In a small hall of Chang'an Palace in the north of Chengdu, several eunuchs are sitting together discussing government affairs, you read that right, several eunuchs are indeed discussing government affairs.

The leader is the old eunuch Song Chaofeng, and then Huo Xianming, Dou Wenchang, Tian Wenxiu, Liu Zhenliang, these five eunuchs formed a small group, not only controlling the Shence Army, controlling the power in the palace, but also often using Li Shi to meddle in government affairs, especially Song Chaofeng directly approved the decision on behalf of the Son of Heaven, and many court resolutions were vetoed by him in the name of the Son of Heaven.

Li Shi was very fond of these eunuchs, and when his life and death were in danger, only these eunuchs did not abandon him and loyally escorted him out of the palace, so that he could finally see clearly who was the one who was truly loyal to him.

At the same time, Li Shi didn't want to be the nominal son of heaven, he also wanted to interfere in government affairs and show his existence, but his physical injuries did not allow him to spend too much energy, so he handed over government affairs to the eunuchs, and used them to contain Li Yi, the superintendent of the country, and the ministers of the court.

Li Shi, the son of heaven, set up an office in the Tingzheng Palace, called the Shence Army Command Office, which corresponds to the 12 Guards of the Imperial Court.

Beiya sounds like a military institution, but in fact it is a combination of military and government, and the five eunuchs set up a political hall here, and many major government affairs are discussed and decided by the five of them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Holy One has agreed in principle to our tax increase plan, but I just hope that we will consider the tax amount again, I think that as long as there is a house, the shelf tax will have to be paid, so it is very wide, and the tax should not be too high, and it is guaranteed to be collected once a year, and once it is implemented, it can greatly reduce the financial pressure."

The eunuchs discussed the shelf tax is the real estate tax, the shelf refers to the beams, a house needs two girders, the housing standard of the official house is not how many acres it occupies, but how many shelf houses, two frames and one room, so the real estate tax in the Tang Dynasty is called the shelf tax.

Of course, the collection of the tax between the shelves was not proposed by the eunuchs, but the trend of collecting the tax between the shelves was proposed by the imperial court in order to solve the increasingly embarrassing financial pressure, but because it involved the vital interests of too many court officials and magnates, the tax between the shelves was not able to come up with a plan for several months.

Li Shi decided to let the eunuchs draft the tax increase plan, the eunuchs lived in the palace, the palace was tax-free, and there was no conflict of interest with them, so the eunuchs drafted very smoothly, and it had been passed by Li Shi, the son of heaven, but the eunuchs set the tax very heavy, and Li Shi felt that he needed to think about it again.

Song Chaofeng coughed and said, "Just halve our original plan!" It was changed to 2,000 wen in the upper room, 1,000 wen in the middle room, and 500 wen in the lower room, so that they can almost afford it. ”

The five eunuchs raised their hands one after another to express their agreement, and they jointly signed the tax bill, which was submitted to the Son of Heaven by Song Chaofeng.

.........

Li Shi immediately transferred the shelf tax plan to the government hall and ordered them to deliberate and approve it.

As soon as this plan appeared, it caused a big wave in the government and the opposition, aroused a strong reaction, and the entire government and the opposition were opposed.

The thatched huts that the poor people live in are lower houses, and most of them have about two rooms, a bedroom and a living room, and each room is only about seven or eight square meters, while kitchens, latrines, livestock stables, etc., can only be regarded as sheds, not called houses, and can be tax-exempt.

Even if there is not much housing, it is still very difficult for the poor people who cannot make ends meet to increase the burden of money every year.

For those with slightly better conditions, there are five or six houses, and they also need a few dollars a year, and it is not easy to earn money now, which obviously increases the burden.

Large households are slightly larger, a room is 20 square meters, belongs to the middle house, each house has to be taxed consistently, generally covering an area of three acres there are dozens of rooms, dozens of houses will cost dozens of taxes, of course, large households are also strongly dissatisfied.

In the past two years, Chengdu has doubled its expansion to the east, and a large area of fertile land has become a mansion for the wealthy, many of whom have hundreds of rooms and thousands of rooms, and they are all spacious and bright houses.

Moreover, the intershelf tax is for the Tang Dynasty, as long as the imperial court passes, all localities must be implemented in both urban and rural areas, including various feudal towns, they will also implement it, but the tax money flows into the pockets of the feudal towns.

However, the poor people still have a way to deal with it, they simply demolished the house and built it into a shack without taxation, which can be lived in, but it is not allowed to let large families live in shacks! Therefore, the inter-shelf tax is mainly strongly opposed by the powerful and large families.

Li Yi and the ministers of the political affairs hall were particularly fiercely opposed, and what they opposed was not the tax bill itself, but the eunuchs who opposed the eunuchs' interference in politics.

The intershelf tax plan was unsurprisingly vetoed in the political affairs hall, Li Shi was furious, dismissed the right minister Xiao Fu Xiao Fu and the left minister Jiang Gongfu, and reappointed Lu Qi as the right minister.

Vice Prime Minister Dudu, Isolated Qiu, and Liu Congyi resigned as Xiangguo at the same time.

Li Shi abolished the multi-phase system again, appointed Lu Qi and Zhang Yansheng as the left and right ministers, and forcibly implemented the inter-shelf tax.

In a wave of opposition and noise, the chaotic four years of Jianzhong ended, and at the beginning of the new year, Li Shi changed the name of the year to Zhenyuan, and in exchange for the implementation of the tax between the shelves, Li Shi officially canonized Li Yi as the crown prince, and the tax between the shelves was passed and began to be promulgated in all parts of the world.

..........

Zhang Ye's New Year this year was very lively, and Guo Song also specially invited the families of officials and generals such as Pan Liao, Li Luo, and Cao Wannian to his mansion to spend Chinese New Year's Eve together.

It was busy until the fifth day of the first month, everyone finally had their own time, early in the morning, Guo Song led his family to worship the ancestors, this is where Guo Song has been very difficult, he didn't know how to sacrifice his ancestors, for many years, he has been avoiding this problem, until after marrying Xue Tao, under Xue Tao's repeated suggestions, he reluctantly built the ancestral hall.

The ancestor of the Lingzhou Guo family was Guo Jin, the assassin of Tongzhou in the Sui Dynasty, and Guo Song also worshiped him as his ancestor, as well as his nominal father Guo Huaishan and grandfather Guo Jinyuan.

Guo Song simply sacrificed Xue Tao's ancestor Xue Daoheng and grandfather Xue Ling's tokens together, this move moved Xue Tao, after marrying Dugu Youlan, under Xue Tao's reminder, Guo Song also put the spirit card of Dugu Xin, the ancestor of the Dugu family, into the ancestral hall.

Although this move was a bit out of line, it deeply moved Xue Xun and Dugu Qiu.

Guo Song seemed a little preoccupied, and after simply sacrificing to the ancestors, he left in a hurry under the pretext of having something.

"Eldest sister, my husband seems to have something on his mind today?" In the room, Dugu Youlan took a sip of tea and asked.

Xue Tao shook his head and said with a wry smile: "He is pretending to have something on his mind, in fact, he is perfunctory, he worships his ancestors like this every year, he seems to be preoccupied, he simply puts on three incense sticks, and leaves after a salute, there are no other sacrificial ceremonies, this year is still the same, I am not surprised at all." ”

Dugu Youlan was surprised, "Why is this?" This is an ancestor worship! ”

In Dugu Youlan's impression, their family worships their ancestors twice a year, solemn and grand, and every link is meticulous, but when they arrive at their husband's house, it is completely different, even the offerings are prepared temporarily, and they do not bathe and change clothes, just put on three incense sticks, which feels like ..... It's like burning incense in a temple.

Xue Tao smiled and shook his head, "After a long time, you won't be surprised by this kind of thing, in fact, my father is the same, every year to worship the ancestors, he gives my grandfather three incense sticks on the spirit card, there is no ancestor or the like, once the offering forgot to prepare, and it can't be bought outside, my mother had to bring the little dishes left over from the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner to the table."

I mean, don't pay too much attention to these things, my husband must have something unspeakable, just like my father, his status in the family was too low, and when he was young, the family didn't allow him to participate in the sacrifice at all, so he was very cold to the sacrifice. ”

"What's the reason for that?" Dugu Youlan asked curiously.

"He didn't tell you?"

Dugu Youlan shook her head, Xue Tao suddenly had an indescribable pride in her heart, after all, in her husband's heart, she and Dugu Youlan are still different, many things, her husband will tell herself, but she will not say more to Dugu Youlan, maybe this is called a husband and wife.

Xue Tao suddenly remembered that at the wedding of her husband and Dugu Youlan, there didn't seem to be a knot ceremony, did she forget it, or did she deliberately avoid it?

"Big sister!" Dugu Youlan saw that Xue Tao was a little distracted, so she called her.

Xue Tao came back to her senses at this time, and she smiled: "This matter has something to do with his Lingzhou family, he was removed from the Lingzhou Guo family back then, and even his name was erased from the family." ”

"Why is that?" Dugu Youlan was shocked, there was such a thing.

"This matter is more complicated, I'll go back and tell you slowly, my husband is going to go to Beiting soon, and we have to get ready."

At this time, Dugu Youlan suddenly covered her mouth and ran out, squatting in the basin retching.

Xue Tao hurriedly walked over to support her, and asked in surprise, "Are you.... When did this start? ”

"Since the day before yesterday, I always felt nauseous, chest tightness, and maybe a little cold."

Xue Tao shook his head, "It's not that I'm cold, I've been like you before, you're probably happy!" ”