yes sire

"Return to Your Majesty," Han You's heart was beating violently, but his voice was still calm, "The total expenditure of the central budget this year is 670 taels, and 700 taels have been spent so far, and the remaining 380 taels The two are the salary expenditures of officials in Beijing in the second half of the year, royal family expenditures, unpaid military salaries, and prepared disaster relief funds. The 260 million project funds budgeted for the Ministry of Industry at the beginning of the year have been allocated in January, March, June and September. All the funds were allocated at the beginning of the month. There is currently nowhere to transfer the 290 taels of silver."

Zhan Yu immediately said: "The dirty money and confiscated money recovered from the Ganzhou case must be at least 200 million, right? How could there be no money?"

Han You knew that Xia Siyan was going to use the money for military expenses, but at this time the emperor did not speak, and there was no official speech as a basis. He replied ambiguously: "The Ganzhou case has not yet been closed, and the relevant funds have not been handed over to households. Ministry, how to allocate depends on His Majesty's will, I have no right to specify the purpose."

Xia Siyan raised his eyebrows. A few days after Han Youcai was appointed as Minister of the Household Department, the Qipan Street bombing occurred, and he has been living in the palace since then.After leaving the palace, he asked for leave to rest at home, and did not report to the yamen of the household department.At this time, when talking about the various expenditures of the household department, he was able to answer the questions fluently. It seems that he has not had a good rest at home these few days.

The emperor naturally liked such a diligent minister, but he felt a little distressed that the minister was his sweetheart.Xia Siyan sighed inwardly, and said, "Of course all the money collected from the Ganzhou case will be handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs, and I won't take any of it."

Zhan Yu heaved a sigh of relief when he heard the emperor first stated that the internal affairs treasury would not distribute the money, and then he heard the emperor say: "But the military supplies and grass for the Northern Expedition Army must be allocated in advance, except for the second batch of 81 yuan. Two silvers, and a part of it must be reserved as a guarantee for next year's military expenditure."

In this way, there is not much left, Zhan Yu's small bean-sized eyes suddenly opened wide, and he protested: "Your Majesty, the dredging of the river is imminent, if we don't do it now, it will be too late when we encounter floods in the rainy season! "

The emperor looked at Han You again, "Han Aiqing."

Han You has learned to be good this time, and said obediently: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Xia Siyan showed a little smile, "You take care of the house for me, what can you do to solve this urgent need?"

"Your Majesty, from ancient times to the present, the way to make money is simply to increase revenue and reduce expenditure."

Xia Siyan and Han You didn't communicate in advance what to say at the court meeting today, but they both seemed to know what the other wanted to say by heart.This is the right time to propose reforms, and Xia Siyan said, "Then, is there any way for Han Aiqing to increase revenue and reduce expenditure?"

Han You took a deep breath and said solemnly: "In the early days of the founding of the country, the Taizu rectified the administration of officials and severely punished corrupt officials, and greatly promoted the farming to encourage farming, which led to the rapid recovery of agriculture after the war and the prosperity of economic development. In addition, Taizu saved money and cut expenses. There is a surplus. Since the time of Emperor Jing, with the rapid expansion of the royal family and noble families, land annexation has become more and more serious. Princes, county kings, and bureaucratic landlords wantonly annexed farmland. Local officials colluded with the landlord class to conceal the land, resulting in a serious loss of land tax .Take last year as an example, Tian Fu was only less than [-]% of that in the early days of Emperor Jing, which is extremely abnormal."

He paused, and then continued: "So the first thing to increase income and reduce expenditure is to rectify the administration of officials and implement taxation examinations. The local government must investigate the leakage and concealment of landlords and powerful landlords, and set tax assessment standards every year, but the standards have not been met. Yes, local officials will be held accountable at all levels. Those who accept bribes and embezzle grain taxes will be punished.”

After Han You finished speaking, the hall suddenly became extremely quiet.Many officials looked up at him, and some even showed hatred in their eyes.Cutting people's wealth is like killing their parents. Most of the people here are "bureaucratic landlords" in Han You's mouth. His trick is to make everyone an enemy.

Wu Wenci glanced back at Han You, before he could speak again, he said, "Your Majesty, Han Shangshu's method of taxation examination seems easy to do, but in fact it cannot be implemented at all."

Many people in the hall breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

Seeing Han You's calm face, Xia Siyan didn't even move his eyebrows when he was rebutted so bluntly, so he asked Wu Wenci, "Why can't it be carried out?"

"Whether the decrease in land tax is due to the landlord's omission or concealment or the poor harvest due to land degradation is fundamentally a problem of land investigation. The tax standard mentioned by Han Shangshu cannot be determined without accurate land measurement." Wu Wenci finished. He glanced at Han You again, and continued: "Let's talk about rectifying the administration of officials. Starting from the Ganzhou case, His Majesty has ordered the end of the system of buying officials. Those local officials who obtained official positions through buying officials but did not do practical work are also gradually being cleaned up. Isn't this It can be done overnight. I originally had a system of official examinations, and we can start with this system to rectify official style."

The two things Wu Wenci said were basically within Han You's expectations, but what I will talk about later is the highlight of the day.

Han You knew his teacher well, and he knew that he would be opposed by the teacher in both the investigation of tax evasion and the rectification of officials.First, the Wu family is the largest landlord in Shanzhou, and Wu Wenci’s interests will be the first to be hurt by cleaning up the omissions and concealment of the land; To make such a big trouble for myself.The high party has ruled the country for many years, so the guidelines are often not promoted, and the education is not good.The intrigue in the officialdom is already in full swing, and even a bureaucrat like Wu Wenci will only spend his energy on money-making and political struggles.

Because the accumulated evils are too deep and the people's hearts are corrupt, it is bound to hurt the bones and muscles to reform the rules and regulations of the bureaucracy. No one wants to be the person who pokes the hornet's nest.

But Han You didn't come here today to poke a hornet's nest - the emperor took power not long ago, and the foundation is not stable, and now is not the time.

Han You seemed to be persuaded, and he bowed his hands to Wu Wenci and said, "The teacher is right."

At this time, the officials present began to whisper, and there was a slight commotion in the hall.

On the throne, the emperor took the expressions of the senior officials into his eyes, and said slowly: "The old man Wu Ge said is reasonable, the disadvantages of land tax should start from the land, why not start measuring the land now."

Wu Wenci said so much, of course, not to shoot himself in the foot. At this time, he said: "Your Majesty, measuring the land is time-consuming and labor-intensive. At least it will take more than ten or twenty years. Far water can't quench the near thirst. At present Since finances are tight, it is better to start with channels that can easily increase income at the moment."

Xia Siyan smiled inwardly, that serious gentleman of his would also use tricks to make a fuss.He obviously wanted to open up to business, but he still talked about a lot of land annexation and land tax loss. He said that land annexation is unsolvable.Going around in such a big circle originally wanted Wu Wenci to answer this question.

However, Han You was born in a family of merchants. If he raised the issue of opening up business, it would be easy to be criticized by those who cared.

Wu Wenci is an old minister. After Gao Qing retired, many people in the officialdom turned to worship under him, and it was easier for him to gain support for his ideas.Moreover, his son is the doctor in charge of Shangshi in the household department, so he knows how deep the interests in this are.

Xia Siyan followed Wu Wenci's words and asked, "Then what are the easy ways to increase income right now?"

Wu Wenci really said: "For example, the business card of the Ministry of Households can be issued more. A small merchant's brand is worth tens of taels a year, and a larger merchant can pay hundreds of taels a year. Even if a household is 40 taels Well, let’s really let go of this barrier, isn’t there 400 merchants in such a huge Zhao country? In this way, the brand’s money for a year is [-] million.”

Several officials from the civil and military ranks also came out to agree: "I support Mr. Wu Ge's statement."

Xia Siyan asked Han You: "Han Aiqing, what do you think?"

Han You said: "Your Majesty, even if the switch is opened, the price of the brand will not increase much." After he finished speaking, he bowed to Wu Wenci and said, "I don't know, the Ministry of Households has not issued all the cards every year. Just because the license fee is too high, many people would rather hide in Tibet and become unscrupulous merchants than come to collect the license plate."

Wu Wenci said: "Then lower the license fee as appropriate."

At this moment, Hu Qimin, who had been silent all this time, stepped forward and said, "Why don't you abolish license fee and levy business tax instead."

The hall was silent for a while. Everyone present knew that business tax and licensing fee, one was to encourage development, and the other was to set thresholds. It sounded like collecting money from merchants, but in fact they had completely different meanings.

After a moment of silence, Han You said: "If the business tax is changed, it will be tantamount to opening up business. This...is contrary to the business suppression policy set by the Taizu."

"That's right." Xia Siyan nodded, "This is against the ancestral system. Let's find a way to measure the land and clear the land tax."

"Your Majesty!" Wu Wenci took a step forward and said anxiously: "At this time and at that time, it has been more than 200 years since the Taizu established this national policy, and the situation is very different now. If you don't let go of business, then Both the country and the people are harmful rather than beneficial."

Seeing what Wu Ge said, other officials who were still hesitating also echoed.

At this moment, Han You raised his head and met Xia Siyan's eyes, and both of them couldn't help but smile knowingly.

After the officials expressed their views on the various benefits of opening up for business, Xia Siyan finally said: "Then, according to the ministers' advice, start with the three places of capital, Wuzhou, and Shanzhou to open up for business. Please ask Han for details. Shang Shu will draw up a charter in the near future. That’s all for today, retreat from the court.”

--------------------

Zhao Guo Kao Ba Han Jinglue & Zhao Guo Palace Examination Chief Examiner Xia Siyan wish the babies of the college entrance examination the gold list! ! !

*Parts of this chapter related to finance and taxation refer to "The Seventh Volume of China's Financial History" edited by Mr. Xiang Huaicheng