Chapter 136 Taxes and Enko
yesterday.
Wang Xiang may not know how thrilling and exciting her day was, but he couldn't possibly not know that she hadn't been attending classes in the South Study at all.
She paused for a moment.
Wang Xiang stopped there, looked up and saw the Southern Study ahead, then bid farewell to Xiao Qing and respectfully saw him off.
At this moment, Fu Mingyi and Xiao Yan were already waiting in the South Study.
Xiao Qing inwardly pursed her lips, thinking that Fu Mingyi had arrived quite quickly, but why hadn't anyone tried to have a heart-to-heart talk with him?
At this point, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
The thought was so fleeting that it was impossible to grasp, causing her to frequently lose focus and become unwell even during the lessons personally taught by the Grand Tutor.
However, Xiao Yan's condition remained as good as ever.
The Grand Tutor's lecture today was different in content and style from before. When he came to the end, he casually wrote the character "tax" on a piece of paper, then calmly put down his pen and stared at his writing for a long time without saying a word.
Xiao Yan asked curiously, "Is the Grand Tutor going to talk about the tax system?"
Xiao Qing's attention was drawn back to the character, and she instinctively felt that Fu Mingyi's intention in writing it was probably similar to that of Wang Xiang.
Just this morning at court, someone mentioned the embezzlement of state taxes, and now he has written the character "tax".
If Fu Mingyi has nothing to say to her, she will take Fu Mingyi's surname!
Of course, that's impossible.
Fu Mingyi finally raised his head, smiled at the two of them, and said, "The tax system of the Xiao Dynasty follows that of the previous dynasty. The land south of the Xiao River is fertile and has a large population. It has always been a granary and a prosperous land for merchants, with considerable tax revenue."
Xiao Qing nodded.
Since she was allowed to leave the palace regularly, she has explored almost every part of Nanhua City, especially the markets.
In her understanding, this market in this time and space can basically be considered a commercial pedestrian street.
It's still the kind of old-fashioned commercial pedestrian street.
Girls never get tired when they go shopping, and Xiao Qing is very much in line with her nature in this regard.
After visiting many places, she started to get a feel for it.
In fact, the level of commercial development in Nanhua City is quite high. Nanhua City is now the capital of the Southern Xiao Dynasty, and goods traveling between the north and south pass through it. The officials here are of high rank and wield considerable authority; the merchants here have extensive businesses and sell high-quality goods.
The two complement each other, making Nanhua City the political and economic center of Nanxiao, and the most prosperous place.
In such places, tax revenue is naturally substantial.
Consequently, the entire Dingzhou, as well as the surrounding Yingzhou and Haizhou, became major tax-paying prefectures.
However, Jiangzhou, north of Dingzhou, is a bit lacking.
This is probably because Jiangzhou is directly adjacent to the Xiao River, and the land opposite is the territory of the Northern Barbarians.
In recent years, people from Jiangzhou have left their homes in batches. Some went to Dingzhou and Yingzhou, others to Yuzhou in the west, and still others to places further west.
Although the imperial court discovered this problem this year and strictly prohibited the people of Jiangzhou from migrating out, it seems that the effect was not so significant. On the contrary, as soon as the order was issued, many people secretly migrated out even faster.
Regarding this issue, Fu Mingyi once used it as an example in class and specifically asked Xiao Qing and Xiao Yan what they thought.
Xiao Yan's idea was very serious. He proposed strict supervision and the establishment of a series of accountability and checks and balances, so that the people would no longer have as much freedom as before.
But Xiao Qing felt that this was not a good idea.
Although she didn't offer any useful opinions, she was inwardly quite skeptical.
If that's the case...
"His Majesty."
Xiao Qing was lost in thought, her mind wandering far away, but before she could finish, Fu Mingyi pulled her back to reality.
Her gaze gradually focused on Fu Mingyi's face, and the expression in her eyes became increasingly sincere.
"I wonder if Your Majesty remembers something that happened in the second year of Dingyuan."
Xiao Qing asked curiously, "What is it?"
"At that time, there were some vacancies in official positions in Nanhua City, so a small-scale civil and military examination was organized to select more than 20 civil and military talents for the court."
Xiao Qing nodded, "These people are now mostly serving as officials in Dingzhou and the surrounding prefectures and counties. This year, I saw the official gazettes of various prefectures, which mentioned that group of civil and military officials and praised them highly."
Fu Mingyi nodded, "That's right. One of them angered His Majesty so much that not only did His Majesty send him back to his hometown, but he also ordered the relevant officials to be demoted and reflect on their actions..."
Xiao Qing remembered.
Yes, that's true.
At that time, the Southern Xiao dynasty had just been established and everything was in need of rebuilding. After a year of rest, the Southern Xiao dynasty reopened the imperial examinations on a small scale. Initially, this was only to take care of the Southern Xiao officials and some of the sons of the northern officials who had moved south.
Of course, there was also the implication of using them for experiments.
This is how Xiao Qing understands it.
However, things went wrong later on.
The son of a merchant from Nanhua City impersonated a member of a family that had migrated south to the north, and then made his way to the palace examination, finally arriving before her.
It's quite a coincidence.
Originally, that imperial examination did not include the palace examination.
Xiao Qing was so bored with his classes that he tried to find some fun to relieve his boredom, which is why he added a palace examination to the special imperial examination.
Originally, some ministers' sons also studied with her and Xiao Yan in the Southern Study.
She wanted to see what scholars were like in the world.
Upon closer inspection, this person was discovered.
She asked three questions and the other person would only reply with one, and most of the time the answer was irrelevant.
This alerted Xiao Qing.
She used the same skills she had for dealing with those old men in the imperial court, and quickly dealt with the one in front of her.
Then, Xiao Qing learned why he had appeared in the palace examination.
To put it simply, it means buying an official position with money.
Xiao Qing looked at the crowd below the hall. Some of them were quite outstanding. Most of them had their heads down, while a small number looked at her curiously, with a look in their eyes that she couldn't quite explain but made her feel uncomfortable.
At that moment, she had only one thought in her mind—how could someone like this be worthy of standing in this place like the others, enjoying the fruitful results of their hard work in scientific research?
Therefore, the result was a foregone conclusion.
However, Fu Mingyi surprisingly did not show much support for her in this matter. Instead, he remained silent on the issue for many years.
Why bring this up today?
Xiao Qing looked at Fu Mingyi with confusion.
"Soon, it will be time for the Great Xiao to hold a large-scale imperial examination."
Xiao Qing thought for a moment, "Does the Grand Tutor mean that what happened back then could happen again?"
Fu Mingyi looked at her and said, "Ten or twenty, His Majesty can judge them at a glance, so there's no way to pass off inferior people. But once the special imperial examination is held, those who enter the court as officials are not just those who meet the standards, so such things are unavoidable."
His expression began to sarcastic. "Moreover, historically, it wasn't just a few officials who did such things; there could also be..."
Xiao Yan replied softly, "The imperial court."
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