This struggle was initiated by the Liu family, at least on the surface, and in this process, the Liu family has been watching, and they have not stood up to argue with Guo Dan.

Although the scheming Liu Zongcheng bets on both sides, compared with the two, he obviously hopes that the court will win.

It's a pity that Guo Dan disappointed him again.

"Grandpa, in this situation, my grandson is very worried about our cooperation with Guo Dan."

"What do you mean by that?"

Liu Zongcheng asked Liu Chengbian.

Liu Chengbian said: "This incident was all planned by Guo Dan, however, he is now forcing the imperial court to retreat, so once the reform fails, the imperial court may put the blame on us, will this be the trap designed by Guo Dan for us, he just eradicated the four official teeth in the first place." ”

Liu Zongcheng nodded with satisfaction and said, "It seems that you have grown a lot recently!" ”

Liu Chengbian was stunned for a moment and said, "Grandpa has already thought of this?" ”

Liu Zongcheng nodded and said: "Guo Dan is indeed not credible, but he is a businessman like us, he will not do something harmful to others and himself, the old man does not believe that he will pull the court into the water in order to deal with us, this cost is too high, so the old man is more willing to believe that he wants to borrow us to control the trade between various places."

Now that the Weihui Mansion is completely dependent on trade, it is crucial for them.

However, it is also necessary to guard against people, so we still have to do our best to help the imperial court reform, if we succeed and gain the trust of the imperial court, it will be the most beneficial for us. ”

At this moment, his old servant walked in quickly, panting slightly: "Master, the two cabinet scholars Wang Jiaping and Wang Xijue have come to our house." ”

Liu Zongcheng and Liu Chengbian were shocked when they heard this.

All along, they have been dealing with Song Jingsheng, and Song Jingsheng has never visited him, and usually asks him to come over to discuss.

After being stunned for a short time, the grandfather and grandson hurriedly went out to greet each other.

"Grass folk Liu Zongcheng pays a visit to the two adults."

"There is no need to be polite outside the staff."

After Liu Zongcheng got up, Wang Jiaping smiled slightly: "Today, I took the liberty to visit with Scholar Wang, because I want to ask for advice from outside the staff, and if I disturb you, I will take care of the outsiders." ”

"Don't dare, don't dare, two... If the two adults have something to inquire about, they only need to send someone to inform them, how dare they bother the two adults to come to the door in person. "Liu Zongcheng is sincerely afraid!

Wang Xijue stroked his beard and smiled: "The sage said, sensitive and studious, and not ashamed to ask." ”

With their knowledge and cultivation, they generally do not judge people by their identity, they are more about people by virtue, and people with bad virtue are disdainful.

Liu Zongcheng hurriedly invited them into the hall, and ordered someone to prepare for the handicap, and then stood aside respectfully.

It was Wang Jiaping who asked him to sit down, and he sat down, but he was also sitting upright, because he had almost no dealings with the cabinet, and this level was too far apart.

Unlike some tooth people, but they don't have a little self-knowledge, except for the fat house, it's really terrifying.

The Manchu Dynasty's civil and military forces are not easy to use.

The rest of the tooth people know that this cannot be imitated and will be life-threatening.

After some greetings, Wang Jiaping explained the purpose of this trip, of course, they came to reform tariffs.

Although they have ideas and policies, they suffer from the lack of technical support, and since this reform was originally proposed by Liu Zongcheng, they are thinking about asking in person.

Liu Zongcheng replied truthfully: "Back to my lordship, the reason why the grass people suggested to the household servant to improve the tariff system is because of the particularity of Weihui Mansion, which leads to an imbalance in the trade between Weihui Mansion and various places, and in the long run, it will be unfavorable to both the country and the people. ”

"Trade imbalances?"

Wang Xijue asked, "How do you say this?" ”

Liu Zongcheng said: "Since Guo Dan went to Weihui Mansion, the industry and commerce of Weihui Mansion have become very prosperous, it is simply frightening to be prosperous, and all the private textile workshops in the capital city are not as big as the Qin family's textile workshops in Weihui Mansion.

The clothes produced by their workshops, not only the quantity and quality, but also the price is relatively cheap, after their goods entered the capital, resulting in the closure of many textile workshops in our capital, many textile craftsmen, so they lost their livelihoods, helplessly, they can only go to Weihui Mansion to work, this capital is still so, not to mention other places, the grass people think that Guo Dan is to take the wealth of the world, do the power of the world, to provide for the prosperity of a house, but I Ming is not only a Weihui Mansion, so the grass people only proposed this proposal to Song Shilang. ”

"I see."

Wang Xijue had a feeling of sudden realization, he had always felt that the development of Weihui Mansion was a little weird, but what it was, he couldn't say, Liu Zongcheng's words made him fully understand.

Wang Jiaping said: "The suggestion you put forward, Song Shilang has already told us, we all think it is very good, and the imperial court is also seriously considering it, but we still find that there will be a lot of problems, especially many people think that you are deliberately targeting Guo Dan and Weihui Mansion, and the imperial court hopes to improve tariffs and benefit the country and the people." ”

Liu Zongcheng was silent for a while, and then said: "The grass people don't dare to deceive the adults, the grass people do this, it does have the intention of targeting Guo Dan, but that is also because Guo Dan broke the rules first, he is greedy for his own selfish interests, regardless of the country and the people, if he does not correct it in time, there will be problems sooner or later."

Although the grass people are eager to defeat Guo Dan, the grass people hope to win the dignity, not like him, using some opportunistic means and using His Majesty's favor to fight the opponent and win without force. ”

Wang Jiaping smiled and nodded, appreciating Liu Zongcheng's confession very much, if Liu Zongcheng said that he was doing this for the country and the people, then the ghost would believe him, you are a tooth merchant, and you only remembered to serve the country and the people in the year of the broken candle, why did you go earlier.

Wang Xijue said: "Although your suggestion has a certain amount of truth, in the final analysis, it is still for the goods of Weihui Mansion, which is difficult to convince everyone!" ”

Liu Zongcheng secretly glanced at Wang Jiaping and Wang Xijue, and said: "Actually, the grass people still have a lot of ideas, but they don't dare to tell Song Shilang, for fear of saying the wrong thing and making Song Shilang unhappy." ”

When Wang Jiaping heard this, he couldn't help but glance at Wang Xijue, and said to Liu Zongcheng: "You have any ideas, but it doesn't hurt to say it, whether it's right or wrong, we have our own judgment, and we won't blame you." ”

Liu Zongcheng said: "The grass people have been working for decades, and they are very familiar with the exchange of goods, so they are aware of some of the pros and cons. The tariffs on the goods of Weihui Mansion seem to be aimed at Guo Dan, but in fact, they are to protect the industry and commerce of the state capitals.

In this way, there will be no situation, such as Kaifeng Mansion and Zhangde Mansion, where the people of the two mansions are running to Weihui Mansion, resulting in Kaifeng and Zhangde facing a major tax crisis. ”

Wang Jiaping and Wang Xijue both nodded approvingly.

At the beginning, the tragic situation of Kaifeng Mansion and Zhangde Mansion is still vivid, at that time it was really completely out of control, and the government couldn't control it at all, and those people died in the territory of Weihui Mansion.

The reason is that the industry and commerce of Weihui Mansion are too prosperous, and the premise of prosperity is that their goods are sold well, and this is because their goods are of high quality and low price, and it is difficult for industry and commerce in other places to compete with them, resulting in the continuous loss of craftsmen, and the industry and commerce enter a depression, which will naturally affect the local finances.

Many of these state governments are using industrial and commercial taxes to subsidize the government's expenditures, because the agricultural tax is too easy to calculate, and the proportion given by the imperial court is very clear, which is not very easy to operate, and the commercial tax itself is more complicated, and the imperial court does not stipulate very clearly, which has great room for operation.

Liu Zongcheng continued: "This is only one of them, and the second is that the grass people believe that the commercial tax stipulated by the imperial court is very simple, and the commercial tax is collected in the way of collecting agricultural tax, and there are many kinds of goods, and the grass people think that it cannot be generalized, which is not only unfair, but also causes many contradictions, and the grass people think that the goods should be taxed by classification. ”

"Taxing by category?"

Wang Jiaping hurriedly said: "What kind of classification?" ”

Liu Zongcheng said: "Classify some of the necessary supplies that people need to lock their daily lives into one category, and give them lower taxes, such as ordinary clothes, farm tools, and so on. And some of the more luxurious goods, which are not necessities of life, are classified into a category and given higher taxes. Such as pearls, nanmu, pianos, carriages, mansions, and so on.

Because the grass people found that those who could afford these luxury goods would not care about that little bit of taxes, but for ordinary people, every penny of the pots and pans would bring them a heavy burden. ”

Wonderful! Wonderful!

Just a few words made Wang Jiaping and Wang Xijue feel amazing!

Nowadays, the commercial tax is the same as the agricultural tax, it is a direct tax, to put it crudely, it is a poll tax.

As soon as the court was taxed, everyone was in pain.

The plan proposed by Liu Zongcheng is an indirect tax, the essence of which is to levy a tax on the rich, but it is not clear, and this kind of levy should be more reasonable, you don't want to pay this tax, you can not buy it, it is up to you to pay it or not, if you don't buy it, you won't die, since you want to buy it, then you have to pay this tax.

For a merchant, if you collect more, I will sell it expensively, and if I can't sell it, I won't sell it, and I can't sell it at a loss, and this tax must be borne by the buyer.

This is precisely the biggest headache for Wang Jiaping and Wang Xijue.

They want to levy taxes on the rich, but they know that it is very difficult, because their prestige is given to the enemy by Guo Dan, unlike Zhang Juzheng, who holds a butcher's knife in his hand, and those who follow me prosper, and those who oppose me die.

Based on this alone, the two of them felt that the trip was worthwhile.

Wang Jiaping said excitedly: "If you have any ideas, let's talk about it quickly." ”

Liu Zongcheng said: "In addition, about grain and salt, this kind of goods is very special, related to human life, because everyone does not leave grain and salt. With regard to this category of goods, the grass people proposed to exempt them from customs duties and encourage merchants to trade in them. ”

Wang Jiaping asked, "What is the explanation?" ”

Liu Zongcheng said: "This is because the grass people have found that the transfer of grain and salt has always been arranged by the imperial court, which undoubtedly increases the burden on the imperial court. For merchants, where food and salt are scarce, there will naturally be merchants who will transport grain and salt there.

If the tariffs are eliminated and the costs are reduced, then there will naturally be merchants selling grain and salt everywhere, which will reduce the loss of the country, and second, it will also bring benefits to the people and encourage more people to reclaim wasteland.

In addition, as for food, there is actually a tax. As for salt, the grass people suggested that the imperial court collect taxes directly from the salt-producing land, and give the rest to the merchants to sell, so that the imperial court could use the salt tax to mediate the price of salt. ”

Wang Jiaping nodded again and again when he heard this, and said with a smile: "The staff is really worthy of being the Taishan Beidou of the tooth line, and in terms of facts, the official thinks that these three suggestions from the staff are enough to outweigh all the successes that Guo Dan has achieved so far." ”

"Don't dare, don't dare, the adults have won the prize." Liu Zongcheng hurriedly saluted.

Wang Xijue said with a smile: "I don't think Scholar Wang can compliment you, this should be his heartfelt words." ”

Wang Jiaping smiled and nodded.

This is indeed his heartfelt words, Guo Dantian takes care of his own selfish interests every day, although he has achieved great success in Weihui Mansion, he earns more, and he does not care about the surrounding state capitals at all, resulting in a crisis in the surrounding state capitals because of Weihui Mansion, and Liu Zongcheng's three suggestions, that are really for the country, the people, and the benefit of the community.

The pattern is too far apart.

After careful questioning one by one, Wang Jiaping and Wang Xijue returned satisfied.

As soon as they left, Liu Chengbian said excitedly: "Grandpa, it seems that the two adults are very fond of you, if the imperial court adopts Grandpa's suggestion, it will definitely make our Liu family lead the world." ”

Liu Zongcheng sighed: "It's a pity that these suggestions were not thought up by the old man, but by Guo Dan, this god is also him, the ghost is also him, he is invincible!" ”