travel through the past to be emperor

Chapter 157
Make bricks without straw.

Qin Hui said so much nonsense, only this sentence hit the point.

It is true that the imperial court naturally knew that if the officials below continued to do this, big problems would inevitably arise after a long time, but to solve the problem, money was needed, and where to find this money was an extremely embarrassing problem for the imperial court.

For example, in tax collection, if you are worried that the lower-level government will randomly collect exorbitant taxes when collecting taxes, then the best way is to establish an independent tax department.

But to establish a nationwide tax system, first of all, a lot of money and people are needed.

Without money, you can’t build tax stations all over the country. Without a lot of manpower, even if you set up a new department, you still use the same people as before.

Building a site is not difficult, the difficulty is where the people come from.

Since you want to bypass the local indigenous forces, you must hire a special tax commissioner to be responsible for collecting taxes. The salaries of these people must be paid from the finances. few.

The imperial court was so poor that it couldn't even pay the salaries of existing officials, so there was no money to recruit new ones.

It’s not that the imperial court has no ideas, it’s just that they don’t have the money to implement it. If it can be solved within the existing system, there is also a solution, which is to return a certain percentage of the taxes collected by the imperial court to reward the tax collectors.

This is the most trouble-free way, but the problem is that the court is so short of money, how could the court agree to take part of the originally small tax to subsidize the local area.

Faced with these kinds of problems, Zhao Fei could only sigh along with Qin Hui, and said: "Indeed, a clever woman can hardly cook without rice, so I must discuss a solution with the big guy today."

For Zhao Fei's words, everyone was somewhat dismissive. Over the years, Zhao Fei is not the only emperor who intends to solve financial problems, but the previous emperors have all failed, and they are not outstanding in any way. Zhao Fei claimed to solve this problem, and the officials just took it as a joke and echoed it.

Zhao Fei knew what everyone was thinking, but he wasn't angry either. Lu Yao knew the horsepower, and he could see people's hearts after a long time. What kind of person I am, Zhao Fei, you bigwigs in the court will naturally know slowly.

Of course, before that, Zhao Fei still has some things to do. The method of collecting taxes from farmers has been rejected by reality, so Zhao Fei turned his attention to Liu Yong.

Don't be surprised why Zhao Fei didn't speak out about his plan to collect commercial tax. It's not that he didn't say something, it's just that the time hasn't come yet.

In this imperial court, Zhao Fei's family seems to be the emperor, but every discussion is actually a secret game.

It is true that Zhao Fei can directly decide certain things in his own capacity, but making a decision alone will inevitably leave some troubles, the most direct is that officials who hold different opinions will inevitably handle affairs passively and deal with errands.

Zhao Fei has always pursued excellence in everything he does, rather than just getting things done.

Liu Yong has always been daring to speak out, and this time it is the same. He focused directly on the income generated by state-owned assets.

Liu Yongdao: "Your Majesty, I have looked at the income of the Ministry of Revenue every year, and found that most of it comes from land tax, and the lesser half comes from the income of state-owned assets. In fact, we all know that the income of state-owned assets is huge, and only [-]% of the income can be faint. Close to the national land tax, so…”

"So you want to increase the proportion of state-owned assets returned to the court?" Zhao Fei directly took what Liu Yong was about to say.

"Yes." Liu Yong nodded without changing his expression.

When Liu Yong said that, other ministers looked at Liu Yong with strange eyes.

The income from state-owned assets is huge, so huge that it is several times the income of the national treasury. However, there is a reason why everyone does not mention such a huge income.

The reason is simple, because the royal family is the biggest beneficiary.

Of the annual income from state-owned assets, [-]% goes to the state treasury, [-]% goes to the internal treasury, [-]% is used to reward ministers and meritorious soldiers in Beijing, and the remaining [-]% goes to various palaces according to the rules.

Every penny of this income has its most direct beneficiaries, and they are basically people who occupy high positions in the court.

You let such a person spit out what they eat, is it possible?
For example, if you ask Zhao Fei to contribute [-]% of his income to the national treasury, will Zhao Fei agree?

Therefore, no one has ever considered the income from state-owned assets in the study of increasing the income of the imperial court. It's not that they don't know how much money is, but no one dares to touch this cake.

Now that Liu Yong brought this matter up, he frightened the officials present at that time.

Zhao Fei knew that Liu Yong had always been courageous, but he didn't expect that he would keep talking without startling people, and he would not speak without scaring everyone.

Facing Liu Yong's bold admission, Zhao Fei shook his head and smiled, and said, "Liu Yong, Liu Yong, your courage is really getting bigger and bigger."

"The reason why I am brave is because I believe that His Majesty will support me." Liu Yong said respectfully.

"Really?" Zhao Fei smiled noncommittally, and said, "Then you guessed wrong this time, I have no intention of using state-owned assets for income."

Zhao Fei did not have the idea of ​​mobilizing income from state-owned assets, at least not for the time being.

As the emperor, Zhao Fei was able to stand in his current position, not because of his high prestige, but because he was the representative of the entire royal clan ruling the Song Dynasty.

Those who support Zhao Fei in this position are not the common people, but the royal clan.

Most of the income from the state-owned assets went into the pockets of the royal family. If Zhao Fei ran to move this asset, there would be no need for rebels like the Lotus Sect to make trouble. First, Zhao Fei would be overthrown by the royal family .

Zhao Fei already knew who was the one who supported him.

So even though he knew that the royal family members and princes of various families often did evil things, he didn't dare to make big moves, and he just beat them to make sense of them.

Zhao Fei was naturally greedy for this money, but Zhao Fei couldn't move it, and he didn't dare to move it.

Facing Zhao Fei's attitude, Liu Yong looked a little disappointed, and said in a low voice: "The minister has no other choice."

"What about you?" Zhao Fei looked at the others and said, "Do you have any other solutions?"

Everyone shook their heads. As mentioned above, Zhao Fei did not bring up the matter of increasing the court's income. It has been mentioned by the emperors of all dynasties for countless times.

But every time it ends without a problem, the biggest reason is this.

The imperial court did not dare to increase the land tax, otherwise the common people would be in chaos, and the royal family refused to make concessions from the state-owned assets, so the results of each discussion were discussed later.

The officials thought it would be the same this time, but Zhao Fei sneered, looked at Zhao Zilong and said, "Tell me about the revenue of the treasury?"

The issue of the treasury's income was mentioned more than once, and Zhao Zilong was already familiar with it, so he looked at Zhao Fei with some surprise, but he didn't dare to ask Zhao Fei why he asked such a question he knew.

"Land tax, income from state-owned assets, income from related powers of the imperial court, and commercial tax." Zhao Zilong said seriously: "These are the main four categories. As for other miscellaneous income, because the amount is too small, it is scattered and time-sensitive. , are not counted.”

"Well," Zhao Fei looked around at the crowd and said, "Didn't you think of something?"

What do you think?
When the ministers heard this, they were taken aback.

Zhao Zilong muttered for a while, but he said in surprise: "Could it be that your majesty wants to find a way on the commercial tax?"

It's no wonder that Zhao Zilong reacted quickly, but because he often dealt with money, he was more sensitive to the content of this part. Facing Zhao Fei's question, he just made a calculation and came up with an idea.

Although the others did not come to a conclusion as quickly as Zhao Zilong due to business reasons, they were only half a beat behind in time, and they all looked at Zhao Fei in surprise.

Zhao Fei was also a little surprised by the expressions of the ministers. If everyone can't react to this point, they can retire.

But why are everyone's expressions so strange!
Zhao Fei's doubts just got up, Qin Hui stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, it is absolutely impossible to collect commercial taxes!"

"Why?" Zhao Fei asked.

"My ancestors taught me to emphasize agriculture and suppress business. Agriculture is the foundation of the world, so scholars, farmers, businessmen, and business are the lowest." Qin Huidao: "The reason for this is firstly because of the social atmosphere, and secondly because the court's laws and regulations are clear. The status of merchants is stipulated as the lowest."

"What does this have to do with the collection of commercial taxes?" Zhao Fei asked.

"Commercial tax is not the main tax in our court. One of the very important reasons is the court's ancestral precepts. Those who make contributions to the court are the best people in the court." Lin Wanrong stood up.

"What do you mean?" Zhao Fei asked.

Lin Wanrong was silent for a while, and said: "If the merchants pay taxes according to the law, then they are people who have made great contributions to the court, and their status will be greatly improved."

"And then?" Zhao Fei frowned.

"The Ministry of Rites stipulates that the candidates admitted for each scientific examination will be classified and elected according to the four classes of scholars, farmers, businessmen, and businessmen. Among them, businessmen can only have a maximum of three admissions for each scientific examination." Lin Wanrong pondered for a moment, and said: "If the status of businessmen improves , then the number of admission places they have for scientific examinations will increase accordingly.”

"What's the problem?" Zhao Fei asked.

"This will create unfairness." Lin Wanrong said with a wry smile: "Businessmen are cunning by nature, and most of them are rich. If they become officials, compared with those scholars who were born in peasant families, given their family background, they only need a short time If you can make achievements that others cannot do, it may not take long before most of the court officials will be monopolized by merchants' children."

"Are you sure it will?" Zhao Fei said.

"Your Majesty," Lin Wanrong was silent for a moment, and said seriously, "It's not a confirmation, but an affirmation."

"Why?" Zhao Fei said. Zhao Fei had listened to Lin Wanrong's theory for a long time, but he still didn't understand. As a time traveler, he didn't understand the background of this era, but in his era, there seemed to be no such thing as scholars, farmers, businessmen, etc. the difference.

Qin Hui stood up at this time and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, let me answer this question!"

(End of this chapter)