In ancient China, taxes were rarely collected for public service. () Taxation is the accumulation of wealth for the purpose of rule. The suffering of the people and the improvement of society are rarely concerned. The social and public affairs and people's livelihood and welfare undertaken by the modern government are not within the scope of its consideration.

Almost all of the dynasty's financial revenue was used to support the royal family, raise soldiers, and raise officials. Even so, whenever there is a stir, there will be a "shortage of national use". The solution is also very simple, that is, to add factions. Every increase in distribution is a carnival of income increase for officials at all levels, and a disaster for the ordinary people below.

In Lingao, although the Ming government has to obtain more than 7,000 stone of grain from here every year, it is difficult to see what the people pay every year about what these imperial grain taxes have brought to this county, for 200 years, the government has presided over the construction of only one water conservancy project, and the Wenshui Bridge is about a practical project run by the government, but it is only this one for more than 200 years.

The people fed the government. Except for the most basic "rough peace" of stealing a living, this government has not brought any benefits to the people of Lingao. disaster relief, kao has to be the "righteous warehouse" of the people; The royal bandits want the people to go into battle and be brave in the countryside. Although one-third of the more than 7,000 stone of grain each year is directly used for the "assistance" of the garrison on Hainan Island, when the land bandits and sea bandits were raging, the common people could not count on these officers and soldiers they had fed to come out and "suppress the bandits."

In order to win the trust of the people, it is necessary to break this thousand-year-old model and establish a truly modern national system. The common people may be ignorant, but they are absolutely not stupid in their own interests. They can see who is really working for them and working for their welfare.

The meeting began first and foremost by the county. of the county Cheng spoke. It was the first time Wu Ya had encountered such a scene: he only had the experience of trying a case in the public court, that is, the original defendant knelt down and did not dare to look at him, at most there were some idlers watching the excitement outside the door. Now he sits side by side with a group of "thieves", and there are hundreds of local characters watching him below.

Fortunately, the speech has been helped by Wang Zhaomin. Once it's written, just read it along. This innocuous statement has been reviewed by the traversal to ensure that it does not contain conspiracy.

Regarding the content of the speech, the two sides have a . bargaining, the crossing party naturally hoped that the support of the Lingao County Government for them would be "clear-cut", while the Wu County Order hoped that the words would be vague and vague, the better. So Wang Zhaomin's manuscript was decided after a day of discussion between the main writers of the two sides, and on the whole, everyone was satisfied.

Wu Ya didn't want to come to read the manuscript, but Mrs. Wu naturally didn't want to be there. On such an occasion, so as not to have a word of procrastination in the future, so the ghost for the dead became Wu County, Wu Ya originally planned to crush people to death at the first level of the official and let the history of the code to be his substitute ghost, but was sternly rejected by the "thief" - the county is also the second in command in the county, and the persuasiveness is much stronger than the position of a half-official and half-official like the history in the hearts of the people.

was persecuted, but Wu Ya was able to act as the county representative of the meeting. A red envelope of eighty taels of silver given to him by the crossing party soothed his wounded heart a little.

In Wu County, Cheng talked about the serious situation faced by the county. After the importance and necessity of holding a regimental training joint defense, it was announced that the county government agreed to the joint defense of Lingao County, which was initiated by Damei Village. The name of the group training company is "Bairen Society". The government issued relevant documents to the Bairen Society, authorizing it to organize, train, and direct the work of regimental training.

Bairen Society is at the east gate. The city set up a "public office" as an office for group training. At the same time, it can collect funds for group training, grain and grass from the villages that have joined the society.

The president of the Bairen Society. Naturally, it's Wude. Although he was not a military leader, the leaders of the Tuanlian Society were generally local gentry who specialized in dealing with the government and villages, and as the new People's Commissar of Civil Affairs, it was more appropriate for him to take up the post of this government. And through this position, he can be recognized by local leaders so that they can carry out their work in the future.

Wude was not wearing a training uniform, and in fact all the traversers present at the meeting today were dressed more formally than usual. Of course, this formal is not a suit and leather shoes and tie, but no longer wears the usual colorful training uniforms. He was wearing a Type 87 blue naval officer's spring and autumn uniform without a collar badge today. It looks solemn.

Wu De's speech was conducted in Mandarin, and Xiong Buyou led several people to interpret simultaneously, including Lingao, Hainanese, and Hokkien.

Under the correct guidance of Emperor Chongzhen, the care of officials at all levels of the Lingao County Government, and with the support of the gentry and the people of the county, the Bairen Society will unswervingly continue to uphold the tenet of "shoveling the strong and helping the weak, protecting the territory and the people", and make new contributions to the stability and prosperity of Lingao County and the creation of a harmonious society in the Ming Dynasty.

The only drawback is that when Wu De talked about Emperor Chongzhen, Wu Ya and others on the rostrum immediately stood up and shouted "Long live the emperor", and the representatives from all walks of life below also fell to their knees.

After saying this Wei Guangzheng cliché, the meeting entered the main topic: the distribution of grain and the dispatch of errands.

The newly appointed People's Commissar of Civil Affairs, Wu De, took a cautious attitude towards this matter, because after all, the distribution of grain and errands was a complicated and meticulous task, and the traverser had no authority of the regime and no detailed information, but only the deterrence of force. According to their consistent experience, any such burden often falls on the people at the bottom of society. At present, they are powerless to change the social structure, and the only way is to keep the distribution of food within a sustainable range and avoid excessive coercion.

Therefore, the grain and difference imposed on the heads of the people of Lingao by this crossing group was named "reasonable burden".

The "reasonable burden" scheme is to levy on a village-by-village basis. Each village reports what it can afford.

The reason for the self-report is that the travelers do not have time to do a complete survey of the land and harvest situation in the whole county, and it is difficult to control the burden very precisely. Although it is not too difficult to obtain the data of the tax collection of each village from the county government, this kind of book is not very accurate, and even full of errors. The reason why the officials regarded it as a treasure was only because it was the only evidence for the collection of grain. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the land concealment was quite serious, and the Yulin Book did not reflect the actual production level of each village at all. The use of such data in this booklet would only increase the already unreasonable tax burden......

Although there are also travelers who believe that there is a problem of shrinking the self-reporting of each village. But Ude pointed out that even if there is a reduction in concealment, it is better than using a fish book. First, each village has a clear idea of its actual output, and the reported figures will not at least exceed the level they can afford; Second, with the authority they now possess and the legend of "mastering the power of ghosts and gods", the self-reported figures of each village will not be too low - they dare not fool the traversers, and if such a situation really occurs, they can make an example of each one at that time. Third, Wu De believes that such an approach embodies the spirit of equal consultation and is conducive to winning the hearts and minds of the people.

Sure enough, as soon as this method was announced, the villages breathed a sigh of relief. Originally, they were afraid that there would be a lion opening their mouths across the group, but now they can report their own "pledges".

Everyone understands this pledge, and whenever the government has something important to do, it will routinely have to have things like "pledge" and "happy to lose". This is easier to talk about than the imperial grain and national tax, plus spending some money to bribe the errand servant who is in charge, and you can also bargain.

"Everyone reports the numbers according to the actual situation of their own village and does what they can." Wu De said with a pleasant face.

The meeting hall was full of people, and the representatives of the villages, who had only prepared to accept a number and go back, now reported themselves, and some people in the villages felt that they could not make the decision--after all, once the number was reported, it was a law. It's not appropriate to report too much or too little.

As soon as Huang Yukun saw that this was an opportunity, he deliberately said: "This is a major event in the village, it is inconvenient for us to make decisions ourselves, so it is better to go back and discuss it." ”

When the people around heard this, they all felt justified, so some people stood up and asked to go back and discuss with the elders in the village before coming back to tell them. Many people also chimed in.

That's good, Huang Yukun thought to himself, so many villages, far and near, it will take at least four or five days to come and go, and it will definitely take a few days to fight in the village, and then the meeting will be at least half a month later.

Wu De had already prepared for this situation, so he asked each village to make a count first, so that he could decide on the spot how much was "reasonably burdened" and how much needed to be discussed later. Submit the list.

According to statistics, there are about 80 villages that can decide on the spot, and the other 200 or so can go back and discuss.

"If you can decide on the spot, you will report the numbers in a moment," Wu De announced, "and if you want to go back to discuss, you will go back to discuss it after the meeting is over, and report the numbers to the public office before February 15." ”

As a result, Huang Yukun's hope that he would break up first was completely shattered. The meeting continued.

After deciding on the "reasonable burden", Wu De announced the content of the dispatch.

The problem of dispatching is far more difficult than "reasonable burden". There is no shortage of land in Lingao, but there is a shortage of labor. Although immigrants from the mainland enter the county every year, they think that the problem of water and soil adaptation is very high. For small households, labor is equivalent to the guarantee of the survival of the family, and large families, with labor force, can obtain more wealth, so even if there are many long-term workers, slaves and tenants, they are not willing to send people to work.