After three years of enfeoffment, the waste prince shocked the court boss

If Chen Daomin was here, his jaw would drop in shock. Those Lingnan officials who he thought were subdued and intimidated were all sitting here now.

Li Su sat at the head, picked up a cup of tea, took a sip, and said.

"Don't worry, let the bullet fly for a while."

Chapter 56 Brother Chen, the treasury is out of money

The magistrate's yamen, the back court.

Chen Daomin sat in the living room with a contented expression on his face.

For more than a month, I canceled a total of [-] measures that King An promulgated for the government to implement.

All without exception were thoroughly implemented, and the expected situation where someone would jump out and object and cause a little trouble for himself did not appear.

Although the garrison named Qi Yong didn't come to the meeting he convened at that time, and expressed that he wanted to stand on King An's side, he didn't stop him with his own decree.

The collection of city taxes by the guards in charge of him was also smoothly cancelled.

Chen Daomin planned to gain a firm foothold after a while, and then find time to deal with him after gaining the support of the people in Lingnan Mansion.

It's just a fifth-rank defense, and he can be dealt with with just a few gestures.

Chen Daomin felt that this month was the happiest time he had ever lived.

Thinking of the humiliation I suffered when I first came to Lingnan Mansion, I feel finally proud.

"A dandy is a dandy, even if he has some strange skills in governing the people, he is no match for my master."

Chen Daomin thought happily.

"Master, are we too impatient to target An Wang like this.

After all, he is a dignified prince, and this Lingnan Mansion is still his vassal land in name.

Or do you still draw it slowly? "

Meng Yi was a little worried and said that he always felt that things were going too smoothly, which was a little abnormal.

"The vassal kings are not allowed to interfere in local government affairs. This is the system of the great ancestors, but the court generally does not go into it.

It is in line with the ancestral system for me to cancel his decree, if he is reasonable, how can I let me do so, you just follow the order yourself, forgive him and dare not do anything.

Although you are the housekeeper of this official, as the saying goes, the seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister's door, sir, I can also be regarded as a high-ranking official in the frontier. If you are so cautious, how dare I entrust you with more important things in the future.

If you have nothing to do, learn from Cao Youde and see how he does things. "

Chen Daomin waved his hands indifferently, displeased with Meng Yi's behavior of looking forward and backward.

"This Meng Yi has been with me for so many years, and I haven't learned a bit of the character and strength of the official censor."

Chen Daomin felt that Cao Youde was good, he understood his meaning very well, and the work entrusted to him recently was also done very well.

Comparing the two, Chen Daomin felt that Meng Yi was not enough.

Feeling the dissatisfaction in Chen Daomin's words, Meng Yi couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat.

Cao Youde was indeed too diligent to run to the prefect's yamen recently, he already had a sense of crisis.

"Brother Chen! Brother Chen!"

Said that Cao Cao Cao Cao will be here, Cao Youde's rushing voice came from outside the door.

In the past month, Cao Youde and Chen Daomin have been inseparable, and they almost fell asleep.

Chen Daomin's residence has not yet brought the female relatives over, so Cao Youde can come directly to the back court without any notification.

"Brother Cao is here, Meng Yi, hurry up and serve tea."

When Chen Daomin saw Cao Youde rushing over, he hurriedly greeted him.

Meng Yi glanced at Chen Daomin resentfully, and silently brought Cao Youde a cup of tea.

Cao Youde picked up the tea and drank it down, wiped his mouth casually with his sleeve and said:

"Brother Chen, our treasury is out of money, and next month we will pay a group of merchants the balance of the old city renovation."

"Why? When I took office, didn't you tell me that there were 200 million taels of silver in the treasury?"

Chen Daomin paled in shock, stood up abruptly, stared at Cao Youde and asked.

When he first took office, he roughly read the accounts of Lingnan Mansion, and found that the treasury had a total of 200 million taels of silver.

Chen Daomin had never heard of any state capital in Dagan with so much money. At that time, he was secretly happy that he could use Lingnan's wealth to display his talents at will.

How come it's gone in less than a month?

"Brother Chen, it's true that our Lingnan Mansion has a lot of taxes every year, but the annual expenses are also very astonishing.

This year's old city renovation alone cost 300 million taels of silver, and there are still some funds that have not been settled yet.

This month, because of the subsidy funds to be issued to merchants who renovate old buildings, and the reissue of old city demolition funds, the treasury's silver deposits have long been used up.

And then with the start of the railway, a large sum of money will be invested in it one after another.

Yesterday, that Qi Yong also came to my door to ask for the salary of the two thousand guards below.

Before this money was paid by King An for us, but this time he unexpectedly made trouble and asked us for payment at this time. "

Cao Youde explained.

"Since the treasury didn't have that much money before, why are you so anxious to renovate the old city! Why don't you wait until you have enough money in your hands before starting work!"

Chen Daomin discovered the loophole in Cao Youde's words, fixed his eyes on Cao Youde, and smelled a hint of conspiracy.

As long as Cao Youde can't explain clearly, he has reason to suspect that Cao Youde dug a hole for himself in the alliance with King An.

"Oh, my brother Chen, it's because you canceled the city entrance tax."

Cao Youde called Qu Dao.

"Because I abolished the city tax?"

Chen Daomin didn't know why, he looked confused.

"When we planned the old city renovation project, we considered that the daily city entrance tax was enough to continuously inject funds into the Lingnan government's finances. As long as the city entrance tax was continuously collected, the finances would not be exhausted.

Unexpectedly, my lord, you canceled the city entry tax, which made it impossible for the government treasury to replenish income in time. The whole government has large and small expenses, and there is no large amount of input, so the funds are broken. "

Cao Youde patiently explained.

"Didn't this official let the servants of the government government go door to door to collect business taxes according to the regulations of Dagan?"

Chen Daomin thought of this.

"My lord, the tax collected is a drop in the bucket.

At the beginning, His Royal Highness King An set the city entry tax as one tenth tax, and our fixed commercial tax was twenty one tax, which is a full double the difference in terms of tax rate. "

"Even if the tax is cut in half, shouldn't you be so nervous?"

Chen Daomin was puzzled.

"Oh, my lord, that's not the case.

His Royal Highness King An's ten tax is one ten tax of the value of all goods entering the city. Regardless of whether these goods are sold or not, no matter when they are sold, as long as they enter the city, the tax has already been collected in advance.

However, the [-]% tax of Daqian Law is the [-]% tax of the monthly income checked from the monthly accounts.

The merchant's goods can only be taxed if they are sold for a profit.

In other words, if a business does not open this month, he does not have to pay business tax.

The amount of tax involved can be described as worlds apart.

The total tax collected this month is only 6 taels, which is really just a drop in the bucket. "

Cao Youde explained to Chen Daomin.

Seeing that Cao Youde explained the reason clearly, Chen Daomin dispelled his doubts about Cao Youde.

"Then what should I do?"

Chen Daomin paced back and forth anxiously.

I have only been in office for a month, and because my government decree has dried up the treasury, if this spreads, it will become a joke for me.

This must not be allowed to happen.

"Do you want to restore the city entry tax set by King An?"

Cao Youde suggested.

"Don't mention this matter again!"

Chen Daomin said angrily.

Chapter 57

It has been less than a month since he overthrew Li Su's decree. If he pushes Li Su's business tax again at this time, wouldn't it be a slap in the face for himself.

This is absolutely intolerable to Chen Daomin.

If he really did this, he would lose all his prestige by then, and he wouldn't have to think about taking charge of Lingnan, he could just pack up and go back to Beijing.

"Then what should we do now?"

Cao Youde pretended to be eager and said.

"I have heard that each state capital has its own taxes. Since other places can set up tax collections, so can we."

Chen Daomin pondered for a moment and thought of an idea.

"My lord, will this offend those merchants?"

Cao Youde was worried, and seemed to think for Chen Daomin.

"In the past, they paid ten taxes and one business tax. Now we have set up a few more taxes to bring the total monthly tax to the same level as before. How dare they complain?"

Chen Daomin said with displeasure on his face.

"Your Excellency is wise, I will do it right away."

Cao Youde bowed and said.

"Well, let someone send the account book of Fucheng to me again, and I want to see if there is still room for increasing revenue and reducing expenditure."

Chen Daomin said.

……

Cao Youde's new recruits were very efficient in execution.

When the new taxes promulgated by Chen Daomin were posted with the magistrate's seal, the servants went door-to-door to collect taxes from merchants.

"Why this road tax?"

"It means that when you open a store, you have to walk to get in and out of the store? Customers have to walk to buy things in your store, right? Building roads makes your business easier. According to the road tax promulgated by the magistrate, you will naturally have to pay the tax."

"Why pay taxes?"

"You opened a shop and occupied the land on the side of the street. The magistrate said that you naturally have to pay taxes."

"Then what is tax?"

"The guards and servants of Fucheng keep you safe, and there are no young people who destroy your business. The magistrate said that you should not pay taxes?"

"And what's the meaning of this tax difference?"

"Oh, it's the magistrate who said that our tax collector's salary will also come from your tax."

"Grass!"

……

The conversation above happened in every merchant on the street, and many merchants were baffled by the sudden addition of taxes.

Originally, the magistrate canceled the city entry tax, and they only need to pay a tax of [-] yuan per month, which is much less than the [-]th tax set by His Royal Highness Wang An.

But now the sum of the tax types set up under these clever names is estimated by merchants to be at least four out of ten taxes.

Countless merchants complained.

Du Chen, a businessman from the West City of the capital who came to Lingnan to do business and settle down, was one of the first batch to come, and because of his high prestige and business success, he was elected by the businessmen of Lingnan Prefecture as the president of the chamber of commerce.