During the time of the Han Ling Emperor, the annual tax revenue of the Han court was about 6 billion yuan. By convention, 10% of this money, or 600 million, is under the direct control of the emperor. In fact, the money Liu Hong squandered every year far exceeds this amount, reaching a staggering more than 3 billion, and the national treasury is empty.
And Liu Xin now controlled the money allocated to the inner treasury to one percent, and promised not to pay even a penny from the treasury, which surprised all the ministers in the hall. Because the total tax revenue of the states under Liu Xin's rule last year was only 4 billion yuan, one percent was only 40 million yuan, which is equivalent to 40 thousand taels of silver.
In fact, in the states under Liu Xin's rule, the weather has been smooth in recent years, and the grain harvest is like a year. However, because of the tax reduction policy, the total amount of agricultural tax revenue is not even as good as that of the Han Ling Emperor. Although the reopening of the Silk Road has brought about rapid commercial development, the effects of the past two years have not been shown. Commercial tax revenue is lower than agricultural tax, so tax revenue is so small.
For the royal family, the expense is high. For example, today so many ministers gathered here to discuss matters, and each minister had a cup of fragrant tea in front of them. Although these top-grade teas were tributes from Jiangnan, Liu Xin paid them at the same price. The only convenience was that they could guarantee the supply. Liu Xin stipulated that in a three-day period, in addition to providing tea to the ministers, he would also provide them with some small snacks. These expenses would be spent from the internal library. After a year, the amount was high.
There are many other things that need to be spent, such as sacrifices, tributes, and annual gifts. Each cost is not a small figure. One of the biggest expenses has not yet been revealed, and that is when Liu Xin's children grow up and open the mansion, each of them can be said to be an astronomical figure.
The ministers who are able to participate in the meeting today are Liu Xin's confidantes. They have access to some confidential information and are very clear about Dahan's annual taxation situation. They are all smart people, and naturally know how nervous the inner library in the palace will be after such independent accounting. The ministers did not expect that Liu Xin would be forced into this position for the sake of a few women, and they all looked at each other.
In the end, Jushou stood up, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that it is better to use a compromise method to seal the two ladies as concubines. The proportion of the annual tax payment into the internal treasury is still 10%. how is it?"
Jushou still very much agrees with the independent accounting method proposed by Liu Xin. There is Liu Hong's example. After all, the emperor's power is too great. If the emperor can freely control the country's taxation, if the emperor becomes mediocre, it is very likely that the national treasury will be exhausted. If you follow Liu Xin's method and separate the treasury from the internal treasury, you can solve this hidden danger.
Of course, it is possible that Wang Tu's thoughts in the world have penetrated into Jushou's bones, so he still does not want to restrict the royal family's funds too little.
Unexpectedly, Liu Xin didn’t appreciate it. He waved his hand and said in a non-negotiable tone: "I have decided, and there is no need to discuss this matter. You still care less about my family affairs and think more about the people of the world. Think more about how to make our Han Dynasty more prosperous!"
This time, even Chen Gong bowed his head in shame, and the hall suddenly became quiet. Liu Xin continued: "I will give you three days. You can draw up a charter so that the cabinet and the six ministries can perform their duties. What matters must be decided by me, what matters need to be decided by the cabinet, and what matters the six ministries can be determined by themselves. To solve it, we need to divide it clearly!"
Three days were very tight, and everyone did not dare to delay. They hurriedly bowed back and rushed to the cabinet office located near the palace to discuss them. These few major events are enough for them to stay busy for several days, and no one has time to be with Liu Xin anymore. Entangled in the canonization of concubines.
In fact, Liu Xin dared to propose such a compromise plan is not a whim, but the result of careful consideration.
Although the total tax revenue last year was only more than 4 billion yuan, this is only the income of the six states of Jing, Yi, Si, Liang, Yang, and Jiao. Among them, Yangzhou and Jiaozhou are still in the initial stage of development, and there is still a lot of room for development. .
The situation will be different next year, because the entire Han has been unified, and the northern states of Ji, Bin, You, Qing, Xu, and Henan have always been the richest places in the Han. Although years of war and chaos have caused the people in these places to lose their livelihoods, Liu Xin believes that as long as there are two to three years of recuperation, these places will soon be restored to life, and at the same time they will bring a lot of taxes to the imperial court. On the other hand, with the opening of the Silk Road, business will become more and more prosperous, and business tax will one day exceed agricultural tax and become the main force supporting Dahan's finances.
For these two reasons, the imperial tax revenue will only increase, and it will even show a geometric increase. As the tide goes up, the money allocated to the inner bank will naturally increase. The difficulties are only temporary, and the prospects are bright.
Liu Xin doesn't need to worry that Neiku will fall into a situation where no money is available. Another important reason is that there is the support of Dahan Bank behind him.
In the past few years, Liu Xin has been vigorously developing armaments, conquering foreign wars, and caring for the people, all of which need to consume a lot of financial and material resources. Such taxation levels are not enough to support. However, Liu Xin did not appear to be trapped by money and food like Cao Cao, nor did he come to the situation where he was as aggressive as Yuan Shao. The reason is that he benefited from the support of the Dahan Bank.
The banknotes issued by the Dahan Bank are not only common in the areas under Liu Xin's rule, but even in Western countries such as Dawan and Kangju, and even the urban areas controlled by Cao Cao and Yuan Shao are also very sought-after hard currencies. And Ma Yun has always controlled the total amount of silver bills issued at a fairly safe ratio. As long as there is no nationwide run, Dahan Bank is an inexhaustible gold mountain and silver mountain for Liu Xin.
Liu Xin does not have the control of the Dahan Bank. He can be so confident because he has the support of Ma Yun in this matter.
Based on the insights of Liu Xin and Ma Yun for thousands of years, it is naturally clear that the history of China is actually a history of dynasties. A dynasty is often the most prosperous period of the dynasty at the beginning of its establishment. It is really the emperor, the minister, and the virtuous, but at the end of the dynasty, the emperor is either desolate or incompetent or weak and incompetent. And every dynasty change will bring serious disasters to the people.
The root of all this is due to the monarchy, but both Liu Xin and Ma Yun understand that in this era, not to mention the implementation of a republic, even the establishment of a constitutional monarchy is absolutely impossible, so the solution is to restrict the emperor's power and put on the emperor. .
On the other hand, Ma Yun knows that it is easy to change from frugality to luxury, and it is difficult to change from luxury to frugality. She and Liu Xin may be able to restrain themselves, but who can guarantee that their offspring will not be extravagant? Therefore, the initiative to limit the royal family's expenditure to a lower level is also to allow their children and grandchildren to develop a good habit of frugality.
In the morning of the next day, Liu Xinzhao told the world that Bian Yu, Cai Yan and the others were canonized, and the jade discs and gold albums were awarded. At the same time, Qiao'er and the others were also named talents. But Jushou, Tian Feng, Guo Jia, Chen Gong and others were so busy with what Liu Xin explained to them, they had no time to admonish Liu Xin.
Another day later, Liu Xin promulgated the new Dahan Law, which Ma Yun spent a lot of energy on revising. There is no essential difference between the new law and the old law in many places. It also emphasizes killing and paying for life and paying off debts. However, two core concepts were introduced in the new law. One is that private property is sacred and inviolable, and the other is that the prince commits the same crime as the common people.
These two laws were unimaginable in the past laws. Could it be the king's soil in the world, everything in the world belongs to the emperor, as long as the emperor wants it, anyone must offer it unconditionally, how can it be said that private property is sacred and inviolable? In this era, people have been divided into three, six or nine. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "no courtesy should be given to the common people, and the punishment can not be given to the doctor." How can a prince break the law and commit the same crime with the common people
If these two articles of the new law are brought to the court for discussion, they are likely to be opposed by the ministers. Therefore, Liu Xin did not disclose it to Jushou in advance, but directly promulgated it. The emperor’s words were golden words, not to mention the laws printed in black and white. By the time Jushou and others who were busy drawing up the regulations saw this law, it was already the evening of the day. Their statutes have just been drafted, and they still need to be revised and polished overnight, and they don’t even have time to read the law from beginning to end. Of course, it is impossible to discover some of the changes hidden in it, and it is even impossible to put forward their own opinions. Up.
However, in addition to the above two important changes in the law, there is also a relatively large change in punishment, that is, more imprisonment instead of physical punishment. Of course, the death penalty is still retained for the most heinous people, but it is limited to beheading. As for the torture of Ling Chi and five horses, the death penalty has been permanently cancelled. Other punishments, such as cutting off the ears and nose, and removing the kneecap, were mostly abandoned, and the only remaining punishment was palace torture. Due to the particularity of the palace, some eunuchs are always used. Therefore, some juveniles who are submerged in the palace as slaves still need to retain the palace sentence.
The ministers had been busy until the third watch, and finally drafted the regulations required by Liu Xin. Seeing the fruits of their labor, the ministers seemed very excited, and no one actually asked to go home and rest. Some people are still immersed in those articles of association, but some people pick up the latest Dahan Law that has just been sent from the palace and read it leisurely.
Suddenly, Chen Gong shouted: "That's not right! This law has changed a lot. Why doesn't Your Majesty discuss it with me in advance?"
It turned out that the ministers thought that the new law was just republishing the old law originally written on bamboo slips using paper printing methods, but they didn’t know that the content had undergone major changes, which immediately caused an uproar among the ministers. .