Chapter 109 Rent Reduction

The ministers had no choice but to force themselves to eat the multi-grain steamed buns and wild vegetable soup that they would never even look at in the past, let alone eat, and also the fat meat and white flour steamed buns.

Rong Yue walked over with a smile, holding a steamed bun made of mixed grains. The ministers stood up tremblingly. "My dear ministers, please sit down. Thank you for your hard work." Then they sat down on the huanghuali chair that Yu Fuhai had brought over. "Which minister harvested the most rice this morning?"

Rong Yue knew that military generals were very strong. Even if they were just starting out and didn't know how to operate, they would definitely be able to harvest more rice than the civil officials, so he didn't call the military generals.

He added: "Ziyun came before you, so his status doesn't count." He took another bite of the steamed bun, and it turned out to be quite tasty.

The ministers looked at each other in surprise. It was Lu Feng, the commander of the Jinyiwei, who responded. The Jinyiwei was both civil and military, and was also responsible and enthusiastic in helping the officials to classify and count. "Your Majesty, the achievements of all the officials are comparable. The one who takes the lead is Lord Song." That Zhou Baopi.

Rong Yue saw that this man was his beloved minister who had just mentioned "Zhou Paopi". Sixty percent of the land rent was clearly a 50% rent in the north. "Lord Song, I thought I heard you call Ziyun Zhou Paopi earlier. What happened?" The tone of the question was obvious, but Lord Song dared not refuse to answer.

He spoke reluctantly, with a smile on his face, and the rice ash he hadn't wiped clean from the harvest, "Your Majesty, I think the rent for 60% of the land is a bit too high." There was no way, everyone heard it, and he couldn't just turn a blind eye!

His money, woooooo...

Rong Yue's eyes moved slightly, and he asked calmly: "As far as I know, the land rent in the northern part of Daqin is 50%, how come there is still 60%?" His eyes were full of oppression, and Lord Song's inner clothes were soaked, and he was sweating like rain.

Lord Song secretly thought that he was just a big mouth. Why did he shout it out for no reason? Now that His Majesty has finally caught the man, his money...

"Your Majesty, after your words and deeds, I realize that I used to be unworthy of being the official who is the father of the people. I will learn from Prime Minister Su and reduce the land rent to 40%." This means he has lost one-third of the land, which is a huge loss.

Rong Yue was very satisfied; indeed, he still had many good ministers. "Since Lord Song has realized his own shortcomings, I will not pursue your offense of insulting the Prime Minister. You can have dinner with me." Lord Song's heart finally settled a little. If he ended up like Marquis Fu'an, would he still be alive? Ten thousand taels was really too much!

Before Rong Yue could speak again, the ministers understood what he meant. "Your Majesty, we are also willing to learn from Prime Minister Su." Their money! Wuuuuuu...

Daily Question: When did Su Ziyun fall out of favor?

They were so pissed off, why wasn't Su Ziyun from a poor family?

Su Zhenzhen looked at them and couldn't help but bury her little face in Rong Jinchen's arms, trying hard to hold back her laughter. It was so funny. Rong Jinchen silently turned sideways to block the corners of her mouth from turning up.

Su Qiyang stood still like a mountain, looking like an old fox with deep scheming. Rong Yue smiled and said, "You all have to support your families. I can't bear to give you 40%. How about 50?" Hearing the words of His Majesty, they were moved to tears. Most people only collected 50% of the land rent, which meant they had no loss.

As expected, although His Majesty favors Su Qiyang alone, he is also good to them.

They will work hard to leave their names in history with His Majesty!

There are only so many places for burial companions in the imperial mausoleum, but colleagues are constantly being added!

Surveying the land across the country was a huge project, which was almost impossible to complete without two or three years. The Jinyiwei and officials sent out all followed the standard set by Rong Yue and Su Qiyang: two hundred and forty feet was one mu. Regardless of whether it was official land or private land, one mu of high-quality land was actually one mu when paying taxes, one mu of medium-quality land was taxed as one mu, and two mu of low-quality land was actually taxed as one mu.

The purpose of the emperor and his ministers going to harvest rice was not just to see the yield per mu. The civil officials in the court only collected 50% of the land rent, so shouldn't others follow suit?

Roll them all up, civil officials, military generals, and gentry, no one can escape.

Rong Yue stroked his beautiful beard with great satisfaction and smiled at the ministers who came to express their gratitude.

In the Weiyang Palace, Rong Yue and Su Qiyang were playing chess. Rong Yue asked Su Qiyang, "Ziyun, how has my son Chen been doing in the Ministry of Revenue these past few months?" The old father was a little worried that his precious son had been staying in the frontier for several years and was not very familiar with civil administration.

Wouldn’t he have led his talented son, who is both civil and military, astray?

Su Qiyang replied: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan is truly a rare talent. He is worthy of being your Majesty's son and is very outstanding." His hand movements were neither fast nor slow, and very elegant.

He was right. His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan was very capable, but he didn't focus on state affairs and left at the appointed time.

He was also very keen on numbers and helped him a lot, but it was a pity that Su Qiyang couldn't get him to work overtime.

The key point is that His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan used to leave on time. Although Su Qiyang was his immediate superior, he did not dare to stop him.

His Royal Highness Prince Yan's biological father is Su Qiyang's immediate superior!

Su Qiyang was really a little disappointed. Why couldn't His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan, who was so capable and powerful, do more?

He originally thought that His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan might change his temper and work hard to improve himself after marriage, but he ended up making a complete mistake.

His Majesty actually gave him a month and a half of wedding leave!

It's totally unheard of!

He was so envious that he cried!

Rong Yue was very proud. He ate one of Su Qiyang's pieces and said, "My son Chen is indeed the son that I worry the least about. He was given the title of Wolf Lair before he even reached adulthood. Hahaha..." Isn't it just about being a couple for life? How easy is that?

At this time, Rong Yue's son Rong Jinchen was watching Lu Wu dyeing Su Zhenzhen's nails.

Su Zhenzhen was speechless and hesitant, her eyelashes trembling slightly, "Chenchen, don't you have anything to do?" It shouldn't be so serious, right?

What's so good about her painted nails?

The handsome man looked at her with gentle eyes and smiled softly, "I just want to be with you." Even if he did nothing, he was very happy.

He pinched one of her free, slender, white fingers. Her fair skin, with distinct knuckles, looked alluring, the faintly snaking veins on it making one want to touch it. Su Zhenzhen's complexion seemed several shades paler than his, her skin as white as ice, smooth and tender to the touch. He pinched it lingeringly.

Su Zhenzhen ignored him and admired the brightly colored nail polish on her pink and translucent nails.

This nail polish is a new product that Luo Zhihan has been experimenting with in the past few months. It has made her a lot of money in recent months. Su Zhenzhen did not treat her as a technician unfairly and gave her 30% of the profits.

Su Zhenzhen thought that she would wait until she came out of Rong Jinchen's gentle embrace before going to see Luo Zhihan. She was still doing research in the manor with System 54188.

There's no way. This man is too studious. He is immersed in the world of knowledge every day and is reluctant to come out.