Seeing his father's proud and arrogant look, Zhu Houzhao also knew that the heat was almost over.

What Zhu Houzhao wanted to talk about was naturally not about conferring an official title to Tang Bohu, because this matter did not require him to put so much effort into it.

Tang Bohu's credit lies there. As long as Dad drinks a bowl of water, there won't be any big problem.

After having the painting he gave to his father, he expected that his father would not say anything else, so Zhu Houzhao was not worried about this matter.

Zhu Houzhao worked so hard to lay out the story, naturally it was for a bigger thing.

So he looked at his father and said, "Father, do you remember what your son once said about the unified grain payment system for officials and gentry?"

After hearing his son's words, Zhu Youtang's expression changed, and then his smile slowly faded, and his expression became serious.

He glared at Zhu Houzhao and said, "I knew there was something wrong with you."

Zhu Youtang knew very well what his son's temperament was.

This is a man who has come here to cheer himself up. Sure enough, something is wrong.

However, Zhu Youtang's heart became heavy when he thought of what his son had mentioned.

Now that the nobles and royal family have all paid taxes, the rest are the gentry.

Originally, Zhu Youtang thought that some ministers would take the initiative to bring it up, but who would have thought that no one mentioned it from the beginning to the end, as if no one knew about it.

There is naturally a reason for pretending to be deaf and dumb. Zhu Youtang doesn't think they didn't expect it. This is just plain pretending to be stupid.

Now that my son has brought this matter up, it is obvious that he is planning to do this.

"Are you ready?" Looking at his son, Zhu Youtang asked with a solemn expression.

Zhu Houzhao nodded. Then he said: "I would like to inform my father. I think the time is ripe. Now that the imperial court has put down King Ning's rebellion and has inspected the fields in the south of the Yangtze River, it is the time when the imperial court has gained momentum. At this time

It’s just the right thing to do.”

If you do it at this time, although there will be some resistance, it will be much smaller.

Zhu Youtang also agreed with his son's statement, so he nodded and said, "Are you confident?"

"My son, I have confidence." Zhu Houzhao said with a firm tone.

Zhu Youtang heard his son's serious tone and couldn't help but asked curiously: "Then what are you going to do?"

As long as this matter is brought up, someone will definitely stand up to oppose it. This is a no-brainer.

So in such a situation, what to do and how to do it is the key.

Zhu Houzhao has actually thought about it for a long time. He has been thinking about this matter for so many years, but he has never had the chance to put it into practice.

In fact, he had already prepared a complete and thorough plan.

Zhu Houzhao said loudly: "The policy formulated by Emperor Taizu was to take care of scholars so that poor scholars in the world could afford to study, so they were given tax-free land."

"But nowadays, land donation has become a trend, and it has become normal for gentry families in various places to hide their land. The imperial government does not pay enough taxes, but they eat a lot of it. This goes against the original intention of Emperor Taizu."

"It's just that once they want to make changes, they will bring out the ancestral system. Therefore, I believe that there should be no clue about this matter and that it cannot violate the original intention of Emperor Taizu."

"My son feels that the tax-free land can be turned into charity money.

Calculate the tax-free money and grain of all fields to a certain extent, and then distribute some money and grain to scholars every year. The money and grain distributed is the same as the output of their tax-free fields. In this way, it does not violate Taizu’s original intention and taxes can be raised."

Having been in the Ming Dynasty for so long, Zhu Houzhao had long understood what was going on here.

There are many things that can be done but cannot be said; there are many things that can be said but cannot be done. This is particularly important.

Because on the surface, it’s not that the gentry didn’t pay taxes, they paid taxes. The reason they didn’t pay taxes was in name only the tax-free land given by Emperor Taizu.

Originally there was a fixed quota, but they developed to the point where they didn't pay taxes as long as they won the lottery; their families didn't have that much land in the first place, but they ended up absorbing a lot of land from homesteaders.

They also hide a lot of land in private, but this kind of thing cannot be talked about. It cannot be brought to the table at all and can only be done in private.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao's change was based on great righteousness and great gifts.

Looking at his son, Zhu Youtang didn't know what to say.

In recent times, his son has become more and more grand in doing things, and he has almost forgotten his son's sinister side. Now he finally brings out this side.

If the court really did this, there could be many reasons.

For example, if the fields are very troublesome, it is very convenient to directly distribute money and grain, and the harvest is guaranteed due to droughts and floods. Scholars will not go bankrupt due to natural disasters, and tax accounting is also simpler and more convenient.

There are many, many reasons. There are no reasons to oppose it. What can you say?

Are you saying that we actually got more secretly, so we don’t want to put the account on the table?

Is this still shameless?

This can be done in private, but cannot be discussed on the table.

If you say that this goes against the ancestral system of Emperor Taizong, then it is actually very simple. Emperor Taizong wanted to enable poor scholars to afford reading, but when he founded the country, there was no money; now that he has money, he will use the current

ways to subsidize.

And the name of Enyangqian is really nice. You are favored by the emperor, which will only make more people unable to do bad things as a matter of course. As the saying goes, the mouth of eating people is short, and the hands of taking people are short, you have to

If you do something bad, who can you blame?

This approach can not only block their mouths, but also obtain practical benefits.

If we have to talk about the ancestral system, the nobles of the imperial court, the vassal princes from all over the country, and even the emperor's palace have all begun to pay taxes. The ancestral system also said that they don't have to pay taxes. Do they have to pay their taxes?

no?

In this way, many people's mouths can be blocked, making them feel miserable and unable to speak out.

Glancing at his son, Zhu Youtang smiled to himself.

Originally, he had some worries in his heart, fearing that his son would do something inappropriate. Now it seems that he was worrying about it in vain.

In terms of strategy and deception, even if you flatter yourself, you can't compare to your son.

Zhu Youtang looked at Zhu Houzhao and said expressionlessly: "I'll leave this matter to you, as long as you don't make too much trouble."

"Father, don't worry, there will be no trouble." Zhu Houzhao bowed and said.

"Okay, if you have nothing to do, just go back." Zhu Youtang looked at Zhu Houzhao and waved his hand. He didn't want to talk to his son anymore now.

"My son, please retire." Zhu Houzhao quickly bowed and said.

Looking at his son's leaving figure, Zhu Youtang smiled mockingly to himself, then turned around and walked towards the queen.

I was stimulated by my son, and I need to talk to the queen. In addition, the painting my son sent me is really good, and I can show it to the queen.

After returning to Xianyang Palace, Zhu Houzhao breathed a sigh of relief.

I finally got the approval of this matter from my father, and all that was left was to deal with it in detail.

Zhu Houzhao was not worried at all about the specific handling of this matter. No one could disobey his orders and will.

Zhu Houzhao glanced at Liu Jin beside him, and then said: "Tomorrow you will send someone to deliver the letter, and ask Qi You, the Minister of Household Affairs, to come over after the morning meeting. I have something to tell him."

"Yes, Your Highness, I have taken note of it." Liu Jin quickly agreed.

Zhu Houzhao felt that he could not do this matter himself, but had to find someone to bring it up.

As for who to look for, Zhu Houzhao had already arranged it. He had placed many people in the court over the years, so there was no problem in doing this.

This matter was brought up by the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, which is as it should be. There is no need to learn anything about everyone paying taxes together. It is because it is very complicated and troublesome for the Ministry of Revenue to collect taxes, so we changed it to directly follow the rules of paying salaries to officials.

The form is to distribute money and food to the scholars, and he does not need to say anything else.

As long as he brings it up and Zhu Houzhao's other people write a memorial to support it, the matter will be settled.

As for whether there would be any objections or what reasons there were for the objections, these were not important at all, and Zhu Houzhao did not take them to heart.

After all, there is no need for local officials to collect taxes. Now it is all handled by the tax department. This is enough.

As long as someone is doing things for him, nothing else matters. This is what Zhu Houzhao has learned over the years.

The biggest fear of being an emperor is that no one will do anything for you, no matter whether the court officials are loyal or treacherous.

Once there is no one to help you, your role as emperor will be useless.

As long as someone is willing to do something for you and someone goes to do it for you, it is useless for others to object. Because they will get the thing done, and those who object can only watch on the side and have no choice.

Unless they can use strong means to oppose, usually the emperor will use stronger means to suppress it. Unless the emperor has no military power, then the emperor is basically the same as a puppet.

Zhu Houzhao now holds military power in his hands and has the support of ministers in the court, so he does not have to worry about this situation happening at all.

After seeing Liu Jin agree, Zhu Houzhao didn't say anything further.

It was getting late, so he had to go to rest early. The princess was still waiting for him.

I have to hurry up now, after all, I want to have a baby as soon as possible.

Early the next morning, after the morning court had dispersed, the ministers walked out in twos and threes.

Qi You, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, saw Liu Jin at a glance and saw that he was looking at him with a smile, so he hurried over.

"Eunuch Liu." Qi You smiled and cupped his hand to Liu Jin.

Liu Jin returned the greeting with a smile, and then said: "Master Qi, His Highness the Crown Prince has summoned you."

Hearing Liu Jin's words, Qi You's face suddenly became serious.
To be continued...