After reprimanding Liu Yu, Zhang Zhen raised his head and arched his hand at the emperor and said: "Long live, the minister also asks the emperor to take back the silver for the crime and the two holy decrees of tax increase." If not, the world is not far off. ”

The emperor heard that what Zhang Zhen said was getting more and more unreasonable, and he couldn't hold back any longer.

"Come on, take down this traitor to me and put him in prison, I want him to see if I collect this tax and whether the world will die."

As soon as the emperor finished giving the order, several golden-armored warriors broke into the outside of the hall, and dragged this Zhang Zhen out without saying anything.

Seeing this scene, Xie Xiang, the left deputy capital Yushi, wanted to step forward to admonish, but at this time, Jia Ke stood there and shook his head gently.

Xie Xiang, the left deputy capital imperial historian, saw Jia Ke's gesture and immediately understood.

Zhang Zhen asked for the people's life and complained for the world, and was imprisoned in the prison, which just set off the emperor's mediocrity, isn't this exactly what Jia Ke wants.

So Xie Xiang, the left deputy capital, silently returned to the class, and the other ministers saw this situation and hurriedly returned to the class.

The emperor standing on top felt satisfied when he saw that these ministers, who had just admonished him with confidence, were now retreating one by one.

"Needless to say, next year's tax revenue is already a foregone conclusion on the basis of the original, and you just do what you do."

When the ministers below saw the emperor's momentum, no one dared to advise them anymore, so they reached an agreement.

Jia Ke saw that the emperor had reached an agreement with the ministers to only collect 10% more taxes next year, and he was a little unhappy at this time and wanted to make the emperor a little trouble.

Jia Ke stood up and bowed his hand to the emperor and said: "Long live the lord, if you collect an extra layer of tax next year, the common people will definitely have a difficult life." Therefore, I asked Your Majesty to waive next year's tax, so that the people can have some respite. ”

After hearing what Jia Ke said, all the ministers suddenly focused their eyes on the emperor. This matter is indeed related to the vital interests of the emperor.

In ancient times, taxes and taxes were two different concepts. Taxes are other taxes such as land tax, salt tax, tea tax, etc., which are paid by the people to the state. This is the main income of the state.

At the beginning, it was a kind of money collected by ancient monarchs from their subjects, and it was collected from time to time for military wars. But later, it gradually evolved into a poll tax, also known as Ding Fu.

At the time of the founding of this dynasty, Emperor Taizu stipulated that taxes should go to the state and be owned by the royal family.

And the annual endowment is also a large amount, and these money are used for the emperor's expenses and the princes' salaries.

This was also the foresight of Emperor Taizu, so that the imperial court would not have to bear the burden of the royal family's income and living needs.

This is also the lesson that Emperor Taizu learned from the previous dynasty, you must know that in the previous dynasty, the country's annual tax revenue may not be enough for these royal relatives in the end.

So much so that in the end, the imperial court had neither money for disaster relief nor money to suppress the rebellion, and finally it was subverted.

Emperor Taizu learned this lesson, and this collected taxes, which were not under the management of the imperial court and the household department, and were used exclusively for the income and expenditure of the imperial family.

With a growing population, this is not a small amount of money. The tax was a heavy burden on the peasants, so the landless peasants were often forced to flee in order to refuse to pay the silver. This kind of situation of insufficient levy due to the flight of people has always existed since the Taizu of this dynasty, and these people are often absorbed by the wealthy clan. This has also become a way for local wealthy families to absorb the population.

And now Jia Ke suggested to the emperor to reduce the tax, which has no impact on the tax revenue of the imperial court, but it has a huge hindrance to the income of the imperial family. However, if the collection of the tax is reduced, the increase in the land tax for the people will also be within the range of affordability.

After listening to Jia Ke's words, the emperor was a little embarrassed, the collection of Ding Fu was related to a large part of the royal income, which had to be several million taels a year.

In the nearly 100 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the royal family has multiplied a lot, and this money may not be enough to pay these people.

Every year, the emperor has to make up some from other places in order to maintain the expenses of these royal personnel.

After Jia Ke finished his suggestion, he retreated to the class, he wanted to see if this emperor could be ruthless.

How do you know that this emperor is also ruthless, he is not only ruthless to others, but also to himself.

The emperor closed his eyes and thought for a while, and when he opened his eyes, his face was full of seriousness, and he seemed to have made up his mind.

"Jia Aiqing, this suggestion is very good, don't talk about Ding Fu, I suffer alone, but I can solve the troubles of the people in the world, why not do it. From today, all taxes will be halved. ”

Xia Shouzhong, who was standing on the side, was startled when he heard the emperor say this, "Long live Lord, you have to think about it." How can the people in the palace live this time? ”

Xia Shouzhong is reminding the emperor that the palace maids, eunuchs, empresses, concubines and the empress dowager you raised in the palace, how should you support them.

The emperor also felt a little embarrassed when he heard this, although the emperor still had many granges, but these were a little stretched for the annual expenses of the imperial family.

But the emperor did not compromise, and directly instructed Xia Shouzhong: "From now on, all expenses will be halved, and all the expenses of all harem concubines will also be halved." ”

Xia Shouzhong was a little afraid to be confident, but since the emperor had made up his mind, he had nothing to say, but there were some things he still had to ask the emperor clearly.

"Long live the Lord, what about the Emperor?" This is exactly Xia Shouzhong's difficulty, whether the emperor's order can be placed in the emperor's place is still two words.

The emperor was not happy to hear Xia Shouzhong ask this, "You dog minion, don't you even know about this?" The Emperor and the Empress Dowager, naturally everything is business as usual there, and all the offerings of the concubines must not be reduced. ”

The emperor has made his will, and all the ministers below are now impressed by the emperor. Even Jia Ke admired this emperor a little. No wonder he was able to bring down the Emperor Taishang in the Dream of Red Mansions, and he was able to wipe out all the nobles, he was really a virtuous monarch with courage.

If it weren't for the emperor's inexplicable hostility towards Jia Ke at the beginning, and he was on guard against Jia Ke everywhere, maybe now Jia Ke would also fall under the charm of this emperor and die for him.

After listening to the emperor's will, Liu Yu was the first to come out and kneel on the ground, sobbing while complimenting the emperor: "The emperor is really the wise monarch who is closest to Yao Shunyu Tang throughout the ages, with you, why not worry about this world?" ”

The other ministers looked at it, and said, since you have said so, let's also kneel down and congratulate together. So all the ministers knelt down on the main hall and shouted long live to the emperor's mountain.

The emperor stood beside the benefits and watched condescendingly, and the minister knelt down in front of him, and a sense of satisfaction arose in his heart.

Jia Ke knelt down and felt a little helpless, he originally wanted to embarrass the emperor, but he didn't expect this emperor to be so ruthless. In this way, not only did he move back to a game, did the subjects of the world think that he was a wise monarch, and gave him a wave of presence.

Although this time it can't fully make up for the emperor's mistakes in collecting taxes and discussing the guilt silver, it can also whitewash the emperor's face very well.

The emperor stood on the imperial steps and reveled for a long time, and then the ministers got up and went back to their respective shifts to stand.

"Now that the matter of silver has been discussed, let's talk about Jianghuai next. The people from the Military Aircraft Department will tell you about this. "The emperor is actually still worried about something happening to Lianghuai.

Jia Ke is the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department, so he naturally came to tell everyone about this matter first.

So Jia Ke came out in line, stood in the center of the main hall and bowed to the emperor, and then said to the ministers: "Your Excellency may know that there have been two heavy rains in the Lianghuai area. Zuodu Yushi Tianye went to the Lianghuai region as the minister of military aircraft, and it has been a few months now, and it seems that he can't hold on. In the past few days, the emperor has been asking the emperor to send grain and grass and disaster relief silver as soon as possible, and everyone knows that the treasury has been empty this year, and there is no more to come up with. I'm afraid I'll have to wait until after September if we have to wait for taxes. Now what? Let's give me an explanation. ”

Everyone now understands what the emperor and Jia Ke mean, what's so difficult about this, that is, let the yamen pool money to temporarily fill in this year's holes, and talk about the rest later.

For this kind of thing, all the ministers are blind and nose-closed, and do not say a word.

When the emperor saw the appearance of the minister, there was no way, could he really not get through the last few months?

Jia Ke saw that all the ministers were silent, so he turned around, knelt down on the main hall and kowtowed to the emperor a few times.

When the emperor saw Jia Ke kowtowing to him, his heart kept trembling. Who is Jia Ke? It's just a sugar rooster, and the iron rooster is just a dime, and when he comes here, not only does he not pluck a dime, but he also has to see something. At this time, kowtow to yourself, what is the good thing.

Sure enough, after Jia Ke finished kowtowing, he arched his hand, "Your Majesty, today is the emperor." Now that the imperial court is in crisis, please ask the emperor to open the inner treasury and send relief to the victims in the Lianghuai region and the disaster situation in Shaanxi. ”

As soon as Jia Ke finished saying this, the ministers below all understood. They thought about it and thought that this was a good idea, although this kind of thing did not happen in this dynasty, but it happened repeatedly in the previous dynasty. There is a precedent.

In order to protect their own interests, these ministers knelt on the ground together and begged the emperor: "Please open the inner treasury and give relief to the victims of the world." Long live my emperor, long live long live. ”

The emperor is so angry at this time, this Jia Ke has been giving him problems since today, but you can't refute him yet, because he has talked to the point.

This Jia Ke just now has just let himself reduce Ding Fu by half, and now he has let himself open the inner library. Is this thinking of yourself as the God of Wealth or what? Don't look at yourself as an emperor, but there is no surplus food at home.

The emperor looked at these ministers who were coaxing with Jia Ke with some helplessness, and could only look at Xia Shouzhong next to him, which means that it is time for you to speak.

Xia Shouzhong was also clever, and immediately cried bitterly, and fell to his knees with a wail: "Long live Lord, you can't open the inner library anymore, there is no Ding Fu, if you open the inner library again, I'm afraid the minions won't even be able to eat." ”