Red Mansion Royal Cat

Chapter 320

The weather was gradually getting hotter, and after Liu Ke finally returned to Beijing from Nanzhili, he didn't bother to answer anyone who asked him to go out.

Under the shade of the tree, the lounge chairs were placed, and the incense burner burned incense to get rid of mosquitoes.The Thirteenth Master was swaying happily, and the little girl Liu Xuan was sleeping soundly on his bulging belly...

"father……"

Liu Chong, who had been busy for several days, came over with dark circles under his eyes, holding a stack of scrolls, and yawned as soon as he called out dad.

Liu Ke patted his daughter's back lightly, coaxing the baby to sleep, and glanced at his sleepy son: "It's sorted out?"

"Returning to the father, the son has roughly calculated the changes in the land tax over the years since the founding of the country, the approximate amount of tax exemption for officials, gentry, and officials, and the amount of exemption from land tax and commercial tax for the royal family, royal family, military honorable relatives, etc."

Prince Zhongshun, who had always been prudent and gentle, had a rare look of uneasiness on his face. If these things in his hands were made public, his fourth uncle might have to pick up a knife again.

Because the country's land tax not only did not increase, but gradually decreased as the land reclamation area continued to increase.

By the third year of Yuanyou, the land tax of the Kingdom had been reduced by nearly [-]%. If it were not for the supplement of special taxes such as commercial tax and salt tax, it is estimated that the annual income of the household department would not be enough to support the orderly operation of the Kingdom.

Liu Chong only gave a brief report on these, and Master Thirteen frowned.

No wonder Xu Jin wants to take the officials and gentry under his knife, it's so fucking terrifying.If this goes on like this, the Great Xia court will really be eaten up by this group of officials and gentry.

But well, it seems a bit scratchy to only use officials, gentry and officials. If my old thirteen wants to do it, I have to do it with big votes.

"Chong'er, go write a note and send it to the Secretary of General Administration, saying that the king sees that the taxation of the country is unsustainable, and he can't sleep at night and sighs with sorrow. Now I report to His Majesty, admonishing the taxation system of the country, and abolishing the royal family, martial arts and nobles. The policy of tax exemption for relatives, officials, gentry and official sons. The officials and gentry pay grain as a whole, and collect silver according to mu in parallel, and implement... er, um, what, the one-whip method Jia Xiaosan said."

"Father! I really want to be like this..."

wow wow wow...

Perhaps Liu Chong's exclamation was a little louder, which woke up the little princess who was sleeping on Liu Ke's belly.

Liu Ke glared at his son, got up and hugged his daughter, comforted her in a gentle voice, and made faces, finally calming down the crying little girl.

Then he glanced at Liu Chong: "What are you making such a fuss about? You scared your sister. Just do it, write it, stamp it with your seal and send it to the Secretary of General Administration. Your father and I have discussed it with Xu Qingteng. After the matter is settled, as long as our Zhongshun Palace does not rebel in the future, you can be like your father and me, you can beat whoever you want, and you can sleep with any woman you want... Cough cough cough cough... Ma'am, listen Let me explain..."

"The son greets the concubine mother."

Concubine Cui snatched her daughter from her husband's arms and handed it to her son: "Chong'er, go get busy, I have something to tell your father."

……

In the early morning of the first day of June, Jia Cong was sitting on the shaft of the carriage holding a sesame pancake the size of a face plate and eating happily when someone snatched the pancake from his hand.

Click!

One cake was divided into two halves, and the panda-eyed Liu Ke sat directly beside Jia Cong without any princely demeanor, with resentful eyes, fiercely competing with the half of the sesame cake in his hand.

ton ton ton...

He snatched the teapot that Jia Cong had just picked up and poured it directly into his mouth.

"Master Thirteen..."

hiccup~
"Jia Xiaosan, lend me 8000 taels of silver Huahua."

what?
"The Thirteenth Lord is short of envoys? Could it be... I heard... So what... I heard that the concubine kicked you out of the mansion, it can't be true."

This incident caused a great uproar in the capital. It was said that Princess Cui was jealous and prevented King Zhongshun from bringing a certain oiran back to the palace.

Of course Jia Cong wouldn't believe such royal gossip. Liu Ke seemed so absurd that he ran to the Qinlou Chu Pavilion when he had nothing to do, and even made a masculine affair.

But he is actually a strange flower in the royal family, he is so loyal to Princess Cui, for this reason he is often scolded by the Supreme Emperor for being worthless.

Liu Ke looked at the civil and military officials who were looking at him gloomyly not far away, and smiled coldly.

He whispered in Jia Cong's ear: "If you don't do this, will my concubine be annoyed to death by those women?"

Jia Cong instantly understood what this master was doing. If he stabbed a hornet's nest, he would just be stung himself, and he didn't want to implicate his family.

He cupped his hands: "Master Thirteen is worthy of being a real man, I admire you."

Liu Ke waved his hand indifferently: "It doesn't matter if you admire it or not, just do a full set of acting, lend me 8000 taels of silver, and I can only live outside during this time."

Jia Cong hummed: "The boy understands, so let's arrange for someone to go home and get the money."

Boom, boom, boom...

The Jingyang bell rang, and the palace gate slowly opened.

Everyone lined up to enter the palace and waited in line at Fengtian Hall.

At the court meeting, there were still a lot of trivial matters, and when the sun was high, it finally got down to business.

One is that the emperor announced the potato in court, and ordered that the civil and military officials of the seventh rank and above in Beijing should go to Jiajiazhuangzi in the west of the city on the fifth day of June to witness the harvest ceremony of the fairy grain potato.

This matter is no secret in the capital, and the common people have been eagerly waiting for the new grain yield of [-] shi per mu.

Apart from lamenting the good fortune of Ningrong Jia's family, everyone was more curious about how the emperor would reward Jia Cong who offered immortal food.

Of course, for all the civil and military officials, this incident was a shock and passed. It had nothing to do with their own personal interests. Many people just shouted long live and waited for the emperor to give them new food to try.

But the second major event in today's court meeting is different, someone wants to cut their flesh!

"Start playing if there is something to do, and retreat to the court if there is nothing to do!"

"Your Majesty, Liu Ke, has made a statement. My brother made a statement to His Majesty a few days ago, please change the tax system of the country..."

"Huang Dai has a play for the Minister's Household Department!"

As soon as Liu Ke stepped out of the train, a young official in green robes stood up and interrupted Liu Ke's words as if he was in a ring.

Um?Dare to challenge the king~
Bang!
Who is this king?Emperor Zhaowu's No. 13 son, the younger brother of the present, is full of inquiries in the capital, who dares to provoke the king?

With a kick, Huang Dai flew out and hit the pillar in the hall directly, passing out.

The memorial in his hand was also scattered on the ground, and landed in front of another green-robed official who was about to move just now.

With just one look from Liu Ke, the man shrank his neck to look at his nose, his nose at his mouth, and his mouth at his heart.

Ah……

The blue veins on the emperor's forehead twitched, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he opened his mouth quickly, suppressing the eruption that had just started in the palace.

"The King of Zhongshun, Liu Ke, has no status in the palace, and he will be fined for one year!"

"During the affairs of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Huang Dai lost his dignity in front of the imperial court and was demoted to be the magistrate of Anping County in Taiping Prefecture. He will leave for the south today. There must be no mistake."

hiss!
This is pulled sideways.

One was a dispensable fine salary, and the other was directly relegated from the Qipin to the corner of Guangxi to become the county magistrate.

Without giving the ministers a chance to react, General Dahan dragged the unconscious Huang Dai out of the hall.

The emperor scanned the hall and signaled, "Thirteen, continue."

Liu Ke bared his teeth, took out the memorial he had prepared a long time ago from his sleeve, and began to read it loudly.

"Your brother complies with the decree! A few days ago, I accidentally discovered the changes in my court and land tax since the founding of the country, as well as the tax-exempt data of the royal family, military relatives, noble relatives, officials, gentry and officials recorded by the household department. I don't know if I don't see it. It’s really scary to see.”

"According to the records of the Ministry of Household Affairs, at the beginning of the founding of the country, there were 880 hectares of land that should be taxed. The Taizu also had a decree at the beginning, and all the people who opened up wasteland would be exempted from land taxes for five years to encourage the people to open up wasteland. farming."

"According to common sense, in the past hundred years, the land that can be taxed should have increased, and the land tax sent to the household department should also increase. But the amount of land recorded in the household department and the land tax collected every year are getting less and less In the third year of Yuanyou, the amount recorded by the Ministry of Household Affairs has been reduced to 420 hectares."

boom!
The officials in the data hall really haven't paid attention to it, only Wen Tongxuan, Lin Ruhai and other officials from the household department have serious expressions.

Ding Ding Ding ~
The sound of the bell and chime sounded several times in succession before the commotion in Fengtian Hall was stopped.

I only heard Liu Ke continue to say: "Not only that, the land tax submitted to the household department in various places has been reduced by nearly [-]%, and the number of tax-exempt people has increased sharply."

"Your Majesty, all the ministers and workers, do you know who are the tax-exempt people?"

"According to the ancestral system, except for the land acquired by the royal family, noble relatives, and veterans and important officials, which are exempted from tax and labor, only those who have a reputation of being a scholar or above can be exempted from civil service. But how did this king hear that as long as there is a scholar in the family, his family can be exempted from paying the land tax? And there are people who donate land to avoid court taxes."

"There are also the lands and shops of the royal family, the noble relatives of the martial arts, and the ministers and workers, who are not required to pay the imperial grain and national tax."

"There are even people who use the name of a certain family member to evade taxes up to tens of thousands of taels of silver every year. Don't look, this king is talking about your family!"

Ok?
man, is this helping me?
Jia Cong showed surprise and opened his mouth wide.

"Master Thirteen, does my family still have to pay land tax and commercial tax?"

Liu Ke flicked through the memorial in his hand, glanced at the markings inside, and shook his head: "In addition to granting land, you have to pay land tax for the land you bought yourself, and business tax for those shops."

what?
Jia Cong slapped his head and bowed down to the emperor: "Please forgive me, Your Majesty. I don't know this. After I go back, I will sell everything I want, and I will hand over the taxes owed over the years to the Ministry of Households as soon as possible."

All the officials in the palace were framed up by Jia Cong, but they couldn't say that Jia Cong did something wrong, they couldn't compete with a child...

The corner of the emperor's mouth twitched twice, and he held back a smile and said, "Don't say it's you, even I don't know about these things. I thought that the country really had laws and regulations, and the tax was exempted. The Ministry of Households..."

Wen Tongxuan came out of class and responded, "The minister is here!"

"Is what the old thirteen said true or false?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, what King Zhongshun said is the truth. In fact, King Zhongshun didn't make it clear. According to the calculation of the old minister, at most a hundred years, the country may not even be able to provide the salaries of the clan and royal family."

Unlike the others, Wen Tongxuan wanted to hold Liu Ke in his arms and kiss him fiercely.

He took the opportunity to report the increase and decrease of the number of imperial relatives, taxes and expenditures that he had calculated earlier, and the emperor stood up in shock.

"Aiqing means that my Liu clan has become a blood-sucking leech lying on the Great Xia court?"

"Uh, although the words are not pleasant to hear, His Majesty's understanding is extremely correct."

As soon as Wen Tongxuan's words came out, the royal family who stood at the forefront of honor and honor exploded.

Some people even looked at Wen Tongxuan and Liu Ke with unfriendly eyes. They knew that the old Shisan was going to take the knife on the uncles and brothers, and they didn't want the knife to be so cruel.

The emperor fell into silence, and several bigwigs in the cabinet have not yet come forward to express their views.The ministers quarreled in an uproar, and there were many people who opposed Liu Ke's remonstrance, but there were also many people who supported the tax reform.

After all, he is a smart person who can stand on Fengtian Temple and knows the difference between a full meal and a full meal.

If Wen Tongxuan and Liu Ke's calculations are true, if Daxia cannot collect taxes, wouldn't it mean that the country will be unstable and the country will not survive?

At that time, the unlucky ones are not those who are already standing in the circle of the powerful?
The Fengtian Hall was in a mess, and the emperor sat on the dragon chair and tapped the armrest of the dragon chair with a cold eye.

He is very satisfied with the performance of Liu Ke and Jia Cong today. The big and the small cooperated with each other, and perfectly put the unspoken rules hidden in the dark on the bright side, which immediately exposed the taxation system of the country and the court. the biggest issue.

"Ding Ding Ding ~"

The imperial censor rang the bell again, and the civil and military officials who were about to fight in the hall finally fell silent.

The emperor glanced at the officials, saw the expressions of everyone, and sneered in his heart.

If, as Xu Qingteng said, one's own interests were involved, the sage's words of the past would simply be thrown away in the corner.

"This matter is of great importance. You should go back and think about it carefully. Each of you will write a copy and submit it. The Cabinet and the Sixth Ministry will be busy these days. Recalculate the data played by the old thirteenth, and then conduct a deduction to see. Take a look to see if it is true what Wen Aiqing and Lao Shisan said..."

"Ministry of Rites and Ministry of Households, the harvest ceremony in five days' time must be done well. This matter is related to whether the people of the world can fill their stomachs, so don't be careless."

"Cabinet, Ministry of Finance, Zongzheng Temple stay, retreat!"

……

Jia Cong didn't stop after leaving the palace, boarded the carriage and quickly returned to Rongguo Mansion.

The king of Zhongshun was very kind, and he picked out the Rongguo Mansion as a child in the hall, and immediately made Jia's family a "victim" of Lao Shisan's knife.

"Have the bank notes been delivered?"

Jia Shixi nodded: "The silver ticket was handed over to the commander of the Thirteenth Lord's personal soldiers, but..."

Ok?
"Chong Shizi said that the thirteenth master was hung on the tree of the Dragon Head Palace by the saint, and the money will not be needed for a while."

"This is for outsiders to see. If the saint is like this, whoever troubles the Thirteenth Master will have to try Habayashiro's sword."

Jia Cong knew the temper of the old Dragon King too well. Don't look at him hanging the old thirteen on the tree when he is free. In fact, the old man dotes on this son very much.

The news from the palace quickly reached the old lady's ears, and she immediately sent someone to look for Jia Cong.

Before Jia Cong persuaded the old lady to give up the temporary loss and send the owed taxes to the household department, she asked Yuanyang to bring a wooden box, and when she opened it, there was a stack of thick bank notes.

"This is a silver bill of 5 taels, please send it to the Ministry of Households as soon as possible. Our family must stand on His Majesty's side in this matter, and don't be like those foolish people who only care about immediate interests..."

Sure enough, the old lady was shrewd and admirable.These words fully demonstrated Mrs. Guo's super long-term vision.

As the old lady said, silver is a good thing, but compared to Ningrong Jia’s future retirement with the country, it’s just a matter of giving up some silver, and the future wealth must not be lost.

Monthly ticket recommendation ticket

　I will stop here tonight and continue tomorrow.Good night.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)