Of course, the appearance of cement and toilet is just a small episode, the main theme is still the change, after all, this change is related to the fundamental law of the country, and it also determines the future direction of the Tang Dynasty, Li Zhi did not dare to slack off, and after a few days, he summoned the cardinal minister to the Liangyi Hall to inquire about the progress of the work.

Liangyi Palace.

"Why hasn't this Lu Shilang arrived yet?"

Li Zhi came to the Liangyi Hall and found that Master Lu had not yet arrived, so he couldn't help frowning slightly.

Wang Xuan said: "Back to Your Majesty, Lu Shilang Tuoweichen told Your Majesty that he has some important materials to prepare, and it will take a while to arrive." ”

Li Zhi nodded slightly, and said to Han Yi first: "I heard that Shang Shuling has already met with those big landlords in Guanzhong, I don't know how to talk?" ”

Han Yi said with a smile: "Back to Your Majesty, they have already expressed their willingness to support the imperial court to change the law. ”

Li Zhi sighed, and said with a little surprise: "I don't know how Shang Shuling persuaded them to support?" ”

Han Yifeng said lightly: "They are all reasonable people, the better I explain the country to them, the better they will be able to reason, so as to get their support." ”

Li Zhi laughed when he heard this, and said, "I'm afraid it's more than that, those big landlords, I know better than you." ”

They are all from the Guanlong aristocracy, can you not understand this?

Han Yi sneered: "In addition, the minister also told them that if they don't support it, the imperial court will let the grain price in Chang'an exceed four yuan, otherwise, the imperial court will allow the price of grain to rise to ten yuan." ”

Li Zhi was stunned for a moment, and then laughed.

Li Hong opened his eyes wide and asked curiously, "Why is this?" ”

Han Yi said: "Your Highness, they are all big landlords, and the most in their hands is grain, and the price of grain directly affects everything for them." ”

"I see."

Li Hong nodded his little head.

Li Zhi asked again: "Can you really make Chang'an's grain price less than four cents?" ”

Han Yi smiled strangely and said, "Please allow Weichen to keep this secret." ”

Li Zhi was stunned for a moment, and then realized that this move was the most threatening if he didn't say it, and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, since you don't want to say it, then I won't force you." ”

Cui Ji said suddenly: "Your Majesty, in the last meeting, when we talked about tax-free households, we seemed to have missed a very important group of people, namely Taoist temples and Buddhist temples, but they are also tax-exempt households. ”

Li Zhi frowned when he heard this, pondered for a moment, and said, "I don't know if you Aiqing thinks you should tax Buddhist temples and Taoist temples?" ”

Liu Xiang said: "Your Majesty is the Taoist saint, and I am afraid that it is not appropriate to levy taxes on the Taoist temple!" In addition, all dynasties and dynasties did not levy taxes on Taoist temples and Buddhist temples. ”

Li Zhi nodded slightly.

Cui Jijian suddenly took out a document from his sleeve and said, "Your Majesty, this is the land change of Daxingshan Temple in the past five years, and I would like to ask Your Majesty to take a look." ”

Zhang Desheng immediately presented the information to Li Zhi.

Li Zhi looked at it and said in surprise: "The fields of Daxingshan Temple have increased by as much as six times in five years? ”

Cui Jijian nodded and said: "In the past five years, the imperial court has paid more attention to Buddhism, and the status of monks has also been greatly improved. ”

Although he didn't say it, the meaning was already obvious, that is, the landlord colluded with the Buddhist temple to annex the people's land.

After Wu Meiniang took power, she admired Buddhism in a variety of roundabouts, after all, the royal family was born in Taoism, and Taoism is also the legal state religion, and she does not dare to promote Buddhism with great fanfare, but even so, the status of Buddhism has improved a lot.

Li Zhi listened and was silent.

Zhang Wen said: "The old minister has also heard of this matter, but the two religions of Taoism and Buddhism are different from the landlords, if they are taxed, I am afraid that there will be more twists and turns." ”

Sects are a very sensitive topic in society, because sects have their own particularities, as long as the sect and the monarch are of one mind, it can safeguard the interests of the monarch.

Han Yi said: "The minister thinks that even if the court collects taxes, there will be no more twists and turns, this cultivator, pay attention to pure heart and few desires, indifferent to fame and fortune, we lay people will fight for profit, if they want to make trouble, then they are laymen, lay people pay taxes, it is justified, and we did not let the Taoist Buddha pay taxes, if they are cultivators, then they should not care." I think it is more reasonable to tax Taoist temples than to tax landlords. ”

Cui Jijian also said: "The minister agrees with what Shang Shuling said, Taoist Buddha pays attention to cultivation, is to preach and preach the law, if Taoist priests and monks are thinking about annexing land everywhere every day, greedy for fame and fortune, the two religions of Taoism and Buddhism will be spurned by the world sooner or later, and if this continues, those monks and Taoist priests who really practice cannot be taken seriously, because those who wantonly annex the land and seek wealth and profit The Taoist temple will grow stronger, and in the two religions of Confucianism and Taoism, a bad atmosphere will be formed, and the imperial court should give them some warnings, and taxing them is the best warning." ”

Eldest Sun Yan and Di Renjie also nodded.

The monks of the Tang Dynasty were both wine-colored and would not be left behind, so they needed money to satisfy their desires, and annexing the land was the most trouble-free, and they would not become. Not to mention moral issues, but this is not good for the development of business, the pragmatic spirit promoted by Han Yi, why do you monks lie down and eat, and being a monk is so cool, who still works.

Li Zhi did not have much scruple about Buddhism, mainly Taoism, you must know that they claimed to be the descendants of Lao Tzu.

Han Yi said: "Your Majesty, this tax must be paid, if the tax of Taoist temples and Buddhist temples is exempted, then the landlords will definitely collude with them to put their land within the scope of Taoist temples and Buddhist temples, so that the status of Taoist temples and Buddhist temples will endanger the rule of the imperial court, which must be restricted." ”

Li Zhi listened, nodded frequently, said that those are useless, the key is to analyze from the interests of the emperor, if the stamp duty is levied, the Taoist Buddhist temple is still tax-free, then the landlord must collude with the monks and Taoist priests, especially the Buddhist temple, then the status of the monks will become very high, and the powerful have to rely on them. Li Zhi weighed it again and again, nodded and said, "Okay, include the Dao Buddha in the scope of taxation." ”

"Your Majesty."

Cui Jijian, Wang Xuandao, and Zheng Shanxing said in unison.

The eldest grandson Yan said: "Your Majesty, when the minister revised the stamp duty, he found that there were many problems, if the uniform land system was abolished, that is to say, the imperial court would no longer grant land to the people, but the population was always increasing, how to deal with this?" ”

What are you kidding, if the land is still granted, everyone will run away to farm, then how will my industry and commerce develop. Han Yi said: "I have thought about this, in fact, the key to land is not to grant, but to cultivate, if it is not cultivated, there will be so many fields, and the population will always increase, which is unavoidable." The imperial court should have issued laws to encourage the people to reclaim wasteland, rather than waiting for the court to grant land. ”

Ren Zhigu said: "Reclamation of wasteland is not a matter of one or two days, but the old Confucian women and children also have to eat, I think that since the abolition of the equalization system, it should no longer be calculated according to each person, but should be calculated by family, the same eighty acres of land, this person must be much richer than three people." The imperial court should consider the stamp duty more carefully, and also take into account the environment of the people's families, and the family has young children and old mothers, and the imperial court should reduce taxes. ”

Cui Jijian and Wang Xuandao nodded their heads one after another to express their support.

Han Yi said: "If this happens, then the old Confucian women and children will become a means of tax avoidance for landlords, which will hurt them and the imperial court." At present, the imperial court is to recover quickly, and it is not yet able to take care of them, which will only make the burden of the imperial court heavier, because the imperial court has to count a large number of people's family conditions, and the purpose of implementing stamp duty is to make it simple, and calculate taxes by the number of acres. Of course, I'm not against this suggestion, I just think that the court should do what it can and wait until the court is able to do so. ”

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Shang Shuling is right, the imperial court has to do what it can at present, if it doesn't measure itself, I'm afraid it will lead to the outbreak of a crisis." ”

Ren Zhigu and Di Renjie glanced at each other and nodded slightly.

They are all born in Confucianism and have benevolence and righteousness, but Han Yi is born in capital, and capital cannot appear in a benevolent and righteous way, which is self-contradictory, he finally borrowed the hands of others to turn the people into homeless people and provide productivity for businessmen, if the imperial court gives some good policies to the countryside, the people may go back to farming.

The eldest grandson Yan said: "Another point, when Shang Shuling mentioned stamp duty, he explained that the land deed is a very unique contract, because the field can grow crops year after year, so the land deed should pay stamp duty every year. If there is no harvest in the fields due to natural disasters, does it mean that stamp duty is not paid? If so, the imperial court should have made this clear to prevent officials from continuing to collect taxes from the people after natural disasters. ”

Li Zhi smiled when he heard this, and said to Han Yi: "I didn't expect you to have such a wonderful stamp duty." ”

Han Yi shook his head and smiled: "This minister didn't expect it either. ”

Li Zhidao: "Of course, if there is a natural disaster, and the people are asked to pay taxes, it is tantamount to killing chickens and taking eggs, if the court has the ability, it should give relief, how can it still ask the people." ”

Di Renjie said: "Natural disasters for ordinary people, can be a catastrophe, but for the landlords, the harm is not so great, if all are exempted from taxes, the government's taxes will be weakened a lot, if the landlords still pay taxes, the government has the ability to help the people." ”

Li Zhi nodded and said, "That's a good idea. ”

"But it's also very difficult to achieve."

Han Yi shook his head and said: "Stamp duty is important to the spirit of the contract, and if you want to pay it, you will pay it all, or you will not pay it at all." ”

Di Renjie said: "But I think it is possible to reduce taxes, according to stamp duty, the less land the people have, the less taxes they will pay, as long as the calculation is accurate, it can reduce the burden on the people at the same time, increase the government's relief capacity." ”

The eldest grandson said: "However, the interpretation of stamp duty is that it is taxed according to the benefits generated in the contract, and since it is not generated, it should not be levied, unless it is said in another way." ”

Li Zhi frowned and said, "This is really a dilemma!" ”

Han Yi said: "Your Majesty, according to the minister's opinion, this matter must also be important to the overall situation, stamp duty has damaged the interests of the landlords, taking care of a lot of people, the people usually pay taxes, much less than now, is to save a lot of food, to help themselves through the difficulties, the court is also in difficulty at present, can only wait until the treasury is full, only to have more ability to help the people." Moreover, the imperial court encouraged the development of commerce, in fact, it was also to help the people resist natural disasters, and you should not forget that in this crisis, it was the merchants who gave a bite of food to those displaced people who had no livelihood. Therefore, if any of the prefectures and counties encountered difficulties, the imperial court could give preferential policies to the local prefectures and counties to attract businessmen to invest. ”

Li Zhi nodded and said: "Aiqing is reasonable, the matter of relief depends entirely on the landlord's taxes, I am afraid that it is also a drop in the bucket, the imperial court has to find another way to help the people resist natural disasters, businessmen are a way, but I believe that there are other ways, it depends on you Aiqing to come up with a better way." ”

The eldest grandson Yan and Di Renjie said at the same time: "Your Majesty, the minister is willing to do his best." ”

At this moment, someone outside the door announced, "Your Majesty, the servant of the Criminal Department asks to see you." ”

"Invite him in."

After a while, I saw Lu Shigua holding a thick stack of books and walking in, just as he was about to salute. Li Zhi raised his hand and said, "Okay, this ceremony will be waived, why did you come at this time?" ”

Lu Shigua gasped slightly: "Your Majesty, the ministers have important matters to report to Your Majesty." ”

"What's the matter?"

Two days ago, the minister inadvertently flipped through Xu Jingzong's revised national history and found that most of the content was untrue, and even reversed black and white. Your Majesty, this is a mirror of history, we can know the rise and fall, and when future generations see our upside-down national history, they may be misled and ruin the great rivers and mountains of our Tang Dynasty. ”

"Is there such a thing?"

"These are the national histories revised by Xu Jingzong, if Your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can see it yourself."

Li Zhi waved his hand.

Zhang Desheng hurriedly stepped forward and put the revised national history in front of Li Zhi's desk.

Lu Shigua breathed a sigh of relief, and said: "Your Majesty, when you eliminated Goguryeo, Sikong, Shang Shuling, and other generals were extremely meritorious, and Xu Jingzong did not contribute at all, but he ranked his own merits above General Xue Rengui and Shang Shuling in the history of the country, which is extremely shameless. In addition, he also praised the queen a lot, that Zhaoyi Academy was not built by the queen alone, many people have worked it, but he didn't say a word. And Tuyuhun ......! ”

Han Yi suddenly stood up and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that what Lu Shilang said is very reasonable, the history of the country is a valuable wealth left to future generations, Xu Jingzong reversed black and white, it is simply a deep crime, unforgivable, and the minister implores Your Majesty to let Zhang Shangshu revise the history of the country." ”

Lu Shigua looked at Han Yi, I haven't finished talking yet.

Li Zhi glanced at Han Yi gratefully, nodded and said, "Zhang Shangshu, this matter will be handed over to you." ”

As soon as Lu Shigua opened his mouth, Han Yi suddenly said again: "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that the national history is helpful for future generations, but for the present, it is just a record, not necessarily much help, if many things are said through, it will hurt the interests of the country, the minister thinks that the national history should be graded, and there are some records that hurt the country and list them as state secrets, until these records no longer harm the interests of the country, and then make it public." ”

Li Zhi nodded and said, "That's a good idea, so let's do it." ”