Poetry can prove history.
Mr. Chen Yinque's Poems on Bai Yuan is an example.
Because the creative process of poetry not only embodies the poet's talent, but also injects the poet's emotions (including sadness and even complaints), many poems are full of distinct love and hate.
Looking for the shadow of tax in ancient poetry has to involve these two aspects.
I collected and read ancient poems related to taxation, but when I saw that piece of paper full of resentment, it was all about extortion by corrupt officials, bitter and sad tears, and a feeling of pain crossed my mind: in the eyes and pen of the poet, the image of ancient taxation was so embarrassing.
In fact, there is no way not to be embarrassed.
Examining China's historical tax revenue from the perspective of grand history, 1 is one of the reasons that caused or contributed to years of turmoil, people's hunger, long feudal society and slow social and economic development in constant destruction and collapse.
Looking at the historical classics from the perspective of taxation, there are not only a few Qingming prosperous times created by frivolous and thin taxes, but also various kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, violent officials, tax refugees and "taxpayer riots" ...
In this way, the ancient tax poems witnessed the history of China's tax revenue, which was fresh and embarrassing for later generations to read. On the one hand, it is the change of tax system in past dynasties, on the other hand, it is the poet's endless resentment against taxes.
First, the tax system in ancient poetry promotes reform
1, Tian's help
The history of China is the history of agricultural society and the extremely underdeveloped commodity economy.
Under this condition, taxes are mostly linked with land, food and taxes.
The earliest form of taxation is to set aside a small piece (about one tenth) of "public land" in a large private land (mine field): the production of private land belongs to private ownership, and all families devote themselves to public ownership in the public domain.
This form of taxation is called "Fu" in ancient books, and this form of raising public land together is the earliest land tax 2.
In the Book of Songs, there are many articles about this scene of "sharing commons".
More concentrated are The Book of Songs Zhou Song Slaughters 3, The Book of Songs Zhou Song Xie 4, The Book of Songs Jin Feng July 7th 5.
When working on public land, it is said that as many as 20 thousand people plow there, which is very spectacular. During this year, the labor on public land continued.
"On the third day, farm tools were repaired in the first month, and on the fourth day, I stood on tiptoe (land reclamation in February).
With my wife and children (and women and children), I'll take a south acre (take the rice to the ground to eat) "6.
In addition to working in the public land, farmers have to serve other kinds of corvees, and the division of labor between men and women is different.
"Well, I am a farmer, and my crops are the same. I went to the palace to repair the housekeeper's house.
In the grass during the day (cutting thatch during the day) and in the rope at night (rubbing hemp rope at night).
The house is in a hurry (repair it quickly), and Baijia Valley will be broadcast soon.
""recorded in August (hemp weaving began in August), recorded in yellow (dyed black, red or yellow).
I'm Zhu Kongyang (the brightest one dyed scarlet), and I'm wearing a childe costume (aristocratic childe costume).
..... I will hunt raccoons on the first day (1 1 month), bring a fox (skinned), and make fur coats for Qiu Gongzi (aristocratic children).
"Ancient poetry, this is the record of early embryo national tax.
2. Leasing and transferring courses
If Princess Car is the largest main tax in China's tax history, then the more mature people's tone and people's tone will be the second main tax.
Its legal spirit is that "land must have rent (land tax), body must have mediocrity (labor), and family must have tune (specialty)" 7.
In the agricultural society, the commodity economy is underdeveloped, the role of money is not very prominent, and people's daily needs may be more reflected in things such as food and clothing.
Therefore, the land tax mostly adopts the way of grain requisition, and the tone is mostly manifested in fabrics and so on.
Therefore, the description of tax image in ancient poetry is mostly reflected in farmers or "weavers", as can be seen from the following poems.
Yuan Zhen (779 ~ 83 1), a writer in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem "The Weaver Girl", which can reflect the country's need for "tune" at that time: the weaver was too busy and the silkworm was tired of walking in three beds.
Silkworm sacred algae have become silk, and silk tax was levied at the beginning of this year.
Early recruitment is not a bad official, but last year's business.
Recruit people to suffer, and the Lord respects the curtain.
Silk reeling is still hard and difficult to weave.
The boss has a white daughter and can't get married to solve the problem.
There are spiders on the ground on the hairspring curled in front of the eaves.
I admire him for solving the fate of the sky and weaving the net into the void.
It can be seen that due to the needs of the campaign, the housekeeper's silk tax was not only levied in advance, but also seemed to be aggravated, so that the weaver had to "work hard" and the master's daughter "could not marry to solve the problem" ...
3. The symbol of continuous tribute
The demand for medicinal materials and rare things is also a common product in the national treasury.
Special products from different regions can be called "regular tribute" in terms of tax items.
According to the laws of the Tang dynasty, these rewards can be converted into silk prices and into corresponding tax obligations.
That is, "the contribution of each county is made by local people, and silk is the price" and "the rent is also discounted, and other subjects are not levied".
For example, Huayin County's task is "ten kites, five black storks, thirty-eight catties of Poria, four catties of Asarum, and thirty-eight catties of Shen Fu", and Anton Khufu needs to "contribute five catties of ginseng, ...", and list the regular tributes from all over the country.
In the late Tang Dynasty, Lu Guimeng's poem "New Sand" reflected this collection of continuous tributes: "A small dike rises in the sound of the waves, and the seagulls know it only after the official knows it.
Penglai has a road teacher and has to pay an annual tax.
"Among them, it is said that Penglai is the place where Ganoderma lucidum and Xiancao are paid as taxes every year.
4. The change of "two taxes", social unrest and land annexation in the middle and late Tang Dynasty seriously damaged the tax base (household registration) of "Rent Adjustment Law", and the principle of "taxation according to tax" lost its foundation of existence more and more.
In the first year of Dezong's conquest of China (AD 780), Prime Minister Yang Yan put forward the famous "two tax laws".
The remarkable feature of the "two tax laws" is that it has changed the practice of collecting corvees according to their mouths, and most corvees come from poor working people. It takes the amount of property as the tax basis, which not only broadens the scope of taxation, increases fiscal revenue, but also makes the tax burden relatively fair and reasonable, and reduces the tax burden of poor people to some extent.
However, the good times did not last long, and tax increases made the people miserable.
Liu Zeng, a bachelor of Hanlin, said that farmers have "eight hardships", including exorbitant taxes, exorbitant taxes by officials, and tax evasion by households.
As a result, the implementation of the "two tax laws" soon failed.
The poem Unknown Tax by Bai Juyi, a famous poet in Tang Dynasty, reflects and analyzes the process of these two tax laws from prosperity to decline, which is worthy of being a vivid record of tax history.
The poem is as follows:
Planting Sang Ma thickly is to benefit the people;
Life is fabric and silk, and everyone has thought about it.
Make up the external signs and serve the king;
The state set up two taxes, the original intention is to worry about the people.
At the beginning of Jue, she was harmed, and both internal and external ministers knew it;
Tax plus one thing is all in vain.
But after a long time, corrupt officials have to follow suit;
I am eager to spoil, there is no winter and spring.
Silk is not woven into a horse, and it is not beneficial to reel it;
Xu Li forced me to accept, and I was not allowed to wander around for the time being.
At the end of the year, the evil wind broke the village;
There is endless smoke in the middle of the night, and it is white and boundless.
Young people don't cover, and the elderly are not warm;
Sadness and cold are pungent in the nose.
Yesterday, I lost my residual tax because I peeked at the official treasury door;