Lantian County is just a medium-sized county. Among the more than 1,500 states and counties in the Tang Dynasty, Lantian County is definitely not one of the wealthiest counties. Of course, this is just the former Lantian County!
Today's Lantian County is full of shops and pavilions in the city. The original criss-crossing bluestone streets have all been replaced by smooth cement pavements. Moreover, according to rumors, the Lantian County Government has the intention to expand Lantian County. The entire Lantian County, In this short period of less than a year, huge changes have taken place. Of course Li Er knew about these changes, but he did not know that the county government of Lantian County had the ability to directly donate 10,000 yuan to the court!
Ten thousand guan, what does this mean to the county government of a county
In the entire Tang Dynasty, you can count the counties with annual tax revenue exceeding 10,000 yuan on the palm of your hand. For example, Chang'an County and Wannian County. These two counties relied on the advantages of their capital Chang'an to collect taxes every year. They all stand out from the crowd, and basically all have more than 20,000 guan! But why can Lantian County, a medium-sized county, just donate 10,000 yuan casually? Where did they get so much money
Moreover, what's more important is that the entire Lantian County is now Li Zexuan's fiefdom. In this case, shouldn't all the taxes collected by the Lantian County government go into Li Zexuan's pocket? Why did the magistrate of Lantian County dare to take the initiative and donate 10,000 guan to the court? Could this be Li Zexuan's instruction
The moment he saw the line about Lantian County government donation information in the account book, many questions emerged in Li Er's mind, and the only person in this hall who could answer his questions was the one who had been there Xiao Yu was at the fundraiser!
In fact, Xiao Yu was in a state of confusion when he heard that Magistrate He donated 10,000 yuan on behalf of the Lantian County government in the afternoon. On the way back to Chang'an from Lantian County, Xiao Yu was also thinking about some issues about Lantian County. At this time After hearing Li Er's question, he pondered for a moment, then cupped his hands and said:
"Back to Your Majesty, since Lantian County became the fiefdom of Yong'an Hou, all the officials of Lantian County and County Government began to vigorously develop commerce in the city in accordance with the instructions of Yong'an Hou. To this end, at the beginning of this year, Lantian County County Government established a business establishment The Department of Commerce is dedicated to ensuring that businessmen can receive fair treatment in Lantian County and ensure that they can do business normally, but the Department of Commerce has increased the commercial tax rate of Lantian County five times!
However, despite this, businessmen from all over the country are still pouring into Lantian County to do business, because in Lantian County, businessmen are civilians like common people and craftsmen, and there is no distinction between three, six, and nine. Regarding the cases of businessmen, The case will be specially reviewed by the Department of Commerce, and businessmen’s children can enter official schools in Lantian County, and they can also pass Yanhuang Academy in the future!
As a result, shops and restaurants in Lantian County are springing up like bamboo shoots after a rain, and commerce in the city is becoming increasingly prosperous. In addition, the Department of Commerce has increased the commercial tax rate five times. As a result, Lantian County’s monthly commercial tax revenue ratio is now It’s more than dozens of times higher than before!
The veteran heard from Magistrate He of Lantian County that Marquis Yongan did not take any of the taxes collected by the county government every month in Lantian County, but kept them all in the county government, and ordered Magistrate He and others to use the money for Improving people's livelihood in the county is called taking from the people and using it for the people!
Therefore, Lantian County became the first county in Datang to lay cement roads, and not long after, Lantian County will also become the first county in Datang to receive electricity! At that time, Lantian County will be more attractive to merchants from all over the world, and the Lantian County government will collect more taxes every year. At the same time, the county government will also have more money to improve people's livelihood.
This is a virtuous cycle! If things go on like this, there will be more and more businessmen in Lantian County, and the taxes collected by the Lantian County government every year will also be more and more, and the people's livelihood in Lantian County will be increasingly improved. In a few years, Lantian County may It will become another Chang'an City! Under such circumstances, the old minister thought it was not surprising that the Lantian County government could donate 10,000 yuan to the court! "
As the Minister of Household Affairs of the Tang Dynasty, Xiao Yu naturally had to constantly think about ways to make money and run a business. After less than a year of development, Lantian County has begun to appear impressive, which is naturally worthy of his research and thinking. Just when Li Er asked, he told Li Er everything he knew.
"What a virtuous cycle, taking things from the people and using them for the people!"
When Li Er heard this, his eyes couldn't help but light up, but then his eyes dimmed again. He shook his head and said: "It's a pity that there is only one in Lantian County, and there is only one Marquis of Yong'an! That's all!"
As the king of a country, Li Er knew very well that the example of Lantian County's rapid prosperity was difficult to replicate. First, because there were still too few visionary and courageous officials like Li Zexuan, it was impossible for Li Er to take advantage of these scarce resources in the empire. All officials are sent to each county to take charge of government affairs; secondly, Lantian County's policy of taking from the people and using it for the people is also difficult to replicate, because generally speaking, the taxes collected by each county must be handed over. To the court, it is impossible to "withhold" taxes like the Lantian County government and use them to improve people's livelihood, otherwise the national treasury will be out of money!
That's why Li Er said, "There is only one Lantian County, and there is only one Yong'an Marquis"!
Why did Xiao Yu not understand the hidden meaning of Li Er's words? He couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart.
Li Er was silent for a moment, then suddenly his expression was shocked and he said: "Now that the imperial court has this money, there is no need to worry about the military expenditures to conquer the Turks! Next, Xiao Aiqing, you must make good use of this money and prepare four things before the war begins. The food, fodder and equipment of the 150,000-strong army. Calculating the days, it is likely that winter will be approaching when we attack the grassland. I don’t want to see our soldiers of the Tang Dynasty not die under the enemy’s sword, but freeze to death and starve to death. On the grassland! Do you understand?"
"Old minister, I understand! Your Majesty, please rest assured. Before the army goes out on the expedition, I will do everything possible to prepare the materials needed for the army to go out!"
Xiao Yu looked solemn and said solemnly.
He was originally a good person in managing money, otherwise he would not have "slaughtered" into the position of Minister of Household Affairs. However, before the treasury did not have much money, he was a clever woman who could not make a meal without rice. Now that the treasury has money, he is a "smart woman". "You will be able to give full play to your talents!
"Well! The Yanhuang Chamber of Commerce held a fund-raising meeting this time, and the businessmen who participated in the fund-raising meeting were willing to donate generously to help the court tide over the difficulties. I will issue a decree to commend them~!"
Li Er nodded with satisfaction, then he looked at Xiao Yu and said with a smile: "Aiqing has been running all the way, so she must not have eaten yet? I won't be that evil person, please go back quickly!"
It's okay if he didn't say this. As soon as he said it, Xiao Yu's stomach suddenly growled, which made Xiao Yu's old face turn red. He quickly cupped his hands and said, "Old minister, please retire~!"
He had been busy all afternoon and was indeed hungry.
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"Brother, this is the hidden weapon used by the assassin!"
In a guest room of the posthouse in Taiyuan City, Dugu Feiying took out a wooden box from his arms, and then opened the wooden box. He saw a handkerchief wrapped in a thin needle in the wooden box. He handed the box and needle together. He read Dugu Xin and told him: "Brother, be careful. This needle should be smeared with poison. It will seal your throat when it sees blood!"
"Um!"
Dugu Xin nodded, he reached out to take it, then pinched one end of the fine needle with his handkerchief, took it out of the wooden box, put it in front of his eyes and looked at it carefully. After a moment of silence, Dugu Xin frowned and asked : "None of you have ever fought against that assassin?"
Hearing this, Dugu Feiying suddenly looked ashamed and said: "The assassin's light kung fu is too good, and his overall strength is not weak. Moreover, we were unprepared at the time. By the time we reacted, we were one step behind him, and we couldn't catch up with him at all. We could only Watch him escape!"
Dugu Feiying sighed and did not blame his brother. He asked again: "Do you think this assassin is a Turk or a Central Plains person?"
"Of course they are Turks!"
Lonely Flying Eagle replied subconsciously without thinking.
"How do you know that the assassin must be a Turk? You have never fought against him?"
Dugu Xin glanced at Dugu Feiying indifferently, feeling annoyed.
Dugu Feiying's tone faltered and he paused. He was surprised and said: "Brother, you mean that the assassin is from the Central Plains. How is this possible? Logically speaking, he should be with Zhu Xiesheng. This Zhu Xie Since Sheng is a Turk, then the assassin must also be a Turk!"
Duguxin said in a deep voice: "These are just your wild guesses. The facts require evidence! In my opinion, this assassin is probably a Central Plains man! Look at this needle..."
Having said this, Dugu Xin held the needle in his handkerchief and held it right in front of him and Dugu Feiying. Dugu Feiying quickly took a closer look and listened to Dugu Xin explaining from the side:
"Although this poison needle is as thick as an embroidery needle, it is much longer than the embroidery needle, and there is no pinhole at the end. It is obviously specially made by craftsmen according to the user's requirements. The needle body is glowing with light, and it is obviously quenched. It is extremely poisonous, and it is quenched during forging, otherwise the poison will easily lose its toxicity if it flows on the surface!
But there are no skilled blacksmiths on the grassland, so the assassin wouldn't come all the way from the grassland to the Tang Dynasty to find someone to forge poisonous needles for him, right? A foreigner came to the Central Plains to find a craftsman to forge a poisonous needle. Do you think the craftsman would find it strange and report it to the official? Even if it doesn't happen, I don't think the assassin would dare to take the risk!
And according to what you said, the assassin must be a master. But among the masters on the grassland, I have never heard of anyone who is good at using poison needles. The only explanation is that this assassin is from the Central Plains, the land of the Central Plains. , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it is not surprising at all that there are one or two unknown masters who are good at using poison needles, and this person is probably good at forging, or he has a blacksmith under him who can specially forge poison needles for him! "
After hearing this, Dugu Feiying was shocked and speechless for a long time. After coming back to his senses, he murmured to himself: "Central Plains people? That assassin turned out to be Central Plains people? Things are getting more and more complicated now... "
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