Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 468 Wang Anshi's Question
The most important thing is that Empress Dowager Xiao did not completely trust Dong Jian.

The Liao princess that Dong Jian married was not her own daughter, and she had often punished the mother of the Xu princess before.

Although Princess Xu might not be able to influence Dong Chen's thoughts, she did not trust him either.

What if Dong Zhen was led into Liao and was bribed by Yelu Yixin? That would be like inviting a wolf into the house.

"Let's proceed according to the original plan." Empress Dowager Xiao took a deep breath and said.

Upon hearing this, the nanny did not try to persuade her any further.

…………

Xiongzhou City

After the Duke of Ying arrived, he ordered people to closely monitor the movements of the Liao State while inspecting the progress of the construction of the Great Wall.

Because the people were hired with money, they were very motivated when working, and with the cement, the progress was not slow.

However, the northern border is too long, and it will take a lot of time to complete it.

The Duke of England stood on a section of the built city wall and looked north.

"Once the Great Wall is built, we won't have to worry about the Liao Kingdom anymore."

"Yes, this Great Wall is extremely strong and difficult to destroy. As long as we defend a few cities, we don't have to worry even if the Liao Kingdom occupies the wall."

Several generals who were accompanying him laughed.

The Song Dynasty did not dare to break off relations with the Liao Kingdom. Besides being afraid of being defeated, there was another important factor: the north was flat.

Once the war broke out, the Liao Kingdom had too many cavalrymen and the border was so wide that it would be impossible to stop them.

Even if the city ahead could be defended, the Liao cavalry would be able to penetrate deep into the hinterland, plundering everywhere, and there was even the possibility that the food supply would be cut off.

There will be no need to worry once the Great Wall is built. Even if a section is lost, as long as the city is not lost, the Liao cavalry will not be able to enter.

Because there was no gate in the Great Wall, the Liao war horses could not enter.

It is just a walking leg and lacks mobility, so it can only fight against the Song Dynasty on the plains.

"Report!"

At this time, a soldier hurried over and bowed, saying, "General, the spies reported that the Liao Kingdom is mobilizing troops, and Zhao Wang Yelu Yixin will lead 200,000 troops to the desert soon."

The Duke of England waved his hand, asked the soldier who brought the news to retreat, and looked towards the north with a frown.

It is already May now, so it is normal for Yelu Yixin to send troops.

But Yelu Chongyuan never agreed to the conditions of the Song Dynasty.

Although he was just mobilizing troops at this time, Yelu Chongyuan must have spies in the Liao Kingdom and should have known the news long ago.

But Yelu Chongyuan did not contact the Song Dynasty for a long time.

Thinking back to when he recalled that before he left Bian Jing, Zhao Xing had told him that Yelu Chongyuan and Empress Dowager Xiao of Liao were secretly in contact, was there some conspiracy behind this military expedition?
"Marshal, the Liao Kingdom has sent troops. Should we send troops to harass the Liao Kingdom's border?" a general asked excitedly.

Last year they harassed the Liao border without fighting at all, and they received some rewards afterwards.

Hearing that the Liao Kingdom had sent troops, he naturally became excited.

"Not urgent."

Duke Ying waved his hand and said, "Yelü Chongyuan has recovered some of his strength after recuperating for so long. He will not be destroyed so quickly. I will ask for your Majesty's instructions first."

Last year he sent troops without asking for permission because Yelu Chongyuan fled into the grassland.

If he had asked for instructions and waited until permission was granted before sending out troops, Yelu Chongyuan might have been destroyed already.

Now that Yelu Chongyuan has been recuperating for such a long time, and the grassland is vast, it is still very difficult to destroy Yelu Chongyuan.

Whether it is Yelu Chongyuan or the Liao Kingdom, it is beneficial to the Song Dynasty to consume the strength of both sides.

When the situation was not urgent, he would naturally ask for instructions, and he would also be happy for both sides to consume some troops.

…………

"Your Majesty, Scholar Wang requests to see you," an eunuch reported.

"Come on!" The eunuch bowed and left. Soon Wang Anshi walked in.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!" Wang Anshi bowed.

"No gift."

Zhao Xing waved his hand, asked someone to let Wang Anshi sit down, and asked him why he came.

"Your Majesty, I have spent many years to perfect the system of allocating land tax. Please review it!"

Wang Anshi took out a bundle, held it in both hands and said.

Sanshui stepped forward, took the bundle and handed it to Zhao Xing.

Zhao Xing took it and looked at it carefully.

Zhao Xing didn't know much about the system of allocating taxes on land. He only knew that all the heavy taxes such as land tax, household tax and poll tax were levied on the land.

But a system involves many aspects and is definitely not that simple.

Wang Anshi spent many years and finally worked out a detailed set of regulations, including some possible problems that might arise.

There were a lot of words in the book, and Zhao Xinghao had to think about whether there were any omissions, so he read very slowly.

After looking for half an hour, Zhao Xing put down the needle and rubbed his sore eyes.

Zhao Xing took the tea handed over by Sanshui, drank a few sips, put down the teacup and said, "Increasing the population without increasing taxes is fine. But the Jiefu Zhazi did not mention what to do if the number of acres of land increases or decreases."

The core of the system of allocating land tax to each household is to increase the number of people without increasing taxes.

For example, there are one hundred households in a village and five hundred acres of land in the village.

All the miscellaneous taxes that were normally collected in the village were cancelled, and only the land tax needed to be paid.

Of course, the land tax will definitely be higher than the original corresponding amount.

And this tax is fixed, even if the village population increases in the future, the tax will not increase.

Whoever owns the land should pay it, and it is clear at a glance based on the number of acres of land.

The advantage is that it can prevent officials from adding layers of taxes when collecting taxes.

Secondly, those people who do not have land no longer have to bear any taxes.

Originally, even if the people did not have land, they still had to pay household tax and capitation tax.

Some families did not even have land, had many children, and could not afford the household tax, so they had no choice but to drown their children.

There is no way around it. The Ding tax is only required to be paid after a male reaches adulthood, but the Hu tax has to be paid from the moment he is born.

But this also has disadvantages. The amount of tax is not completely fixed, because the number of acres of land may decrease or increase.

Leaving aside the hidden fields, some fields near the river may be submerged due to a flood, and will not be suitable for farming when the flood recedes.

Some people will reclaim wasteland.

Therefore, the number of acres of farmland will decrease and increase.

"The increase or decrease in the amount of land needs to be registered with the government. It is not a problem, so I did not mention it specifically." Wang Anshi said.

"The prerequisite is registration, which will also give local officials the possibility of corruption. Think about it carefully and take precautions," said Zhao Xing.

"His Majesty!"

Wang Anshi heard this and said, "No policy can be perfect. Your Majesty has told me this. Your Majesty should also know that the problem of reduced farmland is difficult to solve and does not affect the overall situation. Moreover, Your Majesty has added this point to the reform of official evaluation, which involves the promotion of officials. This is a good precaution. I dare to ask Your Majesty, have you lost the will to reform?"

There is no way to prevent the problem of increase or decrease in the number of acres of land.

Otherwise, the situation of Yintian would not have occurred.

Ultimately, this kind of thing depends on the officials. If the officials collude with local landlords and gentry, there will be no solution at all.

Zhao Xing's previous reform of official evaluation included the assessment of the reduction and increase of land.

Wang Anshi felt that the questions raised by Zhao Xing were completely nitpicking.

(End of this chapter)