Prince of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 157 Tax Increases and Tax Reductions
The opinion put forward by Gao Ming obviously made Lu Zhi see another brand new path, so he bowed his hands towards Gao Ming.

"Collect money from merchants' goods, and use the collected money to replace farmers' taxes, so as to make farmers work harder in farming. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, I admire you!"

After finishing speaking, Lu Zhi bowed to Li Shimin again, and then retreated to his original position, expressing that he had no objection.

Seeing Lu Zhi retreating, Gao Ming smiled and nodded towards Shang Guanyi.

"Master Shangguan, merchants are driving up prices in order to obtain more benefits. As long as we stipulate in the Tang law which things can raise prices and which things cannot raise prices, offenders will be punished as illegal business crimes, then merchants will not dare to make money. Next time, as for the chaos..."

Having said that, Gao Ming looked at the generals at the side, and then burst out laughing.

"Hahahaha, Mr. Shangguan, you are worried that the merchants will cause trouble if they have money. Do you think that the generals of my Tang Dynasty are all living for nothing?"

As soon as Gao Ming finished speaking, Shangguanyi noticed some unkind eyes from the general, and his expression changed immediately.

"I have absolutely no such thoughts."

After finishing speaking, he followed Lu Zhi's example and bowed his hands to Gao Ming, then bowed to Li Shimin, and then retreated.

Seeing that both of them retreated, Gao Ming nodded in satisfaction this time.

"Actually, what your lords are worried about is justified. I also understand this. That's why I plan to establish Jinzhou as the first autonomous prefecture of the Tang Dynasty. All new political measures will be used in Jinzhou first. It is absolutely correct. Only then will it expand to other states and counties according to the gourd painting."

Speaking of this, Gao Ming nodded to Lu Zhi, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

"At that time, the protection fee for Chang'an City will also be cancelled, and it will be officially changed to a commercial tax, which will then be collected by the Ministry of Household Affairs. What do you think, Lord Lu?"

In fact, after Lu Zhi read the account book that Gao Ming gave him, he was already shocked by the amount of the protection fee, and now he heard Gao Ming say that he would change the protection fee into commercial tax and transfer it to the Ministry of Households for collection. This is simply a free gift for him. A political achievement, he was so happy that he almost jumped up.

So he stood up quickly, and then cupped his hands towards Li Shimin.

"Your Majesty, I think what His Royal Highness said is very true, especially the commercial tax proposed by His Royal Highness is so wonderful, it is simply wonderful. From my point of view, even if the Ministry of Household Affairs takes over now, there is absolutely no problem. !"

As soon as Lu Zhi's words fell, Li Shimin laughed immediately, but he didn't agree directly, but raised his chin towards Gao Ming.

"Everyone has heard what Lu Aiqing said, what does the crown prince think?"

Seeing Lu Zhi's impatient look, Gao Ming smiled and shook his head.

"Everything has to go through a process, and there is no rush. What do you think, Mr. Lu?"

As he said that, Gao Ming winked at Lu Zhi, seeing Gao Ming's expression, Lu Zhi immediately understood, and began to think in his heart.

"Looks like Lu Zheng should be quicker!"

Lu Zheng is the son Siye who plans to marry his daughter to Zhang Sizheng. He is also the direct son of Fan Yang's Lu family. Originally, Lu Zhi was somewhat opposed to this matter at the beginning, but now he feels that it is undoubtedly very correct to seek refuge with the prince. decision.

"If His Royal Highness's plan is successful, and the Ministry of Accounting can receive the commercial tax of the entire Tang Dynasty, then this will undoubtedly be a huge sum. At that time, my position as Minister of the Ministry of Accounting will naturally be as stable as Mount Tai. I will go further in a few years. It's not impossible!"

Thinking of this, a bit of excitement appeared in Lu Zhi's eyes.

Gao Ming has been paying attention to Lu Zhi all the time, so the changes in his expression naturally cannot escape Gao Ming's eyes, looking at the slightly excited Lu Zhi, the corners of Gao Ming's mouth immediately turned up.

"I don't believe you won't swallow such a fragrant bait!"

Lu Zhi had indeed "swallowed the bait". After he came down to court, he couldn't wait to stop Gao Ming.

"His Royal Highness, can you go to the humble house for a drink, I also want to ask the prince about the way of business tax."

Faced with Lu Zhi's invitation, Gao Ming immediately nodded with a smile.

"Of course, Mr. Lu, please!"

"Don't dare, His Highness the Crown Prince please invite first!"

As he said that, Lu Zhi bent slightly towards Gao Ming with a very humble attitude. Seeing this scene, Gao Ming couldn't help laughing.

"Lord Lu, you are being polite. Since this is the case, then the prince would be more respectful than obedient."

"As it should be!"

After finishing speaking, the two looked at each other again, then laughed loudly, and walked towards the outside of the hall while laughing.

Seeing this scene, Wang Ze frowned immediately, then narrowed his eyes.

"This Lu Zhi is so close to the prince, it seems that he has a big conspiracy!"

Thinking of this, Wang Ze looked at Lu Zhi with a faintly unfriendly gaze, and then he didn't notice that the officials of the Zheng and Cui families who were standing not far from him were also looking at him with such gazes.

They didn't know that their current attitude was exactly what Gao Ming expected.

If they are united, Gao Ming will have nothing to do with them, but once they suspect each other, or even tear each other down, then Gao Ming has a solution, so the first thing Gao Ming has to do is to disintegrate first. them.

Now, with clever means, this work has finally achieved preliminary results. In the early morning of the next day, Li Shimin received a note from the Minister of Rites, Cui Lian, to impeach Wang's officials.

For this matter, Li Shimin also specially called Gao Ming to the imperial study room, and then gave him the booklet to read.

"This is the first time, how did you do it?"

Looking at Li Shimin's interested eyes, Gao Ming suddenly smiled, and then borrowed a sentence from Palmerston, the British Prime Minister in the [-]th century.

"There are no permanent friends, only permanent interests."

Hearing Gao Ming's words, Li Shimin smiled even more.

"Well said, so what are you going to do next?"

Looking at the smiling Li Shimin, Gao Ming shook his head.

"Do nothing, just wait and see!"

In Gao Ming's view, since there is a conflict among these elites, they will naturally find a way to resolve the conflict, either by asking the other party to pay a certain price, or by paying the other party a certain price themselves.

And Gao Ming's plan is to act at the right time, so as to intensify their conflicts.

Li Shimin also understood what Gao Ming meant, so he also nodded.

"I understand what you mean. I will suppress all the papers about the mutual impeachment of Zheng and Wang. What else do you want to say?"

As soon as he spoke, Li Shimin's heart tightened suddenly. He was worried that Gao Ming would say something to anger him again, so he waved his hand towards Gao Ming again.

"Forget it, I forgive you for not being able to say anything good, just go out if you have nothing to do!"

Hearing Li Shimin's words, Gao Ming became angry immediately.

"Old man, you look down on people too much. Why can't I say anything good? Don't talk nonsense without evidence. I still think you are the wise king at that time!"

Li Shimin could only sigh when he saw that Gao Ming had even mentioned "Ming Jun at that time".

"Okay, then tell me, what else do you want to say?"

Seeing that Li Shimin backed down, Gao Ming showed a satisfied smile.

"Actually, I don't have anything to say, but I have a question. It is said that you have a queen, four concubines, nine concubines, 27 wives, and 81 wives. There are 120 people in total. I just want to ask you, your waist Can you take it?"

"..."

Hearing Gao Ming's question, Li Shimin's face turned black immediately, and he slowly raised a finger to point to the door, but before he could say anything, Gao Ming stretched out his hand towards him.

"You don't need to say more, I know you want me to go, bye!"

After finishing speaking, Gao Ming walked out of the imperial study room in a flash, and even helped Li Shimin close the door, but just as Gao Ming closed the imperial study room door, he heard the sound of broken porcelain inside, so he shook his head helplessly.

"The emperor is moody!"

After finishing speaking, Gao Ming shook his head and went back to the East Palace. After returning to the East Palace, he immediately called Su Wan'er into the room.

"Wan'er, how much money is there in our warehouse now?"

When Gao Ming asked about money, Su Wan'er immediately laughed.

"Including the seven hundred guan coins sent by Hegan Chengji yesterday, we now have more than 4000 guan coins. Is your Highness planning to take them back to Lu Guogong and the others?"

Su Wan'er also knew that Gao Ming borrowed money from Cheng Yaojin and the others, so now when she heard Gao Ming asked about the money, she thought it was Gao Ming who planned to use the money to pay off the debt.

But what she didn't expect was that Gao Ming smiled and shook his head at this time.

"I promised to pay off Lu Guogong's debts after Qiu Hou, and there are still a few months left. I use the money for myself, hehe!"

"..."

Although Su Wan'er didn't know what Gao Ming planned to do with the money, since Gao Ming said it was useful, she immediately asked people to prepare the money. After she prepared the money, Gao Ming immediately asked people to move away for a while. Wan Guan.

Seeing that the warehouse was so empty all of a sudden, although Su Wan'er didn't say anything, she couldn't hide the reluctance on her face. Seeing her distressed expression, Gao Ming couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"I didn't expect my princess to have the potential of an iron cock!"

Thinking of this, Gao Ming put his arms around Su Wan'er's slender waist from behind, and whispered in her ear: "Don't worry, the money will be returned several times soon."

Hearing what Gao Ming said, Su Wan'er smiled and nodded.

"The concubine believes in the gentleman."

"It's so cute, let's have a boo!"

As he said that, Gao Ming kissed Su Wan'er's face with a "paw", and the maids around who heard the voice lowered their heads and laughed, and Su Wan'er's face turned red instantly.

"His Royal Highness has teased the concubine again, and the concubine is ignoring you!"

As she said that, she broke away from Gao Ming's arms and ran away. Seeing her fleeing figure, Gao Ming suddenly smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"You still dare to run, I have something to do today, I will deal with you later!"

After finishing speaking, Gao Ming asked people to lift boxes of heavy copper coins, and then left the East Palace.

Three days later, on the most prosperous Zhuque Street in the south of Chang'an, there appeared an extremely luxuriously decorated attic with six large characters written on it - Datang Royal Club.

(End of this chapter)