Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 1827 In the imperial study room, the monarch and his ministers played against each other

After the crown prince finished speaking, the atmosphere in the imperial study was somewhat solemn.

The bosses were all silent, because they hadn't figured out what the emperor and his son were planning, so if they spoke rashly, they would be extremely passive if they said something wrong.

Ma Zhou and Cen Wenwen were obviously drawn by the emperor to stand in line, let alone talk much...

After the crown prince finished speaking, His Majesty Li Er groaned, curled up his right hand fingers, and tapped lightly on the desk, the imperial study room was silent, and the soft sound of "Duoduo" was very clear.

After a while, His Majesty Li Er raised his head, looked at all the elders, and asked: "Only by entering the imperial examination can we recruit the best talents from all over the world for the use of the country, so as not to make the ambitious and talented people unable to make full use of their ambitions. So the imperial court vigorously promoted it. However, in the past few years, there has been little effect, and not many poor families have stood out and been used by the country... Dear friends, do you think that the national policy of imperial examinations to become officials is in line with current affairs?"

A group of bigwigs murmured to each other.

It is inevitable that imperial examinations to become an official cannot be refuted. This is a national policy. It is not a decision made by the emperor alone.

It is necessary to support the imperial examination. This is politically correct. Anyone who dares to oppose is to deny the emperor and the entire court. It is not necessary to kill the family, but it is certain to be suppressed... So don't listen to the emperor's random questions. If anyone dares to deny it, wait Let's clean it up.

Zhang Xingcheng lowered his eyebrows and lowered his eyes, without saying a word.

It's as if the emperor asked him to come to a meeting and he came, but forgot to bring his mouth...

Xiao Yu was old, and had just returned to Beijing after a long journey, and hadn't recovered yet, sitting there "Fu Liu Fu Liu" drinking tea, looking a little sluggish.

However, these two can pretend to be deaf and dumb, but Changsun Wuji cannot.

Because in the words of the prince just now, he named the schools and counties in various places in Guanzhong that collapsed and the social studies were abandoned, and seven or eight of the officials in various places in Guanzhong came from the Guanlong nobles. How could Mowgli get around it?

After pondering for a while, Changsun Wuji said cautiously: "His Royal Highness's worries are indeed necessary. Local officials in various places have failed to put social studies at the top of their list. They are indeed dereliction of duty. The imperial examination system is a basic national policy and a necessity for the continued prosperity of the empire. The method is that although the imperial examination system rose from the previous dynasty, the world was in chaos and abandoned for many years, and now it is picked up again. Although His Majesty has strongly supported and fully called for it, the regulation method still needs to be slowly explored. The only way is to keep looking for omissions. Only by constantly improving it can it become the cornerstone of the country, and there is a long way to go!"

All the bosses silently gave Changsun Wuji a thumbs up from the bottom of their hearts. He deserves to be a "yin man". This move is really slippery...

The imperial examination is the emperor's political proposition, which is unquestionable, and any prevarication and sophistry cannot be used.

So Changsun Wuji didn't say anything about the difficulty of the imperial examination, the excessive cost, the lack of teachers, etc. He opened his mouth to affirm his own inclination and firmly supported the emperor's decision-making.It's just that there are objective reasons after all, you can't ask us to reach the sky in one step, things have to be done bit by bit, right?

Give us some time and we'll do it right.

It's just that whether this time is one year or two years or ten years or 20 years, or even until the emperor dies and the new emperor ascends the throne... then no one can say.

It's just that Changsun Wuji knows in his heart that although these words seem to be true, they are still prevarications in the end.Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, he sneaked a look at the emperor's expression, and saw a dark cloud covering the top, and that originally square and handsome face was so gloomy that dripping water...

Changsun Wuji naturally felt the emperor's dissatisfaction, and his heart skipped a beat.

But he is also very helpless, if he doesn't speak at this time, what will the Guanlong nobles think of them afterwards?

He must protect the interests of the nobles in Guanlong, otherwise, once it is known that he betrayed everyone's interests to hug the emperor's thigh, people will lose their hearts.

Once people's hearts are scattered, it's not easy to be a "leader brother"...

Cen Wenwen, who had always been there, didn't seem to come back to his senses until Changsun Wuji spoke. He coughed, sat up straight, and said slowly: "Social studies are the foundation of imperial examinations, so naturally we should pay attention to them. What the Duke said makes sense. The world’s sociology has been abandoned for a long time, not because of a day and a half. It has been caused by various reasons. Prospering sociology is indeed a bit difficult. Teachers, buildings, subsidies... everything It’s difficult. But in the final analysis, it’s just a word of money, as long as you have money, everything will be easy.”

Li Ji was sick and bedridden, so he couldn't come to the imperial study.During the expedition to Turks in the past, my legs were damaged by the ice and snow, and I have to stay in bed for a period of time at this time of year, which is extremely unfortunate.He is Shang Shu Zuo PU She, he didn't come, Chaozhong Zaifu used his right servant to shoot Zhang Xing to become Zun...

His Majesty Li Er immediately looked at Zhang Xingcheng: "In the past two years, Wufu and the people have been abundant, and the harvests have been bumper year after year. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has a lot of money in its account. Can you allocate money to support social studies?"

Zhang Xingcheng hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, although the Ministry of Civil Affairs has a lot of money in its accounts, it has more expenses. The prefectures and counties have invested huge sums of money in water conservancy, soil consolidation and farmland. People eat horse chews, and the cost is huge, so it is really difficult to support social studies."

This is not an excuse. The income of the Ministry of Civil Affairs is high, but the expenses are also high. The construction of water conservancy facilities such as waterwheels, canals, and overturned cars advocated by Fang Jun during the Ministry of Industry alone consumes a large part of the tax revenue of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.This is because His Majesty Li Er's internal funds participated in many large-scale projects in the DPRK and China. For example, if the construction of the Da Ci'en Temple had to be funded by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, it would probably go bankrupt.

And the biggest expense is to raise food and fodder for the Eastern Expedition. In order to ensure the smoothness of the Eastern Expedition, we cannot cut a single cent...

Changsun Wuji and Xiao Yu faintly felt that something was wrong. After all the talk, how could it be said that the court had no money?
Although these two people don't care about the Ministry of Civil Affairs, they still have their own channels to find out whether the imperial court's treasury is rich or not. With the existence of the Shibo Department, the tax has almost doubled compared with the past, so how can it spend so much?
I'm afraid the emperor will make a fuss about it.

Of course, the prince on the side seemed to be waiting for Zhang Xingcheng's words, and immediately said: "If you want to enrich the national treasury, spending money to support sociology and promote the imperial examination is nothing more than increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. Now the court's expenditure has increased greatly. Whether it is building water conservancy Or the preparations for the Eastern Expedition must not be reduced, so reducing expenditure is absolutely impossible, so the only way is to increase revenue. Father, my son, in my humble opinion, do you want to follow the actions of Shibosi?"

Changsun Wuji and the others were shocked.

What does it mean to imitate the Shibo Division?
The reason why the Shibo Department can have a large amount of income is that it collects high commercial taxes. Whenever the goods are imported and exported by the Shibo Department, they will be plucked out of the feathers to extract heavy taxes, which makes Jiangnan merchants miserable until they are unwilling to pay business The tax was dangerous and smuggled, but suffered a catastrophe. Not only were all the sea-going cargoes discarded, Fang Jun also held his pigtails tightly, wanting to cry without tears.

The prince said to imitate the law of the Shibo Division... then it must be to collect commercial taxes from all over the world!

Changsun Wuji said decisively: "Your Highness, absolutely not! The imperial court is right, and the whole world obeys. How can you compete with the people for profit?"

He just strongly expressed his objection, but didn't say much.In fact, needless to say, the business tax collection has been discussed more than once in the Zhengshitang, and even hundreds of officials have participated in it several times, but the final result is not acceptable.

Of course not, seventy-eight out of ten of the goods in the world are in the hands of aristocratic families, and seventy-eight out of ten of the officials in the court are from aristocratic families. Let these people discuss whether they can spit out the meat from their own mouths, and it will be a ghost if they can pass... …

Cen Wenwen said indifferently: "Mr. Zhao's words are wrong. Those who are scholars, farmers, businessmen and four people are the country's stone people. However, merchants are at the bottom, and they do not engage in production but grab huge profits. They don't know etiquette but spend extravagantly, so they take part of their income. Why not come out to pay taxes and subsidize people's livelihood?"

Changsun Wuji shook his head and said: "Although merchants are humble, they travel all over the north and south. If commercial taxes are collected, they will definitely feel resentful. At that time, rumors will bewitched and slandered the court. I am afraid that the gains will outweigh the losses. It is not impossible to collect commercial taxes, but at the moment Not long after the founding of the country, Guan Zhong thought that there were those who lived in the Sui and Yang Dynasties, the remnants of the former dynasties in the south of the Yangtze River, and the descendants of heroes from all walks of life in Shandong... If they are connected by merchants, disasters will happen and the country will be unstable. You can wait for the people in the world to stabilize and the situation to calm down before you can slowly plan it."

Anyway, it is definitely not possible to levy business tax, and all the aristocratic families will boycott it.

Let's spit out the meat that's in our mouths?
Don't even think about it, if you are in a hurry, maybe there are a few remote gentry who are thinking about raising the anti-flag to shock the emperor in the Tai Chi Palace...

Otherwise, do you think that the emperors of all dynasties are willing to turn a blind eye to such a large piece of fat from commercial taxes?
(End of this chapter)