Chu Qing wrote a letter to Hu Hengqiu, first telling him how much silver he could turn over to the Secret Investigation Department this year. This only took up less than a page of paper.

Then the remaining six pages gave Hu Hengqiu a detailed explanation of the income for the month at the end of the year and the approximate income for next year.

Then I reported how much salt I had stored in my salt farm, but I didn’t dare to sell it to Daxuan. I only sold some sporadically to Voss.

Finally, he asked tentatively: Will the army’s farmland be expanded next year? Does the emperor in the northern part of Daxuan have any plans?

At the end of the letter, he added: The emperor’s cotton is good and the people like it.

The letter went through the channel of the Secret Investigation Department, so Hu Hengqiu received the letter three days later.

Hu Hengqiu read the content on the first page of the letter seven or eight times, and happily drank a cup before reading the second page.

Chu Qing’s letter really made me drunk!

At the end, I couldn't drink anymore. This wine... not, this letter!

The emperor's cotton belongs to the emperor! Not from the Secret Intelligence Service!

If there is a salt guide in the Chu Qing Dynasty, then the Secret Investigation Department has a salt guide, that is...

This year's tax rate of 2.5% is 200,000 taels. Who knows how much it will be in the future? What will the emperor think of the Secret Investigation Department? What will he think of Hu Hengqiu?

We can't stand this! People can't be too greedy, otherwise the sky will fall!

If the sky falls, find someone taller to hold it up first! Hu Hengqiu took the letter and entered the palace.

It's late at night, and the palace gate will be closed later.

The emperor was being urged to take a rest by Eunuch Li when he heard the young eunuch reporting that Hu Hengqiu wanted to see the emperor.

"What time is it? His wife also asked him to go out?" the emperor said, "let him come in."

"Your Majesty, I have come to bring you good news!" Hu Hengqiu shouted "excitedly" as he came in.

"Oh? How happy are you?" The emperor said with an expression of "I won't be fooled".

As long as Hu Hengqiu comes here just to ask for money, how can anything good happen?

Especially when announcing good news, as long as he announces good news, he will ask for more money!

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, look, Chu Qing has written a letter. He can pay 200,000 taels of tax this year. You can leave us 40,000 taels. That will be enough for next year's salary (office expenses). We in the Secret Investigation Department will not eat or drink outside.

, no need for other money!”

Hoho! This is not asking for money, but giving money?

Emperor Qingde stood up, walked to the window, and opened the window himself.

"Your Majesty, be careful of the cold!" Eunuch Li hurriedly put on clothes for the Emperor: "It's cold, I just let you through the wind, so there is no need to open the window anymore."

"I want to see if the sun has come out this late at night. Otherwise, what would Hu Aiqing say about giving me money?"

Hu Hengqiu: "..."

Eunuch Li: "..."

Hu Hengqiu had no choice but to approach him thick-skinnedly. This was just the beginning, but the point was not yet revealed!

"Your Majesty, please read this letter. Chu Qing is a very capable person. She has taken good care of your cotton fields. She harvested 40 million kilograms in the first year. She asks you if you want to reclaim some wasteland next year.

."

Hu Hengqiu said while presenting Chu Qing's letter.

The emperor was already half-lying on the couch, closing his eyes and concentrating. When he heard this, he simply said: "Read it."

Hu Hengqiu read them word for word, and even explained some accounts because he was afraid that the emperor would not be able to react.

"Well, not bad." The emperor said softly with his eyes closed, and then said nothing.

Hu Hengqiu waited and said to himself: Don't fall asleep? If you fall asleep, I won't be able to sleep!

But he did not dare to disturb the emperor's rest, so he was in a dilemma whether he should walk away quietly or stay bravely.

Just when he was about to give it up today, the emperor said: "The people like my cotton, I am happy! Is forty thousand taels enough?"

"Enough! That's enough!" Hu Hengqiu quickly bowed and answered! Emma, ​​you're not asleep! If you're not asleep, why didn't you say something earlier!

"Next year I will strictly control my subordinates. If there is no big deal, I estimate that there will be a surplus of 40,000 taels, which can be used in the year after next." Hu Hengqiu added.

The Secret Investigation Division is the department with the smallest expenditure, and of course they also have the smallest number of people.

However, Hu Hengqiu was indeed a hard-working person who did not pretend to serve the public good for his own benefit, so the emperor was relatively assured of him.

The emperor was silent just now. He was not thinking about whether Hu Hengqiu wanted the forty thousand taels to be too much or too little, but he was thinking about the money.

Ordinary merchants pay taxes based on 40% of total sales. The 25% originally set for Chu Qing left her room for development and allowed her to have funds to carry out more projects. Now it seems that the results are not small!

She sent refined salt to the palace, and the royal kitchen said it would be used. It tasted purer than what the palace had used before.

Chuqing currently has more than 3,000 acres of salt fields, and there will be more in the future.

Salt.

Logically speaking, there should be no shortage of salt in Daxuan Kingdom, as half of the southwest border is along the coast.

But the population is small. There are more than 80 million people in such a large country.

There are almost no people living in coastal areas, and most of them are prison villages.

Domestic salt mostly comes from well salt and rock salt. Due to the difficulty of mining, the output is not high, but it is enough for the common people.

Emperor Daxuan adopted the policy of "civilian property, commercial collection, commercial transportation, and commercial sales" in order to allow the people to eat salt. But wherever there is business, there are aristocratic families.

Some aristocratic families have operated, developed, acquired, and annexed many salt farms to form a monopoly, and then obtained salt imports from colluding government officials. As a result, they have integrated production and sales, and even the middlemen are themselves. They control the price of salt and become rich.

Your own pocket.

There is enough salt, but the people cannot afford it.

The sea is full of salt! Qingde sighed and opened his eyes.

Aristocratic family.

Too many resources are controlled by aristocratic families, and the imperial power is unstable.

Now, through Chu Qing, I am controlling cotton. In the future, I seem to be able to control sea salt, and then through the development of population and immigration policies, I can fully utilize and control all wasteland.

Let the economic power gradually gather and concentrate from the national border to the inland, isn't Xinlunzhou a good start? Isn't Chuqing my rake?

I want to give her convenience and let her pass wherever she goes, in my hands!

But how far can such a woman go? It would be great if there was a group of Chuqing!

"Hu Aiqing, tell her to continue to develop cotton fields next year!" the emperor said, "since forty thousand taels of silver is enough for you for a year..."

"Your Majesty, it's not that forty thousand taels is enough for a year's service. I mean that forty thousand taels is enough for a year's service in the Secret Investigation Department!" Hu Hengqiu quickly corrected the emperor's words.

Salary, salary, salary, salary, salary, salary! How can 40,000 taels a year be enough?

"Okay, I know! From now on, the 25% tax of your Secret Investigation Department will be reduced to 50%, and 20% will go into my private treasury!" The emperor made a decision.

The 40,000 taels were actually the 200,000 taels that Chu Qing was about to hand over. One-fifth of the 200,000 taels were to be handed over by the Chu Qing Dynasty. The emperor would get four shares and he would get one share. This was Hu Hengqiu’s idea before he came, and the emperor obviously understood what he meant.

Although it is only a mere 40,000 taels this year, the future is promising.

"Chu Qing, Chu Qing, you are now the emperor's boss under the name of the Secret Investigation Department!" Hu Hengqiu thought to himself.

Chu Qing sneezed hard and loudly.

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Chapter completed!