the number of acres of land.
The so-called "equalization of land tax and corvée labor" was actually a complete conversion of the monetary corvée labor system in Wang Anshi's "Labor Tax Law" into the number of acreage. Corvée labor was no longer linked to the number of people and had nothing to do with the so-called poll tax.
As an aside, Professor Xue Liyu of the Center for Historical Geography Research at Fudan University pointed out in his "A Study on the Origin and Development of the Dingyin in the Ming Dynasty" that "during the Ming Dynasty, there was corvée labor but no Dingyin." It was not until the mid-Ming period that corvée labor was converted into silver, with part of it allocated to land and part of it allocated according to the number of males, which led to the emergence of "Dingyin".
In other words, Lao Deng was unaware of the existence of the poll tax at this time, or he simply had no intention of collecting any poll tax. Later, the "Single Whip Law" implemented by Gui E during the Jiajing period and Zhang Juzheng during the Wanli period actually consolidated the land tax, corvée labor and other miscellaneous levies of various prefectures and counties into one, collected in silver, and paid in cash based on the amount per mu.
Yang Shaofeng specifically proposed that Lao Deng formally abolish the poll tax, the poll tax, and the corvée labor. On the one hand, this was to annoy Lao Deng and avenge his own betrayal, and on the other hand, he also wanted to take the opportunity to promote the reform of the tax system.
The Zhu Emperor was nearly driven mad with anger.
Can anyone tell me what the hell this is all about?
So what if they didn't tell you beforehand and just sold you out to the cabinet?
Besides, didn't we tell you anything?
If I remember correctly, I should have told you two years ago that if you dare to mess around with Biao'er and the others again and run off to lead troops into battle at the drop of a hat, I would tie you to the court and make you do whatever I want.
Now look what's happened! We haven't even tied you to the court yet; we've only temporarily transferred you to the cabinet, and you've already come up with this trick to annoy us.
The more Emperor Zhu thought about it, the angrier he became. He was about to turn on Yang Shaofeng and start cursing when he noticed the expectant look in Yang Shaofeng's eyes.
not good!
That bastard is setting a trap for us again!
If we scold him, he'll definitely come up with another legitimate reason and then run to our sister to complain.
It just so happens that our daughter is pregnant again right now. If we scold this bastard, won't our sister send us to another palace?
Emperor Zhu became wary, but quickly calmed down.
Then, Emperor Zhu also realized that something was wrong.
Have we ever collected poll taxes like poll taxes or head taxes?
No, we frequently reduce or exempt taxes and corvée labor, doing everything we can to put the phrase "light taxes and levies" into practice and find ways to allow the people to rest and recuperate.
Why did this bastard specifically propose the complete abolition of poll tax and corvée labor?
Emperor Zhu gently tapped the armrest of the dragon throne, and after a long silence, he spoke: "Granted. The Crown Prince shall draft an edict that, starting from the first day of the first month of the eighth year of Hongwu, our Great Ming shall officially abolish all forms of poll tax, including the poll tax and the head tax, and at the same time officially abolish corvée labor. Except for criminals who are exiled to hard labor, local governments shall no longer force the people to perform corvée labor."
I've figured it out!
We can waive the poll tax, but we need to let the people know that we are the ones who abolished it.
We can completely abolish corvée labor, but we must also let the people know that we have completely abolished it.
As Emperor Zhu finished speaking, the already silent court became even more eerie.
The cabinet, headed by Li Shanchang, and the Ministry of Revenue, headed by Yang Siyi, along with a host of other officials, all glared angrily at Yang Shaofeng.