Chapter 82 The terrible truth
"I also found it strange at first, but after asking the people on the boat, I learned that many people drowned their children because they could not afford to raise them," said Gu Tingye.
"Can't afford it?" Zhao Xing was stunned and said, "Is it because of the Ding tax?"
In the Song Dynasty, it was stipulated that a man was considered a Ding at the age of 20 and an old man at the age of 60. All men between the ages of 20 and 60 were required to pay Dingshen money.
The Ding tax is commonly known as the head tax. No matter whether you have land or income, you must pay it as long as you meet the age requirement.
Logically speaking, at the age of 20, one has become an adult and is capable of supporting oneself, so the parents do not need to bear the burden of the Ding tax.
But the actual situation is not like this. When the imperial court is short of money, the age for paying the poll tax will be advanced.
As a result, male adults had to pay the tax even when they were no longer able to support themselves.
"Yes." Gu Tingye nodded, hesitated for a moment and said: "Many people have no land and rely on being tenants to make a living. They are simply unable to raise so many children, so they can only drown their children."
Zhao Xing fell silent after hearing this. There were not so many contraceptive measures in ancient times, and people gave birth to children one after another.
It is said that having many children means more blessings, but for those people who don’t even have land, it may not be a blessing.
Without land, they had to work as tenants and accept exploitation from the landlords. On top of that, they had to pay exorbitant taxes from the court. Life was already extremely difficult and they were simply unable to raise so many children.
For those with many children, the only option is to drown them.
Human beings are actually a kind of animal. They have their own civilization and know the principles of propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame.
But when faced with desperate situations, humans are no different from animals.
When animals are desperate, they will eat their own children to ensure their survival. When people are desperate, they will eat dirt and tree roots. In the end, when they have no other choice, they will become like animals.
However, humans are advanced animals and cannot bear to kill their own children, so they choose to eat their own children.
When food is scarce, animals will abandon weaker children to ensure that the stronger offspring survive.
People do the same thing when they can’t support themselves.
Drowning baby girls can be said to be a sign of the people's ignorance, but drowning even baby boys, how desperate must one be to make such a decision?
And are all those who drowned baby girls ignorant?
Maybe many of them cannot be supported.
Since there are limited offspring to raise, it is natural to choose males.
Zhao Xing was filled with anger when he saw someone trying to drown a baby today.
When he heard that infanticide was a common practice in many places, he also thought about using strict laws to prohibit this phenomenon.
But only now did he realize that the root cause was actually the imperial court.
If the people could be fed, there would probably be fewer cases of infant drowning.
"I understand. You guys can go back." Zhao Xing waved his hands weakly.
"Your Highness, are you okay?" Gu Tingye asked with some concern.
"I'm fine." Zhao Xing shook his head.
How could he be okay? Zhao Xing is not a saint. If he were just an ordinary person, he would be angry but not so sad if he knew all this.
But he was the crown prince, the future emperor, and all the people in the world were his subjects. He knew clearly that the people were living in dire straits, but he was powerless to change anything.
This feeling of powerlessness made him feel suffocated.
Upon hearing this, Gu Tingye and Qi Heng stood up, bowed, and walked out.
"Yuan Ruo, are you okay?"
After leaving the East Palace, Gu Tingye looked at Qi Heng, who seemed a little absent-minded.
"Zhong Huai, is what you just said true?" Qi Heng asked after he came back to his senses.
This incident was not only a great shock to Zhao Xing, but also to him. Because of his background, Qi Heng had no idea of the suffering of the people, and he could not imagine that such a tragedy could happen in the world.
"The truth is even more cruel than what I said." Gu Tingye said.
"Is there no way to solve it?" Qi Heng asked.
"How to solve it? Most of the land in the world is in the hands of landlords and gentry. How difficult is it to ensure that everyone who tills the land owns the land? Otherwise, why do you think His Highness didn't continue talking just now? Because His Highness knows that this problem cannot be solved in a short time."
Gu Tingye patted Qi Heng on the shoulder and said, "But don't worry too much. Your Highness is a man of great talent and strategy. I believe that Your Highness will be able to solve these problems in the future. We can just assist Your Highness wholeheartedly in the future."
"Yeah." Qi Heng nodded firmly.
"It's getting dark, let's go home." Gu Tingye said.
……
After Gu Tingye and Qi Heng left, Zhao Xing ordered people to find all the land-related policies of the Song Dynasty and read them.
He read until late at night and discovered a horrible phenomenon: the imperial court did not have any policy to curb land annexation.
You should know that land annexation was a very troublesome problem for all dynasties in ancient times.
In order to curb land annexation, successive dynasties have come up with many ways. Even so, it still could not stop land annexation, and the Song Dynasty let it go. You can imagine how serious land annexation was.
At this time, most of the land in the world was concentrated in the hands of a few people, and the people had no choice but to become tenants in order to survive.
Although tenants were not slaves, in this situation, they were no different from slaves.
After working hard for a year, the tenant farmers only get enough food to barely sustain their livelihood. Once they are separated from the landlord, even survival becomes a problem.
In order to survive, they had no choice but to allow themselves to be exploited by the landlords.
"Your Highness, it's late and you haven't had dinner yet." Sanshui reminded.
"call."
Zhao Xing exhaled heavily and said, "Let someone bring the food over."
"Yes." Sanshui responded and gave the order.
After a while, the food was served.
"Sanshui, how did you get into the palace?" Zhao Xing asked.
Sanshui had been with him for several years, and he was afraid of touching Sanshui's sad memories, so he never asked this question.
"Your Highness, my parents were tenants. Later, they suffered a disaster and the landlord didn't care, so my family became refugees. At that time, someone took the lead in a rebellion, and many refugees followed suit in order to survive. Later, the court sent troops to quell the rebellion, and all the young and strong were conscripted into the army. Because I was young, I was selected into the palace." Sanshui said.
"What about your parents?" Zhao Xing asked.
Sanshui said sadly, "My parents died when they followed the rebels to attack the county town."
No wonder there were so many peasant uprisings in the Song Dynasty. Those landlords controlled a large amount of land, and when natural disasters and man-made disasters occurred, they ignored the tenants under them.
For landlords, the thing they have the most is tenants. They can just let these tenants fend for themselves and recruit some more next year.
The tenants had no ability to resist natural disasters, and it took time for the imperial court to receive the news and arrange disaster relief. By that time, the people had been forced to rebel.
"Do you hate the court?" Zhao Xing asked after a moment of silence.
"I dare not. Although I have been castrated and become a eunuch, at least I don't have to worry about food and drink. I can't express my gratitude enough." Sanshui said.
Zhao Xing discovered that Sanshui's eyes were indeed full of gratitude when he said this, and it wasn't just because he was in front of him.
The people in ancient times were really simple, so simple that even when they became eunuchs, they never resented the court. Instead, they were grateful to the court for giving them a place to settle down and providing them with food and drink.
(End of this chapter)