Mid-November of the fourth year of Zhongping.

It started to rain lightly in Luoyang. In the pattering rain, the carriage slowly drove into Luoyang City.

Chen Mu sat in the carriage, lifted the curtains and peeked out.

The streets of Luoyang, which were a mess a few years ago, have long been restored to cleanliness. The streets are bustling with traffic, and there is an endless flow of cars, horse carts, ox carts, and horse-drawn carriages passing by from time to time.

People wore wooden clogs and held oil-paper umbrellas, walking in the rain. Signboards lined the streets swayed in the wind, and wind horses made tinkling sounds.

The wind horse is the wind chime of later generations, which originated from the nine-piece golden bell with a dragon's title hanging on the Zhaoyang Palace during the reign of Emperor Cheng of the Western Han Dynasty.

After Jinling was introduced to the people, wealthy people used jade to make wind chimes, called Xiangyu, while ordinary people used bamboo, called Fengma or Xiangzhu. On windy days, they tinkled and sounded crisp and pleasant.

Chen Mu put down the curtains and thought in his mind.

Su Shuang and Wang Shiping's business has expanded a step further. They have sold oil-paper umbrellas to Luoyang, and their wealth has been further accumulated.

Oil-paper umbrellas are much cheaper than bamboo umbrellas, and the umbrella surface of the umbrella is made of silk. Paper umbrellas, on the other hand, apply grease or tung oil on the paper surface. This thing appeared more than 200 years later in the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Under the background of monopoly, the price is far cheaper than bamboo umbrellas, but in fact it is not much cheaper. An umbrella costs 300 five baht, and only rich people can afford it.

What paper umbrellas monopolize is not technology or craftsmanship, but raw materials.

Zuobo paper is currently only available in Qingzhou, and the formula is strictly confidential. Even if others want to make oil-paper umbrellas, if they use Caihou paper, the cost will not be worth it, and they will not be able to compete.

Therefore, selling umbrellas can be said to be a huge profit. Nowadays, almost everyone in the wealthy family has a few, and the Qingzhou Business Group has made a lot of money.

certainly.

No matter how much you invent something, it's all just a small amount of money.

The real huge profits will come from implementing the perfect salt-drying method in Qingzhou in the future. There is nothing more profitable than selling salt in the world.

"Shang Shuling, do you want to go to the palace to see His Majesty now, or?"

Xiao Huangmen asked.

Chen Mu slowly said: "It's been a long and dusty journey. After I wash up, I will go to the palace. You should go back first."

"Then I will go back and resume my duties first. I hope Shangshu Ling will enter the palace early? Your Majesty is waiting."

Xiao Huangmen resigned and left.

Some people may wonder? Why does Xiaohuangmen call Chen Mu "Shang Shu Ling" instead of "Ling Jun."

This is because the origin of the word "Lingjun" comes from Xun Yu.

Xun Yu served as Shangshu Ling for decades during the Cao Wei Dynasty. Was he respected by others? People at that time called him "Xun Lingjun".

It was not until the Three Kingdoms period, after Xun Yu, that the title "Ling Jun" became the customary name for "Shang Shu Ling".

Therefore, according to the official customs of the Han Dynasty, Chen Mu can just be called Shangshu Ling or Chen Shangshu? It has not reached the point where Xun Yu is called "Jun".

The house in Luoyang had been bought by Chen Mu a long time ago. Wang Jun often sent people to clean it. Everything was on site and the furniture was still there. As long as you put clothes and daily necessities in, you can almost move in with your bags.

After returning home, he first settled in Dian Wei and other guards, then took a bath and burned incense. This incense burning did not mean burning incense to worship gods, but literally, lighting spices to smoke the clothes to ensure that the clothes were fragrant.

This was the custom of the scholars at that time. Is it true that Xun Ling left a fragrance? It was because Xun Yu especially liked to smoke his clothes. When he went to other people's homes to be guests, the mats he sat on would remain fragrant for several days.

After everything was settled, Chen Mu put on brand new clothes, with a fragrant fragrance on his body, got into the carriage, hung up the palace card, and set off to the palace.

On the way, Chen Mu was already thinking carefully about the next plan and where to start.

In two years, the chess pieces have been almost laid out, but whether these layouts are useful or useless, the only question now is whether Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty will have another year and a half to live like in history.

If he doesn't die, then any plan is meaningless. None of the heroes in the late Han Dynasty dared to make waves. Even Cao Cao and Yuan Shao could only lie dormant and be unable to achieve anything.

Therefore, when Chen Mu entered the court this time, firstly, he wanted to deal with some troubles for Emperor Han Ling, and secondly, he wanted to observe Emperor Han Ling's physical condition.

It would be interesting if Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty did not die of illness for some reason because of his butterfly effect.

Even if he only needs to live for five more years and let Liu Xie successfully reach the age of twenty, wouldn't there be no problems for the four families of Cao, Liu, Sun, and Sima in this world?

therefore.

Still have to observe.

Be patient and endure it a little longer.

The carriage creaked and creaked as it entered the palace gate. Chen Mu dismounted, held an oil-paper umbrella and headed towards the Yutang Hall under the guidance of the small yellow gate.

Outside the Yutang Hall, a young eunuch was busy adding charcoal to the boiler. The floor inside the Yutang Hall was warm. When he saw Chen Mu coming in, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, who was enjoying a song and dance with a concubine in his arms, waved to him to come closer.

"His Majesty!"

Chen Mu took a small step over and bowed his hands.

"Um."

Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty nodded, waved his hand and said: "Withdraw."

The dancer and the musicians slowly retreated.

The hall was empty. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty stood up and walked up to Chen Mu excitedly. He patted his shoulders with both hands and laughed and said, "Brother Zigui, I haven't seen you in two years, and you have grown taller again."

"Thanks to Your Majesty's great blessing, I have eaten well and slept well every day in Qingzhou, and I have indeed grown taller."

Chen Mu responded with a smile.

"Um."

Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty looked around and found that there were many guards in the palace and the crowds were crowded, so he said: "Let's go to the back hall."

Under the service of several Xiaohuangmen and Zhang Rang, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty went to the back hall.

Chen Mu followed them with small steps.

When they arrived at the back hall, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty said to everyone: "Please step back."

"Your Majesty, do I also want to retreat?"

An inquiry into female history that records the emperor’s daily life.

In the Western Han Dynasty, the historian was called Taishi Ling, and the most famous Taishi Ling was Sima Tan about Sima Qian and his son.

After the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were two types of historians. One was Lantai Lingshi, who worked in Lantai and recorded and sorted out national events. The other was palace female historians, who recorded the life of the emperor and the harem.

The Taishi Ling was no longer responsible for recording history, but was responsible for the astronomical calendar.

For example, when Chen Mu spoke last time, the female historian was in a corner and recorded what Chen Mu said. Afterwards, the female historian was silenced by Zhang Rang under the instruction of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, so Chen Mu's vicious plan did not spread.

There is no such thing as integrity among the female historians in the palace. They did whatever the emperor said. Therefore, many of the ridiculous things done by Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty were not recorded, and no traces of them can be found in history books.

Hearing the female historian's question, Zhang Rang winked at her: "Your Majesty wants to discuss important national affairs. You go out first and don't make any noise."

"only!"

The female historian followed many small yellow gates and left backwards, while Chen Mu and Zhang Rang stayed behind.

When there were only three people left in the back hall, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty asked Zhang to let Chen Mu sit on the same mat with him and sit on the floor.

"Zigui, I originally planned to ask you to come back next year, but this time I urged you urgently. Do you know what happened?"

After the three of them sat down, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was the first to speak.

Chen Mu said with a smile: "I'm afraid it's because the princes in the court couldn't restrain themselves and asked Your Majesty to stop collecting taxes."

Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty sighed: "These wolf-hearted thieves clearly have huge wealth, but they don't want to reimburse the country. Instead, they let me continue to exploit the people. Do they think my country is too stable and they want to continue to cause more trouble?"

Originally, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty didn't understand economics and didn't quite understand how to collect taxes reasonably, so Zhang Rang instigated a tax of 10 yuan per mu in the world, which in turn destabilized the country and caused the world to be in turmoil again.

Now Chen Mu is taking advantage of legal loopholes to only collect taxes from the rich and reduce half of the taxes for the poor. Of course, the rich can't sit still, and the court's memorials are almost filling the chancellery.

"There are many smart people among the powerful in the world who have seen through Mu's scheme. It's a pity that these smart people are not on the right path."

Chen Mu said: "I once heard in the countryside that when the village secretary went to the house of a powerful family to count the population, the number of people was originally more than 600. The powerful man ordered the secretary to reduce the number by half. The secretary refused and was beaten by the powerful man.

, and finally the matter was settled."

Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty clenched his fists and said angrily: "Such things were probably normal in the past."

"nature."

Chen Mu nodded and said: "With the current tax collection method, I have also heard that many powerful and powerful people colluded with local officials and asked them to help hide part of their property, or let the hidden households they once hid in come out and pretend to claim the property.

These fields are divided and set aside to reduce taxes. This can be said to be a policy from above and a countermeasure from below."

Before Chen Mu’s tax collection strategy came out, the Han Dynasty calculated the population tax, and slaves in the homes of powerful people were also an important source of tax revenue, because the population tax for slaves was twice as high as the tax for ordinary people, so if a powerful person

If the population is not concealed, the taxes paid every year will be very high.

For example, Mi Zhu, a wealthy man in Xuzhou, had tens of thousands of slaves. According to the taxation at that time, the slaves' verbal gifts alone were considered as gifts, and he had to pay more than 10 million yuan every year, plus the taxes on the land and property. Normally

Tax payment starts at least 20 million.

Therefore, in order not to pay these taxes, the powerful people in various places will more or less conceal their population and transfer their industries, which is commonly known as hiding houses and hidden properties, in order to achieve the purpose of tax evasion.

Now Chen Mu has canceled the population tax, only collects land tax, and has formulated some tax-free policies for the poor. The powerful have figured out the taste, and have studied new tax evasion methods, that is, concealing the land, or dividing the land.

Go out, release the hidden people who no longer need to pay taxes, and continue to exploit loopholes in the law.

Throughout China for thousands of years, there have been countless examples of bad rules like this gradually becoming commonplace in every dynasty.

Moreover, any dynasty that wants to change will encounter great resistance. For example, the Xining Reform in the Song Dynasty, the Qingli New Deal, the Zhang Juzheng Reform in the Ming Dynasty, etc., may be effective in the early stage, but will soon be overthrown by the landlords.
To be continued...