After Zhang Zhi finished reprimanding Liu Yu, he raised his head and cupped his hands to the emperor and said: "Long live, I also ask the emperor to take back the criminal silver and increase taxes. If not, the world is not far away."
The emperor heard Zhang Zhi's words becoming more and more outrageous, and he couldn't bear it anymore.
"Come here, capture this traitor and throw him into a heavenly prison. I will show him whether the world will perish if I collect this tax."
As soon as the emperor finished giving his orders, several golden-armored warriors broke in outside the palace and dragged Zhang Zhi out without explanation.
Xie Xiang, the deputy censor on the left, saw this scene and wanted to step forward to admonish him, but at this time, Jia Ke stood there and shook his head gently.
Xie Xiang, the deputy censor on the left, saw Jia Ke's gesture and immediately understood.
Zhang Zhi pleads for the people, complains about the injustice of the world, and is imprisoned in the heavenly prison, which just highlights the emperor's mediocrity. Isn't this exactly what Jia Ke wants.
So Xie Xiang, the left deputy censor, silently retreated to his class, and when the other ministers saw this situation, they also quickly retreated to their classes.
The emperor standing above felt satisfied when he saw that all the ministers who had been admonishing him confidently just now retreated in despair.
"There's no need to talk about this matter anymore. It's been finalized that next year's taxes will be increased by one layer on top of the original ones. You just have to act accordingly."
When the ministers below saw the emperor's momentum, no one dared to dissuade him, so they reached a consensus.
When Jia Ke saw that the emperor had reached an agreement with the ministers to collect only 10% more tax next year, he was a little unhappy and wanted to cause some trouble to the emperor.
Jia Ke stood up and said to the emperor: "Long live my Lord, if we collect an extra layer of tax next year, it will be more difficult for the people. So I ask your majesty to waive the tax next year, so that the people can have some breathing space."
After hearing what Jia Ke said, all the ministers immediately focused their attention on the emperor. This matter was indeed related to the emperor's vital interests.
In ancient times, taxes and taxes were two different concepts. Taxes were land taxes, salt taxes, tea taxes and other taxes that people paid to the state. These were the country's main income.
When the tax first began, it was a kind of money that ancient monarchs collected from their subjects irregularly for military wars. But later it gradually evolved into a poll tax, also called Ding Fu.
When this dynasty was founded, Emperor Taizu stipulated that taxes should be returned to the state and be endowed with the royal family.
The annual tax was also a large amount, and the money was used for the emperor's expenses and the salaries of various princes.
This was also the foresight of Emperor Taizu, so that the court would not have to bear the salary and daily necessities of the royal family.
This is also the lesson that Emperor Taizu learned from the previous dynasty. You must know that in the previous dynasty, the country's annual tax revenue may not be enough to pay the salaries of these royal family members.
So in the end, the imperial court had neither money to provide disaster relief nor to suppress the rebellion, and finally it was overthrown.
Emperor Taizu learned this lesson and collected taxes. The money was not under the management of the imperial court or the Ministry of Household Affairs, but was used exclusively for the royal family's revenue and expenditure.
As the population grows, this amount of money is not a small amount. The Ding tax is a heavy burden on farmers, so landless farmers are often forced to flee in order to refuse to pay Ding Yin. This kind of tax is insufficient due to people fleeing.
This situation has existed since Taizu of this dynasty, and these people are often absorbed by wealthy families. This has also become a way for local wealthy families to absorb the population.
Now Jia Ke proposes to the emperor to reduce taxes. It will have no impact on the court's tax revenue, but it will have a huge impact on the royal family's income. However, if the collection of Ding taxes is reduced, the increase in land taxes for the people will also be
Within the range that can be tolerated.
After listening to Jia Ke's words, the emperor became a little embarrassed. The collection of Ding Fu related to a large part of the royal family's income, which amounted to several million taels every year.
In the past hundred years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the royal family has multiplied a lot, and the money may not be enough to pay these people.
Every year, the emperor has to make up some money from other places to maintain the expenses of these royal personnel.
After Jia Ke made the suggestion, he returned to the class. He wanted to see if the emperor could be so cruel.
Little did he know that this emperor was also cruel. He was not only cruel to others, but also to himself.
The emperor closed his eyes and thought for a while. When he opened his eyes, his face was serious and he seemed to have made up his mind.
"Jia Aiqing, this is a good suggestion. Don't talk about Ding Fu. I will suffer alone, but I can relieve the troubles of the people all over the world. Why not do it. Hereby decree, from today onwards all Ding Fu will be levied in half."
Xia Shouzhong, who was standing aside, was shocked when he heard the emperor say this, "Long live my lord, you have to think carefully. How will the people in the palace survive this time?"
Xia Shouzhong was reminding the emperor how you should support the maids, eunuchs, queens, concubines, and the emperor, empress and empress you raise in the palace.
The emperor also felt a little embarrassed when he heard this. Although the emperor still had many farms, these were somewhat insufficient for the royal family's annual expenditure.
However, the emperor did not compromise and directly told Xia Shouzhong: "From now on, all my expenses will be halved, and the expenses of all the concubines in the harem will also be halved."
Xia Shouzhong was a little unsure, but since the emperor had made up his mind, he had nothing to say, but there were some things he still wanted to ask the emperor clearly.
"Long live my lord, what should I do with the Supreme Emperor?" This was Xia Shouzhong's dilemma. Whether the Emperor's orders could be placed with the Supreme Emperor was a matter of debate.
The emperor was not happy to hear Xia Shouzhong's question, "You little slave, don't you even know about this? The Emperor and the Empress Dowager, naturally everything will be as usual there, and the offerings of all the concubines must not be reduced."
The emperor has finished his decree, and all the ministers below him are now looking at the emperor with admiration. Even Jia Ke has some admiration for the emperor. No wonder he was able to overthrow the Supreme Emperor in Dream of Red Mansions, and was able to catch all the nobles in one fell swoop. Sure enough,
He is a courageous and wise king.
If the emperor had not harbored inexplicable hostility towards Jia Ke from the beginning and was always on guard against Jia Ke, perhaps now Jia Ke would have fallen under the charm of the emperor and devoted his life to him.
After hearing the emperor's order, Liu Yu was the first to come out and knelt on the ground. While sobbing, he complimented the emperor: "Your Majesty is really the wisest monarch in the past and the closest to Yao, Shun, and Yu. With you here, why should the world be unhappy?"
?”
The other ministers looked at it and thought, since you said so, let's kneel down and congratulate him together. So all the ministers knelt down in the hall and shouted long live the emperor.
The emperor stood next to him and watched condescendingly. The minister knelt down in front of him, feeling a sense of satisfaction in his heart.
Jia Ke knelt down and felt a little helpless. He originally wanted to embarrass the emperor, but he didn't expect that the emperor could be so cruel. Not only did he get back into the game, but did all the people in the world think that he was a wise monarch?
, giving him a sense of presence.
Although this time it could not completely make up for the emperor's fault in collecting taxes and collecting crime money, it could also be a good way to whitewash the emperor's face.
The emperor stood on the royal steps and was intoxicated for a long time, and then he asked the ministers to get up and return to their duties.
"Now that the matter of silver is over, let's talk about the matter of Jianghuai. The people from the Military Aircraft Department will tell you about it." In fact, the emperor is still worried about something happening in Jianghuai.
As the head minister of the Military Aircraft Department, Jia Ke was naturally the first to tell everyone about this matter.
So Jia Ke stood out from the crowd, stood in the center of the hall, bowed to the emperor, and then said to the ministers: "You may know that there have been two heavy rains in the Huaihe River area. Tian Ye, the censor of the Zuodu, as the minister of military aircraft
It has been a few months since he went to the Lianghuai area to take charge, and it seems that he can no longer hold on. In the past few days, he has continuously sent memorials to the emperor, asking the emperor to send more grain and disaster relief money as soon as possible, and everyone knows that the national treasury has been exhausted this year.
It’s empty and I can’t bring out anything more. I’m afraid I’ll have to wait until after September to pay taxes. What should I do now? Can you give me an explanation?”
Everyone now understands what the emperor and Jia Ke mean. What's so difficult to understand is that each government office is asked to pool money to temporarily fill up the holes this year, and the rest will be discussed later.
All the ministers were silent about this kind of thing.
Seeing the minister's appearance, the emperor had no choice. Could it be that he really couldn't survive the last few months?
When Jia Ke saw that all the ministers were silent, he turned around, knelt down in the hall and kowtowed to the emperor several times.
The emperor's heart trembled when he saw Jia Ke kowtowing to him. Who is Jia Ke? He is simply a sugar rooster. People like iron roosters only have nothing to pluck. When he comes to him, not only does he have nothing to pluck, but he also gets everything he sees.
.There is no good thing in kowtowing to yourself at this time.
Sure enough, after kowtowing, Jia Ke held up his hands and said, "Your Majesty, this world belongs to the emperor. Now that the imperial court is in crisis, please ask the emperor to open the internal treasury to provide relief to the victims of the Huaihe and Shaanxi regions."
As soon as Jia Ke finished saying this, the ministers below all understood. They thought about it and thought this was a good idea. Although this kind of thing has never happened in this dynasty, it happened many times in the previous dynasty. It can be regarded as a possibility.
precedent.
In order to protect their own interests, these ministers knelt down together and begged the emperor: "Please open the inner treasury to provide relief and sacrifice to the victims of the world. Long live my emperor, long live long live."
The emperor is so angry at this moment. Jia Ke has been giving him difficult questions since the morning of today, but you can't refute him yet, because he has hit the point.
Just now, Jia Ke asked himself to reduce the Ding Fu by half, and now he asked himself to open the internal treasury. Does he regard himself as the God of Wealth or something? Even though he is an emperor, there is no surplus food at home.
The emperor looked helplessly at these ministers who were making noises with Jia Ke. He could only look at Xia Shouzhong next to him, which meant that it is your turn to speak now.
Xia Shouzhong was also smart. He immediately cried bitterly and fell to his knees with a howl: "Long live the Lord, you can no longer open the inner treasury. Without Ding Fu, if you open the inner treasury again, the slaves may not even be able to eat."