Qin Official

In the early morning of the first day of September, on the road leading to Yunmengxiang Township, as far as I could see, there were farmers carrying poles and bamboo baskets. In the baskets were newly harvested and dried yellow and orange millet, which was as heavy as The pole must be crushed.

Compared with these Wu Guizhou warriors who had to work hard to carry grain, Hei Fu's ox cart stood out from the crowd, not to mention Hei Fu riding his red horse majestically clearing the way in front.

It turns out that after entering September, it is the day for the people of the Qin State to pay rent. As the saying goes, "taxes and rents are collected in September." The government will collect field rents in this month to prepare for the calculation work in October. The amount of land rent is an important indicator of the quality of the plan.

As far as Heifu could see, unlike the happy faces when harvesting, most of the passers-by on the road had worried expressions on their faces. After all, what was handed over was the food grown with hard work, and it was very tiring to carry it on the shoulders and hands. On the field ridges on the roadside, there were people squatting and taking a breath everywhere. They looked at the bullock cart and horses of Brother Heifu. His eyes were full of envy.

Cows and horses can only be afforded by wealthy families with certain financial resources. This is also the dream of many farmers who have worked hard for half their lives. With these two kinds of livestock in the family, the girls in the family will compete to marry them.

Every family has its own scriptures that are difficult to memorize. Although when I first set out on the road, I was deeply moved that I didn’t have to carry millet and walk more than ten miles this year. But the closer he got to his hometown, the more worried he became. While leading the ox cart, he looked back at the more than twenty stones of grain in the cart and sighed: "It's not always a good thing to have more land here. After all, I have to make ten more trips to pay my rent."

The sincere words are not exaggerated at all, because at the end of August, Tian Dian dragged his sick body in the sunset and read out documents from the village to the people all over the place, announcing this year's "lease".

This procedure is called "Writing Laws on Rent", that is, before collecting rent, the government first issues various laws and orders related to rent collection for this year step by step, from the county magistrate to Tian Qiangfu, and from Tian Qiangfu to the Tianbu in the countryside. Zuo, all the way to Satonakada Nori.

Different from the percentage tax payment in later generations, "lease" is a fixed rent amount, and each family must pay a sufficient amount of grain. This year's rent amount is 6 buckets of grain per mu.

"Six buckets? So many."

Heifu was a little surprised. Where was the tithe that was promised? He finally figured out later that the tax was levied on commodities and had nothing to do with his family as farmers. They only needed to pay land rent and annual "mouth money", which was also a large amount.

Zhong seems to have been used to it for a long time. He said that for ordinary "tax fields", the government will calculate an average value based on the grain output in recent years and calibrate a "reasonable" value as the rent for that year. Officials call this " It’s normal for students to be in school for several years.”

The so-called reasonable means that farmers feel that the burden is a bit heavy, but not to the point where they cannot survive. Generally speaking, depending on the years of disaster and good times, the rent amount is between five dou and one stone, so I feel that this year's six dou is already a small amount.

"This is just an ordinary tax field. If it is a land operated by the government itself, I heard that the tax rate is 1.5 dan per mu, and the rest is reserved for the mediocre cultivators and concubines who cultivate the land for their own consumption..."

"In that case, after paying the rent, there will be basically nothing left in the land!"

Heifu was slightly shocked when he heard this. If you think about it, farming on the government-run fields can only ensure that you can barely make ends meet, and it is basically impossible to have any savings. It seems that later generations said that Qin's tax revenue was "twenty times that of ancient times" and "it collected more than half of the tax revenue", which is really not bad.

In addition, after the rent is fixed, the government will also collect taxes based on the amount of land owned by each family, regardless of whether you cultivate it or not. This will prevent some people from being idle all day long without farming, and can also crack down on rent evaders. If taxes are collected based on land, people can run away, but the land cannot.

So after calculation, Heifu and his family are divided into three households, with a total land of more than 400 acres. The rent to be paid by the three households is huge, as much as 240 dan...

In addition, there are 3 Shi and 2 Shi for each hectare of farmland, which are enough to pull another cart.

In fact, excluding the fallow fields, only more than 300 acres were cultivated. Because the tax was so heavy, if they wanted to save some money, farmers in Qin had to work diligently on farming and make their fields more productive through intensive farming.

Fortunately, after the Heifu family used compost, they had a bumper harvest this year. They got about 500 stones of millet and 250 stones of rice. After paying the rent, they still have a lot of savings. I just hope that the price of grain will not be too low this year. If we sell the excess grain and pay the tribute, we can still make a net income of several thousand yuan...

Thinking about it this way, Heifu was fined 4,000 yuan for letting the murderer go by mistake, which is still acceptable.

Thinking of this, Heifu couldn't help but look sympathetically at the Guizhou farmers walking to carry grain along the way. His family's life was getting better and better, but most of the farmers along the way were struggling to make ends meet.

They also had to make many trips back and forth to complete the rental. During the first half of September, they didn't have to do anything except hauling food back and forth, which was tiring enough. And the remaining grain, excluding the part that is used as seeds, can be eaten, worn and chewed throughout the year, and it is almost spent. If there are weddings, weddings, or family members getting sick, you will be busy all year long, and end up being unable to make ends meet.

The two of them stopped talking, and the atmosphere became silent for a while. After a while, Hei Fu deliberately joked: "Brother, if you think so, by next year, my family will have 500 acres of land, and it will be handed over by then. Land rent, more.”

"That's right, Brother Zhong is now a hairpin."

Zhong looked at the simple wooden crown on the top of Hei Fu's head and the ribbon around the horse's neck, and felt very happy.

Although Heifu missed the murderer by mistake, he was not dismissed from his post. Moreover, because his method of determining the height of the murderer based on his footprints was considered very useful by the county, his title actually rose instead of lowering, causing many people to secretly speculate that Heifu would be in trouble this time. The people were shocked.

Heifu's promotion document came out yesterday and caused a sensation in the whole neighborhood because he was the second hairpin in the neighborhood. And the land of Heifu's family has once again increased by a hundred acres, and they have transformed from a small family into the largest landowner in the sunset...

I never expected that one day I would be worried because my family's land was increasing too quickly, but I couldn't tell my brother Zhong that we should take it slow and don't get promoted.

He thought to himself: "Next year, I'm afraid I will have to buy more cattle and hire twice as many yongke..."

…

By the time the Heifu brothers arrived in Liyi, Yunmeng Township, it was already morning meal time. The "rental house" located near Xiangcang had become the busiest place in the township. People came from all over to pay the rent, but don't worry about getting confused. Each li has a fixed rent payment time. From the first to the third day of the lunar month, taxes are paid by several li in the eastern part of the township.

The minor officials under Tanabe Zuo held the power and the bucket, and asked the farmers to come forward and weigh the grain and grass they had to hand over one by one. There was no need to worry about the inaccurate measurement. Since the Shang Yang Reform, the Qin State had unified the domestic weights and measures. If the scales were If there is any deviation, the officials in charge will be punished.

In addition, supervisors sent by the county were also present. In addition to monitoring the quality and quantity of food, they also had to prevent favoritism and malpractice in rent collection.

Hei Fu first accompanied Zhong and paid the more than twenty stones of grain he was carrying, and then left the empty cart outside and came to the rental house.

Tianbe Zuo is an official at the township level of the Tianguan system, equivalent to the director of the township grain management office in later generations. When Kurofo and the others asked all the questions and found the busy Tabe Zuo, they saw him holding a list of birthplaces from various places, and loudly asked the clerk to copy them down based on the records sent in from outside.

"Wu Jia, the most distinguished person, paid rent of 4 shi and 8 dou, and it has been paid in full!"

"Second Master Chengli, pay 24 shi in rent! There are still 36 shi left!"

In addition, it is also found from time to time that the amount paid by some people does not match the number of acres they own. Those who conceal the number of acres to evade taxes are called the crime of "concealing land". Once found, in addition to the escaped land rent, All the crops in the fields where you are hiding will also be confiscated!

There are only ten officials, many of whom are borrowed from other government offices, but they have to record the land rent paid by nearly a thousand households in the township. They are so busy that they don't even have time to drink water.

After finally catching the opportunity to eat, Kurofu immediately stepped forward and called out to Tanabe Sa.

Tabe Zuo had been busy all morning, and his throat was about to smoke. If an ordinary Guizhou chief came to look for him, he would probably be scorned at this time. But when he turned around, he saw that Hei Fu had a red turban on his head, and he was a pavilion chief, so he pressed down Got angry.

After Kuro Fu announced his name, Tabe Sa's expression changed even more, and he held his hand towards Kuro Fu solemnly.

"It turns out that he is the chief of Huyang Pavilion in Jinshui Township. The name of Heifu Pavilion has been known to the whole county for a long time. It's disrespectful. It's disrespectful."

After all, Hei Fu is now considered a well-known figure in the county, but he has long been used to hearing similar words. After a few polite words with Tanabe Zuo, he dragged Zhong over and explained his purpose to Tanabe Zuo.

"What the pavilion chief means is that after using that method, your family's yield per mu will be nearly one stone more this year!?"

Tabe Saichi was so busy and tired in the morning that he was shocked by what Kuro said!

"It's absolutely true." Heifu took out a piece of wood and handed it to Tanabe Zuo. He saw that what was recorded on it was the grain output of the three pieces of land of Heifu's family. Almost every acre of the hundred acres of compost was used. The grain harvested was recorded separately.

"Is it because the millet has not been dried? Or is it that the 100 acres of land are in full bloom this year?"

Although Tabezuo was a little moved, he still had some doubts. Every year, because his family's food production increased, there were quite a few old farmers who came to him to offer their "farming methods." The Qin State was founded on farming and warfare, and there were rewards for the people who farmed diligently and improved their farming techniques.

Heifu also knew that unlike the last time he offered a treadmill, which could produce immediate results, farming was highly random and timely, and there was no room for Tababe to be careless.

He then smiled and said: "Tanabe Saya doesn't have to rush to report this method to the county. Why not set aside dozens of acres of government-run farmland in the countryside next spring and ask my uncle to come over and give instructions on how to use compost?" In the dung field, when the autumn harvest comes, compare the yield per mu with that of ordinary fields, and you will know the authenticity once you try it!”

Heifu's idea was a good one, and Tabe Zuo thought it was safe, so he agreed.

If this doesn't work out, he'll have to sell Heifu, the rising leader of Huyang Pavilion, as a favor; if it can work out, Tabezuo will inevitably get some credit...

Who knows, Heifu also has his own little Jiujiu in his heart. In the past, he might have gone directly to the county town to find the largest land official at the county level, "Tian Qiangfu", but this time, he had to make a detour. Township official Tian Buzuo took charge of it. What was he trying to do?

Because Heifu wanted to get it for his own sake, it was precisely the position with the lowest risk but not bad benefits: Tian Dian! And Tabe Sa's wishes are an important factor in deciding the candidate for Kaori Tadenori!

…

In early September, after making an agreement with Tian Buzuo of Yunmeng Township to officially test the composting method in Yutian in the township next year, Heifu returned to Huyangting to continue taking office.

After getting out of that position last time, his enthusiasm for searching for cases has faded a lot, and he is only satisfied with keeping the security in the jurisdiction under control. Fortunately, although he failed once, his power was still there, and no one in Huyangting's jurisdiction dared to make a mistake.

After more than ten days of calm, in mid-September, a piece of news came, making Heifu's future become confusing again.

The transfer order from his backer, County Lieutenant Du Xian, finally came...