After meeting with the woman, Sun Yan put some thought into it. After the Military Aircraft Department handled the matter again, Sun Yan quietly came to Jia Ke's Nourishing Heart Hall.
Then he told Jia Ke everything about it.
Jia Ke was quite satisfied with this. It seemed that Sun Yan had completely surrendered to him. Jia Ke also had a mixture of love and hate for Sun Yan.
Sun Yan is indeed capable. After he became the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department, he handled the affairs of the court in an orderly manner, and he smoothed out all the affairs in the world.
But Jia Ke also suspected that he was half-hearted. Even if he told Jia Ke that he was loyal to him, Jia Ke was still very worried about him. If he killed all the young masters, Jia Ke would be able to use him.
As for why he didn't get rid of him and replace him with someone he could trust, it's not that Jia Ke hadn't thought about it that way, but after all these years, he had some feelings, and Jia Ke felt that he had the power and had control of everything, so he
Be patient for now.
Everything went smoothly. On the day when the exam started, Sun Yan and Li Wenbin came to Jia Ke in person to collect the exam papers, and then entered the Dragon Gate.
Three days later, when the exam was over, the candidates went out of the dragon gate and went back to rest.
But Sun Yan and the others still couldn't leave the dragon gate, they had to review the papers inside.
Of course, there are so many papers that the two examiners cannot go through them one by one. They have many examiners under them. These people have to pick out the best ones from these papers and send them to the two examiners.
Sun Yan stayed in his room for a whole day and night, and then he received the test paper sent from below.
Sun Yan didn't look at the literary talent of these people when he took the paper. He just picked them one by one to see if there was that code. As a result, he turned over the paper and couldn't find the code among them.
Sun Yan was frowning a little now. This young master's literary talent seemed to be really poor. Among the hundreds of papers, there was none of his.
In order to be able to complete Jia Ke's task, Sun Yan could only order his officials to bring all the candidates' papers over and he could read them one by one.
As a result, I went through the papers and couldn't find the code.
Sun Yan was a little hesitant now. What was going on? Could it be that the young master saw the flaw and did not participate in the imperial examination this time.
After Sun Yan hurriedly decided the candidates' rankings with Li Wenbin, he left Longmen and went straight to the palace.
When Jia Ke learned what happened from Li Sunyan, he was also a little shocked.
Jia Ke does not think that the young master did not take part in the imperial examination, but Jia Ke thinks that the young master is too suspicious and he no longer trusts anyone.
Jia Ke took a few steps back and forth in the hall, "Don't make any noise when you go back, and continue to wait for the other party to contact you. I think this young master must have participated in the imperial examination. If the young master wants to become famous quickly, he will definitely leave."
If I don't leave you as the foreman, they will naturally reveal the information to you when the time comes."
After listening to Jia Ke's instructions, Sun Yan had no choice but to go back and wait for news. As a result, on the day when the results were released, no one contacted him.
Sun Yan was completely discouraged this time. He could only focus on government affairs again, and he could only put aside those young masters for the time being.
But Jia Ke was alone in the Yangxin Hall, looking back and forth, just doing this. Waiting was not an option, so he called out: "Li Deshan."
Li Deshan had been waiting on Jia Ke. When Jia Ke called him, he immediately took a step forward and came behind Jia Ke, and asked softly: "Long live the Lord to call my slave?"
"You also heard what Sun Yan said just now. We can't just wait around like this. You send people to monitor all the tribute students under the age of thirty this time. If the young master takes part in the imperial examination, he will definitely be among these people.
middle."
After hearing this, Li Deshan hurriedly agreed, and at the same time he was still confident about this matter. Although there were many people taking part in the imperial examination, there were only 200 people who won the Jinshi, and most of them were quite old, and those under 30 years old were probably only 200.
There are more than ten or twenty people. To the secret guards, these people are just easy to catch.
After Jia Ke finished handling this matter, someone came from below to say that Wang Xifeng had come to the palace to visit the emperor.
Jia Ke felt helpless after hearing this. After that time he couldn't control himself, Wang Xifeng came to see him every now and then.
"Let the Crown Princess wait in the side hall."
After Jia Ke finished packing, the eunuch hurriedly read the rest of the memorial, and then said to Li Deshan next to him: "You should keep an eye on the next memorial. If there is something important, come and report to me quickly. If it is not important, just wait."
Let me deal with it together tomorrow."
After Jia Ke said this, he hurriedly took the palace maid and the eunuch to the side hall.
As soon as he entered the side hall, there was a scent of fragrant wind blowing against his face, and then Wang Xifeng threw himself into Jia Ke's arms.
Jia Ke reached out and took Wang Xifeng into his arms, and then carried her into the inner room. Soon there was a storm inside.
After the clouds cleared and the fog cleared, Wang Xifeng lay in Jia Ke's arms, touched his chest and said, "Jia Lian knows about our affairs."
Jia Ke was stunned for a moment, and then said nonchalantly: "What can he do if he knows? At worst, I will just let him successfully inherit the throne of Jing in the future."
Wang Xifeng nodded after hearing this, and then asked: "My menstrual period has not come this month. I suspect that I am pregnant. What will happen to this child in the future?"
When Jia Ke heard this, he immediately became happy, hugged Wang Xifeng, kissed him, and then said, "What's the point? Just let him inherit the throne of Jing in the future."
Wang Xifeng was a little worried, "Then Second Sister You is also pregnant. If she gives birth to a boy, Jia Lian will be willing to do so in the future."
"You don't have to worry about this. It's up to him whether he wants to or not."
Wang Xifeng nodded and lay in Jia Ke's arms again without saying a word.
Everything was peaceful in the following days. The little prince never contacted Sun Yan, and Jia Ke was more patient than anyone now, because as time went by, the little prince's hope of restoration became smaller and smaller.
Then Jia Ke focused all his attention on the reform of commercial tax and salt tax.
To say that the commercial tax of this dynasty has inherited the system of the previous dynasty, it is about 15 taels per tax. However, due to the strong collusion between officials and businessmen in the local area, this regulation is no longer in name only. Some counties even only pay 10 taels per year.
Commercial tax on silver.
Therefore, the annual commercial tax for the entire Central Plains is only a few million, which is simply unbelievable in Jia Ke's opinion.
Because the three major merchant gangs alone paid 9 million taels of silver as tribute to Jia Ke every year, which was even more than twice the commercial tax paid to the imperial court. This shows where the profits of these merchants went.
In order for Jia Ke to normalize the imperial court's commercial taxation, and also to increase the income of the people in the future, Jia Ke must carry out a big move on the commercial taxation.
After Jia Ke made up his mind, he immediately summoned several of his confidants to the Yangxin Hall to discuss the matter.
They are Sun Yan, the foreman of the Military and Aircraft Department of the Ministry of Punishments, Fan Kang, the Minister of Rites and Military Aircraft Department, Jia Yucun, the Minister of the Ministry of Husband and concurrently serving as the nine-door admiral, and Peng Bi, the Minister of War.
After these people arrived, Jia Ke told them what he was thinking. After listening, these people remained silent and thought about Jia Ke's intentions.
Jia Ke saw that they were all speechless, so he said, "The commercial taxation is now in a mess. I heard that some prefects and magistrates are proud of collecting less commercial tax. How much money will the court use if this continues?"
After listening to Jia Ke's words, Sun Yan agreed with his opinion, but he was a little embarrassed. The three major business gangs paid him a lot of tribute every year. If they directly collected business taxes, how could they be worthy of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year.
So Sun Yan went out to report: "Your Majesty, the way of governing the country has always been to emphasize agriculture and neglect business. If business taxes are increased, I am afraid that businessmen will complain and it will not be conducive to the circulation of goods."
After hearing this, Jia Ke looked at the others and said, "What do you mean? Do you agree with Sun Shoufu's opinion?"
The others looked at each other and were reluctant to speak, because they had also received money. If they disagreed with Sun Yan at this time, those businessmen would have something to say.
Only Jia Yucun, who was standing in the middle, rolled his eyes a few times, and immediately came out of the class and said to Jia Ke: "Long live Qi, I don't agree with Lord Sun's opinion."
Jia Ke nodded after hearing this. Jia Yucun was indeed a man controlled by him. While others were still considering interests, his first consideration was loyalty to himself.
"If you have anything to say, just play it."
"Long live, emphasizing agriculture and neglecting agriculture means attaching importance to agricultural production. It does not mean collecting heavy taxes from farmers, but emphasizing business means that the court should not focus on business. The money will not be brought with it in life, nor will it be taken with it in death. It will not be able to survive.
Eat, but don’t drink if you are thirsty.”
Jia Ke nodded after hearing this, and then said to the people below: "What Jia Yucun said is exactly what I want. Now the farmers' burden is very heavy, that is, they have to pay the spring and autumn taxes to the court, and they have to pay rent to the landlords.
If the weather is good, we can still survive, but if there is a disaster, we may have to sell our sons and daughters."
After hearing this, everyone below knelt down together: "Your Majesty's kindness is a blessing to the people of the world."
After hearing this, Jia Ke looked at them and did not ask them to stand up. Instead, he walked down the imperial steps and came between them.
"You people are well-dressed and well-fed, and you don't know the hard work of the farmers. I was in Xiacaozhuang and Wangjiatun, but I saw with my own eyes how the farmers dug for food in the soil. These two villages were still members of the Jia Mansion, so there is no need to pay.
National taxes, otherwise it will be even harder."
After Jia Ke finished speaking, he sighed, then glanced at them with disappointment, and finally gritted his teeth and walked back to the imperial street, saying to them: "This time I am arbitrary, from now on, the world's commercial tax will be taxed one out of ten."
, at the same time, various prefectures and provinces built passes to check whether passing merchants collected and paid taxes."
As soon as Jia Ke finished saying this, although the people below were dissatisfied, they could only bite the bullet and agreed.
Jia Ke thought for a while, I was afraid that the merchant gangs who had taken in so many injuries this time were not satisfied, so he continued to order: "From this year on, Shanxi merchants and Hui merchants no longer need to pay filial piety money, as long as they pay enough taxes,