Father Han Gaozu

Chapter 804

"Seriously ill?"

Liu Zhang was silent for a moment, before he said: "Yes, Your Majesty, it was said that he was seriously ill, but in fact he was put under house arrest and not allowed to go out. The three sons of Xiting Kingdom, Liu Rong handed over to King Bo to take care of him. De was handed over to Wang Ji to be raised, and Liu Yanyu was handed over to Jia Ji to be raised. This Li Ji, cursing King Xiting in front of everyone, and showing disrespect to His Majesty, will go on like this before long. end."

Liu Chang knew very well what happened to the so-called depression.

He picked up the information that Liu Zhang handed over, and couldn't help shaking his head.

"This woman is not as good as Ruyi's mother. How did Qi let her live to this day? He is usually very cruel to others. How can he be so ink-stained when it comes to his own family affairs?"

Liu Zhang said seriously: "The relationship between King Xiting and Li Ji was very good at the beginning. They have been together for a long time, and Li Ji gave birth to three sons for him. If you want to come to King Xiting, you can't bear to do anything to him."

"I think, this Zhuzi just doesn't pay attention to these things at all, and doesn't care at all. To him, those women are only used to give birth to offspring. He doesn't care what these people are doing at all. What to do. He can clean up anyone at any time, whether it's the queen, Li Ji, or those who are favored by him now. This Shuzi, although he is considered good in the second-generation clan, but with his father and Compared with my son, it is too far behind."

"Son?? I didn't know Father Zhong valued that Liu Rong so much."

"I'm not talking about Liu Rong, um, did Qi's concubine give birth to a son again?"

"What's your name?"

"Two sons were born, Cheng Ji gave birth to son Liu Yu, and Tang Ji gave birth to son Liu Fa."

Liu Zhang looked at Zhong's father suspiciously. He didn't understand why Zhong's father cared so much about the name of the son born to King Xiting.

A look of disappointment appeared on Liu Chang's face, "Oh, is it because I have too much influence? Impossible. Are these four scorpions or these four scorpions, what's wrong? Isn't he a legitimate son?"

Liu Chang raised his head, saw the confused Liu Zhang in front of him, smiled, and said indifferently: "No problem, write back a letter to Qi, so that he can give birth to a son with peace of mind."

Liu Zhang lowered his head. He had heard that his mother-in-law urged his daughter-in-law to have more sons, but he had never heard of Zhong's father urging his son to have more sons. But this was the emperor's order, and he didn't dare to refuse, so he hurriedly agreed.

Liu Chang beckoned, let Liu Zhang sit beside him, and asked, "How is your situation here? What is Xi doing?"

"Your Majesty, he is an official in Berkshire. He replied to a letter recently, saying that the county guard loves him very much and often entrusts him with important tasks."

"Haha, Guan Ah is not very capable, but in terms of his preference for subordinates, no one can match him. You don't have to worry about your son being under his command."

Liu Zhang finally couldn't help but asked, "Father Zhong, why are you so concerned about Qi's family affairs?"

"Ahem, it's not just about his family affairs, I am very concerned about your family affairs. The Han Dynasty has more and more territory. The county system can't let me complete the actual control of various places. I still have to divide the feudal lords, step by step. I am more concerned about the children of clans everywhere. If there are talents that can be cultivated, I will definitely cultivate them personally so that they can become the rocks that guard the side of the temple. Let’s not talk about this. Jia Yi’s new policy is determined ?”

"He has already confirmed it, but he has been rejected by Yu Shigong three times in a row."

"The two became really angry. Jia Yi even asked his aunt to come out. The aunt came forward to persuade Sizhong's father, but Zhong's father still refused to listen. The aunt told the matter to the aunt, but the aunt reprimanded her. A meal, let her not get involved in the great affairs of the temple."

"Jia Yi went to win over Liu Jing again, I think Father Sizhong might have to relax a little bit."

Liu Chang was a little dazed when he heard it, and he shook his head, "Fortunately, there is Luan Bu who can be impartial, otherwise, if these people come to the door, what will I do?"

"Censor! Let's go directly to His Majesty!!"

Lu Jia couldn't bear it anymore, his face was flushed, he sat beside Liu Heng, and said angrily: "Luan Bu has no idea of ​​his own, whether we go to him or Jia Yi goes to him, he They are all the same, neither objecting nor supporting, you still have to go directly to His Majesty and ask His Majesty to come up with a conclusion!"

Liu Heng glanced at him, "It's useless to find His Majesty."

"Why is it useless?"

"Your Majesty, whoever can make him happy is right. He doesn't understand these things at all."

Lu Jia was silent for a moment, "What Yu Shigong said is very true, but Jia Yi is aggressive and has Liu Jing as his minion, so he is very rampant. What should we do?"

At present, the dispute between Liu Heng and Jia Yi is still focused on the new tax issue proposed by Jia Yi. Jia Yi wants to abolish the original miscellaneous taxes and carry out unified regulations. No one objects to this, but Jia Yi wants to raise the agricultural tax again. Set up tax increase, purchase tax, four tax, commercial tax, individual tax, and landscape tax, house tax, vehicle and vessel tax, deed tax, Hong Kong tax, vehicle and boat purchase tax, etc., to change the original relatively simple agricultural and commercial tax of Dahan into There are thirteen kinds of taxes.

Liu Heng and others believed that Jia Yi's strides were too big. Among other things, it was the landscape tax, relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, and relying on the sea to eat the sea. do what?He also changed the agricultural tax into various forms. The people have to pay taxes when they sell their own products or agricultural by-products in their spare time. They are not opposed to progress, but they think that progress must be done step by step. , If you want to reach the sky with one foot, you will inevitably fall into the deep pit.

However, Jia Yi and others believe that the original single taxation cannot satisfy the finances of the big man today. To solve the financial problem, we need to increase revenue, improve the taxation system, take it from the people, and use it for the people. A high tax rate is not a detriment to the people.

Facing Lu Jia's question, Liu Heng said softly, "Many of these new taxes that Jia Yi created were ordered by the emperor himself, including his innovations, which were ordered by the emperor, so we can't win them at all."

"Ah?? Then why should we oppose them? Just let them do it!!"

Liu Heng shook his head, "I never thought of being able to stop the reform, but I just didn't want Jia Yi to make such a large-scale change. His Majesty actually thought about it very well, but he neglected one point. The important point is that the government of the Han Dynasty will follow. It changes with the change of the emperor and ministers."

"There are so many types of taxes established, if you meet a wise king, the extremely low tax rate is nothing, but if you meet a greedy person, these taxes are used to collect money, and can kill more than half of the people Jia Yi and the others The taxes established are simply unavoidable, and all aspects are summarized perfectly, but there are also great hidden dangers, and the issuance by temples is not the same thing in local implementation. If you are not careful, today's In a prosperous age, it becomes difficult for the people to live.”

"Many temples believe that the policies that can be good for the people have turned into actions that harm the people in the local area. Alas. It's hard to say, it's hard to say."

Liu Heng's eyes were full of worry.

As a very far-sighted person, Liu Heng has always been thinking about many problems that he will face in the future, and has made preparations in advance. This has been the case in history, including the policy of collecting power from the princes and kings, and raising horses in the north. The policy, the loose policy for the people seems to be to prepare for the future, and the things he prepared did come in handy later. On the same level as the Han Empire, the people's hearts are more toward the Han. When Emperor Wu of the Han was determined to fight the Xiongnu, the horse farm opened by Emperor Wen had grown to the point where it had hundreds of thousands of horses.

"So what do we do now?"

"Force Jia Yi to back down and let him take it step by step. Of course, we have to take a few steps back and allow the transformation of business and tax first."

Although Lu Jia felt helpless, he had no choice but to agree.

Faced with Liu Heng's retreat, Jia Yi was still very dissatisfied.

"I really don't understand. Can he come up with a tax policy that is more perfect than the tax policy I proposed? I combined many tax policies mentioned by His Majesty, and discussed with the wise ministers in the court. I have just completed the current tax policy. I think there are no loopholes in the reform of the system, but my uncle just doesn’t agree, and he looks forward and backward, how can it be a big deal??”

Liu Jing quite agrees with Jia Yi's words.

"Yeah, these tax policies are so good, they can share the miscellaneous taxes of the common people, just those variants of commercial taxes can kill merchants, and there are no loopholes for those tyrants who want to escape, Yu Shigong This person is good at everything, but he is a little too timid. When encountering something, he does not think about its benefits first, but instead thinks about its hidden dangers. I think that any policy will have its pros and cons, and it cannot exist. Hidden danger policy, and what we have to do is to reduce hidden dangers and increase its benefits, but Yu Shigong doesn’t think so.”

"It's a pity, such a good tax!!! It can't be implemented!!!"

"This is really the misfortune of the big man!!!"

The voices of the two became louder and louder.

Finally Luan Bu couldn't bear it anymore, he slowly put down the memorial in his hand, and looked at the two people who were sitting in front of him and roaring loudly.

Jia Yi was taken aback, and hurriedly said with a smile: "Mr. Luan, it's okay. You can continue to look at your work. We see that you are busy, so we dare not disturb you. You are just talking to yourself. You continue to be busy."

"Your saliva is almost spraying my eyes, how can I see?"

Liu Jing couldn't help but said: "Luan Xiang, every time we come to you, you just look down at the memorial and ignore us. Naturally, we can only use this method. At present, this matter can only be decided by you. Even the crown prince has come forward to agree with us, you can't back down."

Luan Bu raised his head very calmly, "I'm not shrinking back, it's just a matter of great importance in the temple, and we can't easily draw conclusions. Since Yu Shigong backed down a step, then you should stop being so persistent and carry it out step by step. Let’s start reforming from commercial taxation, if you need the cooperation of the mansion, feel free to come to me.”

"But these are all interlocking, how can it be."

"No need to say much."

Luan Bu only left one sentence, and continued to read his memorial. Jia Yi and Liu Jing got up helplessly and walked out of the prime minister's mansion. After the two of them left, Luan Bu put down the memorial and rubbed his forehead. It's not easy to be the Prime Minister of the country. There are new things every day, round after round, which makes him restless. In the face of the disputes among the ministers, he can't choose a side decisively. As the Prime Minister, the most important thing is It is to maintain the balance between the DPRK and China. Whether it is a radical or a moderate, he must appease and prevent one side from being too strong.

Compared with Zhang Xiang and the others, his ability in this area is still lacking.

Luan Bu immediately ordered his servants to prepare the carriage for him, and went out soon.

And his destination was Zhang Cang's mansion.

Zhang Cang is already very, very old. After his [-]th birthday, he has lost all his teeth and can't even eat. There are rumors outside that Zhang Cang can only feed on human milk at present, but for the The officials didn't know the truth of such rumors. Although it sounded absurd, it seemed reasonable again when it was placed on Zhang Cang.

Although all his teeth were lost and his body was exhausted, Zhang Cang's mind was still very clear.

He can even study some difficult math problems in the mansion, such as the administration of temples.

When Luan Bu came to him, Zhang Cang was still able to get out of bed.

Luan Bu didn't dare to let Zhang Cang sit next to him to discuss with him. At this age, Zhang Cang was already considered a man of the Han people. Even if he slapped Liu Chang with his fist now, he probably wouldn't be able to ask for guilt. , Those old people who hold longevity sticks and can avoid the death penalty are all grandchildren in front of him, and they can smoke whenever they want.Seeing Luan Bu coming, Zhang Cang happily took out an article and handed it to Luan Bu.

"This is??"

"I heard that the theory of ghosts and gods has become popular again. This is an article I wrote recently, called Theory of Witches and Gu."

Just hearing the question, Luan Bu's hands trembled involuntarily.

Zhang Cang said with a smile: "At the beginning, Wu Zui and others made a mistake and cursed His Majesty. His Majesty refuted the theory of ghosts and gods, and ordered the alchemists in the country to curse and kill him. The old man invited those alchemists because he was the oldest. I also came to curse the old man, but look. The old man is over a hundred years old, hahaha, all the alchemists who cursed me are dead, none of them are left, but I am alive and well, and there is Zhao Tuo, who is better than I am several years younger, but now I can still use my crutches to compete with soldiers, this is the so-called witchcraft, it is useless."

"Whether ghosts and spirits exist or not, they will not change due to manpower, let nature take its course, let nature take its course"

Luan Bu read Zhang Cang's article. Although he was old, his sanity was not affected, and the article was still very good. He criticized these theories of ghosts and gods as worthless, and took himself as an example, combined with Xunzi's theory, and wrote Very good.

"As expected of Zhang Xiang. At a hundred years old, he can still write such articles."

"What is this? I'm very sober. Not long ago, I compiled some mathematics works and showed them to my sons, but they couldn't understand them!"

Zhang Cang said proudly, then looked at his legs, and sighed: "But it's my legs that are getting weaker and weaker. Many times, I can't stand up. I lost all my teeth. There is no taste in eating, and I can't do the things I liked to do before, but now, I want to meet Master more and more."

Luan Bu hurriedly saluted, "Mr. Zhang, don't want to say such words. Everything in the country cannot be separated from you."

"Hey, what's the matter, seventy is a happy burial, I'm already a hundred years old, if I die, it will be a happy burial among ecstasies"

Zhang Cang smiled, there was absolutely no fear of death in his eyes, and he was extraordinarily open-minded.

Luan Bu was also very surprised, almost all of these veterans who followed Emperor Gao to make contributions were like this, open-minded and cheerful, not afraid of life and death at all, and most of Emperor Gao's sons were also like this.

"Did you suddenly come to me because of the barbarian? The prince? Or the tax?"

"Back to Zhang Xiang, it's because of the tax."

"I am no longer the prime minister of the country, it is enough for you to be called a prince."

"Zhang Xiang is always Zhang Xiang, and it will not change."

Hearing what he said, the little old man was very happy, and then he helped Luan Bu analyze the taxation matter. No matter how complicated the matter is, it will not be difficult for Zhang Cang. Taking Jia Yi's policy as an example, he explained what Jia Yi wanted to achieve and how to do it, and explained it separately. Under his explanation, Luan Bu could easily solve the complicated tax issues. Understood, even very clearly, Luan Bu quickly wrote it down.

"Jia Yi is actually defending merchants. Liu Jing is an idiot, and he foolishly accompanied him to suppress him. But think about it, different types of merchants had to pay the same tax, but now? Tax and commercial tax If the tax is separated and the individual tax is cut, then the taxes paid by the big merchants and those small merchants will be completely different. Such taxes are a disaster for those big merchants, such as Lu Lu, but for small merchants. For merchants, on the contrary, it relieves their pressure and makes private commerce more developed.”

Luan Bu listened very seriously, and with Zhang Cang's explanation, Luan Bu finally had a clue.

Zhang Cang finally ordered: "I have the most experience in dealing with such things. It is nothing more than two steps back. The so-called two steps back is to make concessions to both parties, so that they can express their ideas. Then you take a compromise, come up with your own ideas, and go further... so repeatedly pull, grasp the scale."

"The main reason is that you are still young. Those old ministers in the court will inevitably rely on their elders to betray their elders. It is just to deceive you that you dare not be too strict with them. How about this? If someone cheats on their elders in the future, you can send someone to pick me up. What is real old!!"

"I'm so old now that no one can catch me!!"

ps: I want to try the third shift today and make up for this month’s debt. I don’t know if I can do it
(End of this chapter)