When they arrived at the Yangxin Hall, they saw Lin Jinxiao sitting next to the book pavilion, looking thoughtfully at the messy pile of papers in front of him. Chu Nanzhi slowly stepped forward, and after just a brief glance, he already guessed
He was worried about Yin and Ji's family affairs.
"Although the whole country has implemented land equalization policies, many wealthy gentry have no choice but to follow the government in reducing rents in order to compete with the government's leased land. However, this is still profitable, especially the clan and royal family who take advantage of the tax exemption.
The preferential treatment policy continues to occupy the people's land. Even without Fang Qingyue's impeachment, His Majesty will still have to deal with this chaos."
Chu Nanzhi said straight to the point: "Since they like to enclose land, Your Majesty might as well turn a blind eye. In the future, he canceled the tax exemption policy for the children of the clan, and then changed the fiefdom and food fief to salary and silver.
Mainly, it is selected according to grade and distributed monthly. As for the public land awarded to clan officials, strict regulations must be made. It must be registered and verified every year. For fields not in the book, taxes must be paid according to the amount of land. The tax increases in a step-by-step manner.
, the more land you own, the taxes you pay will gradually increase."
According to the way of collecting personal income tax in his world, Chu Nanzhi explained his idea in detail. When Lin Jinxiao heard it, he immediately showed joy: "This is a good method that has never been done before or since. I want to take a look."
If this continues, what else can they do with so much land in their hands?"
After saying this, he immediately asked Hai Da'a to start drafting the edict.
According to the new regulations drafted by Chu Nanzhi, the maximum annual salary for the princes and princesses of the imperial court is ten thousand taels of silver and ten thousand hu of rice, and the total number of servants in the palace guards shall not exceed two hundred;
The first-class duke will receive a salary of 5,000 taels of silver and 5,000 hu of rice, and a total of forty guard slaves. The rest of the officials will be paid accordingly. As for the existing land in the hands of the clan lords, they will pay taxes according to a step-by-step formula.
, the highest can reach 50%.
In this way, there is no need to worry that wealthy noble families will continue to occupy their land.
However, within a few days of the promulgation of the edict, it aroused opposition from many prominent families.
At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, when the palace was busy preparing for the wedding of the two newly-elected eldest princesses to Chu Nanxiang, almost all the Ji family members arrived at Jinling City and gathered in the banquet hall of the Ji Mansion.
"The emperor is really ungrateful. He crossed the river and demolished the bridge without leaving us a way out. Under the new policy, everyone is in danger. If this continues, everyone in the Ji family will have to follow the northwest wind."
In front of the clan members, Ji Muzhuo, the leader of the second room, took the lead in angrily reprimanding.
"That's right, eldest brother, I still have to rely on you to enter the palace and talk to my ancestors. Now that His Majesty has ascended to the throne, he seems to have forgotten our clan members and actually started to believe in a bunch of outsiders."
The old lady in the second room, Yu Wenshi, glanced at the old patriarch Ji Muzhou and agreed.
Ji Muzhou silently glanced at his son Ji Huaishu, grandson Ji Cen'an, Lin Jinshu and his wife who were sitting under him, but did not answer immediately.
"His Majesty betrothed the Queen's biological sister to the Yin family, and betrothed his adoptive father's daughter, Princess Jinyun, to Zhang Yu, a nouveau riche, but he gave Lin Ting, the little-known head of the Lin clan in Luyanggang, who was a descendant of the unpopular clan,
Zhen's daughter was given to us, Rong Heng, because our ancestors took pity on our Ji family and reluctantly gave her this marriage. The eldest princess is obviously just trying to make ends meet with our Ji family. Now many people are making fun of our Ji family."
Yu Wenshi's eloquent venting immediately aroused Lin Jinshu's dissatisfaction:
"The second uncle is not afraid of chilling the hearts of the emperor's grandmother and the emperor's brother. Jinhui has always been the person the queen cares about the most, and the emperor's brother has always regarded her as his own sister. In terms of closeness, what does Jinhui say?
They are both the emperor's brother and the people who are dear to the emperor's wife. At home, even Aunt Zhou and her old uncle dare not take charge of her marriage. Now that she is willing to marry into the Ji family, why should my second uncle be dissatisfied?"
Ji Rongheng was grateful from the bottom of his heart for the marriage granted by his ancestors and the emperor.
He had offended the emperor and the empress before. Not only did they not care about it, they also entrusted him with the important task of stationing in the three states of Qinghe. Now they even granted him a marriage. While grateful, they also took over Lin Jinshu's words and said:
"Grandpa, what grandma said today is really treasonous. My grandson is very satisfied with this marriage. Stop being picky. Our country has gone through many hardships and it is indeed time to reform the old system. Grandpa, grandma.
Living in the capital, I don’t know what’s going on outside. My grandson has seen a lot of people’s sufferings these days in Qingyang City. Most of the land in the three states of Qinghe is in the hands of aristocratic families. Displacement of people can be seen everywhere. As a minister, you should be your majesty.
Share your worries and work for the benefit of the people, and don't always worry about your own selfish interests."
After a pause, he said in a deep and alert tone: "Your Majesty has a saying that my grandson agrees with very much, which is to put the country before the family. If there is no court, our Ji family will not be able to survive no matter how powerful it is."
"Well, I really like what Rong Heng said."
Ji Muzhou stroked his beard and nodded heavily: "Since Rong Heng himself is willing to accept this marriage, and the ancestors have also granted the marriage, let's not find fault with each other."
After a long silence, his eyes turned solemn and he looked at Lin Jinshu again: "Jin Shu, it's not that my grandfather intentionally disobeyed the holy will. The Ji family's property has been accumulated by ancestors for generations, and now His Majesty has come to do this.
I am afraid that not only our Ji family, but also other major families will not be able to accept this edict willingly."
"Speaking of this matter, my granddaughter-in-law would like to ask everyone here."
Lin Jinshu blinked and gradually revealed a sinister look: "My granddaughter-in-law and her husband have been fighting abroad these years, and the whole house was managed by my father-in-law and aunt when they were still alive. My grandson-daughter-in-law would like to ask, are there any people in our Ji family?"
Are people following the example of the Tang family who invaded people's fields and used power for personal gain?"
Slowly standing up, she glanced at everyone in the hall with sharp eyes: "Speaking of the inspection of Tang and Yang parties this time, it is said that the Tang family alone has more than 100,000 yuan of land, and the total number of accounts that can be inspected
That's all. I don't believe that the rumors among the people are all groundless.
Furthermore, my granddaughter-in-law checked the Ji family's accounts a few days ago and found that the salary amount distributed to various Zhuangzi slaves every year alone amounted to more than 200,000 taels. My grandson's daughter-in-law was about to ask how many mouths our Ji family has raised.
, are these slaves or a private army?"
Ji Cen'an couldn't help but frowned: "My father and my two grandfathers should get rid of this matter as soon as possible. His Majesty's new policy and new regulations clearly stipulate that even the Prince's Palace only has more than 200 guard slaves.
Our Ji family is just a count's family, even if we have the kindness of the princess and the eldest princess, we would not dare to do such a disobedient thing."
When mentioning this matter, Ji Muzhuo became even more angry: "Let's not mention Huaishu for now, but the juniors like Jin Shu, Cen An and Rong Heng have made outstanding contributions in helping Your Majesty quell the chaos this time. But I heard that our Ji family has made great contributions this time.
It is not included in the list of awards, which is really chilling. Because of Yan Jun’s affairs, even Huai Li’s An Guogong title can no longer be elevated to the title. This simply means that the Ji family no longer takes it seriously."
Hearing this, Ji Wanying, who had always been indifferent, couldn't help crying hysterically: "It's all the granddaughter and mother who have brought trouble to the Ji family, but the granddaughter knows in her heart that the emperor's grandmother and brother must remember the good things of our Ji family.
, it’s just because the empress has always been worried about her granddaughter’s sins, so she doesn’t want to see the emperor’s brother reward our Ji family. Now only the granddaughter’s death can save the Ji family.”