The Yanzhou Gongtian Conference on 28 June was quite difficult. Speaking of difficulties, the tax system has been destined to be an extremely difficult system to implement since the day it was put on the table and began to be openly discussed, and in the past two months there have been nine meetings of the patriarchs on this matter, large and small, and each time it has been a matter of controversy and ridicule. In this process, Yan'an County ordered Gao Shaoyuan to play the role of a white face, and did everything to coerce and lure the patriarchs who were in charge of the power of various clans, and Qin Gu, the chief of the political affairs who really handled this matter, has always appeared as a red-faced character, which is due to the fact that the official implementation in the future will also require the cooperation of the patriarchs of these clans.

During this period, the clans were also secretly active, dredging the relationship between the top and bottom of the new Yanzhou military and political authorities, these days, as the No. 2 person in Yanzhou, Li Bin has just been upgraded from the observation embassy to the prime minister's mansion, and the threshold of the old mansion has almost been broken by these patriarchs. However, for this old guy who has been a civil official leader in Yanzhou for 20 years, no one can get a word of truth out of his mouth. was really in a hurry, so Li Bin deduced that this matter was the government of the Jiedu Mansion, and he only heard about it, and he did not have the final decision.

In Li Wenge's absence, these local patriarchs began to use their brains on the cronies and generals around the new Jiedu envoy. After a round of temptation, some shrewd families found that for Shen Chen, Wei Xun, and Lu Xun, the three giants in the army, it was not feasible to use such a method of buying money and land, and these Qiu Ba's adherence to military discipline and military law was simply unkind. So everyone began to talk about shifting the main target to the lower battalion officers. In terms of civil officials, being targeted by the clans is Han Wei, a new aide who obviously has a lot of weight in Li Wenge's heart. At this time, many big families entrusted the Chen family to begin to exert pressure on Chen Shutong.

Although the Chen family is also a medium-sized family, its family property is not ranked in Yanzhou Prefecture, and although there are already a lot of hundreds of hectares of land, it is not worth mentioning compared to those big families who often own thousands of hectares of land. Despite this, the Chen family's own interests were also personally threatened in this change. Therefore, Chen Shutong, who became the new commander of Fushi County, suddenly changed from a side branch in the clan to the object of the elders to rely on, and Chen Shutong, who had not even sat in front of the patriarch, has now become the first person in the clan, that is, his old girl daughter who has been ridiculed and can't get married, and has also become the most respected female family member in the clan - Chen Su's fiancé Han Wei is about to use the land celebrity in the Li Cultural Revolution scene, not to mention that his own father is a first-class military general in the court. Han Wei himself is a big man who can influence General Li's decision-making, who would dare to slack off such a person.

However, this kind of roundabout dredging was unanimously resisted by Chen Su and Chen Zhe's siblings within the Chen family, and Chen Zhe was irrelevant based on his vital interests. Now that he monopolizes most of Yanzhou's foreign trade import and export markets, and the grain business is unmatched in Guanzhong, this land reform will not harm his interests, but on the contrary, it will increase the share of exports. Therefore, he was resolutely opposed to speaking out on behalf of these old landlords; On the one hand, the girl of the Chen family is unwilling to involve Han Wei in the dispute before she has passed the door (Chen Su thinks that Li Wenge is not a person who will be easily persuaded by others to change his policy), on the other hand. This talented woman was even more reluctant for the Chen family to be forcibly tied to the chariot by the major families in Yanzhou City, and became the backbone of the new policy of taking the lead in resisting Jiedu.

Chen Su pointed out to his father that in fact, the trouble in this matter is not outsiders, but how to ensure the fundamental interests of the Chen family itself. In this land reform. Small and medium-sized landlord clans like the Chen family were actually not the main targets of the New Deal. As long as the response is appropriate, the Chen family can completely control the land loss caused by this reform to the family industry within a minimum. Although Chen Shutong has never looked down on his son's buying and selling. But he was always very convinced of his daughter's knowledge and opinions, so according to Chen Su's plan, Chen Shutong and the patriarchs of the Chen family secretly held several internal meetings, and finally determined a plan that could be called shocking to the world.

The Chen family is currently alive with a total of 41 people surnamed Chen, and after the division procedure of the clan, each person and each household have obtained 10 hectares of land assets, so that nearly 500 hectares of land of the Chen family will be allocated to the personal names of the children of the clan, and the surplus land will simply be transferred to some old family deacons who have made outstanding achievements in the clan, so that the land in the hands of each family of the Chen family does not exceed 10 hectares, which not only caters to the new political and legal decree that is about to be introduced, but also does not sell the ancestral property like the Fenglin Qin family.

The Great Division of the Chen Family immediately formed a storm in Yanzhou City, and no one expected the Chen family to solve this trouble in this way, but everyone had to admit that this was a very clever strategy, which not only protected the interests of the family, but also did not offend the government.

Qin Gu was actually very annoyed by this, he thought that Chen Shutong's move was actually taking advantage of the policy loopholes and was a trick, so as soon as Li Wenge returned, he reported the matter to Li Wenge, and clearly proposed to remove Chen Shutong from the post of county magistrate as a punishment.

In this regard, Li Wenge immediately asked: "Is Chen incompetent in office?" ”

Qin Gu shook his head and replied, "It's okay—"

Li Wenge asked again: "Are they accepting bribes for political corruption?" ”

Qin Gu shook his head again and replied, "No—"

“…… But it is so blasphemous about the New Deal, and it actually uses ghost tricks to find gaps to avoid the law, this is a villain's trip! A gentleman is ashamed to be with him! ”

Li Wenge sighed, Qin Gu is decent, but sometimes he is decent

Yu Chen, he said slowly: "Being honest and honest can make the people safe, this is Chen Shutong's great integrity." In addition to awarding officials, the major festival is the first, as for the affairs of other people's families, it is not illegal, and outsiders have no reason to ask! ”

Qin Gu said angrily: "If you make such a joke about the new political law, how can the prestige of the new political policy exist?" ”

Li Wenge said with a smile: "This is not a joke, the new tax law itself leaves room for space, and you can't put all your clans to death with a stick, and the blood is on top, no matter how good the new law is, it will inevitably have harsh discussions." I do. If all the major families learn from the Chen family, it will be much easier to change the law this time......

Qin Gu frowned and said, "It's easy to say, the four major families of Gao Yao and King Han, whose family's land is not more than two thousand hectares?" Where did the two hundred people with the same surname come from? ”

Li Wenge smiled: "That's exactly the case, so the new tax law is not without the slightest leeway, if the clan wants to keep the land, as long as it does not exceed a certain limit, it will not be illegal." When we change the law and make a new policy, we must pay attention to the degree of legislation at the beginning of legislation. The law of uprooting a class is an evil law, even if it is timely. According to the Chen family's method, among the scholars in Yanzhou, those families with less than 500 hectares of land will avoid the turmoil of the new law this time, which is really worrying. Actually, it's just four of them......"

Qin Gu frowned and said, "Then isn't the amount of public land purchased this time going to be greatly reduced?" ”

Li Wenge said with a smile: "I will be content with the 8,000 hectares of public land purchased this year, after all, there are less than 50,000 displaced people in all counties today. In the end, these people can stay in Yanzhou to work on farmland, at most, 30,000 or 40,000, and if there is more public land and no one cultivates it, the government will lose money on this transaction. Yanzhou's new policy is a big move to sweep away the evils accumulated for a century. If you are not careful, you will harm the country and the people, Zi Jian, you must be patient to do great things. Eat the rice one bite at a time. Although we prepared for the worst. However, it is better to be able to not use the knife or not to use the knife......"

"Besides...... Even if it's 8,000 hectares. According to the minimum price of one acre of land and four and a half land, the government treasury will have to come up with at least 360,000 yuan this year. Not to mention that the scholars may not be willing to accept this price, but if they accept it, can the treasury come up with so much money? Li Wenge asked with a deep gaze.

Qin Gu complained: "Don't you know the situation of the treasury, if you don't save that little money among the high-ranking servants, according to your big nature, there will be a famine last year." Don't say 360,000, even one-third, you can't get it. It can only be repaid in installments by year, and as long as there are no droughts and locust plagues in the past few years, it can be paid off in four or five years! ”

Li Wenge shook his head: "There will be next year's land, 8,000 hectares of land will be enough this year, but next year it may not be enough, and there will be no famine every year, not to mention that the public land system is already digging the hearts of the clan, and if the payment is delayed, their complaints will become more and more." ”

After that, he smiled: "You don't have to worry about money, I'll figure it out, it's spring, it's time to go out and grab a handful ......of land, Yanzhou has more than 3,000 soldiers, and we can't afford to spend food and salary."

"Grab a handful?" Qin Gu was shocked, "The soldiers and horses have not moved, the grain and grass go first, and it always costs money to send troops, not to mention the battle of Yinzhou last year, the savings of Pingxia for several years have been taken out by you, go to the east this spring, there are constant disputes between several tribes, and the news of starving people in Tongwan City comes from time to time, even if you send troops to rob again, I am afraid that you will not be able to grab much......"

Li Wenge nodded: "I can't grab the party item over there, and I don't plan to go there to grab it again!" ”

Seeing Qin Gu's eyes widen, he smiled: "You don't have to worry about this matter, I have my own ideas!" ”

Qin Gu said: "Huairen, the soldier's murder weapon is also a sage's last resort." The Pingxia Department is brutal and arrogant, and the troops are forced to send troops, although the Guanzhong feudal domains are mixed, after all, it is the imperial court, and now we are serving Bianjing as the right thing after all, everything should be done and not done, and the sword soldiers will be used without permission, and the final victim is still the people, you have to think carefully about this article......"

Li Wenge laughed: "Zijian don't worry, he said that he was going to grab a handful, but in fact, it was also to eliminate the military disaster and save the people. ”

Qin Gu calmed down for a while, and said slowly: "The time for the meeting is almost here, we should go out......

……

Today's meeting was the first time since the proposal to revise the tax system that the Yanzhou Jiedu envoy participated in the local meeting, so the patriarchs of the major families all wore formal clothes, and those with Yin officials or hereditary titles also wore official uniforms. The five main books and histories of Yanzhou Buzheng Cao's subordinates are all in place, and Gao Shaoyuan, the commander of Yan'an County, and Chen Shutong, the commander of Fushi County, are still present.

When everyone was almost there, Li Wenge and Qin Gu slowly walked into the hall from the back hall, and when they saw the two entering, everyone stood up in unison, Qin Gu arched his hand and said: "Zhugong, today's meeting is presided over by General Li Huairen, the commander of the Eighth Route Army, in order to establish the tax system of the integration of the public land system and muding. ”

Everyone looked at each other, saluted Li Wenge and sat down with different expressions.

Li Wenge was also not polite: "Everyone knows that our old Li is a big boss, and he entered Beijing this time." Even the emperor Lao'er said that our old Li is rough, it seems that Lao Li is really rough! But don't worry, although Lao Li is rough, he is in the army, and he doesn't recognize fathers and sons in the barracks, and the military law is as big as the sky. Now that he is a festival marshal, our Lao Li is also a person who knows the etiquette, you can rest assured. As long as you don't embarrass us, we will never bully others and embarrass you......"

The crowd shuddered,

The ruffian is back, I'm afraid this level will never be avoided......

Si Nong's chief bookkeeper Zhang hesitated. He slowly stood up and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, according to the regulations of the imperial court, as long as General Li signs and seals this decree to abolish the tax on the mu tax, it can be announced that the ten counties will come into effect." Before General Li entered Beijing to face the saint. Thus it dragged on to this day. At the end of today's meeting, General Li was to sign this decree, and then in April, May, June, and March, the Si Nong Section was to begin to measure the amount of land in the prefecture and county, and for this reason, the Iron Engineering Battalion of the Eighth Route Army specially forged ten iron bars of similar length for the Si Nong Branch. It is called 'meter', and since April, all sizes commonly used in Yanzhou have been abolished and the meter is the standard. Ten meters is one metric zhang. One hundred meters is one acre. One hundred acres is one hectare, according to this standard. Starting this year, all the prefectures and counties will be exempted from paying the poll tax, and the tax will be paid according to the number of fields owned by each household, and 40 catties of shelled grain will be paid per acre of land. If you patriarchs don't have an explanation at today's meeting, then starting from September this year, you will have to pay taxes according to the number of acres of land in your own homes......"

Everyone looked at each other, and while they were hesitating, Li Wenge slapped his hands and said, "Which one is in charge of collecting taxes?" ”

Zhao Liangchen, the chief tax bookkeeper, hurriedly got up and said: "Back to the general, the humble position is the main tax book!" ”

Li Wenge nodded and said, "How many tax collectors were there under the direct jurisdiction of the state government before?" ”

"Returning to the general, there are fifty-four people in total, and there are also people in the countryside who are assisting, and the land and farms of all ethnic groups in the city are collected by each ethnic group themselves, and then put into ......storage," Zhao Liangchen said with a smile.

Li Wenge laughed: "It's easy this year, when it's time to collect taxes, just pull up the cart and go door-to-door to collect according to the account books given by the Si Nongke, I'm afraid that ten people will be enough......"

Zhao Liangchen smiled bitterly, the marshal didn't understand the way of economy, the Ding tax was changed to the mu tax, and his troubles were more than less, and he was depressed, but he heard Li Wenge say again: "Don't be afraid that someone dares to resist taxes, in September, let the Cao Public Security Section issue a sign, and Lao Tzu will send troops to you to collect taxes to ......"

Zhao Liangchen smiled bitterly again, and at this time, a green-robed official sitting behind Zhang stood up and said to Li Wenge: "General, taxes are national affairs, and it is not appropriate to use the military as a matter of urgency. There are thousands of people in the world, and it is impossible for the imperial court to mobilize heavy troops to the countryside to collect taxes as soon as the tax season comes? In the humble opinion of the lower officials, paying taxes is the duty of the people, and it still depends on their own volition. The people really don't want to pay taxes, and the general sends troops to the door, can't they go out and flee? Strong tax collection is not a common law......"

Li Wenge and Qin Gu are both stunned, Li Wenge wants to pretend to be old and rough today to scare these scholars, this is what Qin Gu said, he sings with a white face, and his weight is much heavier than Gao Shaoyuan, after all, everyone knows that he holds military power in his hands.

I didn't expect the scholars to speak, but there was a mutiny among their own people, this person Li Wenge didn't know, when he looked at Qin Gu, Qin Gu smiled helplessly: "This is Cui Bao, the word goes to the wrong, the current history of the Sinong Science Dictionary." ”

Si Nong Kedian History, that is, a deputy section-level cadre, Li Wenge nodded, it stands to reason that he can dismiss this person with a word, after all, there is a huge difference in status, but Cui Bao is indeed right, which makes Li Wenge hesitate.

Just when he hesitated, Cui Bao had already turned his face to the patriarchs: "It's not just a day that the patriarchs have been involved at this time. It stands to reason that the government does not need to inform you of the change of the law, and now whether it is the general or the director of Qin, I will invite you to discuss it repeatedly, what does this mean? It is nothing more than for the sake of you, after the unity of the mu and the ding, you can't even pay the taxes every year, and the old and young of the family will be hungry, the general and the Qin lord are willing to buy the land and land in your hands, which is for the sake of you, and is saving the princes from the fire pit. Now the lord does not remember the painstaking efforts of the two adults, and insists on prevaricating and obstructing the implementation of the law, which is really unwise. Nowadays, tens of thousands of displaced people outside the city have to rely on the government to survive, and the government treasury is drying up. At this time, don't say that the general sent troops, that is, to withdraw the defenders in the city and release the people into the city, your wealth may be a lot, but your lives are at risk......"

He said it in one breath, paused at this point, and said: "You have to think clearly, this law on the integration of mu tax and land, all the public is in favor of the implementation, and the public does not approve of the same implementation. If you don't want to sell your land, you can wait for the autumn to pay taxes according to the number of acres......"

Li Wenge didn't dare to respond to the words, but he was not so polite to this little man from the Eight Grades of Classics, Gao Yunwen was the first to stand up and retorted: "You said so lightly, how many years of ancestral property was sold like this, in front of the ancestors, how can we explain?" ”

Cui Bao smiled slightly: "Since Zhu Liang, the Central Plains has been in turmoil, and Shandong is also a link of military disasters, Xiaguan's father fled all the way from Guandong to Guanzhong to settle down, and most of the ancestral industries in the family were abandoned, but Xiaguan has never been ashamed of his ancestors, why are you so stubborn?" ”

Gao Yunwen sneered: "My Gao family has a foundation in the third generation of Yanzhou, how can you be compared to this rootless foreign boy?" How many generations has your ancestral property been passed down? ”

Cui Bao's face was cold, and he said awe-inspiringly: "The property of the Xiaguan family has been passed down from the Qi of the Warring States Period, since the Qin Dynasty, my family has been prominent for generations, and it has been a thousand years......"

Gao Yunwen was stunned, and Han Hongshi, the patriarch of the Han family who was sitting beside him, glanced at him with disdain, stroked his gray beard and said: "I have been the secretary of the shogunate in the high servant for five years, he is the remnant of the Cui clan in Qinghe, Shandong, doesn't Lao Qilang know?" ”