Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Chapter 519: All the people cheer, tax bonus tickets! (Subscribe!!)
Feng Sheng is worried that Li Shanchang will side with Ouyang Lun! !

Hearing Feng Sheng's words, Li Shanchang immediately became unhappy, "I am not that kind of person, Feng Sheng, you underestimate me too much!"

"Song Guogong, how can you think of the old prime minister like this!" Liang Guogong Lan Yu also said: "The old prime minister and Ouyang Lun have a deep hatred, and he is also responsible for restoring the glory of our Huaixi Party. He will never surrender to Ouyang Lun!"

"The hatred is not necessarily deep. We don't have to go against Ouyang Lun to restore the glory of the Huaixi Party." Duke of Song Feng Sheng muttered in a low voice.

Li Shanchang: "."

Lan Yu: “Uh”

The air froze for a moment, and then the three of them left in silence.

The Huaixi Party lost again, and each of them could only return to their homes and refuse visitors.

As for those dignitaries whose children were captured, they no longer dared to call for severe punishment of Ouyang Lun. Instead, they began to use various connections, hoping that the prince consort Ouyang Lun would let them go.

Of course, Ouyang Lun has no time to pay attention to these people. It is already the end of the year and the New Year is approaching. The tax problem must be solved as soon as possible, and the solution is to implement tax reform.

The game between the upper echelons of the imperial court is being watched closely by the middle and lower classes and even the common people.

Newspapers have already reported on tax reform, so they naturally hope that this policy, which is beneficial to them, can be implemented as soon as possible.

Early the next morning.

This time, Ouyang Lun changed his usual laziness and personally took charge of the Ministry of Revenue.

"Your subordinates are meeting the Ouyang Cabinet!!"

A group of officials saluted Ouyang Lun.

In addition to the officials led by Guo Zi from the Tax Inspection Department, there were also many officials from the Ministry of Revenue, and the leader was none other than the current Minister of Revenue, Li Shanchang! !

Li Shanchang bowed respectfully to Ouyang Lun, without any dissatisfaction or unhappiness on his face.

It makes people secretly admire that he is flexible and patient!
"Well, please don't be polite."

However, Ouyang Lun just glanced at Li Shanchang and didn't pay any more attention to him.

Now he is the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, to put it bluntly, he is the Deputy Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty. Although there are several Deputy Prime Ministers, in modern thinking, he is a vice-state-level leader. Li Shanchang used to be a senior official, then a vice-state-level official, and now he is just a senior official.

In other words, judging only by the actual job level, Ouyang Lun was half a level higher than Li Shanchang!
Moreover, Ouyang Lun was ordered to lead the tax reform, and Li Shanchang, as the Minister of Revenue, was undoubtedly his subordinate, so it was only natural for him to pay his respects to him.

There's nothing strange about it.

Just when Ouyang Lun was about to start assigning tasks.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!"

A voice was heard outside the hall, and then Crown Prince Zhu Biao walked in.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

Other officials saluted Crown Prince Zhu Biao one after another.

"Brother-in-law of the Crown Prince."

"Brother-in-law!" Zhu Biao walked straight to Ouyang Lun and said, "I'm sorry! I spent more time processing the memorial, so I'm late!"

"If you are busy, you don't have to come. I will have someone report to you when things progress." Ouyang Lun said lightly.

"How can that be possible? My father asked me to supervise because he actually wanted me to learn from you, my brother-in-law. This tax reform is a rare opportunity to learn, and I will not miss it!" Zhu Biao continued, "Good brother-in-law, I will be late only this time, but I will definitely not be late next time!"

Seeing that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was speaking well of Ouyang Lun, the other officials were also shocked.

"This will not happen again. Please take a seat, Your Highness the Crown Prince." Ouyang Lun nodded and motioned for Zhu Biao to sit on his left.

"Okay!" Zhu Biao nodded, "Brother-in-law, don't worry, I will just watch over you and will never interrupt you, let alone intervene!"

"Of course, if anyone wants to bully or embarrass you, my brother-in-law, I will never let him go!"

After saying this, Zhu Biao deliberately glanced at the officials at the scene with a warning look, as if he had the words "Ouyang Lun is my brother-in-law, I will protect him" written on his face.

"Please rest assured, Your Highness. We will cooperate well and follow the orders of the Ouyang Cabinet!"

The officials quickly expressed their opinions, but even without the warning from Crown Prince Zhu Biao, they did not dare to act rashly.

Seeing Zhu Biao doing so much for himself, Ouyang Lun found it funny and warm at the same time. He reminded him, "Brother-in-law, don't work too hard. You should rest when you need to. Your health is the most important thing."

"I know! But now my father has entrusted most of the government affairs to me, so I dare not neglect them at all!" At this point, Zhu Biao looked at Ouyang Lun with some envy, "Brother-in-law, I suddenly understand why you are so tired of being an official."

"Whether you are an official or handling state affairs like me, you have no choice!"

"Ahem, I've strayed off topic. Brother-in-law, let's get down to business!"

"Yes." Ouyang Lun nodded, looked at the officials in front of him, and said loudly: "Regarding this tax reform, the general plan has been written in the reform manual you have received!"

"You all already know what to do, so I won't explain it any more!"

"The next step is to officially start the action. My requirements are very simple, that is, adequate publicity, adequate attitude, and adequate tax collection!"

"If you can complete the tasks on time and in full, your year-end evaluation will be directly rated as top-class, and your year-end bonus will be doubled! Of course, if you fail to complete them, your year-end evaluation will be very low, and you can forget about the year-end bonus!"

"If you want to have a good new year, then show me all your strength!"

"Okay, let's do things!"

Following Ouyang Lun's order, all the officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Tax Inspection Department moved into action. Stimulated by the excellent evaluation and doubled year-end bonus, each of them seemed to be injected with chicken blood.

Next, the tax reform will officially begin to be implemented.

Because it involved all the people in the country, the scale of this tax reform was extremely large. Fortunately, Ouyang Lun had been in charge of the Ministry of Revenue before Li Shanchang, and the Ministry of Revenue's data collection and processing had already increased countless times.

It is precisely because of this that tax statistics work can be advanced relatively quickly.

"Extra number! Extra number!"

"The tax reform of the Ming Dynasty will be officially implemented tomorrow. All residents of the Ming Dynasty with an annual income of less than 330 taels can be exempted from taxes for the past year. If you have already paid taxes, you can bring your tax receipts to your respective county offices to apply for a tax refund before the New Year. If any county office dares not to do so, they will be severely punished!"

The newspaper boy was jogging on the street holding a newspaper and shouting.

After hearing the whole news, everyone was excited.

“Is it really tax-free?”

"This is too good to be true!" "If we don't pay taxes, it's like we'll have a lot more income! We can have another good New Year this year!"

"Your Majesty is wise! Your Majesty is wise!!"

"I thought it was just talk, but I didn't expect it to be tax-free."

The news that the court granted tax exemptions to ordinary people spread quickly, and everyone ran around to tell each other with happy smiles on their faces.

Although the tax exemption was only a few taels of silver, for ordinary people, these few taels of silver were enough to do many things. Of course, the fundamental reason why the people were so happy was that through this matter, they knew that the entire Ming Dynasty court was thinking about them, and would not abandon them, let alone torment them in various ways. Who could not love such a court? !
Peking Mansion.

Prefect's Yamen.

Early in the morning, people lined up in front of the yamen with their tax receipts.

The government office also made preparations early, with officials, clerks, and runners all arriving at their posts in advance.

"Don't worry, people. The deadline for our tax refund is the last day of the year. You can get your tax refund before then!"

"The court will not owe you money."

There were officials on site to manage the situation and maintain order there.

In front of the tax refund window, an old lady, holding her little granddaughter's hand, tremblingly handed the tax receipt in her hand to the official who was processing the tax refund.

The official checked the tax receipts one by one and read aloud: "Zhao family in the east of the city, income is five taels, tax is 250 wen, meets the conditions for tax refund, tax refund of 250 wen!"

"Old lady, if everything is confirmed, just sign here and you can take the money."

"Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir!" After signing, the old woman held the two hundred and fifty coins in her hand with excitement in her eyes.

These two hundred and fifty coins can allow the two of them, the grandparents and grandchildren, to live for a month!
"If you want to thank someone, then thank His Majesty and Prince Consort Ouyang. They formulated this new tax policy!"

The tax refund officer spoke up.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, and thank you, Prince Consort!" The old woman bowed repeatedly towards the direction of the capital, and then asked her granddaughter to bow as well, before she was ready to leave with her granddaughter.

At this moment, the officials on the scene called the grandparents and grandchildren again.

"Old lady, the court will give each citizen who completes the tax accounting a tax reward ticket!"

"Here is your tax prize ticket, please keep it!"

As he spoke, a clerk immediately handed over a very finely made receipt.

"Tax reward ticket? What is this?" the old woman asked puzzledly.

"This tax lottery ticket is equivalent to a lottery ticket. The winning numbers will be announced about half a month before the Chinese New Year. If the numbers on your tax lottery ticket match the winning numbers, then congratulations, you have won the prize!"

The official explained seriously.

"Win the prize? What can I get?"

The old woman continued to ask.

"How can I describe this to you?" The official thought for a moment, then said, "Old lady, you should know about the imperial examination, right?"

"Of course I know this. If he wins the top spot in the imperial examination, it will bring honor to our family and soar to fame!" the old woman said hurriedly.

"Once you win the jackpot, it's almost like being the top scorer in high school. The government will give you a large sum of money, which will at least allow you to have enough food and clothing. You will also be awarded a lucky taxpayer plaque, which is inscribed by the emperor himself. Doesn't it count as bringing honor to your family and soaring to fame?" the official explained.

"Let's do the math. If I win the prize, it would be a huge honor for my ancestors!" The old woman quickly put away the tax receipt in her hand.

When others heard the news, their eyes lit up and their looks were eager.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the official also said loudly: "I know that everyone is very interested in this tax prize ticket, so I will explain it to you here!"

"If you want to get this tax bonus ticket, you must have completed your personal tax year-end settlement. As long as you pay your taxes normally, you can go to the government office to receive a tax bonus ticket. Each person can only get one ticket! One ticket is valid for one year!"

After hearing what the official said, the people in the queue finally understood.

"If you have a tax prize ticket, you can participate in Daming's annual lottery. The winner can get an honorary plaque and a large amount of money as a reward!"

"I really hope I'm that lucky guy!"

"It seems that we need to actively pay taxes in the future."

"If you draw once a year, you should win once in ten years, right? If not in ten years, then a hundred years. I'll let my son continue to draw!"

"That's right, pay attention. Keep paying taxes and keep drawing. You will win someday!"

Because of the existence of the tax stamp award, not only ordinary people come to apply for tax refunds, but also many rich people come to apply for tax refunds and pay taxes, all for the tax stamp award.

With the strong cooperation of the Ministry of Revenue and the Taxation Inspection Department, the tax reform went smoothly. In addition to the tax exemption and tax refund tasks, many tax types of the Ming Dynasty were sorted out. Some tax types were outdated, some were collected repeatedly, and some had loopholes, resulting in the inability to collect them. These problems were also cleared, rectified, and integrated in this reform task.
Zhu Yuanzhang in the palace also attached great importance to this "tax reform" and sent the Jinyiwei to monitor it throughout the country.

Ji Gang would report the collected intelligence to Zhu Yuanzhang every day.

When he heard the people shouting "The Emperor is wise" after receiving their tax refunds, a satisfied smile appeared on his face. But when he heard that the Ming treasury had spent 10 or 20 million taels of silver because of the tax refund, he felt visibly distressed.

"Damn it! Why do I feel like I'm just paying for publicity, like a street performer!?"

The more Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong, and he always felt that he had been cheated by Ouyang Lun.

But overall, Zhu Yuanzhang was still satisfied with the current situation of tax reform. After all, things did not develop as Li Shanchang said. Most people supported the tax reform, and their impression of the Ming court was getting better and better!
There are much fewer crimes in the Ministry of Justice.

Zhu Yuanzhang was born into a common family. He rose from a beggar to an emperor. Naturally, he knew the importance of public opinion.

With the support of the people, he is one step closer to his dream of the prosperous Hongwu era!
"Your Majesty, do you need me to warn Prince Consort Ouyang?"

Ji Gang asked.

"What warning? You must not interfere, just let Ouyang Lun continue to perform!"

"The New Year is coming soon. I want to see what kind of answer Ouyang Lun can give me in the end!"

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately rejected Ji Gang's suggestion.

Zhu Yuanzhang was not stupid. If he tried to stop Ouyang Lun at this time, then the more than 10 million taels of silver he had just spent would have been wasted. At the very least, he had to let the people continue to praise him.

Don’t stop shouting!
"Yes!"

Ji Gang was a little confused. He didn't understand why the Emperor could be happy and angry all of a sudden. It was really like living with a tiger to serve the Emperor!

(End of this chapter)