The summer of Chang'an is as hot as ever, it is noon, and even the flowers and trees in the Weiyang Palace are a little wilted, as long as you know that you are not tired of screaming, it makes people very irritable. Many palace people are lightly trying their best to catch cicadas with their nets, so as not to affect the early dynasty that lasted for nearly two hours in the main hall.

The long early dynasty made the Han monarchs and ministers feel a little tired. In particular, Lie Yue has climbed to the middle of the sky, baking the square in front of the hall paved with blue bricks, the rolling heat wave visible to the naked eye continues to spread, and the magnificent main hall is like a huge steamer at this time, and many courtiers are sweating.

The emperor and the three dukes and nine kings in the front were still looking as usual, although their knees and legs were a little sore, but they did not experience the power of the scorching heat at all. Not far from the two sides of the chairman, there were two huge boxes, and the dense holes on the front of them were continuously releasing white mist, which was very cool.

The ministers close to the gate of the palace secretly looked at the three princes and nine kings with envy from time to time, and they were full of slander in their hearts, hoping that they would finish the government affairs that required His Majesty's holy judgment as soon as possible, so that the hundred officials would suffer less crimes.

However, seeing that midsummer is approaching, according to the usual practice, the emperor will lead the concubines in the palace to Ganquan Palace to escape the summer, and most of the ministers have a good place to cool off in recent years - the Royal Leisure Villa. In order to have a more comfortable time during the upcoming long holiday, a large number of government affairs are bound to be handled as properly as possible in the next few days.

After the three princes and nine kings were all played, the early dynasty had been open for nearly three hours, and the birth had been dragged from the early dynasty to the "noon dynasty". Now the officials not only have to endure the scorching heat, but even their stomachs have begun to protest strongly.

Compared with later dynasties, the ritual system in the early Han Dynasty was extremely humanized. If the old ministers of the previous court really can't hold back and want to go to the toilet, they only need to confess, and they can go to the side hall under the guidance of the inner servants to solve the problem. However, after going to the toilet, you still have to return to the main hall as soon as possible to attend the meeting.

As for wanting to excuse yourself to go out and find some food pads to cushion your stomach, it is whimsical. The emperor didn't say anything to eat, and near the main hall of Weiyang, even the rats in the cave didn't dare to eat anything.

Just when the civil and military officials breathed a sigh of relief and were looking forward to the announcement of the withdrawal of the palm seal eunuch Sun Quan, the crown prince Liu Che slowly got up, came to the center of the main hall, bowed to the emperor and said: "Father and Emperor, please exempt the salt industry in the Han Dynasty from all additional taxes, just like ordinary goods, only collect commercial taxes, and impose heavy taxes on the salt sold to the barbarian lands around the Han Dynasty!" ”

The ministers in the palace were in an uproar, completely forgetting the heat and hunger for a while, as if Xia Yue's thunder exploded in their ears, shaking them with disbelief.

In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, salt and iron patents were jointly mined by the government and the people, and in areas controlled by the state, government-run workshops were established, salt officials were set up for management, and the income was owned by the state; Where privately controlled, the interests of which belong to the private owner.

According to the national policy of people's livelihood, the tax in the early Han Dynasty was extremely low compared to previous dynasties, and the salt tax was no exception. However, even so, several types of taxes on the salt industry have become an important source of revenue for the state treasury.

In the early Han Dynasty, the salt industry taxes mainly included salt tax, salt tax and salt tax.

Salt class: refers to the land and human resources requisitioned for salt-producing land and beach land, including field class, stove class, beach class, swing class, discount class, discount, hill fold, etc.;

Salt tax: It is a positive tax levied on the transportation and sale of salt, including additional tax, which is divided into national surname markup and local surname markup;

Yanli: It is the import tax, passage tax and landing tax levied in the process of salt transportation and sales in various places.

Emperor Jing didn't have the slightest surprise, turned his head to look at Cao Luan, the big farmer in charge of the world's money and grain rent, and asked, "Cao Qing, let's talk about it, how much money did I get from the rent of the Han salt industry last year?" ”

Cao Luan seemed to have been prepared, got up from the table, bowed and said: "Back to Your Majesty, if you remove the commercial tax at the time of sale, there should be more than 60 million yuan in the additional rent of salt last year. ”

Emperor Jing nodded, and did not continue to ask Cao Luan to answer the specific number. After all, the various rents are extremely complicated, and even the officials in charge of the salt tax may not be able to come up with accurate values.

However, the ministers in the palace were a little surprised by the value reported by Cao Luan, they originally thought that the imperial court could get a huge amount of taxes from the salt industry every year, but they didn't want to have only 60 million yuan. Although 60 million yuan is not a lot, it is not too important compared to the annual treasury income of the Han Dynasty, which has approached 10 billion yuan in recent years.

Seeing the surprise on the faces of the ministers, the crown prince Liu Che was overjoyed, and bowed down again and said: "Don't look at the 60 million money, but the imperial court has sent salt officials, tax collectors and even people to collect relevant taxes in various places, and the rank and miscellaneous expenses such as freight expenses incurred by the imperial court are also a lot of money. ”

Emperor Jing pretended to be silent, then turned his head to look at Prime Minister Yuan An, and asked, "Yuan Qing is in charge of the affairs of the officials, what do you think?" ”

Yuan Ang is the first of the three princes, and his status is respected, so he doesn't need to get up. But he still turned sideways slightly, arched his hand and bowed down slightly, and replied: "Back to Your Majesty, what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said is true, according to the minister's estimate, the relevant officials and people should be in the number of 100,000, and the cost of the court should not be less than 50 million yuan." ”

"Oh?" Emperor Jing raised his eyebrows, pretending to be surprised, and said slowly: "I originally thought that the salt tax was an extremely important tax, but I didn't want to convert it into tens of millions of dollars that could be collected into the national treasury, which is really a bit less. ”

"Father Emperor Mingjian, my Han is now full of warehouses and the treasury is abundant, if you still let the people bear the high price of salt for this mere tens of millions of dollars, it is really not worth it." Liu Che took over the emperor's father's words and continued.

Many of the ministers in the palace chuckled in their hearts, and they finally knew why His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was asking for the abolition of the additional salt tax.

Regarding the drastic fluctuations in salt prices in the surrounding counties of Nanyang, although the ministers were far away in Chang'an, they had already heard of it. In particular, the ministers who had some private friendships with the wealthy merchants and magnates of Nanyang County received a lot of letters asking them to secretly put pressure on the central government to stop or delay the merchants of Qi State from selling low-priced sea salt at the wharves along the coast.

After receiving the news, some ministers thought that this was just a trivial matter, and immediately found a familiar salt official, and even privately wrote to the relevant local officials, trying to use some small means to prohibit the salt ships from docking or seizing them for some reason to make trouble for the salt merchants of Qi State, so that they could know the truth that the strong dragon did not suppress the head snake.

However, looking at it today, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince seems to have heard of this matter, and it is not even ruled out that he is the backstage of the salt merchants of Qi State. Those ministers with unclean buttocks were naturally horrified in their hearts. Although they have received a lot of benefits, and even many ministers are from the big families in Nanyang, if they want to offend His Royal Highness the Prince of Zhongtian for the salt merchants of Nanyang, they will never be stupid.

Emperor Jing narrowed his narrow eyes, as if he was contemplating and considering.

Prime Minister Yuan Ang secretly observed the expressions of the ministers in the palace with an expressionless face, and he was actually angry in his heart. As early as more than a month ago, when His Majesty and the crown prince discussed with him how to lay out the layout in order to crack down on the rich businessmen and giants in Nanyang, he still felt that it was a bit of a fuss.

However, a few days ago, he was shocked to find that many ministers of the Central Government Office had received requests to suppress the salt merchants of Qi State, and they were looking for people everywhere to talk about it. Some forces in the local counties and counties even directly attacked the salt merchants of Qi China, not only seizing the ships, but also injuring many merchants and shipwrights. Under the protection of local officials, these evil forces were not only not punished, but intensified, and retaliated against the salt merchants of Qi who dared to report to the officials, which had a great tendency to intensify.

At this point, Yuan Ang finally agreed with His Royal Highness the Prince's approach, and the collusion between officials and businessmen in Nanyang and surrounding counties must be multi-pronged and completely rectified. For this reason, he also deliberately approached Cao Luan, the great farmer, and promised to streamline the redundant officials of the central government office and its subordinate departments as soon as possible, so as to reduce the expenditure of the state treasury. In the face of Yuan's great concessions, the miserly Cao Luan finally agreed to the proposal to completely exempt the salt industry from the subsidiary taxes, and expressed his willingness to cooperate with the emperor, the crown prince and the prime minister to support this advice in the court.

"Your Majesty, what the Crown Prince said is very true. Since the founding of the Han Dynasty, it has always lived with the people's livelihood. The first emperor even reduced the rent several times, and the people praised the first emperor's benevolence and love for the people. Now that His Majesty is working hard, and the Han Dynasty is even more abundant, if he can buy low-cost salt at the cost of tens of millions of dollars, it is really a great goodness! Seeing that the emperor was silent, Yuan Ang understood in his heart, slowly got up, bowed down and said.

Seeing this, the ministers in the palace began to hesitate a little while being stunned, and the royalist ministers who had always been led by Yuan Ang were even more impatient.

"Your Majesty, the minister is reconsidering!" Seeing this, the big farmer ordered Cao Luan to bow down immediately.

When the ministers saw the big peasant order in charge of the world's silver rent, they all seconded this practice that hurt their own interests, and naturally knew that the wood was already in the boat. Even some ministers who are unwilling to do so know that they lack the skills to return to heaven.

As the royalist ministers and the subordinate officials of the Great Agricultural Order all rose up to second, the remaining ministers naturally rushed to second. For important ministers who can enter the court to discuss politics, knowing the current affairs, following the trend, and not taking the lead without authorization is the way to be an official.

Emperor Jing was extremely satisfied with such a situation. Although he is the son of the Han Dynasty, he can't do everything and push government affairs strongly. Let the major forces above the court check and balance each other, but maintain the harmony on the surface, and achieve the smooth flow of government decrees, this is the true emperor's way.

After the emperor happily approved the admonition of the crown prince Liu Che, the early dynasty that lasted for more than three hours finally ended, and the ministers who were already hungry and thirsty retired step by step.

Yuan Ang walked slowly, and the prime minister behind him, Shi Kongli, followed suit. It wasn't until he walked outside the palace gate that he saw that Yuan Ang was about to get into the car and drive, so he hurriedly took a few steps forward, bowed down and said: "Prime Minister, please forgive the lower officials for being presumptuous, Your Highness said that this is what makes the lower officials panic, and I hope that the prime minister will teach me." ”

Yuan Ang was not surprised by this, he looked at the subordinate in front of him who had been an official for decades, but had been conscientious and honest, and had already pointed out: "I know that although you are from the Nanyang Kong family, you have never used your power for personal gain, so I would like to remind you a few words." Your Kong family has been good at smelting for generations, and now you are worth hundreds of millions, but don't try to collude with the government, let alone involve the Nanyang salt merchants, remember! ”

After Yuan Ang finished speaking, he turned around and got into the car, leaving only the thoughtful Kong Li standing outside the palace gate, bowing and standing under the roasting of the fierce words, and he couldn't stand for a long time. (To be continued.) )