In the early Qing Dynasty, people's livelihood was depressed because of the war, so after the domestic stability was basically stable, the key work of Kangxi Dynasty was to restore social and economic production and improve productivity. But the Qing dynasty, like his brother before, was an agricultural empire, so agricultural development became an important task of the Qing empire.
After Kangxi came to power, in order to improve productivity and arouse people's enthusiasm for work, he not only encouraged people to reclaim wasteland and abandoned landless land, but also returned Wangzhuang official land confiscated by the previous dynasty to the people for farming, that is, renamed land. When people have land, they will naturally have the enthusiasm for work.
Furthermore, in order to alleviate social contradictions, the Qing dynasty also abolished the dependent agricultural system of the Ming dynasty. Dependent farmers are serfs, and there are two sources, one is slave trade, and the other is farmers investing in tax avoidance in the name of aristocratic families. These two sources have a common feature, that is, the transfer of means of production and the establishment of personal attachment. So there were a large number of serfs in the Ming Dynasty, and there were even thousands of servants in the history books. At the same time, due to the intensification of contradictions between slave owners and serfs, slavery began to sweep across the country.
Slavery was put down after the Qing dynasty entered the customs. In order to alleviate social contradictions and increase the financial revenue of the imperial court, the Qing Dynasty learned the lessons of the Ming Dynasty, forbidding large households to buy serfs and establish personal attachment with farmers, and advocating servants to become tenant farmers. Therefore, in the Draft of the History of Qing Dynasty, the description of peasant resistance changed from slave owners who killed slaves in the Ming Dynasty to traitors and stubborn tenant farmers. So, in any case, this is the progress of the Qing Dynasty.
This was also the early economic policy of the Qing Empire, which also led to a series of subsequent policies.
Joining Mu and the integration of officials and gentry should be put together, because they are complementary and indispensable. Ding tax, that is, poll tax, had to control the population flow in order to stabilize the tax source in past dynasties. After all, it is an agricultural country, and collecting poll tax has become a method to control population flow.
However, due to the per capita tax, the burden of the landlord class is very small, while the burden of farmers is increasing. Because the landlord class doesn't care much about poll tax, farmers' income is not high, and collecting poll tax can only intensify social contradictions. Therefore, by spreading the tax into the land tax and fixing it, the poll tax was abolished and the economic pressure of the people was alleviated. Moreover, the abolition of poll tax is equivalent to the liberalization of population movement, and ordinary people can move freely, which objectively promotes the development of industry and commerce.
The integration of officials and gentry to collect grain is to abolish the privilege of respecting gentry not paying taxes and not collecting grain, so that they can pay taxes like farmers. This is actually a means to combat land merger, because land merger will intensify social contradictions and lead to peasant resistance, because nobles and gentry in previous dynasties have the privilege of not paying taxes, while the poor have to pay high taxes.
However, the Qing dynasty was different. The integration of officials and gentry to collect grain and spread the land into acres shows that the Qing Empire only wanted to pay taxes on the land, whoever had more land paid more taxes, and whoever had less land did not have to pay taxes, although a tenant farmer in the Qing Dynasty could cultivate as much as 40 acres of cultivated land.
To return envy to the public is to transfer fire consumption from ordinary people to the country. Fire consumption means that local officials will levy more money and silver on the grounds of consumption when collecting money tax. Moreover, fire consumption is actually a tool for officials to collect money, because the salary of officials has been very low since the Ming Dynasty, so fire consumption is also a tool for officials to make up for the lack of salary. In addition, there is no quota for the use of fire, which is completely determined by the mood and morality of local officials. Of course, there were honest officials who didn't accept fire consumption in all previous dynasties, but there were also corrupt officials who collected high fire consumption, which is why there is a saying that the magistrate has three years to clear up and the snow is 100 thousand silver.
Moreover, burning fire has become a tool for corrupt officials to honor and bribe their superiors, so burning fire has caused a huge burden to the people. Good years are better, but famine years will definitely lead to civil strife. Therefore, the envy of returning to the public means that the Qing empire gave up the transfer of fire consumption to the people and was replaced by the empire. At the same time, in order to prevent officials from plundering the fat and cream of the people, the Qing Empire gave officials a raise, that is, Yanglianyin. After all, one can't count on one's moral quality.
At the same time, the land tax of the Qing empire was still very low, only 2% to 4%. Moreover, the Qing Empire also attached great importance to livelihood projects, such as controlling river disasters and building water conservancy projects to protect people's livelihood. What's more, the Qing Empire also had a perfect disaster prevention and relief system. Therefore, this series of policies of the Qing empire improved social and economic productivity, eased social contradictions, and the imperial fiscal revenue also increased significantly.
We can quote a Yunnan farmer's evaluation of the tax revenue of the Qing Empire in the early years of the Republic of China:
The collection rate of land tax in Qing dynasty was extremely light. Although the name comes from ancient signs, it is actually less than 5%. Comparatively speaking, the national land tax collection rate is heavier in three rivers and two lakes. If it is in the southwest province, it is only one twentieth. The land tax in Yunnan is getting lighter and lighter. My family has ten acres of land, and I only receive 120 San Qian silver a year, which also includes all kinds of bad rules such as levy and flat ticket fees. Compared with today's collection, purchase and borrowing, it is very different.
So, this is the reproduction of people who will never be given. At the same time, it laid the foundation for the prosperity of Kanggan, because the idea of ordinary people is very simple, that is, they can eat and wear warm clothes, that is, they have enough food and clothing, so it is already a prosperous time for ordinary people to have enough food and clothing.
However, in the heyday of the Qing Empire, the people were not just fed and clothed. In the prosperous time of Kanggan, new luxury standards appeared in many places, and even every household in many poor provinces had surplus grain, so their lives could be guaranteed. Otherwise, how could the Qing Empire have the only population explosion in classical times?
So this is one of the reasons why the Qing Empire was highly respected.