Jingwen understands why these farmers complain that the burden is too heavy, in fact, this is all a problem with the tax system. The peasants themselves did not produce silk cloth, but they had to pay silk cloth for taxes, which meant that they had to exchange grain for silk cloth. The Tang Dynasty collects taxes, that is, collects taxes together during the autumn harvest, but everyone is busy harvesting during the autumn harvest, which means that at this time node, it will cause a period of low food prices. This is actually a problem of the law of the market, scarce is expensive, but once there is an oversupply, isn't it a low price?

At the time of the autumn harvest, the peasants had to exchange the grain for silk cloth, and they first had to find a grain merchant to exchange the grain for copper coins. But at this time, those grain merchants will definitely take the opportunity to lower prices. This has nothing to do with moral conscience, and businessmen are definitely going to take advantage of the opportunity to make money. If Jingwen was a grain merchant, maybe he would also take this opportunity to work hard to make a profit. As long as the price of grain rises after this autumn harvest, it will be a lot of money. As for the silk cloth merchants, perhaps they will also hoard a large amount of silk cloth immediately before the autumn harvest, and then wait for this time to raise the price to make a big profit. After all, once the autumn harvest is harvested, the government collects taxes from silk cloth, so don't they take the opportunity to make a lot of money?

In this way, in the case of such a complex tax system, the common people will not only have to bear the taxes collected by the government, but also have to bear the exploitation of grain merchants and silk cloth merchants. And these peasants often had to pay more than the imperial court's taxes in order to pay taxes. However, the country did not reap any benefit from these extra things, which went into the pockets of the grain merchants and the silk cloth merchants, who made a lot of money, but threw the pressure on the people.

But the people had to do the same at the time of the autumn harvest. After all, the government is also in a hurry, and if you don't pay taxes, I'm afraid you will go to jail. So the people have no choice at all, under the pressure of government policies. They can only be exploited by these merchants, and then pay a lot of money in exchange for these silk cloths. In the end, it was the people and the country who lost, but it was these grain merchants and silk cloth merchants who benefited. This is also the hidden danger brought about by the current compound tax system, because the taxes paid are not the same thing at all, which also causes a lot of cost.

"Ma Zhou, the current grassroots level of our Datang is that the government does not go to the countryside. That is to say, our Datang government has only reached the county level, and the townships below the county level are all composed of various clan elders below. And such people, do you say that they will not use their rights to overtax? You stipulate a penny above. They will dare to add you to the penny. Say, "Is this not a burden to the people?" Jingwen asked.

And Ma Zhou said: "My Datang takes four households as neighbors, five neighbors as guarantees, five guarantees as li, and five miles as townships, and each mile is set up with one person, and each township has a township head." The people below are all in turn as chief of the guards, and they also have the duty of overseeing the collection of taxes, and they are all selected from the virtuous families of the locality. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, right? ”

"Hmph, these grassroots squires, don't think too much about their qualities. Now, when the country was just opened, maybe it wasn't a big problem. But once it comes to the next few decades. They won't add layers of codes, and I'll have your last name. Jingwen snorted.

Jingwen definitely didn't want to believe in the discipline of these grassroots squires, and once the tax was increased since ancient times, the penny at the top would be increased layer by layer below. Sometimes a penny becomes ten. And those squires were one of the direct tax-collectors, and they inevitably did not take the opportunity to over-collect taxes, and these over-collected taxes went into their own pockets. Now the country has just been opened. Perhaps the officials are generally more incorruptible. But these squires are different, they take advantage of their own rights, this is normal. If the squires were so exploitative, then they could have spread the taxes they should pay to the people under their command. Even, being a squire can still make a lot of money, which is a tragedy.

Ma Zhou saw Jingwen's appearance and took the initiative to ask: "Jieshuai, maybe the question is not so strict!" ”

"Not strict? By the time you wait for Yan zhòng, it's too late! Jingwen said.

Jingwen can also be regarded as understanding that the root of this tax system of rent adjustment is actually the Juntian system. The land was granted according to each person of the people, and then the tax was paid every year according to the population. This tax system is actually calculated on the basis of population, not on the basis of land. That is to say, most people in the country, whether rich or poor, pay almost the same taxes. In this case, it is actually very unreasonable. And now it has just experienced troubled times, and there is a lot of land, so the people can have land and property for production and operation, which can be used to pay taxes.

However, once the land was annexed in the future, more land was gradually concentrated in the hands of a few. However, the agricultural tax system of the Tang Dynasty was based on people. In other words, even if the people have no land, they will have to pay taxes, so that the people will not be able to evade taxes? Therefore, there is also a big problem here, and it cannot be underestimated.

"Marshal, how should the problem be solved?" Ma Zhou asked.

"It's a long-term problem, where can it be solved casually now? However, we can take it step by step, and the first thing we need to solve is the problem of the people being exploited by businessmen. As long as we unify all taxes into one thing to collect, won't that reduce the burden on the people? Why do we need to collect different things separately, can't we just collect grain in a unified way? In this way, the people will not be exploited by profiteers! Jingwen said.

"No, no, no, our taxes are all sent to the imperial court, if the things we hand over by then are grain, then how can we explain to the imperial court! We can't afford to pay less taxes under the imperial court! If it is less, then I will be held accountable. Ma Zhou said.

"Smack!" Jingwen slapped his forehead, and then the whole palm of his hand slid down his face, obviously very helpless about Ma Zhou's statement.

"Ma Zhou, Ma Zhou, you are also a county official. Why are you magistrates so brainless? The ancients said that there are policies and countermeasures, can't you find a way to deal with the past? Are you afraid of being held accountable from above? As long as you are for the good of the people, can the emperor still blame you? Today's emperor is a Ming monarch, as long as you are for the people, will he still hold you accountable? Jingwen asked. (To be continued......)