At that moment, Xiao He asked: "Little Brother Bai thinks that how should the big man implement the change?" ”

Bai Mo did not immediately answer Xiao He's question, but asked Xiao He instead: "What does Xiao Guoxiang think is the most lacking thing in the Great Han Kingdom now?" ”

Xiao He pondered for a moment and said: "Brother Bai is an understanding person, so there is no need to lie to each other, the Great Han Kingdom is currently short of money, food, and strong men, but in the final analysis, what is lacking is the population!" As long as the population is sufficient, the money, grain, and taxes will naturally be sufficient, and there will be no shortage of strong men for conscription. ”

Bai Mo tapped lightly and said, "Xiao Guoxiang said in one word!" After a pause, Bai Mo said again: "Therefore, if you want the country to be rich and the people strong, such as the implementation of the law of arranging households and the law of land endowment, it is a palliative move, and only rewarding fertility and accumulating population is the way to cure the root cause. ”

Xiao He groaned: "Reward fertility and save population? ”

"Yes, reward fertility and save population." Bai Mo raised his wine to cover his sleeves and drank it all, and said, "However, with the current situation, it is not easy for the Great Han Kingdom to really do this. ”

Xiao He bowed his head lightly and said, "I would like to hear about it." ”

Bai Mo put down the wine and said: "In today's pass, most of the land and land are in the hands of the family and the scholars, and many of the huge number of Lishu people are tenant farmers of the family and the scholar family. ”

Xiao He nodded silently, what Bai Mo said was the truth, Guanzhong is fertile for thousands of miles, and there are millions of hectares of fertile land, at least more than half of it is in the hands of major families and large and small scholars, and only less than half of the cultivated land belongs to yeoman farmers, and these yeoman farmers who only own less than half of the cultivated land bear all the land endowments of the Great Han Kingdom!

In addition to the high rent, the tenants and hired peasants who rented the farmland of the farming families and scholars also had to bear the burden of servitude, change of duty, and poll tax (poll tax) assessed by the state.

Bai Mo pointed his finger and counted carefully: "Xiao Guoxiang, look." Homesteaders use a small area of arable land, in addition to supporting their wives and children. There is also a need to pay a field tax. Calculate the endowment, but also serve the Yao service. There are even more tiredness. In this case, even if you reward fertility, do they dare to give birth, you need to know that if you have an extra mouthful, you have to pay an extra payment! ”

Xiao He was silent when he heard this, in this situation, the people of Li Shu really didn't dare to have more children, because they couldn't afford to raise them at all.

Bai Mo breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The world only knows that war is a major cause of population loss. Who knows that the heavy Yao labor, calculation and field tax are the main factors restricting population growth! After a pause, Bai Mo said again, "Therefore, if the Great Han Kingdom wants to obtain more population, more tax sources, and more military resources, it must be evenly served!" ”

"Jun Yao service, flat calculation?!" Xiao He Huoran's color changed, and he said in a deep voice, "I would like to hear it in detail." ”

Bai Mo said: "The so-called Jun Yao service is to convert the annual Yao service of Zhuang Ding into a fixed amount of silver, so that the Zhuang Ding of the Han State can only pay a fixed amount of silver money, and there is no longer the suffering of Yao service, if the country needs a large number of Zhuang Ding labor hours, you can pay silver money to recruit labor from the people." ”

"Jun Yao is like this, so what about the flat calculation?"

"The so-called equalization is the abolition of the poll tax."

"Taxation, which is the largest source of tax revenue for the treasury, would it not be a strain to the treasury if it were to be abolished suddenly?"

"That's true." Bai Mo nodded, and said, "Dare to ask the Minister of State, how many mouths are there in Guanzhong now?" ”

Xiao He said without thinking: "Now the four counties of Guanzhong, plus the two counties of Ba and Shu, have more than 3 million Dingkou. ”

"Okay." Bai Mo stretched out his right hand and erected five fingers, and said, "Then make a quota of five million mouths, and then convert the five million accounts into silver money, and convert them into the field tax together with the Yao service, and re-measure the amount of the field tax, and at the same time stipulate that regardless of the family and family, all cultivated land needs to be taxed, so the big thing is done." ..., Xiao He was shocked and said, "You mean, the Yao service and the calculation of the endowment are converted into the field endowment?" ”

Bai Mo nodded heavily and said: "Yes, if the Yao service and the calculation of the endowment are converted into the field endowment, there will be as many tax sources as there is land in the territory of the Han Kingdom, and the amount of treasury revenue will only be related to the amount of land from now on, but it has nothing to do with the number of population, so that the factors restricting population growth will not exist." ”

"Once the factors restricting population growth are removed, coupled with the encouragement of the state, the people of Li Shu will dare to rest assured that they will have children, and once the population is large, it will inevitably be cultivated more land to feed their families, so that the cultivated land area of the Han Kingdom will be more, and the tax sources of the Han Kingdom will be more, which will enter a virtuous circle."

Xiao Hede admits that the prospect depicted by Bai Mo is indeed tempting.

Today, a common reality is that the vast number of Li Shu people only own a small amount of arable land, but bear most of the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and a small number of families and scholars have a large amount of farming, but almost do not bear any taxes.

If Bai Mo's Junyao service and flat calculation can be smoothly implemented, then most of the tax burden will be passed on to a small number of families and scholars, and the burden of the majority of Li Shu people will be greatly reduced.

It is completely foreseeable that the population of the Great Han Kingdom will grow explosively at that time!

With the surge in population, the cultivated land area of the Great Han Kingdom will also surge, so that the tax sources and military resources of the Great Han Kingdom will also surge, and in a maximum of 50 years, the comprehensive national strength of the Great Han State will be able to leave the Kwantung countries far behind, and this is something that even the original Qiang Qin has not been able to do.

However, it is not easy to achieve uniform service and equal calculation.

Xiao He said: "However, it is a rather difficult task to clear the cultivated land across the country. ”

After a pause, Xiao He said again: "Also, if you want the family and the scholar family to accept the endowment, it is also extremely difficult, once the change is forced, it will inevitably cause a fierce backlash from all sides, won't it shake the country's capital?" ”

Xiao He's worries are not groundless, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, many scholars have discussed the possibility of Jun Yao service and flat calculation, but no one can do it for more than 2,000 years, until Zhang Juzheng in the Ming Dynasty, finally realized the true sense of Jun Yao service, that is, a whip law.

As for the flat calculation, it was finally realized in the Yongzheng period of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The population of the Huaxia ethnic group also achieved explosive growth in the Yongzheng period, the previous peak of the population appeared in the Wanli period at the end of the Ming Dynasty, when the total population of the Huaxia ethnic group was only more than 100 million people, but in the Qianlong period of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the population of the Huaxia ethnic group suddenly increased to as much as 300 million, the main reason is the abolition of the poll tax.

The poll tax was not really abolished until the Yongzheng period of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which shows how difficult it is to abolish it.

Especially now is still in the period of great turmoil at the end of Qin, Liu Bang, the king of the Han Dynasty, urgently needs the full support of the Guanzhong family and the scholars.

Therefore, Xiao He's concerns are very reasonable.

Bai Mo seemed to have a bamboo in his chest, and said lightly: "Xiao Guoxiang, the so-called troubled times should be used to re-enforce the code, and today, all the heroes of the Kanto region are working hard and determined to change, if the Han King is conformist and complacent, the general trend will go." Saying this, Bai Mo said again, "As for the reaction of the family and the scholars......

Just as Xiao He pricked up his ears and was about to listen solemnly, Bai Mo sold a pass and said with a smile: "Xiao Guoxiang, it's not early today, and the younger generation is already a little drunk, why don't you talk about it another day, okay?" Xiao He smiled dumbly when he heard this, thinking that this white ink was obviously waiting for the price to sell.

"Okay, then we'll talk about it another day." Xiao He got up after saying that, and said, "But I had a long talk with Brother Bai today, and I am very pleased with my appearance, and I am very admired by my brother's knowledge and experience." ”

"Xiao Guoxiang has an overreputation, heh." Bai Mo flicked, turned around and floated away.

It wasn't until Bai Mo's slender figure disappeared from the street that Xiao He hurriedly walked out of the wine shop and instructed the little man waiting outside the door of the wine shop: "Hurry up, prepare two fast horses immediately!" ”

"Fast horses?" The little official under the door was stunned when he heard this, "What does the minister of the country want?" ”

"Longxi, this prime minister has an urgent matter to state to the king in person!" Xiao He said this, and said, "Don't go quickly!" ”

"Whoa." The little official under the door waved it, turned around and hurried away.

##########

Longxi, the camp of the Han army.

Liu Bang was circling around a horse with a fiery red coat and a shoulder height of more than eight feet, and asked Sui He: "Sui He, this is the Dawan horse you are talking about?" ”

Sui He nodded and said, "Exactly." ”

While speaking, several Han army colonels who had fought with the heavy cavalry of the Chu State in Jiujiang had already arrived in front of the tent.

At that moment, Liu Bang asked the junior colonels: "Look, how does this Dawan horse compare to the heavy mounts of the Chu army?" ”

Several Han army colonels nodded again and again: "Your lord, the mount of the Chu army's heavy cavalry is almost like this." ”

"Good!" Liu Bang slapped his thigh and instructed Sui He Dao, "Sui He, you will go to the Yue clan again immediately, ask for such a horse for the widow, and tell the king of the Yue clan that he will have as many widows as there are such horses!" ”

Sui He nodded, and said: "But the king, the Yueshi people are now facing the threat of the Huns, and the situation is not optimistic, once the Yueshi people are destroyed by the Huns, it will be difficult for us to get Dawan Horse again." ”

"Huns?" Liu Bang frowned, and said angrily, "It's these damn Huns again!" ”

Zhang Liang next to him smiled slightly and said, "King, now that our cavalry has almost been trained, it's time to give the Huns a little bit of a taste, hehe." (To be continued......)