ah? !
Lu Chen was dumbfounded. What kind of operation was this? Was he going to attack right in the face?
My goodness, I'm the Imperial Master after all, and even with this status, someone comes up to me and slaps me in the face? Is this Fourth Master Qiao brainless?
Lu Chen turned to look at Liao Huasheng. He wanted to see how Liao Huasheng would react.
Liao Huasheng is the highest-ranking official in the local area. Mr. Qiao Si may not know the rules, but Lu Chen feels that he still has to be more polite and first see Liao Huasheng's attitude.
After all, Liao Huasheng's attitude is equivalent to the attitude of the entire Yangzhou officialdom.
"Sir Liao, since you know Miss Zi Yan is here, you must also know that I am here. This Fourth Master Qiao is really quite unique."
Sweat was pouring down Liao Huasheng's forehead. He wiped the sweat off in a rather embarrassed manner and said, "Sir, please calm down. He is a brainless person. There is no point in getting angry with him. I will have him chased away right away."
Liao Huasheng's words have already made his attitude clear. Although he was belittling Mr. Qiao Si, he was actually protecting him.
Lu Chen sneered in his heart. What's going on? You're trying to run away after pretending to be awesome in front of me? Is this really that exciting?
"Lord Liao, Minister Liang of the Ministry of Revenue has been complaining to me recently that the pressure on the national treasury is too great. He intends to advise His Majesty to see if there can be some tax increases in certain areas."
Hearing this, Liao Huasheng was stunned at first, then nodded and said, "The court has been providing disaster relief everywhere in the past two years, and there are indeed many places where money has been spent. It is reasonable to increase taxes appropriately. I wonder how much agricultural tax increase Minister Liang intends to recommend to His Majesty?"
"Agricultural tax? Haha, Master Liao, you're joking. How much money can you squeeze out of those poor people? Collecting taxes from them and then subsidizing them? What's the point of that?"
There was an inexplicable smile on Lu Chen's lips, but his eyes were a little cold when he looked at Liao Huasheng.
Nowadays, the entire Da Qi is plagued by disasters, and the people are living in dire straits. The imperial court is trying its best to save the people, but the top leader of Yangzhou is thinking of raising taxes on the people?
Not to mention that the prices and taxes are also paid by the big landlords. If that were true, the people at the bottom would not be living such a miserable life.
In this feudal dynasty, every time taxes were raised, it was a great opportunity for the landlords to continue expanding their land. They had ten thousand ways to impose these taxes on the people below.
In fact, many of the feudal dynasties' policies were intended to benefit the people below. After all, forcing the people into rebellion would not benefit the ruling class in any way.
But most of the problems arise in the execution stage, which is why Lu Chen attaches great importance to his team building.
Looking at Liao Huasheng, who was somewhat stunned, Lu Chen chuckled and said, "We were talking about the salt tax before. For an important strategic material like salt, only such a small amount of tax is levied each year. It's really too little. So when I came here this time, Lord Liang also asked me to help check the actual income of Yangzhou's salt merchants to see if there is any possibility of raising the tax."
Upon hearing this, the faces of the people present changed and became extremely ugly.
There are many salt merchants in Yangzhou. It is no exaggeration to say that half of Yangzhou’s economy is supported by salt merchants.
Everyone was living a good life, singing and dancing every day, but suddenly someone came and told them that taxes would be increased. Who would feel comfortable about that?
Liao Huasheng, as the representative of the interest group, immediately retorted, "The salt tax of the Great Qi is an ancestral law, established by the Emperor Taizu when the Great Qi was founded. It wouldn't be easy for the Imperial Master to change it."
"Master Liao, what you said is not true. I already said that it was the Minister of Revenue, Master Liang, who wanted to make a move. I am a national teacher, and the money in the national treasury is not under my control. Why should I worry about this matter? I just wanted to tell you all about it since we have come to this point."
Lu Chen had gotten away with it cleanly, but everyone present could see that he had been offended by Fourth Master Qiao, so he suddenly proposed to increase the salt tax. He wanted to control the entire Yangzhou city!
But the people in front of them had to admit that Lu Chen's move was indeed very clever.
Just now Liao Huasheng said that Mr. Qiao Si was just a playboy, and it was not worth getting angry with such a person, otherwise it would be a disgrace to one's status and lower one's taste.
All right, you want to talk about style, right? Then I will use some dignified and stylish tactics with you.
It's really pointless to control Mr. Qiao Si, so I will just control all the salt merchants in Yangzhou.
I won't take action against Qiao Si personally, but you salt merchants, including the officials of the entire Yangzhou, must give me an explanation, otherwise no one will have an easy life!
Damn it, you dare to covet my woman? Believe it or not, I’ll send you to the palace to be a eunuch!
Seeing that everyone present had very ugly expressions, Lu Chen's mood immediately improved a lot.
He's such a petty person, always nitpicking and always rushing to complain. If you dare to make me unhappy, I promise to make everyone else unhappy even more.
So after saying this, Lu Chen stood up and said, "Everyone, we've had enough to drink today. We've all met everyone we need to know. It's getting late, so I'll take my leave first. After all, there are still many things related to epidemic prevention and disaster relief that I still need to coordinate and arrange."
Just like that, Lu Chen left with Zi Yan in a dashing manner, leaving behind only a boat full of Yangzhou people with ugly faces.
After Lu Chen left, someone came up to Liao Huasheng impatiently and said, "Sir Liao, how do you think we can resolve this? If the court really increases the salt tax, our lives will be difficult."
Liao Huasheng also looked grim. He looked around at everyone and said, "Everyone please go away first. I will go visit Master Liao later. We can discuss everything after I come back."
When Lu Chen returned to his ship, Zi Yan frowned and said, "Sir, I've heard that the salt merchants in Yangzhou are not easy to deal with. There have been suggestions in the court before about increasing taxes on salt merchants, but it was never brought to a conclusion."
"Also, those who mentioned this matter were either exiled or met with an accident. I'm afraid they might harm you, my Lord."
Lu Chen, holding a list in his hand, smiled and replied, "Zi Yan, do you know why the court has been unable to increase taxes on Yangzhou in recent years?"
"Why?" Zi Yan immediately became alert. She felt that Lu Chen was going to make some brilliant and eye-opening remarks.
Lu Chen placed the list on the table and tapped it lightly with his fingers. "Because, those officials who proposed the tax increase were too upright and wanted to do something good for the country, so they failed!"
"If you want to deal with these salt merchants, you can't reason with them. Coincidentally, I'm very good at being unreasonable!"
Lu Chen handed the list to Mou Ping beside him and said, "Send it to your majesty quickly over eight hundred miles. Let your majesty and all the civil and military officials in the court take a look. Let them see how much better off the Yangzhou salt merchants are than they are!"
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