At the gate of Zhaoqing City, a ninth-level official in Confucian official robes looked at a group of illiterate people behind him. While cursing in his mind the superior who sent him to the city gate to read out the morning newspaper, he took out
He picked up the tea cup and took a long sip of strong tea. After finishing the drink, he wiped the sweat on his forehead with a handkerchief.
Damn, on this hot day, he was sent to the city gate to read the morning newspaper, and the reading lasted for a whole day, and lasted for three days. He felt bad all over.
But there is no way, who allows himself to be just the lowest ninth-grade official. If he can't do this kind of hard work, is it possible that he still wants his superiors to do it?
Moreover, he also knew that people like him reading out the morning report in crowded places today were not worthy of him. In fact, there were hundreds of them.
At this time, some people outside were shouting: "Sir, please tell me more about the tax exemption for reclaiming wasteland. I was late just now and didn't hear everything!"
“Is reclaiming wasteland really tax-free?”
"What? There is such a good thing?"
Tax-free, this is a word that is rarely used many times!
Paying taxes in the Tang Dynasty was not only a matter of course, but also something that had to be done. Otherwise, your family would be ruined!
And since the Tang Dynasty took Zhaoqing City, all the ordinary people have heard is how hateful those tax officials are. They think about collecting taxes and tax exemptions every day? Except for the western part of Guangdong that was hit by a typhoon last month.
Except, I really haven’t done it at other times.
But this time, in order to increase the influence of the court newspaper, the Tang Dynasty made the long-planned tax exemption for reclaimed wasteland public in the court newspaper. Of course, it had been approved by Li Xuan before it was made public, and it had been
It has been drafted and implemented in various places, and many well-informed people are already aware of it.
However, it is actually very difficult for ordinary people to know about these policies of the imperial court. Not to mention these ordinary people who are illiterate, even the scholars and gentry who don't care about the facts still don't know about it.
Therefore, although there is a lot of content in this morning's newspaper, there is actually only one thing that attracts the attention of the general public, especially farmers, and that is tax exemption for reclaiming wasteland!
Immediately, after moistening his mouth and feeling that his throat had recovered a little, the ninth-grade official smiled slightly and said, "No problem!"
Although he was raising his middle finger in his mind and scolding his boss for assigning him such a hard job, he knew that although it was painful, it must not be taken lightly. Nowadays, every official knows that the imperial court attaches great importance to the imperial newspaper.
Before letting him read out the court newspaper, he was repeatedly told to pay attention to his image, because at that time, he and the court newspaper together represented the face of the court.
You must be kind to the people, but you must not be groveling!
If you lose the face of the court, the court will make you lose your official title!
After he said no problem, the crowd below immediately became quiet. People these days have great respect and even awe for scholars, not to mention that the person in front of him is a serious court official, and there are many people around him.
There are also a few patrol policemen wearing black uniforms to maintain order.
After everyone calmed down, the ninth-rank official picked up the newspaper in his hand, coughed lightly, and then read it out loud!
Because everyone wanted to hear about the tax exemption for reclaiming wasteland, he ignored the others and focused on reading the relevant report on tax exemption for reclaiming wasteland first!
First of all, it is a formal official document, summoned by the Emperor of Heaven... The content is naturally impossible to say that Li Xuan feels that the current self-production rate of grain in Guangdong and Guangxi is too low, and the agricultural tax is too low, but that Li Xuan is deeply aware of the difficulties in people's lives, and in order to increase
The income of the people was decided immediately. From now on, all newly opened farmland will be exempted from agricultural tax for the first three years, and from three years to the eighth year, half tax will be imposed.
But it is a pity that these people did not understand the text of these gorgeous imperial edicts at all, so they did not even speak after listening, but continued to remain quiet and continued to listen.
At this time, officials from the ninth rank also began to interpret it. When interpreting, the words used were naturally spoken, not the written language in the court newspaper.
And he said in an extremely affirmative tone: "The Holy Emperor has decreed that as long as it is newly reclaimed farmland, it can enjoy tax exemption for three years and half tax from the fourth to eighth years.
"Then can we also enjoy discounts on the fields we cleared last month?"
"Yes, as long as it is newly reclaimed farmland this year, as long as it is declared, you can enjoy this discount!"
"Then who should we go to to declare? Do we have to go to the county government office?"
"You just need to declare it to the tax official in your village!"
“Will I have to pay taxes after eight years?”
There was no need for the official to answer this. Someone else just jumped in and said, "It's no need to ask. Your Excellency just said that the first three years are tax-free, and the fourth to eighth years are half-tax. After eight years, you will naturally have to pay taxes!"
"Moreover, the tax has been exempted and exempted for eight years. What else do you want? Apart from me, the Holy Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, who else is so generous?"
"Yes, the Holy Emperor is a good man!"
"That's not true. I heard my eldest nephew say that our Holy Emperor is a Holy King through the ages. That's good!"
Listening to these ignorant people talking about the Holy Emperor and the Eternal Holy King, Geng Youhua, who was wearing a brocade robe among the crowd, couldn't help but make Ruth sneer!
As for the Holy Emperor and the Eternal Saint King, these ignorant people have no idea that the Pseudo-Tang Emperor was just a bandit leader before, and they don’t know what kind of bad luck he had to win the world in the three provinces.
However, although the pseudo-Tang emperor came from a humble background, this policy was actually a good one. It was tax-free for the first three years and half-tax for the next five years. In this case, his family could organize manpower to open up wasteland.
Nowadays, agricultural taxes are not light. With this tax discount, it would be worthwhile to organize manpower to open up wasteland.
I'll have to discuss it with my father later and come up with a charter for reclaiming wasteland!
After Geng Youhua pondered for a moment, he saw a sign hanging in front of him: "Da Tang Dynasty Newspaper, ten cents per copy!"
This price is naturally relatively expensive for ordinary people, but for Geng Youhua, who owns hundreds of acres of land and several shops, it is nothing. After bowing his head and saying a few words to a servant next to him, the person next to him
The servant just squeezed into the crowd, and soon came out with a stack of paper in his hand.
Immediately, Geng Youhua picked it up and looked at it, but as soon as he picked it up, his hands were stained with black ink, and the paper was very cheap. He usually didn't bother to use this paper when practicing calligraphy.
However, he could also guess why such cheap paper and ink were used, and he only bought ten cents a copy. The quality of the paper and ink must be good.
Although the imperial newspapers of the Tang Dynasty were printed on a large scale using wood movable type printing, because the printing quantity was so huge that each imperial newspaper was flat and its cost was reduced, but with the costs of transportation, manuscripts, etc., the overall unit
The cost is still high, and the selling price is not even enough to cover the cost.
Holding the imperial court in hand, he was not in a hurry to look at it. Instead, after entering the city, he found a teahouse, ordered a pot of tea and some snacks, and then slowly started to look at it.
When he was reading, he read the same book as usual, reading from beginning to end, flipping down page after page. When he saw the headline on the cover, which reported Li Xuan's inspection of the arsenal, he smiled sarcastically: Hypocrisy!
He didn't believe that a dignified emperor would actually go to the factory to chat with the dirty workers. Even if Li Xuan wanted to do this, the ministers below would try their best to stop it. It would be disrespectful to the emperor.
, but it is a huge faux pas.
He guessed that it would be good for the workers in the factory to take a look at the fake emperor Li Xuan from a distance. At most, the fake emperor Li Xuan nodded towards the crowd, waved his hand or something.
The emperors these days, whether they are from the Ming Dynasty or the Tang Dynasty, are called the Son of Heaven, and they all have the power of kingship granted by heaven!
In terms of people's concepts and even legal principles, the Emperor is so superior that he cannot even be regarded as a person, but as a living god!
So he didn't believe it when the pseudo-emperor Li Xuan visited ordinary workers cordially. No, he soon found out from between the lines that the pseudo-emperor Li Xuan only visited the chief engineers of several branches of their Zhaoqing Arsenal.
.
The chief engineer is a worker. Just kidding, they all have official status, not ordinary workers!
So after briefly reading the cover story, I quickly skimmed over it and then read the subsequent articles. The second article was about the Army, reporting on a combat case of the Army on the Huguang front line!
Although in his opinion, the article was very exaggerated, exaggerating the army of the Tang Dynasty and reducing the Puppet Ming Army to scum, but he read it carefully and did not show any sarcasm.
The look on his face was because he knew that although what was said in the newspaper was exaggerated, the reality was even more exaggerated than what was stated in the newspaper!
He had witnessed the Battle of Guangzhou with his own eyes. Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers were completely defeated by the general offensive launched by the puppet Tang rebel army. Anyone who dared to underestimate the Tang Army would have been defeated and died!
You can laugh at the low background of the puppet emperor Li Xuan and ridicule the messy policies of the Tang Dynasty, but you cannot belittle or even slander the Army of the Tang Dynasty, because even the harshest people have to admit: The Army of the Tang Dynasty is terrible
Really an elite division!
And this article is not talking about a large-scale battle, just a small battle. The participating troops were a musketry team. After being ambushed by thousands of people from Huguang, this team did not stand still and wait for reinforcements.
Instead of asking for support, he directly launched an active charge against an enemy that was ten times his size!
When he saw this, Geng Youhua couldn't help but look cautious, and then looked down. He was now eager to know whether this team of musketeers could fight their way out of the ambush of thousands of Ming troops.