On the first day of work after the Shangyuan Festival, the work was actually relatively easy, and there were hardly too many things to deal with.

The things of the previous year have been dealt with a year ago, and there are no new things sent over during the entire Chinese New Year, so the time when you just work is often the most leisurely of the year.

But leisure is not without a price, as short as ten days, as long as half a month, all kinds of things will pile up.

In other words, it is necessary to deal with the whole month of official business in this half month.

Although there is a holiday during the New Year, it does not mean that nothing will happen during the holiday, and now it is not like the future generations, you can work electronically, and you don't need people to run around.

Taking advantage of the leisure, Li Yuanji was not idle.

After all, in the half month of the Chinese New Year, he was idle and moldy, and he naturally thought about the future.

Therefore, on the first day of work, Li Yuanji held an unprecedented cabinet meeting, and at the beginning, he dropped a bombshell, which was enough to blow everyone up.

"Grain protection price?" Fang Xuanling was stunned, he didn't think there was anything unusual about the protective price of grain, in fact, the imperial court had already done it again, but what he protected before was the price of standing foods such as corn, but this time, Li Yuanji was stunned and put all the food that could be eaten.

No matter what kind of food, whether it is a regular food or not, it is given different protection prices according to different grades.

It stands to reason that this is a good thing, although this protective price is not needed at present, but I am not afraid of 10,000 just in case, now the grain is harvested year after year, and there is a huge granary in Zhenzhou that is constantly supplied.

It is almost foreseeable that if the previous disaster does not occur in the future, the price of grain in Datang will inevitably fall lower day by day, and at most in three to five years, this grain protection price will be used.

But in other words, there are pros and cons to the price of grain protection, but from the current point of view, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

"If that's the case, it won't have any impact in a short period of time, but after three or five years, it's hard to say anything about the imperial court." Xiao Yu couldn't help but say.

"Yes, Your Majesty, think twice......"

It's not that these ministers don't think it's appropriate to set this price, but they just hope that the price is not too high.

Who is the big food eater now? It's the imperial court!

When the people have surplus grain in their hands, a large part of this grain will flow into the market, and when the market supply exceeds demand, prices will naturally fall.

Originally, the extent to which prices fell depended on the extent of this imbalance between supply and demand, but after the protective price was set, it also meant that the imperial court set a bottom line for a period of time, and when it reached this bottom line, it could not fall again.

This certainly ensured the interests of the common people, because they could have a minimum selling price when the price of grain continued to fall, and the difference was made up by the imperial court.

But the problem is that only the imperial court is a big eater, and the daily consumption of the 800,000 army is a huge amount of food, and after the military reform, the army is three meals a day, and the food level is constantly improving.

It's okay to say when you have money, but what about when you don't?

If it's just one, forget it, all the miscellaneous things are drawn in, and the more you draw, the more the court will lose.

It's only been a few good days, and the emperor can't think about it?

"The price of grain protection must be implemented, and the imperial court is the rule-maker, and it cannot lose the interests of the majority of the people just because it involves its own interests." Li Yuanji didn't pay attention to the objections of these people, he has been thinking about this issue for a long time, suppressing grain prices and protecting grain prices, this is what the imperial court must do, but it is not a brainless headless to do it, "Go back and discuss it, see what price these minimum prices are set at appropriate, and the other is the upper limit, and also discuss the price, this year's upper limit is at least thirty yuan lower than last year." ”

Because there is no food in hand, there is no way to curb food prices.

But since last year, the imperial court has accumulated a large amount of grain in its hands, so it has also made frequent moves, and within half a year, the original grain price of more than 400 yuan a bucket has been forcibly suppressed to 200 yuan a bucket.

If it weren't for the interests of those families, this price would have been suppressed even more ruthlessly.

There are wise people, they follow in the footsteps of the imperial court, although they do not make much, but they do not lose money.

Of course, there are also ignorant people who always fantasize that the price of food will rise back, so they don't follow the price reduction, and as for those people, Li Yuanji can only hehe.

There are two biggest effects of regular liquidation, one is to open a position in a disaster year for disaster relief, if the previous regular liquidation is full, then the three-year disaster has no impact at all, at most, it is just a short position, and the next two or three years can be recovered, so there is no need to worry about it.

Another function is to curb grain prices, although the upper limit of grain prices has not been announced, but there is still a red line within the imperial court, once exceeded, Chang Ping will immediately release a large amount of grain, until the price is below the red line a certain distance will not stop.

In the words of later generations, this is called state regulation, a very domineering and unreasonable means of operation, but at this stage, this means benefits the people, unlike the kind of regulation and control that has changed the flavor of later generations.

Fang Xuanling nodded and continued to lower the upper limit of food prices, which was expected.

Nowadays, the least storage space in Changping is almost eighty percent, and many are even almost full, or have been full, if not disposed of in time, this year's new grain is afraid that there is no place to put it.

"I have been thinking about it for a long time, and I have decided to reduce the agricultural tax by 20% starting from this year......"

'Buzz ......'

As soon as Li Yuanji spoke, the entire cabinet was in a mess, and he didn't care what kind of place it was.

If the adjustment of grain protection prices is a bombshell, then the ministers can only hehe, this is the real bomb, and it is especially a bombshell.

"Your Majesty, are you in a bit of a hurry?" Even Li Tao, who has always been steady, and a secretary of the military department who has no responsibility for things such as money and food, and taxes, finally couldn't help but stand up and voice his opposition.

These ministers all know that the ultimate goal of Li Yuanji's vigorous promotion of commerce is to change the current tax model through commercial taxation.

Now the main source of income of the imperial court comes from the agricultural tax, which is reduced by 20%, don't look at what Li Yuanji said is quite easy, but when the whole country comes down, how much money will the imperial court have to collect?

Well, it's okay to collect less, the problem is commercial taxes, which contributed less than 10% to the imperial court's finances last year, or even less than half of them.

As a result, the income of the imperial court this year is less, and many things cannot be done if you want to.

But the problem is that now the imperial court needs money everywhere, and without money, there is no way to develop, and if there is no way to develop, it will not be able to meet the goals proposed by Li Yuanji.

"I have calculated, after the gold, silver and copper mines in various places are mined, more than two percent of the funds will be provided, I have no other ideas, I just feel that the burden on the shoulders of the people is too heavy, and I want to reduce the burden on them." Li Yuanji sighed, hesitated for a long time, weighed a lot of pros and cons, although the conclusion was that the disadvantages outweighed the advantages, but it still had to be done.

Although this will lead to insufficient funds and affect the overall strategic deployment, the benefits are not impossible, from another level, the income of the imperial court is not less, but it has not increased much.

But the people will quickly settle down because of this twenty percent of the curriculum, not dissatisfied with the status quo, the Tang Dynasty's curriculum is not high, and the highest ancient curriculum is the Song Dynasty.

But after getting used to the days of not paying public grain, Li Yuanji always wanted to let the people of the Tang Dynasty enjoy the treatment of future generations.

Although the two are not the same, they are not much different, of course, the situation is much worse now than in later generations, because the current industrial and commercial economy is far inferior to the time when the public grain was abolished in later generations.

Li Jing pursed his lips and didn't dare to continue to speak, in fact, he already regretted it a little.

The other ministers also did not dare to speak, not because it was none of their business, but because they really did not have the courage to refute it.

If they oppose it against everything, whether their purpose is for the sake of the court or not, but in this kind of matter, the people don't care what your original intentions are.

The emperor wants to reduce the burden on the people, but the minister does not agree? Unless they want to test whether the house will collapse when they sleep at home at night, anyone with a little brain will not dare to refuse.

This is an act that will be hated by people all over the world, do you have to make yourself a thousand people and scold yourself?

Of course, there are still people who are not afraid of death, and the backbone of the Tang people is still there.

"Your Majesty, two percent is indeed more, Your Majesty understands the suffering of the people, these ministers know it, and the people also know it, but the premise is that it is necessary to ensure that the plan of the imperial court can be carried out smoothly, if even the imperial court cannot support it, how can we protect the people?

The income from gold, silver, and copper mines can offset this, but that cannot be taken out immediately, and it cannot be made up for a while, and many things cannot be done. And at this time, is it really beneficial to slow down the pace of the imperial court?

The minister doesn't think so, the minister thinks that His Majesty should make drastic reforms, don't care about the gains and losses overnight, if the things of the ten years are completed in five years, then the remaining five years, can more taxes be reduced?

And the class endowment is not heavy for the people now, plus the price of food is getting lower and lower, the people's requirements are not high, just be able to fill your stomach, sometimes, happiness can not come too suddenly, otherwise when you are unhappy in the future, people will not be able to stand it. Wei Zheng argued.

Someone doesn't want to bear this infamy, but he can't, no matter if this infamy comes from the imperial court? or from the people, he must stand up and carry this huge black iron pot on his back.

Wei Zheng will not consider the problem from anyone's point of view, his position is always on the side of the court, it is the court, not the emperor, this matter will do more harm than good to the court, so he has to oppose it, there is no need to discuss.

"I also know some truths, let's drop one percent first, and let's talk about the rest later......" Wei Zheng's last sentence reminded Li Yuanji that happiness can't come too suddenly, otherwise there will be problems.