Girl, let me check it out.

"so?"

"So I came up with this idea, using money as a substitute for military service."

Fang Tang confidently pushed out the piece of paper covered with his own handwriting.

"You know, these noble families in the Great Zhou Dynasty don't care much about tax obligations, but they are very dedicated to the labor project."

"After all, the things that the laborers repair are all related to people's livelihood, or they are some safety projects. The noble families can also benefit from these things."

The girl was afraid that Fang Weihan didn't understand, so she explained thoughtfully:

"The current labor service law of the Great Zhou is based on the level of wealth. Specifically, farmers are divided into three categories: upper, middle and lower according to the amount of land. Two out of five upper households, three out of ten middle households, and one out of five lower households are required to perform labor service."

"Every one of those noble families is obviously a superior family. Logically, they should bear the most labor. But these bastards have plenty of ways to evade labor."

Fang Tang clenched his teeth, his face as cold as frost and snow in midwinter.

"In the first year of Kaiwu in the Great Zhou Dynasty, there were 8 million households. Now it is the ninth year of Minghua, and 500 years have passed. Logically speaking, after 500 years of recuperation without war, the population should have increased by at least half, right? But according to the statistics from the Shangshutai last year, in the eighth year of Minghua, there were only 8.5 million households in the Great Zhou Dynasty, which is only an increase of 500,000 households compared to the first year of Kaiwu! Even a fool can see that there is something wrong."

Ragdoll Cat sighed again.

He admired Fang Tang's keen intuition, which enabled him to grasp the essence of the problem at once.

He dared to say that the two kings of Qin and Jin at that time would definitely not notice this.

Those two idiots who only know how to fight for power and scheme against others have no idea how to govern a country.

"They were all hidden by the noble families, right?"

Ragdoll Cat said calmly.

"That's right! They hired a large number of tenants privately and hid their household registration. This allowed them to form a large-scale private army and even had a plan to deal with the labor assignment."

"The court assigned them labor service, so they assigned it to the tenants. Anyway, these illegal tenants were not recorded in the register, and no one would know if they died. They just had to make up the numbers when counting the people."

"It doesn't matter if we become refugees. It's the imperial court that should be worried, not them."

Fang Tang said bitterly.

"A bunch of bastards! They are all citizens of our Great Zhou, but they don't even treat them as human beings!"

The girl calmed down.

"So, in order to take into account their excessive enthusiasm for labor and their excessive resistance to taxation, I came up with this plan."

Fang Tang took out a copper coin and threw it high into the air.

The girl caught the fallen coin and slammed it hard on the map.

"Let the upper class pay money instead of serving in the army."

Fang Tang said word by word.

Her clear, soft voice echoed loudly in the hall.

"What's the reason? How are you going to convince the family to listen to you?"

Ragdoll Cat asked back calmly.

"There are three reasons."

Fang Tang answered with ease.

"First, there are many people who work but do not put in any effort. There is no need for so many people. Fewer people will make it easier to supervise. Second, labor requires long journeys, and the problem of refugees is extremely prominent, which seriously disrupts social order. Third, some noble families, such as the Xie family of Chen County, have immeasurable surplus wealth. Unlike the noble families such as the Wang family of Shangyuan, they are more willing to pay money instead of sending people."

Fang Weihan nodded.

He had to admit that there was a great possibility that Fang Tang's method could be implemented.

There are internal and external motivations, and they are reasonable. It is not realistic for Uehara Wang to reject it against all odds.

Yun Shu appeared behind Fang Tang and hugged her happily out of thin air.

"Fang Weihan, Fang Weihan! What do you think of the person I chose? Is he very capable?"

Fang Weihan: "..."

The ragdoll cat squatted, looking at Fang Tang quietly with its blue eyes.

"What do you plan to do with this part of the money collected?"

Fang Weihan asked back.

"Enrich the country, strengthen the army, and strive for unity between the people."

Fang Tang answered seriously.

"No, I have a better plan."

The ragdoll cat wagged its fluffy tail.

"We can use this money to give to the people who are doing the labor service."

"what do you think?"

Chapter 249 She fell asleep

After hearing Fang Weihan's words, Fang Tang was stunned.

"Distribute it to the people?"

Fang Tang chewed the suggestion made by Fang Weihan carefully.

"Ah."

The Ragdoll cat's tail is wagging happily, like a big feather duster.

"Labor is the most hated thing by the people. They should be cultivating and harvesting at home, and enjoying the time of family reunion, but just because of labor, they have to go to a foreign country, and only one out of ten can return to their hometown. "

"This is not a barrier of space at all, but a separation between life and death."

Fang Weihan looked quietly at the flickering candlelight in the hall, his voice low.

"This is a responsibility that every citizen of the empire has to bear, but obviously this responsibility has exceeded their capacity, and they should not bear such heavy pressure."

"Labor projects are all shoddy. People just want to finish them quickly and go home alive. Who wants to work for meat eaters when their stomachs are not full?"

"They may be the only young and strong laborers in the family, but they cannot make any contribution to their families. Instead, they shout the banner of risking the country and fall on the embankment of the long river, buried in the foundation of the palace, and turn into A rootless weed in the vast desert will never return to its homeland."

"A country, a country, without a home, how can we have a country?"

The ragdoll cat changed the subject and turned its head in the direction of Fang Tang. The girl's face was reflected in the blue pupils, like a jade-like face.

"But if you can pay them, it makes all the difference."

The ragdoll cat squatted gracefully on the table.

"The original voluntary labor has now transformed into a good job for hiring people to do work. If the wages can be linked to the amount of work done, I believe the enthusiasm of those people will increase exponentially."

"The key to a rich country is not only to fill the national treasury, but also to fill the small coffers of every family. This is the true meaning of a country being called a country."

Fang Tang listened to Fang Weihan's words, the more he listened, the brighter his eyes became.

She slammed the table and stood up excitedly, her pretty face flushed with excitement.

"The teacher is right!"

Maomao was so frightened by her sudden movement that his hair stood up.

"Draining the blood of noble families can also reduce the number of refugees and win over people's hearts at the same time. It can be said to kill three birds with one stone!"

Fang Tang waved his fist energetically.

Can we not kill three birds with one stone...

Fang Weihan muttered in his heart.

These are all great and proven bills, and they are the result of the efforts of countless forefathers. They are useless.

"But you have to remember that all the money obtained from the aristocratic families must not be distributed to the people. We still have to intercept some of it, otherwise there will be no money in the treasury and it will be difficult for you to continue to move forward with your next plan."

"I know!"

Fang Tang nodded vigorously.

"Teacher, do you think there are any problems with this mechanism?"

The girl sat down again, rested her chin on the table, and looked at the cat close by with a smile.

Is there a problem?

Of course there are problems.

“Theoretically, it’s close to perfection, but once it’s implemented in practice, there are too many places where middle-level officials can make tampering.”

The ragdoll cat shook his head.

There is nothing we can do about this. Any top-down policy issued by the rulers will inevitably be misinterpreted to a certain extent.

Today the poll tax is collected, and tomorrow the farmland tax is collected. The day after tomorrow, an order is suddenly issued to abolish the poll tax and farmland tax, and merge them into a yearly tax.

It seems that the number of tax items has been reduced, which is a good thing for the people at the bottom, right?

But in practice this is not the case.

The higher-ups have abolished this kind of tax, but the people below will most likely not implement it this way.

When did the emperor announce the abolition of taxes? I do not know how. I only know that there is a new tax.

then what should we do?

So they started collecting three types of taxes, but only paying one. This way, when the emperor asks, he can have a reason to explain.

The emperor thought he had done a great thing, and the officials in the middle were full of trouble. In the end, it was the common people who knew nothing about these things who suffered.

In this era of extremely imbalanced cultivation resources, they don't even have the ability or qualifications to reach Heavenly Listening.

There has been no popular uprising for thousands of years, only because of the brutal suppression by the empire's powerful force.

But the tide of destiny is coming, and even mortals can have the opportunity to change their destiny. Can the empire, full of internal worries, really be able to suppress this surging public opinion?

“Thousands of words can be attributed to one reason.”

Ragdoll Cat sighed.

"Supervision is insufficient and not timely."

The territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty has a radius of thousands of miles, which has reached the limit of the largest territory of the dynasty in this era. If the territory continues to be larger, I am afraid that the empire's frontiers will have to wait for a year to receive the emperor's decree.

Xie Lingwan wrote a letter to herself in Kuaiji. Even if she used the legendary Lantai Yellow Ibis, it would take two days before she received her letter.

The Lantai Yellow Ibis may be the only one in the world.

In most places, communication could not even be done through Asuka feather books, and had to rely on horseback delivery by postmen.

With such an information communication system, it would be extremely difficult to implement complex government orders.

"I can set up Dali temples in various places, making them independent of the Chancellor and directly responsible to me."

Fang Tang whispered.

The ragdoll cat glanced at her.

"Do you really think this is useful? Those officials responsible for collecting taxes will deceive the superiors and deceive the subordinates, but this Dali Temple will not?"

According to what Xiao Jin told him, there are still spies within Xuanzhong Guard, which has a strict monitoring and screening system. So how can Fang Tang ensure that his people are absolutely loyal to him?

She lacks prestige and power, and a little mistake could be fatal.

People's hearts often cannot withstand scrutiny, and no matter how heavy a promise is, it cannot withstand the obstacles of thousands of rivers and mountains.

There are only a few shepherds in Beihai, and not all of them can spend the rest of their lives fighting for the isolated city in the Western Region.

Fang Tang sniffed and pursed his lips, looking unhappy.

After all, the teacher whom she trusted most pointed out the problem with her carefully proposed plan. It was normal for the proud girl not to accept it for a while.

"Don't be sad, your plan has achieved the best in theory. In fact, most of the reforms were implemented without even being consistent with the theoretical logic, as if they were rushing to reincarnate."

Ragdoll Cat sighed.

"You have also seen the results of this, such as the short-lived thing sandwiched between the two fronts."

It stretched out its paws and touched Fang Tang's head gently.

Maomao recognizes your efforts!