Chapter 649: The Reign of Heavenly Blessing (Part 1)

Time flies, and three years have passed in a blink of an eye. Now is the early spring of the seventh year of Tianyou.

It has been six years since the beginning of the new policy of Tianyou. In these five years, the imperial power has been unprecedentedly strong, the court has been extremely efficient, and the harassment and exploitation of the people has also dropped to the lowest point in history.

Once the burden on the people is reduced, the problem of refugees that has plagued the Three Kingdoms for a long time will be cured in Qin State without any medicine. In the past six years, a large number of refugees have basically returned to the countryside, and their household registration has quickly become popular. According to the first national census in Tianyou in the sixth year, the national population has surged from 5 million households to 25 million households and more than 5 million strong men in the late Zhaowu year to nearly 10 million households, 50 million people, and nearly 15 million strong men.

The reason why the population has increased explosively in just seven or eight years is that before Tianyou, the imperial court implemented taxation on dim mu, so the situation of hiding household registration was extremely serious. Especially adult men between the ages of sixteen and forty, were greatly concealed, so the joke of one household being one dim occurred.

Second, the policy relaxation, the burden is reduced, and the return of a large number of refugees. These two items are the main reasons for the short-term surge in the registered population. As for the improvement of people's living standards and the court's long-term factors such as the encouragement of childbirth, the time is still short and has not had much impact yet.

But in any case, the population growth has brought unprecedentedly powerful labor to the country. In five years, more than 1.3 million hectares of newly reclaimed land in the country, bringing the area of ​​registered arable land to 4 million hectares. The court has invested huge sums of money to build 77 large and small water conservancy projects such as reservoirs and canals, making the area of ​​irrigable arable land in the country reach 2 million hectares.

At this time, 40% of the cultivated land in the country planted rice and 60% planted wheat. One mu of rice can harvest two stones and four dou of rice, one stone with one stone in the middle field, one mu of rice in the middle field, and one mu of rice in the lower field can harvest one mu of rice in eight dou of rice in the year, two or three ripening in a year. The wheat millet is ripening in a year or three ripening in two years, with an average yield of two stones per mu, and a folded noodles can also be one stone. In other words, the average yield of one stone per mu in the country can harvest two and a half stone per year.

The country's four million hectares of arable land is 40 million mu, and the total grain output in the sixth year of Tianyou reached 1 billion stones. Even if the imperial court was lightly taxed and taxed, the tax revenue this year could reach 50 million stones. Although the rapid increase in output caused the grain price to fall year by year, the tax could reach about 40 million taels of taels of tax.

The grain tax alone reached twice that of the Zhaowu period. In addition, the annual tax of 15 million taels reached a terrifying 55 million taels, which has exceeded the comprehensive combination of Qi and Chu countries.

According to the "Qin Empire Food and Goods Record", starting from the third year of Tianyou, the granaries in various parts of Daqin were filled with grain. Due to the surge in production, the capacity of the often closed warehouses was insufficient. From the third year of Tianyou to the sixth year of Tianyou, more than 5,000 new granaries were added nationwide, storing more than one billion stones of grain. This was because King Wucheng implemented a special plan to dump a large amount of Chen grain into Qi and Chu, otherwise there would be huge waste of "Chen and Chen, rotten and inedible".

The great historian Fan Zhongyan was in his late years at that time. In his writings, he recalled the glorious scenery at that time and said, "During the Tianyou period, the government was harmonious; the national treasury was full, the people were rich; if there was no road to death, the family had enough wealth; if the granaries were enough, the goods were prosperous!" It was not without emotion, and it was called "Governance of Tianyou".

Fan Wenzheng's "Grills are enough, and the goods are flourishing" shows the prosperity of industry and commerce at that time. As the people were able to eat a lot, middle-aged and upper-class families had more money. People had higher requirements for the quality of life, hoping to wear better, eat more efficiently, use more comfortably, and live more generously, so industry and commerce that transports goods to the world and meets people's needs flourished.

In addition, the imperial court greatly encouraged industry and commerce, not only legally clarified the provisions of "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, all equality", but also built roads, widened canals, and provided convenient transportation for business travel in the north and south. It also canceled the original tax cards, strictly prohibited discrimination against merchants, and did not allow repeated taxes to be imposed on merchants... Especially in the fourth year of Tianyou, the imperial court severely punished private tax cards that were prohibited and unstoppable. In two months, more than 1,000 heads landed, and more than 7,000 officials and relatives were exiled, which effectively shocked the court and the public, making exploitation difficult for merchants to greatly restrain their behavior, and gave the Qin merchants an unprecedented golden opportunity.

For a time, the number of people who were interested in industry and commerce surged. Tianyou applied for low-interest loans from Huaxia Piaohao for six years alone reached more than 30,000, and the amount reached nearly 10 million taels.

The prosperous business brought equally considerable taxes. The new policy of Tianyou adopted the "eleventh tax" for industry and commerce. When the new policy of Tianyou was first implemented in the second year, the total amount of industrial and commercial taxes collected was 7 million taels; Tianyou increased to 11 million taels in three years, and by the fourth year of Tianyou, it reached 18 million taels, Tianyou finally broke through the 20 million mark in five years, and in the sixth year of Tianyou, it reached a height of 25 million taels... It has exceeded the total tax revenue during the Zhaowu year. It can be said that it is one step a year, with significant growth every year.

In addition, since the fifth year of Tianyou, the six major revival yamen in the country finally began to distribute dividends. Among them, the earliest Southern Revival yamen was established, and in the second year of Tianyou, it began to donate money to shareholders. As the Qin court, which enjoyed 40% of the six major yamen, the income alone reached 10 million taels.

The four items, including field tax, Ding tax, industrial and commercial tax, and dividends, constitute the main income of the Qin court, with a total amount of 90 million taels, which is twice the total of Qi and Chu!

What’s even more terrifying is that the Qin State’s tax level is quite low, which means that there is a massive amount of wealth hidden among the people. As long as there is a need, it can burst out with lasting and strong strength!

In terms of strength alone, Qin finally surpassed Qi and Chu, achieving the first inequality in two hundred years!

But Qin Lei knew very well that money was scrap metal in the warehouse, and only in the hands of the people was wealth and could bring more wealth. Therefore, under his leadership, the ability of the court to spend money was equally terrible. The expenditure on water conservancy and transportation construction alone reached 20 million taels per year, regardless of the cost.

Of course, this large-scale and protracted national project is also an important factor in the rapid development of industry and commerce. Without these huge amounts of wealth flowing into the people, it would be difficult for the emerging industrial and commercial class of the Qin Dynasty to complete its original accumulation and would not become bigger and stronger so quickly.

While the country is rich and the people are strong and the people live a stable and prosperous life, Qin Lei did not relax the reshaping of the spirit of the people of the Qin Dynasty. Through the rap masters in teahouses and wine shops and the performance stages on the countryside villages, various heroic dramas such as "Li Shimin vs. Wang Shichong" and "Guan Yunlong rides a thousand miles apart" were staged, subtly cultivating the martial spirit of the people, and openly claiming that "there should be only one country in China, that is our Qin!" The people of the Qin Dynasty were always full of desire to expand their territory and unify the Three Kingdoms.

Naturally, the military expenditure of the Qin Dynasty also increased year by year. Tianyou reached 43 million taels in six years, and Tianyou's military budget for seven years even reached 50 million taels, which has exceeded the Qi and Chu countries.

Qin Lei's idea of ​​building the army was very clear, "Cabines are the basis, develop naval troops, and expand infantry!" After the Qin-Qi War in the late Zhaowu year, Qin Lei did not blindly rebuild cavalry, but limited the number of cavalry except Zhennan Army to the current 200,000. Instead, he increased investment in response to the weak infantry in the Qin Dynasty and expanded the number of infantry except Zhennan Army to 400,000... These include the 300,000 infantry trained by Marshal Boshang, and the 100,000 Zhendong Infantry Army. The cost of raising these 400,000 infantry is about 20 million taels per year... This is because the soldiers of the Qin Dynasty generally adopt the military service system and do not have to pay too much military pay. Otherwise, according to the current labor cost of the Qin Dynasty, Qin Lei's military expenditure is not enough.

At the same time, in order to deal with the Qi and Chu coalition forces that would inevitably come, Qin Lei began to allocate special military expenses of 10 million taels per year to Marshal Boshang for him to expand his military strength and build warships. At the 18th year of Zhaowu, Qin Lei knew that raising a water army was more fucking money than raising a cavalry. Those mighty warships were all piled up with money!

But this does not mean that cavalry is no longer important in Qin State. Qin Lei piloted the volunteer army system among the 200,000 cavalry units, intending to build a professional army that is brave, good at fighting, rich in experience, full of pride and sacrifice. Strictly and difficult to control the army through actual combat, turning it into the backbone of the Qin army and a killing weapon that swept the world. Fortunately, this army is ready-made, and only needs to pay military pay, replenish war horses, and replace the military equipment, which is also... 20 million taels per year.

This army made of gold is full of veterans with combat experience, as well as the vast number of new recruits who grew up in the Tianyou era, full of pride and confidence. They are both experienced and fighting spirit, well-equipped and rigorous in training. It is no exaggeration to say that they are at the best moment in history.

Although the number is less than one million, it is a real elite army. Its combat power has far exceeded the level before the Qin and Qi war, and is in sharp contrast with the Qi army, which is troubled and declining.
Chapter completed!