At this time, King Xian was dissatisfied with the prince's statement and did not respond face-to-face, so he asked Lu Gao:

"Lu Aiqing, what do you think about this matter?"

"Back to the king, the matter of horses is very important, and if it is other princes, the best horses are categorically not allowed to be traded. And the law of my Xianguo is enlightened, and it is allowed to sell good horses, but the profiteers ignore the constraints of the law and do not hesitate to sell forbidden horses, which is an unforgivable sin, and sooner or later they must be caught. ”

"Hmm." King Xian nodded in affirmation, and asked Gao Xun again: "What does Gao Qing think Lu Qing means?" ”

"The king is not at fault for the seizure of the horse, but the king's family is an important town in Gyeonggi, and he has neither prepared nor informed the king to discuss with the cabinet, although this matter is not wrong, but it is not appropriate. Of course, there is no problem for Dasi Nong to buy at market price, but no one would have imagined that such profiteers would not be satisfied with this, and suddenly provoke and cause trouble. ”

Gao Xun's words are not painful, but the great thing is that the position of understanding varies from person to person, standing in the position of the prince, it seems that the position of the prince is what it is, and it seems that it is the king of salt, and it sounds like the state of mind of the king of salt.

Everyone did not hear anything unusual, and King Xian naturally understood his own position, and then Zhao Xun said:

"Zhao Qing, how harmful is it to raise military horses privately?"

"Back to the king, privately raising military horses is easy to help the nobles of the counties to raise cavalry, coupled with the huge increase in the strength of the near country, the financial resources of the nobles are not the same as before, and the harm of privately raising military horses is worse than the external trouble."

"Yes, what Zhao Qing said is exactly what the widow is worried about. Since this time it has arisen because of the trespassing of the law and raising horses, then you will relieve the widow of this trouble, and think of what good way to solve this problem. However, it is clear that it must be the best of both worlds, and it is not possible to completely ban private horse breeding, so as not to cut off horses in the future. You can't continue to indulge private horses, that's all, you can get a good plan for the widow. ”

King Xian struck while the iron was hot, but he pit Bailiyan strongly. This clearly means that the levy of the horse breeding tax agreed on last night will be said through his mouth, and not all of them will belong to him at that time.

As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at each other and discussed, and King Xian swept everyone's faces with eager eyes, looking forward to Bailiyan solving problems for him.

At this time, Nuo Yiyan said:

"The king, the smugglers of military horses are all from abroad, and the minister thinks that because of the strengthening of border checks, additional checkpoints have been set up to curb the entry of military horses."

"I'm afraid that's not right." Lu Gao objected, and then said: "Most of my country's borders are plains, and the border passes are impassable and trails can be taken, so it is impossible to prevent them. If patrols are strengthened, they will have to call in soldiers and cavalry to patrol back and forth, so not only will a large number of soldiers be mobilized to stretch the border for thousands of miles, but they will also have little effect and it will be difficult to achieve results.

The minister thought that if it could not be completely banned, domestic supervision should be strengthened, the household horses should be registered, and those who raised fine and high-grade military horses without permission should be severely punished. ”

"Erchen agrees with General Lu's statement that local governments have been negligent in management for many years, and this time they can take this opportunity to urge all localities to strengthen control."

"Oh, the prince also agrees with Lu Aiqing's move." Xianwang said leisurely, seemingly very pleased, but after a moment of conversation, he asked Bailiyan: "Yongxing Hou, what do you think of this discussion?" ”

Looking at King Xian's expectant gaze, Bai Liyan really didn't want to put forward the bill by himself, but when he thought of the dissatisfaction caused by the abolition of the crown prince, he was even more worried that his career would be abandoned halfway. Compared with the pressure from the outside world, Bai Liyan didn't want King Xian to lose his trust in him, and then affect Yongxing's foundation and die halfway.

Turning his heart down, he said:

"The minister thought that it was appropriate to strengthen discipline, but he did not cure the symptoms. Nowadays, the counties are noble, and even the rich and powerful, and the private soldiers are very heavy. There are dozens or hundreds of people, and there are more than one or two thousand, and some even raise cavalry for personal use. Even though the law is forgiving, it is necessary to imitate those who plot wrongdoers.

Therefore, the minister thought that because of the new law of cultivating horses, all private individuals, whether they were nobles or privates, had the right to raise horses, and it was strictly forbidden to raise military horses, and private individuals were taxed according to the grade and number of horses.

At the same time, the supervision of the horse market should be strengthened and the smuggling of war horses should be cracked down, so that the two-pronged approach can not only curb the proliferation of military horses, but also not stifle the domestic horse breeding market, and also increase the horse breeding tax for the national treasury every year to open up a source of revenue. ”

Bai Li Yan and Pan explained all the plans discussed last night, in order to avoid the suspicion of collusion, King Xian did not rush to express his position, pretending to be deep and calm, observing everyone's faces, after the cabinet everyone discussed, King Xian said:

"What does Lu Qing have to say?"

Lu Gao fully agreed with Bailiyan's measures, but he didn't know the "sinister intentions" of King Xian, so he happily affirmed the proposed measures:

"I think it's feasible."

"Oh......" King Xian groaned, looked at Zhao Xun, and just wanted to speak, the prince interjected:

"Father, my son has something to say."

King Xian raised his long white eyebrows, turned to look at the prince and asked:

"What does the prince have to say?"

"Erchen thinks that it may be inappropriate to levy a horse tax."

"What's wrong?"

"Erchen thought that private horse merchants were the worst, and if a horse tax was levied, it would be detrimental to the trade of Xianguo. Moreover, there are many and few horses, and those who have mares give birth to one child a year, and the calculation may not be accurate, so the resulting overpayment of taxes will inevitably lead to the complaints of the merchants, please ask the father Wang Mingjian. ”

"The prince is rightly worried." King Xian praised the prince's suggestion, but the next moment he turned to Bailiyan: "Yongxing Hou, what is the prince worried about, what does Aiqing think?" ”

Bailiyan couldn't help but have a heart cramp when he heard the news, and King Xian wanted him to fight against the prince.

And the prince obviously agreed with Lu Gao to supervise the horses, and now he has put forward measures and questioned them, this is a fucking bitch and a memorial arch, which one is his prince playing!

The introduction of the horse tax was originally intended to restrain the powerful from raising horses to expand the strength of private soldiers, and the merchants were a special group, and the horses were originally a tool for profit, so of course it was impossible to limit them to death, which would only increase the disadvantages.

The prince clearly put forward this proposal to open up for some people and overthrow the horse tax. But if you think about it carefully, it is the magnates and businessmen who are attached to the prince, not so much dependent on his prince Jiang Zhen, but actually dependent on the power and wealth of Xihuan and Fang Bo, just like last year's silk merchants, nominally attached to his prince Jiang Zhen, in fact, Xihuan and Fang Bo are still active.

So Bailiyan rectified the silk merchants, which actually indirectly hit Xihuan and Fang Bo's economic resources, and he, the prince, did not have any real power, and even the basic change expenses were subject to Xihuan's soft supervision, but he ended up with a good favor.

Speaking of which, I, Jiang Zhen, also tried my best, but it was all his Yongxing Hou who was black. And the prince didn't say anything about Xihuan's discomfort, but secretly it wasn't because the silk merchants were attached to Xihuan and Fang Bo, and they stood on the wrong team and were hit by Bailiyan.

If last year's silk merchant was damaged, the prince's city government could not be seen, in this royal incident, the prince was still detached outside the core of the storm, and for so many years, he had taken risks many times to walk the tightrope between the major forces, and he Jiang Yu was the real master.

I don't know if King Xian has insight into the prince's thoughts, but one thing is certain, King Xian obviously doesn't want the prince to be in harmony with Baili Yantai after he succeeds to the throne. In other words, in the matter of the king's family, he Bailiyan was too arbitrary, which aroused the vigilance of King Xian.

At this time, Bailiyan was in a dilemma, and it was obviously unreasonable for him to overturn his proposal, which would damage his prestige, and he could not explain it to King Xian. If you refute the prince, it will only aggravate the contradictions in the future.

After weighing it repeatedly, Bailiyan chose to give in to King Xian.

"The minister thinks that the prince's concerns are indeed reasonable, but most of the merchant horses are mainly pack horses, followed by medium horses, and there will not be many good horses, so when the new law is amended, a hole can be opened, but all the pack horses and horses held by the holders of merchant certificates in our country are exempt from taxation. If you want to raise a good horse to show your identity, you can exempt two ordinary good horses from the tax according to the example of the common people, and if the good horse exceeds, the horse tax will be levied at the tax rate, limited to one year, and the tax will be verified and reported for payment once, and the second year will be reviewed. ”

The original intention of the horse tax is to curb the powerful to raise war horses, ordinary good horses, middle and low-class horses, pack horses, and pull horses can be completely exempt from taxation, and at the same time open the common class to raise one or two ordinary good horses, which can ensure the survival of domestic middle and upper class horses in the people.

Based on the current agricultural output of Xianguo and the future development trend of agriculture, ordinary people can afford not only pigs and cattle, but also one or two horses, and even good horses.

The prince's original intention was to crack down on the horse tax policy under the pretext of the merchants who owned the largest number of horses, but now he simply made a special exception to allow merchants to keep middle- and low-class horses with licenses, and the intention of the horse tax was clear, and the prince said:

"Father, it may be unfair to exempt the middle and lower class horse taxes of the merchants, and if they are exempted, other people should also be exempted."

King Xian remained silent and said slowly:

"There are advantages and disadvantages to exempting or not exempting, and the exemption of the tax on the horse's pack horse and horse's horse is actually to facilitate the merchants' trafficking of goods, and the taxation will increase the exploitation of the merchants, and the taxes of the merchants will eventually be diluted to the people. If the prince thinks that it is beneficial for the people to reduce the horse tax, he can consult with the ministers, and there is no need to report to the widows. ”

King Xian sent the prince to discuss with the cabinet who could be exempted from the horse tax, which was equivalent to letting the prince negotiate with Bailiyan and the cabinet to exempt the powerful from the horse tax, so what should the horse tax do, obviously Bailiyan and the cabinet could not agree, King Xian undoubtedly lost a soft nail, leaving the prince speechless, but it was not the prince who tried his best.

suppressed the crown prince, King Xian struck while the iron was hot and asked Zhao Xun again, ready to finalize the horse tax:

"What is the intention of Yongxing Hou Zhao Qing?"

"King Qiyu, my Xianguo horse farm is far away in Qianyue Mountain, between Zhi and Xu, and there is no obstacle to making friends now, if you have a bad relationship in the future, it may be difficult for the horses of Qianyue Mountain to be brought back to Xianguo. It is a good thing to ban private horses in China, but private military horses have drawbacks, and simply to be constrained by law, how to deal with the war horses, horses and a large number of private horses that have been raised will become a thorny problem.

If the treasury contributes capital, the price is no different from the compulsory expropriation, and increasing the treasury expenditure is inevitably a huge expenditure, and such a thankless method is indeed tricky. The old minister thought that this move was feasible with a fixed amount of taxation, or at least a compromise. ”

"Well, Zhao Qing is old-fashioned, and he must be thoughtful when he thinks about it. Nuo Qing and Gao Qing, what do you two think? ”

"The minister seconded the proposal."

Promise agreed, and so did Gao Xun:

"The minister also seconded the proposal, but the minister has something to say."

"Oh, what other good strategies does Gao Qing have for the widow?"

"King Qiyu, since it is necessary to tax according to the grade of horses and the number of horses raised, but the elimination of horses and birth, old age, sickness and death are complicated and complicated, and how to review and approve the annual taxation must be carefully discussed in the long run."

When King Xian heard this, he suddenly realized that his whims were easy, but it was indeed difficult to collect taxes.