How could my childhood sweetheart be the current empress?

Xu Chengling thought about it and realized that there had been cases of feudal lords ruling the country in China's history. The most famous method to solve the problem at that time was the Enfeoffment Order.

So Xu Chengling couldn't help but say:

"Your Majesty, I think we can implement a decree that stipulates that after the death of a vassal king, in addition to the eldest son who can inherit the throne, his brothers can also divide part of the territory and become new vassal kings. This decree can be called the Enfeoffment Order."

After listening to Xu Chengling's suggestion, Yan Qiaoling thought about it for a while and soon understood what he meant.

"I understand. You intend to use the Enfeoffment Order to reduce the territories of the princes from within, dividing the territories of the princes into smaller and smaller pieces. I will then take the opportunity to weaken their power."

Yan Qiaoling was so smart that she and Xu Chengling had a tacit understanding and quickly understood the intention of the Enfeoffment Order.

"Yes, your majesty is right."

Xu Chengling nodded. To put it bluntly, the purpose of the Enfeoffment Order was to divide the territories of the princes into smaller and smaller pieces, making it difficult for those big princes to become powerful.

But soon, Yan Qiaoling couldn't help but frowned slightly and said:

"Your method is indeed good, but there is a problem. Regardless of whether these princes will obey this decree, the Enfeoffment Order will not take effect until the prince dies."

"This means that the Enfeoffment Order will not have any effect in the short term. Even if it can take effect in the future, it will be decades or even a hundred years later. I am afraid that I will not be able to live to see that time."

At this point, Yan Qiaoling couldn't help but sigh. The policy proposed by Xu Lang was indeed good, but it took too long to take effect.

Moreover, the territories of some vassal kings were too far away from the central government, and the vassal kings might not necessarily obey the decrees issued by the central government.

"Your Majesty is right, but in fact, the real purpose of the Enfeoffment Order is not to make the princes obey, but to give the princes' brothers an opportunity to take advantage of it."

Xu Chengling smiled slightly. The Enfeoffment Order was an important decree to consolidate the central power. It embodied the wisdom of China for thousands of years and was naturally not as simple as it seemed.

Therefore, Xu Chengling began to explain to the empress the true purpose of the Enfeoffment Order:

"Your Majesty, you can order the princes to grant their sons and daughters the title of marquis out of personal favor. In name, this is to show favor, but in reality, it is to divide their kingdoms to weaken the power of the princes and divide their kingdoms into several marquisates."

"Your Majesty only needs to grant these princes enough power, and they will fight each other for their own power, causing internal losses, while also avoiding the possibility of provoking armed resistance from the vassal kings."

Xu Chengling explained it in detail to the empress, and he couldn't help but shrugged his shoulders and said:

"Because it is an internal struggle, the princes also have to prevent their brothers from usurping the throne. They are busy with their own affairs and naturally have no intention of rebellion. After all, they may just start their rebellion and the throne will be taken away by their brothers the moment they start their rebellion."

This is the real power of the Enfeoffment Order, which allows the princes and their brothers to fight among themselves.

Since the vassal kings' territories were countries within countries, it was naturally inevitable that power would be seized by their own brothers, and it was common for brothers to kill each other.

You said so, Her Majesty.

"I see, my dear, this is a really great trick!"

After listening to Xu Chengling's explanation, Yan Qiaoling finally understood the real intention of the Enfeoffment Order.

Simply put, the Enfeoffment Order was like lending a knife to these dukes, giving them a reason to take action.

Seeing that the empress was going to adopt his decree, Xu Chengling smiled slightly and then said:

“Getting here is just the first step.”

Chapter 202 Xu Chengling's Four Reforms

“Is this just the first step?”

Yan Qiaoling sat up on the spot, her bright eyes filled with shock.

The problem of separatist rule by vassal kings has troubled my sister for so many years, but unexpectedly, it was successfully solved by Xu Chengling with a single move, the Enfeoffment Order.

But this is just his first step. Does he have other clever ideas next?

Yan Qiaoling seemed to understand why Xu Lang always said that her sister was a little bit unskilled. After all, compared to him, her sister did seem to be a little bit unskilled.

"I have decided to adopt the Enfeoffment Order proposed by you, my dear. Do you have any other good ideas?"

At this moment, Yan Qiaoling looked at him expectantly, wanting to hear if he had any other clever ideas that could help her solve Dayan's current problem.

After all, the main duty of the Prime Minister is to help His Majesty solve his problems.

"The second step is naturally to fill Dayan's treasury. War requires manpower, material resources, and financial resources. The most important of these is undoubtedly financial resources."

Xu Chengling thought about it and concluded that Dayan's current situation was simply that it was too poor, and the national treasury had been completely emptied by the empress's military expansion.

"I have naturally thought about this issue, but if we want to increase the revenue of the national treasury, we can only do so by increasing the taxes levied on the people, which will undoubtedly cause complaints from the people."

Yan Qiaoling couldn't help but sigh. The tax on geese was already very high. If it were to be raised further, the people would not be able to survive.

If the people cannot make a living, they can only revolt.

She still remembered very clearly what Xu Chengling said at the time. In the court, he openly refuted his sister and said the outrageous words that the rebels were forced out.

People are the foundation of a country. Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. Yan Qiaoling has never forgotten these words.

"I have four reform proposals here that can solve Dayan's financial crisis."

Xu Chengling raised four fingers and then looked at the woman in dragon robe in front of him. Her decision would affect the future of the entire Dayan.

"First, a unified currency system was established, with five-zhu coins set according to weight. Five-zhu coins could only be minted by the imperial court. Privately minting five-zhu coins was illegal and punishable by death."

"In this way, the court will have unified control over the currency. When the treasury is in short supply, it can produce a large amount of currency to solve the financial crisis. However, the problem is that it is easy to cause inflation, so it needs to be moderate."

At present, the currency used in Wild Geese is the Sanzhu Coin system implemented by the previous emperor, while in the territories of the vassal kings, another currency is used.

This has led to dozens of currencies across the country with different exchange rates, and local currencies often have to be used in different regions, which has greatly affected the speed of currency circulation.

The value of currency lies in its circulation. The faster it circulates, the higher the value it generates.

Things like currency, which are enough to affect the country's finances, must be firmly controlled by the court.

"Second, the commodities that affect people's livelihood should be set up as government-run, such as salt. By setting up "salt officials", the production of salt will be turned into a government-run business. If you want to make salt privately, you must sell the salt you produce to the salt officials, who will then sell it to the public."

"The advantage of turning civilian goods into government-run goods is that it can prevent merchants from arbitrarily raising prices, control the prices of civilian goods, and the income from reselling salt and iron will become national fiscal revenue."

The second step is to make supplies that affect people's livelihood, such as salt and iron, state-run.

Doing so can not only suppress merchants from raising prices, but also increase the amount of civilian goods by a considerable amount, which can increase the financial income of Dayan.

"Third, increase taxes. Dayan is a vast country, and the exchange rates in different regions are different. Some merchants will take the opportunity to sell goods from one region to another, speculate, and then make a profit from the price difference. This makes the lives of farmers increasingly difficult, while the merchants have a lot of money and live a life of luxury."

"To this end, Your Majesty can set up checkpoints in each region and require merchants to pay a tariff based on the goods they carry. The more goods they carry, the higher the tariff will be. This tax revenue can then become Dayan's fiscal revenue."

"In addition, merchants will be required to pay property taxes and report their property to the court. The higher their income, the higher the tax they have to pay. If they conceal their income or evade taxes, their property will be confiscated."

Taxes are a country's main source of income, and they can also prevent businessmen from taking advantage of the opportunity to speculate and maintain regional price levels.

There are quite a few businessmen in Dayan, and they are active in various parts of Dayan and overseas. No one knows how to make money better than businessmen.

Merchants only care about how to make money, and the court only cares about how to make money from the merchants.

However, if we simply suppress businessmen, it will be detrimental to economic development. After all, economic development still depends on businessmen.

So, Xu Chengling raised his fourth finger, which was his fourth step and also the most critical step.

"The fourth step is to open a chamber of commerce and a bank. All merchants in Dayan must register with the chamber of commerce. Only merchants registered with the chamber of commerce have the right to trade in the country. Otherwise, it would be illegal. Merchants need to submit a share of each transaction to the chamber of commerce. Merchants who join the chamber of commerce can pay less tariffs."

While making money from businessmen, it is also necessary to ensure that they can make money, and make them feel that as long as they join the chamber of commerce, they can enjoy various preferential policies.

Xu Chengling continued:

"Next, the imperial court can open money houses in various places, which will be managed by the Chamber of Commerce. Simply put, a money house is a place where money is deposited and withdrawn."

"For merchants, it is very troublesome to carry too much silver with them, and the silver is easy to be robbed, so merchants can exchange silver for silver notes at the bank, but they have to return to the capital to exchange it for silver and take it out. This can greatly ensure the safety of merchants' transactions."

"As for the silver in this bank, you can use it to improve people's livelihood and alleviate the financial crisis. In short, all this silver has fallen into your hands, and you can use it however you want. If you are short of money, you can fill the gap by printing more currency."

"In this way, a huge national operating machine is completed!"

Xu Chengling looked very excited and listed all the reform plans he could think of.

You know, these are the wisdom and experience accumulated by our ancestors, and they have passed the test of practice.

As long as there is a stable financial income, the empress can expand the army in any way she wants, because the national treasury will back it up.

Of course, all of this is based on the stability of the country. Fortunately, although this empress is incompetent, she is still good at governing the country.

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

After hearing Xu Chengling's suggestions, Yan Qiaoling couldn't help but sit up in surprise and gave him a thumbs up.

If she hadn't had to take care of her image as an empress, she would have probably thrown herself into Xu Chengling's arms by now.

After all, Xue Yuan is watching on the side.

The four reforms proposed by Xu Chengling will undoubtedly increase Dayan’s fiscal revenue.

But most importantly, the impact of these four reforms is lasting and long-term.

Whether it is currency reform, state-run salt and iron, or collecting taxes from merchants, setting up chambers of commerce and money shops, these reforms will bring a steady stream of financial income to Dayan.

There is no doubt that as long as these reforms are implemented, it will not take long to gradually resolve Dayan’s current financial crisis.

Seeing that His Majesty had not spoken for a long time, Xu Chengling stepped forward boldly, bowed and asked:

"Your Majesty, what do you think?"

After all, he was just making suggestions, and these reforms could only be implemented if the empress agreed.

As Xu Chengling was the prime minister, as long as he spoke, these policies would be implemented quickly.

It can be said that only when the emperor and the prime minister reach an agreement can this machine called the country run at high speed.

At least it's not too late now.

Chapter 203: Blackmail

Yan Qiaoling, wearing a dragon robe, walked up to Xu Chengling, with a slight smile on her face, and said to him:

"I understand. My dear, just go ahead and do it. I will fully support you."

As she spoke, she secretly stuffed something into Xu Chengling's hand.

Xu Chengling opened it and saw, wow, it turned out to be a golden key.

And there seemed to be two words written on this golden key: National Treasury...

Xu Chengling was startled, and looking at the smiling young empress in front of him, he couldn't help but ask:

"Your Majesty, this is the key to the treasury. What are you doing..."

Yan Qiaoling shrugged and said indifferently:

"Your Excellency, if you want to implement these reforms, you will definitely need money. Just use the money in the treasury. There isn't much left anyway."

In fact, at this year's grand court meeting, after the court paid its officials their year-end salaries, there was not much money left in the treasury.

If my sister had forcibly expanded the army by 100,000 at that time, the military expenditure would eventually fall on the heads of every citizen in Dayan, making the lives of the already poor people even more difficult.

But my sister’s idea is not wrong. If we don’t expand the military, we won’t have enough troops to defend the country.

Country, country, only with a country can there be a home, only with giving can there be gain.

Fortunately, Xu Chengling stopped the empress's decision to expand the army and promoted steelmaking technology in the army, which instantly raised the overall combat effectiveness of the Dayan Army to a higher level.

Now, with the 250,000-strong Dayan Army, plus the 200,000-strong border army of the Eighth Wise King, even if those vassal kings have their own ulterior motives, they dare not act rashly.

"My dear minister, just go ahead and do it. If anyone disobeys you can just chop him down with your imperial sword."

Yan Qiaoling couldn't help but reveal a dark look in her eyes, and a sly smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

After she reminded him, Xu Chengling remembered that he still had an imperial sword bestowed by His Majesty.

At this time, Yan Qiaoling turned around, looked at the guard beside her who was standing still like a statue, and said:

"Xue Yuan, take the Prime Minister to the national treasury for a look."

"Yes."

Xue Yuan nodded slightly, then walked in front of Xu Chengling and said:

"Master Xiangguo, please follow me."

Xu Chengling nodded, and under the leadership of Xue Yuan, he came to the place where the imperial palace treasury was located.

After using the golden key in his hand to open the door of the treasury, Xu Chengling couldn't help but fall into deep thought as he looked at the scene in front of him.

He knew that the treasury was somewhat short of money, but he didn't expect it to be so tight.