Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

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Zhao Yuan laughed heartily, walked over and patted his belly: "Sanlang, long time no see. You've gotten quite plump in Hangzhou. It seems that southern rice is very nourishing."

Bai Yan was both amused and exasperated, and quickly inhaled and sucked in his stomach: "As I get older, I've gained some extra fat on my belly. Your Majesty, please forgive my presumption."

"Why didn't you bring your sister-in-law along?" Zhao Yuan asked.

Bai Yan said, "My wife is at my brother's house."

Zhao Yuan said, "Tomorrow we're going boating at Jinming Pond. Bring your sister-in-law along, and your second brother and his wife too. Also, bring Li Hanzhang, Meng Zhao, and their families. It's been a long time since we old friends from Yangzhou have gotten together."

"Yes!"

Bai Yan was immediately delighted. It seemed that His Majesty was still the same His Majesty, and had not become distant after so many years.

.....

Several painted boats were boating on Jinming Pond.

The imperial concubines and the wives of officials in the palace and the Eastern Palace were chatting animatedly, asking all sorts of questions and even forgetting to listen to the music.

After a lively discussion, Zhao Yuan beckoned to Bai Yan, and the two strolled over to the bow of the boat.

The spring breeze made the lake water shimmer. Zhao Yuan casually sprinkled some breadcrumbs to feed the fish and asked, "Do you know what I sent you to Henan Province for?"

"Establish the land tax system," Bai Yan said.

Zhao Yuan said, "Hunan and Hubei were the first to implement the land tax reform because they had a small population and a large land area. They encountered relatively few problems, but they were enough to give local officials a headache."

"Then came the capital region, Huainan, Shandong, and Hebei. These places had all experienced famine and war, so the resistance was initially relatively small, but it still couldn't be rolled out on a full scale."

Chapter 3258 Water Conservancy Construction

Bai Yan said worriedly, "There is no major chaos or famine in Henan, so I'm afraid there will be many obstacles."

Zhao Yuan said, "I'll give you some official documents later, all related to the 'equalization of land tax and poll tax.' The resistance comes not only from landlords, but even from some small farmers with more land than people."

Bai Yan exclaimed in surprise, "Since there are more people than land, the 'equalization of land tax and poll tax' should be beneficial to them."

Zhao Yuan shook his head: "It depends on the actual situation in each province. Due to water conservancy projects or other reasons, some prefectures and counties are temporarily short of manpower and have heavy grain burdens. In the past, even the poorest and landless people had to share the labor service."

“Now that all the land is allocated to the land, the common people who have more people than land will suffer losses, while the landlords who have fewer people than land will suffer even more losses.”

"As a result, as long as one owned land, whether a wealthy household or a commoner, they all joined in the protests."

"There are also issues left over from the previous dynasty. Many of the lands are not privately owned, so the taxes payable are even less."

"After the land tax was converted into a poll tax, even if you only have a small amount of land, the total amount of taxes you need to pay will increase."

"Within a prefecture, some counties have few people but much land, while others have many people but little land."

"When the prefect was implementing the land tax reform, he used the resources of rich counties to help poor counties, which led to opposition not only from the people of the rich counties but also from the county magistrates of the rich counties. However, if the transfer was not carried out in this way, it would place a heavy burden on the poor counties."

"Last year, the Provincial Governor of Huainan imposed an equal distribution of taxes across the province, which almost led to a popular uprising and aroused the anger of the people of Fu County. More than 20 county magistrates from Fu County successively submitted memorials impeaching the Provincial Governor for being cruel and inhumane to the people."

"Equal sharing across the province is excellent, and the imperial court strongly supports it, but many officials in wealthy counties are not cooperating. Even if they are forced to implement the decrees, they all outwardly comply but inwardly defy them."

“If the burden is shared equally in a county, there will be riots; if it is shared equally in a prefecture, there will be riots; if it is shared equally across the province, there will still be riots. Moreover, the people who riot are different each time.”

“The central government and local officials constantly summarize their experiences and make adjustments, but after each adjustment, there will always be another group of people whose interests are harmed.”

"In practice, it's more difficult than you imagine, especially in provinces like Henan and Jiangxi."

"As for Shaanxi, I dare not make any moves for the time being. Because Shaanxi has a lot of barren border areas, and guarding the border requires a large number of men to be conscripted every year."

“The Ming Dynasty was indeed not afraid of the Western Xia. Many border troops from Shaanxi were also transferred to other provinces. However, there were a large number of fortified villages in the Xihe and Hengshan areas. These fortified villages had to be maintained by conscripting laborers from the entire province.”

“Shaanxi is poor with a small population and a lot of land. Once the poll tax is converted into a land tax, the people will be burdened with heavy burdens, and peasant uprisings will inevitably break out.”

"The imperial court is asking the cabinet to come up with a plan to allocate more money and grain from the central government each year to reduce the poll quota in Shaanxi Province. Only after this arrangement is made will they dare to implement the land tax reform."

"Of course, the biggest problem with the land tax reform is still a thorough investigation of land ownership in various regions."

"This is also the reason for the most trouble. We must re-formulate the fish scale register to clarify the messy land ownership and straighten out the roots and surface of the fields."

"Otherwise, countless land disputes and lawsuits would exhaust prefectural and county officials to the point of exhaustion."

After hearing these words, Bai Yan felt a headache coming on.

Zhao Yuan laughed and said, "I have already asked Lü Benzhong to pave the way for you and have the Lü family investigate the major clans in Luoyang. Last year, a group of them were separated and relocated."

"Otherwise, once you go to Henan, you'll find it extremely difficult to get around Luoyang."

Chapter 3259 Reforming the Labor Service

Bai Yan cupped his hands and said, "Your subject will do his utmost to accomplish this."

Zhao Yuan said, "No need to rush. If it doesn't work in three years, then six years will do. By the time you leave your post in Henan, you'll at least be a Minister."

Henan has a very serious problem: in a few prefectures and counties such as Luoyang, the current situation is that there is a shortage of land and a large population, and land consolidation is very serious.

However, many prefectures and counties have abundant land but sparse populations, and large tracts of land are even abandoned.

If the poll tax were directly incorporated into the land tax, it would have to be distributed equally across the province, resulting in a heavy burden on the people of wealthy prefectures and counties.

If the burden is not shared equally across provinces, even poor counties with small populations and large land areas will face a heavy burden.

Therefore, Bai Yan needed to first arrange for migration within the province, relocating the densely populated, wealthy counties to poorer counties with more land and fewer people in batches.

During the migration process, the counties also need to cooperate with each other to take the opportunity to investigate the land and sort out the mess of land ownership confirmation.

Implementing the land tax reform in Henan was even more difficult than in Jiangxi, because it brought together all the problems encountered in other provinces.

Jiangxi was relatively simple; all you had to do was be tough, bold, and crack down on the gentry with an iron fist!

Zhao Yuan patted Bai Yan on the shoulder: "After you establish a foothold in Henan, I can move the capital here with peace of mind. From now on, the area around Luoyang will become the capital region, and Kaifeng will become the capital of Henan Province."

"Are they really going to move the capital?"

Bai Yan was startled. He felt an even heavier burden on his shoulders. This was laying the groundwork for the imperial court to move the capital.

Zhao Yuan laughed and said, "Huang Guinian is quite capable, and he doesn't come from a prominent family. I'll send him to Henan to be your deputy."

"That's alright." Bai Yan recognized Huang Yaoshi.

The land tax reform of the Qing Dynasty was a continuation of the Single Whip Law of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, in some regions during the Ming Dynasty, officials had already done this. When carrying out the Single Whip Law reform, they would also whip the corvée labor service fee, which was called "corvée labor service with land" or "corvée labor service with grain".

Zhao Yuan's current system of merging land tax and poll tax is not linked to silver; instead, copper coins or grain can be paid.

In addition, Zhao Yuan dared not directly attribute the corvée labor of merchants and artisans to the land tax.

This stemmed from the abnormal urbanization development during the Song Dynasty, which led to an excessively high urbanization rate.

If the corvée labor fees of merchants and artisans were incorporated into the land tax, it would inevitably become unbearable for farmers.

The situation was different during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Due to the significant development of productivity, a large number of towns and cities emerged outside the city.

Centered around these small towns, a unique rural economic model has emerged in China, where farmers can obtain daily necessities by going to the market in the town.

To illustrate this, consider this statistic: during the Southern Song Dynasty's golden age, the number of small towns in the Jiangnan region was only a quarter of that in the Ming Dynasty.

During the Song Dynasty, displaced peasants flocked to the cities, resulting in fewer small towns.

It's like most of the small-town residents of the Ming and Qing dynasties became urban residents, so how could the urbanization rate not be high?

This phenomenon is caused by both insufficient development of productive forces and excessive exploitation of farmers by the government.

Even though Zhao Yuan abolished a large number of exorbitant taxes, the heavy tax tradition inherited from the Song Dynasty meant that the actual tax revenue of the new Ming Dynasty was still much heavier than that of previous dynasties.

Bai Yan held a pile of documents on the "equalization of land tax and poll tax," all of which were typical cases from the implementation in various provinces.

Zhao Yuan feared that local officials would be constrained, so he did not severely punish those officials who instigated popular uprisings, as long as their actions were not too outrageous. Instead, he would only symbolically deduct one or two months' salary.

Then, find another opportunity to reward them.

Some county magistrates even dispatched constables to go out of the city to arrest troublemakers.

The people were terrified and fled for their lives. They rushed to cross the bridge over the moat, and more than eighty people drowned. The court only fined them three months' salary.

Chapter 3260 Currency Reform

The county magistrate got away scot-free; instead, the one who conspired with the troublemakers was exiled to Youzhou with his entire family to farm.

The political signals were very clear, and many officials who wanted to climb the ranks were pushing hard to implement the land tax reform.

When Bai Yan arrived in Luoyang, Huang Guinian led officials out of the city to greet him.

Left Provincial Administration Commissioner Bai Yan, Right Provincial Administration Commissioner Huang Guinian, Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Zhang Yi, Military Commander Zhang Jin, and Prefect of Luoyang Lü Benzhong.

There were also officials such as councilors, prefects, and magistrates; these were the officials in the three levels of government in Luoyang.

Zhang Yi is a descendant of Zhang Dun. He usually seems like a nice guy, but he can make decisive decisions when it matters.

Historically, he was promoted to Minister of Revenue by Zhao Gou for solving money and grain problems on multiple occasions.

He also offered reasonable suggestions during the Miao-Liu Rebellion and understood the methods of attracting investment and establishing military farms, making him a pragmatic official of the Southern Song Dynasty.

In this timeline, Zhang Yi was promoted to Henan Provincial Surveillance Commissioner by Zhao Yuan for his effective implementation of the land tax reform.

Zhang Jin was an old man who followed Zhao Yuan in raising an army in Jinzhou. When he served as the commander-in-chief, he killed disobedient deputy generals without authorization, which seriously affected his subsequent promotion.

Because he lost a finger in battle, Zhao Yuan relegated him to the patrol system. After several military reforms, he was promoted to the position of Commander-in-Chief of Henan.

The officials of Luoyang held a welcoming banquet for Bai Yan, and the conversation was pleasant and harmonious.

The next day, Bai Yan asked Huang Guinian, "Brother Deshao, you are more familiar with Henan since you came here first. Which officials can work together with you?"

Huang Guinian smiled and said, "Either is fine."

Bai Yan suddenly realized that His Majesty had already made arrangements. He immediately summoned Zhang Yi, Zhang Jin, Lü Benzhong and others to discuss the matter.

Lü Benzhong was the most proactive. He was tricked by Zhao Yuan into going to Luoyang and, as a member of the Lü family, was responsible for investigating the Lü family.

Although they had long lived apart, the two Lüs shared the same origin. The Lü family of Luoyang hated Lü Benzhong to the core, and his reputation in Luoyang was completely ruined.

Since he was already in the wrong place, Lü Benzhong decided to go all out and focus on eliminating the powerful clans in Luoyang. He exiled nearly a hundred members of various clans to Shaanxi and Youzhou.

Last year, the large clan was split up again, and more than 2,000 people were relocated to various counties in the north.

"The people in the counties of Luoyang Prefecture are still too numerous for the land. We must relocate them southward within the province and reclaim the wasteland in the southern prefectures and counties!"

Lü Benzhong became increasingly ruthless.

Huang Guinian said, "Brother Yisou (Zhang Yi) is good at managing finances. We still need Brother Yisou to make more plans for the money, grain, seeds, oxen, and farm tools needed for the relocation of the people."

Zhang Yi said, "I am merely an inspector and have no authority to do these things."

Bai Yan said, "Then let's temporarily assign someone, and Mr. Zhang will take the lead."

Huang Guinian said, "General Yang and I will keep an eye on the immigration matter to prevent any trouble from arising."

Zhang Jin cupped his hands and said, "If any villains cause trouble, I will send troops to quell it!"

Zhang Yi cautioned, "Local magistrates and gentry are the ones who need to be appeased the most; if all else fails, force must be used."

Bai Yan said, "I will set off in a few days to inspect all the prefectures and counties in the province and talk to the local officials and gentry face to face."

"Understand their thoughts and demands, appease them if possible, and if appeasement fails, then use strong measures!"

"His Majesty says there's no rush and that the land tax reform in Henan will take six years, but how can we, as his subjects, delay?"

"Let's set a date today, and this matter must be completed within three years!"

Sichuan will temporarily refrain from implementing the land tax reform because currency reform is a more complex issue.

The imperial court wanted to gradually replace Sichuan's iron coins with silver dollars and copper coins, but it was too difficult to implement.

We cannot abolish iron coins directly, otherwise Sichuan will inevitably descend into chaos, and countless people's property will be wiped out.

However, if a gradual approach is desired, wealthy households become the biggest obstacle.

They would collect silver dollars and copper coins from the market and hide them in their cellars to pass on to their descendants.

The reform of Sichuan's currency in the early Northern Song Dynasty was ruined in this way; no matter how many copper coins were thrown into Sichuan, they were all secretly hoarded by wealthy households.

This infuriated the Northern Song court, which then abandoned all pretense of civil administration and issued an order prohibiting copper coins from entering Sichuan, in order to prevent copper coins from other provinces from being swept into the bottomless pit of Sichuan.

The Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue jointly formulated a currency exchange plan for Sichuan (and Hanzhong) last year.

First, the mints in Qionglai, Jialing, Ya'an, Li'an, Kuizhou, Meizhou, and Yizhou will be closed, and Sichuan will no longer mint iron coins.

The seven major mints in Sichuan (and Hanzhong) were converted into iron and steel smelting and ironware forging. Five of them were privatized, while the remaining two were converted into the forging of weapons and armor.