Chapter 357 Phoenix's Reminder
After leaving Yuyin Pavilion, Li Nuo walked into the Secretariat humming a song.
The other six Zhongshu Sheren all had specific duties, but Li Nuo was relatively free. He did not have the task of reviewing memorials, nor was he responsible for any specific department. If he had any ideas, he could just communicate directly with the Zuo Xiang.
Among the reforms he has recently promoted, medical reform has been completed on a small scale, and legal reform has also been implemented at the state and county levels.
However, this is only the first step.
Chang'an and several states in the capital area were under the eyes of the imperial court, and they dared not disobey orders.
But outside the capital, he has no control over how much of it can be implemented.
The imperial court’s control over the grassroots is too weak.
If all the officials in Daxia had a sense of righteousness and were dedicated to serving the country and the people, there would be no such troubles.
Of course, this is just Li Nuo's unrealistic fantasy.
Everyone is selfish. It is not easy to cultivate a Confucian official, but it is easy to destroy them.
What Daxia needs now is not an all-rounder who is proficient in the six arts, nor a pillar of state with outstanding ability in governing the country.
What the court needs are Confucian officials who are not in cahoots with the gentry, are truly willing to work for the people, and are selfless.
Inside the government office, the left prime minister pondered for a long time and whispered, "Candidates with great spirit be admitted directly without taking the imperial examination?"
Li Nuo added: "Not only can they not take the imperial examination, but officials with noble spirit will also be given priority for promotion. For every level they advance, their official rank will be promoted by two levels. However, if their cultivation level declines, they will be demoted or even dismissed..."
Because of the special nature of Haoran Qi, this model that sounds like a fantasy can be realized in this world.
The left prime minister did not think about it for long, and shook his head, saying: "This method is impossible to implement."
Turning all the officials in the court into Confucian disciples is naturally the scene that Confucians dream of.
They will not engage in corruption and will only care about the people.
But apart from Confucians and the common people, no one wants to see this scene.
The aristocratic families don't want to see it, and Your Majesty doesn't want to see it either.
What Confucianism wants is a fair and just country where all beings are equal, no one is superior, and no one is born inferior. Even the emperor of a country is bound by the law.
Your Majesty appears to value Confucianism, and both of your prime ministers are Confucian officials.
The fact is just the opposite. He arranged all the Confucian officials in the court to unimportant positions such as the Censorate and the Hongwenguan.
Once there are too many Confucian officials in the court, Your Majesty's power will be greatly restricted.
No emperor wants his power to be restricted by his subjects.
Li Nuo's proposal was rejected by the Left Prime Minister as soon as it was put forward.
They are Confucian officials and cannot favor Confucianism when formulating policies.
The imperial examination must be absolutely fair and just, and there must not be any special treatment.
Once a loophole is opened for a certain group, the credibility of the imperial examination will completely collapse.
Although Li Nuo's original intention was good, it could not be realized in this way. Historical experience has proven this.
Li Nuo did not continue this topic, and the two discussed something else for a while.
Compared with the reform of the imperial examination system, tax reform is the most urgent.
The amount of tax money collected by the national treasury has been decreasing year by year. Coupled with the recent reforms, the imperial court is now so poor that it can barely make ends meet.
The situation in Daxia is that it is poor at both ends and rich in the middle.
The people are poor, the court is poor, and the rich are the gentry.
When the country was founded, the aristocratic families reached an agreement with the imperial court. They obeyed the court's rule on the condition that they did not have to pay taxes.
At that time, they owned very little land, and the court was able to collect a large amount of taxes.
But hundreds of years passed, as they continued to annex land, the amount of land under their names increased, and the court had less and less land to collect taxes.
In addition, the land owned by officials and dignitaries of Daxia are also tax-exempt.
In order to avoid taxes, some local gentry registered more land in their names. The end result was that the gentry became richer and the imperial court became poorer.
These methods are all legal, and the imperial court cannot force them to pay taxes.
The imperial court had revised the tax law several times before, but either the tax reform proposals were rejected by the powerful, or they were difficult to implement after being sent to local governments. The local officials were all their people, and they falsified data, concealed tax amounts, and used various means to obstruct the reform, making each tax reform have little effect.
Later on, the extra money collected by the court was not even enough to cover the administrative expenses of collecting taxes, and several reforms ended in failure.
The left prime minister sighed and said, "The court has tried many ways, but none of them worked. Do you have any good ideas?"
Li Nuo smiled slightly and said, "Of course."
The left prime minister looked at him.
Li Nuo gently made a gesture of wiping his neck to him.
Not long after, Li Nuo walked out of the Secretariat.
His idea was rejected by the Left Prime Minister again.
Those who are willing to pay taxes pay taxes, those who are unwilling to pay taxes will be beheaded, and all their property will be confiscated. This is the fastest way to fill the treasury, but the left prime minister said that the court cannot be a robber, at least not every time...
Li Nuo was not good at either literature or martial arts, and there was nothing he could do.
When he returned to Yuyin Pavilion, Fenghuang had already packed her things.
After saying goodbye to Nightingale and Yuanyang, the two returned to Ningxin Garden together.
At the gate of Ningxin Garden, when Li Nuo and Fenghuang walked in hand in hand, two other figures walked out side by side.
Prince Chun looked at Fenghuang who was holding hands with Li Nuo, his expression somewhat stunned.
Another one?
Fenghuang was at a loss when she saw Prince Chun and Li Xuanjing. She lowered her head and whispered, "Greetings, Your Majesty. Greetings, Lord Li..."
Li Xuanjing nodded slightly and didn't say much.
Prince Chun sighed, patted Li Nuo on the shoulder, and said, "Go visit Li Yun more often when you have time, show him the outside world, don't let him stay at home all the time..."
Father and Prince Chun came to see An Ning and Jia Ren. After they left, Feng Huang looked at Li Nuo anxiously and asked, "Will Lord Li disagree if we are together? I, I don't want any status..."
Li Nuo held her hand and said, "No, my father is not as scary as people say. Don't worry."
After returning home, Fenghuang went to find Jiahe and An Ning, while Li Nuo went to the study alone.
When he left the Secretariat, he took away a file containing the contents of the court's tax reforms over the years.
There is nothing wrong with these tax reform measures in themselves.
For example, they abolished excessive taxes and levies, required officials and gentry to pay taxes together, abolished officials' tax-exempt privileges, and directly increased their salaries as compensation. However, the end result was that officials' salaries were increased, but the tax reform was not implemented.
No matter how you look at it, Daxia possesses all the characteristics of a late dynasty.
It is not surprising that a dynasty that lasted for 300 years has come to this point.
In another world, when a dynasty reaches this point, it is time to change dynasties and enter a new historical cycle.
But here, because of the existence of martial arts and various schools of thought, the power of the country and the family has been infinitely magnified. The guns are not in the hands of the people, and the bottom-up uprising is naturally impossible to succeed.
Changes of dynasties come either from internal seizure of power or external invasion.
Li Nuo plans to organize the contents of these tax reforms and formulate a new tax law based on his own knowledge and experience, and then implement it when the time is right.
Fenghuang came in from outside, holding a jade plate in her hand, and said, "Have some fruit. This was just delivered by Sinong Temple today."
Li Nuo had just written a few lines, and without even looking up, he said, "Put it aside for now. I'll eat it later."
Phoenix walked up to him and said, "You do your thing, I'll feed you..."
She peeled the grapes and fed them into Li Nuo's mouth one by one.
Looking at the files on the table, she asked curiously, "Is the court going to implement a new tax law?"
Li Nuo shook his head and said, "Not yet."
Phoenix asked, "Why?"
Li Nuo briefly explained it to her, and Fenghuang asked in surprise, "Do they dare to defy the laws of the court?"
Li Nuo breathed a sigh of relief and said, "In their territory, they are the imperial court. The local officials listen to them. There are also many of their officials in the imperial court. Without the approval of the several major families, the imperial court cannot collect taxes."
Fenghuang ate a grape and said, "If I were the imperial court, I would let the officials of the Wang family collect taxes from the Cui family, the officials of the Cui family collect taxes from the Pei family, and the officials of the Pei family collect taxes from the Zheng family, and let the noble families fight each other..."
Li Nuo put down his pen, put his arm around her waist, let her sit on his lap, and said, "The major families are not stupid. How could they fight among themselves and benefit the court? Even if they don't get along with each other, they are united when facing the court..."
Fenghuang leaned in Li Nuo's arms, wrapped her arms around his neck, and said, "Those who can collect taxes will be promoted. Those who cannot collect taxes will be dismissed from their posts. This will weaken the influence of the noble families in the court, and it will not be bad for the court..."
Li Nuo continued to shake his head and said, "This won't work either."
The major families trained so many officials for the imperial court in order to have connections in the court. They would generally transfer the officials they trained to their own territories to strengthen their control over the local areas.
The imperial court had long been aware of this and would send some officials who had nothing to do with them.
But it won’t be long before those officials will be recruited by local noble families.
Those who cannot be recruited may even fall into their clutches.
As for sending officials from the Wang family to the Cui family's territory, and officials from the Cui family to the Pei family's territory, the imperial court had done this before, and had forced them to pay taxes. However, these people would not take action against the aristocratic families and the gentry landlords. The taxes paid by the imperial court would eventually be levied on the people.
Hearing this, Fenghuang said without hesitation: "The imperial court does not allow the collection of excessive taxes. If they use this to exploit the people, just arrest them and chop them all off. Killing so many corrupt officials will help you improve your cultivation, right?"
Li Nuo stared at Fenghuang blankly, speechless for a moment.
She is worthy of being the woman who could make Yuyin Pavilion the number one music hall in Chang'an and acquire the original first and second music halls in just two years.
If these people can collect taxes normally, the reform will be successful, the national treasury will win big, Li Nuo will win small, and the Confucian cultivation will increase.
They exploited the people and collected abnormal taxes. By killing them, the national treasury won a lot, Li Nuo won a lot, and his legalist skills increased.
They were unable to collect taxes and were dismissed from office. Although their cultivation base did not increase as much as it had been directly cut off, it did increase their Legalist cultivation base a bit, so Li Nuo still won a small victory.
No matter what the outcome, he will not lose.
Seeing Li Nuo looking at her like this, Fenghuang lowered her head with a guilty conscience and whispered, "Am I too bad... In fact, I don't want to implicate the people, but in recent years, Daxia has been plagued by internal and external troubles. Only by becoming stronger can our Li family have the ability to protect ourselves in troubled times..."
Li Nuo was very surprised.
In his mind, Phoenix has always been the image of a weak woman.
Although she is versatile, has outstanding business skills, and is good at marketing and publicity, she has never shown any political qualities.
But what she just said was not something an ordinary woman could say.
At least, Jia Ren Yi Ren, and even Princess An Ning, would not talk about this.
Li Nuo became interested and asked, "What internal and external troubles does Daxia have? Tell me about them..."
Fenghuang explained, "The internal troubles are naturally the aristocratic families, especially the Wang family. Last year, my father killed almost all the officials of the Wang family in Chang'an. Although the Wang family has not shown any signs of behavior, I'm afraid they have long hated the court and our Li family. It is said that the Wang family has two martial arts semi-saints of the sixth realm, and they are at the peak of their power. These aristocratic families are arrogant and proud. They have suffered such a big loss this time, and they may retaliate in the future. We have to be on guard..."
Li Nuo nodded slightly.
In fact, he never forgot this matter in his heart.
Because of this, even if Jiahe An Ning was pregnant, he had to go to Zhao State to fight for the hope of breaking through.
He looked at Phoenix and asked, "What about the external threat?"
Fenghuang said with a serious expression, "The biggest foreign threat is naturally the State of Wei. They stationed troops in the State of Liang, nominally to protect Liang, but in fact they covet Daxia. The State of Wei is stronger than Daxia. In just ten years, they have expanded their army several times, so they must have some purpose. What is even more worrying is that the State of Wei and the State of Chu have had close exchanges in recent years. If the two countries send troops at the same time, Daxia's southwest will face the threat of two dynasties at the same time..."
Li Nuo was shocked. Wei and Chu had close relations, which was something he didn't even know.
He looked at Fenghuang and asked, "Who told you these things?"
Fenghuang said, "I heard from the guests that the guests of Yuyin Pavilion, Tianyin Courtyard and Lelai Tower are all dignitaries, and there are also many envoys from other countries. They like to talk about state affairs while listening to music. The girls have learned a lot from them and have a better understanding of state affairs..."
She continued, "All the major dynasties have the ambition to unify the world. Historically, the weakest countries were always the first to be annexed. Among the five countries, although Daxia is slightly stronger than Zhao, its location is far inferior to Zhao. Zhao only has two neighbors, Qi and Daxia, while Daxia is adjacent to four countries. Once the small border countries are destroyed, it will directly border the four major dynasties..."
Li Nuo fell into deep thought. Fenghuang was right. In addition to the ocean to the east, Daxia's borders were tightly surrounded by the four great dynasties. Except for Zhao, there were only some small countries as buffers on the borders with the other three countries...
Once these small countries are destroyed, China will be surrounded by enemies on all sides.
Although Wei was stronger than Daxia, it was impossible for it to annex Daxia. However, if Wei and Chu, the two most powerful countries, joined forces, Daxia would inevitably be defeated.
However, the imperial court would certainly not sit idly by and watch this happen.
As early as when the country was founded, Daxia became a friendly country with Zhao and signed a military alliance. If one country was invaded, the other had to send troops to help.
Although the two countries are the weakest of the five countries, if they join forces, even the strongest Wei and Chu countries will have to weigh whether the result of all four suffering losses is worth it.
The reason why the mainland has been stable for hundreds of years is not because all countries are peace-loving.
Rather, at the end of the Warring States Period, the positions, national strengths and relationships of the five countries formed a delicate balance. No one could annex the other, and if they forced annexation, they would be seriously damaged and become the target of annexation by other countries.
At this time, An Ning walked in from outside with a bulging belly and said, "Wei and Chu invaded Daxia, Zhao would definitely not sit idly by. They provoked a war among the four countries, wouldn't they be worried that Qi would benefit in the end?"
Fenghuang left Li Nuo's arms shyly, helped An Ning sit on the chair, and then said: "If Wei and Chu jointly invade Daxia, and Qi deploys troops on the border of Zhao, will Zhao still support Daxia?"
An Ning frowned and said, "No way, Qi has always claimed to be neutral and has signed peace treaties with all countries..."
Fenghuang shook his head and said, "If the covenant was useful, there wouldn't be the five dynasties now. Qi State seems to be the least threatening one, but in fact, it should be the most cautious. They have been planning for hundreds of years, and their tentacles have reached the top leaders of various countries, and can even influence the decisions of the courts of various countries..."
(End of this chapter)
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