In Wu Mei's palace, Wu Mei was staring at Li Zhi in amazement. He was telling her with great excitement about the reactions of the officials in the court when she appointed Li Hong as the Minister of Revenue.
"Yes, that's right, they all have similar expressions to the Queen. Today I know what it means to be a diverse group of people. The officials in the court have demonstrated it to me. But Queen, you know what, quite a few of them still agree that Li Hong is the Minister of Revenue. Supporters have fiercely criticized opponents based on what Li Hong has done in recent years, especially those who support glass, crystal, refined salt, refined sugar, etc., and believe that Li Hong is fully qualified for the position of Minister of Revenue." Li Zhi was very satisfied with the reactions of the officials in the court today. The only surprise was that the supporters actually accounted for the majority. He thought it would be fifty-fifty.
"Why don't you appoint him as the Minister of War!" Wu Mei said unhappily.
There was one more thing she didn't say, which was that after appointing Li Hong as the Minister of War, in a few years, you and I can live out your retirement in the Daming Palace that is being built after your death!
Whenever there was a happy event or a delicate moment, Li Zhi would always react a little slower, and he would say to the queen in a serious tone, "That won't work. Li Hong is still young now, so let's wait a few more years. My body is not strong enough to support me to review memorials day and night. Let him hone himself in the Ministry of Revenue in the next few years. When he matures and becomes more stable in a few years, I can rest assured to let him be the Minister of War..."
"Your Majesty..." Wu Mei could not hide her dissatisfaction in her tone and said, "You also know that he has an unstable temper. Now you hand over the financial power of the Tang Dynasty to him. Do you think he can do it? Let alone other things, just look at his moral character that changed three times in that moment. Do you think the people of the world can still have a peaceful life? The Ministry of Revenue has always been in charge of the salaries of court officials. I dare to bet with you that he must be focusing on this aspect now. He must be thinking about how to use the salaries to torment the court officials!"
"No, although it is said that a mother knows a son best, but I watched Honger grow up. Although he is a little naughty, I think he will not make many mistakes in politics. Look at his Taiyi City. When it was built, he made three rules with me and did not allow me to ask or help. Now you see, Taiyi City is crowded with people every day, and merchants from all over the country are flocking here. A lot of money flows into Taiyi City every day."
Wu Mei sighed and said patiently, "That's because he likes money. Tell me, do you know how much money he has made over the years? Don't tell me that he put all his money into the reconstruction of Daming Palace? I dare to bet with you that the money he funded you to build Daming Palace is probably just a drop in the bucket of what he has made over the years! Who knows, the little guy may have so much money now that he can build a palace! If you hand over the Ministry of Revenue to him now, can this little guy still see anything else?"
Wu Mei angrily scolded Li Zhi, just like an ordinary wife scolding her husband. Wu Mei frowned and asked again: "Is there any other minister in the Ministry of Revenue?"
...
...
Li Zhi spread his hands and said innocently, "No, since Liu Rengui sent troops to Baekje, the position of Minister of Justice has been vacant. Today, Cui Zhiwen, the former Minister of Revenue, has been appointed as the Minister of Justice."
Wu Mei felt that the situation was hopeless and sighed helplessly, praying in her heart that Li Hong could really do as Li Zhi wished and manage the Ministry of Revenue well without asking for any merit but only avoiding any mistakes.
Wu Mei's worries were not without reason. After hearing the news, Li Hong was stunned for less than half a minute, and then he found the fun of being the Minister of Revenue.
I originally thought that many things would need to wait until I ascended the throne or a few years later before I could rectify them. But now, I have a chance to correct some of the problems I have summarized in my spare time, such as the equal-field system, the military system, commercial taxes, and household registration management in the Tang Dynasty, and I can slowly rectify them one by one.
Except for the fubing system, all others were within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue. This was exactly the opportunity he had been looking for.
But Li Hong also knew that the existence of both the equal-field system and the tax system such as "rent, labor and tax" was reasonable, and the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty was closely related to it.
The difference is that the annexation of private land ownership and the gradual increase in the population of the Tang Dynasty led to a huge conflict between the two. As the population increased, the amount of land that the state could grant became less and less due to the annexation of private ownership, which led to the destruction of the equal-field system.
Li Hong followed his own ideas and began to eliminate them step by step. As for those signs of possible drawbacks in the future, whether it was the equal-field system or the rent-and-labor system, Li Hong had no intention of making any drastic changes now.
All he has to do is to make these systems more rational within ten or even twenty years.
If we want to rationalize all problems, we must start from a foundation, that is, population. The improvement of the household registration system will be the tone for rationalizing all problems.
Improving the household registration system is the most fundamental thing. Li Hong thought about this for a long time. He wanted to plug the loopholes in the current household registration system, but he was afraid that his brain was not enough. However, there were people who were definitely experts in this area.
They are Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu, who have always known how to rule people with people and are good at strategies and political tactics.
So Li Hong waved his hand and ordered Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu, who had just arrived at the Eastern Palace, to study the flaws and advantages of the household registration system in addition to their usual editing of books.
As for the commercial tax of 1% of thirty during this period, Li Hong chose to start with his own Taiyi City and began to increase taxes step by step. As for how much it would be increased to, this required cooperation between Shangguan Yi, Guo Yu, Xu Yushi and others and Bai Chun.
Using their now extremely familiar new mathematical methods and Arabic numerals, they came up with a new overview and statistics.
Li Hong had a perfect blueprint for the future in his mind, with Chang'an and Luoyang as the centers, radiating to the entire north as an economic center. Luoyang connected the north-south waterways and was naturally the top priority.
Chang'an can completely rely on Taiyi City to form a combination of traditional commerce and emerging commerce, complement each other with Luoyang, and form a real economic circle.
The money shop has been put on his agenda. After all, with the economic development of Taiyi City, this earliest flying money will naturally be born among merchants. If he does not launch it first, when private merchants spontaneously launch it, it will be easy to intervene but difficult to take over.
It would be better to launch it now and then slowly expand it along with the caravan.
Therefore, the Chamber of Commerce also took shape in his mind. The North and South Chambers of Commerce plus the Taiyi City Chamber of Commerce would always make profit-driven merchants willing to join in.
As he sat in the chair, he laughed with his mouth watering. The perfect blueprint for a business empire seemed to have been formed in his mind. Now he could just sit back and enjoy the glory.
Unexpectedly, Xia Zhi's voice and jade hand woke him up from his dream: "Your Highness, Lord Xu and Lord Li asked if you have any other instructions?"
"Oh, sorry, I was sleepy just now. I was thinking too much last night." Li Hong woke up with saliva dripping from his mouth. He looked at Li Yifu who came out of the Dali Temple and said, "I haven't seen you for a while. Yifu has lost a lot of weight."
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I am in good health." Li Yifu had obviously not returned home yet. He just dressed up casually, shaved, changed his clothes and ran over.
"It's good that you're out. I have nothing to do today, so I'll give you three days off. Have a good rest at home and come back in three days." Li Hong looked at Li Yifu with a smile, but thought to himself, "I wonder what Li Yifu's expression would be when he knew his daughter and son-in-law were killed."
"Yes, Your Highness, thank you for your concern." Li Yifu stood up and saluted.
This "trip" to the Dali Temple made Li Yifu seem less aggressive than before. Although his signature gentle smile and wise and deep eyes remained the same, his aura seemed a little mellower and more dangerous.
"Sir Xu, as for the revision of the book, you still need to communicate more with Mr. Shangguan, but fortunately there is no rush. For matters that benefit the country and the people, we need to be patient. As for the lack of people to revise the book that you told Mr. Shangguan about, I think we can recruit some of them. The eunuchs in the Imperial Palace's Ministry of Internal Affairs can do their duty, and those who are not on duty can learn and revise while following."
Li Hong was playing a perfunctory game. Right now, the Eastern Palace only had a limited number of people available. If they wanted to truly reserve talent, it would take many years.
But Li Hong didn't know that this temporary method of covering up the problem would become an important pillar of the Tang Dynasty for hundreds of years to come.
As a result, the eunuchs of the Imperial Palace's Internal Affairs Department unexpectedly became an important part of the teaching staff of the Tang Dynasty for many years, not only avoiding the extremely difficult problem of eunuchs interfering in politics that had plagued successive dynasties.
Moreover, eunuchs, a product of the Chinese nation that has existed for thousands of years, were turned into the backbone of the Tang Dynasty.
Because of this group, after losing the enjoyment of human relations and so on, because of Li Hong's temporary decision to let them study and practice at the same time, in the following decades, too many great universities emerged.
They abandoned the desire for fame and fortune and the impetuousness that ordinary people should have, and instead climbed to the top of the ocean of knowledge more easily than normal people. In the following decades, this group of people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs contributed too many surprises to Li Zhi and Li Hong in terms of invention, creation, and innovation.
Hua Meng walked in quietly and whispered in Li Hong's ear: "Prince, Jingzhe and Liebao are back. They said Helan Minzhi returned to Chang'an City yesterday. They will go to Qujiang Lake for a visit today."
"Oh, it's really fast." Li Hong blinked in surprise and hurriedly ended the meeting with Xu Jingzong and others.
Watching Xu Jingzong and others leave, Li Hong began to think about the information behind this message. Helan Minzhi is back, and his father and mother must know about it, but why didn't they let him follow Wu Shun and others back to his hometown directly? How could this guy go to Qujiang Lake to play as if nothing had happened!
"What's going on in Qujiang Lake today?" Li Hong asked Hua Meng.
"Your Highness, today the students from the Imperial College and the Hongwenguan, as well as the new Japanese students sent to the Tang Dynasty, are gathering at Qujiang Pond." Hua Meng said.
"Damn it, how can I not have a part in such a great thing? Let's go and take a look. Xiazhi, bring me my skateboard, let's go and have some fun together." Li Hong jumped down from the chair, intending to join in the fun.
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