Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

After the autumn harvest in August, the tax inspector dispatched inspection teams to inspect various branches.

It is difficult to summarize the figures at once, and it is estimated that it will be after winter.

As the head of this powerful department that controls financial revenue and expenditure, Du Xiao knows how popular he is.

His "party members" are natural: transshipment envoys from various places, local city and city magistrates, customs and shipping envoys, "commercial transfer cadres" from the four major trading companies, and more and more calculation scientists every year.

These people were originally leaderless and didn't know who to turn to, but now they have a clear target: the tax inspector, a member of the political hall.

Since the establishment of the Tax Supervision was proposed four years ago, Du Xiao has actively or passively begun to integrate this force, just like Wang Yong integrated the forces of the Department of Agriculture.

The saint seemed to acquiesce to this.

After Du Xiao figured it out, he was no longer restrained.He knew very well that the Saint did not want their "tax system" to be too weak and suppressed too harshly, so he deliberately cultivated their power.To put it simply, the saint hopes to have greater power to make money.

There are certainly many ways to tax.The crudest way is to just use swords and guns to expropriate them violently.But if there is a better way, it would be better to have some rules and regulations, so that those who are taxed will have fewer complaints, less dissatisfaction, and less resistance to taxation.

The tax collection team must be professional, form a factional inheritance, have a relatively independent status, and cannot become anyone's vassal.

After the Anshi Rebellion in the former Tang Dynasty, there was always a prime minister who assigned the three departments, which actually integrated the three major departments of the Ministry of Revenue, Duzhi, and Salt and Iron, and became an independent political force.The more expensive the court, the higher their status and the greater the power they are given, so that they can collect more taxes and make up for the financial deficit.

Compared with the "Three Judges" of the Tang Dynasty, the Tax Supervisor of Daxia is more legitimate and has greater power. In the end, I don't know what it will look like when it develops.

Du Xiao was born in the Du family of Jingzhao and knew too much about politics.He knew very well that as the first chief of the tax inspectorate and the integrator of factions, Du's status in the finance and taxation department would be transcendent, and his influence would likely last for several generations. This was a blessing for the family, so he started to work Work very hard to survive.

What he is currently dealing with is building new ships and transporting grain.

Shipbuilding requires tax supervision expenses. The ships belong to the local government. After the grain is transported to the destination port, it falls under tax supervision.

There are many miscellaneous things, and they are all matters of concern to the saint and cannot be ignored.

After finishing one copy, Du Xiao picked up another one.

The tax inspector needed to pay the Western Region trading company to purchase grain: a total of more than 23 pieces of silk.

The money was paid in Luoyang to recover a large number of food stamps held by the Western Region Trading Company.

This type of cooperation has continued for many years.

Xiyu Trading Co., Ltd. has left more than ten people in Luoyang to handle such matters.In the past, I received money from the Ministry of Household Affairs, but now I went to the tax supervisor to collect the money. After receiving the money, I summoned the farmers in Shangtun who had returned from the Western Regions at the end of their term to pay their wages one by one.

Du Xiao knows that this year and next will be the peak period for settling money.Because the Western Region trading companies are adjusting their business, they are slowly reducing the number of acres of land and the number of people in the business.Many people who went to the Western Regions to farm had to return to Luoyang one after another to collect their money before deciding whether to stay or stay.

However, just because the Western Region Trading Company no longer wants Shangtun, it does not mean that others are willing to give up.

In the past two or three years, Beiting Shangtun has sprung up and is of great scale.

The Zhao family hired more than a thousand people from Qinzhou, Qizhou, and Liangzhou and rushed to Beiting to launch a massive farming operation.After two years of land reclamation, you will start to make a profit from selling grain. After five or six years, you will make a steady profit. At that time, you can also sell the farmland of Shangtun that has become mature land to the government, and the government will grant it to the families of the immigrated soldiers, so that they can quickly settle down. Come down.

There are many other Shangtun teams similar to the Zhao family.

Luoyang is the settlement center and the Western Region is the delivery center. The entire business community activity has been going on for seven or eight years and is becoming more and more mature.

Du Xiao scrolled down and found that there were indeed several settlement applications for private commercial villages, so he signed and agreed to them all.

Each application has the quantity, location, time and object of grain delivery.

Du Xiao keenly discovered that a medium-sized war would break out in the direction of Beiting next year at the latest.

Many things can be seen from the direction of supplies such as food without asking around for information.

Du Xiao put the signed official letter aside, and would pick it up later with low-level officials such as recordkeepers and bookkeepers.

He picked up the third copy and read it.

The prince requested that some prefectures and counties in Hexi and Longyou be suspended from the corvee and taxation imposed by Tongguang for ten years.

There are more than a dozen states in the Helong area. The prince asked eight states to be exempted from taxes for one year. Because it involved money and food, the prince transferred to his side.

Of course, Du Xiao is not willing to be exempted from taxes, because the state is still a bit nervous.

He looked carefully at the sage's Zhubu, and seemed to agree, but also wrote that the tax supervisor could handle it "as appropriate."

This actually gives Du Xiao discretion, that is, he can make discounts on the basis of eight states: who is exempted, who is not exempted, and how much is exempted, it is up to you.Look at it!Do you dare to discount the prince's kindness?A hundred years later, the saint doesn’t want to stop thinking about it?
What I didn’t say was that I could only agree with them all.With a stroke of his pen, he signed and agreed.

The fourth part was about Bukhana. After reading it, Du Xiao took a breath: The saint is really generous.

Shao Shenli, the king of Chu, had established a state in the area and made Dawan County (formerly Bahanna City) the capital. Nowadays, everything is in ruins and there is an urgent need for money, food and population.

The sage ordered five thousand households from the ten states of Bian, Song, Ying, Pu, Cao, Wei, Bei, De, Cang and Zhen to go west to settle in Chu State, and ordered the tax inspector to allocate money and grain to cover expenses along the way.

This is not a small amount of money, and it is not the first time I have immigrated to Bakhan.

Shule Xingying also has a large-scale trading village under its jurisdiction. Du Xiao still remembers that last year he approved several grain delivery and settlement orders for the trading villages, all of which were shipped to Bahanna.

By this year, five merchant teams had gone to Bakhana to cultivate land and open up wasteland.

The Ministry of Industry also sent many people to repair and build new wells and canals in the area.

Each of these expenses is not a small amount.

Du Xiao couldn't help but wonder, if the prince were in power, would he agree to these expenses?Most likely not.

He was a little hesitant, wondering if this would offend the prince.But then he was horrified. If he was afraid of offending the prince, wouldn't he be afraid of offending the saint?What's more, there is absolutely no room for bargaining on these expenses. The saint has already set the tone. Do you still want to disobey the holy order?

Du Xiao immediately signed and stamped his signature and approved these expenditures.At the same time, he secretly sighed that King Chu had caught up with him at a good time.However, maybe I just caught up with the tail?
How many years can the saint's body and bones last?I heard my sister say privately that saints sometimes take the medicine of tiger and wolf, which is really...

Du Xiao sighed, put down the brush, picked up the tea cup, and was lost in thought.

Looking back on those days, the rise of the saint became more and more obvious. My sister, who was known to be smart, was sent to the palace to serve the saint. The entire Du family also completely surrendered to the past. The first official position where I flexed my talents was Shaanzhou Ling. Baoling.

More than 20 years have passed and I am now over [-] years old and entering my twilight years.The whole world is prosperous and everything is getting better, but nothing is eternal. He is not it, and neither is a saint.

Pity.

After drinking tea, Du Xiao calmed down and continued working.

When setting up a town army in Daosang Prefecture, Yunnan, it is necessary to allocate funds to build military camps, provide houses, fields, cattle, farm tools, seeds and rations for the first two years to the families of the soldiers, all of which require money.

The Sangzhou Town Army has a strength of [-], drawn from the Shengjie Army.

Du Xiao knew that the Shengjie Army was the last elite of the Shu Army. They were familiar with the southwest environment and were skilled in small and medium-sized battles in mountainous valleys.For more than ten years, the number of personnel in this force has been steadily declining, from the initial more than 4 to 3000. After 5000 people were transferred to form the town army, there were only [-] left.

Twenty-five thousand is exactly the number of people in a Forbidden Army troop - the number of cavalry troops is divided into 2 and [-].

Du Xiao felt that the saint probably wanted to retain such a team specifically for fighting in the southwest mountainous area.

This is not his random imagination. In fact, some people in the Privy Council also have such suspicions. There are even ready-made examples: Ningyuan and Qinghai armies each have [-] troops, mainly surrendered troops from Fujian, Hunan, Lingnan, Wuyue and other towns. The former is The troops were successively stationed in Changsha, Yongzhou, Jiaozhou and other places. The latter was stationed in Guangzhou and relied on the navy division for landing operations.

These two troops have been organized into the Forbidden Army and have not been split up, demobilized, or consumed like other surrendered armies.The organization has always been maintained to suppress the vast south.

In fact, they have also benefited from the environment and climate.

When the northern troops go south, it's okay for a short time, but if they stay there for a few years, it's really difficult to adapt.Furthermore, the terrain in the south is not suitable for the heavy armored warriors of the north to attack in large numbers and the cavalry groups to attack repeatedly. What is needed is sergeants who are good at climbing in the mountains, are agile and capable, and can adapt to the hot and humid environment.

The Ningyuan and Qinghai armies with 4 men can be classified as the Forbidden Army, and the Shengjie Army also has this possibility.Moreover, their combat effectiveness is not weak. They have been fighting in central Guizhou and Yunnan for a long time. They are no longer the weak brigade they used to be. They may be the only force whose combat effectiveness has improved in the past ten years.

After reading it, Du Xiao approved the required money and food without any hesitation.

He was busy like this until the evening. Du Xiao picked up the last one and looked at it casually.

Compared with the previous expenses, the last one is pitifully small, only a thousand dollars.

He was a little confused, how could such a small expense be put on his desk?

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the saint was going to give a banquet in Shendu Garden to entertain the scholars who came to Beijing to take the exams - no wonder.

It is already September, and some students who came early have already settled in the capital.By late autumn and early winter, almost all the scholars rushing to take the exam will arrive in the capital with the imperial envoys and register at the Ministry of Rites.

At the end of February next year, the triennial imperial examination will begin again.

"Every year goes by so fast." Du Xiao sighed with emotion, and signed his name. After finishing the printing, he didn't bother to clean it up, and just went straight down.