"If you want to talk about the fiscal and tax distribution of the Qing Dynasty, it's a long talk." , Fei Qingzheng, the inland of the county government, told Xin Yan and Chen Jialuo why the county had to go to the gentry in the territory to persuade them to donate if they wanted to repair water conservancy, "During the Kangxi period, the annual income of the imperial court was about 30 million taels, of which the eight banners and green camp salaries in the provinces accounted for about 1,400 taels, accounting for more than 40 percent of the total imperial court, and the eight banners of the capital and Shengjing used more than 5 million taels of silver, and then 2.5 million taels of silver for the officials of the capital, miscellaneous silver, etc., and the remaining silver for the provinces to be retained for the laborers, post stations, river workers, etc., was only less than 8 million taels; In the Qianlong period, the annual income rose to more than 40 million taels, but the provinces retained it but did not rise but fell, the capital, Shengjing and the provinces spent no less than 25 million taels of soldiers' salaries and silver, if you add the eight banners to set up a raising soldier silver, Manchu and Han soldiers reward silver, and reward the banner soldiers with money and grain and silver, it will cost one million taels, and then count more than 4 million taels of silver added from the Yongzheng period to raise hundreds of civil and military officials, excluding the expenses of river work, procurement, weaving, and various yamen in the capital, and the provinces have only 6 million taels of silver left for post stations, sacrifices, and official service food. It is more than two million taels less than during the Kangxi period. This money sounds like a lot, but there are not a few left in each county, and you can barely survive on weekdays, and if you want to make a difference, you must be persuaded to donate. ”

Chen Jialuo roughly calculated that of the 40 million taels of revenue a year, military expenditure accounted for 25 million taels, a proportion as high as 62.5 percent, and even the expenditure on rice and rice, which dominated the world in later generations, accounted for less than 30 percent of the government's fiscal revenue. It is worth mentioning that most of the 25 million taels in our Qing Dynasty every year are just salaries, and the people of the United States spend so much military expenditure to wage wars all over the world to maintain their hegemony, and our Qing Dynasty mainly uses them to raise the waste of the Eight Banners and prevent domestic turmoil, and our Qing Dynasty's vigilance against the country can be seen.

Xin Yan saw that Chen Jialuo was a little dazed and then asked, "Senior Lu, then do you estimate how much silver we need to build the embankment this time, and how much silver can we get by persuading donations?" ”

Lu Feiqing shook his head, "I have also gone to the river with Mr. Dai, Mr. Gao, and Mr. Yang to see it these days, and we have all summed it up, if we want to survive this summer flood, we will have to get 30,000 taels of silver!" There is no definite amount of this persuasion, if the county is strong, there will be more, and if the gentry in the county are strong, they will not give the county face and will be able to collect less. Now that we have just taken office, the local squire, even if it is for the future, will not come up with too much silver this time. ”

"Oh? What do you mean by that? Xin Yan is still young, and he can't hear the meaning of Lu Feiqing's words, "It stands to reason that I'm just taking office, shouldn't they give me some face?" ”

"Xinyan, you're thinking wrong!" , Chen Jialuo interrupted the conversation between the two with a smile, "Think about it, you just took office and asked for money, if they give too much, wouldn't it seem that their family has money and is easy to talk to?" Will you have an idea next time if you give less? Therefore, it is better to give less for the first time, and wait for a long time to find out your temper and appetite before adding or decreasing the number. ”

"I see!" , Hearing him say this, Xin Yan understood a little, but immediately raised a new question, "But there are two streams in this Fuding County, Tongshan Creek and Longshan Creek, and these big families also have many fields on both sides of the stream, aren't they afraid that the stream will flood and wash away the fertile land?" ”

"If the stream floods, it will be a good thing for these big families!" Lu Feiqing traveled all over the place, and saw a lot of the actions of these big families, and explained with a wry smile, "Fudingzhi County has only been 20 years now, and there are many immigrants from other places in the original big families such as Zhao Gao and Yang Lin, and most of the fields on both sides of the stream are newly opened up and allocated to immigrants; These big families have worked hard in the past twenty years, but they have only won less than thirty percent, and they have long been eyeing the remaining apprentices; The summer flood just gave them a chance, if the flood washed away the fertile land, they can rely on their family savings to live safely, those immigrants who do not have much land are not so good, once they encounter a disaster, they can only borrow like a big family to live, this donkey rolling usury borrowing is not easy to repay, the interest rolling interest has to force them to sell out the land, become tenants! After being brought to the flood, the fields on both sides of the stream will have to change their surnames! How could they afford to pay for the construction of the dam? ”

With a bang, Xin Yan slammed his fist on the table, gritted his teeth and said, "These robbers who took advantage of the fire to rob!" They are all reciting the scriptures of the saints, but they are doing the work of robbers! No wonder the poor get poorer and the rich get richer! ”

"Okay, now that my safflower society has arrived in Fuding, I won't let them succeed!" , Chen Jialuo patted Xinyan on the shoulder and comforted, "Calculate the time, they should also arrive, you go out to deal with it first, and see how much money you can collect before making plans!" ”

Xin Yan responded and put on the Sujin top of Zhengqipinzhi County, and led Lu Feiqing and Chen Jialuo to the outer hall, and all the squires who were drinking tea in the outer hall paid homage. Xin Yan walked to the upper seat and sat down, Lu Chen and the two masters were lined up on the left and right, Xin Yan read what Lu Feiqing said just now, and naturally did not have a good face for them, and waited for a while before saying lightly, "Get up!" ”

"Lord Xie Zhixian!"

Xin Yan didn't bother to talk nonsense with them, "Sit down and talk, I invite you to come today to discuss the construction of this embankment!" I wonder what you're going to do? ”

"As soon as you take office, you plan to build a dam, which is really a blessing for the people of Fuding!" At first, everyone touted and sent it, but no one was willing to stand up and report the amount of donations.

Xin Yan's face became more and more ugly, Lu Feiqing coughed lightly to signal him to control his emotions, and then stood up and said, "You are all famous squires in Fuding, and the construction of the embankment is also a matter for the benefit of Sangzi, now that the county government treasury is empty, the county can't take out so much silver for a while, and I hope you will help." Afterwards, my lord will report your righteous deeds to the imperial court. ”

"This", everyone looked left and right for a long time, but Zhao Yincheng stood up and said, "Lord Qiyu, the construction of the embankment is also a matter of benefit for a thousand years, and it is naturally our duty to live in Fuding for generations." It's just that there is a lot of population in the next family, and the harvest has not been good in recent years, and the savings of the early years have been consumed a lot, so this time my Zhao family will donate two hundred taels first! ”

"My Yang family donated one hundred and fifty taels!"

"The Gao family donated one hundred and twenty taels!"

"My Liu family donates fifty taels!"

"Su Family"

With Zhao Yincheng taking the lead, the rest of the families also reported the numbers according to this standard, and the three of them sneered in their hearts.

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