In fact, Sima Guang did not say that he decided to let Zhang Fei go to the northwest.
At that time in the palace, he was just frightened by Wang Anshi's suggestion, and then he had an idea. Since Zhang Fei was going to be sent out anyway, he might as well let him go to the northwest.
However, he did not expect that almost all the ministers supported him at that time. Sima Guang also realized that it was not easy to go to the northwest. After retiring from the court, he was a little unsure, so he came to ask Zhang Fei.
The result scared Zhang Fei.
Sima Guang also felt that he had to consider it carefully.
Little did he know that Wang Anshi just mentioned it casually. In fact, he had thought of this a long time ago. When he saw the opportunity, he laid the groundwork. He did not say that he would take action immediately, and he did not expect that it would scare Sima Guang.
At this time, Wang Anshi didn't think about this matter anymore. It was just a small episode. After retiring from the court, he dragged Han Jiang to the Sinong Temple.
For Wang Anshi, nothing is more important than finance.
His current mind is still on the conscription law.
"I see."
...
...
Wang Anshi nodded and closed the account book in his hand. "This one person paid hundreds of strings of cash, or even tens of thousands of strings of cash. No wonder the price has increased so quickly."
Han Jiang smiled and said, "It's thanks to Jiefu's foresight to expand the exemption tax to officials and monks. Otherwise, even if no one of the ordinary people evaded the tax, it would be just a drop in the bucket. Now we estimate that the income from the exemption tax can reach at least 700,000 strings of cash, and maybe even 800,000 strings of cash."
The tax revenue was only about 5 or 6 strings of cash before, so why did it suddenly soar to 300,000 strings of cash? It was because officials began to pay taxes on a large scale, and the taxes they paid were often hundreds of strings of cash. The income of the Ministry of Agriculture was soaring!
Wang Anshi waved his hands and said, "I have to admit that if I were to do it, I wouldn't be able to do it so well. This is all thanks to Zhang San. The way he calculated the taxes is so painful that it makes people feel pain, but they can't even say it out loud."
Han Jiang nodded and said, "Just as Mr. Fu said just now, being cautious and lenient in punishment can actually lead to better law enforcement. Take the collection of the exemption tax this time, for example. Zhang San's method was extremely lenient, whether it was voluntary declaration or the final tax law. But this was actually the secret of his success. At that time, the powerful people also adhered to the principle that as long as you catch me, I will admit it."
Wang Anshi asked, "Then tell me, is it feasible in other places?"
Although he had a stubborn personality, he would still be convinced if you really showed him his political achievements. Very few of his new laws were completely original. They were all borrowed from the practices of many ministers and the experiences of many ancestors, and then modified and improved based on the situation in the Northern Song Dynasty.
"Disaster!"
Han Jiang sighed, "In fact, I have been thinking about this issue these days. To achieve this, first of all, we need support from above. Duke Wen was very opposed to the conscription law at first, but after Zhang San took over, he didn't say anything.
Secondly, we need to have a powerful tax commissioner. To this day, no one knows how the tax commissioner found the evidence. The procuratorate later wanted to investigate, but could not find anything.
Finally, in terms of foundation, Kaifeng Prefecture already had the public security, procuratorial, judicial and taxation infrastructure, which were not available at the local level.
Zhang San was able to succeed because he had the right time, right place, and right people. But in other counties, all of these are simply not available, at least it is impossible to accomplish in a short period of time. "
Wang Anshi said without hesitation, "Let's proceed as planned."
Han Jiang nodded.
After the resolution of the court meeting, the trial in Kaifeng Prefecture was finally carried out.
At the same time, the voluntary declarations of other prefectures and counties in Kaifeng Prefecture also began to proceed in full swing.
The rest of the prefectures and counties are looking at Kaifeng and Xiangfu counties. If you can't hold on, then we shouldn't bring trouble upon ourselves. After all, this is under the emperor's feet, and the power of the gentry is greatly restricted.
But this matter is definitely not over.
Because this is just the exemption tax, there are also summer and autumn taxes afterwards. Although officials have privileges, the problem is that these privileges are limited. Each class has a certain amount of land that is tax-exempt.
Wang Hongjin was eventually caught in tax evasion.
Who doesn’t evade taxes?
Although the current Tax Commissioner is only responsible for the exemption tax and not the summer and autumn taxes, it is called the Tax Commissioner after all, and not the Exemption Tax Commissioner.
It will definitely take over in the future.
We have to keep making trouble and never stop.
They immediately set their sights on the royal family.
The literati of the Song Dynasty had always sought to rule the world together with the emperor, which meant that power must be balanced. In their view, exemption from military service tax was not just a matter of money, but more of a matter of power. You ask us to pay more money, but you remain unchanged, and one gains while the other loses. How can this work?
Of course, they did not dare to target the emperor directly. This amount of money was not enough to cause them to break off relations with the emperor.
It just so happened that Kaifeng Prefecture ruled to confiscate all of Wang Hongjin's property, which directly led to the exposure of Wang Hongjin's property.
This gives ministers the opportunity to create public opinion.
The evidence has confirmed that these actually all belong to Zhao Wenzhen. It is as if they suddenly discovered that the royal family is so rich. The accounts are really shocking, but they still enjoy such good welfare from the country. Currently, the country's expenditure on the royal family is higher than that on officials in the capital.
On paper, the monthly expenditure of the royal family was 70,000 strings of cash, while the expenditure of officials in the capital was 40,000 strings of cash.
Isn't the fiscal deficit?
Someone immediately took the opportunity to submit a memorial, demanding that the royal family carry out reforms. Based on ancestral teachings and Tang system, they requested that the salaries and allowances outside the five degrees of mourning be stopped, and that they be given some land in other places so that they could go out and be self-reliant.
The royal family was furious!
We are also victims. Every injustice has its perpetrator and every debt has its creditor. Why are you targeting us? What have we done to offend us?
Zhao Wenzhen was even more furious, thinking that this was too much, and he immediately reported to the emperor, saying that there were too many young men in the court who were being favored by the emperor, and that the favors should be reduced.
The officials were even more furious. The five degrees of mourning already included almost all relatives, and the favors were mostly only for sons. If they were reduced further, there would be no more.
In fact, they didn't intend to deal with the royal family. They also knew that Zhao Wenzhen was a victim. They just wanted to take advantage of the situation to make trouble with the emperor. They thought that the emperor would never agree. But if you, the emperor, do not agree, then you have to restrain yourself.
You eat meat at home, but we are not allowed to drink soup at home?
Don't take it too far.
The two sides immediately started a fierce battle.
As for Zhang Fei, his mission was basically completed. What followed was Zhao Xu's own business. Now he had absolute initiative.
In addition, he was really frightened by Sima Guang's idea and had to withdraw quickly. If a tree stands out in the forest, the wind will surely destroy it. He knew very well his own capabilities.
Hurry up and restore your merchant status.
Bian Jing Law Firm.
"Mr. Yan's special show?"
Fan Zheng looked at Zhang Fei in confusion.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "We will invite the best singing girls in Bianjing to take turns singing the lyrics of Lord Yan."
Fan Zheng asked curiously, "Why did Third Brother do this?"
“Selling books!”
Zhang Fei said.
"Selling books?" Fan Zheng almost bit his tongue. He had never seen books sold in this way.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Our genuine bookstore is preparing to launch a collection of Yan Gong's poems, but recently everyone has been discussing the exemption from military service tax, so we have to make some noise to attract everyone's attention."
Fan Zheng nodded and said, "But this will cost a lot of money?"
"How many?"
"It may cost thousands of taels."
“Sizzle!”
Zhang Fei gasped, "Is this how much a singing girl can earn?"
Fan Zhengdao: "Third brother said to invite the most famous singing girl."
Zhang Fei coughed, "Fan Zheng, the way of doing business is to make the most of the rare goods. Cultivating your own singing girls is the right way to go. Otherwise, you will be controlled by the singing girls."
Fan Zheng nodded and said, "I understand this principle, but this is not something I can decide."
"Why not?"
Zhang Fei said: "The special performance of Lord Yan, with the support of a brand new collection of poems, just think about it, it will be a gimmick. If your Baifan Building is interested, I can arrange the special performance of Lord Yan in your Baifan Building. Then you can select a group of good seedlings and use this special performance of Lord Yan to make them famous."
Fan Zheng glanced at Zhang Fei suspiciously, "Third brother, I don't know if I understand you correctly. You mean that I have to pay you for holding this special show at Baifan Building?"
Zhang Fei asked back, "You invited the singing girl to perform at Baifan Tower, but you didn't pay her?"
Fan Zheng hurriedly said: "Of course, of course, I still need to think about this matter."
He originally thought that he would have to collect money, but he never expected that he would be asked to pay?
what's on your mind.
Zhang Fei coughed and said, "Fan Da, if you miss this opportunity, you will miss it forever."
“Yes, yes, yes!”
Fan Zheng nodded repeatedly, but changed the subject, "By the way! Third brother, many people have come to inquire about donations recently."
Zhang Fei smiled slightly and said, "As expected, this is just the exemption tax. There will be autumn tax next. How can those big landlords not panic?"
Fan Zhengdao said: "But they hope that we can give a more detailed contract. If I understand correctly, they should want to know clearly how to get the land back and how much benefit they can get."
Zhang Fei said: "We don't need to pay attention to such people. We still have to attract them with profits. By the way, how are the preparations for the football league going?"
Fan Zhengdao: "Everything is going very smoothly. After the busy farming season, we will have trials in late spring, league matches in summer, and finals in early autumn."
Zhang Fei nodded and asked, "What about the transportation business? Now that the situation is set, we should be able to recruit people."
They are all businessmen, so they will definitely wait until the exemption tax is received and the court starts recruiting people before they invest. But without any clue about the outcome, no one is willing to invest money.
Fan Zheng hesitated for a moment and said, "Many people still think that it is not safe at the moment. We will prepare when the court issues an order to recruit people for transportation."
Zhang Fei wondered: "Isn't this a little too late?"
Fan Zheng said hurriedly: "No, we have already recruited more than ten experienced workers. They have already discussed how to transport it. If it works, it will be operational soon. If it doesn't work, it won't cost much money."
He has a relatively calm personality, and he takes every step carefully and makes sure nothing goes wrong.
Just at this moment, Li Si suddenly walked in and whispered something in Zhang Fei's ear.
"I see."
Zhang Fei nodded, and then said to Fan Zheng: "You can handle this matter. I have something to do and need to go out for a while."
Fan Zheng said hurriedly: "Then I will take my leave first."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Then let's go together."
The two men came to the big tree at the entrance of the alley and got on their own carriages.
The person sitting in Zhang Fei's carriage was Li Bao.
"What's up?"
"We recently discovered a situation."
"Um?"
Zhang Fei looked at him puzzledly.
Li Bao said: "Now is the time when there is a shortage of crops. The price of grain will rise every year at this time, but this year is very strange. Not only did the price of grain not rise, but it even dropped by two cents."
Zhang Fei was not familiar with this. He was used to paying attention to housing prices, but not to food prices. He asked curiously, "Why is this?"
Li Bao said, "Don't forget, Sanlang, according to the exemption tax law, middle and lower class households pay taxes after the autumn harvest, and they pay in copper coins, not grain."
Zhang Fei frowned, "You mean, someone borrowed grain, took away the currency on the market, and drove up the currency price, making it impossible for everyone to pay taxes with currency."
Li Bao nodded and said, "It is very likely that the price reduction this time is because the big landlords are selling grain, and it is all at the same time, which makes the grain price drop, and the people are also using their only currency to exchange for grain."
Zhang Fei asked, "Have you found out who did it?"
Li Bao chuckled and said, "In fact, there is no need to check. In terms of grain trading, there is only one place other than the imperial court that can do it."
"Xiangguo Temple."
Zhang Fei said.
Li Bao nodded and said, "At first, the officials did not expect that we would set such a lenient tax law. Now they have no excuse not to pay the exemption tax, so they can only find ways to arouse public resentment and use public resentment to counter the court, especially after the Kaifeng Prefecture's judgment, more landlords will get involved. At that time, the people will definitely not have extra coins, so they can only pay grain.
The price of copper coins will definitely rise by then, and they will have to pay more grain than now to pay taxes, so they will definitely complain. Moreover, if the tax is paid in kind, it may be grain today, but cloth tomorrow. This will also cause great trouble to the tax commissioner. After all, if everyone pays together, it will not require too many people. "
Zhang Fei rubbed his face with both hands, "We Song people still know how to have fun!"
(End of this chapter)
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