"Replying to Your Majesty, I have just sorted out the tax revenue of various provinces, states and counties in the Tang Dynasty a few days ago. However, I have not confirmed all the details. Therefore, after going to court today, I did not enter the palace to report to Your Majesty. Detailed information. Therefore, my colleagues today, if you hear the figures or the distribution of taxes, please don’t take them all seriously for the time being. They need to be recalculated before they can be used as tax documents for the first half of this year. "Heng Yanfan stood up, took out a document from his sleeve pocket, opened it, and then began to slowly report to the dozen or so people present.
Just like the Ministry of Civil Affairs just now, the taxes of the Tang Dynasty, after excluding the tax collection in previous years, were compared one by one by the Imperial College, the Hongwen Hall, the Chongwen Hall, and the wealthy dignitaries, courtiers, and relatives who served in the local area. tax comparison.
Naturally, the government affairs of the Ministry of Household Affairs have always been the heaviest among the six ministries. The two items of money and food are government affairs that need to be detailed, regularized and without any mistakes. It is already laborious enough for Heng Yanfan to take on this important task.
Therefore, the comparison of the Ministry of Household Affairs, when it comes to the taxation at the county and state levels headed by the Imperial College, etc., especially the taxation in poor areas, naturally cannot be compared with the taxation recommended or passed by wealthy dignitaries, courtiers, relatives, etc. After the imperial examination, with strong personal connections, the amount of taxes paid in wealthy states and counties was compared.
In the annual increase and decrease in tax revenue, the state and county taxes held by officials who were students of the Imperial Academy are, at least on paper, no different from the state and county taxes held by the wealthy families and court clan members. of comparability.
Among the state and county taxes held by officials from the Imperial College, even 30% did not increase but decreased. Not only that, the granary of the Ministry of Revenue actually increased its efforts to allocate official grain to them, so that the county could continue. It will not happen that the people have nothing to eat.
Therefore, such political achievements cannot be compared in the assessment of Dao, Prefecture, and Supervisory Censors. He was not even dismissed from his official position, which was already extremely merciful.
Officials who came from wealthy families and relatives in the court were often among the best in assessments and received rave reviews. The people lived and worked in peace and contentment. They were also deeply loved by the people and became the local Qingtian lords.
"Then the data compared like this is credible or not?" Li Hong held down Shangguan Wan'er's hand that continued to record, patted it gently and asked.
"Back to Your Majesty, this is the first time that the Ministry of Household Affairs has classified the data in such detail. I cannot guarantee that there are no gaps in it. However, I believe that from the perspective of large-scale data, these figures are extremely credible. And since Since I took charge of the Household Department, there has never been a big mistake in this aspect. The current figures are absolutely no problem as a reference, and even if I double-check it, I'm afraid it won't be too big. "The entry and exit." Heng Yanfan stood and answered Li Hongdao.
Then looking at some colleagues who were a little confused, Heng Yanfan explained: "The Ministry of Household Affairs deals with coordination, calculations, and numbers, so when records are entered into the register, they often need to be verified several times. I will report it to Your Majesty today. , as well as the figures of colleagues, the Ministry of Revenue has only passed it twice, which is not up to standard, so I ask for your understanding. "
Li Hong nodded, let go of Shangguan Wan'er's hand, glanced at Li Lingyue who was still busy writing, sighed and said: "In this way, at least one conclusion can be drawn from the numbers. There are wealthy dignitaries, courtiers and relatives. Officials with backgrounds have been just leaning against big trees to enjoy the shade over the years. After all, those who are big tax collectors are still much higher than those who are officials from the Imperial College and poor families. "
"Nearly 40% of taxes for poor scholars and officials in the Imperial College are often reduced by half or even completely. Does the Ministry of Household Affairs have anything to say? Or the Ministry of Works? Is there anything you want to say?" Li Hong let out a long sigh. , these figures are no different from what he imagined, and they are also consistent with the local scenes of barren states and counties presented by the Yushitai.
Of course, the premise is that if the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs can provide a clear government project of money, food, commodities, water conservancy renovation, and wasteland reclamation, then we can accurately judge whether the Imperial College and the poor scholars The representatives of the officials have not neglected their duties. Compared with the wealthy nobles or the courtiers and clansmen, they are not far behind them like the annual assessment of the officials.
As the two ministers of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Household Affairs spoke out in unison, they proved with facts that the scholars from poor families and the Imperial College did not neglect their duties, but could not meet the assessment standards of the Ministry of Personnel because of limited conditions.
Even in the documents issued by the Ministry of Industry, officials from poor families who seemed to have neglected their duties, or officials from the Imperial College, played a major role in building water conservancy, roads, and reclaiming wasteland.
Although the taxes from the court have been reduced, the livelihood of the local people has been improved. Even some poor counties that originally needed food supplies from the court all year round can now achieve self-sufficiency. The premise is of course that the taxes from the court cannot be counted, or Taxes are halved.
And this is also the current policy of the imperial court towards barren counties. It does not give the same amount of taxes or pressure as it does to rich counties. As a result, the magistrates of these barren counties often fail due to various reasons in the assessment of the Ministry of Officials. This phenomenon hindered them, but it also brought benefits to the people, and they were grateful to the court.
The Ministry of Rites did not have much say in the meeting hall of Jingzhao Mansion, so all the Minister of Personnel had to do during the whole process was to listen, listen, and listen again.
The Minister of Punishment also summarized the situation of refugees in Dao, prefecture, and county in recent years, and even made statistics on how many illegal things happened in Dao, prefecture, and government every year.
One conclusion drawn from this statistics is that the probability of illegal behavior by wealthy dignitaries, courtiers and relatives is 70% higher than that of poor families and common people.
Especially in wealthy states, counties and other places, you can always see the shadow of wealthy dignitaries or courtiers and relatives in illegal affairs and life-threatening cases. However, in most of these cases, the causes are... Restaurants, boats and other entertainment venues.
In each governorate, due to the relationship between the governor and the garrison, compared with other states and counties, large-scale crimes will occur due to public security. However, these criminal cases are nothing more than herds fighting for pasture or cattle. These livelihood disputes arise over the number of sheep.
Even if there is a conflict over women, due to different customs and habits, this matter cannot be compared with the Han people in the Central Plains of China, who always respect etiquette.
Whether it was Su Gui, his son, or the other three people, they were sweating coldly at this moment. His Majesty used a set of data that could not lie to them to completely explain to them the impact of the Imperial College and other universities on the university. The importance of Tang.
Especially when it comes to the people's livelihood in the world, the officials who came out of the Imperial College and other academies are completely and sincerely seeking the welfare of the people of the world, while the officials who are taught by the Five Surnames and Seven Hopes or are taught by famous people all over the world are just playing the game. He used his words to talk about the general trend of the world, and used his words to criticize the inaction of the court, the government, and the Imperial College, and his misguided disciples.
"A large amount of money comes and goes unaccounted for in Taiyi City every year, Bai Chun, how do you explain this?" Li Hong glanced at the indifferent Bai Chun behind him, and then looked at Heng Yanfan, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and asked .
"Your Majesty, there was a drought in many places in the Tang Dynasty last year. The imperial court opened warehouses to release grain. However, in some places, even using hot air balloons to transport grain was of no avail. That's why King Li Zhe of England conducted another risky experiment." Heng Yanfan, Minister of Household Affairs, said. Before Bai Chun spoke, he suddenly stood up and said.
Only this time, the expressions on the faces of everyone present became solemn. Most people remember what happened last year, because drought not only happened around Chang'an, but more importantly, the disaster was serious. But the place is nearly a thousand miles away from several large granaries such as Chang'an and Luoyang.
The road to these places is as difficult as the road from Guanzhong to Jiannan Road. King Li Zhe's hot air balloon, carrying thousands of kilograms of food, was unable to climb the endless mountains. In the end, he had to It was distressing to see the food float away and be scattered among the mountains, wasted in vain.
The government's grain cannot be supplied to places where the drought is severe, so the government naturally needs to pay to buy it from large households, or give the people money to buy grain. It is precisely because of this that in the states and counties where the drought is the most serious, wealthy dignitaries or Wealthy people started to engage in high-price business. The price of a bucket of grain increased several times in three days, but the market was still bullish.
It is precisely because of this that Taiyi City and the Royal Bank had to start buying food in person to relieve the disaster. This also enabled many large households to make enough money in less than two months that it would take them nearly three years to make. The silver coins arrived.
"There are so many famous people in the world who sit and talk, talk and talk, and always talk about the well-being of the people of the world and the country. But once the Tang Dynasty really needs them and needs them to do something real and practical for the people, Instead, they became lowly merchants who began to raise prices and exploit people's hard-earned money. Fortunately, during last year's drought, at least every family's land was saved and was not mortgaged due to natural disasters. Others, the chance of their land being annexed by others." Li Hong sighed, the drought that happened last year was the most difficult situation he had ever seen in the Tang Dynasty.
Even at that time, there were many ministers in the court admonishing the world that they should punish themselves. Even the father and mother, two couples who had gone through many difficulties and dangers, would often blame themselves. Recruited to Xingqing Palace, he implicitly suggested to himself that he should issue an imperial edict to appease the people.
(End of chapter)