Chapter 100 24. Clarify Taxes and Mobilize Soldiers
Xiao Pingtai and his three followers set foot on his own territory for the first time. It felt a bit like a bully of a big landowner who led the thugs to collect rent in the village.
Bah, bah, bah, Xiaopingtai is a big landowner, why is he a rent-collecting bastard?
I imagined the kind of landowner who goes to the countryside and sees the daughter of a poor tenant farmer, and is shocked at first sight. Wow, there is such a beautiful woman in the world, and then she wants to be raped as a concubine. At this time, the handsome male protagonist appears as a hero to save the beauty, saves his childhood sweetheart, and starts his life journey of fucking the world.
Of course, in reality, there can be no beautiful girls in poor villages. When they heard that Xiao Pingtai came to inspect the territory, the old and young of the two villages were called out to meet their future lord. Xiao Pingtai briefly scanned the crowd. He was one meter three tall, with yellow hair, a sallow face and thin muscles. She was a village girl who was bent over by life at the age of ten. What is so good about her? I'm afraid I'm not blind!
Xiao Ping was not very interested in reading any more. What was there to see about these humble and cowardly ordinary citizens?
However, they would still do things to save face. Several village elders came to Xiao Pingtai and bowed first. Then he respectfully presented a roll of tanned leather, roughly a piece of deerskin. Then a person presented a piece of fine white silk. Although it was not the kind of colorful silk, it was excellent for making a lining.
After accepting their gifts, Xiao Pingtai thought to herself that you looked very poor and shabby on the outside, but it turned out that you still had some wealth in your heart.
Under the expectant eyes of this group of people, Xiaoping Tai announced loudly that he would never charge extra money or increase annual tribute, and everything would remain unchanged as before.
After hearing this, the people of the lords breathed a long sigh of relief, thinking that they had met a good lord, who at least did not increase taxes and was not rude. This is already great, I don’t dare to expect too much.
Koheita waved his hand and dismissed the residents, and then summoned two locals. He saw that there was an old acquaintance, a big brother who helped Koheita organize Yamauchi Town when he was Uchida Governor.
It was convenient to talk to acquaintances. Xiaopingtai asked about the basic situation of these two villages. There were 42 households with military service members. Basically, each household had two or more male males. According to two-thirds or more With a mobilization rate of three-quarters, there can be about 30 simply armed peasant soldiers and ashigaru. Due to the large amount of real estate, the two village chiefs must provide two more horse-riding lords and four ashigaru. Xiao Pingtai made some calculations, and found that these five hundred territory could gather 40 to 50 combat-effective soldiers, and 60 to 70 miscellaneous fish, which could be considered a somewhat useful force. Coupled with the twelve bows and arrows or iron cannon ashigaru that have been expanded to the feudal obligations they bear, and the three followers who carry the flag, the team of 150 people can rise in two days.
Looking at the situation in the village, they are all ordinary paddy fields connected to the river. They are cropped twice a year (two crops), growing winter wheat and rice. A small part of the vegetable fields and dry land are planted with buckwheat, soybeans, radish, eggplant and other crops. In addition to the inherent agriculture, there are also some hunting and gathering activities, as well as a small number of mulberry trees, silkworms and silk weaving. The entire village is still the same as it was a hundred, two hundred or even five hundred years ago. Although the production methods have improved, the increase in population has still offset the increase in agricultural production. Finally, the products are quite abundant, and the local people can barely survive.
The Yamauchi family implements the policy of five public and five citizens, which at first glance is quite scary, which means that 50% of the annual income must be handed over to the public. Then after the subjects whose main income is food pay the annual tribute and leave the seeds for the next year, the remaining food may not even be enough to eat. But it's actually not that exaggerated. The Yamauchi clan calculated based on the annual rice production of the land of 2,000 dan, which means that this land must pay 1,000 dan of rice to the lord, Yamauchi Yoshiharu, or pay Yongle money of 250 kumon every year, or The bad money is a thousand guanwen. It is really not possible to just pay this amount with anything. Of course, now that this land has been sealed to Koheita, all the money and materials originally given to Yamauchi Yoshiharu can only be handed over to Koheita.
In addition to rice, other grains produced by this land are not included in the tax calculation, and the handmade products produced by the farmers themselves as a family unit are not included in the tax calculation. The residents can also rely on other grains produced and sold for money. handmade products survive.
Of course, with the urinary behavior of the lords in feudal society, it is impossible for the common people to live a good life. The remaining 1,000 shi of rice actually did not fall into the hands of the farmers. The farmers were required to pay a separate fee, a grain fee, a suspension fee, and seven to ten days of self-expense service every year.
Of course, Yamauchi Yoshiharu has not inspected the land for more than ten years. It is hard to say whether the annual rice production is still 2,000 koku. From Xiao Pingtai's point of view, it must be more than that. The group of secretive farmers on the way into the village, who kept talking to and interrupting him, were trying their best to prevent Xiao Pingtai from noticing any changes in the actual output of the land. But Xiaopingtai is not a hard-core official. There is no need to talk about these things. Everyone has to live their lives.
There is another one. The two village chiefs are considered the lowest class owners. They own the most land. Then there are the yeoman farmers on small plots of land, most of whom are military service members. The last one is the tenant farmers, who only own part of the land. Permanent tenancy rights and land ownership in the land. This is what ancient China called Tianpi (permanent tenancy) and Tiangu (ownership). This is a kind of power that can be inherited and transferred.
This part of the tenants also needs to pay rent, that is, in addition to the annual tribute rent of the lord, they also pay a part of the rent to the landlord. Fortunately, this part generally does not exceed 50% of the annual rice production, but it also makes these tenants almost destitute. Xiao Pingtai was a tenant farmer. He worked hard for a year and could not earn two kan of money. Most of it had to be used to deal with various taxes. He was the most miserable group in the countryside.
In short, Xiao Pingtai did not have much ability to change the current situation in the countryside. If this thing wanted to change, this book would be over, 404. Moreover, he saw that even the tenants in the village were not the kind of people who would fall down at the slightest breeze. After all, as long as they did not manage the land, everyone would have a way to make a living. They might not have enough food, but they could survive by drinking porridge every day.
I visited the lives of the military conscripts and there was nothing much to say. Xiao Pingtai had also experienced the life of a farmer. There was never enough food to eat, and he did not know any other technical work. He could only maintain his life by fighting.
There are two updates today.