Li Mu took a deep breath. Just when everyone thought he was going to continue talking, he suddenly looked at Eunuch Gao earnestly and said, "Can you get me a pot of tea to drink? My throat is a bit dry."
Eunuch Gao was confused. He had been a eunuch in the palace for such a long time, and he had never seen anyone drinking tea during court meetings. Did he really think he was his own family?
"Get it for him!" Li Shimin glared at Li Mu and said angrily: "If there is anything else you want, tell me together and get it for you to save you the trouble. Tell me in one breath!
"No, I'm not hungry yet." Li Mu pursed his lips and continued: "This new system is about corvee work! This is my personal experience. I discovered this problem after I arrived at the Ministry of Industry.
As we all know, the craftsmen in the Ministry of Works are all levies from all over the world. Being assigned to Chang'an shows that their craftsmanship is good. However, when I first arrived at the Ministry of Works, I found that their efficiency was very low. For example, when building walls,
The work that could be completed in one day had to be done in five days. I felt strange in my heart, so I watched beside them, trying to find out the problem."
"After observing for a few days, I found out the reason. These people are all playing tricks. I would say they are slacking off on the work they are doing. They are also busy, but they are just inefficient. Why is this? Because they
The corvee work has a time limit, and every day it is delayed, they will get nothing if they work more and put in more effort. Why are they so tired?"
"In order to reverse this situation, I implemented reforms in the Ministry of Works. After the reform, everyone has seen the efficiency of the Ministry of Works. Now there are several construction sites in Chang'an City starting at the same time, and everything is proceeding in an orderly manner. Although the Ministry of Works has also
It cost a lot of money, but it is nothing compared to the value created."
Li Mu faced everyone and said: "I am not telling this story to show off myself. I want to tell you how to create greater value. Can you create value by squeezing the people? It is undeniable, yes, because for thousands of years
That’s what we do, but squeezing it this way is counterproductive and inefficient. Again, don’t be too greedy. This is the case with anything you do. If you give out more benefits, the risk will be smaller. It’s nothing more than earning less.
The bigger part is still in my hands, so that we can get twice the result with half the effort. I give part of the factory's profits to the craftsmen, and the craftsmen work hard for me, doubling their efficiency. Isn't this better than forcing them to work?"
"Forcing them to work, regardless of how fast they work, mainly wastes time. Now everyone knows the meaning of an order. If an order is completed in three days, ten orders can be made in a month. But if it is completed in six days, it will be completed in one month.
If you do five orders, any fool will know that you will make more if you make ten orders!”
"The same principle can be applied to corvee service." Eunuch Gao brought the tea over, Li Mu picked up the teapot and took a sip, and continued: "The corvee service in the Tang Dynasty was still the old way of the previous dynasty, just like
As before the reform of the Ministry of Industry, more corvee time was used to force the people to work, which was very inefficient. However, corvee service cannot be abolished because it is the obligation of a Tang Dynasty citizen, and when His Majesty ascended the throne, he made too light a promise
The corvee tax is small. Now that the New Deal has abolished the poll tax, the land rent, except for the contracted land, is the same as before. It is already a thin tax, so the corvee has also been reduced."
"Therefore, I suggest that your majesty reduce the corvee service by half. Instead, each male will serve twelve days a year, one day per month on average, plus one day in leap months. This is the official service. If the court does not need his service, then each male can serve as a daily service.
Pay a hundred coins, and the amount for twelve days will be paid in lieu of service. In order to increase the penalty for evading corvee, if the court needs the corvee but does not want to serve, it is necessary to pay ten guan every day for twelve days. In leap months,
An extra day is also an extra day. "Substitute for service". The money paid can be used to hire craftsmen and serve on their behalf. Under special circumstances, if the court needs them to serve additionally, each additional day of service will be compensated with 300 Wen. Every year
The upper limit of corvee service shall not exceed thirty-six days. I have calculated based on the records of previous years that even in a disaster year, thirty-six days of corvee service is enough."
After everyone listened, they all analyzed it in their minds. Li Mu's move obviously reduced the corvee, but it fundamentally changed the 'mediocre' system. Because in the past, the rich did not want to do corvee and only had to pay a little silk cloth.
, and the corvee they escaped was shared equally among the poor. But under the New Deal, the price for the rich to escape the corvee has greatly increased. For one day, according to the current labor price in Chang'an City, ten can be hired!
Needless to say, the extra 900 yuan was another source of income for the imperial court.
But even if you are so unreasonable, you can't say anything. Who told you not to do corvee? The original law of the Tang Dynasty also stipulated that every male must do corvee. If you don't want to work, what's wrong with paying some money? Don't want to
Just pay and go to work, there is nothing unreasonable about it.
In the past, people were not paid for extra corvee work. People worked for free, so there were many complaints. But now, not only has the upper limit of corvée been set, but also for one extra day of corvée, three hundred coppers will be paid. This price
, which is three times the price of a labor force in Chang'an City, and is basically the same as the price of a technician. In the local area, this price is simply not available. It is conceivable that once the New Deal comes out, corvee labor will no longer be a nightmare for the people, and maybe in some places
In this place, people would rush to do corvee labor. After all, a day's work only costs three hundred coins!
"If serious natural disasters such as floods and droughts occur, the people's harvest will inevitably be reduced, and it will be too harsh for them to ask them to pay taxes. Your Majesty governs the world with benevolence and righteousness, and should relieve the people's difficulties. Therefore, I suggest that your Majesty,
When the disaster loss reaches 40%, rent will be waived, 60% will be exempted from transfer, and 80% will be waived. All taxes and servitude will be waived, and grain will be provided by Changpingcang for the next year. If the harvest fails, the grain can be borrowed for one year and paid back after the next autumn harvest."
"And for some special people, special care should be given. Those who are fifty years old are exempted from corvee, and those who have achieved military service are exempted from corvee. Those with disabilities are allowed to serve in lieu of mediocrity, with a minimum of one hundred cents per day, or they can hire someone to do the service."
"As for the government army system, I believe that as long as the standards for military merit rewards are set and properly implemented, the new government will not have a negative impact on the government army system. There is a saying that there will be brave men under heavy rewards. I believe that,
As long as your majesty is generous with rewards and shows his merits, the soldiers will fight bravely to kill the enemy and repay your majesty's service."
Li Mu finished speaking in one breath, bowed deeply to Li Shimin, and said: "These are some immature suggestions that I came up with out of desperation. Please correct me for any omissions."
Liangyi Hall fell into silence.
It’s already been so detailed, why is it immature, and you’re correcting me?
No one believed that Li Mu came up with it out of desperation. Today's scene was obviously planned by him a long time ago. Perhaps Li Mu had already started laying out the plan when the assassin appeared, and today was the time for him to close the net.
He was fully prepared to deal with today's 'emergency situation'. In this case, who can refute him? Such a detailed and tight logic, even if you want to refute it, you won't be able to find a flaw in it for a while.
!
Li Shimin's eyes scanned the faces of the ministers, and his smile became brighter. He clapped his hands and praised: "Although Li Mu was in a hurry, these suggestions are by no means untargeted. Your talents have impressed me today."
I have truly seen it. The New Deal is very good. After listening to what you said, I feel more confident. I will write a memorial when I go back and I will take another look at it and then hand it over to the Haizhiyuan, so that it can be announced to the world before the spring plowing."
"Your Majesty, I have two more requests."
Li Shimin was in a good mood today. He waved his hand and said: "My dear, you have shared a lot of my worries for me, and I will naturally repay you. Tell me, I will accept your request."
"Your Majesty, my first request is that your Majesty make arithmetic independent of the regular subjects of this year's imperial examination. Because my Ministry of Internal Affairs, no, not only the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but also the Ministry of Civil Affairs, is responsible for statistics on taxes under the New Deal, etc.
, we need a large number of talents who are good at arithmetic, so I ask your Majesty to grant permission for an independent arithmetic subject in the regular subjects this year. There is no upper limit on the number of recruits. I let you come up with the questions. As long as you pass the exam, you can take up the post. Those with low scores will be officials, and those with high scores will be appointed.
Those who divide it become officials."
Li Shimin frowned and said: "There must be a number. If you follow your method, it is possible to have hundreds or thousands of people. Can't I let them all be officials?"
Wei Zheng also said: "Your Majesty, think twice. The imperial examination is for the country to recruit talents and is not a child's play. The person who sets the questions should be the Ministry of Rites. How can you let Marquis Zhulu come up with the questions?"
Li Mu sneered and said: "Old Wei, don't get involved in this. When it comes to arithmetic, in the Tang Dynasty, I, Li Mu, am ranked second, and no one dares to be ranked first! If anyone can surpass me, put me first
I can give you a death penalty. If you don’t believe me, ask Li Chunfeng, who in the past and present can match my arithmetic skills, Li Mu?”
"So arrogant!"
When the censors saw that their boss had been rebuked, they all stood up and accused him. Li Mu looked like he wanted to be beaten, and quarreled with the censors with his hands on his hips. One against five, he did not lose at all.
"Okay!" Li Shimin stopped the quarrel and said: "I know Li Mu's arithmetic skills. It is true as he said, no one can beat him. I have no doubt about this, so I agreed to this matter
.What’s the other thing?”
"Your Majesty, please change the Ministry of Civil Affairs to the Ministry of Household Affairs, which is responsible for household registration and taxation. And set up a Commercial Tax Department in the Ministry of Household Affairs to collect commercial taxes."
"Commercial tax? Household registration?" Li Shimin frowned slightly and said, "Reform the Ministry of Civil Affairs? What is the rationale for this?"
"Your Majesty, this is also part of the New Deal. In the past, population statistics were often inaccurate and there were huge discrepancies. They were either illegal accounts that were concealed or false accounts that were falsely reported. I have come up with a way to greatly reduce the possibility of this happening."
Li Shimin returned to the dragon chair and sat down, saying: "Let's talk and listen."
"Yes." Li Mu said seriously: "This method is simple to say, it is to set a unique number for each common person."
"Exclusive number?" It was related to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Tang Jian couldn't help but say, "Li Mu, how is this possible? If nothing else, many people are illiterate. Even if it is numbered, they will not recognize it!"
"How is it impossible?" Li Mu looked at Eunuch Gao again and said, "Eunuch Gao, please take some paper and pen."
Eunuch Gao looked at Li Shimin, who nodded slightly. Eunuch Gao turned around to get a pen and paper, and asked two young eunuchs to bring a desk.
Li Mu picked up the pen and wrote nine Arabic numerals from zero to nine on the paper, showed it to everyone, and said: "Your Majesty, gentlemen, everyone should be familiar with these characters. Last year, Datang Daily had a special issue
, specifically talks about the 'four arithmetic' method I invented. These are basic characters, which represent the concepts from zero to nine. Many people are illiterate, but these characters are much simpler than words and can be taught easily.
them."
After that, Li Mu wrote down a few more numbers and said: "Now the entire Tang Dynasty is divided into ten Dao, 360 prefectures, and more than 1,800 counties. We can number it like this, the first two digits are 'Dao',
For example, 01 represents Guannai Road, and the two middle digits are states. For example, there are twenty-seven states in Guannei Road. If the original state is numbered 13, then a person from the original state is 0113, and so on. The two digits represent counties, and the two digits represent counties.
Each represents the county, and finally it comes down to the township. With such numbering, there will be absolutely no duplication, and statistics will be much more convenient. It depends on whether a person pays taxes or not, whether he is a commoner or a gentry, whether he has been granted land or not, and how many fields he has.
Just look at his number."
After hearing this, everyone's expressions changed. If the imperial court implemented this numbering method as Li Mu said, it would mean that the imperial court had all the information about everyone, and it would be impossible to escape from illegal households!
When he looked at Li Mu again, he felt as if he had seen a ghost. How long was this man's head? How could he do such a trick in the blink of an eye? It was so scary!
"Commercial taxation will be a top priority in the future." Li Mu said sternly: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Internal Affairs now assumes many functions. It is undeniable that the centralized power of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will make it very convenient for ministers to do things. But it will also gradually be lost.
Restriction, I am an upright person. When I am the Minister in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Your Majesty does not have to worry about anything. I will take care of everything. But if one day, I am no longer relevant and go back to my hometown to farm, Your Majesty will need to do it again.
When it came time to replace the Minister in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I couldn't find someone as reliable as I. Therefore, I suggested to Your Majesty that we should set up a system early and gradually divide the authority of the Ministry of Internal Affairs so that each of the six ministries can supervise each function.
Go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to ensure balance without imbalance. Take the commercial tax as an example. This year's order quota for the Ministry of Internal Affairs has exceeded one million yuan just after the first month. Calculated based on thirty thousand taxes, there are 30,000 yuan.
The tax is about 4,000 guan, and the tax is hundreds of thousands a year, and this is just for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so Your Majesty, you must pay attention!"
When everyone heard this, although they still hated Li Mu's face that he wanted to be beaten, they had to admire him for saying such a thing. How could anyone want others to divide their authority? But Li Mu did just that.
But when I thought about it again, I had to admire Li Mu's cleverness. If he didn't do this, sooner or later the Ministry of Internal Affairs would be used by others to attack him. But if he did this, he would have eliminated the crisis.