At the end of January in the sixth year of the Qingli period, Yelu Zongzhen also received the news.
Hearing that the Song Dynasty had a weapon that could make rapid progress, he was shocked and remained silent for a long time.
Whether for him or Li Yuanhao, there is obviously not much time left for them.
The only good news was that the Song Dynasty seemed to have no intention of becoming enemies with the Xia and Liao dynasties. Not only did they send envoys to the Song Dynasty at the end of the year, but the Song Dynasty also gave them feedback.
For this reason, Yelu Zongzhen remembered that at the beginning of the month he had asked the envoy of the Song Dynasty, saying that the Song Dynasty only had less than 100,000 troops stationed in Hebei, so why wasn't he afraid of the Liao cavalry?
At that time, the envoy of the Song Dynasty just smiled and did not give a direct answer. Instead, he said that the Song Dynasty adhered to the friendly relationship with the Liao Dynasty and would not send heavy troops to guard the place.
It seems so now.
This statement was obviously just a compliment.
Maybe it’s because they don’t need to send heavy troops to Hebei anymore.
In February, Li Yuanhao's envoy also arrived in Zhongjing.
After the two sides talked, Yelu Zongzhen decided to go to Yunnei Prefecture, which was later known as Baotou City, in March under the pretext of hunting in the west.
It was called a western hunt, but in fact it was a trip to the Liao-Xia border to form an alliance with Li Yuanhao.
The current situation cannot be resolved by simply sending envoys to communicate. They must meet in person to discuss.
While the Western Xia and Liao were getting along well, the Song Dynasty was still carrying out its own plans and reforms in an orderly manner.
In February of the sixth year of the Qingli period, all the data for last year had been released, and we had to start preparing to implement this year's plan at the beginning of the year.
February 2nd is Zhonghe Festival.
This festival originated in the Tang Dynasty and was later known as the Dragon Raising its Head Festival.
However, this festival is not an important holiday and there will be no holiday, so everyone should go to work.
The weather is clear and sunny today, and the Constitutional Court is filled with a lazy atmosphere.
This year really makes people lazy.
After all, people in later generations did not have holidays on New Year’s Eve, but in the Song Dynasty, not only did they have holidays, but they also had many holidays.
From the Winter Solstice to the Lantern Festival of the following year, there are several festivals in between, plus the anniversary of Zhao Kuangyin's father, the birthday of Zhao Zhen's mother, and the celebration of Zhao Hengtian, totaling thirty-three days.
From the beginning of December to the end of January, half of the two months are spent on holidays, so there is very little time for work, making it hard not to be lazy.
The seven-day holiday for the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month has just ended, and the Constitutional Yuan has only been back to work for a few days.
At this moment, all the prime ministers were in the room except Jiang Tang and Cai Qi.
Because two prime ministers were required to be on duty during holidays, Zhao Zhen was sympathetic to his old ministers and did not require several older ministers, such as Zhang Shixun, Li Di, Lu Yijian, and Wang Zeng, to be on duty.
The rest of the people took turns on duty. During the Lantern Festival, it was Jiang Tang and Cai Qi, so they had to be given a few days off after the Lantern Festival.
When the time was almost up and all the documents from various departments were reported, everyone went to the conference room for the meeting.
"This is the GDP report for last year submitted by the Ministry of Statistics this year, this is the tax report for last year submitted by the Ministry of Finance, this is the business report for last year submitted by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and this is the agricultural report for last year submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture."
Yan Shu placed the official documents submitted by various departments this morning on the table, looked around, and said with a smile: "I just took a quick look, and the growth is very encouraging."
Lü Yijian looked at Zhao Zhen, and even with his old age, he smiled and said, "In this situation, what do you think of the Song Dynasty's performance last year?"
"You still need to work harder. Compared to us later generations, I only have one thing to say."
Zhao Jun said.
"What?"
Everyone was curious.
"It needs a big Song joke to spur them on."
"No thanks, no thanks."
Everyone waved their hands, saying that this thing could easily cause high blood pressure.
Zhao Jun smiled.
He hasn't told any jokes about the Song Dynasty in recent years.
First, there is nothing to satirize, and second, the stock of Song Dynasty jokes is running out.
Especially the jokes about Zhao Guangyi, if you say too much, it will seem too long-winded, and there is really nothing much to say.
After making a joke, Zhao Jun also casually flipped through the documents.
Last year's total fiscal revenue was the highest in recent years, reaching 139.25 million guan.
Among them, agricultural tax did not decrease but increased after the land tax was added, rising from 24 million guan in the fourth year of the Qingli period to 39.73 million guan. Commercial tax increased by 7 million guan to 65.06 million guan, and foreign trade tax increased by 3 million guan to 34.46 million guan.
In the fourth year of the Qingli period, the agricultural tax was 24 million guan, the commercial tax was 58 million guan, and the foreign trade tax was 31 million guan, totaling 113 million guan.
But in reality, about 30% of commercial and agricultural taxes will be retained locally for large-scale infrastructure construction, and about 20% of foreign trade taxes will be retained in major ports for local expenditure.
Therefore, including foreign trade, the actual revenue from commercial taxes last year was 65 million guan, and the agricultural tax was 16.8 million guan, totaling 81.8 million guan.
If the local withholdings are removed this year, the imperial treasury revenue will officially exceed 100 million, reaching 100.921 million guan.
This is also the reason why Lu Yijian said last year that last year’s fiscal revenue may exceed 100 million.
"This is a good result. If we calculate the GDP, the total value of agriculture is about 400 million guan, the total value of commercial taxes is about 1.62 billion guan, and the total value of foreign trade is 490 million guan. Last year's total value was 2.51 billion guan, an increase of 12% over the 2.23 billion guan the year before."
Zhao Jun took out a brush and calculated the formula on paper. The GDP was growing at a rate of 12% per year, which was already very exaggerated.
But after putting down his pen, he continued, "This tax rate fluctuation is only a rough estimate. After all, last year's agricultural tax increase was due to the land-based tax system. I started slaughtering pigs for the landlords, causing them to pay at least 8% more in taxes. So the total value shouldn't be that high, probably around 2.4 billion guan."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
