Hearing this, Kou Ji felt mixed emotions in his heart.

If Kou Ji hadn't known that Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Han Qi and others were all great talents, he would have shouted the word "arrogant" without hesitation.

After all, through Fan Zhongyan's narration, Kou Ji could clearly feel that Fan Zhongyan, Ouyang Xiu, Han Qi and others felt that the senior officials in the court were inferior to them.

The decisions made by a group of ministers in charge of a superpower were judged as naive, and it would be an understatement to call them arrogant.

However, Kou Ji knew that Fan Zhongyan and others were telling the truth.

Because times have changed.

Kou Zhun couldn't even understand the current situation in the court and the future direction of the Song Dynasty.

Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng, Chen Yaozuo, Li Zhaoliang, Wang Shu and others may not be able to understand it.

Most of them just rely on their previous knowledge of the local area to handle official duties.

But the place now is very different from before.

The reform of the military system has enriched local military strength.

Local officials can do many things with the help of soldiers and horses.

The reform of the government system combined the former government and many agencies into one, and many functions have undergone tremendous changes.

What local officials have to do has also changed.

The functions of local officials have changed even more.

Many previous government orders are no longer suitable for use.

In addition, the imperial court continued to relocate people, which took away the extremely poor people in the local areas and the poor people in many places.

There is one less layer in the local food chain. To maintain local stability and maintain local production, changes will follow.

When these changes, big and small, are put together, it becomes a huge change.

This huge change is not obvious yet, only local organs can clearly feel it.

As time goes by, the impact of changes becomes greater and greater.

Only then can the Dukes in the court feel it.

The Song Dynasty's method of governing the world by adhering to the ancestral system has long been no longer applicable to the current Song Dynasty.

Many people may question how the powerful princes in the court could not notice the changes that have taken place in the local area.

That's because the changes in the Song Dynasty were too fast, and there was no time for the powerful princes in the court to react.

More importantly, these changes are subtle.

Until the change does not cause huge harm, it will not attract the attention of the princes in the court.

Even if it attracts the attention of one or two people, until they have no way to solve these problems, they will silently pretend that they do not exist.

For example, the original Ma Zheng in the Song Dynasty.

After it was signed, corruption occurred. Many people saw it, but no one spoke up.

When the horse could no longer be hidden, Xiang Minzhong reported to the court and asked the court to sell a large number of old and inferior horses raised by the court to the people.

It alleviated the corruption of Ma Zheng.

However, the problems with Ma Zheng in the Song Dynasty have never been eradicated.

It was not until Kou Ji opened up a huge horse farm in Hexi for the Song Dynasty that the horse politics of the Song Dynasty was relieved to a certain extent.

Subsequently, the Song Dynasty conquered and destroyed various countries, and after acquiring many horse herding lands, the flaws in the Song Dynasty's horse administration were completely resolved.

Kou Ji stared at Fan Zhongyan and said, "Since you know the local problems, why don't you report them to the imperial court?"

Fan Zhongyan coughed dryly and said loudly: "Is it useful if you play it? They don't understand!"

Kou Ji looked at Fan Zhongyan in astonishment.

Fan Zhongyan hurriedly explained: "These are Su Xun's original words. The students are just imitating Su Xun's tone of voice."

Kou Ji glanced at Fan Zhongyan and said, dumbfounded: "It is indeed Su Xun's style..."

After a pause, Kou Ji said again: "But even so, you should report to the court. It is precisely because the princes in the court do not understand and do not understand, so you should tell them about the local changes and let them understand.

recognize the place.

Only in this way can they formulate reasonable government orders."

Hearing this, Fan Zhongyan's face darkened, and he sighed slightly: "The student was the first to report, and the response he received was that he was looking for trouble for nothing.

Others also played it, but it didn’t attract any attention at all.”

Kou Ji pondered and asked, "Where are the others besides you?"

Fan Zhongyan sighed again and said: "Except for those who came from your sect, only those who came from Wenchang Academy and officials who have been to Hexi have reported this matter.

Most of the remaining officials are pretending to be deaf and dumb.

And the problems happening in each of our places are different.

After reporting to the court, almost all of them were beaten back.

Only two or three were adopted.

But they are all things that are neither painful nor painful, or have very intuitive political achievements."

Kou Ji did not blindly believe Fan Zhongyan's words, but stared at Fan Zhongyan and asked: "What things have you reported to me? Please tell me carefully."

Fan Zhongyan nodded and said: "Su Xun once petitioned the imperial court to set up a tax office on the coast of Bohai Prefecture to collect taxes from passing ships.

The imperial court did not agree, but asked Su Xun to sell off the commercial tax rights of passing merchant ships in accordance with the usual practice."

When Kou Ji heard this, he narrowed his eyes slightly and said: "Bohai Mansion has now been managed by Su Xun into a hub leading to all parts of Liao Dynasty. There are countless ships and merchants passing by every day.

The commercial tax collected every day is a huge number."

Fan Zhongyan nodded heavily and said: "Su Xun said that when the autumn grain was put into the warehouse, there were hundreds of large merchant ships going to and from Bohai House every day.

The commercial tax that can be collected amounts to tens of thousands of dollars.

If the imperial court sets up a tax office at Bohai Port, it can collect at least more than three million guan in commercial taxes every year."

The people in Liao are now small landowners. With the help of the criminals in Liao, they are able to cultivate a huge amount of land every year.

They don't use much of what their land produces.

Most of them were exchanged for money and goods.

Therefore, whether it is selling grain or buying goods, the quantity is huge.

The port of Bohai Prefecture is so far the only place in Liao that can reduce taxes. It is also the only port in Liao, which naturally attracts merchants.

After all, although traveling by water is slow, the cost is extremely low.

If the same batch of grain is taken by land, it will require a lot of mules, horses, wooden carts, manpower, and the cost of people eating and chewing horses. It will also cost money to pass the checkpoints along the way.

If you go by water, a boat and a group of rowing people are enough. All you need to spend is some food for people to eat, and there is no other cost.

You know, when you are on the road, mules and horses eat more than people, and sometimes the food is more expensive than people.

When encountering difficult roads, it is easy to cause great damage.

Damage is also possible when traveling by boat, but the probability is far less than by traveling on the road.

Therefore, the port established by Su Xun in Bohai Prefecture is definitely the favorite place for businessmen, and it is also the place where businessmen are most willing to go.

For a port hub involving the business of tens of millions of people, the annual commercial tax revenue is naturally a huge number.

Su Xun estimated three million yuan, which was a conservative estimate.

After all, there are many coveted luxury goods in Liao. Luxury goods are often light in weight and high in value, so they can naturally receive more taxes.

For example, ginseng, Dongzhu, furs of exotic animals, precious wood, etc. from Liao.

Some people may question that the only people with property in Liao are the people of the Song Dynasty. They have no property in their criminal records, so they do not participate in buying and selling and cannot stimulate consumption.

That can only mean that you have underestimated the importance that the people of the Song Dynasty attached to the labor force.

In the Song Dynasty, especially when farming was busy, cattle, horses, mules, etc. all had better food than people.

If the main labor force in the family eats too much during the busy farming season, other people will most likely go hungry.

If the people of the Song Dynasty used those sins to farm, they would be fed and clothed.

Some common people may even provide them with the opportunity to have children, allowing them to add labor to their families.

Even people with good intentions will regard those who have sacrificed their lives for their own families as their own.

So there must be many among them who will spend money to buy a lot of daily necessities for those guilty.

Before they completely become landlords and rich people, they will maintain considerable goodwill towards the first batch of heroes under them.

Only after they become landlords and rich people and enjoy the benefits of exploitation will they enter the level of exploitation.

Therefore, Su Xun's estimated tax revenue of more than 3 million yuan will only be more, not less.

Is it such a huge amount of wealth that the court turned a blind eye?
To be continued...