Chapter 112 Charge

Hu Guangfu had mixed feelings in his heart, which was very unpleasant.

Because a few days ago, he sold the seven acres and three points of good land left by his ancestors to Mrs. Hu. Master Hu's name is Hu Chuanlu, and in terms of speaking, he is still of the same clan as Hu Guangfu, but he has already come out of five suits.

said it was for sale, but in fact, Hu Guangfu didn't even get a copper plate, so he gave it away for nothing. However, the deed of sale was clearly written in black and white, with seventy-five taels of silver per mu, and Hu Guangfu willingly pressed his handprint. is really willing, Mrs. Hu did not force him or bully him into being illiterate, on the contrary, it was Hu Guangfu who rushed to beg for a long time before Mrs. Hu agreed.

Hu Guangfu sold not only Zutian - he also sold himself to Mrs. Hu! In the same way, it is also the kind of "sale" that confiscates money. Although he sold himself as a "slave" and pressed his handprint, Hu Guangfu even shed tears of gratitude.

Hu Guangfu is an honest farmer, he doesn't have any bad habits, he eats very frugally, and it is impossible to owe any gambling debts or the like. To tell the truth, compared with most other places in the Ming Dynasty, Hu Guangfu's life is indeed very good: his Huzhuang belongs to Xiangyang Mansion, the west is Shuishui, the east is the water, the two rivers are in the shape of "Ya" in the south of Huzhuang not far from the confluence, the land is very fertile, no matter how bad the year can be a hundred catties, the harvest can be two hundred and forty or fifty catties, any time to run to the river to cast a few nets, dinner can be grilled fish to eat - this kind of life, is the vast majority of ordinary people in the Ming Dynasty can not imagine at all.

In this case, why did Hu Guangfu "sell" himself along with Zutian?

Because he couldn't live anymore.

Theoretically, because the grandfather Zhu Yuanzhang was born in hardship and knew how hard the people's lives were, the Tian Fu of the Ming Dynasty was very low, at least in the early stage. But then it changed, and it got worse and worse.

Because in addition to the theoretically low tax rate, Daming also has a rule: those who have meritorious fame are exempt from taxation. In other words, if a child has gained fame, the family's taxes will not have to be paid! We know that there is indeed a situation of "Chao for Tian Shelang, and Twilight for Tianzi Hall", but it is extremely rare, and those who can support their children to study completely out of production and invite famous teachers to teach are all rich and giant. In other words, they are all big landowners with good land. Well, it is not accurate to say "landlord", because in the Ming Dynasty there was no concept of so-called "landlord": in the eyes of the government, whether it is a yeoman farmer with ten acres of ancestral property or a large landlord with two thousand acres of good land, as long as there is no "fame", all are counted as "people", and everyone is treated equally. However, money can make the devil grind - these "people" who are especially rich always have the ability to unblock their joints and find various reasons for "tax exemption".

So a strange phenomenon arises: the more able the great rich are to pay taxes for the empire, the easier it is to find all kinds of high-sounding reasons to be exempt from taxes, while the glorious tax liability is mostly borne by ordinary people who are not so able.

The state's expenses are there: the imperial court needs to operate, the army needs to eat, the rivers need to be managed, and the yamen needs to be repaired...... Also, don't forget the "poor" life of the officials who "love the people like children" and the officials who are "anxious for justice and righteousness"!

Where does the money come from?

Spread it out on the heads of people who can't afford to be tax-exempt.

The earliest land taxes were taxes in kind: if you planted the land, you paid for grain, and if you planted cotton, you paid for cloth. Of course, there are flower heads, the most famous of which is the "drenched kick". When paying rice and wheat, the government's standard measuring instrument is called "Hu", a kind of square container with a small mouth and a large bottom, and the Ming Dynasty counted sixty catties - the reason why the scale is not used is that it is afraid that it will be mixed with impurities such as clods, and the rice and wheat are poured into the Hu, which can verify the quality in person. The people who received the grain poured the grain into the hut and raised it above the mouth of the hut to form a sharp pile. Then the officer in charge would fly up and kick it on the wall - what fell fell into his pocket. For this kick, these people who love the people like children have worked hard, and some of them kick the tree on weekdays, and the trunk does not move at all, and the leaves fall in a row; Some practice kicking the door, no matter what kind of wooden door, kicking open can be regarded as a small success; If you haven't practiced kung fu yet, you will often take the form of running! This is not an unspoken rule, but a clear rule - many well-known positive images, such as "Sanyang", and even Zhang Juzheng, have done it when they first entered the eunuch field. In the Ming Dynasty, kicking skill is a compulsory course in officialdom - grassroots officials have to kick Hu, and when they become big officials, they have to be able to kick ball.

It's just a drenching tip, in fact, Hu Guangfu doesn't have any opinions - just mix a few more wild vegetables with the meal, it's nothing.

But miscellaneous taxes will always be more than regular taxes: when the government says that it will control the water, it will come to you for money, say that it will build roads, and it will also come to you to ask for money, King Xiang's wedding, and Hu Guangfu will also have to pay! The government's court meeting village drink, worship the mountain god and river god, officials at all levels ushered in the send-off, and the allowance for the imperial examination students to take the examination...... The cost will fall on Hu Guangfu's head in the end! Cattle must be raised for ploughing the fields, cattle must be taxed for raising cattle, pig tax must be paid for selling pigs, and later, duck tax must be paid for raising a few ducks that lay eggs! Most of these taxes had to be paid in kind, and Hu Guangfu was a little overwhelmed.

What made Hu Guangfu want to cry without tears the most was not these, but forced labor, that is, forced labor and hard labor. More than ten years ago, when Jiangling was flooded in Jingzhou Prefecture, Hu Guangfu's father Hu Er was conscripted into forced labor, and he didn't return when he went, and he didn't even pick up his body. In order to raise their own adulthood, the Hu family, who originally had more than 20 acres of land, had to sell their land, and when Hu Guangfu grew up, there were only more than seven acres of ancestral land left. The conscription could not easily catch up, but the labor could not escape: the city wall was repaired, the official road was expanded, and the palace was transported to transport grain...... All the people must be requisitioned. Not only do you not pay for working for nothing, but you also have to bring your own dry food tools, which is normal for as little as a few months and as many as three or five months. Moreover, they will always pick the time when the farmers are busy - the officials know that at this time, they can squeeze the most oil and water when they go down to pull people: unless they really have no money, they will stuff red envelopes into themselves. Who goes and who doesn't, isn't it just a matter of fingering?

Later, the imperial court issued a whip law: no longer levy in kind, no longer arbitrarily levy labor, and all the land of each household will be converted into silver taels and handed over. Hu Guangfu breathed a sigh of relief - on the "Fish Scale Book"* it was written in black and white that he had more than seven acres of land, and it was clear how much he should pay, and the food he had saved was saved, and he didn't have to worry about being arrested for hard labor at any time! Not only that, but I heard that if someone goes to labor in the future, the government will also allocate silver wages from the cost of spreading to the acreage! Therefore, Hu Guangfu sincerely thanked the imperial court for such a good policy, and was determined to work hard, marry a daughter-in-law in three or five years, and the couple would get up early and be greedy again, and strive to buy back the dozen acres of land as soon as possible...... Oh no, grit your teeth, maybe you can save a few more acres for your children and grandchildren!

The excitement didn't last long, though.

Because Hu Guangfu found out that he was going bankrupt.

It's a big good year. When it was time to harvest, Hu Guangfu threw down a lot of grain, and he was so happy that he couldn't keep his mouth shut. But he didn't have any silver in his hand - after a whip, the court no longer asked for grain, but for silver. Hu Guangfu, who was in a hurry, went to sell grain, and after calculating to exchange it for silver and copper plates to go to the yamen to pay, he would cut some pork and go home to celebrate the old lady's hunger. However, when selling grain, I found that the price of rice was ridiculously low: under normal circumstances, rice that could be sold for one or two or two or three coins of silver per stone was only worth four coins of silver at this time!

A thunderbolt on a sunny day knocked Hu Guangfu into a daze. Let's just stop selling it and see how many things come in a few days. I went back to Hu Zhuang in a daze, and found that the first chief Hu Wuye was waiting for him. Hu Wuye is the cousin of Hu Guangfu's family, and he has always taken care of their orphans and widows. Hu Wuye told him a bad news: the yamen has limited the days, and he has to hurry up and pay the money - Hao Dayun of Hao Ying in the next village has hit a big bad luck, and he is reluctant to sell the rice, and he missed the time limit of the imperial court, and all the grain has been stolen and there is not a grain left, not to mention, the person was dragged to play the board, and the two strands of meat flew away, and Bai Sensen's leg bones were exposed, and it is estimated that he will not survive tomorrow! Hu Wuye compensated Wu Youdurban, who came down to urge food, for a long time, and secretly stuffed two coins of silver, so he was given another day of grace!

Early the next morning, Hu Guangfu went to sell grain again, and the price of rice fell to three dollars and five cents. Hu Guangfu calculated and left the seed grain, and only more than half of the annual ration was left. There's no way, don't think about the pork, hurry up and go to the yamen to pay the silver, and talk about the rest.

When the yamen handed over the silver, Hu Guangfu was surprised to find that the silver money that was clearly exactly the same was still a lot worse, and then he learned a new term: folding color and fire consumption. A master of the long shirt patiently explained to him that the silver collected by the imperial court is ninety percent of the official silver, and what you pay is only seventy percent of the people's silver, and you have to make up the difference. Of course, it should be returned to the furnace in a unified manner and melted into silver ingots of the same size. There are bound to be losses in this process, and who should bear these losses? Of course it can't be the imperial court, right? The loss is not too much, only one and a half! The silver and copper plates you brought to the yamen will accept them first, hurry back and make up the difference, and hand them in tomorrow, and your task will be completed! Otherwise, tomorrow will pass...... The master did not continue to say the following words, but glanced to the side meaningfully. Following the master's gaze, the yajie had been stained black and red with blood, and a large group of green-headed flies hovered over it with a fishy smell, and if you carefully identified it, you could see the minced meat embedded in the stone cracks......

Hu Guangfu, who finally completed the task the next day, found that in addition to a little bit of broken silver in his arms and seeds and grain left at home, he might have to rely on wild vegetables and grilled fish for most of the next year.

Less than a month later, the old lady's birthday was approaching, and Hu Guangfu decided to buy some snacks for the old lady who had been widowed for half her life anyway. When passing by the rice shop, Hu Guangfu was stupid again: It's only been a few days, and the price of rice has now risen to five taels and one stone!

In order to find a way to make some cash, Hu Guangfu decided to do some small business while the farm was slack. There are a lot of wild mat grasses growing on the banks of the river, and people in the Huguang area use it to weave straw mats. There is another use for this grass: to make the wick of oil lamps. Hu Guangfu found a few good villagers and was busy for more than two months: mowing the grass, stripping, steaming, drying, and bundling...... I found a small boat and prepared to sell it in Zaoyang, and everyone estimated that it could be sold for about six or seven taels of silver. Everyone scraped together three or four taels of broken silver for Hu Guangfu to bring, and when they arrived in Zaoyang, they could buy some difeng rice wine and sell it in Xiangyang Mansion. Although it is not much, it will be able to cope with it when the imperial grain is paid in the coming year.

The word "Ya" formed by the water and the water is not far from the bottom of the flowing river, and the section near Zaoyang is called the river (called the sand river today). Before he reached the river, Hu Guangfu encountered seven or eight tax collectors in the rolling river alone. His face was beaten into a pig's head, and all the three or four taels of silver in his arms were collected, and then, as soon as he drove into the muddy water, he met a group of river soldiers who were checking taxes!

He couldn't ask for the lamp grass, so Hu Guangfu took the dry road and returned home. After crying with the villagers, the seeds and grain at home were also compensated to everyone. Finally, Hu Wuye woke up the dreamer with a word: Old lady Hu doesn't have to pay the imperial grain - the old lady's second son, Hu Zhiqi, was born on the right path, and I heard that he was in charge of the Department of Ceremonies and Officials in the Ministry of Rites in his early years, and now he is a big housekeeper in the palace...... Not only does the famous old lady Hu's family not have to pay any silver grain, but the Hu family doesn't need to do any forced labor!

Then, Hu Wuye led Hu Guangfu to chase after Mrs. Hu's housekeeper Hu Jiuye for many days, and finally threw himself into Mrs. Hu's house.

Mrs. Hu is very kind, the more than seven acres of land still let Hu Guangfu continue to plant, regardless of the year, just pay half of the land to calculate the rent.

This is called "topping".

Hu Guangfu has mixed feelings in his heart, on the one hand, Zutian is gone in his hands, and there will always be a sense of loss if he is a person, on the other hand, he will finally be able to eat with confidence in the future! As long as you work hard, you will definitely save a lot of food - in a few years, marrying a daughter-in-law will not be a problem!

After this transaction was made, Hu Guangfu obviously did not suffer a loss, and Mrs. Hu added seven acres of land and half of the annual land production to a loss. Well, the question arises - who suffers?

Imperial court?

Of course, it is impossible for the imperial court to suffer a loss - Hu Guangfu really does not need to pay silver grain, and his share of silver grain will naturally be distributed to other homesteaders who still have some of their own fields!

*Fish scale book

The Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Book were the tools of the Ming Dynasty administrators Ding and Tian Mu.

Every 110 households are compiled into a mile book, indicating the name, place of origin, Dingkou, age, etc., similar to today's household register. In duplicate, one copy is stored in the book, one is handed over to the state and county, and the state and county are summarized to make a general book, and it is also a copy left at the bottom and handed over to the government, and the government is concocted according to the law, and finally summarized to the household department of the imperial court. Because the provincial register submitted by the provincial administrative secretary to the household department has a yellow cloth cover, it is named the yellow book.

The fish scale album is a summary atlas of cultivated land. The shape, grade, area, and name of the landowner are drawn in the book, and it is called a fish scale book because the land is overlapped and overlapped like fish scales.

The Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Book corroborate each other from the perspectives of population and land, respectively, and complement each other, as a management tool for the rule of the imperial court.

*Fold color.

We often see the theory of true color and folded color. To put it simply, the true color refers to the physical object, and the color is converted into silver taels. For example, if an official is given 100 taels of silver and 50 taels of silver, he is given 100 taels of rice and wheat worth 100 taels of silver, plus 50 taels of silver, which are converted into silver according to the sale of the corresponding land. Gold, lacquer, silk, etc. can all be used to fold colors.

The folded color mentioned by the master here is another meaning: the fineness of the people's silver is low, and it should be converted into official silver and put into storage. Of course, the government has the final say on how to fold it.