C189

"gokuda, I want your life!"

An intense clanging sound of metal clashing sounded out, no one expected that the old Ge Wulu would actually block gokuda's deadly slash. The ecstatic Ge Wulu straightened his blade and rushed forward, wanting to slash gokuda into pieces.

However, Ge Wulu had forgotten his age, and thus did not have enough strength. gokuda took the chance to slash down his flying blade before he could. With a clear sound of the sharp blade slicing open's chest, gokuda's scimitar easily cut open Ge Wulu's chest. Dark red blood dripped from the cold blade and dripped onto the floor.

"Father …"

Ge Wuka who was fighting desperately suddenly saw Ge Wulu fall, he angrily cut a fresh knight in half and rushed towards him.

"Die!"

The two of them roared at the same time, the gokuda revealed a sinister look, the scimitar in his hand flew out once again to slash at Ge Wuka's throat, at the vital parts of him. Facing the scimitar that was flying towards him, Ge Wuka's eyes flashed with an undetectable fierceness, and actually turned a blind eye to everything, as the scimitar in his hand chopped towards gokuda.

Amongst Yang Lin's Big Account, the huge wick was burning intensely inside the oil lamp, and the entire Big Account was burning as bright as day. Xun Yu, Xun You, Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue, Xin Ping, Xin Pi and the rest were seated on the two sides. Everyone's expression was very serious, with two eyes staring straight at Yang Lin, listening to him talk about a very important problem.

"Military Advisors, due to our arrival, the price of food in Youzhou has been rising rapidly. If we do not solve the food problem, our million plus Wasteland soldier will probably go hungry and cause chaos. So the reason we have invited everyone here today is to discuss how to stabilize the price of food and how to guarantee our supply of food. "

"Lord General."

Just as Yang Lin finished speaking, Kuai Liang stood up and walked to the center of the tent. As Yang Lin had arranged for Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue to take charge of the Youzhou's government affairs, they quickly understood the situation in the Youzhou.

"Lord General, no matter where the yellow cloth army captive was, they robbed a large amount of food and money. In addition to the food that the Lord General requested from the various provinces and counties, it was completely sufficient to meet the needs of the Wasteland soldier for one year. Until now, Wasteland soldier did not buy any food on the streets, so the reason why the prices of the food on the streets have risen is because someone wants to use the Wasteland soldier as an excuse to earn some dark money. "

"Due to this year's chaos due to the Yellow Scarf, many counties and counties in Youzhou failed to collect land taxes as scheduled, causing the grain warehouses of counties and counties to be empty. Thus, the various counties and counties in Youzhou, as well as their officials, soldiers and soldiers, became the main buyers of grain without food. "We will immediately collect grain from the fields. Once the county and county officials have grain in their warehouses, the prices will also stabilize."

Kuai Liang's intention was very clear. If this year's land was taxed, officials, soldiers from all counties and counties would not need to buy food. If there were only citizens left to buy food, their ability to consume would be limited and the price of food in the market would not be able to rise.

"But Lord General, the citizens of Youzhou suffered from chaos in the first half of the year and were robbed by the Urushion and the fresh inferior in the second half of the year. It was indeed hard to imagine how miserable it was to eat until they were full. "Therefore, I suggest that we collect 20% of the harvest this year according to the standard set by the imperial government."

Yang Lin nodded, and let Kuai Liang sit down. He had also heard Jiang Li talking about how the small farmers only had a small plot of land each. Not only was their production low, half of the land was just for rotation and it was just to fill their stomachs.

The farmland is the land of the court, and they are the main source of tax. Initially, the imperial government was only able to collect twenty percent of the bounty, but in the hands of the commoners, the government officials of various levels of government were generally charged thirty to forty percent, and some of them even got as much as sixty percent of the bounty.

"I agree with Mr. Kuai Liang, but I would like to adjust the method of collection. For families with land under 10,000 mu, we will collect 20% of the land and 40% of the land between 10,000 mu and 20,000 mu, and 60% of the land between 20,000 mu and 30,000 mu, and 80% of the land above 30,000 mu. "

"Ah …"

All the strategists were shocked as they had never heard of such a method of expropriation. However, they quickly understood what Yang Lin meant was that Yang Lin wanted to restrict the Wealthy Class and Scholars. However, they felt that Yang Lin's idea would not work. Kuai Yue stood up immediately and walked to the center of the tent with quick steps, as he said excitedly.

"Lord General, have you thought about it? The large family all had several wives and even more sons. As soon as your plan is made public, they will surely put the land in the hands of their son. When the time comes, each family's land will be less than ten thousand mu, so wouldn't we only be able to receive twenty percent of the total grains? "

Without waiting for Kuai Yue to finish speaking, Kuai Liang also stood up. Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue were the two brothers from the Wealthy Class in Jing Prefecture, so Yang Lin's policies were undoubtedly stepping on their tails. Kuai Liang cupped his hands at Yang Lin and said somewhat impulsively.

"Lord General, Squire, and Scholars are the pillars of the Imperial Court, the stabilizing force of the United Nations. Since they had pacified the rebellion, Lord General should have known how powerful their forces were. Lord General collects taxes like that, aren't you afraid of offending the nobles and the Scholars? "

"Haha …"

Yang Lin laughed and waved them to sit down. Yang Lin knew that many of Youzhou's Wealthy Classes and Scholars's people were in the imperial government. If they were not dealt with properly, it would cause a reaction from them. Yang Lin organized his thoughts and slowly explained his plan.

"If it was just to collect the land tax, this method of collection would definitely not work. As long as those Wealthy Classes and Scholars give their lands to their own descendants, we can only receive twenty percent of the food and have offended all the Wealthy Classes and Scholars in the world. "

"Military Advisors also knows that the world is filled with refugees and bandits. One of the biggest reasons is that the local officials were greedy for money and acted rashly, forcing the citizens into a dead end. As for the Wealthy Classes and Scholars, they colluded with the government, evaded taxes, and transferred the burden of the land tax to the commoners. Take the Youzhou as an example. Not only are these rich and powerful families trying to evade taxes, they are also controlling the price of food. "

"Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, Shang Ma, Sang Hongyang, Dong Zhongshu, and Wang Mang have all proposed suppressing the annexation of the lands belonging to the Wealthy Classes and Scholars. However, the results were limited, because the Wealthy Classes and Scholars were too powerful, and they could challenge the authority of the Imperial Court, causing the reform to come to an end."

"You can count on your fingers. In the current court, how many of the officials of the State County are from the Humble Class? Although the imperial government's selection system for officials is very perfect, which of the recommended officials are not from the Wealthy Class or the Scholars? "

"Whether we are willing or not, these gentry, landlords, Scholars, and wealthy families form the backbone of our society. Even if the commoners wanted to participate, they wouldn't have the ability to. At the same time, we should also see that the majority of the gentry, landlords, Scholars and wealthy families, educated, warm-hearted, virtuous, learned, just and fair, are the cornerstone of the stability of rural society. "

"Meng Zi once said that those who have eternal production will be able to remain true to their heart. Only a person with a lot of property can be responsible for what he does, because he is responsible for his property, for his family and for his reputation. "

"Thus, I am prepared to carry out two reforms in the Youzhou. First, the agricultural tax is subject to progressive tax rate. The more land a family has, the heavier the land tax, in order to limit the land size. Of course, we allow these Wealthy Classes and Scholars to set up their own sects, to ensure that each family's land does not exceed ten thousand mu. At the same time, an industrial and commercial tax is levied, which shall be 20% of the turnover of the business people. "

"Another reform is the establishment of the censor Palace in each county. Those who have families occupying a land area of more than 1000 mu are to pay more than 20% of their land taxes to the gentry, landlords, Scholars and wealthy families; those who engage in business and pay the equivalent amount of business tax to 1,000 mu of land; those officials and soldiers who have contributed to the country and to society, one person from each family may serve as the County Magistrate's History. Their duties were to supervise, appoint, evaluate, reward, punish, and dismiss the County and county officials. At the same time, they recommended filial piety and talent to the imperial government. Their method of work is to vote by secret ballot, with one person and one vote, and a majority of the votes will be passed. "

At this moment, all of the strategists were stunned. Although the imperial government had sent a County Magistrate's History to every county, those County Magistrate's History s often colluded with the taiwai, causing the system of the censor to exist. As for the County Magistrate's History Palace set up by the Lord General s, there were simply too many of them, so it would be difficult for them to collude with them even if they wanted to. Furthermore, with the voting system, colluding with a few people would be useless. The imperial land tax would be paid by the censor s themselves, would they still collude with the taiwai? If the taiwai embezzled money, it would be the censor's own money.

For ordinary people, paying a 20% land tax was their dream. They took small plots of land and ate on their own, and the higher the yield, the more money they made. Therefore, they have a high initiative in production, for the development of social economy, for the long-term stability of social order, for the development of cultural science and technology is of great significance.

However, self-farming is a small producer and its economic position is extremely unstable. They are often the object of extortion by usurers, who sell their fields and even their wives and children, and who are forced to abandon their lands to escape from the pressure of taxation and the heavy burden of cortege.

Yang Lin discovered an interesting phenomenon in the yellow cloth army captive. The vast majority of the generals and soldiers in the xanthopanax were farmers, and the soldiers and villager who suppressed the xanthopanax came from the squire and his farmers. Because they only paid rent to the landlords, and did not pay any taxes to the officials, even if there were any disasters, the landlords were the ones who did it, so the farmers were much less likely to escape.

In reality, when productivity is lagging behind, the best structure for rural stability should be the government - the landowner - the sharecropper. The government directly went to the landlords to collect the land tax, reducing the number of intermediate links. The main land is produced by hired workers or by leasing farmers. For the hired and sharecroppers, whoever paid the highest, or who rented the lowest, worked for them.

Just as everyone was still thinking about what Yang Lin had said, Xun Yu stood up. Ever since they followed Yang Lin, their Uncle and Nephew had always kept a low profile. Listening to Yang Lin's idea, he also felt that it was feasible, but he still had some questions.

"Lord General, although the system you design is very ideal, but the imperial government has always valued light merchants. Letting merchants be censors as well, isn't that just encouraging people to do business? "Then who else is willing to farm?"