Zhou Shuren looked up and saw the prince looking through the annual tax situation of various places. He turned his head to look at the guards who were still moving the account books. It seemed that the prince could not leave for a while.
However, he was very depressed. This was not the room where he worked, so why should he work in the same room with the prince
It was all because the prince just started to say that he needed someone to explain things to him, so Lord Qiu immediately pushed him out and sighed softly. He didn't want to live in the same room with the prince either. He was afraid that the prince would discover more of his talents and end up hurting himself. Well, he was just that narcissistic.
The prince raised his head and asked, "Why are you sighing, Lord Zhou?"
Zhou Shuren held the teacup and said, "I feel that life is short, so I think I must eat and drink well."
The prince curled his lips, "I don't think so. I still need a healthy body to do more things."
Zhou Shuren, “… .”
This is no longer a hint, it is a clear statement. Bah, who wants to do more? He doesn't want to work like a slave for the royal family. He will be exhausted to death. It's scary to think about it!
The prince picked up a tax book and said, "This is the tax revenue of Huaizhou last year. Sir Zhou, take a look at it too."
When Zhou Shuren heard Huaizhou, he felt particularly familiar with it. Zhao Bo was in Huaizhou, and he and Zhao Bo had a lot of correspondence. He was curious about what the prince saw. To be honest, he had been busy grabbing silver at the Ministry of Revenue, and then releasing the silver, so he really had no time to look at the tax collection in various places.
Zhou Shuren took it and thought about Huaizhou. Huaizhou was a wealthy state among the upper states. He looked through the account books and found that other taxes were fine. What caught people's attention was the salt tax. Zhou Shuren stood up and said, "Your Highness, I will go get the account books for the first half of this year and the salt tax in the past few years."
The account books of the Ministry of Revenue only contain amounts, and the detailed account books of salt tax are all in the Salt Transport Bureau. The Huaizhou tax records various taxes in the entire state, so there are not many records of Huaizhou salt tax, and only a few amounts are mentioned.
Zhou Shuren quickly found out that this was the account book that recorded the amount of salt tax sent to the Ministry of Revenue. Every time the salt tax was collected, it was supervised by the Inspector General of Salt, and the detailed accounts were supervised by someone, so the Ministry of Revenue could only see the amount.
Zhou Shuren flipped through the records and compared them with the two visits to the Ministry of Household Affairs in the first half of this year and last year. He quickly found a problem. The number was interesting. He took out a few books from a few years ago and was speechless.
The prince thought to himself, he discovered it really quickly, he could see the problem directly, that was in the Jianghuai area, his father had planted many spies, he had come into contact with them, so he knew, but Zhou Shuren discovered it just by looking at the numbers. The prince asked, "Did Lord Zhou find anything?"
Zhou Shuren picked up a few books and wanted to put them on the prince's desk, but unfortunately there was no place to put them, so he could only put them on a chair and took out the account book for the first half of this year. "Your Highness, this is the amount of silver that entered the Ministry of Revenue in the first half of this year."
Zhou Shuren picked up the books from previous years and said, "Your Highness, these books show the amounts from the past few years. You can see that the amount each year is not much different. The biggest difference is only a few tens of thousands of taels. This is not right."
The prince was really curious, "What's wrong?"
This account book is very simple. No problems will be easily found when it is sent to the Ministry of Revenue, not to mention that the Ministry of Revenue only records the amounts.
Zhou Shuren pointed at the amount and said, "Your Highness, the court has been enjoying good weather and good harvests in recent years. The people have been resting and recuperating, which means the population has increased and the life expectancy of the elderly has increased. In recent years, children have grown up year by year, so there are more people eating salt. Although I don't know how much the population has increased in recent years, this amount should increase every year, especially in the past two years, it should have increased significantly, instead of the past five or six years when there has been no obvious change."
Salt tax, the most important tax for the imperial court, a change of ten or twenty thousand taels, haha!
The prince took the account book, checked the amount himself, and asked the guards to get the account book that was recorded earlier. Soon, the guards brought it back. The prince looked at them one by one, his face very dark.
Zhou Shuren's mouth twitched. The amount really didn't change much. If he were to cook the books, he would definitely take into account population, natural disasters, environment, etc.!
The prince was angry. What did this mean? This meant that more than a decade ago, there were problems with the taxation of the salt administration. Even though people had been replaced over the years, the problem had not been solved much. His father's efforts seemed a joke. The prince thought of the people around him who had problems, stood up and signaled the guards to put away the account books. "Master Zhou, I want to enter the palace. Please come with me."
Zhou Shuren: "... Yes."
He was tired. The prince was questioning him and he couldn't say nothing. If he didn't say anything, he would seem incompetent. If he said something, he would be taken to the palace again. This was really too difficult. Zhou Shuren gritted his teeth. It was all the Salt Transport Bureau's fault. Why didn't you do the false accounting more carefully
Zhou Shuren greeted Lord Qiu first. Qiu Yan had noticed the movements of the Crown Prince and Zhou Shuren a long time ago. Now that he knew he had to enter the palace, he felt very nervous. He was currently in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, and he didn't want anything to happen to him.
Qiu Yan's forehead was covered with sweat. "Master Zhou, can you tell me if this matter is related to the Ministry of Revenue?"
Zhou Shuren didn't want to scare Qiu Yan. It wasn't easy for Lord Qiu either. In the past few days, Lord Qiu didn't smile much. "It has nothing to do with the Ministry of Revenue."
Qiu Yanchang let out a breath, which scared him to death, "It's okay, it's okay."
On the outskirts of the capital, there were three horse-drawn carriages in the Zhou Mansion. Zhulan and her two daughters-in-law sat in one, and Deng Xiucai and Mingyun and others sat in another. That's right, not only Mingyun came, but Mingteng and Mingrui and others also came. Zhulan couldn't resist the coquetry of the little ones, and finally brought them all out.
The last car was occupied by the old woman and the maid.
Of course, there were many servants following them, and Shen Xing followed on horseback on one side.
Zhulan felt very happy when she left the capital. The view in the suburbs was broad and her mood was different. Li and Zhao were also happy. They seldom went out.
Li sat by the car window and said, "Mom, the crops in the fields are growing so well."
Zhulan took a look and said, "Well, after a few days, my in-laws will send grain to the capital."
Li was happy because she would be able to see her family soon. Her family had been living well these years. Every time she saw a letter from her parents, they told her to be filial to her parents-in-law. The Li family's current status was all due to her husband's family.
Zhao was also happy. She went out less often than her elder sister-in-law. It was rare that her mother-in-law was willing to take her out. The corners of her mouth curled up. She used to think a lot and her life was unhappy, but now she felt very comfortable and her eyes were full of smiles.
They soon arrived at the manor. The servant went ahead and the steward was already waiting. Zhulan got off the carriage and looked at the high wall outside the manor. It was really high. Looking at the area surrounded by the wall, this manor was really not small.
The steward said, "Please come in."
Zhulan entered the gate first. The steward introduced, "This house was built just a few years ago. Not counting the front yard and the living quarters, there are six small courtyards, two pavilions, and two gardens, one is a flower garden and the other is an orchard."
This courtyard is not small. The entire courtyard is nearly the size of two Zhou mansions.
Zhulan took her two daughters-in-law to visit everywhere. The courtyards of the houses were all built very delicately and with the best materials. There were hot spring pools with drainage in each courtyard. Zhulan blinked her eyes. If she didn't buy this house, she would cry. After looking at the orchard, Zhulan had only one word in her mind: buy.