"Of course he is a local scholar..."

Zhao Jiu was so angry that he laughed instead, but he opened the document in his hand with a smile, flipped it to a place, pinched out a piece of paper, and then asked again:

"Let's not talk about the family property and you can't find out. I want to ask you, why is there a clip at the back of this document, saying that a certain person in Xuancheng is lawless and harasses the people...Did I let you go to Xuancheng?"

"I am ashamed. It was the Xuancheng scholars who heard that I was in Ningguo and ran to speak..." Fan Zongyin breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly explained.

"So, I asked you to go on a private visit, but you couldn't help but reveal your identity?" Zhao Jiu laughed harder and harder, obviously extremely angry.

Fan Zongyin completely lost his voice.

Zhao Jiu turned around and looked around. The smile and anger on his face were gone for a moment, but he was expressionless and asked coldly: "Who else has their identity exposed?"

The other people looked at each other in confusion, and then Lu Benzhong, who had just made a big splash, carefully took a step forward and bowed in salute.

Zhao Jiu was not surprised at all. He just turned around to look at Liu Yan who was chasing him and said, "Bring over Academician Lu's Gucheng Town report..."

Liu Yan did not dare to neglect, so he hurriedly turned back, then hurriedly came out and presented Lu Benzhong's report.

Zhao Jiu opened it and saw a few landlords in front of him, and the fields were quite clear. But when he turned over and saw a few other pages, he caught a glimpse of one of the items, and felt a surge of anger rushing to his forehead... It took him a long time to bear it.

Stop, then gnash your teeth:

"Lu Benzhong!"

"I'm here." Lu Ben was frightened in the center, and the others also shuddered.

Among them, Zong Ying experienced this kind of thing for the first time, and he almost lost his composure and made an apology, but Ren Baozhong still had quick eyesight and quick hands to catch him.

"Let me ask you, how many bridges and ferries are there under the jurisdiction of Gucheng Town on the shores of Gucheng Lake?" Of course, Zhao Jiu didn't pay attention to the small movements over there, but seriously asked Lu Benzhong in front of him.

"Four ferries and four bridges." Lu Benzhong blurted out. "I personally counted them."

"Then why don't you write clearly, four ferries and four bridges?" Zhao Jiu felt that he was holding a breath in his heart, almost suffocating him to death. "And what do you write as 'small bridges crossing at seven or eight places'?"

Lu Benzhong did not dare to speak at all.

"Also." Zhao Jiu laughed angrily again. "Why is it written below, 'I walked out in the autumn wind on a moonlit night and walked to the small bridge by Gucheng Lake. I climbed on the bridge and looked at the light and shadow in the lake. Although it was not as good as the two

Fourteen bridges on a moonlit night, but they have a different flavor... You go to several bridges and still think about the twenty-four bridges in Yangzhou on a moonlit night, who do you want to play the flute for you?"

Not only Lu Benzhong, but also the entire side courtyard was quiet except for the sound of the autumn wind shaking the trees.

"That's it!" Zhao Jiu was so angry that he didn't bother to think about it. "I have thought about this situation before, but if the rest of the people are as romantic as these two internal controls, I will waste a month this time.

Got it!"

After saying that, the official turned around and went back to continue looking. However, when he reached the door of the side courtyard, he frowned and looked back: "Lu Benzhong, since your identity has been exposed and you have been 'going out in the autumn wind' all day and night.

Then who are the largest landowners in front of them, how many fields they have, how much taxes they pay, how many shops they have, and how they operate, but how can they be so precise...Who are you asking?"

"I'm asking about the monk." Lu Benzhong quickly explained. "There is Mingquan Temple on the bank of Gucheng Lake... I just revealed my identity to the monks in the temple and asked them to help me investigate."

Zhao Jiu's face softened a little... This is actually a method, even a very good method. The monks have a great advantage in conducting local investigations. It's no wonder that in addition to these messy words, Lu Benzhong's investigation in many places is still...

good.

However, just as Zhao Guanjia was about to nod and turn around, he remembered something again, and then asked seriously: "What about the Mingquan Temple itself? How much land is there? Have you participated in local business? How many monks are there? How many monk rooms?"

Lu Benzhong opened his mouth to speak, but was speechless.

An inch south of the Yangtze River, Zhao Guan's family just raised their heads and sighed when they saw this, but finally turned around and went back, leaving the entire courtyard uneasy.

Of course, their uneasiness was actually over-concerned. Just as the official Zhao family would not really let Li Gang suffer a bad end, it was impossible for the official family to really punish these close ministers for this matter.

After all, Zhao Jiu knew very well that in these days, it was nonsense to expect these people to come up with the "Xunwu Investigation". As for those in the side yard, including Yang Yizhong and Ren Baozhong, no one could personally follow it.

It is good enough for them to talk to farmers and ask scholars, monks and Taoists, and then they can do this.

Zhao Jiu himself was also mentally prepared.

Besides, Zhao Jiu is not qualified to punish these people for this. Not to mention anything else, he has been living in Yangzhou all day long, eating, drinking and having fun. How has he ever conducted an investigation on his own?

It's nothing more than showing off one's official prestige, assigning tasks to others, and then making a form and forcing them to fill it out...Throughout the ages, these are the only ways to avoid being a good boss.

To put it more bluntly, as an emperor, Zhao Jiu had no way of finding out the truth personally. If he couldn't trust these people, no one could trust him.

As for the evil fire he just had, it was essentially caused by his anger with Li Gang, and these reports are actually not that absurd...many things, many problems, can be reflected in the words.

What's more, as an ordinary college student who has experienced nine years of compulsory education, Zhao Jiu roughly knew the root of the problem from the beginning. Therefore, instead of looking for the problem based on the report, it is better to look for the corresponding evidence in the report:

Fan Zongyin mentioned that the evil custom of infanticide is widespread not only in Fujian, but also in the entire southeast;

As mentioned in Lu Benzhong, the proliferation of obscene cults along rivers and lakes, and the resurgence of the vegetable-eating demon sect in local areas;

Mei Qu mentioned the general integration of wealthy businessmen and landlords, temples and landlords;

As Yu Yunwen mentioned, the customs of cremation and water burial are common in the countryside;

As Yang Yizhong mentioned, from scholar-bureaucrats to the general public, there was strong dissatisfaction with Lu Yihao, Zhao Ding, and Zhang Jun in power;

Zong Ying mentioned that some rural people abandoned the wilderness and moved into the city;

Of course, it is inevitable for everyone to mention that super large landowners who charge rents of more than 500 dan are common in the towns and rural areas of the Southeast, and the burden on the people of the Southeast is indeed extremely heavy.

For three days in a row, Zhao Jiu stayed in the courtyard of the state government, neither attending any banquets nor reconciling with Li Gang. He just continued to study the report and summon, inquire and discuss with relevant ministers.

And three days later, Zhao Jiu finally erased those superficial things and brought the problem into the core issue of southeastern taxation... This is of course, not only Zhao Jiu has seen it from history books.

It is not an answer, but that all social problems will eventually be classified into this basic question.

It’s really everything, including infanticide, the proliferation of obscene rituals, the intrusion of the Vegetarian Demon Cult, the ubiquity of landlords, the popularity of water burials and cremations, and in the end, it’s all about the issues of land, population, and taxes.

Therefore, three days later, after reading the reports, Zhao Guanjia completely threw away these reports and re-listed a few words in his summary notes:

One, the rental system;

Both, the two tax laws;

Three, not limited to merger;

The fourth one is Tianpi Tiangu;

Fifth, Ding Shen Qian;

Sixth, labor.

Among them, the meaning of the zuyong system is very simple. Ren means land rent, and yong means that when people need to perform corvee service, they can complete their corvee obligations by handing over silk and silk.

This is China's basic tax system that has been widely implemented for the lower class people since the Tang Dynasty. It certainly has many problems, but its progressive significance is unquestionable...especially the 'yong', which is avoided by crossing silk and silk.

Performing basic corvées allows people to produce with peace of mind, without having to worry about delaying the busy work of farming, and their enthusiasm for production is also greatly improved.

Therefore, no matter how many problems there are in the rental system, they cannot offset his enthusiasm.

Next came the Two Taxes Law, which was also a reform result of the Tang Dynasty and was also a good policy.

When talking about the Two Taxes Law, we need to first understand a concept, that is, in the feudal era, the common people of any country had no ability to resist when facing the government. Every time those government officials came down to come into contact with the common people, they would cause great harm.

Destruction... Even if they are here to implement good governance, they will cause harm every time they come into contact with them.

Are you here to collect taxes and grain? Don't you want to extort money? Don't you want to kill a chicken for entertainment? Don't you want to fall in love with your beautiful daughter? The local scoundrels who have connections with the government will not take the opportunity to annex those acres of your family.

Good for a vegetable garden?

As for the Two Tax Law, to put it bluntly, all taxes are calculated in a unified manner. Collection work is only conducted once in summer and autumn each year. This greatly reduces the degree of harassment of ordinary people by official officials, and can also allocate production materials on an annual basis.

There is no need to be nervous every day and every month.

So, of course it is good governance.

As for Zhao Jiu himself, who used temples and merchants to engage in youth loans on behalf of the government, he essentially had a similar idea... No matter how good the idea is, if it is implemented by officials and the government who hold power, it will quickly turn into bad governance. This is not the case in feudalism.

There are no surprises in the times... Although monks and wealthy businessmen can also ruin the situation, they are still much better than the feudal government.

Even, according to Taira Kiyomori of the Red Heart Team, there was a similar system in Japan hundreds of years ago, which was to lend money to the common people during the lean years... What was the result? The result was that the dignitaries took the opportunity to force the common people to collect the loans, and then used the interest to make money.

Areas were plundered and annexed. As a result, the land grant system with Japanese characteristics was destroyed, the manor economy completely emerged, and the samurai class was born.

So, if the rent-for-profit system and the two-tax law are basic good policies that have stood the test of time and must be adhered to, the remaining four are the real problems.

Article 3 Needless to say... The Song Dynasty allowed mergers and acquisitions, and mergers were legal and compliant.

Article 4, that is, the issue of farm skin and farm bones, is the vicious boycott taken by the big landowners in order to evade this tax after the imperial court announced an additional tax on land last year.

To put it simply, the landlord actually annexed the land of the surrounding people and collected the rent. However, in order to pay less tax, he used the contract to nominally leave the land with the people, thus depriving the court of the money he should have borne.

Taxes were transferred to tenant farmers.

Article 5: Needless to say, the Ding family tax is the population tax. No matter how much land your family has, you will have to pay it if you are an adult.

Sixth, it is another disguised form of population tax... Of course, most of the service can be dispensed with under the levy system, but the service itself is converted into a tax on silk. In other words, labor service still exists, and it is just a tax.

.

And what is the basis for labor service? Or Dingkou.

What's more, in addition to traditional labor, there are always other types of labor that must be done by people... such as the infamous Yaqian Lizheng system in the Song Dynasty.

Yaqian asks you to take care of public property, but in fact, the public property is not emptied by the officials? Therefore, Yaqian is reduced to an act of robbery that actually forces the people to replenish the official property.

Li Zheng is similar to Li Zheng. For the convenience of collecting taxes, Li Zheng designates a household as Li Zheng and acts as a kind of tax collector.

However, when big families become tax collectors, they can take advantage of the opportunity to rob them. Ordinary people take this job, but they dare not go to the real powerful families to collect taxes. What's more, there are also poor people who really cannot afford to pay taxes. As a result, they become liars.
To be continued...