Chapter 1747 – Taxation System
Sun Lan said, “I’ve spoken with Rong Li about this. This matter is quite significant, and we can’t take the obvious route; we must use secret submissions instead.”
If we were to go through the obvious route, too many people would come in contact with this document, and we couldn’t hide the news for long.
If we submitted it secretly, only the confidants and the Lord could see the contents.
In comparison to the former, the confidentiality of the latter is much higher.
Changsheng couldn’t help but frown, “If it’s just for Sister Jinghui’s test, there’s no need to go this far.”
One wrong move could create countless enemies, and who knows, it could even cost a life.
Feng Yi said, “At first, it was because of that, but after I wrote the secret submission, I realized the meaning goes beyond that.”
Changsheng grew a bit anxious but held back to hear Feng Yi explain.
Feng Yi continued, “I remember, before Ah Lan and I went with the army, the last lesson from our academy’s Teacher was about ‘the causes of chaos in the world.’ The Teacher asked us to explore the fundamental reasons that lead to chaos. If I remember correctly, the Teacher even compiled it into a book…”
Changsheng nodded.
She was already a senior student, and the topics were more closely related to the current political situation; she had taken similar courses.
Feng Yi went on, “I remember quite a few classmates said it was due to the royal family’s greed for wealth, heavy taxation, and oppression, which led to chaos in the world. Others said it was the collusion between officials that made the common people suffer. There were those who said frequent natural disasters and man-made calamities turned the populace into angry mobs. This is the case in Dongqing, and in Nansheng as well. But is the answer to this problem really that shallow and simple?”
Changsheng replied, “Of course not, those are just part of the reasons, but not the main cause.”
Quite coincidentally, Changsheng had also attended the same course recently.
She had sought lessons from her wise grandfather and learned a lot from him.
The fall of a nation cannot stem from local factors; it is concerned with overall factors.
Feng Yi said, “I think so too. After entering the military camp, I consulted a few military advisers and gained different insights. Military adviser Qi Guan mentioned the issues with the treasury at the end of Dongqing’s reign. The royal family’s grand ambitions and misappropriation of military supplies were factors, but they couldn’t cover up the fact that treasury income had been declining year after year. If this money can’t even satisfy the royal family’s extravagance, how could there be surplus for military supplies? The issue is, according to the most recent population census, before the fall of Dongqing, the population had not decreased but increased, yet the treasury tax revenue had decreased. What exactly went wrong in this place? Was it simply someone embezzling tax revenue to fill their own pockets? It can’t be that simple…”
Changsheng said, “Brother Rong Li, this… I’ve thought about it, but no one dares to act.”
What Feng Yi mentioned, Changsheng had also pondered over. Under her grandfather’s guidance, she had dissected quite a bit of the content.
Even if her understanding wasn’t as profound as Feng Yi’s, she was headed in the right direction.
Because all five nations in the world were fragments of the Great Xia Dynasty, the taxation systems in each country were generally similar, only differing in details.
The so-called taxation refers to levies based on land, while corvée labor is based on people, which can be material or manpower.
Taking Dongqing as an example, the taxation system there was quite complex and still roughly followed the template from the Great Xia Dynasty’s period.
The items for young men’s service were not only many but also heavy; if they didn’t want to serve, they had to pay a certain amount per head. Even if they weren’t serving, they still had to pay a head tax. The names for the taxes weren’t numerous, but speaking of them, they were quite annoying.
Land taxes were extracted based on the average yield of the land held.
What is the average land holding?
It refers to the average area occupied by a household.
For instance, if Big Ma has one billion and Poor Man A has zero, their average savings would be five hundred million.
Understanding the yield deduction is even easier: if one acre of land produces ten bushels, and the government takes away five, that rate is considered low; at one point, it even reached eighty percent. In other words, the agricultural harvest a farmer labors over for an entire year could see the government take away fifty to eighty percent, leaving only twenty percent for the common people, and from that, the household still needed to deduct the head tax and many other random taxes.
That little bit of grain wouldn’t even be enough to fill their stomachs, let alone spare anything for paying the government to avoid heavy labor.
If corvée labor fell upon your house, you’d better send someone to comply.
Of course, these provisions were directed at the common people; the gentry had privileges, enjoying tax cuts and immunity from labor, and a little sprinkle of rain was enough to appease them.
In the early days of Dongqing’s establishment, the ordinary people did indeed possess ample arable land, and the average land holdings weren’t too outrageous, but natural disasters and man-made calamities couldn’t be predicted, and many fields were sold off at low prices to the gentry by the commoners. The gentry and other higher-ups obtained more land from the common people, achieving their purpose of consolidation, but the amount of land left with the common people kept shrinking, while the taxes based on land holdings didn’t really decrease.
In simple terms, it meant lower income but unchanged taxes, leading to less money in the hands of the common people.
Over time, the common people couldn’t bear the burden and more started selling themselves to the gentry as serfs or hired laborers, seeking a way to survive.
After land consolidation, the gentry owned more fields, but as a privileged class, they actually owned much more land than their theoretical holdings suggested, meaning the more land they had, the more exempted land they had, and thus their income increased naturally.
Not only that, the gentry could also use their privileges to further reduce the already low taxes.
The poor became poorer, while the rich gentry became richer.
The number of taxpayers decreased, and there were no increases among the gentry taxpayers, so overall treasury income naturally declined.
Furthermore, various local governments embezzled tax revenue, making it a wonder if treasury income could rise.
With no money in the treasury, the officials couldn’t even get their salaries; it’s nothing but a disaster for the country.
The situation in Dongqing wasn’t that dire, but it couldn’t resist the royal family’s extravagance, leading them to self-destruct.
Changsheng recalled what the academy’s Teacher Cheng Jing had said — “Taxation is the foundation of a nation.”
Those who feign righteousness and claim that money is like dirt should just go eat mud.
Not to mention distant examples, even the recent rise and fall of several kingdoms demonstrate the importance of treasury taxation.
If they were to act on this, Jiang Pengji’s conflict with the gentry would only intensify.
Whether the East winds overwhelm the West or vice versa, those who proposed tax reform would certainly be sacrificed.
Changsheng looked at Feng Yi, struggling internally.
“Don’t worry; I know what I’m doing.” Feng Yi sensed Changsheng’s concerns and said gently, “The Lord is well aware of the stakes involved. She watched us grow up; if it really comes to it, she wouldn’t sacrifice me or Ah Lan, two inexperienced young ones.”
In clearer terms, he and Sun Lan were tied together, but they still lacked weight.
If reform truly happens, it’s more likely they would target some unfortunate gentry to make an offering to the gods.
While this seemed like a huge risk, if it turns out right, Feng Yi could save himself twenty years of hard work.
