Soon it was June, and it was time to collect the summer tax.

Su Jing invited Li Yan to the mansion and asked, "General Li, you have been here for a few months, how is everything going?" ”

Li Yan asked, "What kind of preparation is Fu Zun talking about?" ”

Su Jing immediately said: "It's a matter of summer tax." Last year's autumn tax was not paid much, and both the household department and Kaifeng were not satisfied, and this summer grain must make a difference. ”

Li Yan said with a smile: "Does Fuzun still want to be promoted again?" Do you want to be a governor? Or do you want to be a waiter and a scholar in the household department? ”

Su Jing was stunned for a moment, and then frowned: "This mansion is to serve the imperial court and share worries for Your Majesty, where is there so much villainy?!" ”

Li Yan arched his hand and said: "Li has lost his words, please forgive me." ”

Although Su Jing was unhappy, he was not angry. Although what Li Yan said was not good, it was also true. Even if he can pay this summer tax, what benefit can he get? And this year is really difficult, the thieves have been rampant, the people have been displaced, there is no time to farm, where is he going to collect taxes? Do you want to forcibly collect taxes like other states and counties until you force the people to be thieves?

What's more, he has to rely on Li Yan to help this time, and he doesn't want to offend Li Yan. He nodded with a stiff face and said, "It's okay. ”

Li Yan arched his hand: "Xie Fuzun." ”

Su Jing was tense for a while, but still said: "This time, the household department came with an official document, saying that it is this year's summer tax, and there is no need to pay the silver, and the grain will be paid directly." We also want to transport it to the capital by ourselves. ”

The household department really can't afford it, and even if it has money to buy it, it can't buy much food. Moreover, there have been more places that have reported disasters recently, not only the provinces of Beizhili, Henan, and Shandong continue to drought, but even Nanzhili and Zhejiang have been affected. Although Jiangnan pays heavy taxes, due to the implementation of a whip law, the number of people growing grain in Jiangnan has decreased a lot. The farmers only grow their food rations, and the rest of the fields are cash crops. Therefore, if there is some grain harvest, there is only one place left.

"Li can't do anything." Li Yan shook his head regretfully and said, "If the people don't farm, Li can't turn into food." ”

Su Jing reminded: "I'm talking about Qi County, how can there be more than 100,000 acres of fertile land in Qi County now, right?" ”

Li Yan shook his head with a smile and said, "Fuzun wants to be bad, the food I collected is not enough for me to raise soldiers." ”

"I mean the farmers." Su Jing continued to remind: "Didn't you only charge them thirty percent? They still have seventy percent of the food left in their hands, and they have more food in their hands than you do. ”

Li Yan frowned and said, "Fuzun, I don't care what you want to do. But you must know that the people have paid me taxes, so I have an obligation to protect them. If someone wants to steal their stuff, Lee must be able to do something. ”

"What do you mean by that?!" Su Jing said dissatisfiedly: "Could it be that this mansion is a robber?!" This means that you can buy some grain from farmers. ”

Li Yan nodded with a smile and said, "As long as the transaction is fair, Li will not interfere." It's just," he paused for a moment before continuing, "Does the Mansion have so much money?" Even if it is bartering, the mansion should have what the people need. ”

Su Jing stroked his beard and said with a smile: "This is simple, as long as they hand over the grain, according to the current price of grain, their future taxes can be deducted until the silver money they pay is deducted." That is, the more they pay now, the more years they will be tax-exempt. ”

Li Yan shook his head and said with a smile: "Fuzun, you forgot. As long as they pay me 30% of the harvest, they don't have to pay any taxes. ”

Su Jing frowned and said, "It's good to talk about it, how can you really take it seriously!" If you only pay taxes, where will the court put it?! I agreed with you to do this because you wanted to resettle the displaced people and restore law and order. Now that the people have settled down, this kind of thing can no longer be done. ”

"If Fuzun insists, then we have nothing to say." Li Yan stood up and arched his hand: "Li has left first." ”

Su Jing looked at Li Yan with some surprise, not knowing how Li Yan could become so domineering. When he was in Qixian before, Li Yan respected him very much. Why is it that not only is he not respectful now, but he has become the same as those official gentry, protecting his land and property, and he doesn't want to pay taxes to the court at all.

Li Yan saw that Su Jing didn't have anything to say, so he didn't say anything, and immediately turned around and left.

Su Jing looked at Li Yan's back, and secretly pressed the armrest of the chair with his hand. The emperor promoted him to the position of prefect so that he could collect more taxes. If he can't do anything this year, he's in danger.

After Li Yan returned to the Yamen of the General and thought for half an hour, he finally wrote down an order: publish a notice in all the established villages, reiterating that the people only need to pay 30% of the harvest to the army, and nothing else needs to be paid; Only those who have the power to collect taxes are those sent by the army, and anyone else dares to collect taxes privately, and the people can send these people to the nearest barracks; The army should support the people in the village, but not let others take advantage of it.

Li Yan looked at it carefully twice and found no problem, so he instructed Sun Sifu: "You go and copy a copy, and then send someone to send it to Li Zhong and Li Mou." We must let them be vigilant and not let the people in the government damage our reputation. ”

Sun Sifu gave an order, glanced at it, nodded and said, "Obey." ”

Li Yan was a little unhappy, he didn't expect Su Jing to actually reach out to the people. Originally, according to his thoughts, he also wanted to find a time to communicate with Su Jing, and the two of them put pressure on those officials and gentry together, plus Tian Yong's secret chess, it should be no problem for those officials and gentry to obey. But Su Jing didn't dare to attack the gentry with powerful backgrounds, even if these gentry didn't take him seriously at all, but chose to attack the people who had just settled down.

The tax deduction that Su Jing said was simply an empty promise. Even if he was given ten more dares, he would not dare to write down this matter in black and white, and it would be impossible to do it. According to the current price of grain, the people can take out one or two stones of grain casually, which can cover the taxes for more than ten years, and his successor will definitely not admit it.

At this time, he had already realized that it would be difficult to cooperate with Su Jing in the future. He must speed up the pace of development, and he must speed up the recruitment and division of fields. And the key to all of this is the food issue. So getting food from those big households became the key to the matter.

...