I was a princess in ancient times

On the first day of the seventh year of Changping, King Qinghe entered the palace with several clans and recorded the ten princesses who were born less than half a year under the name of King Shu.

After the Ninth Prince, Emperor Changping adopted a daughter for his younger brother who had no fate.

Ji Xinxue looked at the Ninth Prince and the Tenth Princess who were hugged together, and couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

Back then, in order to increase the size of Chen Guiren's unborn child, Concubine Lin offered to adopt the Ninth Prince to King Shu.

Although Concubine Lin failed to fulfill her wish that the son should be as precious as the mother, because she gave her son to Concubine Su, she gained a higher status in the harem.Instead, Emperor Changping, Empress Dowager Su, and Concubine Su did not want to see her at the same time, so she could only go to Zhuangzi to serve the old concubine of the late emperor.

But judging from the result of the Ninth Prince becoming Shu Wang's son, the aristocratic family can also be called seeking benevolence and deserving benevolence.

It's a pity that by the time Chen Guisheng gave birth to his daughter, the aristocratic family had quietly faded out of court.

Even if Chen Guiren gave birth to a son, the aristocratic family has no way to fight for the position of the fourth concubine for Chen Guiren as expected when they 'sacrificed' the Ninth Prince.

Chen Guiren couldn't understand this truth, and attributed all the faults to the ten princesses.

When Concubine Lin gave birth to a child, because she could not surpass the concubine who gave birth at the same time in status, she frequently tossed the nine princes, trying to get the attention of Emperor Changping, Empress Dowager Su, and Concubine Su.

The Ninth Prince was only weaker than the Seventh and Eighth Princesses, so Emperor Changping felt dissatisfied with Concubine Lin and wanted to take the Ninth Prince to the palace of the Grand Concubine.Because he couldn't bear to part with the ninth prince and his biological mother, he was willing to give Concubine Lin a chance to reform.

Chen Guiren was not satisfied with his daughter being a concubine, but instead blamed her daughter for causing her to lose the position of fourth concubine, and actually had a murderous intention towards the tenth princess.

Fortunately, the nanny and aunt arranged by Queen Mother Su for the tenth princess discovered something was wrong in time, and snatched the blue-faced tenth princess from Chen Guiren in time, so no major mistakes were made.

Emperor Changping couldn't even tolerate Concubine Lin who was tossing about the nine princes, how could he tolerate Chen Guiren.

She didn't even have the chance to go to Zhuangzi to serve the late emperor's concubines, so she was sent directly to a Buddhist temple in the suburbs of Beijing, where she could only be with the ancient Qingdeng Buddha for the rest of her life.

Ji Xinxue put the enamel safety buckle next to her little sister's baby, her eyes were full of pity.

As the remnants of the previous dynasty revealed more and more hole cards, the bond between the aristocratic family and the remnants of the previous dynasty became more and more conspicuous.

Emperor Changping decided to adopt the tenth princess to King Shu, not only for the consideration of the ninth prince, but also because he did not want to see the tenth princess be influenced by the Chen family and Chen Guiren.

Ji Xinxue turned around and rubbed the Ninth Prince's shiny black and soft hair, and patiently instructed, "Don't bully my sister."

The Ninth Prince opened his mouth and uttered meaningless syllables, and stretched out his arms to throw himself on Ji Xinxue.

It's a pity that the aunt who took care of the Ninth Prince was well prepared and was holding the Ninth Prince's waist tightly.

Seeing his younger brother struggling like a kid shaving water, Ji Xinxue shook his head helplessly.

That afternoon, Ji Xinxue received a New Year's gift from Yu Heng, which was a palm-sized wooden box.

Before opening the box, he thought carefully about the New Year's gifts he received in previous years, and made a reasonable guess about what was inside the box.

With Yu Heng's sense of ritual, there is a high probability that there are seventeen... pearls in the wooden box?gem?Jade beads?Wood carving?

No, it's seventeen waist cards that smell faintly of acacia.

In addition to the eagle spreading its wings on the surface of the sharp copper sheet, there are also Turkic characters that Ji Xinxue cannot understand.

On the palm-sized note, there are only three words, flying and dancing.

'boots'

The small court meeting on the tenth day of the first lunar month ended peacefully amidst the depression of the coming storm.

At the Grand Court Meeting on the [-]th of the first month, the contradictions that had been silently accumulated throughout the year broke out in the eyes of many hidden expectations.

The courtiers knelt down in unison before Emperor Changping brought up the new policy, and said in unison that the new policy would only benefit the people for a while, but would damage the country and even shake the foundation of the country in the long run.

Please ask Emperor Changping to suspend the New Deal, brainstorm and correct the shortcomings, and then consider whether to resume the New Deal.

Ji Xinxue turned her head to look at the neatly arranged hair crowns of various colors, and waited until the tail sound lingering on the glazed tiles completely dissipated before she stepped forward firmly under the quiet eyes behind her back.

It's rare for courtiers to give up high-sounding nonsense, so they can't see it.

They cited examples of businessmen and squires who suddenly fell into ruin because of the New Deal to prove the harshness of the New Deal, and they presented a petition asking Emperor Changping to stop the New Deal.

Among them are not only the petitions written by the people of Gyeonggi, but also the petitions written by the people of Guannei Province, Hadong Province, Dogi Province, and Sannam Province.

Whether it is the geographical scope or the proficiency of the petition, it is far superior to the Wanmin petition presented by the aristocratic family last year.

For the same interests, the courtiers who reached a consensus, although they dismissed the New Deal as worthless, did not blame Emperor Changping for the mistakes caused by the New Deal.

They found a nearly perfect 'scapegoat'.

Family.

The courtiers didn't care that when the aristocratic family first supported Emperor Changping to carry out the New Deal, they didn't know the specific content of the New Deal.

They insisted that it was the aristocratic family who bewitched Emperor Changping with demonic words, so that Emperor Changping could only see the superficial benefits of the New Deal, and could not see the hidden harms at all, which caused thousands of people to suffer great changes because of the harsh New Deal.

Ji Xinxue met the sad and resentful eyes of the courtiers one by one, and the disappointment in her heart became more and more intense.

There will be nearly a hundred courtiers in the Great Court, and only one-fifth of them remain silent.

Most of them belonged to the clan, and a small number of them were people like Bai Qianli, Sikong, Situ, etc. who did not dare to attract the attention of Emperor Changping for fear of being regarded as "chicken".

The rest of the people who remained silent were all confidantes of Emperor Changping.

There is not even one person, because his conscience supports the New Deal.

Do those people have no conscience, or do they dare not have a conscience under the "general trend"?

"Liu Da, Fengxian, runs two restaurants in his family. Because he couldn't afford the tax, he closed the restaurants in the twelfth lunar month of the sixth year of Changping."

"Li Mei, a squire from Yunyang, has a small property. Because he can't afford the tax, he can only sell the property. In just half a year, only [-] mu of land is left from the [-] mu left by his ancestors."

"Wang Li, a traveling merchant in Hedong who has lived for thousands of years, spent seven months commuting between Chang'an and Hedong Road. Because of the sudden increase in taxes, he not only failed to make money, but was unable to repay the foreign debts he borrowed because of his business. They can only sell their properties to pay off their debts. Therefore, their vitality is severely damaged, and they can no longer form a caravan.”

……

Ji Xinxue randomly picked out a few papers from courtiers accusing the harshness of the New Deal, which caused businessmen and gentry families to suddenly lose their fortunes, and read the contents in a low voice.

Looking through five booklets in total, there are three booklets where the names of people can evoke Ji Xinxue's memory.

Because when the courtiers collected all kinds of information to prepare for the next year, Ji Xinxue never slack off.

"Liu Da, Li Mei, Wang Li." He raised his eyelids and looked condescendingly at the courtier who was still kneeling on the ground, "Who wrote the script?"

Another year passed, and Ji Xinxue was much taller than when she first returned to Chang'an at the end of the fifth year of Changping, and she was already half a head taller than Ji Minyan and Ji Jingrou.

Fortunately, he has always been a teenager, even though he is much taller than an ordinary woman, he still looks slender.In addition, the name of "Chang'an's No. [-] Beauty" has spread throughout Chang'an, but anyone who has heard of Ji Xinxue's reputation will focus most of their attention on Ji Xinxue's face when they see Ji Xinxue. Will ignore Ji Xinxue's height which is different from most girls.

At this moment, Ji Xinxue glanced down with her sharp phoenix eyes, and the tails of her eyes were like wings charging and sharp narrow swords, which brought a strong sense of oppression to the courtiers.

The courtiers who had never thought that Ji Xinxue was tall on weekdays, when they were kneeling and Ji Xinxue was standing, came up with the idea of ​​'Why is Princess Anwu so tall'.

After a long time, someone in the corner took the initiative to respond, "It's the minister's note."

Ji Xinxue turned her head to look.

Tsk, people from Yushitai.

At the beginning of last year, Yushitai charged Qi Yanhe, who was imprisoned in the prison of the clan mansion.All because of slandering the princess and the county king, they were punished fifty times and demoted three ranks in a row, almost annihilating the entire army.

In the middle of the year, Cui Taishi, who had been a doctor of imperial history for nearly ten years, was ill and recuperated.

Although Emperor Changping promptly promoted the confidant of the prince of Qinghe County to Yushitai to serve as Zuoqian capital censor, but there were too many people staring at Yushitai, and the new Zuoqian capital censor was a monk halfway through, and it was almost useless except for auspiciousness. extraneous effects.

In the Sixteenth National Congress of the first lunar month in the sixth year of Changping, the censors who were demoted to three levels were relegated or sent abroad one after another.The people who joined Yushitai came from all kinds of backgrounds, and almost everyone had a faction label on them.

It is precisely because everyone has a backer and can only be promoted based on seniority or the other party's mistakes, Yushitai has become stable and harmonious.

It's been a long time since I heard Yushi being scolded, Ji Xinxue thought that after Taishi Cui reported his illness, the atmosphere at Yushitai would improve.

Now it seems... Heh, the censors are still at the forefront of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases.

"Wearing the wind and playing things?" Ji Xinxue looked at Yushi who was about the same age as Emperor Changping with a half-smile.

The censor was suddenly named by Ji Xinxue, and he was extremely guilty. He was shocked to hear the words that wiped out the entire censor's army, and almost went limp.His tone was full of panic, "I dare not! What I have said is all facts, please learn from the princess!"

Sarcasm appeared in Ji Xinxue's eyes, before he could speak, he was 'besieged' by the courtiers.

"The ministers and others are all playing for the country and the people, why does the princess want to ridicule maliciously?"

"The princess might as well be more generous."

"I know that the princess implemented the new policy in Anye and Shangluo to be considerate of the common people. But oranges are different from the north and the south, and the princess's fiefdom is also different from ordinary state capitals and county governments. The common people will not ruin their peaceful life because of the princess's lack of thoughtfulness. And resent the princess. Why should the princess slander us because of the truth I said?"

……

Ji Xinxue took half a step back, so as not to spray the saliva of the person in front of him on his skirt.

When the impassioned emotions of the courtiers were completely over, Ji Xinxue opened the notebook again, and said coldly, "Liu Da's restaurant needs 900 taels of silver every year to buy ingredients, seasonings and other things. It is used to repair the restaurant and replenish dishes and chopsticks." , need 200 taels of silver. The salaries and gifts for the men and cooks need 200 taels of silver."

Seeing Ji Xinxue's calm demeanor and knowing Liu Da's restaurant very well in words, the courtiers all quietly looked at the upwardly folded censor.

"The turnover of the restaurant last year was 3000 taels of silver. According to the new policy, a total of 300 taels of expenditure will be deducted first. Of the remaining 700 taels of silver, a tax of three-tenths, which is 510 taels of silver, must be paid. There will be a net profit of 190 taels of silver."

Ji Xinxue raised her eyelids, looked at the censor who was already covered in cold sweat, and asked humbly, "If I remember correctly, as a sixth-rank censor, your annual Lumi and Luyin are only a thousand taels of silver. Liu Da The annual income is 190 taels more than yours. How could he not survive and had to close the restaurant?"

Yu Shi suddenly lowered his head, wishing he could lie on the ground to avoid Ji Xinxue's gaze.

Ji Xinxue looked at the stunned courtiers beside Yu Shi, "Do you know?"

Without waiting for the courtiers to answer, Ji Xinxue kindly explained to everyone, "Because Liu Da pays 200 taels of silver to a gentleman surnamed Tong every year."

"Princess, don't be silly..."

The smile on Ji Xinxue's face suddenly subsided, and she fixed her eyes on the courtier who spoke.

The courtiers were overwhelmed by Ji Xinxue's aura, and their subconscious rebuttals stopped abruptly.He lowered his head like a quail, wishing he could hide in the dust.

Ji Xinxue's gaze wandered among the courtiers for a while, and finally found Tong's uncle, Lang Jun.

He said with a half-smile, "Before the New Deal was implemented in Gyeonggi, Liu Da only had to pay the head tax for his family of five, a total of one hundred taels of silver."

"The income of 3000 taels minus the cost of 300 taels, and the tax of 600 taels, can leave 200 taels of silver. Take out 400 taels of silver to honor Mr. Tong, and the remaining [-] taels Two taels of silver are enough for their family of five to eat daily. They can also save the son’s betrothal gift and the daughter’s dowry.”

"After Fengtian implemented the new policy, after deducting the operating costs and taxes, Liu Da could only have 190 taels of silver left each year. Then he paid 200 taels of silver to Mr. Tong, Liu Da worked hard all year but lost money, no wonder he had to close the shop Good luck."

"Tong Shilang, did I make a mistake in my calculation?" Ji Xinxue asked.

The right servant of the household department, who had just taken office for half a year, bit the tip of his tongue fiercely, trying to stay awake with pain, and when he opened his mouth, there was a strong smell of rust, "I don't know you, the shopkeeper of a small restaurant!"

"I didn't say you knew Liu Da." Ji Xinxue smiled, "What are you in a hurry for?"

After speaking, he looked at the position of Yu Shitai, "It turns out that I wronged Yu Shi, and the content written by Yu Shi on the notebook is all the truth, but 'accidentally' left some unimportant content."

Seeing the censors huddled together like quails in the same nest, Ji Xinxue showed an unbearable expression, and handed the book about Liu Da to Ji Mingtong who was following him step by step, looking at him with bright eyes.

He said casually, "Forget it, people are not sages, and there is nothing wrong with it. Yushi is in a hurry to give the report, and it is human nature to be negligent occasionally."

Ji Mingtong showed dissatisfaction, and said without thinking, "The censor asks others to be saints all day long, why not be strict with himself?"

"What do you know?" Ji Jingrou put his hands on his chest and sneered, "This is called the way of being an official."

"Jingrou!" Ji Minyan looked at Ji Jingrou reproachfully.

The unruliness in Ji Jingrou's eyebrows immediately subsided, and she lowered her head obediently, "I know I was wrong."

Ji Minyan didn't need to remind her, so she bowed to the courtiers with different expressions, and didn't get up until her sleeves reached the ground, and sincerely apologized, "I am young and ignorant, what I just said is nonsense, please don't let me go!" Compete with me.”

Ji Xinxue coughed lightly, reminding the sisters that he had picked out a total of three papers.Only Liu Da was mentioned just now, and there were two other people who did not mention it.

Li Mei, a big landlord with [-] mu of land under his name, sold [-] mu of land because of the New Deal, leaving only [-] mu of land.Her information is also included in the 'special sample' that Ji Xinxue specially asked people to collect.

According to the laws of the Yu Dynasty, a 16-year-old man in the village can reclaim [-] mu of land, and only needs to pay a very small tax within ten years.

When Ji Xinxue formulated the new policy, he specifically stipulated that each person could have [-] mu of land to be exempted from taxation.

Then, according to the tax collection method he had seen before, the land was divided into [-] mu, [-] mu, [-] mu, [-] mu, [-] mu...and taxed in different levels.

There is no tax on land below [-] mu.

From [-] mu to [-] mu of land, the tax is paid according to one-tenth of the income.

From [-] mu to [-] mu of land, tax shall be paid according to [-]/[-] of the income.

From [-] mu to [-] mu of land, tax is paid at three-tenths of the income.

……

The so-called Yunyang Limei changed [-] mu of land into [-] mu of land within a year because of the New Deal.

She just wants to pay less tax and turn the remaining [-] mu of land into four [-] mu lands, which will be placed under the names of her children.

The reason for the sudden "bankruptcy" of the merchants in Hedong Road is the same as that of Liu Da who opened the restaurant.

They have had to share a lot of profits to 'honor' others for many years, and their lives are not as glamorous as they appear on the surface.

Because the blood-sucking leeches were unwilling to understand them, they suddenly couldn't support them.

Relying on sufficient preparation, Ji Xinxue caught the courtiers by surprise in the court contest and won a complete victory.

The contest outside the court has just begun.

According to the old practice, the tax time of the Yu Dynasty is only half a month after the autumn harvest.

The new policy proposed by Ji Xinxue is to implement the 'Two Tax Law'.

In Shangzhou, taxes were collected from the beginning of June to the middle of June, and from the beginning of the twelfth lunar month to the middle of the twelfth lunar month.In the sixth year of Changping, when the New Deal was implemented in Gyeonggi, taxes were also collected in the middle and end of the year.

In the process of sorting out the Gyeonggi tax documents in January, Ji Xinxue found something that was not considered.

When I was in Shangzhou, it only took five to eight days to collect the tax and register it, and it took another three to five days to check the amount.

Tax collection can be completed in at most half a month, and the Chinese New Year will never be delayed.

Last year, the New Deal was implemented on a larger scale, and it took longer to collect taxes.

If the time of taxation is not changed, taxation and Chinese New Year will definitely be delayed, and the possibility of both being delayed at the same time cannot even be ruled out.

In Ji Xinxue's plan, in the seventh year of Changping, taxes will be collected in May and Winter respectively.

He must appease the dissatisfaction of businessmen and gentry in Gyeonggi before mid-April, and let the people in other places accept the New Deal.

Ji Xinxue hesitated for a long time on how to deal with Tong Shilang's question, listed more than a dozen answers one after another, and then overturned them one by one.

Now that he is mercilessly dealing with Tong Shilang, he may be able to eliminate many Tong surnames by the way, so that the 'Liu Da' can breathe a sigh of relief, so that they will not suddenly become abjectly poor.

But there is more than one Tong Shilang in the court.

He only has more than three months to prepare the first tax in Changping's seven years, and there is no room for waste.

Judging from the current situation, the optimal solution is to use Liu Da to warn Tong Shilang, and then use Tong Shilang to warn the hidden 'Tong Shilang' in the court.

Ji Xinxue decided to warn Tong Shilang by paying a fine and not moving the officer.

5 taels of silver is enough to hurt Tong Shilang.

Not touching official products can not only prevent Tong Shilang from jumping over the wall in a hurry, but also appease the 'Tong Shilang'.

Let these people not commit tragedies of killing people or even exterminating their families for the sake of collecting filial piety outside.

When Emperor Changping saw Ji Xinxue's excerpt, his eyes were full of satisfaction.

When he was worried about his eldest son's approachability, he also worried that his second son was too rigid and easy to break.

With 5 taels of silver charged into the household department, Yushitai was replaced by Yushi again, and the tension in Chang'an court quietly returned to calm.

The chaos from Gyeonggi to the surrounding provinces has intensified, and even the gentry, businessmen and civilians in Gyeonggi fought in the streets because of their different views on the New Deal.

Ji Xinxue was firmly held in Chang'an by Emperor Changping, so she could only focus on making false claims with the courtiers, and entrusted the affairs of the capital to her sisters.

While attracting all the courtiers' attention overtly and secretly, Ji Xinxue quietly used the manpower left behind in Jiangnan.

This is the person he saved when he separated the Jiangnan business district from Jiangnan two years ago.

Only a very small number of people, including Emperor Changping and Yu Heng, knew of the existence of these people, and it was guaranteed that they would not arouse the vigilance of the courtiers.

The New Deal involved a lot, and the courtiers tried their best to stop it, so it certainly couldn't be directly implemented in every corner of the Yu Dynasty.

Ji Xinxue has already discussed with Emperor Changping.

In the seventh year of Changping, it is only necessary to let the people of Gyeonggi fully accept the new deal, and try to implement the new deal in the south of Guannei Road and the north of Shannan Road.

He asked Jiangnan businessmen to rush to the places where the New Deal was going to be tried out one after another, and told the people in these places about the chaos in Gyeonggi, focusing on the contradictions between the two sides and the gap between the rich and the poor.

In March, Ji Minyan and Ji Jingrou suppressed the merchants and gentry in Gyeonggi with thunderous means, and the "Jiangnan merchants" also quietly arrived at the place where the New Deal was about to be tried out.

There is Ji Xinxue's fief in Shannan Dongdao. Most of the local officials took office in the second year of Changping, and the execution of Chang'an's orders has always been faster and more thorough than other places.

When Jiangnan merchants arrived here, the people were already looking forward to the New Deal.

Even the squire of the merchant, who had heard the wind and the agitation, could barely keep calm.

In contrast, Shannan West Road and Guannei Road can almost be called chaos.

Instigated by Chang'an and Gyeonggi officials, the officials of the two places intensified the "tragedy" of the Gyeonggi merchants and squires to the local businessmen and squires.

In this way, from government officials to state officials, state officials to wealthy merchants and squires, wealthy merchants and squires to small merchants who open shops, farmers whose families have a few acres more land than others, and then to the most ordinary people in cities and villages.

All kinds of news passed down layer by layer.

The people in the two places only know that the people in Gyeonggi are so troubled by the New Deal that they can't even attend to business, and they take it for granted that the New Deal will make them pay more taxes.

For this reason, they cursed the imperial court and hated the emperor day and night in their hearts.Never thought that the respected village head, the most promising man from ten miles and eight villages, the kind person who pays for the repair of the ancestral hall every year... would unite to deceive the ignorant and ignorant.

Jiangnan merchants opened their way with money, and soon used various excuses to settle in places they had long been optimistic about.

They wrote down what they saw and heard on letter paper and handed it to specific people, and did not immediately tell the local people the benefits of the New Deal, so as not to startle the snake and attract the attention of local businessmen and gentry.

It wasn't until the end of March that the Jiangnan merchants who received Ji Xinxue's order began to carry out their initial tasks.Tell the local people all the chaos in Gyeonggi.

People in Gyeonggi have never opposed the new deal, they have always been fighting for the new deal.

Local businessmen, squires and officials immediately noticed the small movements of Jiangnan businessmen.

In the past three days alone, all these Jiangnan businessmen were arrested and put in jail.

On the fifth day, Princess Jinming, Duke Ping, and Princess Xuanwei brought imperial edicts and Jinwu Guards respectively, and appeared in the worst places in Guannei Road and Shannan West Road.

Local officials who abused their power in the process of arresting Jiangnan businessmen were immediately imprisoned.