After the next dynasty, Chen Ke learned the news that Zhao Zonghan secretly went to Qizhou, and said worriedly: "It must be for my father!" ”

Song Duanping was on the side with Chen Yu and Chen Yu, and when he heard the words, he also said: "If you send Zhao Zonghui to go, it may be a trick, but if Zhao Zonghan goes, I'm afraid that I will be ruthless!" ”

"No way!" Chen Ke gritted his teeth and said, "I have to go to Qizhou!" ”

"You still have an errand!" Chen Yu stopped: "Besides, how many pairs of eyes are staring at you, can you get out?" ”

"I'd better go." Song Duanping stood up, looked at Chen Ke and said, "What kind of eyes are you?" My martial arts are better than yours, my mind is finer than yours, and my concern for Uncle Chen is no less than yours, what are you worried about? ”

"Don't worry......" Chen Ke pondered for a moment, nodded and said, "Then the safety of my old man, please leave it to you!" ”

"Hmm." Song Duanping nodded and said, "Without further ado, I'll set off!" ”

"Be careful!" There was no politeness between the brothers, and the Chen brothers sent him to the door, and Song Duanping rode away.

The next day, Chen Ke went north to meet the Liao envoy. After the second day of February, the east wind on the face is warm and pleasant, and the weeping poplars on both sides of the Bianhe River become yellow and tender, like a lover's little hand, caressing the jade-like spring waves, watering the endless North China Plain with emerald green.

Countless kinds of unknown small flowers, the green plain is embellished with brocade, the birds sing spring songs picturesquely, the cattle and horses ** spring light is like wine, so charming spring, how can it not make people feel refreshed?

It was the officials and soldiers of the entire team who enjoyed this trip very much, only Chen Ke had a gloomy face, and walked very slowly, which made the lower officials unhappy.

After a few days of grinding and walking like this, before crossing the Yellow River, Chen Ke suddenly received a secret report, and after reading it, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and sighed: "It can be seen that God is not blind!" So the mood improved. The speed of travel also increased a lot, and a few days later they arrived at Xiongzhou City.

Further on is the border, where the Song Dynasty's envoys have always greeted the Liao envoys.

Chen Ke arrived in Xiongzhou in mid-February, and waited until early March for the envoy of the Liao State to arrive belated...... It can't be said that it is late, after all, it is not rude for the master to arrive early to greet him, and the Song Dynasty regards itself as a state of etiquette and has always valued this.

However, Chen Ke is in Xiongzhou. Not idle. As an important border town of the Great Song Dynasty, Xiongzhou's border trade was extremely developed, and an important stronghold of merchants from all over the world was located here, and several fast horses traveled between Xiongzhou and Bianjing every day, passing the latest information to him and sending back his instructions.

In the half month since he left Beijing, there are really a lot of stories in Bianjing City, first led by King Qi, to investigate and deal with the 'Keju Field Explosion Case', and arrested all the soldiers who were guarding the field at that time. Strict interrogation. Then the Kaifeng Prefecture seized the Xiaoshitan Printing Society, which printed and distributed the 'Keju Daily', on suspicion of inciting the people. Then. News came from Qizhou, after several months of searching by Chen Xiliang in Zhizhou, 3,300 testimonies were obtained from the people of various counties, proving that the number of refugee husbands who died in Ergu River far exceeded the official figures!

However, Chen Xiliang's recital was directly left by Zhao Zhen to take a look at the testimony of the two large boxes that accompanied him to Beijing, and the Great Song Emperor was silent for a long time. Or decide to give someone one last chance.

After the day was dispersed, Zhao Zhen moved to the vertical arch hall, and the eight princes of the two mansions, the chief and deputy envoys of the three divisions, and the princes accompanied the discussion. In fact, the great dynasty of Fang Cai can't discuss many things, and pays more attention to rituals. Many major military affairs were decided at the small court meeting of this vertical arch hall.

After the division was decided, all the courtiers saw the two eye-piercing boxes, but Zhao Zhen didn't say what they were, and they couldn't ask. Zhao Zhen was a little tired, so he crooked behind the curtain, and Han Qi presided over the meeting.

In fact, the state affairs of the Great Song Dynasty are extremely troublesome, and those bullshit between Zhao Zongshi and Zhao Shu will determine the future of the Great Song Dynasty, but in the face of more important military affairs, it is really not worth mentioning...... Today's topic is not the bombing case, nor the seizure of the Keju newspaper, but the reform of Jiangxi's salt law.

Salt and iron **, which is related to the national economy and people's livelihood, especially the salt law, has always been criticized for 'competing with the people', but the court has always been reluctant to give up this piece of fat.

This is the case in Jiangxi, Jiangxi itself does not produce salt, and the imperial court stipulates that Cao Si will transfer Huai salt to Jiangxi and monopolize it, but the quality of official salt is inferior, and the price is extremely high.

However, at the same time, in Guangdong, Jiangxi's neighboring province, most of the coastal people are engaged in boiling salt, and Jiangxi's illegal salt dealers smuggle Guangdong salt to Jiangxi to sell, the quality is better than the official salt, and the price is much cheaper, so the people do not buy official salt, but secretly buy private salt.

The strong demand has led to huge profits, and the smuggling of illicit salt has become more and more rampant. Most of these smugglers were scoundrels, and when the government pursued them, they took the risk and rebelled. Zhao Shu's rebellion against Dai Xiaoba, who was pacified in Jiangxi, was such a situation.

At that time, in order to break up the rebellion, Zhao Shu carefully studied Jiangxi's salt law and salt administration, and after returning to Beijing, he wrote a notebook, requesting that the Jiangxi salt law be reformed, the government monopoly should be abolished, and the people were no longer prohibited from importing Guangdong salt from Guangnan East Road, but instead levied commercial taxes on salt merchants.

In fact, this proposal is not a pioneering initiative, because the Great Song Dynasty has long since abolished the salt law, and the folk boiling salt in the coastal areas has become a trend, and Jingdong Road, Liangzhejiang and Guangxi have long been forced to cancel the salt monopoly. However, the imperial court has always forbidden the flow of salt from all coastal roads to the inland, and still wants to enjoy the benefits of monopoly in the interior.

However, after Zhao Shu's research, he believed that by changing from monopoly to collecting business tax, the imperial court would earn more income and the people could also be relieved, so he proposed to cancel the salt monopoly in Jiangxi.

All the ministers are monkey spirits, and they know that this is the first shot of His Royal Highness the King of Qi to show his talent and benevolence to the government and the opposition. Naturally, they don't want to be this villain, but this matter has a lot to do with it, because after the salt ban was lifted on Jingdong Road, in just two years, all coastal roads have canceled the monopoly $ If you come again in Jiangxi, I am afraid that within two years, there will be no salt tax in the Great Song Dynasty!

That's 20 million yuan, accounting for 20% of the annual income! If you can't guarantee that the business tax will increase so much, then the fun will be great!

But everybody knows it's good governance. Even if they didn't cater to Zhao Shu, they would study it carefully.

I heard Zhao Bian, the third envoy, say: "Everyone is just worried that the increased commercial tax will not be as good as the income from the monopoly. But I don't think there is a need to worry, because the abolition of monopoly will inevitably bring about a price reduction, and the price reduction will lead to an increase in sales, and the commercial tax will also increase. In fact, Xue Xiang, the transfer envoy of Shaanxi Road, also had a similar recital, he said that after finding that after the price of salt was reduced, the sales volume increased by up to ten times. If we take a median number and calculate a five-fold increase, then the commercial tax revenue will greatly exceed the loss. ”

"It's good to think about each other, but what if the monopoly is canceled and the business tax is confiscated?" Wu Kui shook his head and said.

"Didn't you say that it would be tried in Jiangxi first?" Zhao Bian said: "If Jiangxi is feasible, it will be promoted to the whole country." ”

"Jiangxi is feasible, but it may not be feasible elsewhere, and there are still few examples of southern oranges and northern oranges?" Wu Kui still had to shake his head, and the two of them insisted on their own reasoning, fighting for red faces.

'Ahem', Zhao Zhen finally couldn't bear it, coughed lightly, and didn't let them quarrel anymore, "What does Han Xianggong think?" ”

"Returning to Your Majesty." Han Qi said, "Since ancient times, tax exemption is easy to increase and difficult to increase. The imperial court said that the monopoly on salt would be abolished, and the common people naturally welcomed it with both hands. But if you want to collect a commercial tax, the salt merchants will not be happy, and they will still sell smuggled salt, because they don't have to pay taxes on smuggled salt. Therefore, I am afraid that if it is really as Wu Shenzheng said, it will fail at both ends. ”

"Yes, yes, yes." Wu Kui nodded again and again, "That's what Xia Guan meant." ”

If you really know, why do you need the prime minister to explain it to you?

"What Lao Chen means is that the salt tax is related to the country's capital and must not be moved lightly. His Royal Highness King Qi is commendable for his dedication to the country, but he still lacks consideration. "Until the end, Han Qi will not give up suppressing Zhao Shu.

Zhao Shu couldn't help blushing when he heard him mock himself Meng Lang, but after all, he was no longer the past, he only smiled and said indifferently: "The lesson of the Xianggong is that you can't waste food because of choking, I think as long as you strictly tax from the place of origin, you can put an end to private salt." ”

"Hehe......" Han Qi squinted his eyes and smiled: "Your Highness is still young, if you can guard the pastoral side in the future, you will naturally experience the local yang and yin disobedience." No matter how good the scriptures are, they can't stand the crooked mouth of the monk. ”

"Han Xiang is too worried," Seeing that Zhao Shu couldn't help Han Lao Fox, Wen Yanbo hurriedly resisted for him and said: "What's more, it's a trial, if it's really as Xianggong said, just stop." ”

"What's the harm of worrying a little more?" Han Qi said lightly: "Besides, you said that you will try it out?" The people of Jiangxi are stubborn, if they are exempted from increasing in the future, the aftermath will be even more difficult! So just don't do it from the start. ”

"Han Xiang's words are out of standard." Wen Yanbo said unhurriedly: "If you say so, then the court should not change anything." How nice it would be for us to go straight home and pick up our grandchildren. ”

The two old prime ministers are equal, and if they go down, they can't tell the result for three days and three nights. Zhao Zhen had other things in his heart, and while the two of them were ventilating, he said: "Shu'er, who makes sense for you to listen to the two ministers?" ”

Zhao Shu bowed and replied, "Erchen sounds like he seems to be reasonable. Although Wen Xianggong and his sons coincide, Han Xianggong is the words of Lao Cheng who holds the country, and he must listen to them carefully. After a pause, he said: "According to the humble opinion of the ministers, the people of Jiangxi should be issued an edict to affirm the court's love for the people." As long as we say that we will try it for three years, if the effect is not good, the old law will still be implemented. The common people will not only not oppose it, but will also consciously defend the new law -- even if it does not produce much effect after three years, the imperial court will not cause a shock if the old law is re-enacted. ”

Everyone's hearts lit up when they heard it! King Qi's method can be described as the best of both worlds, and it also takes care of Han Qi's face, which is very decent, and he can think so well in an instant.

"Well, that's a good idea." Zhao Zhen nodded and said, "You go back and write a note, and then the political hall will discuss it again, and it will be promulgated." ”

"Yes."

partition

And there's more!