Nu Yalang of Tang Dynasty

In the early years of the New Yuan Dynasty, on the ninth day of the eighth month, there was a court meeting in Liangcheng, planned in Zhonggou.

Every year between July and August, there is the annual "mid-term audit" in the Tang Dynasty. Official evaluation, household registration statistics, tax and bank calculations, land measurement, etc. are all discussed in the court at this time.

This whole process was also known as "the middle hook" in the Tang Dynasty.

At the beginning of the court meeting, the chamberlain Fan Jinian directed a group of chamberlains to bring up desks one after another with stacks of books on them.

Some officials with more senior qualifications recognized that the books on the desk were all records of Tang Zhonggou. They immediately understood that important matters would be discussed in the court today, and they couldn't help but get very excited.

After Zhou Jun was dressed in royal robes and sat on the throne, in the main hall, all the civil and military officials bowed to him and shouted long live.

Zhou Jun motioned for everyone to stand down and said: "The three provinces and six ministries have completed the middle hook, and the Kanlu has been placed here. Before the court meeting officially begins, Shangshu Sheng will first talk about the current situation of the Tang Dynasty."

Seeing Zhou Jun looking over, Feng Changqing stepped out of the queue and bowed and said: "Each state and county in the Tang Dynasty has made statistics on population, land, household registration, finance, etc. I would like to briefly talk about the figures."

Afterwards, Feng Changqing reported a series of data in the court hall.

After hearing this, all the officials frowned.

It's just that the figures compiled by Feng Changqing are really ugly and shocking.

In the fourteenth year of Tianbao (755), the Anshi Rebellion broke out.

By the early years of the New Yuan Dynasty (761), this war had been fought for less than six years, but the population of the areas under the jurisdiction of the Northern Tang Dynasty including Hebei, Hedong, Guanzhong, Hexi, Anxi, and Beiting had dropped by 60%.

The number of households has decreased by one million, and the fiscal revenue that originally amounted to tens of millions of dollars a year is now less than four million dollars.

The population dropped sharply, on the one hand because of the deaths of people caused by the war, and on the other hand because of the migration of people from the north to the south.

The main battlefield of the Anshi Rebellion was in the north. In order to escape, except for a small number of believers who believed in Yinglong, they went all the way to Anxi. Most of them fled south.

Therefore, compared to Shuzhong, Jiangnan, Shannan and other places, although the Northern Tang Dynasty has been winning battles, its population decline rate is the fastest.

As for fiscal revenue, before the Anshi Rebellion, the fiscal sources in the Northern Tang Dynasty mainly came from Chang'an, Luoyang and other places in Guanzhong.

But now, in both the east and west capitals, Chang'an is in ruins and is waiting to be renovated, Luoyang is still in a state of occupation, and the entire Guanzhong, Hebei, and Hedong are devastated wherever you look.

On the contrary, Anxi, which used to be called a barbaric land, now has no war and is located at the crossroads of Eastern and Western commerce. Therefore, its business is prosperous and its development is in full swing. It is already much stronger than the Central Plains.

After listening to Feng Changqing's narration, Zhou Jun said to the officials: "The Tang Dynasty has been fighting for many years. Although there are more victories and fewer defeats, the people are in dire straits, all industries are in ruins, and there is decay everywhere. If this situation continues, the enemy will not collapse.

We may not be able to sustain it at first."

Feng Changqing: "Your Majesty, the domestic population is declining and the finances are tight. At the moment, we should turn from offense to defense and focus on developing people's livelihood and returning the population."

Zhou Jun: "It is appropriate to switch from offense to defense, but it is difficult to attract people to return. The war in the north has been going on for six consecutive years. The people who moved to the south have long been afraid of the disaster of war and have not dared to come back to the north.

Already."

Du Fu, the Minister of Rites, came out and said: "Your Majesty, not only the people in the south are unwilling to come to the north, but also the people in Hexi, Hebei, Hedong, Guanzhong and other places still choose to move to the south this year."

Zhou Junqi said: "Now that the war in the north has been basically settled, why do the people in these areas still move to the south?"

Du Fu glanced at Feng Changqing, bowed and said: "First, because of the conscription, Fan Yang Jiedu envoy Li Guangbi, Chang'an left-behind marshal Guo Ziyi, as well as Longyou Army, Jishi Army and other troops, in order to defend the enemy, several times

The recruitment of soldiers has depleted the young men in many areas, and the people are afraid of being forcibly recruited and have to flee."

"The second reason is because of the Ding tax. Hehuang, Gyeonggi, Cangli and other prefectures and counties close to the front line, in order to strengthen city defenses and prepare supplies, impose a Ding tax on the people. If every household has one more person, they have to pay an extra Ding tax.

In order to avoid tax, some families even drown their newborn babies in rivers or bury them alive, just to reduce the tax burden."

After Zhou Jun heard this, he rubbed his forehead and asked in a deep voice to the civil and military officials in the palace: "Have you ever heard of what Du Shangshu said?!"

All the officials looked at each other, and some of them were bolder and said softly: "I know."

Zhou Jun asked angrily: "Since you know it, why don't you go to court?!"

All the officials were as silent as cicadas.

In fact, the officials cannot be entirely blamed for this kind of thing.

Previously, in order to open up the war situation, the Northern Tang Dynasty launched large armies on the east, middle and west routes. Everyone in the Liangcheng court knew the importance of this battle, and naturally no one dared to say anything to question it.

In addition, after Li Longji's death, an arson attack occurred in the mourning hall. Zhou Jun established the Jinyi Guard to arrest and kill five thousand anti-party members.

After this incident, all the officials in the court did not dare to disobey Zhou Jun and get into trouble.

After Zhou Jun got angry, he calmed down and slowly realized the problem.

After thinking carefully for a while, Zhou Jun said: "Fan Jinian."

Fan Jinian quickly bowed and said: "I'm here, old slave."

Zhou Jun: "After the court meeting, a decree was drawn up. As long as any remonstrance made by officials is well-founded and not slanderous, no matter what the discussion is, even if it contradicts me or makes rude remarks, you can be exempted from punishment."

When Fan Jinian heard this, he subconsciously froze here.

Zhou Jun's edict was the first of its kind for an official to be innocent. Not only Fan Jinian, but also all the officials in the court were shocked.

Seeing Fan Jinian in a daze, Zhou Jun asked in a serious tone: "Did you hear that?"

Fan Jinian quickly bowed and said: "I obey the order!"

Zhou Jun waved his hand and said to Du Fu: "Okay, go on."

Du Fu: "False reporting and exaggeration are common in the household registration and examination system. Officials take advantage of their privileges to hide people, and cunning people use guest registration to avoid them. In areas where the household registration and examination system is implemented, there are practices that exploit users and other factors.

The phenomenon of making money. People are trapped on a piece of land because of their household registration records. Even if they want to go out to work, they can't. They can only either abscond and become refugees, or sell themselves to a wealthy family."

Zhou Jun: "Where did the things you mentioned happen?"

Du Fu: "Every country has its own situation. Anxi and Beiting are not at risk yet, Hexi is mild, Hebei and Hedong are serious, and the situation in Guanzhong is the most urgent."

Zhou Jun was a little startled when he heard this.

Hebei, Hedong and Guanzhong, these three places are actually the gathering places of military towns in the Northern Tang Dynasty.

In other words, many Jiedu envoys, military envoys, etc. in the Northern Tang Dynasty, such as Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi, Pugu Huaien, Li Siye, etc., are currently stationed in these three places.

Zhou Jun thought about it for a while and immediately understood the key.

According to the ritual system of the Tang Dynasty, military envoys were stationed in places where they could stay behind during wartime. In order to reduce the loss of transportation of materials back and forth, military envoys could directly expropriate local taxes and rents to offset the army's military pay and supplies.

.

However, in this way, the existence of military towns will gradually weaken the connection between the local and the central government, which will naturally give rise to many hidden disadvantages.