"These are the work of the Imperial Property Bureau, please listen to the appendix to this article." Changsun Chong patiently explained: "The so-called public grain is relative to taxes. Taxes are equal to ground rent. His Majesty shepherds all the people, and has given everyone a ration field that does not need to pay taxes, and guarantees everyone's rations, so that any additional fields will naturally have to be taxed, and the harvest is one percent, which is already a very low rent. At the behest of my mentor, I personally led my colleagues from the Imperial Property Bureau, that is, my classmates, to visit the villages near Chang'an City, and learned that private tenants rent landlords' land for cultivation and have to pay 5 to 70 percent of the harvest as rent every year. ”

Wei Zheng frowned and interrupted: "Hugh wants to be alarmist, seventy percent rent, how is it possible?" ”

The eldest grandson Chong Zhengse said: "It's not a lie, even the land of some of the seniors present is rented out by seventy percent. He swept his gaze, and many people avoided his gaze, and Changsun Chong smiled and said, "I won't give specific examples here, just talk about the results." Taking ordinary corn as an example, the land near Chang'an City, the average yield per mu is 1003 catties, and the tenants cultivate 20 acres of land a year, and the income is only 600 catties of corn. ”

The eldest grandson Chong looked at Wei Zheng and also at Li Shimin, and said, "This is the real life of the people near Chang'an City. Chang'an City is the capital of the Tang Dynasty, and the people near Chang'an City are like this, and what other places are like, Your Majesty and the princes should be able to imagine. ”

Li Shimin really heard about such a thing for the first time, and frowned: "Is this a common practice?" Seventy percent? ”

The eldest grandson shook his head and said: "Seventy percent of the fields, most of them are first-class good land, and if you ask for seventy percent, the people can barely make ends meet." On average, the vicinity of Chang'an City is roughly fifty and a half, that is, about half of the harvested grain must be handed over. ”

Li Shimin sighed: "That's a lot." ”

The teacher described this as: Zhumen wine and meat stink, and there are frozen bones on the road. The wine and meat of Zhumen were obtained by depriving the people of their rations. The teacher said that because of this, when he earned the money of 'Zhumen', he never felt guilty at all. ”

Baiguan chewed on this poem, some people were complacent and didn't care, but some people showed a look of shame, they knew that the Zhumen in Li Mu's mouth was just them.

"The teacher set the tax at 10% of the income, which is much less than the rent of more than 50%. For the people, a good year is not worth mentioning, and a disaster year may also be taken out, which will not pose too much pressure. For example, if the yield of corn per mu near Chang'an City is 1003 catties, it will be determined that 100 catties is the standard for tax collection, and 10 catties is 10 catties, that is, 10 catties of corn is collected as a tax for one mu. Sowing grain and reaping grain, planting millet and reaping millet, judging by the number of grains, not by the value of the grain. ”

"Public grain is another great initiative of the teacher." The eldest grandson Chong sighed again, and said: "The teacher felt that at the beginning of the year, the grain merchants in Shandong acted recklessly, for the sake of His Majesty and the society, and decided that the control of grain prices could no longer be put in the hands of grain merchants. Because businessmen pursue profit and forget their righteousness, grain is the foundation of the country, and the policy of the country must be in the hands of the imperial court. After thinking hard all night, the teacher finally came up with this solution. ”

Wei Zheng couldn't help but say: "Eldest Sun Chong, you can talk about things when you say things, can you boast about your teacher again without three sentences, it's annoying." ”

Many people nodded in agreement, and the eldest grandson Chong stopped, stared at Wei Zheng, was silent for a moment, and shot back unceremoniously: "Duke Wei can only question, and the appearance of being helpless is also annoying." The teacher is a genius and has come up with a lot of good governance, so what's wrong with a few words of praise? ”

Seeing that he was about to quarrel again, Li Shimin interrupted: "Eldest Sun Chong, let's get down to business, talk about irrelevant topics, let's talk about retreating from the dynasty." ”

"Your Majesty forgives your sins, and the minister knows that he is wrong." Changsun Chong no longer looked at Wei Zheng and continued: "The teacher's method is to set up regular positions in various places. The main component of the regular closing position is to collect local taxes, which is the one percent just mentioned. Then there is the public grain, and the public grain is not taken by force. Instead, by calculating the grain production and value of the entire territory of Datang, a reasonable purchase price is given. Use this purchase price to buy the people's grain. ”

"There are too many benefits, for example, if there is a catastrophe in a certain place, if in the past, it is necessary to mobilize food everywhere, and the grain chamber will make a hindrance and hoard it. With Chang Ping, the imperial court could quickly mobilize grain. For example, if a certain place is flooded and a certain person's crops are gone, Chang Ping can lend him grain and seeds, and return them with a good harvest in the next year. Moreover, with the purchase price set by the government, grain sellers cannot deceive the people when they resell the people's grain, because the price given by Chang Ping is not higher, and if it is lower than this price, the people will not sell. ”

"In places where the land is fertile and the harvest is high, the rich grain that is often closed every year can be transferred to the places that are not rich, and the ability of the imperial court to regulate and control grain prices will be greatly improved, and in the event of a disaster year, the hoarding of black-hearted grain merchants will also be greatly reduced."

Li Shimin nodded slowly and said, "This plan is wonderful, Li Mu is really thoughtful, I can't think of any omissions, I think it's feasible." ”

"Wait!" Wei Zheng was still unwilling, and said: "What's the matter with renting land and contracting land? Why is it more taxable to contract land than to rent land? ”

Eldest Sun Chong looked at Wei Zheng like a fool and said, "Don't you understand Duke Wei? Because taking advantage should be done in moderation! ”

"What do you mean!"

"The land is divided into three categories, the ration field is not taxed, and the rented land is only 10%, where can such good things be found? If they are all taxed, what is the difference between them and confiscation? Therefore, the teacher limited the first two categories, the ration field to ensure the rations, one person ten acres of land without taxes how to eat, rented land for each person forty acres, one percent of the tax, life can also be improved, although only fifty acres, but compared with the previous twenty-year-old male can get twenty acres of Yongye field, the income from eighty acres of land is much more according to each family. In fact, this is all a concession from the imperial court, so that the people's lives are better. But there is a limit to everything, the imperial court has given the people rations and improved their lives, is it still the responsibility to make every common man a landlord? Therefore, if you grant another ten acres of land, plus forty acres of land at a very low rent, if you want to get more land and make money from farming, you must pay more taxes and public grain, what is the problem with this? ”