Free Web NovelChapter 1257: Chapter 1225: Resignation from Office (2)
"Each household may only be drafted once every three years; you must not continuously draw corvée laborers from the same household for three consecutive years." Zhao Hanzhang paused, unable to think of anything more specific, and turned to ask Ji Yuan, "Imperial Attendant Ji, do you have anything to add?"
Ji Yuan said, "For repairs to the offices of each prefecture and county, official residences, and other undertakings that benefit officials, corvée labor must not be drafted. They must spend their own money and request the dispatch of paid workers. For projects such as repairing bridges and roads, and waterworks that benefit the people, I also recommend the method of hiring."
Zhao Hanzhang nodded. King Langya had only just come over to their side, Wang Dun was not dead yet, and they had already agreed that in the next two years they would rest together with the people and arrange as little corvée service as possible.
Since they wanted to reduce the levying of corvée labor, then what was to be done with this world where everything lay in ruins and awaited revival?
Naturally, it would be the court that spent money, and the Inspector Mansion, Governor Mansion, and county government in each region that spent money. This national policy was originally to be promulgated after the New Year. Since Zu Ti had asked, and the discussion had gone this far, they might as well make public what they had previously agreed upon, and let the civil and military officials prepare themselves.
Zu Ti had no objections; Zhao Cheng, however, felt that she was merely changing to another way of exploiting the people’s strength. Unhappy, he said, "Since the Great General wishes to rest together with the people, then these constructions that will consume the people’s strength should be halted. Whether you hire the people to build or conscript them as corvée, are you not making them work all the same? What is the difference between the two?"
Zhao Hanzhang said, "There is still a great difference: in one case they get paid, in the other they don’t."
Zhao Cheng was stunned. Only after a while did he say, "The court now enjoys great popular support. So long as the schools and government offices explain the matter to the people in detail, I believe they will be willing to forgo pay and still see the roads, bridges, and waterworks properly built. Since the people will be made to toil in any case, why make this extra effort and put strain on the state treasury and local offices?"
"At present, the state treasury and local offices all have no money. The funds they pay to the hired workers must also come from taxes, and taxes come from the people." In Zhao Cheng’s view, what Zhao Hanzhang proposed was simply money going from the left hand to the right, complicated for no reason and wasting the human resources of court officials, so he proposed, "You may levy corvée labor, but reduce a certain portion of the taxes."
In this way, the reduced taxes left in the households of the people would be equivalent to wages paid out to them, and one step of handing the money over to the government would be saved.
Do not underestimate that paying taxes is just a single process—within this one process the expenditures are very large.
Government Officials are needed to collect the taxes, transport them, store them, then total them up; what is sent to the Capital City, what is kept locally, what is then released from storage to each project section, and finally distributed to the workers according to their labor—every step requires manpower, and every step entails loss.
In Zhao Cheng’s view, this portion of the loss could be avoided.
Zhao Hanzhang understood what Zhao Cheng meant. In fact, he was not wrong: if implemented as he suggested, it could indeed reduce loss, and the people would benefit as well.
However, the value created when money circulates is higher. Naturally, the expansion of loss is inevitable, but the mentality of going out to work and receiving wages is completely different from that of the court reducing taxes so that the household retains some extra grain. The difference in mentality leads to completely different attitudes toward consumption.
Moreover, Zhao Cheng was too idealistic. Who could guarantee that the loss incurred under his method would be less than that from turning the taxes around once and distributing them as wages to the workers?
Most crucially, not all corvée laborers would come to enlist as hired workers, and not all hired workers were corvée laborers. They had to leave a path of advancement for those who dared to venture, dared to push forward, and were both diligent and clever.
Who could say this was not an opportunity?
But how was she to explain such things to her gentlemanly Uncle Cheng?
After thinking for quite a while, Zhao Hanzhang turned to the Little Emperor and said, "Your Majesty, I see that among the newly compiled reading list for the students, some books overlap somewhat in content. And I see that the students are all very young; there is no need to overburden them with study time. It would be better to remove one title and order the Imperial College Doctors to compile new teaching materials, so that such situations will occur less in the future."
"Aside from books, the students must not neglect ritual, music, archery, and charioteering. These aspects should be strengthened. Why not add one more session in ritual and music for them?"
The Little Emperor nodded, indifferent either way.
Zhao Hanzhang smiled and said, "Your Majesty’s lessons should be adjusted along with theirs. Reduce one session of Confucian classics and add one session of ritual and music."
The Little Emperor brightened slightly and nodded. "Very well."
Zhao Hanzhang continued, "I see that Your Majesty has been very diligent of late, and your studies have shown progress. Over this past year, even when ill you still attended the grand court meetings; this has truly been too exhausting. As an emperor, you should balance work and rest. I think your assignments henceforth should be fewer, and the Grand Tutors may make the lessons more plain and easy to understand."
"At Your Majesty’s age, studying the ’Great Learning’ and the ’Doctrine of the Mean’ is still somewhat difficult. From now on, during the morning minor court session, you may leave an hour early and arrange that time as you see fit. Should there be any urgent matter in state affairs, I will send someone to invite you to confer."
